Conservation Corner Summer 2020

Shani Kleinhaus
Environmental Advocate

Cupertino

Snowy Egrets, Shani Kleinhaus

COVID-19 brings uncertainty which we all experience, but one thing seems certain: planning for future projects never stops.

While our government agencies continue toplan and approve projects large and small, it is incumbent upon us to do what we can to protect birds and their habitat, and to keep them in sight of decision makers at this challenging time.

Here are some of the projects we have been working on:

Proliferation of Electronic Signs and Billboards Envisioned

In San Jose, SCVAS is concerned with an amendment to the Sign Ordinance of the San Jose Municipal Code. This proposed amendment will promote the proliferation of electronic billboards along freeways, and other types of programmable electronic signs in the city, all to display commercial advertisement. In a joint comment letter with the Sierra Club, SCVAS expressed apprehension regarding light pollution impacts of programmable electronic billboards and signs to biological resources, the night sky, the aesthetic character of our region, and the health, safety and quality of life in San Jose. Audaciously, the City proposed that since the electronic billboards are expected to replace standard billboards at a 1:4 ratio, this amendment will beautify the City.

The amendment process will continue this spring, and there will be opportunities to engage. But if you are a San Jose resident, please contact your Council member's office and ask your representative to put an end to this initiative. The more they hear from the voters in their districts, the better. Please contact shani@scvas.org for additional information.

Nuttall’s Woodpeckers, Shani Kleinhaus

Burrowing owls

With the stay-at-home directive in spring, volunteers were no longer able to help maintain habitat for the burrowing owls of Alviso. Our staff continued to survey the habitat at the Regional Wastewater Facility, and maintain the burrow areas free of tall grass.

Also in San Jose, City council approved a new Airport Master Plan to allow great expansion of the airport capacity to accommodate 22.5 million annual passengers by 2037,
and an annual compounded growth rate of 2.4% in cargo tonnage. This translates to a new concourse, larger terminals, additional gates, a hotel, new parking garages, and additional aviation and cargo support facilities. The Environmental Impact Report proposes to mitigate the loss of only 32.4 acres of nesting habitat by paying Habitat Conservation Fees.

Ongoing expansion of the airport over the past 10 years eliminated much of the available habitat already. Mitigation failed to save the owls or replace their habitat. Indeed, the airport recognizes that maintenance of mitigation areas "has not been adequate", and that they no longer expect a viable population to be sustained at the airport. The lack of adequate maintenance was, in our opinion, one of the drivers of the decline in burrowing owl population in our region, and we are devastated at the loss of habitat at the airport which 10 years ago sustained the largest population in the valley.

In our comments on the Environmental Impact Report and in front of Council, we asked for additional mitigation funding for the Habitat Agency. But the airport, and the City Council, did not allocate additional funds. We hope that the meager mitigation fees to the Habitat Agency will help the owl population stay with us a little longer.

Bikes on Narrow Nature Trails

Townsend’s Warbler, Keith Wandry

The California State Parks Department is evaluating a Change-In-Use (CIU) for the trails within Castle Rock State Park to allow expansion of mountain bike trails in the park. We are working with the local Native Plant Society and Sierra Club advocates opposing this expansion. We submitted a comment letter that referred to a 1979 Sempervirens Fund study that identified Primary Avian Migration Routes and Concentration Areas for migratory birds in the park and mapped vegetation type areas, including sensitive habitats that contain knobcone pines; black oak woodland; ancient redwood forest; riparian areas and maritime chaparral, highlights the geological fragility of the area, and includes maps of seismic hazard areas and vulnerability to landslides.

Nearby parks provide at least 175 miles of bike trails and it is our experience that naturalists and birders (many of whom are seniors), tend to be wary of using trails that allow bicycling due to the risk of collision and because plant and wildlife resources near bike trails are often degraded.

