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rdifalco

City of Chico, Butte Environmental Council to partner on weed eradication grant - 1 views

www.orovillemr.com/...tner-on-weed-eradication-grant

BEC chico city council arundo Little Chico Creek watershed

shared by rdifalco on 22 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Butte Environmental Council representative Mark Stemen shows areas of invasive Arundo donax growth along Little Chico Creek near Humboldt Park in October. Stemen, along with other citizens and city officials, are championing a plan for removal because of major fire danger risk and environmental damage.
  • Chico >> The city of Chico is rallying with Butte Environmental Council to eradicate an invasive weed clogging Little Chico Creek.On Tuesday, the Chico City Council will be asked to approve a joint application for a $1 million Urban Streams Restoration grant to eradicate arundo donax in the creek.
  • “We believe that when the city has to take a step back, the community can take a step forward,” said Mark Stemen of Butte Environmental Council, which will help spearhead the eradication effort. “We pointed out the problem. We also wanted to be part of the solution.”A class of his students at Chico State University mapped Little Chico Creek last fall, noting every location of arundo, invasive species and habitat that will need to be preserved.
becnews

City of Chico, Butte Environmental Council to partner on weed eradication grant - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...tner-on-weed-eradication-grant

BEC Chico weed eradication grant Butte County Little Chico Creek

shared by becnews on 29 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • Chico >> The city of Chico is rallying with Butte Environmental Council to eradicate an invasive weed clogging Little Chico Creek.
  • On Tuesday, the Chico City Council will be asked to approve a joint application for a $1 million Urban Streams Restoration grant to eradicate arundo donax in the creek.
  • The city will subcontract the restoration work to a local riparian restoration firm, and engage the California Native Plant Society for its expertise and volunteer labor. The Butte Environmental Council will coordinate community outreach and education, and Chico’s Stream Team will provide citizen water quality monitoring.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • “We believe that when the city has to take a step back, the community can take a step forward,” said Mark Stemen of Butte Environmental Council, which will help spearhead the eradication effort. “We pointed out the problem. We also wanted to be part of the solution.”
  • While it will certainly be a competitive grant, the involved parties are cautiously optimistic they could receive it, Stemen said. Recipients will be announced in March.
rdifalco

Chico News & Review - Haps on the CAP - Feature Story - Local Stories - April 17, 2014 - 0 views

www.newsreview.com/...content

chico BEC climate action plan sustainability task force

shared by rdifalco on 17 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • The city hasn’t forgotten about its Climate Action Plan
  • This article was published on 04.17.14.
  • In November 2012, the Chico City Council put its official stamp on sustainability by adopting a municipal Climate Action Plan. The blueprint, honed by the city’s Sustainability Task Force, laid out a two-stage approach for addressing the impacts of climate change and meeting greenhouse-gas standards established by the state.
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • STF and CAP have become nearly synonymous acronyms at the direction of City Council, which cut the size of the task force in half—to seven members, officially appointed—and focused the panel on implementing the plan, versus exploring sustainability in general.
  • Mark Stemen, chair of the reincarnated STF, says the city is “on the right track now, and we are making progress” but, in a broader sense, sees the process as “a good five years behind. We lost some momentum; we also lost the opportunity when there was more staff to get things done. But that’s water under the bridge—or carbon in the air, unfortunately.”
  • Flash forward six months and … Pause. Budget woes led to restructuring of city staff. At the same time, the council opted to reconfigure the Sustainability Task Force; the STF wouldn’t meet again until December 2013.
  • A tangible display of that impetus is a joint session of the Planning Commission and the STF next month. Uniting the committees means the STF “is getting more integrated into city processes,” Stemen said, and also “is getting the Climate Action Plan in front of the people who implement the [2030] General Plan.” That is particularly significant for Phase II, which has a series of goals related to construction.
  • solar panels on city structures, which produced 2.2 million kilowatt-hours of electricity in the preceding 12 months and 16 million kwh total. Three years ago, aided by grants, the city installed 1,200 LED streetlights that have translated into annual savings of approximately $67,800 in electrical costs plus $6,000 to $7,000 in maintenance costs, according to city staff.
  • Instead of commissioning another full inventory of greenhouse gas emissions, the city will extrapolate numbers based on readily available information: natural gas usage, electricity usage, waste diversion and vehicle fuel usage.
  • “If we’re not moving in the direction of reducing those emissions, then we’re directly working against our own interests.”
rdifalco

