From: Million Trees and San Francisco Forest Alliance <noreply@list.moveon.org>
Date: Wed, Oct 12, 2016 at 5:12 PM
Subject: Sharing good news about our urban forest in the San Francisco Bay Area
To: kimnoyes@gmail.com
I am writing to share good news about our urban forest in the San Francisco Bay Area with those who helped us to achieve this accomplishment. In September 2016, FEMA cancelled grant funding of tree removals on properties of UC Berkeley and City of Oakland in settlement of a lawsuit filed by Hills Conservation Network. (Explained here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/
This settlement exceeds our expectations because the lawsuit did not ask for cancellation of the FEMA grants. The lawsuit only asked that plans be scaled back from clear-cuts of all non-native trees by UCB and Oakland to radical thinning being done by East Bay Regional Park District.
FEMA has also filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit of the Sierra Club, which demanded that East Bay Regional Park District be required to destroy all non-native trees on its project areas. The settlement of the Hills Conservation Network lawsuit makes the Sierra Club lawsuit moot.
Unfortunately, the Sierra Club is unrepentant in this defeat. Sierra Club leadership expressed its outrage that the FEMA grants were cancelled and reiterated the role they played in developing those plans in articles in Oakland Magazine, Berkeleyside, and The Montclarion: "'FEMA decided 12 years ago to provide fire protection funding, and their initial plan at the time was to do what we want to do, which is remove the eucalyptus, restore the land, and reestablish native plants'" said [Norman] La Force."
Many challenges remain:
- East Bay Regional Park District will continue destroying approximately 90% of eucalyptus on its properties. EBRPD started implementing those plans in 2011 using bond funding and they have FEMA grant funding to continue the project.
- UC Berkeley seems determined to implement its plans using other fund sources. Hills Conservation Network has filed another lawsuit that alleges violation of California environmental law requiring an Environmental Impact Report, which UC Berkeley has not done.
- City of Oakland has not yet stated their intentions regarding implementation of their plans using other fund sources. However, they will proceed with the development of a "Vegetation Management Plan" for its parks and open spaces. This management plan has the potential to create policy that would require tree removals on all of Oakland's property.
There will be many opportunities to participate in our effort to prevent the destruction of our urban forest. We will continue to pressure East Bay Regional Park District and East Bay Municipal Water District to quit destroying trees and poisoning the stumps with herbicide to prevent them from resprouting. We will also participate in the development of Oakland's "Vegetation Management Plan" in the hope that it will enhance rather than destroy existing ecosystems.
You will be alerted to the opportunities to advocate for the preservation of our urban forest by subscribing to http://milliontrees.me or http://www.saveeastbayhills.
Thank you for signing our petition to the Sierra Club to express your opposition to the role they are playing in the destruction of our urban forest in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Million Trees
This message was sent to Kim Patrick Noyes by Million Trees and San Francisco Forest Alliance through MoveOn's public petition website. MoveOn Civic Action does not endorse the contents of this message. To unsubscribe or report this email as inappropriate, click here: http://petitions.moveon.org/
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