Please plan on attending the 5th District Supervisor Candidate Forum on May 3, 7pm at SLV High School. This forum appears to be an unbiased and nonpartisan event that does not support one particular candidate.
County Concedes – Felton Meadow Not Suitable for Development
Felton Meadow on a summer morning. Labeled by developers as a distressed, toxic "brown site" in need of redevelopment. Public agencies spent over $5 million in support of the developer. 4000 valley residents fought back.
The County of Santa Cruz this week conceded what we and the majority of our community have known for 7 years. That “an affordable housing project is no longer feasible on the Felton site and that the County loans with respect to the Felton site will not be repaid by the Developer” South County Housing Corporation.
$5 million and not one bit of public benefit. The ill-fated project defied the written terms and certainly the spirit of the Felton Town Plan and the concerns of the majority of the community. It ignored water and septic issues, endangered species, architectural vernacular, green building sensibilities, and the sincerity of public process.
The next use of the property appears to be recreational. We look forward to watching that process move forward authentically.
Air Quality and Outdoor Burning
Lots of talk about outdoor burning and its impact on air quality in the San Lorenzo Valley. This year’s winter season with its relative lack of air-clearing rainfall was particularly notable.
The Sentinel’s Jason Hoppin wrote about the issue.
Donna Smith of Ben Lomond sent this letter to the Sentinel:
Wow, was your air quality as bad as mine this week? I guess some of you haven’t researched health issues caused by soot particles that are created by wood fires yet: 50 to 70 percent of this toxic smoke is entering your home and lungs. Please join us at cleanvalleyair2012@yahoo.com to work toward clean air for all of us.
River Cleanup at Felton Covered Bridge
On Saturday, September 17th at the Felton Covered Bridge, SLVCORE.org coordinated with Save Our Shores for the Annual Coastal and River Cleanup Day. Participants came from all over the county. Students earned community service credit on site.
Save Our Shores Coastal and River Cleanups take place in Santa information on those efforts, please visit www.saveourshores.org.
International Cleanup Day is the single largest volunteer event on the planet. Volunteers in over 100 countries around the world work together to remove hundreds of thousands of pounds of trash and recyclables from our beaches, lakes, and waterways before they enter our oceans. In 2010, 6043 Save Our Shores volunteers removed 14,612 lbs. of trash and 4,760 lbs. of recycling from beaches and waterways within Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties in just 3 short hours. In California, 80,312 volunteers banded together to cleanup 953,476 lbs. of trash and 146,646 lbs. of recyclables, for a total of 1,100,122 pounds (results via www.coastal.ca.gov).
InternationalRivers.org
Check out InternationalRivers.org, an advocacy group for the world’s rivers and river communities. Their recent focus is on the Ethiopian government’s proposal to dam the Blue Nile, a project with significant environmental and economic impacts.
Conservation Blueprint for Santa Cruz County
Land Trust of Santa Cruz County and their Conservation Blueprint is featured in today’s Santa Cruz Sentinel editorial.
<<…The Land Trust has identified eight key areas in the county that will offer multiple environmental benefits if protected, including the Pajaro Hills, where the organization has already been preserving ranch and grasslands by working with large property owners. Other areas include the Watsonville Slough area, Corralitos, Interlaken, Larkin Valley, the upper San Lorenzo River region, North Coast watersheds, river and riparian systems, and sandhills in North County.
Ultimately, the Land Trust hopes to get 50,000 additional acres protected as new pressures on water supplies and wildlife habitat are created by a population increase estimated to be 35,000 over 25 years.
Santa Cruz County — with its coastline, redwoods, mountains, streams and ranchlands — faces ever-changing land-use and biodiversity challenges. Water is perhaps the biggest issue, with the overdraft of underground aquifers having become a major issue for agriculture and local water users alike…>>
Important information for the San Lorenzo Valley which has, in the recent past, been threatened by unsustainable high density development.
The Felton Meadow
Earth Day Events in April
Earth Day, which falls this year on April 22, is celebrated in Santa Cruz County on April 16 11am-4pm at San Lorenzo Park in Santa Cruz. This inspirational event brings education and awareness about our natural environment.
The Santa Cruz effort is a collaboration between the City of Santa Cruz, the County of Santa Cruz, Ecology Action, Save Our Shores, and Community Foundation. Organizers are looking for festival, beach and river cleanup volunteers. To register as a volunteer, visit the Save Our Shores website and complete the registration form at the bottom of the page.
For more information about Earth Day from an international perspective, please visit the Earth Day Network website.
Cigarette Butt Litter
During our successful San Lorenzo Valley River Cleanup, we noted that a predominance of litter gathered was cigarette butts. Thousands were counted by our valley volunteers during one morning of cleanup activity. Statistically, 1 out of every 3 cigarette butts ends up on the ground and eventually into our waterways. Cigarette filters and commercial tobacco contain heavy metals and acute toxic compounds. Fortunately, cigarette litter is finally being recognized as a significant environmental concern and many good organizations are doing something about it.
Locally, along our Monterey Bay beaches, Save Our Shores designed and installed new pollution prevention stainless steel “Bait Tanks” to help keep cigarette butts and their toxins out of the oceans. SOS volunteers have removed over 100,000 butts during their cleanups since 2007. The Bait Tanks have a shark fin on top with signage that says, “Save some fish, feed me butts.”
Individually, smokers can be proactive by using proper disposal receptacles or a personal device such as the ButtsOut, a concealable portable ashtray.
Even Oprah is getting in on the cigarette butt litter information bandwagon with her 52 Ways to Make a Difference campaign.
Here in the San Lorenzo Valley you can follow any number of local and national initiatives.
- The Keep America Beautiful organization has a fascinating fact sheet which you can print and distribute.
- Give a personal ashtray receptacle to your favorite smoker.
- Be informed and share information.
- Participate in the next local river and coastal cleanups.
More information:
Whale-Shaped Floating Gardens Clean the World’s Rivers
Visionary Vincent Callebaut has created a whale-shaped floating garden designed to drift through the world’s rivers while purifying their waters. The Physalia is a self-sufficient ecosystem that generates all the power it needs from the sun and works to reduce water pollution through bio-filtration.
Read the fascinating Inhabitat article or check out Callebaut’s website and his other inspiring works.
Linking Nature and Humans for Cleaner Rivers
From Ted.com:
Architect Kate Orff sees the oyster as an agent of urban change. Bundled into beds and sunk into city rivers, oysters slurp up pollution and make legendarily dirty waters clean — thus driving even more innovation in “oyster-tecture.” Orff shares her vision for an urban landscape that links nature and humanity for mutual benefit.
