Save The Bay Blog

Check out this week’s Weekly Roundup for breaking news affecting San Francisco Bay.

Los Angeles Times 5/15/13
Volunteers pull tons (and tons) of trash from California waterways
The Ocean Conservancy has run the numbers, and over the course of a single day in September 2012, more than 500,000 volunteers from across the globe collected 10 million pounds of trash from beaches and waterways. The top three most common items collected were cigarettes and cigarette filters (2.1 million), food wrappers (1.1 million), and plastic beverage bottles (1 million).
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San Jose Mercury News 5/13/13
River otters are making a comeback in the Bay Area
On a cool winter evening just before sunset, birdwatcher Helen Daley spotted something entirely unexpected slithering in the waters of Los Gatos Creek.
“I turned the binoculars on it,” Daley said. “It was moving, and the water was shaped like a ‘V.’ It dived under, and its tail slipped up. It was a tapered, long tail. It wasn’t like that of a rat or beaver.”
Daley, a nurse who lives in the Cambrian Park area of San Jose, rushed home and confirmed online that the animal she saw was a North American river otter.
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Grist 5/13/13
Green vs. green: The slimy battle for Drakes Bay
It’s springtime at the Point Reyes National Seashore, about an hour outside of San Francisco, and the cold wind whips off the sea and through the tall grass along the cliffs. Cows wander and graze along the fingers of land that reach out into the estuary’s tiny bays, an area altogether encompassing just over three square miles.
Beyond the estuary, at the outer edges of the seashore, seals sun themselves on the beaches, packed in tightly and squirming along the shoreline.
From March through June, the estuary is quiet. The seashore boasts more than 28,000 acres of agricultural land, most of it for beef and dairy production — but it’s pupping season for the seals, and the National Park Service has instated its annual ban on the motorboats that usually zip around the estuary, planting and harvesting millions of oysters for the Drakes Bay Oyster Company.
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Marin Independent Journal 5/10/13
Environmentalists, officials turn out in Tiburon to cheer SF Bay wetlands designation
With choppy Richardson Bay as a backdrop, dozens of people gathered at the Lyford House in Tiburon on a breezy Friday afternoon to celebrate the naming of San Francisco Bay as an international Ramsar “wetland of importance.”
The designation adds the bay to a list of protected areas under an international treaty among 163 countries signed in Ramsar, Iran, in 1971 to limit damaging development along ecologically important waterways.
“It took more than four years to make all this happen,” said Rowan Gould, deputy director of operations for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. “Wetlands are not only internationally important, they are important in the communities we live in.”
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Daily Kos 5/12/13
Costa Introduces Legislation To Strip ESA Protections For Delta Fish
Congressman Jim Costa (D-Fresno) has introduced legislation to exempt the Central Valley  and State Water projects from Delta pumping restrictions required under the Endangered Species Act to protect Central Valley salmon and Delta smelt.
Costa claimed the  “More Water and Security for Californians Act” would “significantly increase” the water supply in the Valley and growers who receive water from the Central Valley Project (CVP) and the State Water Project (SWP) would see greater “water security.”
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Grist 5/14/13
Determined kids in small California town push for plastic bag ban
You may have read about some hardworking, smart, and civic-minded students who, back in 2011 and 2012, fought to keep their local river park open. Fought and won, actually. Well, students from that same school, Grass Valley Charter in Grass Valley, Calif., are now on to another battle — with the help of students from other area schools, they want to push Nevada County to put a ban on single-use plastic bags and start charging for paper bags. These kids are unstoppable.
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Wetland Habitat means more and healthier fish!

Restoring wetland habitat around San Francisco Bay will strengthen fisheries. Photo credit: Flickr user nchill4x4.

A new report from our partners at Restore America’s Estuaries (RAE) provides yet another strong argument in favor of restoring our shorelines and wetland habitat.

More Habitat Means More Fish, the most recent in a series of reports on the fragile state of our nation’s wetlands and marine environment, makes the case for additional resources to protect and restore vital estuaries like San Francisco Bay.

