Santa Cruz Group 2011 Annual Report

8/3/2019 Santa Cruz Group 2011 Annual Report

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/santa-cruz-group-2011-annual-report 1/4

Labor donated by Sierra Club volunteers / Printed on Recycled Paper

SANTA CRUZ COUNTY GROUPOf the Ventana Chapter

P.O. Box 604, Santa Cruz, CA 95061 ▪ phone (831) 335-4196 www.ventana.sierraclub.org/santacruz ▪ [email protected]

The Work of Your Local Sierra Club in 2011

Climate Change

In February 2011, the Sierra Club made comments on

the City of Santa Cruz Climate Action Plan. In

addition to reducing GHG emissions, we brought up

the issues of sea level rise, flooding, preserving

adequate flood space and space for riparian corridorsin the city. Ironically, less than two weeks later, the

Tsunami hit and both the Yacht Harbor and a large

part of Capitola Village were inundated with a storm-

driven surge of water. Many businesses suffered

water damage.

Capitola Flooding Source: Stripers Online

Water Resources

Indications of a severe drought for winter 2011-12 are becoming stronger every day. A La

Nina pattern is governing the Pacific and December 2011 rainfall for this area was one of lowest totals in the historical record. If this continues, the impacts upon regional water

supplies will be very serious and this will have political as well as environmental impacts.

A drought would be certain to affect the debate swirling around proposals for

Desalination plants in Santa Cruz and Monterrey Counties. Our Coastal Committee Chair,

Aldo Giacchino, has been meeting with groups that are working on policy and challenges to

the Desal development. The Sierra Club also co-sponsored a forum on desalination with

Desal Alternatives.

This potential drought will affect the upcoming release of

the City of Santa Cruz Water Department's Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for salmon and steelhead. This

process has been underway since 2002. In recent years, the

San Lorenzo River flow in December has been has been as

low as half of the natural flow. This is much less than is

needed for critically endangered Coho salmon and harmful

to many species. Coho migration ends in January. If

regional creeks do not rise soon, then there will be no Coho salmon Source: NOAA

mailto:[email protected]







chance for Coho to spawn this year. These iconic animals are very near to complete

extirpation south of San Francisco Bay and are endangered across California.

The Sierra Club wrote to the City of Santa Cruz requesting them to convene a stakeholder

working group and open up the HCP process. This is quite common in public agency HCPs

but the City refused to do so. The HCP will probably be released as a flood of documents

that will be difficult to respond to. There will be the actual HCP but also a NationalEnvironmental Policy Act EIS and an EIR, a CEQA document and other complex documents

to review.

Sea otter Source: TurtleTrack.org

Monterey Bay continues to suffer problems with pollution

from rivers, streams and storm drains flowing into the Bay.

This is endangering sea otters and possibly triggering toxic

algae blooms. Surfers encounter this water pollution

especially in the winter. Our Conservation Chair, Mike Guth,

continued his work with the County on improving the Santa

Cruz County Storm Water Management Plan implementationwith the adoption of an effective Storm Water Ordinance.

Mike Guth and Kevin Collins have reviewed long complex

documents that require a thorough understanding of

pollution laws, local geography, and development patterns.

Members of the Forestry and Water Committees worked with the Environmental Justice

Coalition for Water to stand up to large agribusinesses, opposing weakening of new

regulations to control discharges of nitrate and pesticide-laden water into creeks and

sloughs.

Forestry and Watersheds

The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County came out with

their blueprint for preservation of sensitive

ecosystems in Santa Cruz County. Our Forestry

consultant, Jodi Frediani, had many comments on

the sections on forests and watersheds. Jodi also

made comments on the shuttered Cemex Plant and

San Vincente Creek . The land has recently been

purchased by five land trusts, including

Sempervirens Fund, but concerns remain about

continued logging on the property. Several loggingplans were also reviewed and commented upon in

an attempt to reduce the harm to natural resources.

These included the Soquel State Demonstration

Forest logging plans.

Santa Cruz Redwoods

Source: Sierra Club / Santa Cruz Group meetup page




Jodi also joined a coalition of organizations that raised the profile of logging in the Battle

Creek watershed in the Sacramento Basin, as well as testifying at a hearing before the

Board of Forestry in Sacramento. Battle Creek is one of the critical habitat streams for

endangered Winter and Spring Run Chinook salmon. The King Salmon (Chinook) caught off

shore from Santa Cruz primarily originate in the Sacramento River system.

Santa Cruz tarplant

Source: Elkhorn Slough

Foundation

Coastal Development

Letters and comments were sent to the Coastal Commission and

the County regarding several coastal development proposals

including the proposed 5 and 1/2 story tall La Bahia Hotel

replacement proposal, the Schwan Lagoon Coastal Trail and the

Pleasure Point road reconstruction.

Greenbelts

In collaboration with the California Native Plant Society and theCenter for Biological Diversity, the Club worked to protect the

endangered Santa Cruz sunflower/tar plant and rare coastal

prairie habitat in Arana Gulch. It is due to Club efforts that the

Arana Gulch plan now has dedicated funding for tar plant

preservation.

Transportation

The Sierra Club has written letters and testified in support of the

Regional Transportation Commission’s purchase of the Union PacificRail Line – a goal that finally was achieved this year.

Our Transportation Chair, Paul Elerick, worked with the Campaign for

Sensible Transportation on the lawsuit opposing widening of Highway

1, which unfortunately was dismissed in court in San Francisco.Santa Cruz Rail Trail

Membership Outreach

Our Events Committee started up a series of Environmental

Education talks that have been well attended. Two events took place last year, one presented by Jodi Frediani about the

Humpback Whales off the Dominican Republic and another

presentation on alternative energy and practical home

development of solar energy. The Group is also sponsoring a

new "Meetup" page for hikes.

Hikers at Fall Creek Source: Sierra Club / Santa Cruz Group meetup page




Electronic Communication

The Group has a new webmaster, Michael Lewis, and has started a new and more

interactive website with a blog and calendar of activities, and the Chair, Kevin Collins, has

started Convio emails to Sierra Club members. The Chair has also revived the email alert

network for activists.

You can be Involved

The Sierra Club always needs new energy to be effective. There are many volunteer

opportunities in the Sierra Club from administrative support to environmental analysis and

lobbying, to membership development and outings.

Please contact our Committee Chairs to become involved. Email addresses are available at

on our Group website under “contact us” www.ventana.sierraclub.org/santacruz.

Thanks, and have a good new year.

The Santa Cruz County Group

Of the Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club

http://www.ventana.sierraclub.org/santacruz



Documents

Santa Cruz Group 2011 Annual Report