1. Crisis in funding for California weed programs - consider attending Weed Day at Capitol
2. Public hearing tomorrow, Wednesday, on Caltrans' destruction along Alameda Creek in Niles Canyon
3. Supporters of Golden Gate Park: Beach Chalet Soccer Fields - Volunteers meeting Sunday March 13
4. America's Cup Environment Council - mission statement
5. Neighborhood Parks Council annual meeting with the mayor - do you want to attend?
6. San Bruno Mtn Watch first Spring Native Plant Sale Saturday March 19
7. Steam Trains, Shipwrecks, and Sutro Baths - Saturday 12 March
8. Frogs: March 9 in Bonny Doon, March 12 in San Francisco
9. Nature in the City Treks: Bayview Hill March 12/GGP March 24/Green Hairstreak sleuthing adventure Mar 27/and more...
10. Trails of San Francisco Thursday 17 March at the Randall/last month's lecture notes
11. World's oldest living tree cut down--in 1964/lodgepole pines being displaced by Douglas firs
12. Rising carbon dioxide causing plants to have few pores, releasing less moisture
13. No worries, Tom Toles envisions a techno-fix to all these problems - cartoon
14. Richmond council member takes issue with Sierra Club on alleged high solar permit fees
15. Some advice on pruning
16. The all-important Farm Bill comes up for renewal 2012 - get your licks in now/and Xerces Society has some issues
17. CA Invasive Plant Council's 2011 Wildland Weed Field Courses
18. CA Native Plant Society's Plant Science Training Program: Measuring and Monitoring Plant Populations April 25-27
19. Financial Flimflam: Why Economic Experts' Predictions Fail
20. Poisonous language on both sides of the fence/Monsanto wins, for now
21. Notes & Queries
1. To all those concerned about invasive organisms in California - funding crisis
In the rough and tumble in this money-short year in Sacramento, the California Dept of Food & Agriculture is eliminating vital weed programs, including Weed Management Areas and its noxious weed and biocontrol research programs. I underscore 'eliminating' because deleting funding for this year would keep the programs alive, even if in name only, pending better budgets. Starting them up again would be exceedingly difficult--and probably won't happen at all.
If any is motivated and able to attend Weed Day at the Capitol on March 16, let me know. We will try to put you in touch to arrange carpools. (Read the writeup in my March 1 newsletter, item 10, or ask me for it.)
In spite of the grim nature of this item, we have found that lobbying does pay, and Weed Day is always fun and educational, one reason why we have regulars who come back every year.
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2. Public Hearing Tomorrow on CalTrans Destruction Along Alameda Creek in Niles Canyon
Thanks to the hundreds of you who have sent letters or called opposing the Niles Canyon road widening project, and the more than 60 people who were out protesting the destruction on Saturday, state Senator Ellen Corbett's office has set up a public meeting with CalTrans Director Bijan Sartipi for Wednesday, March 9th at 11 am in Fremont to discuss community concerns about the environmental destruction in lower Niles Canyon along Alameda Creek due to the Niles Canyon project.
The meeting will be held tomorrow at 11 am at the Fremont Senior Center, Wing B, located at 40086 Paseo Padre Parkway in Fremont.
If you can attend this meeting please come speak out to insist this unnecessary, controversial and environmentally destructive project be stopped!
If you cannot attend the meeting tomorrow, click on this action alert to send a letter to CalTrans and your city, state and federal officials opposing this unnecessary destruction.
Be sure to tell CalTrans and your elected officials what you think of the meeting being scheduled on a week day when most people cannot attend, with only two days notice.
protest 2protest 3-5protest
As part of phase 1 of a highway widening project supposedly for highway safety, CalTrans has begun cutting mature native trees from along the Alameda Creek riparian corridor in lower Niles Canyon. In this phase they plan to take out 70 native trees from along the creek, permanently damaging nearly 3,000 linear feet of riparian habitat along Alameda and Stonybrook Creeks, and permanently filling and altering 189 feet of Alameda Creek by road widening and placement of destructive riprap (with another 353 feet of creek temporarily impacted).
The proposed highway widening project will not reduce traffic accidents and will actually make Niles Canyon more dangerous for drivers. It will waste $80 million in public funds, harm Alameda Creek, degrade fish habitat and jeopardize restoration efforts, blight a designated scenic highway, and ruin the natural beauty of Niles Canyon.
