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"The Tri-Valley area is considered a hot spot for biodiversity, containing a variety of habitats that support a wide range of plants and animals. In some cases, the plants and animals can be found in few other locations.
The Altamont Open Space Advisory Committee is in the process of reviewing which of these areas to focus on with the funding it has available to purchase land.
The money comes as the result of a lawsuit that established a fee to mitigate the impacts of bringing trash to the Altamont Landfill. The Vasco Landfill also collects the fee. The funds can only be spent in Eastern Alameda County.
To launch the discussion, the Open Space Committee has listened to presentations from environmental groups on which areas they believe should have priority for funding.
In May, the committee heard from the Tri-Valley Conservancy, California Rangeland Trust, Livermore Area Recreation and Park District, East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, and the Greenbelt Alliance.
Last Friday, the East Bay Regional Park District, Save Mount Diablo and the Alameda Creek Alliance offered input on important areas they would like to see conserved.
There were similar sites discussed at both the earlier meeting and at last week's meeting. These include Doolan Canyon, Cedar Mountain, Brushy Peak, and Corral Hollow (referred to as Tesla Park by those opposed to the Carnegie Off-Road Vehicle Park expansion).
Connectivity was one of the issues that merited saving according to presenters. Corridors that allow wildlife to move freely was a major consideration. The ability to provide trails that join open space areas was another benefit.
In addition to connectivity, they said that rare habitat areas providing homes to a variety of endangered plants and animals are important to save.
Protecting hydrological flow, to allow for maintenance of habitat as well as groundwater recharge, was listed as an important goal of land preservation.
Seth Adams, Save Mount Diablo (SMD) conservation director, discussed the Mount Diablo Range, which stretches 150 miles south from Mount Diablo. It includes such critical areas as the Altamont Pass and Corral Hollow. He stated that "waves of conservation" occur, saving areas such as the Sierras, the Redwoods and Coastal areas. "The next big wave will involve saving the inner coast ranges. Diablo is part of that."
He said that East Contra Costa and Alameda Counties are considered hot spots for endangered species in the U.S. SMD is looking at grasslands in Alameda County as important habitat. Raptors hunt in the grasslands. The largest concentration of golden eagles can be found in the Altamont. The Altamont Pass provides a critical linkage of the north and south Diablo Range, said Adams.
He added that areas along Dyer Road, next to Brushy Peak, would provide a wildlife corridor. Preserving Doolan Canyon and Collier Canyon would help to block road connections going into Contra Costa County. Ridgelands along the Diablo range, including Highland Ridge and Morgan Territory Ridge, provide incredible opportunities for preservation.
Corral Hollow would provide an important connection to Henry Coe Park, which is located in Santa Clara and Stanislaus counties.
Adams stated that the one place other than Tesla, where the use of public dollars would be high priority, would be Cedar Mountain. "The serpentine geology is the single most important botanical hot spot outside of Mount Diablo. Its toxic materials change plants. It should be a state park in its own right," said Adams.
Bob Nisbet, East Bay Regional Park District Assistant General Manager, noted that voters in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, agreed to tax themselves to buy land when they re-authorized Measure WW. The funds can be used to leverage state and federal dollars, as well as grants.
It was pointed out by Adams and Nisbet that mitigation for development has helped to preserve many areas.
Nisbet called Cedar Mountain an area of interest, along with Duarte Canyon Bethany Reservoir and the Chain of Lakes. Envisioned in the EBRPD master plan is a regional trail that would connect Cedar Mountain to Del Valle Park.
He said, "The district's three top areas are Brushy Peak, Doolan Canyon and Pleasanton Ridge. There is a lot of area around Brushy Peak that we have our eye on. While Doolan Canyon is not yet a park, the potential is there to form a rather large park. On Pleasanton Ridge, connectivity between current parks is a major goal of the district's master plan."
Nisbet added that the district does not actively seek land. It receives tips on potential purchases that they follow up on. "If I could look into a crystal ball, Brushy Peak or Doolan Canyon would be next on our request for funding," he stated.
Alameda Creek Alliance, while not an organization that acquires land, works to preserve important habitats. Ralph Boniello said watersheds that impact its efforts to preserve Steelhead Trout are important to maintain.