Our letter asked for a sincere effort to avoid:

• Any additional encroachment and disturbance in Avian Migratory Concentration Areas

• Any additional encroachment and disturbance in habitat areas that could support nesting habitat of Pileated Woodpecker and Marbled Murrelet

• Damage to streams or fish habitat

• Segmentation of amphibian habitat
  (risk of running adults over during migration to and from breeding habitat)

• Encroachment and fragmentation of rare plant communities

• Damage to rare natural features of interest for scientific study

• Soil erosion, rutting, impairment of trail drainage, breakdown of trail shoulders, and other forms of trail damage

• Danger to the safety of hikers, birders and naturalists due to bicycle activity, steep grades, steep terrain, sharp curves, slippery or unstable trail surfaces, or limited visibility

• Displacement of hikers, birders and naturalists due to bikes on trails

The pressure on State Parks to open nature trails to bikes is substantial, and we hope this agency will not risk our natural habitats and trail users.

The Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (MROSD) has initiated a process leading to the adoption of a Proposed Wildland Fire Resiliency Program. The Program would be applied on all Midpeninsula open space preserves (OSP) and other areas under MROSD management in Santa Clara and San Mateo counties. The Program encompasses a Vegetation Management Plan, a Prescribed Fire Plan, Wildland Fire Pre-Plan/Resource Advisor Maps and a Monitoring Plan.
The impact to vegetation and habitat, especially alongroads, infrastructure and buildings, is likely to have significant impacts to habitat and species. SCVAS will continue to attend meetings and provide comments, hoping to help minimize the impacts.

Habitat for Birds with Native Plants

The nest boxes at the restored habitat site on the banks of Permanente Creek at Shoreline Park in Mountain View are being used again this year! During the 2019 bird-breeding season, nest boxes were used by 3 pairs of Western Bluebirds, 10 Tree Swallows and 1 Bewick’s Wren. So far this year, the monitoring effort observed 1 pair of Western Bluebirds and 8 pairs of Tree Swallows using the nest boxes.

Conservation Corner Spring 2020

Shani Kleinhaus
Environmental Advocate

Cupertino

At least once every decade, a developer comes to the City of Cupertino with a proposal to develop properties along the Stevens Creek Canyon. Recently, we joined Cupertino residents and successfully argued against a proposed the Canyon View General Plan Amendment that would change the permitted building requirements on hillsides, and allow 29 units where four units are currently allowed on an 86-acre hillside property adjacent to Linda Vista Park. This development on the steep rim of the Stevens Creek Canyon, with an average slope of ~48%, would pave small tributaries and wildlife corridors! We wrote and spoke to City Council about this fragile landscape: how critical it is to the welfare of wildlife species in the area, and how development in the urban/wildland interface would burden the City of Cupertino with geological hazards and significant fire risks. We congratulate the City Council for rejecting the proposed amendment. Always vigilant, we will keep watching for renewed proposals.

Lexington Reservoir

The ‘massacre’ of Pacific Newts continues on Alma Bridge Road, at Lexington Reservoir. This winter, iNaturalist volunteers documented over 3800 carcasses and found 27 other species that fell victim to this road, including deer, 5 species of rodents, 4 species of reptiles, 6 additional amphibian species, 4 species of birds (a barn owl, a yellow- rumped warbler, a hermit thrush, a house finch), and even a catfish! Santa Clara County signage, placed last year after the road claimed over 5000 newts, unfortunately seems ineffective. We are working with several agencies to identify solution and facilitate implementation.

We are also very concerned with the proposed Mid- Peninsula Open Space District Beatty Parking Area and Trail Connections Project on Alma Bridge Road – the traffic associated with this project is likely to exacerbate the hazardous conditions and the loss of tiny lives.

Sunnyvale

Last year, we advocated with Sunnyvale City Council to minimize light pollution by developing a Dark Sky/Lighting ordinance for outdoor lighting. In the Council Study Issue Prioritization process, Council initially voted in support of our request, but the issue was dropped during the budgeting discussions. We continue to advocate this year.

