Open Space Council's Blog

Out and About with the Conservation Lands Network

Conversations about the Conservation Lands Network happen all the time and all around the Bay Area. There are meetings with planners, presentations to groups of scientists, and visits to elected officials and their staff. Hundreds of people download the GIS data or use Explorer to better understand the land. Brochures and the Bay Nature article about it are handed out at Gatherings, meetings, or just because. It may not get any press, but the conversation about the Conservation Lands Network is happening and gaining volume.

Tomorrow - Tuesday, May 1 - the Open Space Council's Ryan Branciforte will present the Conservation Lands Network at the 2012 San Francisco Bay Area National Parks Science and Natural Resources Symposium in Fort Mason. He'll talk about the project and all the interesting ways that the Conservation Lands Network is being used around the region. 

Check out the agenda. And be sure to say hi to Ryan if you're there. Tell him the blog sent you.

 

+
Curious about the Conservation Lands Network? Talk to the experts at the Conservation Lands Network boot at the Open Space conference on May 10. Seats are filling up fast and we'll probably sell out this week. Today would be a good day to register. Click here and join us.

Open Space Happenings: 04.25.12

Welcome to Wednesday! The Open Space conference is 2 weeks from now and the Alt. ride is 7 weeks away. Check out the websites, ask us any questions, and join us!  

Open space isn't always green, full of wildlife, and dotted with oak trees. Jen Isacoff from the Trust of Public Land will speak at our conference on May 10 about how parks like Boeddeker Park happen. You coming?

• Five Ways to Take Back Earth Day.  What could one do on Earth Day that would be a legitimately good use of his or her time? I'm talking about things that would, in a real sense, celebrate the earth. Or, better yet, fight for it. (Outside Magazine online) -- be sure to read #5!
• Green Scene.  For Earth Day weekend, we rounded up three of the Bay Area's best waterfront escapes, all of which can be accessed without a car. Green is good!  (Weekend Sherpa)
• The Crisis in American Walking.  How we got off the pedestrian path. (Slate)
• Preserving our California landscapes.  Boots and Birkenstocks tread common ground when it comes to certain conservation issues, so it's not surprising that ranchers and major environmental organizations have joined forces to promote a vision of the West that is economically and environmentally sustainable. (SF Chronicle)
• American cowboys: Endangered species. (Video)The average age of a cattleman is 61 years old and a slew of pressures are making old school ranching a thing of the past. (CNN Money)
• Coastal Commission approves Coast Dairies preservation deal.  Authoring a major new chapter in the history of California coastal conservation, the state's Coastal Commission on Thursday unanimously approved a deal to protect one of the largest privately owned swaths of land on the West Coast. (Santa Cruz Sentinel)
• Coast Dairies Ranch getting Protection. (Video) NBC Bay Area News story on how California's Coastal Commission is giving approval to a plan to handover a large swath of coastline near Santa Cruz, to the Federal government for preservation. 
• Today's Vineyards, Yesterday's Tall Oaks.  New atlas traces wine country's ecological transformation.  (Bay Citizen)
• Restoration of huge bay wetland in Redwood City nearing completion.  For hundreds of thousands of motorists driving along Highway 101 every day, it is a vast expanse of dirt and grass.  But to environmental groups and biologists, it is a crowning symbol of the ongoing restoration of San Francisco Bay, 2,635 acres that prove not everything has been diked, filled and paved. (Mercury News)
• For the rock climbers and State Park-lovers out there, there's this event on May 18 and 19th.

 

+

Welcome to the Wednesday Round Up of Bay Area land conservation news, with some other stuff thrown in there just for fun.

The Open Space conference is coming up in 2 weeks. Are you coming? About 250 people have signed up already and the room fits 300.  Math isn't our strong suit and we're not bettin' folks, but it's looking like it's going to sell out.  Registering now would be a good thing.

 

 

Happy Earth Day!

Spring has sprung, the sun is shining, and it's Earth Day. What better thing to do than go outside and soak it all up? And do you think you could leave your car at home?

