Open Space Council: Blog

Happy Anniversary to Bay Nature!

Painting by John Muir Laws.

January 2011 marks the 10th Anniversary of Bay Nature Magazine and they are celebrating!  A Gala event at the Lakeside Theater, Kaiser Center, 300 Lakeside Dr, Oakland will be held on January 22 and tickets are now available.  The program includes co-founder Malcolm Margolin and Robert Hass (who also spoke at our last conference).  We are big fans of Bay Nature and recommend you to somehow support this Bay Area treasure...

 

Happy Thanksgiving from the Open Space Council

We wish you and yours a very safe, healthy, warm, and happy Thanksgiving.  

~ Bettina, Ryan and Annie

Report on Economic Benefits of Open Space

Have you been wanting to quantify how important parks and open space are to your community, to policy makers, and/or donors?  

Click here to read a fascinating report by GreenSpace Alliance and and the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission in Pennsylvania that does just that.  

"And I always bring chocolate chip cookies"

This is what the attendees of last week's Members' Meeting heard from Megan Ferreira from Save the Redwoods.  She was sitting in front of the 65 attendees along with Ron Brown from Save Mount Diablo, Kristine Ball from Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Reed Holderman from Sempervirens Fund, and Kate Bickert from Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy.  All five of them were there to tell Fundraising Stories From and For the Land.  And by all accounts it was an inspiring, and moving, conversation.  

The meeting started, though, with a run-down of the November 2 election by Warner Chabot, CEO of the California League of Conservation Voters.  He shared a sobering yet very enlightening presentation and said "bury your despair about Proposition 21."  His analysis was that voters were simply overwhelmed when they looked at the ballot this year but that they do in fact support parks and open space.  "We have to take the long view," he said, encouraging the conservation community to think four to eight years out.  

There were several themes of the Fundraising Stories shared by our panel.  The first was the utmost importance of relationships.  As Kristine Ball from MALT said, "be nice to everyone."  The second was that there are many ways of connecting land and people.  Ron Brown told a story of a donor who had never actually stepped foot on Mount Diablo but looked at the mountain every day from her kitchen window.  Reed Holderman talked about a donor who made significant contributions to a particular place because of the time he spent there with his children.  And Kate Bickert talked about volunteers and how they served as ambassadors for the land.  By knowing the land themselves they were then able to speak eloquently about it with potential donors.  

But Megan provided the audience with the real take-home: bring chocolate chip cookies to those with whom you want to build a relationship.  It works for her and the park rangers that she wants to have promoting her Grove and Honor Tree Program with park visitors.  

A big thanks to the presenters for sharing their time and experiences.  And also thanks to the Parks Conservancy for a delicious lunch from Back to Earth catering.  

Our next Members' Meeting will be held on Thursday, January 20, 2011.  The speakers and location are in the works.  Stay tuned for more information and click here if you already know that you're coming.

 

What's Cool: The picture that changed the world

42 years ago this picture changed the world.  Taken by William Anders from the Apollo 8 spacecraft it provided the first look at our fragile planet from such a distance.  Two years later the first Earth Day was held.

350.org is organizing the first ever planetary art show from November 20-27 to coincide with the UN Climate meetings in Cancun.  The closest event to us here in the Bay Area is the eagle in Los Angeles.  But it will be worth taking the time to look at 350's website over the next seven days and watching what is hopefully another change in our beautiful, fragile world.

 

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What's Cool is our weekly feature about climate change in the Bay Area.  Our members and the land conservation community at large are incorporating what we know about climate change into their work to protect and steward open space.  We'll highlight that work and the many partnerships, events and ideas related to climate change here on Fridays.  Share your stories with us in the comments or by sending an email to Annie Burke at annie [at] openspacecouncil [dot] org.

News: Congratulations to Bob Doyle and EBRPD

Long time Bay Area Open Space Council champion and Executive Committee member Bob Doyle has been promoted to General Manager of the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD).  He will replace Pat O'Brien when he retires on December 31.  A very loud congratulations to Bob for this acknowledgement of his leadership and commitment to open space in the Bay Area.  And many warm wishes to Pat in his upcoming adventures...

Read the press release from the EBRPD and read more about it in the Contra Costa Times.

