Opposition to Cargill erupts in Redwood City

By Stephen Knight, Political Director

Cargill & DMB developed a very big headache at the Planning Commission meeting in Redwood City last Tuesday night. Redwood City asked for their residents' input on the proposed salt pond development, and that is exactly what they got - over three hours of it. The overflow crowd lined the walls, sat on the floors and spilled into the hallway, where a TV and portable speakers had to be set up to accommodate everyone. Not swayed by the developers' slick and expensive presentation, the podium was packed with opponents to the project throughout the night - vastly outnumbering development supporters.

From the neighborhood associations to the mobile home parks and the garden clubs, Redwood City residents made it clear that they're deeply concerned about this destructive development and will be fighting it at every step of the way.

You can watch the meeting here; public comments start with Joel Jensen’s great statement at 01:10 here.

Sadly, despite a September presentation by consultants emphasizing that CEQA was democracy in action, Redwood City actually suggested that “advocacy” would not be tolerated, and that “there shall be no debating the merits of the project.” Residents protested, their city attorney corrected them, and they put out edited slides crossing out the offending provisions.

What the slide seems to suggest is that unless you favor the project, Redwood City doesn’t want to hear from you.

That is unfortunately consistent with the 99-page "Notice of Preparation of Environmental Impact Report for proposed Saltworks Project" released by Redwood City which is reminiscent of the project that it purports to describe: fundamentally evasive about core environmental issues, numbingly large, and preferring to distract attention by emphasizing irrelevant details.

The NOP makes no mention of:

--> the SF Bay Water Board’s recent letter to Redwood City stating the salt ponds to be "an important biological resource” providing “foraging and nesting habitat for a variety of birds." (June 2010)

--> the US EPA’s recent statement that Cargill's Redwood City salt ponds are "critically important aquatic resources that warrant special attention and protection." (Jan. 2010)

The NOP is clearly trying to advance the developers' interest, not the public interest. City Councilmembers insisted in 2009 that the salt ponds be removed from Redwood City's General Plan process at the explicit request of DMB, and their promise that this EIR would evaluate a broad range of visions for the property is now clearly broken.

Cargill developer "myths" debunked

By Stephen Knight, Political Director

Recent blog and Twitter posts by Cargill's Redwood City developer DMB state, "there’s been a lot of misinformation and half-truths being circulated out there."

No kidding.

Openly concerned about the attention being paid to their unprecedented plans to build a new city in the Bay, the increasingly desperate developer is clumsily attempting to erase many simple and inconvenient facts by claiming that they are "myths."

But the evidence is overwhelmingly to the contrary.

Did Cargill not tell their Arizona-based development partner these basic facts about their Bay property? You be the judge:

--> Astonishingly, Cargill’s developer claims it is a "myth" that the site "was diked off from tidal action to create salt evaporation ponds." This property is former tidal marsh, diked off from the Bay to make salt. Is there another way to make a salt pond? Just look at this 1943 aerial photograph.

--> DMB says it is a "myth" that site is located within a FEMA flood plain. Apparently they have not seen Redwood City's General Plan. (Redwood City General Plan Map, page BE-54).

--> Cargill's developer refuses to admit that the Redwood City salt ponds are the largest unprotected stretch of restorable bay shoreline because, they say, the site "is privately owned by Cargill." Yet the fact that these salt ponds remain in private ownership defines why they need protection from development.

--> DMB asserts that the current zoning for the site "anticipates future development proposals." In fact, Redwood City's General Plan states of the Cargill salt ponds: "Due to the sensitive nature of these open space areas, it should be assumed that they will remain as open space forever." These salt ponds have never been zoned for housing.

--> Cargill's developer also calls a "myth" the fact that state and federal laws prohibit filling wetlands when alternatives are available. But nobody contests that fact. The US EPA recently called these salt ponds "a critically important aquatic resource that warrant special attention" (EPA letter, Jan. 5, 2010). And Cargill has filed documents with the US Army Corps calling the site "waters of the US" protected by the Clean Water Act.

--> Cargill is running ads on TV and in newspapers telling the Bay Area public that this site is "a century-old industrial facility." Does this look like an industrial facility to you?

--> The developer threatens that the only choice is to approve their massive development, otherwise Cargill will continue making salt. Nobody is telling them not to keep making salt; it is their legal right to do so. But Cargill has already made clear that salt harvesting is no longer economically viable in Redwood City (Paul Shepherd, Cargill Land Manager, letter to Redwood City residents, 2006).

