Loma Prieta Chapter's eNewsletter: January, Volume 1
January 13, 2024
YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Read recent news articles on bird strikes and the Millbrae and Burlingame Shoreline Area Enhancement Project featuring our volunteer leaders and staff.
► Learn about the newfangled horizontal levees rising across the Bay.
► Gain a glimpse into the future Bay coastline by witnessing king tides.
► Read our joint letter regarding informational updates and feedback on the development of Valley Water's Water Supply Master Plan 2050.
► Attend our Forest Protection Forum on January 22nd.
► Take a hike! See the comprehensive list of activities available with your chapter into early January.
Thank you for your generosity!
A heartfelt thank you to all the fantastic supporters who recently made a year-end gift! Your financial contribution inspires and enables our critical environmental advocacy for Dark Skies, Bird Safe Designs, the protection of San Francisco Bay, and more. We are deeply grateful for your commitment to making a positive impact and are excited about the prospects that 2024 brings. Your Loma Prieta Chapter's environmental successes are a testament to the collective strength of our extraordinary community.
Collisions with Buildings are Killing Millions of Birds Nationwide
"A dark-sky movement to save them is sweeping the Bay Area. Several cities have passed or are drafting laws restricting light pollution while making windows easier for birds to see."
Featuring Shani Kleinhaus, Environmental Advocate with Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society and member of Sierra Club Loma Prieta's Executive Committee, and Dashiell Leeds, Loma Prieta's Conservation Coordinator.
Congratulations to Jayah Faye Paley on winning this year’s Guardians of Nature Award for Outings Leadership! In an interview, I had the chance to talk to her about her background and work with local environmental organizations and her advice for others that want to volunteer and make this world a better place. Read the full interview.
[Image: Lisa Barboza (left) and Jayah Faye Paley (right) at the Coyote Hills Veterans Veterans Day Wander and Wonder Hike.
Newfangled Horizontal Levees Rise (Gently) Across the Bay
Our Bay Alive Campaign heavily emphasizes the value and importance of using “natural and nature-based adaptation strategies," wherever feasible, to protect our Bay shoreline from sea level rise impacts. Horizontal levees are a great example of effective nature-based solutions. Although man-made, their gradual, vegetated slopes allow shoreline ecosystems to migrate upland as water rises, sustaining Bayland biodiversity and also allowing us to continue to benefit from the critical ecoservices our living shoreline provides: carbon sequestration, water purification, wave attenuation and flood retention. We’re thrilled that more and more Bay communities are pursuing this option, including an ambitious pilot project in Palo Alto’s Baylands!
LTE from Bay Alive Volunteer Gita Dev Published in the San Mateo Daily Journal
OneShoreline is an intergovernmental agency that creates plans for climate adaptation impacts, and has recently come forward with a sea level rise flood protection plan. Regarding that plan, Sierra Club Bay Alive Campaign Vice-Chair and Loma Prieta Chapter Sustainable Land Use Committee Chair Gita Dev wrote a letter to the editor in the San Mateo Daily Journal.
“[the plan] proposes a 2.65-mile offshore barrier, with tidal gates, encroaching into the Bay, despite a 50-year old state law forbidding such actions to preserve the Bay’s ecology and reverse damage caused by landfill and garbage dumping.” Read the full letter.
Concerns Over Sea Barrier Grow
As we’ve previously reported, the Bay Alive Campaign has raised significant concerns about a precedent-setting proposal by San Mateo County’s Flood and Sea Level Rise Resiliency District, OneShoreline, to build a 2.65 mile offshore barrier off the Bay coast of Millbrae/Burlingame from the San Francisco Airport to the northern edge of San Mateo. We’re collaborating with fellow environmental organizations to highlight the challenges this project presents, and the press is taking note! Read quotes from Bay Alive volunteer leader Gita Dev in this San Mateo Daily Journal article!
Sea Level Rise Webinar Series
How can local cities and residents use nature-basedadaptations to sea level rise? Watch recordings of our webinar series with SF Bay experts and please share with your local elected officials.
King Tides Offer Glimpse of Future Coastlines
King tides (extreme high and low tides) typically occur during a full or new moon when the gravitational force between the Moon and Earth is the highest. Today’s king tides provide an important glimpse into what our Bay coastline will look like as a result of climate change. Sea levels are rising due to the melting of land-based ice, such as glaciers, but also due to the thermal expansion of water as Earth’s temperature rises. If our region doesn’t plan now for adaptive solutions to sea level rise, the flooding and other impacts we see from today’s king tides could become a daily occurrence in the not-too-distant future. Future king tides will raise water levels above that new normal. Read more.
Comment Letter: Informational Update and Providing Feedback on the Development of Valley Water’s Water Supply Master Plan 2050
"The Sierra Club appreciates any opportunity to provide input on the Water Supply Master Plan update, especially early in the process. Please consider the following comments and suggestions based on the information provided about the Plan update so far.
Why Recent Wildfires are the Salvation of Giant Sequoia Groves
January 22nd
4:00 pm
Land management agencies and some politicians have been repeatedly telling the public and the press that recent lightning fires are a profound threat to iconic Giant Sequoia groves, and that only industrial forest management and further wildfire suppression can save the groves. These claims are being used to advance a dangerous logging bill, deceptively named the "Save Our Sequoias Act". Learn more and register.