Thanks to some tips from Weekend Sherpa and a little help from Transit and Trails, you can. It's easy. And it might be more fun.  

We'd love to hear about what you do to celebrate. Will you tell us in the comments?

 

Open Space Happenings: 04.18.12

 A small helping of news about land conservation in the Bay Area... 

Eat Pie from Pie Ranch. Pie Ranch Executive Director Jered Lawson will speak at the Open Space conference on May 10. Early-bird pricing ends this Friday!

 

• County approves $1.1 million deal to buy open space in Petaluma.  A deal more than a decade in the making to save an 11-acre parcel on the western edge of Petaluma got formal approval Tuesday at the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors. (Press Democrat)
• $1 billion needed for South Bay flood protection and marsh restoration.  A new coalition of business leaders, environmentalists and others will try to raise $1 billion over the coming decade to protect corporate campuses, houses and schools from what one supporter called an "inevitable Katrina" in the South Bay.  (Mercury News)
• Jack London State Park to remain open.  Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen will be spared closure this summer after the state parks department announced Tuesday that it has agreed to let a nonprofit run it. (Press Democrat)
• Editorial: Bay Area should share cost of open space.  Whether it's the ability to simply view grassy hillsides as they drive along the highway or to actually hike among the wildflowers and encounter wildlife, Bay Area residents seem to genuinely appreciate their access to open space. (The Reporter)
• River otters rebounding with hospitable habitat. The most happy-go-lucky denizen of Bay Area creeks is back, after a hiatus of at least three decades: the river otter. (SF Chronicle)
• Land Trust seeks to preserve wild spaces.  The physical beauty of this valley plays as big a part in its allure as do the quality and quantity of its wineries and restaurants. Careful stewardship has preserved what nature provided. (Napa Valley Register)

+

Every week we pull together articles, links and more related to land conservation in the Bay Area. 

Every year we convene the Open Space conference and this year it'll be May 10. Are you coming? After this Friday, April 20 the price of individual tickets goes up to $100. Today would be a good time to register if you're thinking of coming. Are you coming?

Bay Area Plants and the Conservation Lands Network

The following article by Ryan Branciforte and Lech Naumovich was published in the April-June 2012 issue of the California Native Plant Society Bulletin and is shared here with permission.

In 2005, the Bay Area Open Space Council, a collaborative of member organizations actively involved in permanently protecting and stewarding important parks, trails, and agricultural lands in the San Francisco Bay Area, embarked on a challenging endeavor to design a conservation plan to preserve the region’s last wild places and working lands. Creating a plan for a 4.5 million acre landscape torn between urbanization and wilderness was not an easy task. The idea was to help direct new land protection efforts towards conserving lands that create a connected, bay-wide reserve of important habitat, while acknowledging the constraints of urban areas.

The Conservation Lands Network (CLN) identifies the type, amounts, and distribution of habitats needed to sustain diverse and healthy ecosystems in upland habitats. The project was initiated by organizing moderated sessions with biologists, land managers, conservation advocates, and planners. These sessions helped identify important areas and issues to consider alongside the scientifically driven methodology. 

Members from the Bay Area’s CNPS chapters were invited to participate, and several botanists helped contribute specific information on target plant species and vegetation types that could serve well as conservation goals. The CLN plan, which stratifies the region into biogeographic Landscape Units, uniquely takes into account conservation targets at both the landscape and local level. Rare plant occurrences, for instance, are included as local targets.

How were plant and vegetation targets selected? Local rare plant botanists were given access to a list of taxa in the California Natural Diversity Database (CNDDB) segregated by landscapes. These local experts then submitted a list of five target taxa that were highest priorities for conservation within each landscape, based on local knowledge. The five selected plants coincided with a number of rare vegetation types, although some were located in a matrix of more common vegetation, such as annual grassland. The location of these unusual plants in more common habitat types was especially important in prioritizing conservation in more common vegetation types.