Just as Redwood City voters prevented Bair Island from being developed a generation ago, Cargill’s development must be stopped so that – like Bair Island – it can be added to the Don Edwards SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge and restored to tidal wetlands to benefit people and wildlife.

For more photos and documentation behind the real facts, please visit our Flickr site.

Sowing the Seeds of Change

By Trisha Allen, Education Coordinator and Natalie LaVan, Restoration Volunteer & Outreach Coordinator

When I say service, you say learning: service-learning, service-learning! Three cheers for the 21st Annual National Service Learning Conference.

A few short weeks ago, thousands of youth, teachers, and service-learning practitioners from around the globe gathered at the San Jose Convention Center to get inspired, share ideas, and gain tools for engaging young people in community-service projects across disciplines. The diverse representation of exhibits, workshops, thought sessions, and projects showcased during the three-day conference underscored just what a powerful teaching method service-learning can be.

And just what is service learning, you ask? To put it simply, service-learning is education in action! And the secret to successful service-learning projects lies in a few critical and common ingredients, namely: meaningful reflection, diversity, youth voice, and partnerships. Service-learning builds community and spans cultural and national boundaries and develops young people.

On the second day of the conference, Save The Bay got the chance to show participants how it’s done! About 35 individuals from all corners of the U.S. descended upon the Palo Alto Baylands for a Community-based Restoration Program. With representatives of all backgrounds – from places like Texas, New York, Tennessee and Illinois (just to name a few) – we were able to plant almost 100 native seedlings along the Bay. What's more, the group was able to learn about the key elements of a successful service-learning program and our precious Bay.

Click here for more information and resources about service-learning and the National Youth Leadership Council.

Or better yet, make Save The Bay’s Community-based Restoration Program your next service-learning project. This program engages young people in reinvigorating their communities, learning about wetland ecology and issues affecting the health of the Bay, and literally sowing those seeds of change.

Are you an educator? If so, find out how to this program aligns with curriculum standards and connects to many areas of study.

Mid-Pen Chapter of Charity League teams up with Save The Bay

This post was submitted by Lindsay Farino of Menlo Park, CA, a member of the Mid-Peninsula Chapter of NCL, along with her daughter Julia Farino, a freshman at Menlo-Atherton High School in Atherton, CA.

On Saturday, November 14, a large group of volunteers from The Mid-Peninsula Chapter of the National Charity League (NCL) worked together with the Save the Bay organization to learn about wetlands and plant close to 200 native plants in the Palo Alto Baylands. Mothers and daughters worked alongside one other to help restore the wetlands with blue-eyed grass and marsh-coyote brush saplings. Save the Bay staff member Jill Jacobson explained that the NCL volunteers’ planting in the wetland transition zones, "creates shelter and habitat for animals when water is high in the wetlands."

Save the Bay staffer Megan Kelso said, "Having local volunteer groups like the National Charity League come out to the wetlands creates a sense of stewardship for the participants." She emphasized to the group of mothers and daughters that Save the Bay was founded by women. It is important to remember the three East Bay women, Kay Kerr, Sylvia McLaughlin and Esther Gulick, who founded the Save the San Francisco Bay Association in 1961, to stop the destruction of the bay that they loved so much. Their first volunteer effort mobilized thousands of members to stop the City of Berkeley's plan to double in size by filling in the shallow Bay off-shore.

The NCL teenagers responded enthusiastically to the educational activities that took place prior to planting the wetlands. Emma Peyton, an 8th Grade NCL member from Redwood City said, “I like doing this because I am doing some good for the community.” Menlo Park 8th-grader Nora Lewis added, “Doing NCL (itself) gets me closer to my Mom. It gets us to bond together.” The National Charity League (NCL) teaches young women to be confident that they can make a difference in their own communities both as young women and throughout their adult lives.

The Mid-Peninsula Chapter of the National Charity League is made up of mothers and teenage daughters from Menlo Park, Atherton, Redwood City, Woodside, Portola Valley, Belmont and San Carlos. The purpose of NCL is to initiate and promote charitable endeavors in which mothers and daughters work together. Other philanthropies currently supported by the NCL Mid-Peninsula Chapter include the Friends of the Menlo Park Library, My New Red Shoes, Shelter Network’s Haven House and Redwood Family House, American Cancer Society (including the Menlo Park Discovery Shop), Family & Children Services, Art in Action and Rebuilding Together Peninsula. For more information, visit www.nclmidpen.org.

