Ear to the Ground, April-June 2008

Driving east on Highway 4 toward Pittsburg, I notice the man-made dirt bunkers on the right that look like giant ground squirrel burrows. The bunkers and surrounding grasslands are part of the 5,100-acre upland portion of the Concord Naval Weapons Station that will soon be converted for public use. The navy is keeping the 7,630 acres that stretch down to Suisun Bay, on the other side of Highway 4. The property, which includes much of the watershed of Mount Diablo Creek, has been protected from development for decades by its status as a navy base.

It's hard to imagine what these green hills will look like when they are developed, but developed they will be. The question is how? And how much? That is what the City of Concord, the land's local reuse authority, is grappling with. And it is not alone. From the start, this has been a community-wide conversation. The Community Coalition for a Sustainable Concord, a collection of labor, interfaith, conservation, transportation, and affordable housing organizations, has a vision that combines open space with walkable neighborhoods, affordable homes, and quality local jobs.

A general plan for the reuse of the Concord Naval Weapons Station could be finalized as early as June 2008, says Michael Wright, director of the process. After several years of planning and spirited community meetings, the City of Concord sent seven conceptual alternatives to the federal Environmental Protection Agency for review last October. Once the draft Environmental Impact Report on all seven is released in April 2008, there will be a 45-day comment period. During that time, the city will host a series of public meetings "to help the community advisory committee recommend one of the alternatives, or a hybrid of several, to the city council," says Wright.

All seven alternatives include some level of development, but differ in the amount of land left for open space and recreational uses. The East Bay Regional Park District is working closely with the city, the federal government, and the community in advocating for a large urban park, says Brian Holt, senior planner for the district.

Once the city council votes on a reuse plan, the plan will undergo further reviews before the Department of Defense sells the land. A change in ownership isn't likely to occur until around 2010. Until then, the bunkers, the green hills, and the wildlife corridor remain intact. To learn more or to participate in the public comment period, go to Concord Community Reuse Project.

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While development plans for the weapons station are being honed, shaped, and scrutinized, innovative thinkers and planners are crossing the Bay and the world's oceans to convene in San Francisco during Earth Week, April 22 to 26, for the Ecocity World Summit 2008.

Richard Register, founder and current president of Ecocity Builders in Oakland, convened the first International Ecocity Conference in Berkeley in 1990. Since then, he has participated in or led conferences in Australia, Senegal, Brazil, China, and India. An ecocity, at its simplest, is an ecologically healthy city where the buildings are sustainably built, parks are plentiful, goods and services come from nearby, and energy is generated with renewable sources.

Ecocity advocates would love to get their hands on a piece of property like the Concord Naval Weapons Station. "Concord could be a wonderful model for development," says Kirstin Miller, conference organizer and executive director at Ecocity Builders. "We could show how all the pieces—transportation, land use, housing, nature, energy, green building, urban agriculture—fit together."

But it's the cities we already have that need fixing, and San Francisco is off to a good start with several ecocity features, she says. It's a compact urban area with a heavily used public transportation system and numerous parks. It could come closer to an ecocity ideal, Miller adds, by bringing its creeks above ground, separating its sewage and stormwater systems, building more neighborhood parks, expanding community gardens, and bringing in grid-delivered renewable energy.

For more information, visit EcoCity World Summit.

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Barry Breckling

In 1953, Sada Coe gave her family ranch to the public, with the stipulation that it become parkland and that it be named after her father, Henry W. Coe. Several years later, she reiterated her passion for sharing the land by funding a new visitor center there. All that was done decades ago.

But now it's possible that the gates to this 87,000-acre park, the largest state park in Northern California, will be closed to visitors. The front gate can be locked, but the logistics of keeping people out of this South Bay wilderness park will be next to impossible, says Jerry Emory with the California State Parks Foundation. "People love that place and will get in no matter what signs they see," he says. "It's rough and wild country and there are multiple ways to get in. It's amazing that we have a chunk of land like that so close to San Jose."

Coe is one of the 48 state parks proposed for closure to help reduce the state's projected $16 billion shortfall in the 2008-2009 budget. When Governor Schwarzenegger asked for 10 percent across-the-board cuts from all departments in his draft budget in January, state park officials saw no other option but to close parks. The parks have already taken several hits from budget cuts starting in the early 1990s, leading to a $1 billion backlog in deferred maintenance. Closing 48 parks, along with lifeguard staffing reductions, would yield an estimated $8.9 million in savings, but it would also sacrifice $4.8 million in revenue from fees.

"That might sound like a lot," says Traci Verardo-Torres, legislative and policy director for the California State Parks Foundation, "but in a $141 billion budget, we're talking nickels and dimes."

Through the years, volunteers and philanthropists have stepped in to help. Henry Coe has over 135 volunteers who run the visitor center, give wildflower walks, patrol the parks, and compile extensive plant and animal lists. The nonprofit, all-volunteer Pine Ridge Association runs a park website, raises funds for park facilities, and plans such events as the Mother's Day Breakfast benefit (which is always sold out) and the annual Backcountry Weekend. The Pine Ridge Association is just one of 80 cooperating associations, which together mobilize 17,000 volunteers who provide support to our state parks.