In the last 150 years, San Francisco Bay has lost more than 90% of its historic wetlands, which when combined with the urbanization of the early 20th century, resulted in a disastrous fall in aquatic species and populations. Fifty years after residents realized the need for restoration and pollution controls, and following significant work, the Bay is on the mend.  But much remains to be done.

The RAE report reminds conservationists that marsh restoration isn’t just about enjoying a weekend out on the water.  Salt water fisheries like the Bay support some 1.7 millon jobs, and contribute nearly $200 billion to the national economy.  Fortunately, following the conversion of Bay wetlands from salt production in the 1950’s, an estimated 30,000 fish from 41 species have returned to San Francisco Bay.  This is proof positive that if you restore it, they will come (back).

We’re encouraged by the work of our partners, and hope that you can get more involved as well.  Want to dip your toe in the water?  Take our For The Bay Porpoise action today and tell the Regional Water Board to keep San Francisco Bay clean and healthy.

You can also read more about the RAE report, and the critical role of wetlands in our economy and our environment here.

Now, time to grab that rod and reel and head out for an afternoon on the Bay!

Pavan receives John Muir Association’s, “Youth Environmental Education Conservation Award”. Pictured (left to right): JoAnne Dunec (President, John Muir Association), Pavan Raj Gowda, Tom Leatherman (General Superintendent, Contra Costa County), and George Miller (Congressman)

Pavan Raj Gowda was recently honored with the President’s Environmental Youth award for his environmental stewardship work engaging children with environmental issues. 

Caring for the environment has always been part of who I am. At age 8, I expressed my thoughts openly about how a community needs to come together to care for the environment through a story called, “Two Lakes”, which was later included in my first published children story book, Two Tales from a Kid.

With my parents’ encouragement and support, I pursued my passion for caring for our planet by starting my own website, GreenKidsNow.org and published my articles, stories, tips, and ideas. In order to help me take action on my ideas, my parents registered Green Kids Now, Inc., as a 501c(3) non-profit organization. My organization has now completed three years, and in this time frame we have been working hard in many ways to take action.

Moving into our fourth year, my organization will also be focusing on science and innovation. It is very important for everyone to understand that innovation and environmental sustainability should not be seen as two separate things. Most of the issues we are seeing today with us not knowing how to use our raw materials and how to dispose of an item properly — like plastics — is because when people created products they did not consider these things.

But now we know from our previous mistakes and from the issues we are currently facing today, that the right way is for us to think about environmental sustainability from the beginning of creating any product or solution. That’s why my organization will be focusing on showing kids how to responsibly innovate. It is time for us to rethink everything around us today that was created by our past generations. We have a lot of rethinking and redesigning work to do.

Everything we do on land has a direct impact on the oceans too. From ocean warming, toxic chemicals mixing in the waters, our waste floating away and reaching even the most remote parts of oceans, are some examples of how our actions have caused negative consequences. Living in the San Francisco Bay Area, I am able to appreciate the majestic nature of the sea, and love learning about marine life. I can also see first-hand how our actions are negatively impacting ocean processes and ecosystems, which not only impact the marine web of life, but also impact the global balance of life on the land.

The first step in involving people to take action is to first raise their awareness on the environmental issues. People have to come forward by themselves to take action, only then it would be more effective. For that, providing all the data and sharing of information is very important. Through my second published children science fiction, Geckoboy –The Battle of Fracking, I have introduced Biomimicry, as the new method of Innovation, and also showed the side effects of fracking, a method used by oil companies to extract natural gas and oil from the underground.

Let’s all take effort to continue to learn, and do our part in protecting our planet!

– Pavan Raj Gowda

About the Author:
Pavan Raj Gowda, 13 years old, from Fremont, CA, is a passionate environmentalist, published author, and founder of non-profit charity organization, Green Kids Now, Inc. He is also the founder of Green Kids Conference.

Beardless Wildrye helps stabilize the transition zone along the edge of the Bay.