Bay Area leaders step up to save salt ponds

By Amy Ricard, Communications and Policy Associate

Regional opposition to Cargill’s plan to build a new city of up to 30,000 people on 1,436 acres of restorable salt ponds continues to grow dramatically.

Last week more than 90 elected officials from all nine Bay Area counties submitted a letter to the City Council of Redwood City urging them to reject a massive development on Bay salt ponds proposed by Cargill Inc., declaring, "The era of filling San Francisco Bay is over."

You can read about this significant swell of support from Bay Area leaders in the SF Chronicle and the SJ Mercury News.

Dozens of mayors and city council members, county supervisors, and state legislators strongly oppose the project, agreeing that "salt ponds are not land to be paved – they are part of San Francisco Bay to be restored to tidal marsh for wildlife habitat, natural flood protection for our communities, cleaner water, and recreation areas for everyone to enjoy."

In addition to this latest batch of elected officials to come out against the proposed development, the Menlo Park City Council voted to formally oppose the project citing the urgent need to protect and restore San Francisco Bay.

And Peter Drekmeier, former mayor of Palo Alto has said, "It is not 1960, and the Bay is not the place for housing. This is not smart growth like Redwood City's award-winning downtown projects. That's why the City Council should just say 'no' to Cargill now."

The bottom line: we all have a stake in what happens to our Bay. We must come together as a region to stop Cargill from paving over and destroying our great natural resource. If you have not yet signed our petition opposing this project yourself, please sign it today. You can also urge your own state legislators to sign the opposition letter by clicking here.

Community-based Restoration gettin' cred with community

By Amy Ricard, Communications and Policy Associate

We think our Community-based Restoration program is pretty awesome, but it's always nice to hear that the community thinks so too. Just in the last week, two separate videos hit the web touting the benefits of teaming up with Save The Bay to restore vital wetland habitat around our great natural treasure.

Last Thursday, a group of students from Fremont's Kennedy High School Green Tech Academy came out with us to plant marsh gumplant into the wetlands surrounding a recently-breached salt pond at Eden Landing Ecological Reserve along the Hayward Shoreline. The group was lucky enough to be joined by a CBS 5 reporter who taped a news segment for that evening's broadcast. Check out the web clip of the segment here.

And on Monday, a video was posted about employees from Pure Digital -- makers of "The Flip" digital camcorder -- and their experience planting native seedlings along the MLK Jr. shoreline in Oakland. Check it out.

Participating in Save The Bay's Community-based Restoration programs gives your employee, community or student group the opportunity to restore and explore the Bay. Over 100 businesses and community groups participate in our restoration projects each year and we are currently looking for more groups to schedule private weekday programs, which provide fun and engaging ways to bring your team together.

Interested in scheduling a program for your group? Contact Natalie LaVan, Restoration Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator, at natalie@savesfbay.org or (510) 452.9261 x109. To learn more about our private programs, visit www.saveSFbay.org/community.

A slew in the slough

By Trisha Allen, Education Coordinator

Have you ever wondered what 1,137 middle and high school students navigating the San Francisco Bay sloughs in canoes look like? It looks like gaggles of excited and nervous kids clad in Save The Bay’s finest PFDs, outfitted with paddles, and all geared up for a sensory exploration of the estuary in their own backyard.

This year nearly 70 Bay Area middle and high school classes participated in Save The Bay's Canoes In Sloughs program for a perfect blend of ecology, fun, and teamwork. For most students these canoe trips involve many firsts: first time out on the Bay, first time working together with classmates to steer a canoe, first time nibbling on the popular marsh plant pickleweed, first time handling slimy Bay creatures. And if we’ve done our job right, the canoe trip will make clear to the students the need to celebrate, protect and restore the Bay; thus transforming this handful of firsts into life-long stewardship of our great natural resource.

So why canoes? Well, travel by canoe has its advantages. This slow and sleek vessel allows students to intimately explore the Bay. They are able to venture into the narrow sloughs and cozy up next to egrets poised to spear lunch and black-crowned night herons resting quietly in the vegetation. These wetlands support an abundance of wildlife, and through observation and hands-on investigation, students discover this unique ecosystem and the billions of organisms living within it.

