Coots Scoopin' Booty

by Amy Alton, Communications and Policy Associate

If not for recent and shocking reports of pirates capturing large vessels on the high seas, I would not have believed that pirates truly existed. Honestly, until a little over a year ago, I was naïve enough to think that pirates were the stuff of movies and amusement park rides. Imagine my embarrassment at several dinner parties in exposing this truth… But talking pirates got me thinking about another pirate—one of San Francisco Bay’s truest resident pirates: the American Coot.

This bird even looks like a pirate; it has a black body with a bone-white beak and red eyes! You can find coots all around San Francisco Bay, and in especially large numbers at Lake Merritt in Oakland and the duck pond in Palo Alto. But don’t mistake the coot for a duck! Its feet are lobed, rather than webbed, making it part of the rail family. The lobes allow the coot to have both sea and land legs—good for swimming, diving and walking.

Another pirate-like feature: coots are kleptoparasitic, which means that when they don’t feel like hunting for their own food, they’ll steal their booty from other species, such as dabbling ducks, or diving ducks bringing plants up to the surface of the water. They’ve even been known to swipe the food right off a duck or swan’s bill!

Like pirates, coots are often viewed as obnoxious, ugly, and unwelcome pests (hence the term, ‘you old coot!’); but when their population decreases, it’s often a bad sign for other species, as well. Coots are an important indicator species of the overall health of the wetland ecosystem. While pirates may be a danger to those sailing the high seas, I suppose this particular pirate might not be so bad after all.

Cargill paves the way to pave the Bay

by Stephen Knight, Political Director

Cargill Inc and their luxury developer DMB Associates recently released their plan to build a "mini-city" on 1,433 acres of retired salt ponds in Redwood City. Their proposal includes up to 12,000 housing units and 30,000 new residents and would be the largest development on the Bay shoreline since the 1960s.

The project would put new development in the path of rising sea levels and destroy Bay shoreline open space that should be restored. This is not an infill site, nor is it the place for housing and commercial development. You can help us urge Redwood City to continue its current smart growth redevelopment downtown.

On Sunday, the Insight section of the San Francisco Chronicle published an opinion piece written by Save The Bay Executive Director David Lewis pointing out the arrogant and irresponsible nature of Cargill and DMB's plan. These developers, like so many before them, believe they can buy approval for massive sprawl into the Bay, spending millions on slick PR campaigns to pass Bay fill off as "green" development, and making big promises to restore some wetlands on site in exchange for destroying the rest.

Read the article now.

Our region’s quality of life and economy depend on a healthy and vibrant San Francisco Bay, which brings millions of dollars to our state from tourism, industry, recreation and fishing. The Bay and its marshes moderate our local climate, provide vital habitat to 500 species of wildlife and offer natural flood protection for people and communities.

The Bay, including these salt ponds, belongs to all of us, not just Redwood City. The era of filling in San Francisco Bay is over and the entire Bay Area should tell Cargill and DMB that housing doesn’t belong in our Bay.

Help us protect the salt ponds today by visiting our website and adding your name to the many individuals and organizations that have joined Save The Bay, the Sierra Club, and others in signing the petition to save the Redwood City salt ponds.

Weeding in sheets is 'mulch' easier

by Melanie Lopes, Restoration Specialist

“Is there any easier way to do this?”
“Can’t you just get a bulldozer and clear this whole area?”
“Isn’t there some sort of spray that you can use on these plants to get rid of them?”

These are questions that we often hear from volunteers participating in weeding projects through our Community-based Restoration program. The work, albeit satisfying, is labor intensive and time-consuming, and after about an hour’s worth of pulling, digging, and lopping, people start to wonder if there’s a better way.

The manual removal that we do with volunteers is an effective strategy for thoroughly removing populations of weeds in areas where native plants are present. Bulldozers, power tools, and herbicides, however time-saving they may be, are not as selective, and simply are not options given the nature of our sites and the nature of a community-based program.

However, we have found a technique for weed management that is efficient, effective, and appropriate for our programs – it's called sheet mulching. And it's a technique that can be used to eliminate large areas of weeds while simultaneously enriching the soil. It involves smothering the weeded area by laying down a layer of compost, then cardboard, followed by a thick layer of mulch (wood chips, straw, leaf litter, etc). As time passes, the cardboard and the existing weeds underneath begin to decompose, adding nutrients to the soil. Furthermore, sunlight is blocked from the soil, preventing future weed germination. This creates a blank slate for planting native seedlings in enriched soil, without competition from aggressive weeds.

Here are a few photos to show you what we mean.

