After reviewing that long list of development proposals that we posted in our last eNEWS issue, BNC has determined that Berkeley needs a clear directive of what Berkeley will look like and how it will function in the not too distant future — and it must include a neighborhood voice.
Gentrification seems to be taking over our City and we want to know whether City leadership is taking any steps to prevent this from happening. We hear talk about “Berkeley Values” but do not see them reflected in the policies that are defining our future. What we really want is polite and positive civic engagement regarding the issues that affect our lives.
BNC’s mission is to bring the voices of the Neighborhoods into consideration when the City takes action. To begin, we need to understand the pressures and policies that have gotten us where we are today and then formulate a vision for the City’s future that includes a strong neighborhood voice. As a result, BNC will host a series of Forums in which information about the gentrification and development of Berkeley will be provided and discussed. Our first Forum will be:
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
7:15 pm to 9:30 pm
East Bay Media Center, 1939 Addison Street
We will show the documentary film, The Vanishing City, and invite a high-level City official to tell us about Berkeley today. Topics will include: what is our current population, how has it changed and what are the projected increases, where development is planned to occur throughout the City in all residential and commercial areas, how dense is Berkeley today and projections for the future, where are students, seniors, and families going to be able to live, who will be able to afford to live here, and how will we be able to get around. The permit process will also be explained and you will have the opportunity to pose thoughtful questions.
This Forum will be followed by a series of individual discussions on such topics as The University, Affordable Housing, The Downtown, The Ashby-Adeline Corridor, open space, and air quality in West Berkeley. These will be single-topic discussions and your participation will be key.
Plan now to attend — space is limited, and put the date on your calendar. BNC would like to have at least one representative from each Berkeley neighborhood group in attendance.
Here’s A Little Bit of Good News, but Still with a Lot of Unanswered Questions
About a year ago, BNC posted a special request in our eNEWS Issue 6 and Issue 7 to help save the Monarch Butterfly by planting milkweed in your yard. We like to think that a lot of you followed our advice and that in some way, we helped save a few Monarchs. BNC is happy to hear the good news that the Monarch Butterfly population had actually gone up this last year!
However, before we all pat ourselves on the back, the sobering news is that this jump in population is considered to be “slight.” The decline of the Monarch remains a serious concern. The numbers are pretty staggering, as reported in the February 6, 2015 San Francisco Chronicle editorial:
In barely 20 years, the numbers of the migrating insect have fallen from 1 billion to just 33 million.
Not so very long ago, people said there were so many nesting Monarchs in Mexico that you could actually hear noise caused by the fluttering of their wings. Not today. Their numbers are down 90% from their long-term average — an all-time record low.
Monarchs start each year from Canada and the Pacific North West and migrate south to escape the cold. They divide at the Rocky Mountains into eastern and western populations. Most travel 3,000 miles to winter in Mexico. Far fewer winter in California, and some have even found their way as far west as Hawaii. The Western Monarchs gather mostly in about 200 groves along the coast, one of them is on the Monterey Peninsula where entire tree branches can be completely covered by the resting butterflies. The Bay Area lies in the Western Monarch’s southward migration path. There was a grove on Albany Hill, and another at the UC Berkeley Field Station in Richmond. We don’t know if they are still there, as our small population is also said to have declined around 90%.
By the end of winter, the males have died and the females start back north, but each butterfly lasts only about 200 miles. They die after laying their eggs on milkweed — the only plant newly hatched monarch larva can eat. As the eggs mature, the process is repeated through about four generations only to start over again in another migration starting from Canada and the Pacific North West.
The flight of the Eastern Monarchs takes them through the Midwest where today 82% of cotton, 85% of corn and 93% of soy beans have been genetically modified to be resistant to herbicides. This allows the widespread use of herbicides to kill off the milkweed along roads and in fields and yards without fear of jeopardizing cash crops. In 1974, Monsanto patented Roundup and today it’s the world’s most widely used herbicide, with about 180 million pounds being used in the U.S. each year.
