Conservation Action – News and Views

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Sierra Club letter to Alameda Mayor and City Council     June 6, 2012

“The FWS [Fish & Wildlife Service] identified as an important use in the Northwest Territories the preservation or creation of grassland habitat. This is very much in keeping with the East Bay Regional Park District (Park District)’s proposal to create a regional park on the Northwest Territories.

“The Sierra Club believes it is in the City’s interest to accept a proposal from the Park District to take over the property.”

Refuge Gets Ax, Alameda Sun     September 14, 2012

“Another indicator of the downgrade from wildlife refuge to surplus land with a small bird sanctuary is the amount of parking for the VA’s Conservation Management Office — the Nature Center — to be built next to their clinic. It will have ten parking spaces. In contrast, the 1998 Fish & Wildlife plan for a national wildlife refuge included visitor projections that ranged from a low of 46,000 to a high of 113,000 annually.”

Wait and Switch, Isle Say     October 11, 2012

“We need to expand and connect the runway wetlands to the Bay; plant native grasslands for migratory birds and wildlife to hunt and forage in; build observation “blinds”; prepare for providing regular guided nature walks and educational programs; and strive for a complete ecosystem management plan.”

Archive

“Don’t let Navy give away refuge,” Sierra Club Yodeler     January 2003

In late 2002, a Defense Department appropriation bill included a provision allowing for giving the proposed Alameda Wildlife Refuge parcel to a non-profit company to own and manage.  It was denounced by the San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of the Sierra Club in the January 2003 edition of their newspaper, Sierra Club Yodeler.

“For eight years the transfer has been delayed by the presence of toxics on a 120-acre Superfund site at the west end of the Refuge. Recent tests indicate that the rest of the Refuge site is clean and could be transferred to Fish and Wildlife immediately.”

“Throughout the country, military bases provide some of the best wildlife habitat—because military use often protect lands from other more ordinary impacts.”

Wonders of the Alameda Wildlife Refuge, Yodeler     January 2003

“As a Refuge in the middle of one of the densest urban centers in the nation, Alameda is an ideal location for bringing people to nature—and a wonderful opportunity to provide nature experiences to the East Bay’s diverse low-income communities who might otherwise not have such opportunities.”