News
PLAN GIVES FIRST BADGER SPIRIT AWARDS
During our 5th annual fundraiser at the Petaluma Women's Club on June 12, 2010, conservation awards were presented to two special individuals who have understood our mission and our effort since the beginning - back to 2001 - and who have offered support and guidance. The 2010 Badger Spirit awards were presented to:
Teresa Barrett - Teresa is a member of the Petaluma City Council and a past Chair of the Petaluma Planning Commission. She is an avid supporter of grassroots community action and is a listener and supporter of regular people, citizens like you and me, to achieve goals within and for the benefit of our greater community and to make life better for humans and wildlife. She has long advocated for Petaluma's support of and movement on the acquisition of the Paula Lane land and understands the potential for contribution to our young people through environmental education at the Paula Lane Open Space Preserve. Teresa is a highly respected elected official with integrity.
Joan Vilms - Joan first visited the Paula Lane land in 2002 on the same day the Open Space District staff visited and noted it could be a project within the Matching Grant program. Joan is a highly respected land use expert in open space and conservation. We have been fortunate to benefit from her experience and often her guidance in the past 9 years. Like Teresa, she does not seek the limelight and her work and accomplishments speak for themselves. She is a talented problem solver and solution seeker. And she appreciates badgers and their place in the ecosystem. Joan is currently the President of the Board of LandPaths.
Badger Spirit awards are presented by P.L.A.N. to individuals or groups who embody integrity and a willingness to work toward a vision, and to enact principles of grassroots community work and preservation of open space, wildlife and wildlife habitat. The American Badger is fiercely protective of its young, lives quietly in its habitat, and fights to survive, along with many other species whose habitats have been fragmented or destroyed. To us, it is important to recognize the spirit of the wild, the spirit of community, and the spirit of a sense of place. It is important to recognize that many humans and wildlife in our society have no voice or feel they have no voice. Recognizing those who help give a voice to the voiceless, who help guide a vision to make a better community, and who are regular human beings trying to help others in our society, we feel, help make us all better people with awareness to help conserve our natural resources and know our own place within our environment.
Good News for Paula Lane!
The Citizens Advisory Committee of the Sonoma Co. Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District recommended Thursday, March 25, 2010, that consideration be given for additional acquisition funding for the Paula Lane land if this becomes a need. The project has a $1,000,000 grant approved from 2008, awaiting knowledge of appraised current value. This is great news for Petaluma, South Sonoma County!
PLAN Partners with Local Businesses
Our quarter with Whole Foods Market's Nickels for Nonprofits program has just ended. The generosity of the Petaluma community raised almost $900 for PLAN. Shoppers brought their own bags and donated the Nickel credit received to PLAN. Petaluma Bounty was the other nonprofit featured by Whole Foods this quarter, so we're very pleased for Petaluma Bounty, too.
Aqus Cafe, one of Petaluma's greatest community assets, just hosted a Save the Badgers/Support Paula Lane Action Network day on Friday, January 22nd. Supporters were able to dine in, take out and/or buy gift cards to support PLAN's work. There was a packed house for Old Jawbone, featuring Hannah Jern-Miller. Supporters from all over Sonoma County came to the Aqus to enjoy dinner and Save the Badgers. Twenty percent (20%) of the day's proceeds were donated to PLAN.
This is what community is all about: Supporting local businesses who support our grassroots nonprofit organizations and bringing community together at the same time. It's a great formula for grassroots fundraising and strengthening community. Thank you, Petaluma and Sonoma County!
PLAN's Upcoming Grassroots Fundraiser - Thursday, March 11
Badger Bingo is coming to Petaluma. This is another partnership to support both local business and PLAN's conservation work in awareness-enhancement about our environment, wildlife habitat and movement areas, and open space preservation.
Come to Pelican Art Gallery on Thursday March 11th, 6-8pm for a very fun evening of Badger Bingo games, great prizes and a raffle. Light refreshments will be available. (Pelican Art Gallery is located at 143 Petaluma Blvd. North, next to Della Fattoria).
Advance reservations recommended: info@paulalaneactionnetwork.org, 707-773-3215.
Paula Lane Badgers in the News
Press Democrat, Friday, September 4, 2009
Is this badger bummed?(Female badger at Wildlife Rescue)
Press Democrat, Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Going to bat for badgers
San Francisco Chronicle, Monday, August 24, 2009
Petaluma group badgers officials for open space
PLAN supports Friends of Shollenberger
PLAN is one of several environmental and community organizations supporting opposition to a proposed asphalt plant and recycling facility on the bank of the Petaluma River, immediately across from Shollenberger Park, with surrounding wetlands and marshes. The proposed Dutra asphalt plant is also opposed by the City of Petaluma, with support from several cities throughout the County. PLAN facilitated the filing of two Biological Opinions by wildlife ecologist and biologist James Castle on inadequacy of noise studies and impacts on herons, egrets, white-tailed kites and black and clapper rails, as well as questioning methods and trapping for Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse, an endangered species known to exist in the immediate area. The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to meet and vote to deny or approve the project on July 21st. A straw vote taken on June 9th revealed a 3-2 vote to deny the project. Supervisors Carrillo of the 5th District, Zane of the 3rd District, and Brown of the 1st District indicated they could not support the proposal. For more information on news and events related to Save Shollenberger Park, visit www.saveshollenberger.com.