So how did the planning effort do at protecting rare plants and vegetation? The plan set high goals for rare vegetation types such as coastal prairie and juniper woodland and scrub, attempting to include 90% of those targets within the final network design. How about the rare plants located in more common vegetation stands, such as San Joaquin spearscale (Atriplex joaquinana). Fifteen CNDDB records of spearscale exist in the Mt. Diablo landscape, but none of these populations is protected. The CLN calls for the protection of 13 known stands, while the other two were located in urban or rural residential areas. There are other success stories similar to this example. 

One notable goal of the Conservation Lands Network is to make the results accessible to all users regardless of their GIS skill level. The CLN Explorer, a new Web-based tool, allows users to draw the boundary of a property or area of interest, and explore the natural resources that may be present. Users can access numerous datasets compiled or developed by the project, including vegetation types, rarity rankings, protected lands, streams, topography, conservation suitability, and converted lands. In addition to just viewing the information on screen, the Explorer software also allows users to generate custom reports on areas they designate, and shows natural resources which are present as well as biodiversity.

To access the Conservation Lands Network final report, GIS data, the Bay Nature article on this exciting initiative, and to use the Explorer tool, visit www.bayarealands.org, and spread the news about this bold new plan. 

 

#

Lech Naumovich is executive director at Golden Hour Restoration Institute. He also works as a professional botanist and serves on the Statewide CNPS Conservation Committee. Ryan Branciforte is director of conservation planning for the Bay Area Open Space Council.

Download the full article here.

Open Space Happenings: 04.11.12

Here's your weekly helping of news, events, call for applications, and other stuff related to land conservation in the Bay Area. 

 

A picture of Don Draper (Jon Hamm) of Mad Men, just because I can. See the Treehugger article below for why this is remotely relevant to land conservation.

 

• Facebook Paid Instagram $1 Billion for Emotion. What's It Worth to the Environment? An interesting take on the big deal and how it could apply to environmentalists (you).   (Treehugger)
• The Parks and the People. Keeping California’s State Parks Alive in Hard Times.  A must read that is worth sharing about the State Parks crisis.  (Bay Nature)
• The California Ocean Protection Council (OPC) is pleased to announce that new high-resolution coastal elevation data sets are available to support the production of maps for coastal management applications such as assessment of vulnerability from severe storms, sea-level rise and coastal erosion.  Play around with the interactive map here.
• How Healthy Is Your County? A New Data Trove Can Tell You.  Curious to know which counties are the healthiest—and least so—in every state?   How about where your county ranks in terms of smoking and obesity rates, physical inactivity, air pollution, numbers of fast-food restaurants, and other contributors to public health?  (Wall Street Journal)
• Call for Applications for the 2012 Leopold Conservation Award.  Leopold Conservation Awards recognize extraordinary achievement in voluntary conservation, inspire other landowners through their example, and help the general public understand the vital role private landowners can and do play in conservation success.
• Many small kids lack outdoor time with parents: study.  Roughly half of preschoolers don't spend time playing outside with a parent each day, despite the fact that outdoor play has been tied to a host of benefits for young children, including avoiding childhood obesity, a recent U.S. survey found. (Reuters)
• Nature-Deficit Disorder.  For most of human history, people chased things or were chased themselves. They turned dirt over and planted seeds and saplings. They took in Vitamin D from the sun, and learned to tell a crow from a raven. And then, in less than a generation’s time, millions of people completely decoupled themselves from nature. (NY Times)
• Whole Measures workshop from the Center for Whole Communities will be in San Francisco on May 1-3, 2012.  Whole Measures is a means of describing and measuring the healthy relationships between land and people that we seek to create
• Young Americans Dump Cars for Bikes, Buses.  The U.S. Public Interest Research Group has been crunching the numbers on travel preferences among young Americans — and the news is not good for auto makers. (DC Streets Blog)
• POST Protects 117-acre Hendrys Creek Property in Los Gatos.  The Peninsula Open Space Trust has completed its two-part acquisition of a 117-acre property in Los Gatos.  (POST)

 

+ 

Every Wednesday we post a list of news - with some art, videos and fun thrown in - related to the members, partners, supporters, and friends of the Open Space Council. Scroll through all of these posts here. And let us know if we should include anything in next week's Happenings.