Using San Francisco Bay as a classroom and laboratory, Save The Bay’s field trips teach and inspire environmental stewardship and community leadership in today’s youth, who often spend most of their time inside and disconnected from the natural world. Through the Canoes In Sloughs program, students are allowed to experience the beauty and wonder of the outdoors, increasing their environmental science knowledge and inspiring a sincere appreciation for the Bay.

But don't take our word for it. See what teachers are saying:

"If you are looking for team-building, connecting with the Bay, and fun…this is the trip to go on."
Fadwa Musleh, Granada Islamic School, Palo Alto

"It’s a great way to experience local ecology through active learning, collaboration and the Save The Bay staff is excellent."
Julian August, Alameda Community Learning Center, Alameda

"It was an awesome way to get into the sloughs by touching, tasting, hearing, seeing and smelling the Bay.”
Vandy Shrader, Explore! Camp, East Palo Alto

"Save the Bay is an excellent organization that makes a significant impact on our Bay, enhancing young people’s understanding of the important Bay issues."
Patricia Williamson, Alameda Community Learning Center, Alameda

Learn more at www.saveSFbay.org/education.

Cargill facing growing opposition on Peninsula

By Stephen Knight, Political Director

There is a growing rebellion against Cargill's plan to build a city in San Francisco Bay.

In an important opinion piece in the Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto City Council member Yoriko Kishimoto calls out Cargill's plan as a grave threat to the Peninsula's future: "A proposed development in Redwood City so breathtaking in its size and misguided in its scope that nothing of its kind has been seen in half a century." She points out that "this is not an infill site and this is not the place for housing."

And the Redwood City Daily News recently reported that the Menlo Park City Council is moving to declare the project an environmental hazard to the region. Menlo Park Council Members Kelly Fergusson and Andrew Cohen agree that "the current Cargill/DMB development proposal seeks to reverse long-standing regional and local policies to protect the Bay and its wetlands."

Meanwhile, in an opinion piece published in the Redwood City Daily News, Redwood City resident Marsha Cohen expressed concern that the city "is stonewalling requests for public records." She points out that the mayor works for business lobbyist SAMCEDA, a strong public supporter of the Cargill development. Ms. Cohen wants to know what advice was given to the mayor about the conflict of interest.

Currently, the Redwood City Council is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to determine whether Cargill’s application should move forward. Clearly, many leaders on the Peninsula have found a much cheaper answer: It should be dead on arrival.

Go to www.savesfbay.org/redwoodcity for more information and to sign our petition, and stay tuned for more interesting updates.

VM Ware "runs" up the total

By Natalie La Van, Restoration Volunteer Coordinator

The fog is setting in and I’m absolutely freezing while standing next to San Francisco’s most iconic landmark, the Golden Gate Bridge. I’m not alone. There are over 100 other people here with me from around the globe -- I know this by the myriad accents and languages I hear floating through the atmosphere. And these people are ready.

I have never been a runner myself, so I’m just sitting back watching the largest number of fabulously fit forty-somethings in almost obscenely short shorts with pure glee! They are poised on the edge of their starting line waiting for that moment when they are set loose and the pure rush of adrenaline is theirs to do with as they please. Oh yeah and did I mention that these righteous runners are practically throwing money at me from the bottom of their sweet Nike’d soles? Heaven!!!

This is not just any run, my friends; this is the VM World Fun Run. Every year, the virtualization mogul VM Ware holds a conference for their international and local markets called VM World. This year they decided to give some thing back. When Craig Williams -- the leader of this effort -- started receiving emails from participants interested in going for a run on the world renowned Golden Gate Bridge and wanting him to suggest a trail, he saw this small request as an opportunity for those weary conference-goers to get out, stretch their legs and see the sights our lovely Bay has to offer. Being a champion of the environment himself, and knowing the commitment Palo Alto-based VM Ware has to the local ecosystem and the care their clientele has for the entire planet, Craig decided to bring this event full circle by donating the entry fees to a local charity.

Remember I said they were practically throwing money at me?! With only a shirt and a beer to entice them back to the finish line, each group took off into the blustery twilight to enjoy the view of the sun setting gently over the ocean with the tapping of tennies on the Golden Gate Bridge singing in their ears.

