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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.

Posted Nov. 6, 2013 @ 12:01 am Chico, Ca November 14th – The LAND AIR WATER benefit concert series’ third and final show concludes at the Chico Women’s Club on November 14th featuring Funk and Jam group The Bumptet. The Bumptet’s music runs the musical gamete, moving from deep funk grooves to epic rock crescendos in to high energy, improvised jams with jazz caliber execution. Opening up the night will be local music collective Jiving Board with funky horns, rock guitar, and jazz/hip-hop vocals. Plus special guess Brian Rogers will join in the music with an acoustic set. Be sure to join us November 14th at the Chico Women’s Club for a night of funky music to make you move. The Land Air Water concert series is a benefit to support the Butte Environmental Council’s ongoing advocacy efforts to protect the land, air and water of Butte County and the surrounding region. Tickets Available at Chico Natural Foods, Empire Coffee and online at www.becnet.org. Sponsored By KZFR 90.1, The Chico News and Review, Chico Natural Foods Cooperative, and Strange Seed Music.

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.

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."

BEC hosts Chico Car Free Day Oct. 6

A no-cars event! I received a press release from Mark Stemen, on behalf of the Butte Environmental Council, announcing the upcoming Chico Car Free Day. BEC is inviting everyone in Chico to participate in this event, which will take place from 1-5 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 6, in downtown Chico. “[M]ultiple streets, behind City Hall, will be closed to automobile traffic to open up space for educational and fun-filled activities,” the press release said. “The idea behind Car Free Day is to reconsider urban transport with the prospect of sharing streets more efficiently,” it continued. “This day is an opportunity for us to take personal, positive and constructive measures to reduce greenhouse gases in our community as well as enjoy the company of our friends in a quiet stroll along the tree-lined streets of downtown Chico.” The event will be centered along Flume Street, between Fourth and Seventh streets. For more information, go to www.becnet.org or call 891-6424.

Code Blue update In more BEC-related news, Nani Teves, BEC’s water-outreach coordinator, sent me an email advising folks that the Delta water-education field trip BEC canceled in June due to excessively hot weather has been rescheduled for Saturday, Oct. 12, from 8 a.m. (sharp!) to 5 p.m.

The 25th annual California Coastal Cleanup Day is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 19, from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.Even though Chico doesn’t have any “coasts” per se, we do have a number of waterways traversing our city (albeit several of them are currently bone dry due to the severe California drought).Chico’s contribution to the Coastal Cleanup effort is the annual Butte Environmental Council Chico Bidwell Park and Chico Creeks Cleanup. During last year’s event, we pulled 20 to 30 tons of trash and debris from Chico waterways.

We thank a large number of local community-minded Chico businesses and organizations for their help in co-sponsoring this event. (See becnet.org for the names of these awesome co-sponsors.)— Mark Gailey, Chico

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.

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.

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

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."

CHICO — The Butte Environmental Council is hosting Chico Car Free Day Oct. 6 in downtown Chico. During Car Free Day, BEC will provide a safe and secure area for educational activities and to come and "play in the street" from 1-5 p.m. The city has approved road closures from noon-6 p.m., including Flume Street between East Fourth and East Seventh streets, East Fifth and East Sixth streets between Main to Orient streets, and Wall Street between East Fifth and East Sixth streets.

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.

Chico >> PG&E intends to remove 33 trees, all on private property, as a safety measure in south Chico, but questioning by the public and the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission shed light on the process and reasoning. At a Monday forum held at the Park Commission’s meeting, PG&E representatives explained why the removals were necessary

PG&E shared a list of about 86 trees that were near the pipeline, but after a tree-by-tree inspection including city staff, nearby residents and representatives of Butte Environmental Council, acknowledged that all but 33 trees could stay but be watched.

Robyn DiFalco of BEC asked the Park Commission to “... make sure that every tree removed is justified and asked for another meeting on PG&E’s replacement plan. Commissioners wanted to know about incidences of pipe leaks in Chico, but Wilson and other PG&E representatives there Monday did not have that information. They also wanted to know more about what the access actually meant, and could there be negotiations on the list of trees to be removed.

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

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.

The Butte Environmental Council and the city of Chico are partnering once again for the annual Bidwell Park and Chico Creeks Cleanup from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Saturday. Last year, more than 350 volunteers helped collect several tons of garbage and recyclables from the park and creeks. Since 1995, BEC volunteers have pulled seven tons of recyclables, 14 tons of scrap metal and 77 tons of garbage from the parks and creeks. Volunteers are encouraged to wear long pants and sturdy closed-toe shoes. Bring gloves and a water bottle, and meet at the Hooker Oak Recreation Area parking lot for the park cleanup and at Park Avenue and 11th Street for the creeks cleanup. BEC will provide water and treat all volunteers to a free barbecue and raffle prizes afterward. For more information, contact Maggi Barry at maggib@becnet.org or call 891-6424.

CHICO -- Dancers, musicians and people playing games filled Chico streets instead of cars Sunday during Car Free Day. The area between East Fourth and East Sixth streets and Orient and Main streets were closed to traffic from 1-5 p.m. and people took advantage of the opportunity to roam roadways without fear of possibly being run over by cars. Luann Manss ran the event for the Butte Environmental Council.

"We did this to give people the chance to see what it'd be like with less cars on the road," she said.

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.