Open Space Council: Blog

Upland Habitat Goals receives support from Landscape Conservation Cooperative (LCC)

The Open Space Council's Upland Habitat Goals project just got one big step closer to being complete.  We learned yesterday that we will receive support from the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCC) and we are so grateful and excited!  Our thanks goes to the Interim Steering Committee of the LCC of Region 8, Pacific Southwest.  Thank you!

Eleven projects that will help to build a foundation of  information and lead to decision-support tools for resource managers including species assessments, habitat conditions, and data and monitoring protocols have received $858,007 under a new collaborative program called the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives (LCC). Facilitated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this program focuses on landscape-scale planning and collaboration across science and management disciplines to address the conservation challenges necessitated by climate change.  

The press release about the grants can be found here.  More information about the California Landscape Conservation Cooperative is available here. 

Learn more about the Upland Habitat Goals project:

• The project's website
• Last week's blog post about the Climate Change Workshop at Pepperwood Preserve

Opportunity: Capture a Giant This Summer

Save the Redwoods League, a member of the Open Space Council, challenges park visitors throughout the United States to capture every angle of the redwood forest, from the smallest critters inhabiting the forest floor to the lofty tree canopy, for a chance to win prizes. Get your chance to win outdoor gear, a stay in an historic redwood country inn and more!

Enter your photos that capture all parts of the redwood ecosystem, from sorrel and lichens, to deer and elk, to the trees themselves. Photos of friends and family enjoying the forest also are welcome.

• 1st prize: A one-day ecotour for two in Big Sur, California, provided by Central Coast Outdoors. Value: $318
• 2nd prize: A one-night stay at the historic Benbow Inn in Garberville, California. Value: $250
• 3rd prize: A pair of environmentally friendly Nikon binoculars. Value: $225

The League will select 12 finalists, and public voting will determine the contest winners.

Click here to learn more and enter the contest.

Conservation Planning in a Changing World

The Open Space Council has long been concerned that time is running out to protect the region’s remaining biodiversity.  Yet, the Bay Area has lacked a scientific vision for a network of protected lands that preserves biological diversity and allows conservation practitioners to evaluate a potential project’s contribution toward this goal. 

Enter the Upland Habitat Goals project.

The project, supported by numerous public and private grants, has employed a scientific approach to identify a network of conservation lands to preserve the ecological processes and functions required for species viability.  More information about the project is coming soon as we launch the online decision tool later this summer.  Stay tuned.

But what happens when climate change affects the lands, animals and vegetation that we're trying to protect?

Enter David Ackerly of UC Berkeley.

With support from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, David and the Open Space Council just held a 3 day workshop on July 19-21 at Pepperwood Preserve to incorporate climate change projections into the Upland Habitat Goals.

The results?


23 top researchers in the field worked collaboratively to figure out ways to incorporate climate change modeling into land conservation efforts in the Bay Area. Using the Upland Habitat Goals GIS database the group is developing data, techniques, and processes to better prioritize our conservation lands considering climate change.

Thank you to all who participated and contributed their knowledge, time, and willingness to collaborate.  The Bay Area's future is brighter because of you.

We will be convening a meeting in early November for scientists, land managers, and decision makers where we'll review the data and give a tour of the online tool.  We'll share information about that meeting here on the blog and via email when we have it confirmed.

Welcome new - and 60th! - member of the Open Space Council

We would like to warmly welcome a new member of the Bay Area Open Space Council:

The Sonoma Ecology Center joins the rest of the members of the Open Space Council which range from small land trusts to regional agencies and national conservation leaders. 

Now the Council consists of 60 member organizations!  This is an exciting milestone in this 20th year of the Council.  Our members are committed, innovative, and effective leaders who share the mission of protecting open space in the 10-county Bay Area.  We collaborate on projects, share information, and gather regularly to further all of our goals and bring nature within reach of all Bay Area residents.  For more information about joining this group of conservation leaders, contact us here. 

Thank you to all of our members!

Friend raising and collaborating at yesterday's Members Meeting

A huge thanks to all that attended yesterday's meeting!  Deborah Schoenbaum and Wendy Johnson (click here to read more about them and their history of working together) were inspirational and the message was clear: partnerships are key and can be found in some unexpected places (like Vermont). 

Also, Ryan Branciforte, our Director of Conservation Planning, gave a sneak preview of the soon-to-be-released Upland Habitat Goals website and tool. The website is up and the online tool is scheduled to launch later this summer.  Stay tuned for more on that.

Our next membership meeting will be Thursday, September 16 from 10-1pm at the Log Cabin in the Presidio.  Come back here or visit our Events page for the to-be-determined agenda, speakers and registration information.

Tomorrow! Wendy Johnson and Deborah Schoenbaum together

Our monthly meeting is tomorrow, July 15 from 10am - 1pm at the Log Cabin in San Francisco's Presidio.  Wendy Johnson and Deborah Schoenbaum have worked together at various points over the years and while affiliated with numerous organizations, including The Trust for Public Land, San Francisco Zen Center's Green Gulch Farm, Indian Valley Organic Farm and Garden, Conservation Corps North Bay, and Center for Whole Communities. 

Together, they will tell their story and the lessons they learned about collaboration and the connections of land and people.  For more about these two amazing women, read our earlier post.