The rip-rap and retaining walls will fill portions of the active creek channel, add impervious surfaces, and change the hydrology of the creek. Although the Alameda Creek Alliance supports the part of the project that will remove a culvert from Stonybrook Creek for fish passage, cutting mature riparian trees is not needed to remove the culvert.
CalTrans is pursuing two more phases of this project, planning to kill nearly 500 more trees along the creek throughout the scenic canyon as part of the road widening. Although CalTrans has slipped approval of this first phase by the public with inadequate notice and an improper marginal environmental review, the Alameda Creek Alliance and other groups are prepared to challenge the later phases of this wasteful project.
Check out the Alameda Creek Alliance information page on this destructive project and more planned devastation in Niles Canyon by CalTrans.
Also get more information at the Save Niles Canyon web site, www.savenilescanyon.org
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3. TO ALL SUPPORTERS OF GOLDEN GATE PARK
Beach Chalet Soccer Fields - NO artificial turf or 60 foot lights
Volunteers Meeting
Sunday, March 13, 2011, 5:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m.
1243 42nd Avenue, between Lincoln and Irving
POSSIBLE TOPICS ARE:
• You got us the EIR – now let’s get our message out to all of San Francisco!
• How we can support clean, green, safe, living grass playing fields for our children.
• How we can preserve and enhance wildlife habitat in the western end of Golden Gate Park.
• Whom to write to about the need to protect Golden Gate Park and what the Park means to you.
• SHARE YOUR IDEAS FOR NEXT STEPS WE CAN TAKE!
THE SCOPING SESSION WAS A SUCCESS!
You expressed yourselves eloquently, both at the session and in your letters. About 50 people came to the session. Most speakers expressed concerns about the project, and only a few people spoke in favor of the artificial turf and the 60 foot lights. Most speakers would like to see the fields renovated with REAL, LIVING, GRASS and NO sports lighting.
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4. America’s Cup Environment Council Mission Statement
Adopted 2/18/11
The above-listed organizations are committed to a successful and sustainable America’s Cup event. To that end, we have agreed to work cooperatively to attain our mutual goals of:
Creating a carbon-neutral or carbon-negative event
Thoroughly assessing the local, regional and global impacts of the event including fiscal impacts
Protecting natural resources around and within the Bay;
Ensuring that local neighbors are shielded from serious negative impacts and historic resources are not impacted
Developing mitigation programs that fully protect San Francisco neighborhoods, historic resources, the Bay and ocean
Identifying programs and mitigations that will assure that the America’s Cup event is a benefit for San Francisco
neighborhoods and the environment in both the short and long term.
Requiring that any future waterfront development anticipated by the Host and Venue Agreement be subjected to rigorous
public scrutiny.
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5. Neighborhood Parks Council Join Us at Our Annual Park Group Meeting with the Mayor
March 22nd, 9:30am, City Hall, Room # TBA
Each year NPC convenes a park stakeholders meeting with the Mayor, the Recreation and Park Department (RPD) General Manager, and RPD Commissioners to review the current state of our parks as well as the outlook for the year ahead. We address improvements to the system as well as current challenges.
This annual meeting is an opportunity for our coalition of park groups to ask the Mayor and RPD key park questions and to hear from the Mayor and his staff about the year ahead. NPC also presents key issues that reflect feedback received from our coalition. Clickhere to read about last year's event.
Space is limited, so we ask that only two representatives from each park group attend. This will allow us to have the most park groups possible in attendance.
Click here to RSVP.
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6. San Bruno Mountain Watch announces its first Spring Native Plant Sale by its Mission Blue Nursery
Saturday March 19,10am-3pm.
List of native plants, all from San Bruno Mountain:
http://www.mountainwatch.org/sbmw-plant-availability
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7. Steam Trains, Shipwrecks, and Sutro Baths
Saturday, March 12, 2011
10am - Noon
Join John Martini, historian and retired GGNRA Interpretive Ranger, on a two hour walk to explore some of the rich history at Lands End. We’ll follow the old Land’s End railroad grade to a scenic overlook and, if the tide is low, we might spot the rusty remains of steamships wrecked on the rocks below. John will also tell stories and share photos as we walk within the ruins of Sutro Baths, including a venture inside one of the tunnels Adolph Sutro created in the 1890s as part of his Baths complex.
To RSVP and learn the specific meeting location for the walks, call (415) 561-3054 or write trailsforever@parksconservancy.org.