So far, we have tried this technique at only one site, along a trail at the Palo Alto Baylands. We chose an area that was covered solely by non-native plants, making it easy to completely cover the area without fear of destroying any natives. With the generous contributions from the City of Palo Alto, we had enough compost, cardboard, and mulch delivered to the site to get the project underway. In the fall of 2006, a group of volunteers from PG&E came out to help install the first section of sheet mulch – an effort that was met with great success. The area was left to rest for one year, in order to allow the cardboard and weeds to decompose. The following winter our first plantings went in and the results were phenomenal. Three years later, the area is thriving with native plants, with hardly any weeds in sight!

We've expanded the sheet mulch area down the trailside, and we hope to continue using this technique at other sites as well. Finding appropriate areas for this approach and acquiring the necessary resources (cardboard, compost, mulch) are the main obstacles we face, but based on the remarkable results we’ve seen down at the Palo Alto Baylands, we know that getting another sheet mulch project underway is well worth the effort.

Sign up for one of our Community-based Restoration programs at www.saveSFbay.org/restore.

Save The Bay makes the national news!

by Amy Alton, Communications Associate

We got some national attention last night when ABC's World News with Charles Gibson featured our "The Bay vs. the Bag" video during a segment on the negative environmental impact of plastic and paper single-use bags and the steps cities across the nation are taking to reduce pervasive bag pollution and litter.

Check it out!

And read all about it. Click here for more news stories about cities nationwide that are helping residents to kick the bag habit.

Bay Savers: The Next Generation

by Amy Alton, Communications Associate

You're never too young to take an active role in caring for the Bay. Ten year old Alyssa Lee proved this point last weekend when she mobilized a group of her friends to clean up a section of the Alameda/Oakland shoreline. Here is the story…

Two weeks ago, when taking a walk with her family, she discovered an extremely littered section of the shoreline. Rather than turn a blind eye to the problem, she took action. She invited several friends to give up their weekends to join her in a trash cleanup.

Being the conscientious type, Alyssa's dad contacted Save The Bay to ask how to responsibly dispose of the heaps of trash they would no doubt collect. He also mentioned that most of the trash was plastic and that as a result, he had been telling his daughters and their friends about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch and the impact non-recycled plastics have on the environment.

As you can imagine we were thrilled to learn of these budding Bay Savers! We pointed them toward the appropriate recycling and waste centers and outfitted them with Save The Bay stickers and patches to thank them for their invaluable contribution to the health of the Bay.

According to dad, "the cleanup was a big hit with the kids! It gave them a great sense of pride to do something for the environment."

At the end of the day, they had filled at least four big garbage bags – most of which were non bio-degradable plastics. Both the impetus and result of Alyssa's cleanup serve as a good reminder of the massive amounts of trash flowing to the Bay from our parking lots, streets and neighborhoods. It also underscores the necessity to significantly reduce this trash and plastic pollution, which harms wildlife, spoils water quality and lowers property values and our quality of life.

Do your part and help Save The Bay protect our valuable resource from trash and litter:

Learn more about preventing trash pollution.

Sign our petition to "Kick the Bag Habit!" and make the switch to reusable bags.

Tell your leaders to eliminate plastic bags in California.

No business like 'sow' business

by Jocelyn Gretz, Community Programs Manager

If you've ever been to Yosemite around this time of year, you would know that Yosemite Falls is in full force – much like the surge of requests for corporate group programs I have been receiving lately. Every spring things pick up, as if workers around the Bay Area are coming out of cubicle hibernation and are craving an outdoor team-building experience.

The corporations that have recently come out with us or are scheduled to come out in the next few weeks include: Sun Microsystems, Roche, Trulia, SAP, Charles Schwab, Polycom, Life Technologies, Cupertino Electric, Robert Half International, Hewlett Packard, Cisco, Delloitte, Codexis, Maxygen, VM Ware and NBC. Whew!

Adult volunteers play an important role in our Community-based Restoration programs. They quickly learn plant identification skills that allow them to work in our most sensitive habitats, acting as sleuths to find and remove invasive weeds amongst recently planted seedlings. These volunteers also provide critical manpower in the delicate tasks of seed collection, sowing seeds and rooting plant cuttings for future seedlings in our two native plant nurseries.

In addition to helping restore vital habitats, many of these businesses also make a donation to Save The Bay, acknowledging that providing team-building volunteer programs takes professional coordination, experienced field staff and adequate equipment to make the projects run smoothly. These donations help us offset some of these costs, but also allow us to continue to offer free programs to school and community groups that do not have funding. Save The Bay sincerely appreciates both the time and support these businesses have given our programs!

Roughly 100 corporations and community groups come out with Save The Bay each year. We hope you will join us - during any season - and the long list of Bay Area businesses that make our Community-based Restoration programs a success.

Learn more at www.saveSFbay.org/community.

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.