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rdifalco

Row on the creek - 0 views

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BEC Chico Glenn County Butte County water Stony Creek creeks waste recycling landfill toxics

shared by rdifalco on 28 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • rdifalco on 28 Jan 16
     
    Critics blast environmental review of proposed waste conversion facility along Glenn County waterway The watchdogs at Butte Environmental Council usually keep guard close to home, but occasionally they'll look beyond Chico's backyard. "Environmental issues don't stop at the county line," said Executive Director Robyn DiFalco. "We tend to look beyond our borders at least a little bit to see if our community will be affected." She believes that's the case with the proposed Glenn County Solid Waste Conversion Facility about 3 miles west of Hamilton City, which would sort and recycle up to 200 tons of material a day and convert biodegradable substances into biogas. According to the project's Draft Environmental Impact Report (EIR), the goal is to divert and recycle up to 70 percent of the county's municipal solid waste from the landfill. And that's been a problem; the county's landfill near Artois has been pushing capacity for years and is set to close in December. What's caught BEC's attention? It's mostly a matter of location. The facility would be constructed along the northern bank of Stony Creek, which feeds into the Sacramento River and the Tuscan Aquifer, the vast underground reservoir that provides drinking water for residents in Glenn County and nearby communities-including Chico.
becwatershed

'Block Parties with a Purpose' target Chico waterways - 0 views

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BEC chico water Community Butte County

shared by becwatershed on 04 Jan 16 - No Cached
  • CHICO, Calif. - Volunteers in Chico started the new year by cleaning up Chico waterways. January 2 was the first "Block Party with a Purpose" in 2016.
  • The Butte Environmental Council last held a "party" in 2014. But waterways around the city are littered with trash so volunteers are back at it.
  • "It is really a satisfying experience," Shelly Rogers, a volunteer, said. "We get an unbelievable amount of trash."
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  • Saturday focused on Big Chico Creek but the volunteers will cover Little Chico Creek and the Lindo Channel throughout the year.
  • becwatershed on 04 Feb 16
     
    CHICO, Calif. - Volunteers in Chico started the new year by cleaning up Chico waterways. January 2 was the first "Block Party with a Purpose" in 2016. The Butte Environmental Council last held a "party" in 2014. But waterways around the city are littered with trash so volunteers are back at it.
ndcarter

Chico News & Review - Heavy lifting - News - Local Stories - February 21, 2019 - 0 views

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shared by ndcarter on 22 Feb 19 - No Cached
  • When it comes to meeting the goals of the city’s Climate Action Plan, Stemen said, “Chico was on target to meet its previous goals, and then came the Camp Fire.”
  • There is general agreement, however, that around-the-clock restrooms are needed. Gustafson’s agenda report recommends that the city “identify funding for two portable restroom systems” and continue discussions with the Butte County Association of Governments for future grants to obtain a Portland Loo, a more sophisticated outdoor restroom. Again, about a dozen people spoke to this matter. Nearly all agreed with the recommendations, but several felt they were overly focused on downtown when there was a similar need in other places. And two portables simply aren’t enough, they said. One of them was Angel Gomez, of the Butte Environmental Council. More portables are needed, she said, “especially along waterways near homeless camps,” where human feces is getting into the creeks and posing a serious public health threat.
ndcarter

Lifetime achievement - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...lifetime-achievement

shared by ndcarter on 07 Nov 17 - No Cached
  • Lifetime achievement
  • ndcarter on 07 Nov 17
     
    BEC's Executive Director, Natalie Carter and City Council Member Karl Ory present Jane Dolan with the 2017 Michael McGinnis Lifetime Achievement Award at BEC's 42nd Anniversary Gala on October 21, 2017.
ndcarter

City narrowing down top projects for state storm water grant - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...171219924

shared by ndcarter on 13 Dec 17 - No Cached
  • The plan’s overall goal is to reduce pollutants and trash in Chico’s creeks and waterways, and improve upon the use of storm water as a resource.
  • Top projects will be decided upon by the Storm Water Resources Plan’s Technical Advisory Committee at its next public meeting, 1:30 p.m. Jan. 4 in the City Council Chambers.
  • The plan’s public meetings haven’t brought out crowds, but there has been a good representation of the organizations that have traditionally held an interest, like The Stream Team, Butte Environmental Council and Friends of Comanche Creek.
rdifalco