News: Prop 84 Funding Announcement

California voters passed Proposition 84 in 2006 and the first round of funding under the Sustainable Communities and Climate Change Reduction Chapter of the proposition were just awarded.  The sixty two grants will be going to cities, counties, park districts and non-profit organizations all across California and will create 50 new parks and improve 12 existing parks. 

Click on the image above for an interactive map of the project locations.  The full list of awards can be found here.

Event: Tomorrow! Fundraising stories and more

Our bi-monthly members' meeting is tomorrow and so far 75 of you have told us that you are coming.  It will be a morning full of Fundraising Stories From and For the Land with a panel of leaders from the following Open Space Council members:

• Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
• Marin Agricultural Land Trust
• Save Mount Diablo
• Save the Redwoods League
• Sempervirens Fund

We will hear stories about how donors connect to the land and what the organization did to create that connection.  We will learn about what happened behind the scenes.   And we will undoubtedly leave inspired.

In addition, we are pleased to announce, Warner Chabot of the California League of Conservation Voters will join us to debrief the recent election on November 2 and what it means for the conservation community.  There were some real wins as well as some hard defeats.  We'll hear about them and be able to ask questions.

To top it all off the Parks Conservancy is generously sponsoring our lunch which will be made by Back to Earth catering.  It's going to be organic and local and delicious. 

Are you coming?  It's not too late to register.  Click here to do so.

 

What's Cool: What can one person do when 6.8 billion people are frying the planet?

by Franke James

 

 

 

 

How can YOU take action? What’s YOUR plan?

1. DOES YOUR CITY HAVE A PLAN? Use Google to find out if your region has a Mitigation and Adaptation Plan for climate change, like Toronto and New York have. (And if they don’t, then press your local politicians to develop one!)

2.  DOES YOUR AGENCY/ORGANIZATION HAVE A PLAN?  If they don't then encourage your leaders to create one!

3. MAKE YOUR OWN PLAN. Develop your own personal Mitigation and Adaptation Plan. There are many actions each of us can take to protect ourselves and our property from floods, heat waves, power shortages, water shortages… etc. See the Resources below for ideas such as this one from the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction: Handbook for Reducing Basement Flooding.

4.  JOIN OUR WHAT'S COOL SERIES.  Share what you and your organization/agency are doing with the Bay Area's land conservation community.  Share in the comments are email Annie at annie [at] openspacecouncil [dot] org.

 

What Can One Person Do, When 6.8 Billion Are Frying The Planet? © 2010 Franke James.  Franke merges science, art and storytelling to inspire people to take action and “do the hardest thing first” for the planet. She uses her skills as an artist, photographer and writer to create visual essays on environmental and social issues. She is the author of two award-winning books, Bothered By My Green Conscience and Dear Office-Politics, the game everyone plays.

Photographs, illustrations and writing by Franke James, MFA, except as noted below:

“Cruel Irony” illustration features: Tar sands photo by © Greenpeace
Finch Avenue on August 2005: Photos courtesy Jane-Finch.com
Cover: “Ahead of the Storm” City of Toronto climate change brochure
Woolly Mammoth on Road photo-illustration by Franke James, using antique mammoth engraving © istockphotos.
Heat Island graphic by Clean Air Partnership

 

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What's Cool is our weekly feature about climate change in the Bay Area.  Our members and the land conservation community at large are incorporating what we know about climate change into their work to protect and steward open space.  We highlight that work and the many partnerships, events and ideas related to climate change here on Fridays.  Share your stories with us in the comments or by sending an email to Annie Burke at annie [at] openspacecouncil [dot] org.

 

Event: Members' Meeting on 11/18 just got better

Our Members' Meeting next Thursday just got better. 

Kate Bickert from the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy (and a freshly minted member of the Open Space Council Executive Committee) will be joining the panel.  She will join Executive Directors, Development Directors, and Major Gift Officers from Marin Agricultural Land Trust, Save Mount Diablo, Sempervirens and Save the Redwoods to share fundraising stories. 

Before we hear the panel we will learn about and discuss the results of the mid-term election on November 2.  In California there were some major victories as well as some saddening losses for our community.  We'll learn more about the implications on the land conservation community.

In addition the Parks Conservancy is generously sponsoring our lunch which will be made by Back to Earth catering.  It's going to be organic and local and delicious. 

Are you coming?  Register today.

 

The details:

When: Thursday, November 18, 10am-1pm

Where: Brower Center, Tamalpais Room, Berkeley

Register here.