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8. FROGS
How long do frogs live? How many types of frogs are there? What's the difference between a frog and a toad? Why are frogs disappearing worldwide and what can be done to save them? Dr. Kriger answers all these questions and more as he introduces the audience to The Wild World of Frogs. The presentation features many of Dr. Kriger's photos of amphibians from around the world, and there will be a question and answer session following the presentation.
REGISTER NOW!
Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/370979248
After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar.
March 9th, 2011: Bonny Doon, CA, 7 pm
The Rural Bonny Doon Association will be hosting Save The Frogs Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger and the Wild World of Frogs. The presentation will take place in the Bonny Doon Elementary School's Multi-Purpose Room.
March 12th: San Francisco, CA, 9.30 - 10.30 am
Save The Frogs Founder Dr. Kerry Kriger will be giving an hour-long presentation at the National Science Teacher's Association's National Conference. Open to conference attendees.
Where: Marriott San Francisco Marquis, Pacific J
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9. Nature in the City
TREKS in the City - MARCH 2011
TREKS offer an opportunity to connect to and learn more about our city’s greatest natural areas and open spaces! Whether you were born on a mountain or in a city, enjoyment of nature is independent of age, income, occupation or culture. Nature energizes, restores and brings light to what’s important to us all.
To sign up for a TREK, email linda@natureinthecity.org or call 415-564-4107. Sliding Scale Donation of $15 - $45.
Hidden Treasures at Bayview Hill with Jake Sigg
Saturday, March 12 - 1:30 pm - 4:00 pm
Bayview Hill is about half the size it was 75 years ago. The rest was dumped into the Bay to make way for Candlestick Stadium. The other half is as remote and wild as you can get in San Francisco. There is even a sizable fenced-in piece of private property that is most nearly like what it was 200 years ago which will provide instructive comparison to the more impacted areas. At this time of year wildflowers are a main attraction, although there is no shortage of other subjects, including the wildlife depending on the plants, and the interesting human history.
Meet at the pole gate at the upper (east) end of Key Avenue. The Muni T train will take you there.
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Explore & Restore: Get Out & Get Dirty in Golden Gate Park
Family-Fun Event with Chris Giorni, Director of Tree Frog Treks
Thurday, March 24, 4:00 pm - 6:30 pm
Gather at the enchanting Tree Frog Treks' Frog Hall to meet the animals, slither with a snake, sip hot tea /coffee, & nibble freshly popped popcorn. Then we will venture off to the Oak Woodlands in search of scrub jays, ravens, brown towhees, rolly pollies & slender salamanders. We will then get down in the dirt to help restore a small corner of this wilderness in the city. We will finish up with a flush of fuchsias in the dell & towering redwoods, that impell us to stop, look & listen to the nature in the city. Rain or shine.
Ages 4 & up; pre-K through gray!
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More from Nature in the City (natureinthecity.org)
The Rare Green Hairstreak Butterfly Sleuthing Adventure! with Damien Raffa
(URBIA Adventure League family-fun event!)
Sunday, March 27, 2011, 10:00 am – 12:00 noon
Start your adventure any time between 10 am to 12 noon at the brilliantly colored community-created mosaic-tiled steps at 16th Avenue & Moraga in San Francisco’s Sunset District. There you’ll receive your URBIA Adventure booklet that will lead you along the Green Hairstreak Butterfly Corridor. Fun detective work will be rewarded by seeing this rare local butterfly in flight during its short season! With a colorful adventure booklet in hand (and adventure pencil!), you’ll follow clues through a hilltop habitat on Golden Gate Heights. Bring yourself, friends, or your family (ages 3 and up) and experience a deeper San Francisco “sense of place” with URBIA Adventure League and Nature in the City! (Wear comfortable shoes for climbing steps, bring water, and allow 2 hours to complete). This TREK includes an URBIA Adventure Booklet and a Nature in the CIty child's T-Shirt!
Restoring San Francisco's Lost Manzanita
From the Director of the SF Botanical Garden
"I highly recommend that you read the article and watch the video developed by KQED that tells the story of the Arctostaphylos franciscana, or Franciscan manzanita, once thought to be extinct in the wild. This last-of-its-species local California native was found in October 2009 when a botanist on his way home from work spotted a low-lying, 18-foot-long shrub at a construction site. The plant was a miracle of survival a species thought to have been extinct in the wild for almost 70 years. It was suddenly visible after most of the other plant material around it had been removed in preparation for constructing a multi-billion dollar improvement to Doyle Drive at the southern approach to the Golden Gate Bridge." Read more here.