PLAN going to Beaver Festival August 1st
Paula Lane Action Network is traveling to Martinez on August 1st for the annual Beaver Festival. The festival is sponsored by Worth a Dam, the grassroots organization focused on protecting and preserving the Martinez Beavers and their habitat. PLAN will host a display and talk with festival-goers about the American Badger. Heidi Perryman, the President and Founder of Worth a Dam, extended the invitation to PLAN. Our ongoing efforts for protection and education are similar! Check out the web site about the Martinez Beavers, www.martinezbeavers.org.
Directions to Martinez from Petaluma for the festival, which begins in the early afternoon on August 1st: Lakeville Highway to Highway 37 to 780 to 680, over the Benicia bridge, take first Martinez exit, Marina Vista will take you straight to the park!
TopPLAN RECEIVES ROSE FOUNDATION GRANT
January, 2009 -- Paula Lane Action Network has received a $3000 grant from the Rose Foundation in Oakland. The grant was awarded in the foundation's Winter 2008 funding cycle of the Northern California Environmental Grassroots Fund.
The $3000 grant will be applied toward PLAN's activities in preserving critical uplands wildlife habitat in the Petaluma River watershed, representing groundwater recharge area and habitat for hundreds of wildlife species, including the American Badger.
Twenty-one grants totaling $60,000 were distributed in the Rose Foundation's Winter 2008 funding cycle. Other grantees included Project Outdoor Learning Experience in San Francisco County, Chico Food Network in Butte County, and People United for a Better Life in Oakland in Alameda County.
PLAN JOINS SONOMA COUNTY CONSERVATION COUNCIL
January, 2009 -- Paula Lane Action Network has joined the Sonoma County Conservation Council. The Council is comprised of 18 organizations with a variety of emphases on environmental protection and conservation. The Council was founded in 1984 by several local groups and eventually became a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization. The Environmental Center of Sonoma County, located in Santa Rosa, is a project of the SCCC and provides shared office, meeting and storage space for member organizations.
Other SCCC member organizations include Community Alliance with Family Farmers, Greenbelt Alliance, LITE Initiatives, Madrone Audubon Society, Russian Riverkeeper, Sonoma County Conservation Action, and Trout Unlimited/Redwood Empire Chapter.
For more information about the Sonoma County Conservation Council, visit their web site at www.envirocentersoco.org.
Paula Lane Open Space Preserve Closer to Becoming Reality
The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors approved on September 8, 2008, the 2008 Matching Grants open space project recommendations. Seven projects will be placed into the evaluation and approval process. Included in this year's recommendations is the long-awaited Paula Lane Open Space Preserve in South Sonoma County.
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The Paula Lane Open Space Preserve is a project of the City of Petaluma in partnership with the conservation nonprofit Paula Lane Action Network. The project is currently recommended for $1,000,000 in funding from the Matching Grants program.
The open space preserve will be a first for the South County and will include habitat protection and restoration for a heavily traversed wildlife corridor and, to date, 13 identified Special Status wildlife species. The 11.22 acre property, located in one of Petaluma's oldest rural communities, is popular with walkers and bicyclists and is easily accessible for wheelchair access. The property represents the largest open land in the West Side area. Planned programs include environmental and agricultural education, along with a community garden, native gardens and public access tailored to specially challenged citizens with viewing areas to enjoy open space and resident and migratory wildlife.
Petaluma High School has been invited to be the anchor for the organic agricultural program, enhancing the school's existing and long-standing Agricultural Education program, with discussion of a small organic vineyard, organic fruits and vegetables, culinary, medicinal and natural cosmetic herbs and flowers, and careful attention to habitat-agriculture interfaces. Petaluma Junior High School has been invited to be the anchor for the science and environmental studies program, and Mary Collins School at Cherry Valley, also within walking distance of the planned project, is anticipated to participate actively in habitat restoration.
An additional innovative feature of the open space preserve is the community garden, planned to be managed by community volunteers, growing produce for the Petaluma Bounty distribution system. Petaluma Bounty provides nutritional education, has helped begin community and school gardens in Petaluma, and facilitates providing organic produce for individuals and families.
"We are very encouraged," said a spokesperson for the Paula Lane Action Network. "The eight years of time and energy devoted to this preservation project now seem like eight minutes." If all goes as planned, the Preserve and programs could begin to be implemented as early as the Fall of 2009.
The Paula Lane Open Space Preserve project and its planned partnerships and programs have been described as one of the most innovative land use conservation efforts in Sonoma County.
We recommend...
Listening:
"Living on Earth," the weekly National Public Radio series on environmental news and the environment. Hosted by Steve Carwood. Their web site is www.loe.org. "Living on Earth" is broadcast by KQED Radio, 88.5 FM on Saturdays at 4:00 p.m. PST.
An ear-opening program: The August 18, 2007 discussion of "National Parks and Climate Change." Climate change and its impact on habitat preservation or loss. Rebroadcast of this and other features is available at www.loe.org.
Reading:
We recommend author Richard Walker's "The Country in the City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area" (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books). Available in hard cover from www.amazon.com and may be available at our local public libraries in Sonoma County.
Viewing:
The Iconoclasts Series on the Sundance Channel - www.sundancechannel.com
Season 2: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Dancer & Alice Waters, Chef.
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