Chico City Council to consider law that cracks down on underage drinking - Oroville Mer... - 0 views

www.orovillemr.com/...-consider-law-that-cracks-down

chico garden

shared by rdifalco on 04 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • Also Tuesday, the City Council will hold a public hearing on the Draft Housing Element Update and consider authorization to submit it to the state for review and comment. The housing element is one of seven required elements in a general plan, and must be updated every five to eight years.
  • The element has six basic components: a housing needs assessment, a site inventory, a constraints analysis, housing programs, quantified objectives and public participation. The proposed actions are designed to meet various housing needs, including affordability for low-income residents, production of affordable housing for all income groups, and improvement and investment in existing residential neighborhoods.
  • Also Tuesday, the council will consider a resolution approving a one-year license to the Butte Environmental Council to operate a temporary community garden at West Eighth Avenue and Highway 32. The vacant, one-acre city-owned site is eventually planned for development as a fire station, but an interim use of a garden with no permanent structures would not interfere with that plan, according to city staff.
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  • All costs associated with the garden will be sustained by the Butte Environmental Council. The lease would be eligible for renewal.
rdifalco

Chico City Council: Arts Commission, Sustainability Task Force will continue - Chico En... - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...sion-sustainability-task-force

BEC chico sustainability climate action plan

shared by rdifalco on 19 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • CHICO — The Arts Commission and Sustainability Task Force will continue as they are, at least for now, the Chico City Council decided last week. As the city faces budget-induced staffing challenges, the council is looking closer at its committees and commissions to find efficiencies while still meeting the city's and public's needs. Several councilors said the Sustainability Task Force, which was put on hold for restructuring earlier this year, is necessary to complete the Climate Action Plan, as required by the General Plan.
  • Mark Stemen of the Butte Environmental Council said the Sustainability Task Force is the best way to complete a climate action plan that identifies necessary action and engages the community. He noted the council promised to address climate change in 2006, with 25 percent target reduction in greenhouse gases by 2020. "To be clear, our efforts so far have not reduced greenhouse production levels in Chico; they have simply slowed the rate of increase," he said. "As a community, we are still producing more and more greenhouse gases each and every year."
rdifalco

Council upholds permit to remove 25 trees in Chico neighborhood - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...25-trees-in-Chico-neighborhood

BEC chico trees

shared by rdifalco on 05 Nov 14 - No Cached
  • CHICO >> Twenty-five trees are scheduled for removal, after the Chico City Council upheld a decision by the Bidwell Park & Playground Commission on Tuesday. Councilors voted 5-2 with Tami Ritter and Scott Gruendl dissenting to uphold the granting of a permit to remove 25 Yarwood sycamore trees and replace them with varieties that are better suited for the area. The Butte Environmental Council had appealed the permit approval, which stemmed from a request by the Mission Santa Fe Community of Homeowners and its 47 encompassing households.
  • Butte Environmental Council appealed on the basis that the project has undergone "inadequate environmental review because the cumulative effects on the urban forest have not been discussed." "If we compartmentalize tree discussions without first addressing overall impacts we are doing the community and the urban forest a disservice," Commissioner Mark Herrera told the council Tuesday.
dkeeley1

Let the planting begin - 0 views

www.newsreview.com/...content

chico trees urban forest BEC Butte County

shared by dkeeley1 on 28 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • dkeeley1 on 28 Jan 16
     
    When the city cut down 209 trees and planted only 14 in 2014, Charles Withuhn felt a huge sense of loss for what he sees as one of the most quintessential aspects of Chico. To him, the trunks and branches that line and tower over city streets are a part of Chico's unique charm and history. The canopy they provide is essential to the city's health, he believes, and their care is a responsibility of the city and its residents. In an effort to do his part, more than two years ago, Withuhn started Chico Tree Advocates, a local organization under the umbrella of the Butte Environmental Council. Members of the group work toward planting trees, educating the public and preserving Chico's urban forest. As a donations-only, volunteer-staffed group, Chico Tree Advocates has been able to plant more than 50 trees around town, both on city and private property, in the past year. Withuhn and many fellow advocates feel that the path the city is taking, in terms of cutting down trees and either not replacing them or replacing them with very small trees, is detrimental to Chico's urban forest.
rdifalco

No changes anticipated for Bidwell Ranch - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...-anticipated-for-bidwell-ranch