General areas of interest include Stonybrook Creek along Palomares Road as well as Arroyo Mocho Canyon. He described Alameda Creek as an anchor watershed for Steelhead. The tributaries include Arroyo de la Laguna, Arroyo del Valle, San Antonio Creek and Calaveras Creek, whose main tributary is Arroyo Hondo. The watershed includes three man-made reservoirs - Lake Del Valle, San Antonio Reservoir and Calaveras Reservoir.
Boniello told the committee, that consideration should be given to preserving areas that assist with groundwater recharge. Some properties are more important than others. These include grasslands, which provide greater recharge ability.
Rich Cimino, Ohlone Audubon, reported that the group's annual Christmas bird count wasprovides a way of keeping track of birds and to monitor changes in land. He listed the Springtown Preserve in North Livermore as a prime area for wintering raptors. Hawks come in from distances as far away as Canada and Europe to spend the winter. He said there are 75 species of plants and animals found in the preserve. "It is a prime location for birds and endangered species. The preserve is one of only five alkali habitats left in California."
He suggested spending money to fence the preserve.
A concern Cimino raised relates to the potential that future development would block the water flow needed to maintain the area's alkali soils."
LOL Wrong. Also Concord is very surprising how Diverse it's become. When we first moved to the Bay Area 20 years ago we looked out there because it was cheap and all we saw were whites. Going out there recently I saw such a diverse mix of people it was pretty nice to see. Lots of Blacks seem to have moved to Concord in recent years.
If you had said this:
"LOL Wrong. Also Oakland is very surprising how Diverse it's become. When we first moved to the Bay Area 20 years ago we looked out there because it was cheap and all we saw were blacks. Going out there recently I saw such a diverse mix of people it was pretty nice to see. Lots of Whites seem to have moved to Oakland in recent years."
...We would, no doubt, be hearing the incessant howls of "racism" from the Usual Suspects!
Sorry to disrupt you. Carry on with your White-bashing!
"LOL Wrong. Also Oakland is very surprising how Diverse it's become. When we first moved to the Bay Area 20 years ago we looked out there because it was cheap and all we saw were blacks. Going out there recently I saw such a diverse mix of people it was pretty nice to see. Lots of Whites seem to have moved to Oakland in recent years."
...We would, no doubt, be hearing the incessant howls of "racism" from the Usual Suspects!
Sorry to disrupt you. Carry on with your White-bashing!
He didn't say whites are bad, he said he likes diversity. As for his previous post, he's not "white bashing" he just called out a person who claimed that white people are facing racial discrimination in America, which is wrong, and is a pretty hilarious idea coming from the point of view of a minority (who are constantly discriminated against by whites, to the point that one of group of them was enslaved for centuries, and then denied equal rights for well over another century, and which still faces racism to a degree that no white person ever does).
"LOL Wrong. Also Oakland is very surprising how Diverse it's become. When we first moved to the Bay Area 20 years ago we looked out there because it was cheap and all we saw were blacks. Going out there recently I saw such a diverse mix of people it was pretty nice to see. Lots of Whites seem to have moved to Oakland in recent years."
...We would, no doubt, be hearing the incessant howls of "racism" from the Usual Suspects!
Sorry to disrupt you. Carry on with your White-bashing!
People outside the Bay Area assume Oakland is a Black city like Detroit or Baltimore. There are still dangerous black gangs but it's nothing like those cities. Oakland was 70% Black in the 70's and is now down to 25%.
People outside the Bay Area assume Oakland is a Black city like Detroit or Baltimore. There are still dangerous black gangs but it's nothing like those cities. Oakland was 70% Black in the 70's and is now down to 25%.
Oakland was never 70% black, I'm not sure where you got that from. The black population peaked in 1980 at 47%.
It's all subjective. I know a lot of working class Latinos resent white hipsters gentrifying the Mission District. On the other hand many middle class whites were priced out of the places like Cupertino by wealthy Asian immigrants.
Are these the immigrants who came here on special work visas or the ones who are buying visas and saying that they will create jobs?