What's all the fuss about April 20?

Lots happened on April 20. The Civil Rights Act of 1871 became law. Joan Miro, the Spanish painter, was born on April 20, 1893. In 1912, it was opening day for baseball's Tiger Stadium in Detroit and Fenway Park in Boston. On April 20, 2008, Danica Patrick on the Indy Japan 300 becoming the first female driver in history to win an Indy car race.  And there's more.

The Flight of the Dragonfly in front of the Sun, by Joan Miro.

April 20, 2012 is important to you - you park-loving, trail-hiking people - because it's the last day to: 

• Register with early-bird pricing for individual tickets to the Open Space Conference. 
• Sign up as a Sponsor of the Open Space Conference if you want to be included in the printed program (we'll happily accept any sponsorships at anytime, but we have to get things to the printer).
• Sign up as an Exhibitor at the Open Space Conference.  Same printers situation as the Sponsors (see above).

April 20 is in exactly 11 days. That's what the fuss is all about.

 

+

Thanks to all of the sponsors of this year's conference!

Ecosystem Level:

 

Watershed Level:

    

   

 

Park Level:

         

   

 

      

 

 

Huge thanks for all of their support:

           

 

Artists, Map makers, Scientists, Consultants, Technology companies, and more

Do you work with, sell to, or subcontract for organizations and agencies that own and/or manage land? Do you have an exciting new project, product or service? Do you want to build your network and some new relationships?

Then we invite you to have your very own table at an event where over 300 of your customers and partners will be on one day in May.

A real live Exhibitor at the 2011 Open Space conference. Photo Rob Brodman.

Join us as an Exhibitor at the Open Space Conference on May 10, 2012 at the beautiful Golden Gate Club in the Presidio of San Francisco.

As an Exhibitor you will both raise awareness of your organization and get in front of hundreds people who work every day to protect and steward open space in the Bay Area. The conference attendees will be looking for creative solutions to the challenges they face in their work. They will be looking for tools to make their work easier. They want ideas that renew and reenergize their commitment to open space. Here is an opportunity to engage with them about your products and services in a dynamic and friendly setting.

Click here to learn more and to sign up. Spots are filling up quickly!

Open Space Happenings: Spring Break Edition

Alright, so not everyone gets a spring break. And some had it last week and some will have it next week. But with all this rain and the longer days, I think we can safely say that spring is in the air. And we all need a break sometimes. You with me?

 

Images from the California Historical Society's current exhibit, A Wild Flight of the Imagination. The Society's Executive Director, Dr. Anthea Hartig, will speak at the Open Space Conference on May 10.

 

• Solano Land Trust needs $3M more to buy land.  Solano Land Trust extended its campaign to pull in enough money to buy Rockville Trails. (The Reporter)
• Bay Area - where the wild things are.  The real news is not that it's urban here, but that it's also wild here - a mixture of big cities with all the urban problems, and just over the hill, open country with dense brush, forests and wild animals. (SF Chronicle)
• State grant to help create regional park at Taylor Mountain.  Sonoma County has received a $750,000 state grant to begin creating a sprawling urban regional park at Taylor Mountain with sweeping views of the Santa Rosa plain. (Press Democrat)
• As We See It: Putting profit into parks.  Editorial about the State Parks crisis.  (Santa Cruz Sentinal)
• Current Status of Park Closures from the State Parks Foundation.
• 11 state parks temporarily out of the woods. Private donors, foundations and other entities have come forward to help keep 11 of 70 parks threatened with closure open for one to three years, McGrath State Beach among them. (LA Times)
• A streak of silver in state parks cloud.  Closures spark creative solutions. (Bay Nature)

 

+ 

Every Wednesday we post a list of news - with some art, videos and fun thrown in - related to the members, partners, supporters, and friends of the Open Space Council. Scroll through all of these posts here. And let us know if we should include anything in next week's Happenings.