Chico Bidwell Ranch

shared by rdifalco on 02 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • Acknowledging there are unanswered questions, the council agreed to let the 756 acres adjacent to Bidwell Park continue in its mostly off-limit state, waiting for an anticipated Butte Regional Conservation Plan to be completed next year. At that point, the council will look at whether it wants to sell Bidwell Ranch to the conservation plan creators, the Butte County Association of Governments.
  • Several speakers stressed the biological value of the area, calling it a gem, in part, because of the area’s characteristics and because of Butte County Meadowfoam’s presence. Environmental advocate John Merz said he wasn’t confident that the conservation plan was the answer. “This is not about making money, but about preserving the property,” Merz said.
  • Butte Environmental Council Executive Director Robyn DiFalco noted her organization has provided docent-led tours of the property, which helps with public access and understanding of the property’s value.
  • rdifalco on 02 Sep 15
     
    Chico >> The public may notice no difference, but there was the slightest tremor of movement regarding Bidwell Ranch by the City Council on Tuesday.
dnbaxter

Chico City Council Making Changes - 0 views

www.newsreview.com/...content

Community Chico Environmentalism Sustainable Future BEC City Council Climate Action Committee

shared by dnbaxter on 30 Sep 19 - No Cached
  • dnbaxter on 30 Sep 19
     
    The council adopted an ordinance to create a Climate Action Commission and also chose to reconsider its usage of pesticides. The commission will be made up of seven council-appointed members, whose main task will be to advise the council on how to best implement the city's Climate Action Plan (CAP). Mark Stemen, the board chair for BEC said, "A lot of people are concerned about climate change and they feel like there's nothing that can be done," he said. "Now, those concerns … have a place and a process to be realized. So we can get to 100 percent renewable energy, we can get to a livable planet."
rdifalco

Chico News & Review - State of the ranch - News - Local Stories - May 21, 2015 - 0 views

www.newsreview.com/...content

shared by rdifalco on 22 May 15 - No Cached
  • rdifalco on 22 May 15
     
    Environmental groups want to see Bidwell Ranch become part of Bidwell Park Seasonal cattle-grazing makes up the bulk of the activity at Bidwell Ranch, an expansive reserve downslope of Upper Bidwell Park. But that could change if the Chico City Council gets behind the request of a coalition of heavy-hitting local environmental groups. As John Merz put it in a recent city meeting, the request is straightforward: that "Bidwell Ranch become a formal part of Bidwell Park." But that plan has hit snags over the past decade, and Merz says local environmental groups-Friends of Bidwell Park, Butte Environmental Council, Altacal Audubon Society, the Sierra Club Yahi Group, the California Native Plant Society's Mount Lassen chapter and the Bidwell Ranch Committee-have come to the conclusion that the best option for the 750-acre property is adding it to the city's largest park.
dkeeley1

The Big Scrap - 0 views

www.newsreview.com/...content

BEC chico Butte County Community move the junkyard

shared by dkeeley1 on 10 Mar 16 - No Cached
  • The activist group Move the Junkyard was formed in January 2015, shortly after the City Council directed planning department staff to develop a process for CSM to stay in south Chico. The group is allied with the Butte Environmental Council, which has long supported the Chapman/Mulberry Neighborhood Plan and CSM’s amortization.
  • During an interview several days prior to the Planning Commission’s meeting, Move the Junkyard member Ory and Mark Stemen, chairman of BEC’s board of directors, were certain the commission would reject CSM’s new development agreement. “I think CSM has done a very effective job playing on heartstrings and emotional issues that affect [city] councils, but I think they’ll come up against the Planning Commission and see that’s not what it’s about,” Stemen said.
  • aying on heartstrings and emotional issues that affect [city] councils, but I think they’ll come up against the Planning Commission and see that’s not what it’s about,” Stemen said
rdifalco

Chico Sustainability Task Force won't wait for city - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...lity-task-force-wont-wait-city

BEC chico sustainability climate action plan

shared by rdifalco on 30 Oct 13 - No Cached
  • CHICO — Frustrated by the city's lack of action to pull the Sustainability Task Force together, members plan to set a meeting of their own. It's been nearly nine months since the Sustainability Committee was disbanded by the City Council, and even though new members were selected Sept. 4, they still wait to be seated and have their first meeting. The delay is largely because the city has not yet identified staff to attend the meeting, after the assigned person was among positions eliminated in recent layoffs. Meanwhile, the Climate Action Plan's 2020 deadline looms closer and several new task force members are impatient to start their work.
  • Mark Stemen, one of seven citizens assigned to the task force, said Friday that he plans to call a meeting himself, hopefully next week. "Other people get mad, we get moving," he said. "We're tired of this. We are going to meet and the city can catch up with us." The meeting's focus will be to elect a chairperson, assign someone to take minutes, review the task laid out by the City Council and outline what needs to be done, Stemen said. "Hopefully by then, the city will be embarrassed enough they will find someone to come take notes for us," he said.
rdifalco

