Shoreline Advocates' very successful Feb. 23 meeting more than lived up to our goal of information sharing and fostering collaborations. Thank you to all who attended and welcome to new attendees representing Garber Park Stewards and Marin Conservation League. Read on for an event recap, upcoming events and more ways to stay connected.
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Sejal Choksi, San Francisco Baykeeper, outlined how the "mystery goo" that killed Bay diving birds showed our lack of preparedness for spills that don't involve oil. Basically, the oil industry pays for a quick-response system for oil spills, but it can't be used for other pollutants. Baykeeper is working on proposed fixes that we can support. Meanwhile, Patty Donald of Shorebird Nature Center and others exchanged information that should help with a collaborative response in future.
Julian Wood of Point Blue (former PRBO) demonstrated their new interactive Future Marshes maps (http://data.prbo.org/apps/
Several groups pooled their understanding of the Association of Bay Area Governments' effort to have local governments nominate Priority Conservation Areas (PCA) by (http://abag.ca.gov/priority/
This outgrowth of ABAG's designating Priority Development Areas, this designation might lead to funding. ABAG is seeking natural landscapes, farmland, urban green areas, and parks that should be protected - and also areas that need these because of pollution, public health, or future dense development. All agreed that time is short (city councils have to approve nominations) and that we are far from clear on what should be nominated!
Scroll down to read a recap from Margot on the PCA Urban Greening Webinar held on Feb. 17.
Sincerely,
Citizens for East Shore Parks and Friends of Five Creeks
Shoreline Advocates: shorelineadvocates@gmail.com
Upcoming events
Friends of Five Creeks Bay Currents Talks continue on 2nd Tuesdays, March 10, & April 14 - 7 PM, St. Albans Parish Hall - 1501 Washington Ave. (at Curtis), Albany. These talks focus on Bay Area nature and environmental issues emphasizing positive solutions.
3/10: What Your Bird Guide Tells You about Evolution - Alan Kaplan
4/14: How the East Bay Got its Forest - Jerry Kent
The Berkeley Bay Festival takes place on Saturday, April 11th. This is an excellent place to meet again and share what your organization's work with the public. To get involved send an email to: naturecenter@cityofberkeley.
The San Francisco Bay Shoreline Advocacy Event steering committee:
Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge
Citizens for East Shore Parks
Friends of Five Creeks
Golden Gate Audubon Society
Mare Island Heritage Trust
San Francisco Baykeeper
Sierra Club, San Francisco Bay and Loma Prieta Chapters
Notes from PCA Urban Greening Webinar, Tuesday, Feb. 17
Here's a transcription of my
notes from the urban greening webinar. -Margot
Urban greening and PCA's, Adam
Garcia, Greenbelt Alliance
4 types of PCA's: agricultural,
natural lands, regional recreation, and urban greening
Submit PCA nominations to appropriate
planning bodies by the 1st week of March
ABAG receives all nominations
by May 30
Funding reviewed every 4 years as
tied to Regional Transportation Plan and One Bay Area Grant funding; next
review 2017
North bay county funds administered
by Congestion Management Agencies, south bay county funds administered by
Coastal Conservancy
Urban greening is defined as
strategically planned and managed networks of natural lands, working
landscapes, and other open spaces that conserve ecosystem values and functions
and proves benefits to humans
Example: creek daylighting along
trail good for fish and humans
Other examples around bay area:
Alameda-urban farming and Parks
Master Plan
El Cerrito-network of green places
to accommodate infill
Richmond-urban forestry, landscape
and growth maintenance district plan
Trust for Public Land, Bob Heuer,
Assoc GIS Director, Santa Fe, NM
On the TPL website Parkscore Index
rates parks systems in the 60 largest cities in the US, according to acreage,
service and investment, and access
Identifies areas in need of parks
Park Evaluator is a geodesign tool
that plans where cities can put parks
Draws boundaries, access points,
can see how many people will be served
Park Optimizer models where the
best places would be to put parks
Urban Biofilter, Marisha
Farnsworth, Brent
AdaptOakland.org,
project of Urban Biofilter
Identifies sources of urban
pollution, then natural ways to filter
Storm water systems are overloaded
and climate change will cause flooding; bio filtering can alleviate these
Urban forests capture particulate
matter, improve soils, decrease flooding, and decrease heat island affects
Caltrans lands are abundant in west
Oakland, may not be the most scenic, but can be made more aesthetic through
sound wall vegetation, for example
Funding through storm water
mitigation and air quality mitigation
Oakland Food Policy Council, Brian
Fulfrost
Urban Agricultural Mapping
Need--food access, social equity
Potential--parcels (parks, open
space, vacant lands), buildings (blue roof, green roof)
Environmental variables of solar
exposure, urban heat islands, aerial photos review, soil and hydrology
USDA low income, low access areas
(what used to be called food deserts)
Overlay needs with potentials using
GIS
SF Estuary Partnership (part of
ABAG), Jennifer Krebs
She does PCA designations for water
pollution prevention
Green infrastructure uses natural
hydrological features to manage water and provide environmental and community
benefits
Funding sources are insufficient
Examples:
1. Newcomb Ave, SF, Bayview
District traffic calming and storm water infiltration
2. Fremont tree well filters,
better than just planting trees along street
3. San Pablo Ave in El
Cerrito--biofilters along sidewalks
Need to develop integrated funding
strategies in association with capital improvement projects
Green Plan Bay Area, greenplanit.sfei.org
Ranks where to put green
infrastructure
San Mateo using this in their
sustainable streets plan
San Jose using it for storm water
mapping and urban village planning
Greenbelt Alliance, Adam Garcia
Have maps on their web site to show
where greening needed
4 examples--
1. PCA urban greening approach with
these overlays:
Water- storm water, sea level rise,
quality and supply
Health- urban heat island, food,
parks, pollution
Wildlife- aquatic/wildlife habitat
2. Sea level rise map:
Bay lands buffer sea level rise
Trails and bikeway on levees buffer
sea level rise and provide recreation
Wastewater treatment facilities may
flood with sea level rise, causing pollution
3. Urban heat island effects and
pollution:
Riparian, urban forests, open space
areas provide buffers and CO storage
Shows where urban greening needed
4. Parks and recreation
development:
To mitigate pollution and urban
heat islands
Shows creeks, schools, trails,
PCA's
Guides where to put new parks, urban farms
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