BEC in the News

The public event will be 9 a.m. Saturday in lower Bidwell Park. Volunteers from Chico State, Butte Environmental Council and PG&E will be planting 60 valley oaks and red buds. Meet at Sycamore Street and Woodland Avenue.

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.

Robin McCollum had just begun talking about a field of fallen trees by the Chico Creek Nature Center when a white SUV slowed to a halt and the driver rolled down the front passenger window. “Is this where the village is going to go?” the woman asked, referring to the Mechoopda living history exhibit proposed to be sited adjacent to the center. “No,” replied McCollum, chair of local environmental group Chico Tree Advocates. The tribal installation would go in the old deer pens nearby. This clearing owes its existence to ignoble circumstances.

Robin McCollum with Chico Tree Advocates said the area is a preserve of nature that was provided by Annie Bidwel nearly 100 years ago. "I'm very concerned about the park and nature," he said. "If this type of supervision is going to be the norm here then we're going to have a lot of destruction done to the park," McCollum said.

Other volunteer organizations like Friends of Comanche Creek, Friends of Bidwell Park, Chico Vello Trail Works, Butte Environmental Council, and other people who work with PALS will also be at the orientation to explain how people can get involved with their groups as well.

Butte Environmental Council to hold the Chico Bike Music Festival on June 8

But such assurances are not enough for Oroville resident and local environmental activist Bill Bynum. Through his work with the Butte Environmental Council, he’s raised concerns about the possible health effects of two large fires at the Koppers site, one in 1963 and another in 1987.

The Resource Conservation District of Tehama County and Butte Environmental Council will host a Rainwater Catchment System workshop Saturday.

Butte Environmental Council said that groundwater contamination will likely not happen right away, but they do recommend getting it tested.

Interview With Natalie Carter: Upcoming Rain Poses Risk To Juvenile Salmon In Butte Creek

This program was done even as the Camp Fire continued to ravage the community of Paradise and surrounding towns. It was a panel of community leaders offering a variety of perspectives on what has happened and what can or will happen following this catastrophe. 

The Butte Environmental Council’s 43rd Anniversary Gala was held in the ARC Pavillion Saturday. Within a hour of the event starting, the room was filled and the sounds of soulful alternative folk, thanks to the band Sunday Iris, welcomed members to their tables.

The event, hosted by the Butte Environmental Council (BEC), invited people from every walk of life, young and old, families and students, long time community members and those just passing through, to show love for the park by collecting and disposing of all the litter they could get their little hands on.

They gathered at two locations, Hooker Oak Park and the Annie K. Bidwell Parlor. From there they were sent to creeks throughout the city and picked up the trash they saw.

With buckets, gloves and trash pickers in hand, hundreds of volunteers set out to accomplish one task on Saturday

Stating opposition to the project or the EIR’s adequacy were representatives of Butte Environmental Council, AltaCal Audubon Society and recognized environmental advocates such as Stemen and John Merz, the latter of whom suggested lower-income housing be brought into the mix. Many, such as Natalie Carter of BEC, encouraged the city to delay the project and require more studies on the project’s impact, including the protected species and property hydrology.

Research indicates that California has lost more than 90 percent of its wetlands due to impacts from population growth and agricultural development. This is concerning to Carter, executive director of the Butte Environmental Council. “We have so little wild habitat left that every little bit matters,” she said. “The loss of habitat at all is a step in the wrong direction.”

Stonegate would lie east and west of Bruce Road, between East 20th Street and the Skyway. The 313-acre project would bring just over 600 new housing units to Chico, ranging in size from apartments to 3,000-square-foot homes. Other elements include 3.5 acres of parks and 36.6 acres for commercial businesses.