Click here to register so that we have enough food (but not too much) for all.

Click here for directions.

Opportunity: CA Conservation Corps Provides Service Grants for Land Trust Projects

CCLT is pleased to announce a new partnership with the California Conservation Corps (CCC) designed to deliver critical services and support for land trust watershed and restoration projects.  The CCC Project Partners Program has identified over $100,000 worth of CCC labor for projects with the California Council of Land Trusts, funded through Proposition 84 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2011.  The funding is available to support key watershed and restoration efforts throughout California with particular emphasis on high impact, legacy projects.

All project proposals are due by August 12th, with final project selections made by CCLT.  A possible second round of proposals will be due in March, 2011.  Once approved by the CCC and State Treasurer's Office, crew support will be available for your approved 2010-11 fiscal year project.  Preference will be given to land trusts with annual operating budgets under $1 million/year, with a local match preferred but not required.

"This is a very generous offer by the California Conservation Corps to the land trust community, and we are confident that it will expand the natural partnership between CCC and land trusts," stated CCLT Executive Director Darla Guenzler.  For this reason, CCLT encourages all land trusts to review these materials soon and join us in this unique collaboration with one of California's premier conservation agencies.

Click here for more information, the guidelines and proposal form.

Feds grant $3.2 million to restore Umunhum

A $3.2 million federal grant will be used to clean up toxic lead paint and asbestos and begin the process of removing a decrepit Air Force base on top of the spectacular 44-acre peak just south of Los Gatos.



"This is the biggest project of this type that the district has worked on," said Steve Abbors, the general manager of the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (a member of the Open Space Council), which purchased the land from the federal government in 1986 but never had the money to restore it. "This is the beginning of a major partnership."

Read more at SF Gate.  And learn the history and watch a video at the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District's website.

Opportunity: August 1 Deadline for NPS Assistance Program

The deadline for the National Park Service's Assistance Program is fast approaching!

For more information see our earlier post about this great opportunity.

Members Meeting: Wendy Johnson joins Deborah Schoenbaum in conversation

We are thrilled to announce that Wendy Johnson will be joining Deborah Schoenbaum for a dynamic conversation about partnerships and inclusion at our upcoming meeting on July 15.  These two amazing women have worked together at various points over the years and while affiliated with numerous organizations, including The Trust for Public Land, San Francisco Zen Center's Green Gulch Farm, Indian Valley Organic Farm and Garden, Conservation Corps North Bay, and Center for Whole Communities.  Together, they will tell their story and the lessons they learned about collaboration and the connections of land and people.

This conversation will take place this Thursday, July 15 from 10am-1pm at the Log Cabin in San Francisco's Presidio.  So that there is enough food (not too much, not too little) for all, please:

Click here to register.

Biographies

Wendy Johnson

Wendy Johnson is a Buddhist meditation teacher and organic gardening mentor who lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Wendy has been practicing Zen meditation for thirty-five years and has led meditation retreats nationwide since 1992 as an ordained lay dharma teacher in the traditions of Vietnamese teacher Thich Nhat Hanh and the San Francisco Zen Center. Wendy is one of the founders of the organic Farm and Garden Program at Green Gulch Farm Zen Center in Marin County, where she lived with her family from 1975 to 2000. She has been teaching gardening and environmental education to the public since the early 1980s.

In 2000 Wendy and her husband, Peter Rudnick, received the annual Sustainable Agriculture Award from the National Ecological Farming Association. Since 1995 Wendy has written a quarterly column, “On Gardening,” for Tricycle Magazine, a Buddhist Review. She was honored in The Best Science and Nature Writing 2000, published by Houghton Mifflin.  Wendy is a mentor and advisor to the Edible Schoolyard program of the Chez Panisse Foundation, a project that she has been involved in since in its inception in 1995.

Deborah Schoenbaum

Deborah is Senior Director of Programs and Development at the Social Venture Network (SVN). SVN is a nonprofit association of over 500 socially responsible CEOs, investors, and nonprofit leaders committed to building a just and sustainable planet. SVN members have turned their values into action, and, in the process, changed the way the world does business. Deborah is responsible for maintaining and improving the quality of member services, events and communication, while expanding the current network of members and increasing diversity (gender, age, race, ethnicity, and business sector). In former management positions at the Conservation Corps North Bay, the Nature Conservancy, and the Trust for Public Land, Deborah has spent the last 10 years working for organizations that align directly with her personal values: environmental protection, social equity, public policy and education, environmental justice and youth development. This has afforded her with not only the opportunity to commit fully to her work, but to represent on these issues with heartfelt passion.

In addition to her work, Deborah has always engaged in community advocacy and political activities.  From 2007-2009, she was appointed as an alternate on the California Coastal Commission by former Senate President pro Tempore, Don Perata and from 2007-2010 served on the Board of Directors for the Urban Creeks Council.

Deborah has been a member of the Center for Whole Communities’ faculty since 2003 and annually facilitates retreats attended by leaders from a broad range of professions including urban and rural conservationists, environmental justice advocates, community development practitioners, food security advocates, farmers, ranchers, faith-based activists, wilderness and farmland conservationists, business people, biologists, writers, educators, elected officials, and others.

Deborah lives in Novato, California with her husband, Mark and two daughters, Elizabeth and Sarah.