parks – Page 5 – Enviro Updates

SuzanneJune 23, 2014Land UseparksLeave a comment

Who will pay for California's state parks?

Derek Moore, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Jesse Gorsuch had the morning off and miles of trails to explore on his mountain bike. Strapping on his helmet, he launched into Annadel State Park in Santa Rosa last week ready for some heart-racing fun.

That fun cost him nothing but sweat. The Sebastopol floor installer avoided paying a day-use fee of $7 by parking on Channel Drive outside the gated entrance to the park’s paid lot.

“I’m just a deadbeat,” he said.

He’s not the only one.

California’s Department of Parks and Recreation estimated that 43 million people paid nothing to enjoy one of the state’s 280 parks in 2011-12, the most recent year for which data is available. That equaled 64 percent of all park visitors that year.

Who pays and who doesn’t for access to the natural and historical wonders protected inside the state’s parks are key considerations amid calls to overhaul the 150-year-old parks system, an effort spawned by a major financial scandal involving the Parks Department in 2012 and perennial budget problems that threatened the closure of dozens of destinations.

via Who will pay for California's state parks? | The Press Democrat.

SuzanneMay 17, 2014Land Use, Transportationbicycle paths, gardening, parks, Southeast Greenway, trailsLeave a comment

Campaign for Santa Rosa's Southeast Greenway gets boost

Matt Brown,THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Supporters of a plan to build a park and bike path network on a strip of vacant land through southeast Santa Rosa — property once eyed for a Highway 12 extension — were buoyed by developments in Sacramento this week that could accelerate the transfer of the 55 acres from the state highway system to the Southeast Greenway campaign.

The work of removing the freeway designation from Farmers Lane to Melita Road advanced on parallel tracks in the state Senate and the California Transportation Commission as local transportation officials backed the efforts and Greenway advocates met with Caltrans to discuss the logistics of a land transfer.

“We’re starting to talk in more detail about how the property might be transferred,” said Steve Rabinowitsh, a former Santa Rosa city councilman and member of the Greenway campaign. “There’s a lot happening.”

State transportation planners bought the southeast Santa Rosa land in the 1950s and 60s when the area of the city was sparsely developed. The intent was to build a two-mile freeway bypass from Farmers Lane over Spring Lake rejoining Highway 12 near Oakmont.

Spring Lake has since become a county park and popular recreation area and Bennett Valley neighborhoods filled in around the land planned for the freeway. Santa Rosa residents resoundingly rejected the bypass, including a bridge over Spring Lake, saying it would be environmentally damaging and unnecessary.

via Campaign for Santa Rosa's Southeast Greenway gets boost | The Press Democrat.

SuzanneMarch 18, 2014Land Useparks, trailsLeave a comment

Lafferty Ranch land fight intensifies

Lori A. Carter, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Public-access advocates say a settlement over the long-disputed gateway to Petaluma’s Lafferty Ranch may be imminent, but adjacent property owners characterize the negotiations far differently.

Leaders of the Friends of Lafferty Park effort said Monday that two county maps from the 1860s may be the “final nail in the coffin” that will win a decades-old fight to gain public access to Lafferty Ranch, 270 acres of city-owned land northeast of Petaluma.
But an attorney for the adjacent property owners who oppose efforts to open the land as a public park countered Monday that negotiations are nowhere near a resolution.
via Two old maps present shift in Lafferty Ranch dispute | The Press Democrat.

SuzanneMarch 6, 2014Land Use, Local Organizationsparks, Russian RiverLeave a comment

Volunteer days at Riverkeeper Stewardship Park in Guerneville

Unique to the entire 110 miles of the Russian River, Riverkeeper Stewardship Park is the place to see and participate in riverbank restoration and upkeep.
Construction of the onsite environmental educational facility and hard surfaced wheelchair-accessible trails is underway. The efforts of volunteers are enormously valuable to us and we continue to welcome their participation. For safety reasons the Park is closed to the general public — open to volunteers on Wed. 9:30-11:30 am.

We offer training so no experience is necessary. Help construct trails, work with native plants, control erosion, eliminate noxious weeds plus many other activities. Adults and children are welcome to participate. Students can receive volunteer credit.
The Park is located on the north bank of the Russian River directly upstream of the Guerneville pedestrian bridge. Access the entrance from the driveway in front of Sonoma Nesting Co. (16132 Main Street, just east of Armstrong Woods Road. At the bottom of the driveway look for the blue and white sign that says, “Russian Riverkeeper Stewardship Park.”
Please bring drinking water and wear sturdy footwear. Light refreshments are provided. For more information contact Victoria Wikle at 865-2474 or VictoriaWikle@usa.net. See the website at http://www.russianriverkeeper.org. Receive Russian Riverkeeper news and happenings emails at “Join our mailing list”
http://russianriverkeeper.drupalgardens.com/?key=58927927

SuzanneJanuary 14, 2014Agriculture/Food Systemfood growing, north coast, parksLeave a comment

Court denies Drakes Bay Oyster Co., owner says fight will go to the U.S. Supreme Court

Mark Prado, MARIN INDEPENDENT JOURNAL

The Drakes Bay Oyster Co. will take its fight to stay open to the U.S. Supreme Court after a petition to have its case reheard by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals was denied Tuesday morning.

In October, attorneys for owner Kevin Lunny filed a petition for what is known as an en banc rehearing after the court ruled against Drakes Bay in September.