Also in Sunnyvale, at the request of Google and other Moffett Park landowners, the City has started the process that would update its current Moffett Park Specific Plan to add office space and include housing as a permitted land use. This area, North of 237, is currently an office park bounded by the landfill hills, the Sunnyvale water pollution control plant, Moffett Field and Sunnyvale parks along the Bay. SCVAS participated in several focus groups to provide input. We focused on:

• Potential changes to the Water District-approved Flood Control Project that includes tall walls on Charleston East and West Channels

• Protection of baylands and of open space near the baylands (the Yahoo Campus, Lockheed-Martin)

• Provision of parks and open space 

• Native plant landscaping

• Preservation of large trees

We expect an Environmental Impact Report in 2020, and will continue to advocate for a bird-friendly district as the plans are formed.

Burrowing Owls

Burrowing owl populations have suffered significant population decline in the Bay Area, as well as throughout most of their range. The main causes of the population decrease are linked to habitat loss, high mortality rates, low reproductive rates related to quality prey availability and human disturbance. Many organizations including SCVAS have played a pivotal role in trying to reverse the decline of burrowing owls through advocacy, education, conservation and research efforts.

One organization that just recently came to the aid of burrowing owls is the Santa Clara Valley Habitat Agency, which adopted a Habitat Plan in 2013 that includes conservation measures to protect 18 species including burrowing owls. The Habitat Agency has funded extensive research on burrowing owls and implemented habitat management agreements to address burrowing owl declines in the South Bay, its main focus is in Santa Clara County. Our habitat management project in Alviso has benefited from this funding.

One project that the Habitat Agency is presently implementing is a Juvenile Burrowing Owl Overwintering Project. Burrowing owl chicks have an approximate 70% mortality rate during their first year, thus with an already low reproductive rate very few chicks are surviving to adulthood to reproduce. During 2019, ten burrowing owl juveniles were removed from the population (only two juveniles per family were removed) and all the juveniles were relocated to an aviary at the Peninsula Humane Societies' facility in Burlingame. The burrowing owls were overwintered at the facility and will be returned to several existing breeding sites in Santa Clara County during the 2020 breeding season. The owls will be paired up based on DNA analysis, placed into a hacking aviary with artificial burrows until they lay a full clutch of eggs, then the aviary will be removed for the birds return to the wild as mature breeding adults. The purpose of the aviaries is to acclimate the birds back to the original breeding locations. Upon the success of this project and hopefully with an increase in the local breeding population the ultimate goal of the project is reintroduce burrowing owls to new locations in Coyote Valley in the future, to establish additional populations in more natural areas.

North Coyote Valley

Following the purchase of 937 acres in North Coyote Valley, we now focus on the process of updating the San Jose General Plan. We are advocating for an updated plan that will change the zoning of the purchased lands from Industrial to Habitat and Open space designation. For the privately owned lands in the valley, we seek Agriculture zoning that should help avert development into the future.

Join Us Our Environmental Advocate and Action Committee are busy working in YOUR neighborhood and throughout Santa Clara County – please let shani@scvas.org know if you’d like to get involved!

Conservation Corner Winter 2020

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Shani Kleinhaus
Environmental Advocate

A recently published study by National Audubon highlights the dangers that climate change imposes on migratory bird populations in California and throughout North America. Science Magazine focuses on the great overall decline in numbers of birds (3 billion in 30 years!).

In Santa Clara Valley and throughout our region,it behooves us to continue to fiercely protect birds from harm, to oppose harmful development, and to support the types of development that regenerate native habitats in a meaningful way. Because birds are everywhere, we continue to engage in efforts to protect landscape-scale open spaces and natural resources as well as efforts to protect birds from hazards and regenerate habitat in urban/suburban landscapes.

