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March 2007
California Oak Report
Mariposa General Plan Good for Oaks
As characterized by the Sierra Nevada Alliance (SNA), "Mariposa County’s small towns and rolling, oak covered ranchlands look much the same as they did 150 years ago. But like many counties in the Sierra, Mariposa County is facing tremendous growth pressure."
Fortunately, SNA in partnership with their affiliates Mariposans for the Environment and Responsible Government (MERG) were able to achieve significant protections for oak woodlands and other natural resources in the recently adopted Mariposa County General Plan.
Policies include: 425,000 acres set aside for agriculture and strong restrictions on any development of this area; the plan states that "development shall grow outward from planning areas and residential areas with available services" and ensures that new development occurs close to existing roads, sewers and other services; creates a new environmental conservation program that includes development standards and proactive conservation programs for protecting wildlife habitat, including rare plant communities, breeding and nesting areas for migratory birds and habitat along rivers, creeks and seasonal drainages.
SNA ascribes these general plan successes to multiple elements: (1) an unlikely partnership between MERG and the Mariposa County Farm Bureau. The two groups had been at odds in the past, and the Board of Supervisors took note of this uncommon alliance; (2) the credible threat of a lawsuit, giving MERG leverage with the County; (3) visible community support for MERG’s smart growth position.
As members of the SNA, COF reminds you to mark your calendars for August 3-5, 2007. Plan on attending a weekend in North Tahoe for SNA’s 14th annual conference.
Save the Shade
By Charles Lockwood, an environmental consultant based in Southern California and New York City who writes about environmental building issues for Hemispheres magazine.
A recent study by American Forests, a nonprofit conservation organization, found that San Diego has just a 13 percent tree cover. American Forests recommends a minimum of 40 percent tree cover for most urban areas. In Atlanta a NASA-sponsored study found that the continued destruction of Atlanta's trees has raised temperatures in the city five to eight degrees higher than outlying areas-which has generated increasingly violent thunderstorms over the metropolitan area and more severe flooding.
"The media keeps reporting on the alarming destruction of unspoiled forests around the world, like Brazil's Amazon Basin," says John E. Cutler, a principal in the Houston office of The SWA Group, an international landscape architecture, planning, and urban design firm. "But the media is basically ignoring the equally disturbing disappearance of our 'urban forests' - the trees along streets, in residential yards, and parks in metropolitan areas."
How serious is the problem? A study by America Forests shows that the 448 largest urban areas in the U.S. lost more than 3.5 billion trees in just the past 10 years.
The Many Benefits of Trees
First, trees generate significant, measurable environmental benefits. Trees clean pollutants from the air, including sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and carbon monoxide. Just 100 trees, for example, remove five tons of carbon dioxide from the air a year, and about 1,000 pounds of pollutants.
Second, trees greatly lower energy consumption. The shade from trees prevents heat islands-the buildup of heat from sunlight pouring onto dark, non-reflective surfaces such as roofs, roads, and parking lots. Strategically placed trees around a house can cut air conditioning usage-and costs-in half. A recent study by the USDA Forest Service Center for Urban Forest Research found that adding 50 million new trees in California would eliminate the need for seven new 100-megawatt power plants.
Third, trees reduce the need for (and cost of) storm water management Facilities. One hundred mature trees capture about 250,000 gallons of rainwater per year by absorbing rain and slowing the flow of storm water, allowing some water to evaporate and the rest to soak into the ground. San Antonio, Texas, plans to increase its tree cover from 27 percent to 35 percent to reduce storm.
Cities vs. Trees
Cities and developers often take the easy way out--cutting down trees and building what they want rather than finding a creative architectural or engineering solution that would preserve existing urban trees and still enable them to construct the desired project. Cutting down trees is only part of the problem. Many communities aren't planting trees to replace those that have been lost.
But there is good news. Protecting existing city trees and planting millions more is the goal of diverse private, nonprofit, municipal, regional, state, and national efforts. Across the U.S., a variety of local nonprofit organizations are now pursuing urban forest campaigns. Los Angeles-based TreePeople not only has planted more than 2 million trees in its metropolitan area but also focuses on proper tree care.
"It's very hard for any large city to provide the kind of protection and care needed to get trees established," says TreePeople president and founder Andy Lipkis. "Most newly planted trees survive only seven years. Through citizen forestry, however, 95 percent of the trees we plant are alive after five years-the people are out there protecting, watering, and maintaining them."
National organizations, meanwhile, are providing the necessary research, resources, and networking to local, regional, and state urban forest groups. American Forests, founded in 1875, is the oldest nonprofit citizens' conservation organization in the U.S. The group's research and scientific endeavors include development of the CityGreen GIS computer software that helps local groups and cities evaluate planting and engineering solution that would preserve existing urban trees and still enable them to construct the desired project.
Announcements
The UC Integrated Hardwood Range Management Program presents the Oak Woodland Planner's Workshop. It will address planning issues in oak woodlands, including:
*Oak woodland planning and strategies that promote oak woodland conservation.
*Compliance with SB 1334 and AB 242, requiring mitigation should oak woodlands be significantly affected by a project.
Date: Wednesday, March 21, 9am-3:30pm
Place: Martinelli Event Center, Livermore
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Forest Ethics: On Friday, April 13th, take part in a "Day of Action" by calling Sierra Pacific Industries’ (SPI) headquarters at (530) 378-8000 to tell them that as a concerned citizen, you are urging them to stop clearcutting the forests of the Sierra Nevada in which oak trees become victims. SPI owns upwards of 1.5 million acres and has plans to clearcut over one million of them, destroying valuable habitat for threatened plants and animals, encouraging silt and sediment deposits into rivers and streams, and possibly increasing the risk for catastrophic fires.
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COF, as an organizational member of the Planning and Conservation League, invites you to register to join scores of environmental advocates from throughout California at the 2007 Annual Environmental Legislative Symposium on Saturday, April 14, 2007. Global warming, sprawl, water shortages, environmental injustice, and toxic and public health hazards are just a few of the topics to be discussed.
Merchandise
The Oak Woodland Bird Conservation Plan by Dr. Steve Zack and co-published by California Oak Foundation and Point Reyes Bird Observatory. California oak woodlands rank among the top three habitat types in North America for bird richness. This book is a guide for conservation policy and action on behalf of oak woodland habitats and wildlife. 126 pages, paperback, $12.00, members $10.80.
For the months of March and April, mention this ad and your
cost will be $5.00 plus tax, shipping and handling ($2.50 Media, $5.00 First Class).
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1212 Broadway, #842 Oakland, CA 94612 Tel. 510-763-0282
Fax: 510-208-4435 oakstaff@californiaoaks.org
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