The petition to rehear the case argued that the review should be granted because the panel decision conflicts with precedent set by the U.S. Supreme Court and the 9th Circuit.

But Lunny said in a statement late Tuesday he will take his fight to the Supreme Court.

via Court denies Drakes Bay Oyster Co., owner says fight will go to the U.S. Supreme Court – Marin Independent Journal.

SuzanneDecember 5, 2013Land UseparksLeave a comment

Talks begin for creating park in honor of Andy Lopez

Martin Espinoza, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

The owner of the empty lot where 13-year-old Andy Lopez died more than six weeks ago is in talks with people who want to turn it into a memorial park for the slain boy.

The property is owned by real estate agent David Poulsen, who has refused to be interviewed on the topic. However he has designated Herb Williams, a political consultant, as his spokesman. Williams said the talks regarding the property at 3399 Moorland Ave. are preliminary and no formal proposals are being considered.

via Talks begin for creating park in honor of Andy Lopez | The Press Democrat.

SuzanneNovember 3, 2013Land Usehabitat, parks, trails, wetlandsLeave a comment

Forestville Open Space Grant Approved for Park

Vesta Copestakes, SONOMA COUNTY GAZETTE

For the past almost 40 years, Forestville has fought one development plan after another on downtown property that runs along Front Street in the heart of downtown. Now, with the support of Sonoma County’s Agricultural Preservation & Open Space District, the Forestville Planning Association, and a local investment group that includes the Bartolomei family, and a Yes vote from the Board of Supervisors, Forestville finally gets a plan everyone can live with.

Eight and one half acres of land will now be approximately 50% park and preserved wetlands with native habitat, and 50% developed land for mixed-use commerce. The land will also accommodate Sonoma County Regional Park’s trailhead to the West County Trail directly running into Forestville’s downtown. That a real boon to the parks, users of the trail, and downtown businesses.

via Forestville Open Space Grant Approved for Park.

SuzanneOctober 17, 2013Land Useparks, PetalumaLeave a comment

New evidence in fight for public access to Lafferty Ranch

Paul Payne, THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Lafferty Ranch advocates say an easement over 905 square feet of private land standing between the public and the proposed nature preserve near Petaluma could finally be secured by newly discovered property records dating back to the Civil War era.

A surveyor’s map cited in 1866 Sonoma County Board of Supervisors meetings as well as an 1869 deed from an adjacent property owner both create a bridge to the landlocked 270-acre preserve, said Petaluma City Councilman Mike Healy, a lawyer who is providing free legal work for the cause.

via New evidence in fight for public access to Lafferty Ranch | Watch Sonoma County.

SuzanneNovember 9, 2012Land Use, Local OrganizationsLand Paths, parksLeave a comment

Benefactors Create and Maintain a Private Park in California

Greg Beato, THE NEW YORK TIMES
The waterfall that is the best-known feature of the Bohemia Ecological Preserve is currently nothing more than a picturesque spill of bone-dry rocks. The shaggy grasslands that carpet the preserve’s rolling terrain are a parched golden brown.
But as Craig Anderson, 51, leads a group of hikers up gravel roads toward a hilltop campground, the fact that the landscape is at something less than peak splendor after several rain-free months does little to diminish his enthusiasm. And why should it? In California’s economic climate — also fairly parched — Bohemia Ecological Preserve is that rarest of specimens: a recently opened park. In May, it celebrated its official grand opening.
via Benefactors Create and Maintain a Private Park in California – NYTimes.com.

SuzanneAugust 20, 2012Sonoma Coastparks, State ParksLeave a comment

BOS will vote on fee collection at county beaches

by Sonoma Coast Surfrider
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors (BOS) will be voting this upcoming Tuesday, August 21st, on a resolution regarding the fees collection system (the “Iron Rangers”) proposed by the California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) to be installed at Sonoma County’s major beaches.
Your attendance at the BOS chambers this Tuesday is very valuable, demonstrating your support of a Sonoma County resolution that the DPR proposed project is flawed and ill-conceived. Attendees are encouraged to be at BOS chambers, 575 Administration Drive, Room 102A in Santa Rosa for item 12 of the agenda; the meeting will be called to order at 8:30 am. It will be important to have as many people as is possible attend; please pass this information on to fellow citizens.
A summary to the BOS can be downloaded at
http://sonoma-county.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=20&meta_id=93959
A copy of the BOS resolution can be downloaded at
http://sonoma-county.granicus.com/MetaViewer.php?view_id=2&event_id=20&meta_id=93961
In addition, a link to this resolution has been posted on the Surfriders blog. Not only can it be downloaded from this site, but it provides much additional information relevant both to the issue of Iron Rangers, but to other coastal issues.
http://www.scsurfrider.blogspot.com/
This vote marks the end of Public Comment (as required by CEQA), and the acceptance of letters of concern by the public to Sonoma County’s Permits Resources Management Department. Please submit your comments on this matter to PRMD, c/o David Hardy (Project Planner), RE File CPH12-0004, 2550 Ventura Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95403. You can email David at david.hardy@sonoma-county.org, or you can call him for details at 707-565-1924. Comments must be submitted by August 21, 2012.

Copy of DPR’s July 31st application to Sonoma County can be downloaded from
http://www.surfrider.org/sonomacoast/permitapp.pdf

Thank you for your active involvement in this important issue, one that involves the traditional rights of public access and use of our beaches here in Sonoma County.

Environmental Center of Sonoma County

Tag: parks