Governor Schwarzenegger has declared a statewide drought today. Here’s the summary from the San Diego Union-Tribune:

“The governor is ringing the bell. We’re heading over a cliff.” – Lester Snow, director of the state Department of Water Resources

Water rationing: The state could force conservation efforts on water districts if voluntary reductions don’t succeed.

Water czars: The governor will assign two positions: one to implement conservation programs and the other to facilitate water transfers.

Water bank: The state will begin planning to buy water from farmers to transfer to parched regions and create a reserve in case of emergency.

Appeal to Washington: The governor’s executive order declaring a drought directs state officials to seek federal drought assistance.

New reservoirs: The governor will press lawmakers to approve $11.7 billion in bonds, which would include funding for new storage.

This is an open house, NOT a meeting.

Come give GGNRA your comments about Rancho Corral de Tierra at Harbor House in Princeton, Wednesday, June 4th (3:30pm - 6:30pm)

The 4,200 acre Rancho Corral de Tierra property located on the Midcoast will transfer from POST to GGNRA possibly as early as this year.  GGNRA is gathering community input regarding the Rancho Corral de Tierra property.  

Rancho Corral de Tierra is one of the largest areas of open space near San Francisco, the 4,200 acre site is managed by the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) encompasses the majority of an 1839 Mexican Land Grant. 

Meeting Announcement: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/meetingNotices.cfm?parkId=303&projectId=15075

General Managment Plan: http://parkplanning.nps.gov/document.cfm?parkId=303&projectId=15075&documentID=23015

Click below for press release.

Learn fun and effective ways to reduce your carbon footprint in just one month courtesy of the Acterra Environmental Group.  Join us at the Half Moon Bay Library on Friday June 6th at 7:00PM for a program based on the book “The Low Carbon Diet” from the Empowerment Institute and is focused on how you can reduce your carbon footprint and be part of the solution to Global Warming.  The program address4es four main areas: changing habits to reduce your impact, making your home more efficient, empowering others to take action, and making a CO2 reduction plan.  The program is free and light refreshments will be served.

This program is part of the library’s Adult Summer Reading Program.  Starting June 1st and running through August 29th people are invited to read a book or listen to an audio book and submit the title with a brief comment to win raffle prizes.  Prizes will be drawn weekly and include: free passes to the California Academy of Sciences and Filoli, subscription to “Organic Gardening Magazine”, annual pass to the California State Parks, and many other great things.

Links

http://www.acterra.org/lowcarbondiet/index.html

http://smcl.org/features/Adult.html

Join Coastside Land Trust for native habitat restoration. After an introduction to native plant habitat by a biologist, we will spend a couple of hours removing non-native plants and restoring native habitat at our open space adjacent to Francis Beach. Check in at the Francis Beach parking lot kiosk (at the end of Kelly Ave.) for directions to the work site. Parking is free for volunteers. Refreshments provided. All ages welcome.

Future dates for restoration in 2008:
June 28
July 26
Aug 30
Sept 27
Oct 25
Nov 22

The Cunha Intermediate School Band is hosting a free e-waste collection event to raise money on Saturday, May 31st, 9:00 am to 4:00 pm in the Cabrillo School District Offices Parking Lot (498 Kelly Ave.....ocean side of Kelly off Highway 1).  Just drive up, drop off and they will unload for you.

Items accepted:

Computer items: monitors/flat screens of any size, desktop computers and laptops, any cables/ribbons/wires, CD/DVD/Floppy/Hard drives or zip drives, CPU’s/memory, fans/power supplies, printers, ink and toner cartridges, modem/network/video cards, PDA scanners.

Electronic Items: any size television, cell phones/pagers, copy machines, any cameras, DVD/CD/VCR players, fax machines, MP3 players, cable/satellite equipment, paper shredders, radios/stereos/speakers.