25 Chico trees approved for removal - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

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BEC chico trees

shared by rdifalco on 01 Oct 14 - No Cached
  • Residents asked the city to remove 25 sycamores of different varieties, but considered a nuisance and safety hazard.
  • Commissioner Mark Herrera asked the commission to use this situation as a stand to call for an urban forester to be hired by the city. His motion called for no further discussion of tree-related items until an urban forester was on staff. It has been over a year since the city had an urban forester.
  • While Herrera's motion failed, it prompted the Park Commission's discussion about how important the urban forester is to the city, tree-related permits and what's happening to Chico's urban forest. To punctuate his stance, Herrera left the council chambers at that point. Before leaving, he apologized to the applying residents for delaying their matter, but stressed the urban forest's significance to the community.
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  • The discussion also prompted Mark Stemen, chair of the city's Sustainability Task Force, to again criticize the Park Commission for failing to move forward on the Urban Forest Management Plan, which he said is basically done, but needs the commission's stamp of approval. He said this discussion might not have happened if the plan had been in place.
rdifalco

In west Chico, new community garden vision is growing - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

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BEC chico garden

shared by rdifalco on 03 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • CHICO -- A vision has sprouted for another Chico community garden, with hopes a new crop of urban farmers will be tending seedlings by next spring. Mark Stemen, a board member with the Butte Environmental Council, went public last week with the idea for the Oak Way Community Garden. A one-acre vacant lot at the northwest corner of Eighth and Nord avenues, the space is slated for an eventual fire station. But until then it could be a great spot for people to grow their own food, he said.
  • "It would be a great alternative use," Stemen said. "People think it's a great location and it's clearly an unused space." Having spent the morning checking on seedlings at the Humboldt Community Garden, Stemen smiled last week as his dirt-stained fingers unfurled a canvas mockup of gridded plots, a model orchard and a looped walking path. The location has many perks, he said, including it's on the other side of town from the Humboldt garden, it has nearby parking and water hookups and it provides easy access for those with disabilities. It's also near a park operated by the Chico Area Recreation and Park District, which could prove mutually beneficial.
  • Like the Humboldt garden, the city would lease the property to the Butte Environmental Council, which would charge gardeners a small amount to cover water and insurance costs. And volunteers will fundraise for piping, fencing and other materials. Robyn DiFalco, executive director of BEC, said she is excited by the prospect of
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  • another garden. "The Humboldt garden has been such a success," she said. "I'm happy we can help fulfill that need."
rdifalco

Letter: Oroville residents need to speak out for trees - 1 views

www.chicoer.com/...ts-need-to-speak-out-for-trees

Oroville trees

shared by rdifalco on 22 Jan 15 - No Cached
  • Oroville residents need to speak out for treesSeveral of us gathered at Oroville Cemetery last Friday morning. Under old sycamores that have stood for four generations, Bill Caspers played “Amazing Grace” on his bagpipes. I had tears in my eyes. Not just because he plays beautifully, but because of my friend’s reaction.
  • Hellen Dennis sat in her wheelchair beneath an umbrella in the cold rain and cried. She felt Bill was “playing for the trees.” She and others from Save Oroville Trees have been on watch by the sycamores for two months. She’s there from 5:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. No matter the weather, she sits in her wheelchair waving at passersby. Every day. SOT members have spoken at two City Council meetings. The mayor and council members have not been moved by our pleadings, and PG&E will cut those trees if the encroachment permit isn’t rescinded.
  • rdifalco on 22 Jan 15
     
    BEC is now acting as fiscal sponsor for Save Oroville Trees.
ndcarter

Environmental coalitions push stricter limits on plastic bag ban | Action News Now - 0 views

www.actionnewsnow.com/...imits-on-plastic-bag-ban-95697

shared by ndcarter on 08 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • Prop 67, the measure that would ensure a ban in every city and require stores to charge 10 cents for paper bags. The Butte Environmental Council Executive Director says we still have a lot of work to do. "In the United States, we use more than a billion plastic bags a year and less than one percent of them are recycled,” said Natalie Carter. “The rest of them end up in landfills and take more than a thousand years to degrade."
  • City Councilmember Randall Stone says our county needs to protect our numerous creeks, streams and rivers. "We have plastic bags going into those creeks and streams it requires us to clean that space up that costs a tremendous amount of money for the city of Chico in volunteer time as well as staff and waste time,” he said.
rdifalco