The current issue of Fremontia, published by CNPS, included a thorough and fascinating article about the rediscovered Franciscan manzanita.
Herbicides, Nature & Preview of Future Shenanigans around the SNRAMP
Click here to read a lengthy piece from Jake Sigg's newsletter regarding herbicide use in natural areas.
Creating Excellence for State Parks
From the California State Parks Foundation
"As you may remember, the Park Excellence Project (PEP) is a joint undertaking of the California State Parks Foundation and the Save the Redwoods League to develop a vision of excellence for the state park system in the 21st century, shared by the public and key stakeholders, and make recommendations as to how best to promote that vision.
The PEP report, A Vision for Excellence for California's State Parks, is available. This report calls for the statewide community of park supporters and partners to focus on a set of five core strategies and lays out specific actions that can be taken.
More information about the Project is available on CSPF's website. If you have any additional questions, please contact Kate Litzky at kate@calparks.org or 916-442-2119."
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10. San Francisco Natural History Series at the Randall Museum
Trails of San Francisco
Guest Speaker: Ben Pease
7:30pm, Thursday, March 17th, 2010
Join us in exploring San Francisco by foot! Ben Pease will discuss his new Walker's Map of San Francisco, and share some of his favorite trails, parks, and neighborhoods in the City and beyond. How did they get there, anyhow?
A freelance cartographer since 1996, Pease has drawn maps for many Bay Area guidebooks, and has long been involved with the Bay Area Ridge Trail, Coastwalk, and Sutro Stewards. Ben writes about maps, tools, and favorite San Francisco walks and places in his blog:
Cartographer's Notebook (http://peasepress.wordpress.com). Most recently, Ben served as one of the main cartographers for the new book Infinite City: a San Francisco Atlas by Rebecca Solnit and friends.
You can find more about all of this at the Pease Press website: http://www.peasepress.com/
FREE; donations encouraged.
Randall Museum, 199 Museum Way
Info: 415.554.9600 or http://www.randallmuseum.org
LAST MONTH'S LECTURE NOTES
2/17 -- James A Martin: Islands of the San Francisco Bay
48 Islands*, 5 years, 3 different girlfriends, 220 pictures of 400 chosen from 600 rolls of film, tons of birds, 3 ghost towns, puns, jokes, and more than a few characters, our evening with James Marten was a fantastic trip around San Francisco Bay.
He quizzed the crowd on our birds and came away impressed with our knowledge, but he left us with some great images, and lots of new tidbits of fact and lore covering a fair swath of our Bay’s natural and unnatural history: an 11,000 year old horse tooth, 4,000 year old shell mounds, hideouts from the Spanish, sunken wooden ships, a wild west town, towns passed by the times, rock quarries, a world’s fair, an immigration station, a lighthouse, military bases, industrial salt
manufacturing, utilities, private islands, to nature preserves and wildlife sanctuaries. All of these populated by a rich set of characters that have left their names in the landscape. Some of the stories James told came after his travels around the bay, he keeps learning new things as he travels around showing the photos, like the
story of the man who waters a tree on the only remaining private island in the bay: Red Rock.
http://articles.sfgate.com/2009-07-07/bay-area/20872749_1_red-rock-bird-sanctuary-tree
You can find a lot of this and 400 beautiful pictures in this book:
The Islands of San Francisco Bay.
http://www.islandsofsfbay.com/
FUTURE TALKS
4/21 The Mystery of Laguna Dolores – Christopher Richard, Curator of
Aquatic Biology at Oakland Museum reexamines the “now vanished” lake at the heart of the founding myth of SF.
5/19 Who Killed Off the Oysters of SF Bay? – Marine Biologist, Andrew Cohen, will talk about our once-abundant native oysters, with excursions into history, biology, geology, and archaeology.
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11.
Oldest Living Tree Tells All – terrain.org
Bristlecone pines are the oldest living trees on Earth. In 1964, a graduate student cut down the oldest individual tree ever found. This is the story of what happened.
Scientists: Lodgepole pines will be gone from Northwest by 2080 – Missoulian
Warmer temperatures will mean less moisture in the soil, even without changes in rainfall, allowing species such as Douglas fir to move in.