The picture isn’t so very different in California where the devastation is due to the same factors — urban sprawl, chemical usage and loss of habitat. No one seems to know how much Roundup or similar chemical is used, and we have the additional problem that our Monarchs nest in eucalyptus trees. There are currently various proposals to clear-cut these “flammable” trees and douse the stumps and ground around them with Roundup so they won’t grow back.
In early March 2015, after 10 years of study, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommended allocating $6M to the city of Oakland, UC Berkeley and East Bay Regional Park District to reduce the wildfire risk in Strawberry and Claremont Canyons and other nearby areas by thinning, (not clear-cutting the eucalyptus) followed by using Roundup on the hillsides. FEMA representatives were quoted as saying “We had to determine the happy point where we could reduce fire risk and maintain the habitat for animal species” (the red-legged frog and Alameda whipsnake-no mention of the Monarchs). The Claremont Canyon Conservancy opposes the FEMA plan and is quoted as saying that “thinning means that some eucalyptus trees will remain, thereby preventing fire-safe native bays, oaks and willows to replace them. This is a halfhearted decision.” On the other hand, the Hills Conservation Network (HNC) argued that clear-cutting the eucalyptus would lead to their replacement by a combination of forest, chaparral and brush that would create an even greater fire risk. In mid-March, HNC sued FEMA sating that 85% of the land would be clear-cut, removing well in excess of 100,000 healthy trees whose shade canopy prevents the growth of highly flammable weeds as well as storing tons of carbon.
BNC doesn’t know what this means for the Monarch, and we don’t take a position on this issue. We just wanted you to know about it. Putting aside the FEMA controversy, let’s pause for a moment, and ask what we might do as individuals.
When have you seen a Monarch or actually any kind of butterfly lately? We haven’t, and are saddened at the prospect of possibly losing one of life’s great pleasures forever. It was heartening to learn that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced on December 29, 2014 that in response to petitions from scientists and environmentalists it would conduct a one-year review to determine whether the Monarch Butterfly will be placed on the Endangered Species list. In addition, the federal government allocated $3.2 million toward conservation efforts while the study is being done.
We were also pleased to learn that the city of Richmond, at the request of their new Mayor (Tom Butt), agreed to ban the City use of any herbicide or pesticide for one year while they studied the impacts. However, we were not so pleased to learn that Richmond City public works crews in anticipation of their Council’s action was dousing City plantings with lots of Roundup before the ban went into effect. Also, apparently the East Bay Regional Parks District has used Roundup along its roads in the past. BNC will attempt to get more information on this and let you know what their use is in a future issue.
In the meantime, individuals can play a vital role to help save some Monarchs by planting milkweed in your yard in a sort of “Citizens’ Butterfly Highway.” We are advised that Monarchs lay four times more eggs when milkweed grows nearby. What a great learning project for families and neighborhoods to do together!
- There is a 501(c)3 organization, Save our Monarchs, PO Box 390135, Minneapolis, MN 55439 where you can obtain packets of milkweed seeds by sending a self-addressed stamped envelope. Be sure and say the seeds should be for the Western Monarch.
- Annie’s at 740 Market in Richmond, 215-3301, says milkweed is drought tolerate and deer resistant. It needs no summer water once it is established and that if you are planning to introduce Monarch caterpillars you should establish your milkweed for one season before doing so. They sell the plant.
- Berkeley Horticultural Nursery, 1310 McGee, 526-4704, also sells the plant and touts the yellow flowered milkweed (Silky Gold).
- Oakland Public Works, Park Supervisor Victoria Rochas, known as “Tora” works with large groups of volunteers who call themselves the Pollinator Posse and who work in conjunction with the nonprofit Insect Sciences Museum of California. They offer educational hands-on projects, such as making pollinator seed cookies and a bee hotel for native bees, with special attention to be given to the Monarchs. The San Francisco Chronicle reported that kids get to watch a video about the butterfly’s life cycle, examine a wing under a microscope and engage in butterfly-focused craft projects. There are butterfly gardens at Fairyland and the Grand Lake Gardens, plus various schools are involved. The Pollinator Posse also has a special table at the San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, March 18-22, San Mateo Event Center, San Mateo. Anyone interested in establishing a butterfly garden in one of Berkeley’s parks?