"LOL Wrong. Also Oakland is very surprising how Diverse it's become. When we first moved to the Bay Area 20 years ago we looked out there because it was cheap and all we saw were blacks. Going out there recently I saw such a diverse mix of people it was pretty nice to see. Lots of Whites seem to have moved to Oakland in recent years."
...We would, no doubt, be hearing the incessant howls of "racism" from the Usual Suspects!
Sorry to disrupt you. Carry on with your White-bashing!
Diverse means MORE VARIETY. Whites get to be part of that mix.
If there are no whites or very few, and a city is predominantly Asian or predominantly black or predominantly non-white Hispanic, that city is not diverse. Duh.
He didn't say whites are bad, he said he likes diversity. As for his previous post, he's not "white bashing" he just called out a person who claimed that white people are facing racial discrimination in America, which is wrong, and is a pretty hilarious idea coming from the point of view of a minority (who are constantly discriminated against by whites, to the point that one of group of them was enslaved for centuries, and then denied equal rights for well over another century, and which still faces racism to a degree that no white person ever does).
Excuse me, but as a representative of the native-English-speaking white race (lily white as in towhead blonde, pale skin, Mayflower ancestors) I see bashing in recent years when jobs are heavily promoted to Spanish-speaking, Hmong-speaking, Vietnamese-speaking, Russian-speaking including SALARY INCREASES just for being able to speak these languages (yet other foreign language expertise just does not count) even in positions where these languages are not necessary (and I agree that they might temporarily be needed for new immigrants who utilize the social welfare and health departments).
I also see it in the purchases made by the libraries, who are strong-armed by the Asian Indian and Chinese communities in some communities (hello FREMONT, CUPERTINO, etc.) to buy more and more books and DVD's in their language(s). That does not just cut into purchases of English-speaking materials, but also into Spanish-language, French-language, German-language, Japanese-language, Italian-language, etc. materials. It especially makes no sense when it comes to Asian Indians or Hong Kong Chinese demands, since English is a major language in those places. They just WANT these materials. They don't NEED them to communicate. They can buy them if they want them, in my opinion. (I want to emphasize that I am a prime user of foreign-language materials and do want the cream of the crop movies from each country, as long as they include English subtitles for all of us to understand.) But every B-list Bollywood movie that comes out of India is just too much of my tax dollars (and I am a moderate Democrat, though you can't tell from this post.)
And shouldn't the ideal be that we all speak proper, grammatical English in order to understand each other and to get along better?
I also see (as a female) male-bashing in certain counties (hello MARIN), where they were able to grandfather in some preferential treatment for female candidates, something which other counties cannot do.
I would like to see each candidate stand on their own, merit only.
And don't get me started on AGE-BASHING, because that is the most prevalent of all.
excuse me, but as a representative of the native-english-speaking white race (lily white as in towhead blonde, pale skin, mayflower ancestors) i see bashing in recent years when jobs are heavily promoted to spanish-speaking, hmong-speaking, vietnamese-speaking, russian-speaking including salary increases just for being able to speak these languages (yet other foreign language expertise just does not count) even in positions where these languages are not necessary (and i agree that they might temporarily be needed for new immigrants who utilize the social welfare and health departments).
I also see it in the purchases made by the libraries, who are strong-armed by the asian indian and chinese communities in some communities (hello fremont, cupertino, etc.) to buy more and more books and dvd's in their language(s). That does not just cut into purchases of english-speaking materials, but also into spanish-language, french-language, german-language, japanese-language, italian-language, etc. Materials. It especially makes no sense when it comes to asian indians or hong kong chinese demands, since english is a major language in those places. They just want these materials. They don't need them to communicate. They can buy them if they want them, in my opinion. (i want to emphasize that i am a prime user of foreign-language materials and do want the cream of the crop movies from each country, as long as they include english subtitles for all of us to understand.) but every b-list bollywood movie that comes out of india is just too much of my tax dollars (and i am a moderate democrat, though you can't tell from this post.)
and shouldn't the ideal be that we all speak proper, grammatical english in order to understand each other and to get along better?
I also see (as a female) male-bashing in certain counties (hello marin), where they were able to grandfather in some preferential treatment for female candidates, something which other counties cannot do.
I would like to see each candidate stand on their own, merit only.
And don't get me started on age-bashing, because that is the most prevalent of all.
lol
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