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12. Rising Carbon Dioxide Is Causing Plants to Have Fewer Pores, Releasing Less Water to the Atmosphere
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/03/110303111624.htm
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14. Richmond City Council member Tom Butt: Sierra Club Unfairly Bashes Richmond for Alleged High Solar Permit Fees
The Sierra Club study of commercial solar PV system permit fees by Kurt Newick cited in “Fees for business solar power units vary widely” (Mike Taugher, Contra Costa Times 2/27/2011) is both misleading and misplaced, and it unfairly and inappropriately targets Richmond as having the highest permit fee in Contra Costa County.
If the Sierra Club’s objective is to promote solar by trying to beat down solar permit fees, they have picked the wrong target. For small residential systems, permit fees are important, and Richmond leads the County by offering free permits for residential solar. Richmond also leads the County and the State of California in solar watts installed per capita, including both residential and commercial, so we must be doing something right.
Reducing fees for large commercial users that might include corporations like Chevron, Target or Walmart, simply means that the money to pay City staff for processing permits would have to be made up by robbing some other program. Would Newick have us close a branch library or take a cop off the street to subsidize commercial energy users?
Newick’s flawed approach starts by significantly overestimating the cost of a 131 kW system, which also has the effect of inflating the permit fee, a function of cost. Even at the inflated $1.2 million cost, through a combination of federal tax credits and California Solar Incentive rebates, Newick’s hypothetical installation would be reduced in cost by about $370,000, courtesy of taxpayers and PG&E ratepayers.
In any event, Richmond’s permit fee is only about 1.6% of the total cost, and the permit fee would be reduced proportionately by incentives to about $14,000. There is no evidence cited by Newick that the range of solar permit fees represented in Contra Costa County has any effect on the decision of a business owner to go solar. Yet he is obsessed with this one particular metric to the exclusion of all others.
Richmond Planning Director Richard Mitchell commented: “During my past discussions with commercial and industrial developers, none of them expressed concerns about solar permit fees because their tenants are usually responsible for paying their own energy costs. Specialty tenants such as Bay Area Beverage, Sun Power or El Cerrito Natural Grocery have installed systems because they are energy intensive businesses that are looking for ways to cut their on-going energy costs. Permit fees are not a significant part of that analysis because they are negligible related to other costs associated with installing alternative energy systems.”
The Sierra Club’s campaign to expose what they apparently believe are excessive permit fees for commercial solar is a gigantic waste of time with no proven basis. There are probably a lot more important things they could be doing instead of trying to further bleed city planning and building departments, which are already severely decimated and in some cases, extinct.
The once squeaky clean Sierra Club has been acting strangely lately, most recently selling their soul to endorse the Point Molate casino project in exchange for promises of future money in a secret deal that has never seen the light of day.
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15. My response in question from Judy Hiramoto about pruning Japanese maples and other trees:
A Japanese maple has its own way of growing, and that needs to be respected. I don't know of anywhere you can take a class.
I tell people that trees usually tell you how they want to be pruned. The one-size-fits-all method is what is usually practiced, so that no matter the individual character of the tree or shrub, they all end up looking the same: lollipops or nondescript butchery. It's the standard, it's boring, and causes pain to those whose eyes are tuned to the beautiful.
I can give you some general advice, which may or may not help you on your particular tree:
Look for limbs or smaller branches that are competing for the same space. Remove clear back to the point of attachment to the branch or trunk where it originates. Make a clean cut; do not leave a stub. Limbs competing for the same space is a common problem with cultivated trees, and it creates unhealthy conditions and hampers proper development of the tree. (I specify cultivated trees, because nature knows how to manage this, and the problem seldom arises there.)
If limbs are growing out too far and need to be headed back--this can be tricky. If you've neglected doing that too long, you risk having to make a stubby cut which looks ungraceful and unnatural. If it's a case of waiting too long, chances are the branch will never again recover its natural look.
If a branch growing too long is not the problem, lightly tip it back here and there to keep it from growing too far in one direction. (If that is the problem.)
P.S. Be sure to use that pruning advice with caution. I haven't seen your tree, don't know what kind it is. The instructions are very general.
Having said that, I now give you the opposite advice: trust yourself. Trees do tell you how they want to grow. If it looks good it's the thing to do. A well-pruned tree doesn't look like it's pruned. It's aesthetics, and I bet you have a sense of that.
On Mar 2, 2011, at 5:56 PM, judy hiramoto wrote:
> Hi Jake, Thank you for you newsletter. I especially enjoy your articles on native plants -- miner's lettuce, wild cucumber.
>
> You mentioned this special pine tree on Spruce Street in a conversation we had some months ago -- I'm looking forward to visiting it. There are many lovely trees in this area.