Chico News & Review - Thanksgiving giving - The GreenHouse - Green - November 21, 2013 - 1 views

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BEC chico trees forest

shared by rdifalco on 22 Nov 13 - No Cached
  • DiFalco weighs in In last week’s column, I devoted a considerable amount of space to the plight of the huge historic valley oak tree
  • growing in the vacant lot at the corner of Salem and West Eighth streets. Thanks to the recent actions of the city’s Architectural Review & Historic Preservation Board, the grand, towering tree is slated to be axed to make way for a couple of duplexes. However, the Butte Environmental Council has (thankfully) filed an appeal, scheduled to be heard next month. Robyn DiFalco, BEC’s executive director (who penned the appeal), sent me a few words by email recently, expressing her thoughts about the situation of this valley oak, as well as that of other heritage trees still standing in Chico. “The mature street trees of Chico are one of the things I love most about this city—and I’m concerned that they’re vulnerable these days,” DiFalco said. “At present, the city has no urban forester or tree crew on staff, the Tree Committee isn’t meeting for lack of city staff, and consequently, the Urban Forest Management Plan is still just a draft. “This is not just about one small project and a few trees—it’s partly a concern about the future of Chico’s urban forest.”
rdifalco

Improperly executed Rite-Aid tree removal frustrates citizens - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

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BEC chico tree

shared by rdifalco on 23 Sep 14 - No Cached
  • CHICO >> Four liquid amber trees removed from the parking lot of the Rite-Aid on Mangrove Avenue must be replaced with new trees, and shouldn't have been removed without an approved replanting program, a city official said Tuesday
  • After some discussion about what trees were in the public right of way and private property, the city said the city's trees could not be and were not removed, but those on private property were.
  • Mark Stemen, a board member with the Butte Environmental Council, was happy to hear trees would be replanted but said they cannot make up for the established trees that were lost. "Once again this is the trouble you get when you don't have the urban forester position filled," he said. "Four individuals were massacred because of short staffing ... It's not just cops, cops, cops. We have holes in our city staff around the issue of the environment."
rdifalco

Chico News & Review - Cinderella and other holiday goodness - The GreenHouse - Green - ... - 0 views

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BEC trees chico

shared by rdifalco on 20 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • Along the thank-you lines, Butte Environmental Council board chairman Mark Stemen offers these words, in reference to BEC’s recently dropping its appeal to save the historic valley oak tree and other trees at the corner of West Eighth and Salem streets. The trees are slated for removal to make way for the building of Salvation Army transitional housing (as covered in this column and in a recent CN&R Downstroke news brief). “I want to thank the folks at the Salvation Army and the Blitz Build program at the university. They have worked with us at BEC, and they are fully committed to doing the right thing,” Stemen wrote in a recent email to me. “They have agreed to plant three times the number of trees they are required to plant by code.
  • “The tree species will be of the valley oak mixed-riparian vegetation type, as identified in the [city of Chico’s draft of the] Urban Forest Management Plan, and they have agreed to put the fallen trees to a use that is ‘as beneficial to the City and planet as possible,’ also called for in the Urban Forest Plan.” Thanks, Mark!
rdifalco

Chico News & Review - Constant cleanup - Feature Story - Local Stories - April 17, 2014 - 0 views

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BEC chico cleanup water parks creeks