Collisions with Glass

One of our long-term campaigns focuses on protecting birds from collision with glass. City by city, jurisdiction by jurisdiction, we make progress. In recent months, we have been successful in:

• Mountain View has redently adopted new, sustainable building requirements that include bird safe design for most types of new buildings in the city

• After hearing 10 of our advocates’ testimony, the Cupertino Planning commission instructed staff to prepare a bird-safe design ordinance. They will also be developing dark-sky requirements, which will benefit birds

• We supported Santa Cruz advocates in their successful efforts to require bird safe design in that city

• Santa Clara County is starting to work on County Wide Bird Safe design guidelines

• Downtown San Jose now has standard and guidelines for bird safe design. The National Audubon Society recently published an online article that mentions this achievement, quoting our advocate, see https://www.audubon.org/news/theres-growing-political-push-make-more-buildings-bird-safe

Habitat in Cities

Palo Alto is planning a pilot “Horizontal Levee” project at the edge of the wetlands at the end of Embarcadero. As stakeholders (and guardians of Ridgeway’s Rail), we expressed appreciation for the project’s intent to create habitat for native species while at the same time protecting Palo Alto from sea level rise. We also provided comments asking for a trail to be placed along the road, rather than on top of the levee.

In San Jose, we provided comments on the ActivateSJ Strategic Plan for the City’s Parks and Community Services Department, advocating for a plan that includes the enhancement of habitat and nature, and promotes nature- oriented activities.

Also in San Jose, we are following Google’s mixed-use framework for the Diridon area, which looks to remove parking areas in order to plant native trees along Los Gatos Creek in a wide, park-like creek setback. Google’s plans are in contrast to the proposed Almaden Office Project on the Guadalupe, which we oppose because it looks to build a 2-block long, 17-story high (and 4 levels underground parking garage) within 30-ft of the riparian setback of the Guadalupe River. We are also following with concern the efforts of the Light Tower Corporation to solicit submittals to a design competition for an iconic structure in Arena Green park.

CA Legislative Session Ends

The legislative session came to an end in Sacramento. Of the bills we have been following, both of Assemblyman Ash Kalra’s sponsored bills have been signed into law:

• AB-454 - Migratory Birds: California Migratory Bird Protection Act will reinstate protections to Migratory birds that were removed by the federal administration.

• AB-948 Coyote Valley Conservation Program has also been signed, authorizing the Open Space Authority to establish and administer the Coyote Valley Conservation Program to address resource and recreational goals of the Coyote Valley.

However, Governor Newsom vetoed two important bills:

• SB-767 Off-highway Vehicular Recreation: Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area: Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area. This bill aimed to stop the expansion of off-road vehicle recreation to an ecologically sensitive area in the East Bay. We hope the bill will be reintroduced next year.

• SB-1 California Environmental, Public Health, and Workers Defense Act of 2019: Aimed (among other goals) to reinstate protections to clean air and water, and protections to endangered species to respond to the removal of these protections by the federal administration. We are greatly disappointed as this surrender to Central Valley agribusiness puts many of California’s endangered species and their habitats at risk. 

Conservation Corner September/October 2019

Local Updates
In its priority setting session for the next two years, the City of Mountain View voted to prepare to “Consolidate and update existing plans into a comprehensive wildlife and habitat management plan” as part of its goal to “Promote Environmental Sustainability and the Quality of Life for the Enjoyment of Current and Future Generations with a focus on Measurable Outcomes.” A wildlife management plan should help capture best practices that are successful in promoting and protecting avian species that nest at Shoreline Park, including the Black Skimmers, Forster’s Terns and Black-necked Stilts on the island, White-tailed Kites, Burrowing Owls, Western Bluebirds, Tree Swallows, Cliff Swallows and many other species! 

Tree Swallows using Mountain View nest box

Our advocacy efforts continue to focus on Coyote Valley. Recently, the City of San Jose updated the scope of the General Plan 4-Year Review to include a robust discussion on the long-term future of North Coyote Valley and the Mid-Coyote Urban Reserve in achieving key city objectives, including not only economic goals, but also the preservation of open space and wildlife habitat, flood and groundwater protection, agriculture, climate change resilience, and passive recreation.