>
> I'd like to learn how to prune my small Japanese maple. Do you have any suggestions for a class?
Tuesday, March 8, 7:00-8:30 pm: Gardening for Wildlife Diversity: Radhika Thekkath. Who says a garden can’t be beautiful and support wildlife at the same time? Learn how to attract birds, butterflies, and beneficial insects to the garden and still retain color, texture, and visual appeal. Landscape designer Radhika Thekkath specializes in California native plants. Fremont Main Library, 2400 Stevenson Blvd., Fremont. (510) 745-1401.
Tuesday, March 15, 9:30-11:00 am: Gardening Under Oaks: Alexandra Von Feldt. California native oaks are a keystone species for our local habitat. Learn how to care for oaks in your garden by selecting the appropriate native understory plants, properly maintaining them, and understanding common galls and diseases. Alexandra Von Feldt is the Stewardship Program Director at Acterra. A tour of the native garden at the library follows with Tina Dreyer who manages the gardens. Woodside Library, 3140 Woodside Rd., Woodside. 650) 851-0147.
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(JS: In 2007 activists managed to make inroads into the Farm Bill. However, corporate ag still dominated, and unsustainable agriculture still rules the roost. The Farm Bill will be legislated again next year, 2012, and this is the chance to effect change.)
16. Good Food Starts From the Ground Up - Farm Bill up for renewal in 2012
Sign up to host a "Sowing the Seeds" event in your community!
What would you fix about our food system? From preventing genetically engineered crops and animals from reaching consumers, to supporting small farmers in the face of corporate pressure to industrialize our food system, we've all got our hands full. That's why we're starting small and planting the seeds to grow a powerful movement. Will you join us by organizing an event in your community to Sow the Seeds of a Fair Farm Bill this April?
The farm bill, a massive piece of legislation that dictates how our food is produced, has historically been dominated by Corporate Ag, pushing the interests of small farmers and consumers aside in order to secure huge profits. We're ready for a change, but change is going to start small. This spring, in celebration of a new growing season, we're helping communities across the country plant the seeds for better food, starting at home.
Sign up to organize a "Sowing the Seeds of a Fair Farm Bill" event in your community!
On Saturday, April 16th, 2011, communities across the country will be coming together to show support for a better food system. Whether it's by starting a community garden, planting seeds with local youth, coming together for a community potluck, or however your community chooses to celebrate good food — these events will help to grow the movement, starting in your community.
Help grow the movement. Sign up to host an event here:
http://action.foodandwaterwatch.org/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=5844
Food & Water Watch
kkiefer(at)fwwatch(dot)org
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....piggybacking on Farm Bill by Xerces Society:
POLLINATOR ACTION REQUEST: Oppose funding cuts to farm bill conservation programs in current budget
Participate in a nationwide effort by calling your U.S. Senators this Wednesday - Thursday (March 9 - 10), and tell them you oppose cuts to funding for farm bill conservation programs that help ranchers and farmers improve habitat for native and managed pollinators and other wildlife.
Just make two calls to the U.S. Capitol Switchboard at 202-224-3121, and ask for each of your Senators.
You can either make your points to the staffer who answers the phone or ask to be put through to the legislative assistant who handles agriculture.
Suggested talking points:
• Hi, my name is XXX; and I live in YYY.
• I am calling to urge the Senator to oppose cuts in this year's budget to funding for farm bill conservation programs that help farmers and ranchers improve habitat for native and managed pollinators and other wildlife.
• Bees and other pollinators that help produce much of the food we eat and healthy wildlife ecosystems are in trouble, and scientists point to habitat loss as a major cause
• The 2008 Farm Bill for the first time included provisions to help increase habitat for native pollinators and honey bees through USDA's conservation programs
• I am particularly concerned because the House recently passed a budget containing significant funding cuts in many of these conservation programs.
Add any other points to express your personal views.
If you take time to voice your support for pollinator conservation funding, you will be part of a coordinated grassroots effort by conservation, wildlife and environmental organizations in the Farm Bill Conservation Coalition. The shared objective is for Senate offices to hear overwhelming support (like a buzzing swarm of bees!) on March 9-10 from constituents for conservation funding.
NO, you don't need to be an expert. You just need to care enough to pick up the phone!
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17. Cal-IPC's 2011 Wildland Weed Field Courses!
Eight upcoming field courses will train natural resource managers and restoration volunteers on all aspects of invasive weed management.
Registration and course details at |