Beardless Wildrye, Elymus triticoides, (formerly of the genus Leymus), is a beautiful and highly adaptable grass species that historically occupied large swathes of lowlands and floodplains throughout the salt marsh transition zone throughout the Bay Area.  Its range extends from California to Washington, and inland to Montana and West Texas.  It is found in meadow landscapes, from dry to moist soils, often where soils are more saline.  It is a cool-season, perennial grass and is considered to be strongly rhizomatous, or sod-forming.

Save The Bay propagates this species by collecting rhizomes – underground, horizontal stems that produce new plants — from a variety of locations near our project sites. A small percentage of rhizomes, shoots, and roots are carefully dug out of the soil and brought back to the nursery to be divided and grown in individual containers for one season, and finally planted during the winter months to colonize locations formerly occupied by non-native annuals such as mustard, radish, Italian thistle, and fennel.

This grass is part of a suite of species that grow by rhizome in the transition zone.  These sod-forming species form layers of roots below the soil surface, somewhat like threads of fabric that stabilize the soil and prevent invasive species from growing.  Above ground, dense vegetation provides critical habitat for insects, small mammals, and ground nesting birds.  As shoots die back each season, thick layers of thatch form, providing more layers of habitat and preventing other species from entering into the system.  Rushes, sedges, grasses, and broadleaf herbaceous perennials, work together and share site dominance over time. During years of higher precipitation, certain species thrive in more freshwater and during drought seasons, other more salt-tolerant species will dominate the system.    This is a very important function of established transition zones in terms of sea-level rise and increasing hydrological fluctuation.

To learn more about propagating beardless wildrye and other native species that grow along the edge of the Bay, join us at our native plant nurseries the first and second Wednesday of each month from 1-4pm.  Check out our website for more information on how you can get involved.

Happy spring!

– Doug Serrill, Nursery Manager

SF Examiner 5/5/13
Warriors unveil new S.F. arena plans
The Warriors unveiled new detailed designs for their proposed San Francisco waterfront arena and nearby development ahead of a bevy of public hearings in the coming weeks. The Warriors presented their first plans in October for the piers. Since then, many state and local agencies, along with the public, have given feedback.
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Climate Connections 5/1/13
Assembly committee OKs moratorium on fracking in California
Three bills seeking to impose moratoriums on fracking in California won approval at the California Assembly Natural Resources Committee in Sacramento on April 29, an important milestone for environmentalists who ultimately plan to push for a permanent ban on the practice. Assembly Bill 1301, introduced by Assembly Member Richard Bloom (D-Santa Monica), is backed by a host of statewide environmental organizations including the Center for Biological Diversity, Food & Water Watch, and Clean Water Action.
Read more>>

PR Web 5/8/13
Aquarium of the Bay announces new North American river otter exhibit
Aquarium of the Bay, San Francisco Bay’s only waterfront aquarium, plans to open a new North American river otter exhibit this summer. The exhibit will be an education and conservation resource and will provide an opportunity for guests to understand environmental changes. Scheduled to open in late June, the new permanent exhibit will feature river otters playing, swimming, eating and more.
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Marin Independent Journal 5/3/13
Bay Area can’t afford to lose Delta water fight
Forget, for the moment, the question of whether Gov. Jerry Brown’s water guru Jerry Meral made a colossal political blunder last week or was just telling it like it is. Either way, it’s clear that the governor’s $23 billion Delta water plan deserves to go down the drain. The state Natural Resources Agency deputy director allegedly told a water advocate that Brown’s plan “is not about, and has never been about, saving the Delta. The Delta cannot be saved.”
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Bay Nature 5/8/13
Enjoying a moment with photographer Rick Lewis
Rick Lewis evokes the phrase, “beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”  Where other people see industry and ugliness, he finds the bright and the beautiful. Where other people see steel yards, he spots great blue herons.  A self-taught photographer whose work has appeared in at least half of the 50 issues of Bay Nature  (including twice on the cover), Lewis’ passion for photographing birds and wildlife took root at the edges of the farmland where he grew up, listening to the songs of mockingbirds and chancing upon coyotes.
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