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The public draft of EACCS plan was released in early September, 2010. EBCNPS has been intimately involved in this planning process with support from the Rare Plant Committee and Conservation Committee members.
Looking northward from Springtown
Although we still believe the plan lacks some critical elements, we believe that the Steering Committee has produced a workable first draft that can help instruct subsequent iterations of the project.
Our concern about reserve design and landscape planning still seems disregarded in this process and we are working with the Steering Committee on ways in which a “conservation and mitigation plan” could indicate specific “high priority” areas so that mitigation doesn’t occur aimlessly over a 270,000 acre landscape.
Here are our EACCS comments on public draft. Final comments are due by Monday Oct 18th, 5pm to:
Mary Lim Zone 7 Water Agency 100 North Canyons Parkway Livermore, CA 94551 mlim@zone7water.com
Desert olive scrub at Carnegie OHV expansion area
The draft plan for the East Alameda County Conservation Strategy is now available via download through the web here. The entire document is found here in sections that can easily be downloaded on even the slowest connection speed.
Madias in Sunol
EBCNPS has been involved with this project since the beginning, striving to improve knowledge about plant resources and conserving their habitats. We will be providing formal comments on the draft, which preliminarily is an improvement over many past conservation plans. We encourage all our members in East Alameda to consider sending in personal comments, or if you’d like, please forward comments to Lech Naumovich for inclusion in the EBCNPS Conservation Committee letter.
The Eastern Alameda County Conservation Strategy has released a draft chapter for conservation plan for all of the county that falls to the east of Pleasanton Ridge. EBCNPS sits on the “Users Advisory Group” for this plan. We ask for interested volunteers to consider reading this chapter and providing feedback in this important planning process. Please feel free to download this document and comment within it through “track changes”. These files can then be emailed to conservation@ebcnps.org
Fritillaria agrestis by John Game
The East Bay Chapter of CNPS has been working on a publication that will help communicate the value of our local botanical resources to a greater general public. This project, the Botanical Priority Protection Areas (or BPPA), outlines 15 of the most important landscapes in the East Bay that convey a “sense of place”. Many of these areas will have development proposals in the next decade and we hope that our project will help communicate the importance of these areas.
There is a team of individuals that is helping make this project a success. Please feel free to email Lech Naumovich (conservation@ebcnps.org) with comments and suggestions on this project. Thanks for your everyone’s generosity and support!!!
Here’s a sneak peak at a DRAFT layout of the 4 Valleys area near Antioch, CA.
As required by a settlement in a recent law suit, the Altamont Pass area will be undergoing an HCP planning effort for wind projects. This planning effort has been attended by Heath Bartosh, Rare Plants Committee Chair of East Bay CNPS. Our comments recommend additional no-take plant species and more of a concentration on flora throughout this planning process.
APWRA_Comment_Letter_083109 [written by EBCNPS Rare Plant Committee Chair, Heath Bartosh]
Windmills of Altamont
Photo credit: KQED QUEST team – CC license
The highly controversial project proposed by the Transmission Authority of Northern California (TANC) to develop 600 miles of transmission lines across California has been discontinued. EBCNPS believes that this project, although on the surface was promising, lacked certain elements of a successful project including: cooperation, transparency, and a strong land ethic (i.e. including all impacts to rare plants and animals at the cost of powerlines).
We believe this is a notable success achieved by a collaboration of environmental organizations, land owners, and agencies.
Thank you for all your support.
One of our rarest and most unusual plants of the East Bay is just starting to come into flower at Livermore’s Springtown Alkali Preserve. Palmate-bracted birds beak, Cordylanthus palmatus, is an alkaline soil endemic that is known from only about 7 locations in all of California. This plant is listed as federally endangered by the US Fish and Wildlife Service and is considered to the one of the conservation targets for the Eastern Alameda County Conservation Strategy.
Even as we write this post, the Springtown Alkali Preserve is being heavily impacted by illegal activities. Notably, dirt bikers (or BMX riders) have taken a “non-biological” liking to the Preserve, and are building a bike course there that involves heavy grading activities. Please help us by contacting the City of Livermore and letting them know this is not acceptable for a Preserve. EBCNPS has been working closely with Friends of Springtown Preserve to inform and educate the local public about this site, as well as provide information and input to the City who is supposed to be “managing” this site. Visit the Friends site here.
June 11th public meeting for EACCS is scheduled for 7pm at Dublin City Hall. This is the first time the planning process will be presented to the public.
Please click here for more info
EBCNPS has invested time and energy into the Eastern Alameda County Conservation Strategy. We have worked with the consultant, the Users Advisory group, and the Steering Committee assuming the best possible result for this process. Currently, we are concerned about the intent and scientific rigor of this process. Please read our letter to the Eastern Alameda County Conservation Strategy Steering Committee.