Editorial: Hits and misses - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...editorial:-hits-and-misses

BEC chico garden

shared by rdifalco on 20 Mar 14 - No Cached
  • The city of Chico owns an acre of property near Emma Wilson School, on the corner of West Eighth Avenue and Highway 32.
  • So the City Council did the wise thing when it allowed a group to use the land in the meantime as a "community garden." The Butte Environmental Council has another one near Marsh Junior High School and says it's very popular. That land was purchased for an aquatic center. That, too, is on the back burner.
  • The City Council Tuesday voted unanimously to allow BEC to use the westside land as a second community garden.
becnews

Chico News & Review - It's baaaaaack - News - Local Stories - October 8, 2015 - 0 views

www.newsreview.com/...content

BEC Chico Butte County Community Walmart Environment

shared by becnews on 29 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • At the end of 2009, after a long-fought battle with concerned citizens and a divided Chico City Council, Walmart’s plans to expand its Forest Avenue store were denied. The ultimate decision, reached by a liberal-majority council, was that the environmental impacts outweighed any potential benefits of the project. The company was told it must wait at least a year before bringing the idea back to the city. Now, six years later, the plan to expand Chico’s Walmart is back on the table. It appears it’s not the only one, either. Plans for a new 197,000-square-foot Supercenter in Oroville that were first submitted in 2006 are finally making headway. That project could break ground by the end of 2015. And there are rumblings of progress on plans for building a Walmart in Paradise—those also had their beginnings in the middle of the 2000s.
  • “As an organization, we feel there are many aspects of a super Walmart that conflict with the goals of protecting the environment and supporting local economies, overall, in a broad sense,” said Robyn DiFalco, executive director of local eco-advocacy group Butte Environmental Council, adding that the group had not yet taken a position on the expansion.
ndcarter

Chico Fire will keep current staffing through February, at least - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...fing-through-february-at-least

trees chico BEC

shared by ndcarter on 03 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • Gustafson’s department originally asked for $150,000 in one-time funds to address tree maintenance needs, but the motion was denied 4-3, with Coolidge, Fillmer, Morgan and Sorensen voting no.
  • Councilor Schwab made a motion to direct $100,000 to the department, which failed 4-3, with Coolidge, Fillmer, Morgan and Mayor Mark Sorensen against. It was then that Ritter’s motion of $69,000 passed.
  • ndcarter on 03 Nov 16
     
    Chico Tree Advocates prevailed with City Council last night thanks to months of lobbying efforts! The City Tree Crew was given an additional $69,000.
rdifalco

City of Chico sees progress, setbacks in meeting 2020 targets for greenhouse gas emission - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...ts-for-greenhouse-gas-emission

BEC chico water energy climate change climate action plan

shared by rdifalco on 16 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • Chico >> With 5 1/2 years left to meet greenhouse gas emission targets, the city of Chico continues to struggle in certain sectors.
  • The draft greenhouse gas emissions inventory, which is expected to be highlighted during the sustainability indicators report at the Chico City Council today, summarizes results of a high-level community-wide inventory that addresses emissions from the transportation, energy and waste sectors within city boundaries from 2005-12. Many external factors, including the economy and government regulations, are to be credited for reductions, and it remains to be seen how well the city is on track to meet its goals, said Principal Planner Brendan Vieg.
  • some of these reductions could be reversed, said Mark Stemen, a member of the Sustainability Task Force, which has been tasked with leading implementation of the Climate Action Plan.
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  • “How do we keep people from getting back into their cars?” he said. “We need to remind people, hey, drive less. It’s good for pollution. It’s good for the planet.”Other areas of success included emissions from commercial electricity, which fell 10.6 percent, and waste to landfill, which dropped by 15.2 percent.
  • “Watching the struggles with water has made me feel a little bit better about our inability to cut back on electricity,” he said. “People are now seeing the effects of the drought and they are acting. It’s important for people to understand they have to do the same thing when it comes to climate change.”
rdifalco

California Community Rising Against Fracking tour starts Sunday in Chico - Chico Enterp... - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...st-fracking-tour-starts-sunday

