Our chapter is looking for people who can contribute to our chapter’s highest governing board. Our ExCom ensures that our finances are in good condition, discusses and votes on important issues, engages in policymaking, appoints committee chairs, and writes bylaws as well as standing rules. ExCom members are elected each November for two-year terms starting in January, and can serve for a maximum of three consecutive two-year terms, after which they are eligible to run again after a one-year hiatus. If interested, please contact our Nomination Committee. The application deadline is July 20, 2025.
Sign the Petition to Save San Bruno Mountain
A massive threat looms over one of our most cherished natural treasures. San Bruno Mountain is not just any mountain, it is a sanctuary for endangered butterflies, a haven for rare plants, and a refuge of unparalleled ecological significance. The proposed project threatens to unravel the delicate balance of this natural treasure, and we urge you to take action to protect it.
The City of Brisbane is considering a plan to build a massive 1.3 million-square-foot warehouse, 100 feet tall, right in the heart of San Bruno Mountain, at the historic Guadalupe Quarry. This industrial facility would bring hundreds of workers (1,500!) and an incredible amount of traffic through our city and into the heart of sensitive habitat. Sign the petition today!
Environmental Stewardship Program
Backyard Ecology, Healthy Soils, and Biodiversity June 12th | 7:00 pm
The term, biodiversity applies to everything that lives in your yard: trees, plants, lizards, birds, bees, even algae. You can make a difference, create healthy soil, and support pollinators and beneficial insects by creating diverse habitats in your garden and along your street. These gardens and streets enhance biodiversity, improve ecosystem health, and offer food, shelter, and breeding grounds for a wide variety of birds, animals and insects, including bees and butterflies, while also promoting human health and happiness. Register today.
Speaker: Native Plant Gardens, Elaine Salinger, Sierra Club Executive Member
Home Hardening Against Wildfires
Wildfires are California's most common natural disaster, and up to 90 percent of home losses experienced during wildfires are due to wind-driven flying embers. The Loma Prieta Forest Protection Committee advocates home hardening as the most proven strategy to protect property and rejects the false solution of environmentally harmful and extreme backcountry forest thinning.
No housing materials are completely fireproof, but there are materials to enhance a home’s fire resistance and lower the risk of losing it to wildfire. Read the full article.
Join our Bay Alive Campaign Watchdog Network!
Now that the Bay Area has approved region-wide guidelines for shoreline community sea level rise plans, it's now for us, at the grassroots, to ensure that all of the local plans are the strongest they can be and developed as quickly as possible.
If you couldn't make our recent webinar and still want to learn how you can join our watchdog network, you can watch the webinar recording, complete our volunteer interest form, and we'll be in touch!
Watch our sea level rise videos to learn the threats that come with sea level rise, what's at risk, and solutions we can use to adapt and protect the Bay.
The Brisbane Baylands Project is Big
Have you heard about the Brisbane Baylands Project? It's a big deal. It involves significant changes for 680 acres of Brisbane, including the addition of 2,200 housing units (1159 single family homes and the rest high density housing) and adding 6.5 M square feet of retail, commercial, office, conference and research and development space, a hotel, a new middle school, and removing 4,300,000 cubic yards of fill from the eastern portion of the plan area and transporting 2,500,000 cubic yards of fill to the western portion of the plan area. The plan requires remediation of contaminated soils from use as landfill cover and replacing 1,800,000 cubic yards of soil over an improved landfill cap.
Who will oversee remediation of contaminated soils? What is planned for development directly over the landfill cap? How will soil transport be carried out environmentally responsibly? How will traffic be affected? What are your concerns?
Learn how nature can help us fight sea level rise with cost-effective and sustainable solutions. Watch recordings of our webinar series with SF Bay experts and please share with your local elected officials.