My hands were cold but my heart was warmed when, after the run, even more people who were inspired by our lovely Bay, emptied their bitsy britches of every dollar they had to support the efforts of Save The Bay. All in all, the VM World runners and TrainSignal raised about $2,300 dollars!!

Save The Bay will use their donations to continue restoring the Bay, educating many more future environmental stewards, removing trash and repopulating our shores with native plants and wildlife.

It is the simple efforts of people like Craig Williams -- taking a small request and turning it into a big event that keeps me toasty during those brisk early San Francisco evenings. And those diminutive drawers don’t hurt either!

Ecology in Education -- Makin' it Work

by Sigrid Mueller, Education Director and Alicia Moore, School Programs Manager

Connecting students to the San Francisco Bay and supporting teachers who share this commitment have always been at the core of Save The Bay’s educational vision. We believe that outdoor environmental education – such as our Watershed Education Programs – works best with appropriate preparation and follow-up. And, recent research supports the idea that students learn and retain more when field-trip activities are bookended by classroom lessons.

Since 1999 Save The Bay has hosted a professional development workshop for teachers interested in our Watershed Education Programs. Our regular evaluation has found that teachers desire, and benefit from, methods and strategies to integrate the field trip experience into the classroom lesson plan. Our workshop teaches classroom techniques to prepare for and get the most from our field trips.

This summer our workshop added an additional day to help teachers incorporate the field trip into the classroom. Participants worked with Save The Bay staff and colleagues to design lesson plans derived from our Canoes In Sloughs and Community-based Restoration field trips – to strengthen the impact on students and improve learning outcomes.

From June 30 to July 2, sixteen middle and high school teachers and five environmental educators gathered to explore in canoes and restore wetlands, and learn how to bring it all back to the classroom. Highlights from the two field-based days included seeing California Clapper Rails in their native habitat, identifying invertebrates and native wetland plants, and discussing the importance of service learning. Participants were also excited to have a third day to work on classroom lesson plans with Save The Bay staff and their colleagues. As one teacher remarked: "It was incredibly beneficial to actually conduct some lessons and discuss them with our peers. It makes it much easier to actually integrate field experiences into my teaching if I have done it before."

To learn more about Save The Bay's Watershed Education programs, visit: www.saveSFbay.org/education.

Here are a few photos taken during the three-day workshop:

Stand by your plan

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

As our readers know, Cargill and DMB recently submitted an application to Redwood City, proposing to build up to 12,000 housing units on retired salt ponds that should be restored to natural wetlands. Before reviewing Cargill's development proposal, the Redwood City Council is working to finalize a new general plan.

In January, the City Council made a public commitment that there were to be no changes made on Cargill's Redwood City salt ponds in the updated plan.

In fact, Redwood City's current general plan map clearly places the entire salt pond property under the category of "Open Space." And the current general plan, in place since 1990, says this about the salt ponds: "Due to the sensitive nature of these open space areas, it should be assumed that they will remain as open space forever."

But a recently released general plan map would remove the words “Open Space” from hundreds of acres of the Cargill salt ponds. See the map here. City staff told the Planning Commission that the so-called "Urban Reserve" on a section of the Cargill property "really wasn't an open space designation." A proposed new "Open Spaces" map graphically illustrates the result – nearly half of the Cargill salt ponds would be taken out of open space.

Redwood City must honor its commitment to "take the Cargill site out of the General Plan Process." The city should renew its vision of saving the salt ponds "as open space forever," just like they are in the current general plan.

We have been told that the City is working to resolve this issue and intends to stand by their word by continuing to describe the "urban reserve" as open space on the land-use map. Exactly what they will do with other existing Cargill-related language from the current general plan – that it should "remain as open space forever" – remains unclear.

Save The Bay is committed to urging the City to renew their vision of saving the salt ponds as open space, which will benefit both people and wildlife.

Learn more at http://www.saveSFbay.org/redwoodcity.

DMB plan should be DOA

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

Yesterday, DMB Associates unveiled their massive development plan for the Cargill site in Redwood City.

As our Executive Director David Lewis says in this San Jose Mercury News article, this project "should be dead on arrival."

Save The Bay opposes Cargill and DMB’s Bay salt pond development project in Redwood City. We therefore urge Redwood City, state and federal agencies to reject the project and promote full restoration and protection of habitat and open space on the site.