BEC chico california fracking water

shared by rdifalco on 11 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • CHICO — Music and nationally known speakers will kick off a west coast tour of California Community Rising Against Fracking during a free event Sunday at Arc Pavilion, 2040 Park Ave. Put on by Chico Community Rising Against Fracking and Butte Environmental Council, the event 2-6 p.m., is the start of a state tour that will end up in San Diego on Earth Day, according to Dave Garcia, a member of BEC. Tour locations are communities that are near the largest shale oil regions in the state, including San Francisco, Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, he said.
  • Speakers will include: Doug Shields, former member of Pittsburgh, Penn., city council, featured in the film, "The Sky is Pink"; Shannon Biggs, director of Community Rights with Global Exchange, who will talk about community rights initiatives; Andrew Grinberg, Oil and Gas Program Coordinator of Clean Water Action, who will talk about water issues and new proposed state fracking regulations; Speakers from Chico Community Rising Against Fracking and BEC, on concerns of what local fracking for oil operations may cause to the surrounding agricultural economy. Also, there will be a showing of "The Sky is Pink," a film by Josh Fox as a follow-up to his Oscar-nominated "Gasland," about misinformation from the hydralic fracking industry.
  • Music by local band, Los Cabillitos de la Cancion, will start at 5 p.m. Robyn DiFalco, BEC's executive director, said the
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • event will emphasize the impact of fracking at the local level and groups and individuals interested in signing a letter in support may do so at BEC's website. For information, contact Butte Environmental Council at 891-6424 or www.becnet.org.
rdifalco

Plastic bag ban redux: Restrictions on single-use bags gain committee approval - Chico ... - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...x-restrictions-single-use-bags

chico plastic bag ban BEC

shared by rdifalco on 26 Jun 12 - No Cached
  • Committee members voted 2-1 Tuesday to recommend that the Chico City Council develop restrictions on "single-use" plastic bags.
  • Robyn DiFalco of the Butte Environmental Council and Sustainability Task Force said she thinks plastic bag bans represent a shift in society moving away from disposables. "We will look back and say I can't believe we used to do it that way because it doesn't make sense to give out that many single-use bags," DiFalco said.
  • Tammy Wichman of the task force said to get more community input on the ban, and she thinks the council should move forward with the proposal.
ndcarter

Community Corner: Volunteers needed for Chico parks, greenways - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...eded-for-chico-parks-greenways

shared by ndcarter on 21 Mar 17 - No Cached
  • The city of Chico Parks Division is hosting an orientation meeting March 30 for people who are interested in becoming parks volunteers.The meeting will be 6:30-8:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, 421 Main St.
  • Frequently the Parks Division volunteers team up with what Romain calls “partner organizations” that have special interests in the city’s open spaces. Among them are Friends of Bidwell Park, Friends of Comanche Creek Greenway, Chico Velo-Trailworks, Stream Team, California Native Plant Society and Butte Environmental Council. “Our partnerships with these groups and our volunteers work together for the greater good, making our park and greenways more enjoyable for people,” said Romain.
rdifalco

Invasive weed plagues Little Chico Creek channel, causes fire danger - Chico Enterprise... - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...tle-chico-creek-channel-causes

BEC chico water weed creek fire arundo

shared by rdifalco on 06 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • It towers to the treetops, collapsing onto itself to create grassy caves. Dense and aggressive, it chokes out vegetation and clogs the waterways. Arundo donax has plagued parts of Chico for years but its established concentration in Little Chico Creek has reached a crisis point, critics say. Now, the city is partnering with the state Department of Water Resources and the geography department at Chico State University to do something about it, although tackling the invasive weed to the point of eradication will take years.
  • The reasoning for its eradication is both environmental and also because of its immense fire danger. Walking through a stretch of Little Chico Creek this week, Chico State professor Mark Stemen ducked under the thick canopy and used caution as he walked on slick carpets of the snapped-off reed.
  • He noted where homeless people have made sleeping spaces under Arundo canopies. Fire pits stand out charred and black in the middle of the caves.
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Councilor Randall Stone is also advocating for action and requesting the council take up the matter Tuesday.
  • Susan Mason with the California Native Plant Society said it was never as bad in those locations as now in Little Chico Creek.
  • On Saturday, Stemen and a group of students mapped 45 different locations, ranging from a single plant to a solid bank the length of a football field. In total, they identified 2,702 feet of stream infestation in Little Chico Creek.
  • The city also hopes to address Arundo on its own parcels, making them models and educating plants on other landowners' property, perhaps with the help of Butte Environmental Council.
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