"We can't bake-sale our way out of this problem," says Verardo-Torres. "The role of philanthropy and volunteerism is to enhance value, not replace state responsibilities."

Other Bay Area state parks slated for closure include Sonoma Coast State Park with 21 miles of beaches; Benicia State Recreation Area, with a brand-new, volunteer-run native plant garden; Tomales Bay State Park on the Point Reyes Peninsula; Candlestick Point State Recreation Area, very near the underserved Hunters Point neighborhood in San Francisco; and Fremont Peak State Park, with its spring and summer star parties (see The Fremont Peak Experience: Traveling Through Space and Time).

Legislative budget hearings will continue through the spring, and the issue will be decided when the governor signs the final budget later this summer. Emory of the State Parks Foundation suggests visiting your favorite parks soon, to boost attendance figures and remind yourself what's at stake. Then contact your state representatives. Learn more at www.savestateparks.org.

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Paola Bouley, Spawn USA

During the 2004-2005 winter salmon spawning season in Redwood Creek, which passes through Muir Woods National Monument before reaching the ocean at Muir Beach, scientists and volunteers with the Coho and Steelhead Monitoring Program counted 93 coho salmon redds (nests) and 171 returning coho adults. That was the highest number on record since surveys began in 1994, says fishery biologist Michael Reichmuth. In spring 2006, researchers determined that 3,253 coho smolts (juveniles) headed for the open ocean that year. That was good reason to celebrate the survival of the state and federally listed Central California Coast coho.

Donning full-body waders, Reichmuth and volunteers slipped into Redwood Creek this past January 31 for a last-minute survey before impending storms. Their hopes were high because this was the year that the progeny from that prolific 2004-2005 spawning season were due back in the creeks. With clipboards and measuring sticks in hand, the surveyors waded carefully up the creek looking for coho redds and spawning fish. But they observed none.

In a February 4 email to volunteers, Reichmuth wrote, "It is looking less likely that a fresh run of coho salmon will move into our coastal watersheds." For the entire spawning season, from late November to early February, they didn't find a single redd or coho salmon in Redwood Creek. The bad news continued in the watersheds to the north, where researchers counted fewer than expected returning coho in Pine Gulch and Olema Creeks. In the Lagunitas, Devil's Gulch, and San Geronimo Creek watersheds, usually the most productive for coho spawning, only 148 spawners returned this year, compared to 493 in the 2004-2005 season. Concern over declining salmon populations has prompted a two-year moratorium on new construction within 100 feet of streams in the San Geronimo Valley. While the moratorium is in effect, the County of Marin and the Salmon Protection and Watershed Network (SPAWN) will prepare a watershed enhancement plan.

Stream conditions are vital for a salmon's survival, but Reichmuth believes there was another factor at play. "The salmon probably got out to the ocean and starved," he says. The summer of 2006, when the 3,253 Redwood Creek smolts left the watershed, was one of the worst on record for upwelling along the California coast, meaning that there wasn't much food for the many fish, birds, and marine mammals that depend on nutrients supplied by seasonal upwelling. "We knew it would be bad, but didn't know it would be this bad," he said. "If you have a healthy watershed and a healthy fish population, the population can withstand cyclical catastrophes. But if the population is too small, it gets down to having nothing left."

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D. L. Gustafson

The scientists and volunteers with the Coho and Steelhead Monitoring Program don't yet have to deal with New Zealand mud snails. Barely larger than a grain of rice, this snail from Down Under has invaded water bodies all over the West, and it's a nightmare for trout, salmon, or steelhead—and for people trying to restore habitat for those species. According to an Oregon Sea Grant brochure, a single mud snail can clone herself (all of them are female) and eventually establish a colony of up to 400,000 snails per square meter. They can survive out of water for weeks and tolerate a wide range of habitats, including brackish water. They rapidly colonize a new location, stripping the river of algae, displacing nearly all other bottom dwellers, and outcompeting fish for food and habitat.

The snails hitch a ride to new territories by attaching to people's clothes, gear, and boats. In the wider Bay Area, the mud snails have already been found in stretches of Yolo Couty's Putah Creek, Rush Creek in Marin, the lower Napa River, Santa Cruz's San Lorenzo River, and Contra Costa's West Antioch Creek. Recently, New Zealand mud snails were found in upper Niles Canyon and in the Alameda Creek flood control channel. The mud snails in Alameda Creek were the first ones detected in a southern tributary of San Francisco Bay.

The Department of Fish and Game is asking anglers and other waterway users to help prevent the spread of this invasive snail by cleaning all gear that touches the water before moving the gear to another location. For more information, download the New Zealand Mud Snail Prevention Guide.

California native Aleta George writes for numerous regional and national publications, including the Los Angeles Times and the San Francisco Chronicle.

You will find this article and additional features in the April-June 2008 issue of Bay Nature, available through our online store or by calling (888)4-BAYNAT or (888)422-9628. You may also purchase the current issue at bookstores and other retailers in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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