The project would destroy Bay shoreline open space that should be restored. It would put new development in the path of flood waters and rising sea level.

This site is not infill and it is not the place for housing and commercial development. Redwood City should continue its smart growth redevelopment downtown. These salt ponds should be permanently protected for restoration that benefits people and wildlife.

Once again, it is up to residents to make their voices heard and stop this destructive project.

Learn more at www.saveSFbay.org/redwoodcity.

In the zone

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

You might have heard about the Pacific Institute’s recent report, "The Impacts of Sea-Level Rise on the California Coast," which states that a half a million current California residents and $100 billion of the state’s infrastructure will be in the inundation zone by 2100.

If you haven't heard – read all about it. Check out this article from the San Francisco Chronicle and this story from NPR.

Over two thirds of that "at risk" infrastructure is in the San Francisco Bay Area.

What's more, California's number one, most threatened municipality is San Mateo County, both in terms of population and infrastructure. San Mateo County has $24 billion in infrastructure at risk – almost one quarter of the entire statewide projected impact from sea level rise. Check out the maps from the report.

The Bay Area faces an enormous challenge to protect existing infrastructure around our Bay, including San Francisco Airport, Highway 101 and many thousands of residences. In the face of this growing threat, one thing is clear: Redwood City should not approve Cargill’s plan to place billions of dollars of new housing infrastructure out on Redwood City’s bayfront salt ponds.

Learn more at www.saveSFbay.org/redwoodcity.

At war with weeds

by Jocelyn Gretz, Community Programs Manager

Weeds are plants where you don’t want them – plain and simple. And although these weeds are often beautiful, restoration ecologists refer to them as invasive species. As we gear up for our spring and summer weeding season, I have been recalling the hundreds of hours I’ve spent pulling weeds – sometimes in outrageous situations – and contemplating the huge effort needed to maintain our native ecosystems.

In college, instead of serving cocktails like my peers, I spent summer days restoring tall grass prairies in Wisconsin. Even in the seemingly 150% humidity, we were fully clothed in long sleeves and pants while ripping out non-native wild parsnip, hoping it wouldn’t lash back and give us a chemical burn that blistered the skin. Talk about invasive!

I have also duck-taped my shoes around my ankles to prevent them from falling off as I plunged through a sedge mat on a mosquito-y bog, all to rip out the robust purple loosestrife.

One of my more “painful” restoration tasks was when I wielded a chainsaw to cut down native cottonwood trees. I thought, "But I like trees." I had to be reminded that even though invasive plants can be pretty, they out-compete our natives and need to be removed for a natural environment to thrive.

Certainly on a given day’s work, tactics can be frustrating. In a sea of weeds with seeds that are viable for five or more years, one can easily get discouraged. However, after several seasons working to protect San Francisco Bay, I have witnessed progress–we have significantly reduced invasive weeds like iceplant in our wetlands.

And that is where you come in. Save The Bay's Community-based Restoration program works with thousands of volunteers each year to help us improve habitat and we rely on a continual flow of volunteer groups and individuals to help us restore wetlands at six sites around the Bay.

As we head into spring and summer, we are in particular need of "weed warriors" to help clear away the invasive species that degrade habitat for birds, fish and other Bay wildlife. It's a great way to get outside and give back to the environment and your community. If you're interested in a fun day on the Bay, contact me to set up a project for your community group or employee team or sign yourself up for one of our public restoration events.

Mission accomplished: Over 20,000 native seedlings in the ground

by Laura Wainer, Restoration Projects Manager

With the planting season just about "sown" up, we are thrilled to report that we have exceeded our ambitious goal to plant 20,000 native seedlings into several wetland sites ringing the Bay! Nearly 3,500 volunteers donated their time at over 100 programs since November to help restore critical wetland habitat, which is vital to maintain the health of the Bay and also to support the 500 species of wildlife that live in and around it.

Volunteers at Oakland's Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline worked extremely hard this winter, taking the top spot by planting over 8,000 seedlings. Folks who participated in programs at San Francisquito Creek in Palo Alto ran a close second with just under 8,000 native plants in the ground. And with fewer programs offered, volunteers at Bothin Marsh in Mill Valley, Eden Landing in Hayward and Bair Island in Redwood City held their own with totals ranging from 1,000 to over 2,800 seedlings. Collectively at these three sites over 5,600 plants were planted.