Not accepted:  car batteries, fluorescent bulbs, furniture, large appliances, microwave ovens, refrigerators, toasters, vacuum cleaners, any paints/solvents/oil.

Monitors and TV’s need to be tagged with your name and address.

At it last meeting on May 21st, the Coastside Democrats unanimously passed a resolution supporting Measure O.  Local Democrats are often participants in non-partisan initiatives for progressive actions. Measure O—Parks for the Future will provide a much needed source of funding for Parks and Recreation for old and young in all of San Mateo county for the bargain price of about $2 per month per person.  Join Democrats in voting for measure O on June 3rd.

Merrill Bobele
El Granada
Member, Loma Prieta Chapter Executive Committee
Sierra Club

“Wanting people to listen, you can’t just tap them on the shoulder anymore. You have to hit them with a sledgehammer and then you’ll notice you’ve got their strict attention.”

This quote, which was found written on a piece of cardboard and left among other pieces of trash along the bank of the Pilarcitos creek during the May 17th cleanup, describes the scene along the creek as Save Our Shores coordinated 36 volunteers to clean up the trash in the creek.

Led by Save Our Shores Program Coordinator, Emily Glanville, with the help of several Sanctuary Steward and Coastsider volunteers, the organization brought together a variety of people for a 4 hour cleanup in one of the most needed areas in the community. In total, volunteers effectively removed 906 pounds of trash and 161 pounds of recycling from a ½ mile stretch of the Pilarcitos Creek. Volunteers targeted a stretch of the creek adjacent to the Safeway shopping center as well as areas along the mouth of the creek at Venice Beach.

Safeway let the organization use their back parking lot as a staging area. Volunteers headed out with heavy duty gloves, shovels, and rakes to pull shopping carts, couches, bicycle and car tires, coolers, several plastic water jugs, 2 vacuum cleaners, car batteries, pallets, used motor oil containers, street signs, stereo equipment and even a 100 pound Oxygen tank out of the creek!  The Sewage Authority Mid-Coastside (SAM) was a great supporter of the event, as staff members volunteered and helped with the disposal of some key debris items. In addition, Allied Waste removed the discarded shopping carts and other debris that volunteers disposed of in the Safeway lot dumpsters. 

The location that was selected, starting from the Pilarcitos footbridge and heading west toward the ocean, was well planned because it was adjacent to a large shopping center which houses several fast food restaurants.  Many items found consisted of to-go food containers, plastic bags, and other items related to the shopping area.  In addition, one volunteer cleaned up a 10 foot square area for 3 hours and collected 163 cigarette butts – this continues to be the most often found item in all Save Our Shores cleanups.  50 plastic bottle tops were found in that one small area as well.  Plastics are an extreme danger to marine life and one of the issues that Save Our Shores is working to educate the public about through presentations to students and adults as well as through the organization’s hands on activities. 

Plastics are one of the more pervasive problems in our communities today. Plastics affect at least 267 marine species worldwide, including 86 percent of all sea turtle species, 44 percent of all sea bird species, and 43 percent of marine mammal species. With 80% of marine debris coming from land-based sources, it is critical to target rivers and creeks for cleanup sites.

The organization’s mission is to educate the public about threats to the ocean and provide opportunities to get involved to make an effort to improve the health of the ocean.  Save Our Shores also hopes to get the business community involved in helping to fight the marine debris problem.  If you care about the health of your oceans and your local watershed which flows directly into the ocean, Save Our Shores wants you to take some citizen action and get involved with our efforts.  To become a member, volunteer, or find out when and where our next event will be, check out our new website at http://www.saveourshores.org.

Kevin Lansing posted this letter as a comment in another topic. He’s right: It’s time to fax Mark Leno (at 916-319-2113) and let his know that not everyone on the Coastside supports AB1991.

It is critical for those opposed to AB 1991 to FAX their letters in by Monday.

The City Council’s old guard supporters and their realtor/developer friends are sending in their own letters for sure.

Below is my own letter.