shared by rdifalco on 17 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • The byproducts of homeless encampments—mattresses, tents, sleeping bags, food packaging, empty bottles, clothing and human waste—are increasingly common along Chico’s creeks, and the mess is more than unsightly. Many items at these makeshift homes have the potential to pollute the local waterways and habitats downstream.
  • Members of volunteer cleanup crews, park officials and environmental advocates agree that the problem is worse than ever. They also acknowledge that, in light of the city’s ongoing financial difficulties, the ability to clean up the camps in a timely manner has diminished significantly.
  • Robyn DiFalco, executive director of the Butte Environmental Council, said that in the months leading up to the Bidwell Park and Chico Creeks Cleanup last September, there was a dramatic increase in homeless encampments throughout Chico, and despite a lower than expected volunteer turnout, the cleanup removed about twice as much trash from the creeks as the year before.
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  • “Things reached a level that no one could remember,” she said. “It was worse than it had ever been. We saw so many more mattresses, so many more tires, so many of those big, bulky items.”
  • Since last fall’s cleanup, DiFalco said, she has been encouraged by ongoing discussions between city and county organizations about how to stay on top of the issue. Some locals, including a group of neighbors along Lindo Channel, have organized cleanup efforts of their own, while student volunteers from Chico State and Butte College have also proved helpful.
  • Volunteers also described certain areas with such high concentrations of fecal matter and urine that “they required a hazmat cleanup,” DiFalco said. “When humans use our waterways as a bathroom, it has an impact on water quality; it has an effect on aquatic wildlife as well as terrestrial and amphibian wildlife.”
  • Mark Gailey, a Chicoan who has volunteered for BEC’s cleanup efforts for nearly 25 years, said in an email that the amount of trash in Chico’s waterways “has seemed to grow exponentially—especially in the last few years. The vast majority of this trash … appears to be from abandoned homeless and transient encampments.”
  • “You’re never going to solve it, but you do need to keep responding to it so it doesn’t get out of control,” she said. “The city shouldn’t be expected to do it on their own, nor should volunteers or nonprofits.”
  • rdifalco on 17 Apr 14
     
    The community's efforts to keep waterways unpolluted is more important than ever
rdifalco

Chico News & Review - Climate on the front burner - Sustainability - Green - May 22, 2014 - 0 views

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BEC Butte County chico climate change climate action plan

shared by rdifalco on 22 May 14 - No Cached
  • When the White House recently released its third National Climate Assessment, the basic findings didn’t surprise anyone who’s stepped outside on a regular basis. The Southwest portion of the U.S., including California, has been decreed in the report as “the hottest and driest region.” What isn’t so obvious, of course, is exactly what the future will bring. But the outlook is not positive.
  • Ironically, as officials grapple with storage and shortage issues, they also have to deal with flooding. As Robyn DiFalco, executive director of the Butte Environmental Council, explains, shifts in precipitation patterns throughout the country, but even in California, can mean more intense rain and snow in places not accustomed to such levels, and warmer winters mean greater—and earlier—ice melts in California mountain areas.
  • Water may be a prime concern, but it’s not the only concern. BEC has a three-pronged approach to environmental advocacy: land, air and water, and the interrelationship between the three. As explained by Chico City Councilwoman Tami Ritter, a member of the county’s Air Quality Management District, dry land breeds a greater risk of wildfires, which breeds greater air pollution. As a result, DiFalco says her organization is pushing all three elements as Chico and Butte County implement climate action plans, and the recent reports haven’t shifted BEC’s priorities.
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  • “We do have a problem that’s human-caused that we need to respond to,” she said. “The question is whether or not we can modify our human behaviors and reduce our carbon emissions—as the [IPCC] report puts it, mitigate—effectively, in time, enough to make a difference.
  • “The studies continue to show: probably we can, [at least] some of what’s needed.”
  • Mitigation has been a longstanding local priority. The city started climate action planning a decade ago, while Butte County and Chico State CAPs have been years in the making.
rdifalco

CN&R Letters: Hurray for tree-planting - 0 views

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BEC trees chico

shared by rdifalco on 01 Jul 14 - No Cached
  • Chico Tree Advocates were on the job last Arbor Day, April 25. Thanks to more than 10 sponsors and our five volunteers, we received a great seminar about tree planting from Dave Bettencourt, city street tree supervisor. Thanks also to the Butte Environmental Council for their encouragement and help as our fiscal agency and providing the bright orange vests for our volunteers. Thanks also to Grub and Rental Guys. Our goal was to plant 10 trees. I bought eight, but when the day came, we had just five sites OK’d for planting. So we planted five trees and we’re still looking for homes for the other three. Since this was our first foray planting city street trees, and because the sky was threatening, I was OK with a short day. As it turned out, minutes after we finished, there was a downpour. Discussing the day, we agreed that you feel something wonderful, powerful, almost spiritual, about planting trees. It felt good. We look forward to getting these last three planted and for an even larger tree planting event in the fall.
becnews

Chico News & Review - Back in the scrap - News - Local Stories - October 1, 2015 - 0 views