An exciting addition to this year's planting season were the Volunteer Appreciation Days held at Bothin Marsh, San Francisquito Creek and the MLK Jr. Shoreline. Together we honored our dedicated volunteers and celebrated with good food, music, fun giveaways and speakers. In fact, participants at Bothin Marsh were joined by a very special guest star—a gopher snake curious to see what all the ruckus was about outside its home.

At our site in Oakland, evidence of the success of our Community-based Restoration programs also posed a bit of a challenge. Over the last several years, Save The Bay staff and volunteers have done such an effective job of creating habitat for the endangered California clapper rail, that the increased population of clapper rails is actively using that habitat. While that is great news and a clear demonstration of the success of our restoration work, it also meant that we had to vacate the habitat and create a different restoration site to avoid disturbing the endangered birds. It took some creative thinking, but in the end, we made it work.

With the plants in the ground, we now begin weeding the wetlands to clear away invasive species that ultimately degrade habitat for fish and wildlife. Grab your gardening gloves and sign up for one of our many restoration programs.

Cargill property draws skepticism from Bay planners

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

A top priority for Save The Bay is stopping Cargill from developing its 1430-acre retired salt pond site in Redwood City – the single largest restorable wetland site currently under threat of development anywhere around the Bay.

Cargill’s developer, DMB, has yet to file an actual development plan, but last week DMB gave a general introductory presentation to the Bay Conservation and Development Commission (BCDC) – which is just one of the many state and federal agencies that will eventually have to approve development on these retired Bay salt ponds.

DMB’s consultants sketched out a picture of restored wetlands and other popular amenities like waterside trails and bike paths across Highway 101 to downtown. But virtually no mention was made of housing, traffic-choked streets, overtaxed water use, or of the many real-world impacts.

Numerous commissioners raised significant issues, such as:

--> How do you build “transit oriented development” on the other side of Highway 101?
--> Should a Bay salt pond even be considered for a housing development?
--> What about climate change and sea level rise?
--> Will the proposed development be built on fill, or behind massive levees? (Answer: both.)
--> What are the flood control risks raised by such a development in the Bay?
--> What about the likely impacts on the endangered California clapper rails that live nearby?
--> How do we help guide this process so that Redwood City does not pursue a development that we won’t approve?
--> Shouldn’t complete salt pond restoration of the site be considered?
--> In San Mateo County, not even a fraction of the El Camino Real corridor has yet been developed.

Commissioner Eric Carruthers observed that the Cargill salt ponds were tidal wetlands as recently as 1943, which he said was “not ancient history.” He added he felt “very uneasy about such a major” alteration of the salt pond site.

Among those expressing opposition to any development at the site were Save The Bay, Sequoia Audubon, Committee for Green Foothills, Friends of Redwood City, the Citizens Committee to Complete the Refuge, and Loma Prieta Sierra Club. The Chamber of Commerce showed up to speak in favor.

Redwood City Mayor Foust also attended and told BCDC that the city looks forward to working with DMB to conduct a planning process, starting with a “conceptual plan” from the developer later this year.

Interestingly enough, this week a major new study was released showing the worst-case scenario in sea level rise—one meter by 2100—could be overly optimistic.

“Rising seas, storms and extreme high tides are expected to send saltwater into low-lying areas, flooding freeways, the Oakland and San Francisco airports, hospitals, power plants, schools and sewage plants,” the article says. “Lessons from New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina are not to build below sea level.”

As the city’s general plan and the specific development processes move slowly forward in the coming months and years, Save The Bay and many others will be working and watching to see that Redwood City reaffirms that these restorable salt ponds are not a place for housing. The public can make themselves heard through this form on the City’s General Plan website and you can take action on our website.

Giving our volunteers a High-Five

by Amy Alton, Communications Associate

Simply put, our Community-based Restoration programs wouldn’t be possible without the labor and dedication of the community. To show our sincere appreciation of all the hard work our volunteers have contributed to restoring the Bay shoreline, we recently held volunteer appreciation days at Bothin Marsh, the Palo Alto Baylands and at the Martin Luther King Shoreline.

Our fabulous volunteers were treated to good food, musicians, raffle prizes and much more! We plan to host more appreciation days in the future, so check our website for updates. In the meantime, take a look at photos of this year's festivities on our Facebook page.