Valley Water Board to Discuss Six Topics Related to Pacheco Reservoir Project in 2024
Valley Water’s proposal to construct a huge new dam and reservoir would result in huge environmental costs and questionable benefits. The Valley Water Board of Directors is set to discuss six topics related to the Pacheco Dam project during regular Board meetings starting on January 23rd: proposed operations and benefits; environmental impacts and mitigation measures; 2050 Water Supply Master Plan portfolio recommendation; project costs; partnership approach; and requirements unique to the project. Read more.
Environmental Book Club
Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter World
By John Vaillant
Book Discussion: February 10th, 10:00 am
A NEW YORK TIMES TOP TEN BOOK OF THE YEAR • FINALIST FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD IN NONFICTION • A stunning account of a colossal wildfire and a panoramic exploration of the rapidly changing relationship between fire and humankind from the award-winning, best-selling author of The Tiger and The Golden Spruce
National Park Entrance Fees Waived
The National Park Service announced that entrance fees would be waived on the following six dates in 2024 (at those sites that charge them):
January 15 — Martin Luther King Jr. Day April 20 — First Day of National Park Week June 19 — Juneteenth August 4 — Great American Outdoors Day September 28 — National Public Lands Day November 11 — Veterans Day
When I was eight, I loved to embroider pictures of trees on my t-shirts. By 12, I had made my own tipi from duck canvas that I sewed together, found fallen pine saplings for poles, and erected my tipi in a special place in the worshipping woods, off trail. This explains a lot. I moved on to being a birder, and getting trained in Wildlife Biology. Read more.
Lisa Barboza Chapter Executive Committee member, Guadalupe Region Group Chair, Chapter Outings Chair, Peak Climbing Section Chair, Sierra Club Military Outdoors Chair
Water Committee Needs a Chairperson (or Chairpeople)!
The Water Committee (which is actually a subcommittee of the Conservation Committee) needs a new chairperson as our long-time chair Katja Irvin moves on to serve as Conservation Chair for the Guadalupe Regional Group. Co-chair Carol Steinfeld will stay on to help the new chair. Duties involve facilitating the monthly meeting and compiling the agenda as well as speaking at water agency meetings as appropriate. But all of this is negotiable! Join our next meeting in January to learn more or contact Carol at water@lomaprieta.sierraclub.org.
Comment Letter: Santa Clara County Fairgrounds Athletic Fields
While applauding adding a sports complex in southeast San Jose, I would like our California San Francisco Bay Area leaders to be known for leading the nation away from plastics based athletic fields. I am also concerned about the potential of powerful sports field lighting to add significant nightly light pollution. Read the full letter.
Susan Hinton Chair, Plastic Pollution Prevention Team
Environmental Stewardship Program
Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter
In the Community
Cleanups (January 15th and 28th), and a BioBlitz (January 20th) from our friends at Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful.
"The Future of Dams" in-person and virtual presentation, January 29th, noon - 1:30 pm, from our friends at Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District.
One of the best ways to safeguard a thriving and just future is by ensuring that your Loma Prieta Chapter remains a champion for the environment of Santa Clara, San Mateo, and San Benito Counties. Naming us as a beneficiary in your bequest will provide meaningful and enduring resources that will allow continued local and powerful environmental activism.
Please contact our Chapter Development Coordinator Justyna Guterman for the specific language for your estate planning and/or read more here. For additional information about planning a bequest please contact Julia Curtis, (800) 932-4270.
Your connection: Our team helped put our resolution and the state resolution together, was at the Coastal Commission session, and spoke against the plastic grass. Plastic grass is toxic, especially for young children. We encourage you to reject it at your schools or neighborhood. Learn more about and join our Plastics Pollution Prevention Conservation Sub-Committee.
Your connection: Newsom’s California Public Utilities Commission once more sides with PG&E against the climate, as expected. You can take action by volunteering with Climate Action Leadership Team and/or Environmental Legislative Action.
"Under the new rules, “schools will not be permitted to generate their own power any longer. Instead, they’ll be forced to buy their own solar back from utilities at full price,” said Sasha Horwitz, a legislative advocate at the Los Angeles Unified School District. He said the changes would make it harder for the school district to achieve its 100% clean energy goal, “hurting our ability to reduce emissions, electrify our schools and invest in safe, healthy learning environments for our children.”"
Photographers, see the great images in our Chapter Annual Summaries and help protect local nature with your images! Share with us your high-resolution photos of local nature, with or without people, to inspire local residents to support Loma Prieta Chapter work. Please contact Chapter Development Coordinator Justyna Guterman.
2024.01.01 Chapter Director's hike with Day Hiking Section in Ed Levin Park: 15 miles, 3500 ft elev gain. The highest point in the distance, the highest peak in the Santa Cruz Mountains, is our namesake, Loma Prieta.
"This country has been swinging the hammer of development so long and so hard that
it has forgotten the anvil of wilderness which gave value and significance to its labors.
The momentum of our blows is so unprecedented that the remaining remnant of wilderness
will be pounded into road-dust long before we find out its values."