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BEC Chico Community Butte County Move the Junkyard

shared by becnews on 29 Oct 15 - No Cached
  • It takes more than a good fence to make a good neighbor. That was the sentiment expressed by many who attended a meeting held by Chico Scrap Metal at the Eagles Hall on Friday (Sept. 25). The meeting ostensibly was a pitch for aesthetic improvements proposed by the recycling yard as part of the owners’ latest attempts to stay at the 20th street property it has occupied since 1983. Zoning changes to the area in 2004 prompted a 2006 order from the Chico City Council that the scrap yard move by 2011, and a series of extensions expired at the end of 2014.
  • A group of opponents to Chico Scrap Metal’s continued presence in south Chico, collectively known as Move the Junkyard, met Tuesday morning at Butte Environmental Council’s headquarters to try to make sense of Friday’s meeting and plan strategies moving forward. Several in attendance expressed ongoing concerns about pollution and questioned whether the city can legally overturn zoning laws and the past council’s amortization order. The group thinks there’s only one reasonable outcome, which was best voiced by Chico resident and Democratic National Committee member Bob Mulholland.
ndcarter

Chico waste rates are changing, but customers can still save money - 0 views

www.chicoer.com/...customers-can-still-save-money

shared by ndcarter on 13 Jun 17 - No Cached
  • It’s worth noting the city has approved the main components of the waste hauling agreement, but has not finalized the details. There will likely be more tweaks made before the October date. The agreement returns to the City Council on July 5.
  • “A lot of people aren’t quite sure what can be recycled,” Holden said. When in doubt, some people tend to just throw things out, or throw too much into the recycling bin.
  • maximizing use of recycling bins, using donation stations and learning to compost can help costs drop “enormously,” especially for people using the largest bin size.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Once people realize how easy it is to compost, Holden said they can create their own nutrient rich soil and put organic waste back into the ground instead. “It’s water, food, brown material, cardboard and sunshine,” Holden said.
  • Residents and businesses can end up being slammed with extra fees if they are not disposing of waste correctly. Learning what not to do can help people avoid unnecessary fees.
  • “The goal is to deliver clean recyclables to manufacturers to create new materials and clean green waste to return as compost,”
rdifalco

News of our past - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

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BEC chico land planning

shared by rdifalco on 21 May 13 - No Cached
  • Here are some newspaper stories published this week in years past: 25 years ago
  • The project, south of the Skyway and east of Highway 99 between Chico and Paradise, would include 4,500-residential units for up to 20,000 people, four elementary schools, a junior high school, senior high school and a 100-acre town center.
  • Kelly Meagher of the Butte Environmental Council said "What we saw tonight was the unveiling of a new city. ... This is only the first round, he said. ...
rdifalco

Plotting for spring, Chico community garden grows larger - Chico Enterprise Record - 0 views

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BEC chico garden

shared by rdifalco on 27 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • Dozens of dirt diggers are still gazing at frost-damaged plants in south Chico. But there's an eye toward spring. The Humboldt Community Garden is in the middle of an expansion. Winter weeds are being turned over to create new working space for nine new garden plots. This will add to the 45 areas that have already been cultivated at the 14-acre garden spot at El Monte Avenue and Humboldt Road. The Butte Environmental Council — http://goo.gl/wwyrP — spearheaded the garden last spring across from Marsh Junior High School. The city of Chico leased the land, and organizers charge $30-$70 a year for water.
rdifalco

Letters for October 11, 2012 - Letters - Opinions - October 11, 2012 - Chico News & Review - 2 views

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BEC chico plastic bag

shared by rdifalco on 11 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • Regulate plastic bags As a student and Butte Environmental Council intern interested in a sustainable future, I am submitting this letter in support of the Chico City Council’s voting to restrict plastic-bag use. California uses an estimated 400 plastic bags per second, requiring an estimated 12 million barrels of oil annually. Only 3 percent of plastic bags are recycled, and the thermosetting process used to mold plastic bags is irreversible, creating a product that is not biodegradable. These bags end up in the streams, creeks, rivers and eventually the ocean. On the bags’ journey to the sea, the plastic breaks down into smaller pieces, absorbing toxic chemicals along the way. These contaminated bits of plastic contribute to the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is twice the size of Texas. At least 267 marine species have been documented to be adversely affected by plastic debris. California spends $25 million annually to manage plastic-bag pollution and $303 million in litter reduction. If consumers were to utilize reusable bags instead, we could reduce waste and water pollution and contribute to the local economy by allowing wonderful companies such as ChicoBag to further their commitment to consumer safety. Lindsay McDonnell Chico
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