YOU Can Make a Difference; Read How in This eNewsletter
► Save San Bruno Mountain by adding your name to our petition.
► Serve local conservation by running to be on our Executive Committee.
► Learn about Fire Hazard Severity Zones.
► Celebrate local hero Garnetta Annable at our 2025 Guardians of Nature Benefit.
► Protect your city and the San Francisco Bay by joining our Bay Alive Campaign Watchdog Network to ensure shoreline community sea level rise plans are as strong as they can be.
► Take a hike! See the comprehensive list of Chapter activities available through July.
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
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.
What is a Fire Hazard Severity Zone?
Fire Hazard Severity Zones (FHSZs) in State Responsibility Areas (SRAs) are geographic areas determined by the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE).
Fire Hazard Severity Zones in Local Responsibility Areas (LRAs) are designated by local agencies, such as city or county governments, with guidance from CAL FIRE. CAL FIRE provides recommendations, but local authorities determine the final classification and adoption of these zones.
Celebrate Environmental Leadership: Garnetta Annable at 2025 Guardians of Nature Benefit
We are thrilled to announce that the 2025 Guardians of Nature Benefit will honor Garnetta Annable, a pioneering local land conservationist and a founding member of the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority. Join us on Friday, October 10th at 6:00 pm at Mitchell Park Community Center to celebrate Garnetta's inspiring legacy and to empower regional environmental advocacy. Sponsorships and tickets are available. Read Garnetta's full biography and learn more about how you can become involved and attend the event for free.
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.
Sea Level Rise Webinar Series
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.
Environmental Stewardship Program Social and Native Garden Tour
June 21st | 10:00 am - 1:00 pm Palo Alto Demonstration Garden
Meet at the Palo Alto Demonstration Garden (PADG), located at Eleanor Pardee Community Gardens, on Center Drive near Martin Street for a Native Garden Tour. An Environmental Stewardship Program social will follow the tour. Registration is required.
"The Recent New Introduction of Sudden Oak Death and its Implications for California Forests" June 23rd | 4:00 pm
The first part of the talk will detail what Sudden Oak Death (SOD) is and the progress made through research in the last 25 years. The biology of the SOD pathogen and the epidemiology of the disease will be discussed, with a focus on what can be done to slow down the disease. The second part of the talk will show how Citizen Science discovered a recent (circa 2018) new introduction of the pathogen in multiple locations of the Bay Area. This new introduction potentially puts our forests at greater risk than the first one and needs to be controlled. Register today.
Loma Prieta Military Outdoors
Sierra Club Military Outdoors special program provides free training for Veterans and their family members. Join us to enjoy fresh air, spectacular views and excellent exercise.
"It has become extremely clear during the years in which the study has been in progress that any expanded uses along Monterey Road in Coyote Valley would be inconsistent with the requirements of the General Plan. General Plan policies regarding the Urban Service Area, Urban Growth Boundary, agricultural land, and environmental goals for Coyote Valley all prohibit the type of expanded uses and development that have been proposed by Coyote Valley landowners during the study."
Oppose Excessive Appeal Fees; Support Stronger Tree Protection Instead
"The undersigned organizations oppose the proposed increase in Heritage Tree removal appeal fees1. Raising the fee from $50 to $650, and eventually $1,250, unfairly burdens residents who are often stepping forward to uphold the City’s own tree protection goals."
Valley Water’s Draft Water Supply Master Plan 2050
"The Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter will provide comments to staff on the Draft Water Supply Master Plan 2050 (Plan), but there are a few items we want to bring to the Board’s attention regarding the staff report for this agenda item. In general, we want to see more transparency in this plan with detailed explanation of how modeling and other information was used to formulate the Plan, and how staff analysis led to the conclusions in the Plan."
Support for Wildfire Detection Sensor Pilot Program
"On behalf of the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter we are writing to express our strong support for the wildfire detection sensor pilot program outlined in item #11 of the May 20th, 2025, Board of Supervisors agenda. Early detection of wildfires is a critical tool that can save lives, protect our environment, and prevent billions of dollars in damages. As climate change continues to increase the frequency and severity of wildfires, adopting proactive technology such as AI sensors has never been more important."
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."
Soap Lake Ranch Tour by 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!
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.
In the Community
Cleanup (June 21st and July 6th), and Restoration (June 22nd) 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: Good news is rare these days, so we are especially happy to share that POST has purchased a significant portion—2,467 acres—of Sargent Ranch in Santa Clara County. Combined with a previous acquisition of 1,340 acres in Santa Cruz County, POST now owns roughly two-thirds of the entire Sargent Ranch property.
The portion of Sargent Ranch where sand and gravel mining is proposed is not part of the POST acquisition. However, the CEQA review process for the quarry appears to have halted for now. Although this broader story is still unfolding, this purchase is a meaningful victory for land conservation.
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.
From a recent newsletter by local longtime environmentalist Jake Sigg "You don’t need belief. All you need is confusion. That’s how authoritarian leaders manage to control the populace, the great German political philosopher Hannah Arendt once explained." “If everybody always lies to you, the consequence is not that you believe the lies, but rather that nobody believes anything any longer,” she said in an interview nearly five decades ago. When that happens, people lose the capacity not only to act but even to think and judge. “And with such a people,” she concluded grimly, “you can then do what you please.” "The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists." [Editors Note] So, hitch your wagon to a group that spreads truth and facts: Loma Prieta Chapter.
