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.
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.
A Brief History of California’s Grasslands
Purple needlegrass at Knowland Park. photo: Mack Casterman
Grasslands are part of California’s heritage. Approximately 25% of the state is covered by them, and they are even featured on the state flag (look at what the bear is standing on). However, California’s grasslands look very different today than they did 200 years ago. The arrival of Spanish settlers in the mid 1500s to what is now California marked the beginning of a dramatic change in the State’s grassland ecosystems.
Prior to European colonization, Native Americans actively managed grassland habitats to ensure their food sources (seeds, native vegetables, and game animals) had areas to flourish. This management even included burning areas of grassland annually to ensure that forest and scrublands did not overrun the grassy areas. At that time, the grasslands of California were made up primarily of perennial (living more than a single year) bunch grasses such as purple needlegrass (Nassella pulchra) and California oatgrass (Danthonia californica) with forbs (herbaceous flowering plants) filling in the spaces between the grasses.
Every March the California town of San Juan Capistrano celebrates the return of cliff swallows to the mission where they flock to build their nests. This annual migration is such a predictable event that the town has built an entire tourist industry out of it.
The Oakland Zoo expansion plan being pursued by zoo management with the approval of the Oakland City Council includes a big and expensive aerial gondola.
You might ask, with the new City Administrator, Deanna Santana, noting in her December budget letter that the City doesn’t have money to replace aging fire pump and ladder trucks, or pay off the debt from past City projects, or keep the City infrastructure safe,…why would Oakland choose to go further into debt to help buy and maintain the expensive cars, wires, power equipment, and massive columns for a big new zoo gondola.
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 Ruth Malone |
 Laura Baker |
 Jim Hanson |
 Mack Casterman |
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