Whose Offices Will be in the Planned Ridgetop Center?

By on April 27, 2012 in Oakland Politics

And Couldn’t They Be Someplace Else?

The Zoo's published depiction of the ridge-top building as seen from Golf Links Rd.

The Oakland Zoo’s development plans for Knowland Park include offices—yes, offices– in the 34,000 square foot, 3 story central gondola terminal building, which is planned to also include a restaurant and gift shop. The whole thing will be perched atop the most sensitive and pristine area of the park, a ridge where the threatened Alameda whipsnake was trapped in surveys, where a statewide rare plant community of chaparral provides cover and habitat for many kinds of animals, and where scat from large predators is regularly found. Why, you might ask yourself, would a “conservation”-minded organization decide to build a huge structure in that particular location, rather than looking for a site closer to the existing Zoo or on already-disturbed land?

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Welcome to the California Chaparral Institute, the Newest Member of the Knowland Park Coalition

By on April 23, 2012 in Campaign Updates, Uncategorized

The California Chaparral Institute has joined the Knowland Park Coalition. Located in Escondido, California, CCI is a non-profit organization of naturalists, scientists, wildland firefighters, and educators who value the chaparral as both a valuable resource and a place to enjoy the wilderness. Providing “a voice for the chaparral,” CCI joins the Knowland Park Coalition to help educate the public on the value of the maritime chaparral found in Knowland Park and to speak up for its protection.

CCI recognizes the threat that the Oakland Zoo expansion project poses to our rare maritime chaparral stand. It has fought similar poorly planned development that results in the accompanying fuels management that decimates this resource.

Rick Halsey, Director and Founder of CCI, acknowledged the work of our coalition: “Your group is a model of citizen activism.” CCI joins a list of prestigious environmental organizations dedicated to protecting the native communities found in Knowland Park. We welcome their support. Visit their website at www.californiachaparral.com.

Laura Baker is an environmental activist and former Conservation Chair of the California Native Plant Society. Growing up in Missouri, she learned that the cure for most ills rests in spending time out in nature. She wishes for every child to have the experience of wholeness that nature provides. Laura holds an M.A. in Ecology and Systematic Biology.

Laura’s Knowlander blog is dedicated to building an online library of the natural history of Knowland Park so that the public may enjoy the park for the natural heritage treasure that it is. Knowing the land is a never ending process of inquiry open to all. We welcome your comments, contributions, and photos

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COURT ARGUMENTS HEARD

By on April 20, 2012 in Campaign Updates

Today (Thursday, April 19) the judge heard arguments in our legal case. Our attorneys argued forcefully that the massive changes to the Zoo’s plans meant that it should have been considered as a new project, rather than piggybacking on a lesser level environmental document for the old project, which lacked any information whatsoever about key project impacts and which misrepresented others. The City and Zoo attorneys, in turn, argued that we were trying to apply the wrong legal standard, that the previous Memorandum of Understanding with the community had no legal significance (see http://www.saveknowland.org/2012/04/04/bait-and-switch-how-the-zoo-and-the-city-of-oakland-used-a-1998-mou-to-mislead-the-community/ ) and should be ignored, and that the criteria for activating a key provision in the California Environmental Quality Act had not been met–namely, that there were NOT new circumstances or new impacts from the changed project. It’s hard to imagine how they can make such an argument with a straight face, but there it is.

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An Evening Talk with Jim Hale, Wildlife Biologist, on the Wildlife of the East Bay Hills

By on April 18, 2012 in Nature & Wildlife, Uncategorized

Jim Hale

by Laura Baker and Donna Reynolds

Guests at the talk by wildlife biologist Jim (Doc) Hale on Friday night were treated to fascinating accounts of his encounters with East Bay wildlife.  Jim grew up in the area and has been a wildlife biologist for over 40 years, tramping the hills, valleys, woodlands and creeks of Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.  During the course of his career, he has studied nearly every local critter you can imagine from badgers to bobcats and skinks to skunks.

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The “Galapagos Islands” of the East Bay Hills
What you won’t learn at the Oakland Zoo’s Earth Day, #1

By on April 12, 2012 in Nature & Wildlife, Uncategorized

After the California Native Plant Society was told that it would not be welcome to bring materials about Knowland Park’s plants and animals to the Zoo’s Earth Day (see http://www.saveknowland.org/2012/03/27/earth-day-at-the-oakland-zoo/) , we decided to share here some of what we might have presented. This is the first in a series on what you WON’T learn about Knowland Park at the Oakland Zoo’s Earth Day. As the designated steward of the park and as an organization that claims the “conservation” mantle, the Zoo should be focusing its conservation message on its own back yard.

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