Open Space Happenings: 06.13.12

Some state parks are closing in 3 weeks. And this Saturday people around the Bay Area will go outside and celebrate the Bay Area's parks, including two state parks (Mt Tam and Mt Diablo). Will you join us for the Alt. ride?

When did our parks become parks? Enjoy this time lapse from GreenInfo Network. We recommend watching it more than once.

 

• Nonprofit groups scramble to keep California state parks afloat. Dozens of California state parks struck down by the budget ax are slated to close their doors in three weeks. Yet that process remains so unsettled that even state officials can't say with certainty how many parks will actually close. (Sacramento Bee)
• Goodbye to Benicia?If you were hoping to visit Benicia State Recreation Area sometime soon, don’t delay. After months of negotiation with the city of Benicia to keep it open, the state has decided to shut the gates on July 1. (Bay Nature)
• California moving to closing Benicia recreation area within weeks. With just a few weeks before a July 1 deadline, the California State Parks Department will this week decide on how to close the Benicia State Recreation Area. (Times Herald)
• Creative Connections at Earth • Science • Art Exhibit. Helen Golden is a digital fine artist; her daughter Nadine Golden is a scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey's Pacific Coast and Marine Science Center and they're exhibiting at the R. Blitzer Gallery in Santa Cruz. (KQED blog)
• California Leopold Conservation Award seeks nominees. Sand County Foundation, Sustainable Conservation and the California Farm Bureau Federation are seeking nominations for the 2012 California Leopold Conservation Award. (Sand County Foundation)
• What's at Risk: Stopping Sprawl by Mapping Land. The threat of sprawl and the new Greenbelt Mapper from Greenbelt Alliance (Huffington Post)
• The Story of California’s State Parks Captured in Award-Winning Film California Forever.Backcountry Pictures and KQED present California Forever, a two-part PBS television special that tells the story of California’s magnificent state parks from Yosemite in 1864 to the present day.  (KQED Quest)
• Environmental Forum of Marin has educated citizen advocates for 40 years. 2012 commemorates numerous special anniversaries for Marin's public lands and conservation non-profits. (Marin IJ)
• Wrecking ball coming to Mount Umunhum -- but the radar tower stays, for now. For years, the only thing most people have known about Mount Umunhum, a towering peak on San Jose's southern edges, is the giant concrete radar tower on its summit. Its future is being debated. (Mercury News)
• Santa's Clara's Ulistac project is native Californian gem. Nestled next to the Guadalupe River in Santa Clara is one of those outdoor gems that Bay Area residents are so lucky to have in their backyards, a piece of old California landscape replete with native plants. (Mercury News)
• Mixed open space marks. Sonoma County 3rd highest in protected acres in Bay Area, but has most land threatened by potential development, report says. (Press Democrat)

 

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This is your weekly helping of land conservation news for the Bay Area. We do this every Wednesday unless something more fun comes up.