Soap Lake Ranch Tour - San Benito Agricultural Land Trust
The San Benito Agricultural Land Trust on May 17th hosted a rare opportunity to explore the beauty and history of Soap Lake Ranch in San Benito County! We took a guided walking tour of Soap Lake Ranch that featured its wetlands, wildlife, and conservation efforts. We learned about 1) the wildlife in the wetlands, creek and alkaline meadows, that serve as a wildlife corridor and refuge, 2) the watershed and hydrology of the San Felipe (Soap) Lake region, and 3) the Tribal cultural history of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band on this land. This beautiful land is bound by the Gabilan, Santa Cruz and Diablo ranges. This special Soap Lake Ranch Tour gave us a close look at a protected landscape, rich with biodiversity and history. Thank you San Benito Agricultural Land Trust!
COMMENT LETTERS
Water Storage Investment Program Quarterly Report: Pacheco Reservoir Expansion
"Valley Water’s April 2025 Water Storage Investment Program (WSIP) Quarterly Report for the Pacheco Reservoir and the PowerPoint submitted for the subject agenda item paint a picture of no further obstacles to start construction of the Pacheco Reservoir Project in 2029. However, the Sierra Club sees many potential issues that should be considered before increasing the WSIP award for this project."
333 Ravenswood Avenue (Parkline) - Lane Partners LLC
"This is in reference to the letter the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter’s Sustainable Land Use Committee sent to the City on March 22, 2024, in which we urged the City to set safety standards for biotech development in the City. Since then, we have been following the progress of Menlo Park's planning review of the SRI / Parkline Master Plan and we are very concerned that the large new housing development proposed by Lane Partners is wrapped around an older, existing BSL3 biological laboratory structure on the SRI campus."
Design Level Geotechnical Investigations for the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project Public Draft Environmental Impact Report
"The Sierra Club appreciates the opportunity to evaluate the Design Level Geotechnical Investigations for the Pacheco Reservoir Expansion Project Public Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR). Our comments are detailed below." Comments included the number of helicopter and surface vehicle trips, personnel access to helicopter sites, risk of erosion on steep access routes, water use and water supply, and wildfire risks.
Pacheco Reservoir Project: Spring 2025 Update
It seems there is always something happening related to Valley Water’s Pacheco Reservoir project. In April, the Sierra Club and others submitted comments about the draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR) for geotechnical investigations. On May 21st, the California Water Commission will discuss progress to date on the project to help them decide whether to allocate additional funding. Then, on June 10th or 24th the Valley Water Board of Directors will receive an update on the project which will focus on how Pacheco fits into their Water Supply Master Plan, and on their progress on finding project partners. Read the full update.
Puddles of Water on Mesoplastics are Homes for Breeding Mosquitos
Besides harms caused by micro and nano plastics, mesoplastic or large pieces of plastic trash strewn around the globe have been found to encourage viral vectors by creating homes for puddles of water and breeding mosquitoes. Dr. Angelle Desiree LaBeaud, professor in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Stanford University’s School of Medicine, found "when we were investigating why children were getting sick with fevers ... we found ... mosquitoes were breeding mostly in ... plastic trash scattered around the breeding sites." Plastic is not a harmless substance. It interacts with other environmental factors that include heat, water, sunlight, chemical additives and more. Join the SCLP Plastic Pollution Prevention Committee as we explore how to educate ourselves and others on how to identify and address plastic's growing list of harms inflicted on the environment and public health.
We finished Earth Month 2025 by tabling at PelicanFest 2025 in Pacifica and Love Our Earth Festival 2025 in Menlo Park. We spoke with many people at these celebrations, both held on April 26th, about our Chapter work and the current direction of the Bay Alive Campaign.
Earlier in the month we also participated in Foster City's and San Jose State University's Earth Day Celebrations. Thanks to everyone that took time to speak with us.
In the Community
Habitat Day (June 7th), Cleanup (June 8th and 21st), Trashy Tuesday (June 10th) and BioBlitz (June 14th) 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.
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.
In History
May 25th, 1803, Ralph Waldo Emerson's birthday May 27th, 1907, Rachel Carson's birthday May 28th, 1892, Sierra Club's birthday
"Hope is not something you have. Hope is something you create, with your actions."
