Our Plastic Pollution Prevention Team Chair, Susan Hinton, is speaking at an Earth Day presentation hosted by Saratoga High School Environmental Action Club.
We're hosting a presentation on Regenerative Agriculture: Sequestering Carbon and Other Benefits.
Our Plastic Pollution Prevention Team will be tabling at the Environmental Literacy Summit.
Plus, our comment letters encouraging the use of natural grass instead of artificial turf.
Save-the-Date: 2024 Guardians of Nature Benefit
We are excited to announce that the 2024 Guardians of Nature Honoree is Congresswoman Anna Eshoo.
This year the Guardians of Nature Benefit will be Friday, October 4th, from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m.
Make sure to reserve this evening to acknowledge Congresswoman Eshoo's decades of dedication to environmental protection and stewardship, while enjoying the company of fellow Sierrans and friends dedicated to preserving our precious environment.
Stay tuned for more event updates. The sponsorship opportunities will be available soon; pledge yours here.
Save the date, mark your calendars, and join us as we celebrate Congresswoman Anna Eshoo, a true Guardian of Nature!
Mountain View: Show That Nature in Parks is Important to You!
Sierra Club supporters in Mountain View: take the opportunity to show your city that nature in parks is important to you!
The City of Mountain View is updating its Parks and Recreation Strategic Plan and has created a community-wide survey to help shape policy for the next 10-15 years. We encourage our members in Mountain View to take this survey (deadline of April 30th).
Questions 15, 19, and 23 give us the opportunity to tell Mountain View that nature is important to us!
Forest Protection Forum
California Forests Aren’t Fuel: Golden State Natural Resources’ (GSNR) Biomass Boondoggle April 15th, 4:00 pm
FeaturingRita Vaughan Frost, Forest Advocate at Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
Questions about environmental safety and community health loom over the greenwashed industry and proposed export scheme. Two proposed wood pellet plants in California will create industrial-scale facilities in Tuolumne and Lassen counties, exporting one million tons a year out of Stockton to overseas energy markets. Learn more and register.
Your Action Needed! Let’s Create Positive Change Together
By now, you should have received our spring invitation to lend your support in protecting our regional environment. If you've already responded, we extend our heartfelt thanks. If not, please take a moment to reply to our appeal, especially since only with your help can we continue safeguarding our air, water, land, and the well-being of all creatures that rely on them. Learn more about where your gift, regardless of its size, will help us make a tangible impact. Thank you for being an integral part of our mission.
Regenerative Agriculture: Sequestering Carbon and Other Benefits
April 22nd, 7:00 - 8:30 pm
West Valley Branch Library, San Jose
Celebrate Earth Day with our Guadalupe Regional Group. Social and Snacks 7:00-7:30 PM, followed by the presentation. Co-sponsored with the San Jose Public Library. Learn more and register.
Regenerative farming starts with applying compost to the soil, adding inoculation with fungi, and low-till seeding. Agriculture may realize regenerative farming benefits by using cover crops, annual mulch applications, and planting perennial trees, vines, herb crops, and annual vegetable crops.
Black Skimmers at Risk
This is the second of an awareness through artwork series, by our 16 year-old volunteer Aiden Chen, that we introduced in January.
Nests made by skimmers are on beaches and are vulnerable to flooding from sea level rise. Areas that skimmers settle in tend to also be frequented by humans, who trample and destroy nests. To conserve and save these birds, Sierra Club's Bay Alive and 30x30 campaigns promote the use of nature based solutions to protect the San Francisco Bay wetlands, associated habitats, and human communities from sea level rise. The 30x30 campaign works to conserve 30% of California’s lands and waters by 2030. Learn more.
South San Francisco Bay Shoreline Sunnyvale Project Feasibility Study
"Further studies would be needed to develop appropriate strategies based on a closer study of the shoreline conditions by a science-based organization such as San Francisco Estuary Institute. Natural infrastructure typically offers 'no-regret” or “low-regret' options due to their incremental implementation and monitoring requirements, potentially yielding lower upfront costs and greater flexibility over time. Moreover, they provide invaluable ecosystem services that safeguard important wildlife habitats and create new and restored habitats, while simultaneously reducing our communities’ vulnerability and enhancing resilience."
Priority Conservation Area Refresh Draft Final Report
"The comments expressed within this letter reflect a narrowed focus on the San Francisco Bay and shoreline, and arise from an awareness that the combined impacts of our pattern of building to the edges of the Bay, decreasing sediment supplies to the Bay, continued development along our shorelines, and rising sea levels, will result in significant adverse impacts to the health of the Bay ecosystem and the resilience of our shoreline communities if we fail to take appropriate action now. [...] We continue to urge that the nomination process be extended beyond cities, counties and open space districts. Local community based organization (CBO’s) and environmental groups are oftentimes more attuned to the issues, needs and desires of the community than local agencies. Local environmental groups are usually the source of information regarding important local biological resources that should be conserved, or lands that could provide migration space for habitats and resilience for the community."