Also in June, the Los Gatos Town Council unanimously approved a wildlife-friendly fence ordinance. The new ordinance will require all new perimeter fences on hillside lots larger than one acre in the Town of Los Gatos to be wildlife-friendly. Our previous effort regarding fencing in Los Gatos resulted in the prohibition of transparent glass or plastic fencing. Together, these rules make creeks and roadsides safer for birds and wildlife, and allow better permeability and animal movement linkages. We thank Dashiel Leeds, our volunteer who worked so diligently to secure this outcome, and we thank council members Marico Sayoc, Barbara Spector, Marcia Jensen, Rob Rennie and Mayor Steve Leonardis for approving this ordinance.

The County Planning Commission recommended that prior to approving the Stanford General Use Permit (GUP), staff should consider including bird safe design, protections for native oak trees older than 100 years, and strong protections for open space in the foothills, including the possibility of permanent easements. The Stanford GUP and its associated approval documents go to the Board ofSupervisors next, and SCVAS will be following closely. We thank the County Planning Commissioners for their hard work, and Commissioner Vicki Moore for making the motion.

We continue to await the Environmental Impact Report for a Sand Quarry in Sargent Ranch, south of Gilroy. Over a 30-year operational period, the proposed quarry would mine 320 acres of land. The project includes a 14-acre processing plant, three 200-foot deep open pit quarry sites, a 1.6-mile long conveyor belt, and a 30-foot wide access road. An estimated 40 million tons of sand and gravel aggregate would be produced for use in local road building and general construction. Annual water consumption is estimated at 17,260,000 gallons. This is of concern since conservation banks generally fail to fully mitigate for the loss of individuals of endangered species and their habitat, so this project has the potential to impact endangered species at Sargent Ranch as well as elsewhere in California. SCVAS is opposed to the quarry, and expect to engage when the environmental review documents are released.

In San Jose, we submitted scoping comments on the environmental impact assessment for the Almaden Office Project. We focused on impacts to the Guadalupe River and its riparian corridor. In Campbell, we submitted comments on the Dell Avenue Office Project near Los Gatos Creek. Both projects have the potential to impact birds in the Guadalupe River watershed.

State Legislation Updates

On July 1st, California became the first state to ban the use of lead bullets for all hunting activities. This is important because lead bullets present an environmental risk to wildlife, especially the endangered California Condor. Studies conducted before the law’s passage suggested that the bird population was being poisoned after ingesting lead fragments left behind by hunters in the entrails of game animals. The law, which we supported and originally passed in 2013 applies to all hunters shooting any type of game with a firearm on public or private land. Hunters using lead ammunition will be subject to fines: first-time offenders risk losing hunting privileges and can be fined up to $500. Subsequent violations bring a minimum $1,000 fine.

Several 2019-2020 bills that we support have passed most of the legislative process, and we continue to follow them as they make their way to the Governor’s desk. This includes:

• AB-1788 Pesticides: use of anticoagulants; looking to protect raptors and other carnivore species from secondary poisoning

• AB-454 Migratory Birds: California Migratory Bird Protection Act. Sponsored by Assemblymember Ash Kalra, this bill looks to reinstate protections to migratory birds that were removed by the federal administration.

• SB-767 Off-highway Vehicular Recreation: Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area: Alameda-Tesla Expansion Area. This bill aims to stop the expansion of off-road vehicle recreation to an ecologically sensitive area in the East Bay.

• AB-948 Coyote Valley Conservation Program: (Introduced by Assemblymember Kalra with Coauthors: Assemblymembers Kansen Chu, Robert Rivas, and Mark Stone; and Senators Jim Beall and Bill Monning) to authorize the Open Space Authority to establish and administer the Coyote Valley Conservation Program to address resource and recreational goals of the Coyote Valley

• SB-1 California Environmental, Public Health, and Workers Defense Act of 2019: aims (among other goals) to reinstate protections to clean air and water, and protections to endangered species to respond to the removal of these protections by the federal administration.