Heron and the Green Crayon
California's Senate Bill 272, passed in the fall, requires coastal cities and towns to develop plans for adapting to sea level rise - while giving them the flexibility to develop their own approaches. What could this mean for wildlife? Let the Heron and the Green Crayon show you.
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.
San Mateo Interstate 101: Freeway Expansion vs. Lane Conversion
"The Sierra Club is opposed to freeway expansions such as adding a new lane, for an Express Lane, on Interstate 101 from I-380 to the San Francisco border. High occupancy vehicle (HOV) and high occupancy vehicle/toll (HOT) lanes should come from converting existing highway lanes rather than constructing new lanes."
Volunteer with our Event Planning Team
We are looking for enthusiastic people who love organizing parties to help us with our annual Guardians of Nature Benefit. Join our fantastic team of staff and volunteers, gain hands-on experience in event planning and coordination, and connect with fellow Chapter members. Here is your chance to make a meaningful positive impact while having plenty of fun.
I’m proud to say I worked with the local Hollister advocacy group Don’t Dump on San Benito to halt a major expansion of the John Smith Road Landfill. The project proposed to expand the landfill from 95 to 483 acres, to increase the allowed height from 920 to 949 feet, and to increase the daily tonnage limit from 1,000 to 2,300 tons per day. 90% of the waste would be imported from outside of San Benito County. Read more!
Comment Letter to San Mateo County Office of Sustainability
"We are very concerned that many of the approaches to resiliency that municipalities are considering do not acknowledge the potential impact on the environment. We believe there are vital environmentally sensitive solutions to consider in the Safety / Resiliency Element, and would like to engage further with the County in detail on each of the following topics."
Statewide Plastics Monitoring Strategy
On Tuesday, March 19 the San Francisco Estuary Institute, in concert with and under the direction of the California Ocean Protection Council held the first of several meetings to gather stakeholder input for a mandated Statewide Plastics Monitoring Strategy.
The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter Plastic Pollution Prevention Team (PPP) joined the meeting as a stakeholder. The PPP Team has been active in local cities and school districts, advocating for natural grass or plants in place of artificial turf and, in 2023, the City of Sunnyvale agreed to add a natural grass athletic field to Lakewood Park in lieu of plastic turf. The PPP Team continues to educate the public, and give presentations online and in person on this topic. Read more.
Peninsula Clean Energy
"It is very encouraging to hear that PCE is offering funds in its Community Reinvestment Package for local energy resources, including microgrids. We hope to publicize this among city officials in San Mateo and will be asking them to pinpoint a location for a microgrids project; [...] This envisioned microgrids entity will serve as a demonstration project in the city and will have a practical purpose as well because it will provide backup power to residents during times of grid outage. We hope that the existence of this microgrids entity will motivate city residents to consider rooftop solar/battery backup microgrids for their own homes. It would help facilitate such local clean energy microgrids projects if PCE forms a small task force whose part-time responsibility is to assist local officials with their clean energy projects." Read the full letter.
In the Community
Naturalist Training webinar (Why City Nature Challenge Matters, April 17th), Restoration (April 20th), Weeding for Wildlife (April 21st), and two BioBlitzes (April 28th) from our friends at Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful.
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: Do you love our fabulous local wildlife? Would you like to truly make a difference in protecting local nature? You can!
Join a dedicated, experienced and successful group of volunteers on the Loma Prieta Chapter's Wildlife Committee, which works to protect hundreds of local species.
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.
Historic Dates
April 21st, 1838, John Muir's B'day
The Loma Prieta Chapter was founded in 1933; what other famous births happened that year?
April 15, Elizabeth Montgomery, television actress (died 1995)
April 15, Roy Clark, country musician
April 19, Jayne Mansfield, film actress and mother of Mariska Hargitay (died 1967)
April 25, Jerry Leiber, popular music composer (d. 2011)
April 26, Carol Burnett, actress, singer and comedian
April 30, Willie Nelson, country singer-songwriter
2024.04.06 Chapter Director's hike with DHS in Pacheco State Park: 15.1 miles, 2,900 ft elevation gain. In 1867, from the Pacheo Pass on the edge of this park, John Muir first saw the Sierra Nevada Range, then walked there.
[On a Sierra Club Outing, author Albert Palmer tells of a conversation he had with John Muir on the trail. He asked Muir, "someone told me you did not approve of the word 'hike'. Is that so?” Muir's blue eyes flashed, and with his Scotch accent he replied]:
"I don't like either the word or the thing. People ought to saunter in the mountains - not hike! Do you know the origin of that word 'saunter?' It's a beautiful word. Away back in the Middle Ages people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when people in the villages through which they passed asked where they were going, they would reply, 'A la sainte terre,' 'To the Holy Land.' And so they became known as sainte-terre-ers or saunterers.
Now these mountains are our Holy Land, and we ought to saunter through them reverently"
