October 2012 r The Bay Leaf California Native Plant Society • East Bay Chapter Alameda & Contra Costa Counties www.ebcnps.org www.groups.google.com/group/ebcnps MEMBERSHIP MEETING The Secret Life of Fungi Speaker: John Taylor Wednesday, October 24, 7:30 pm Location: Garden Room, Orinda Public Library (directions below) There are three kingdoms of terrestrial organisms that make multicelled individuals. Everyone knows about animals and plants, but few know much about fungi. In this month's pro- gram, John Taylor will introduce us to that fascinating third kingdom, helping us understand what a fungus is and how it earns its living as well as how fungi have been used to increase our understanding of the process of evolution. John W. Taylor is Professor of Plant and Microbial Biology at UC Berkeley and Curator of Mycological Collections at the University Herbarium. He has served as president of the Mycological Society of America and currently is president of the International Mycological Association. He is a fellow of the Mycological Society of America, the California Academy of Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the American Academy of Microbiology. He is also a long-time member of the East Bay Chapter of CNPS and husband of East Bay chapter board member Delia Taylor. East Bay CNPS membership meetings are free of charge and open to everyone. This month's meeting takes place in the Garden Room of the Orinda Public Library at 24 Orinda Way (in Orinda Village). The Garden Room is on the second floor of the building, accessible by stairs or an elevator. The Garden Room opens at 7 pm; the meeting begins at 7:30 pm. Contact Sue Rosenthal, 510-496-6016 or rosacalifornica2@earthlink. net, if you have questions. Directions to Orinda Public Library at 24 Orinda Way: From the west, take Hwy 24 to the Orinda/ Moraga exit. At the end of the off ramp, turn left on Camino Pablo (toward Orinda Village), right on Santa Maria Way (the signal after the BART station and freeway entrance), and left on Orinda Way. From the east, take Hwy 24 to the Orinda exit. Follow the ramp to Orinda Village. Turn right on Santa Maria way (the first signal) and left on Orinda Way. Once on Orinda Way, go 1 short block to the parking lot on the southeast side of the two-story building on your right. There is additional free parking beneath the building as well as on the street. From BART (4 blocks): Exit the Orinda station, turn right and cross a pedestrian bridge, then cross a second pedestrian bridge on the left. Go 1 short block on the sidewalk to the third pedestrian bridge. Go 2 blocks on Orinda Way to the Orinda Library. CONSERVATION ANALYST: TESLA PARK, OTHER ISSUES Here is this month's update on chapter conservation activi- ties: Friends of Tesla Park Call to Action: As I reported in the July/ August edition of the Bay Leaf, our Conservation Committee has been working with other like-minded organizations to protect "Tesla Park", which encompasses 3,400 acres of our Corral Hollow Botanical Priority Protection Area (BPPA) in Eastern Alameda County. This valuable parcel of native habitats is currently being threatened by a proposed expan- sion of the Carnegie State Vehicle Recreation Area (SVRA). To learn more about our work to protect Tesla Park, and to read our comment letter to the Off Highway Vehicle Division of State Parks, visit the conservation webpage: http: / / ebcnps. wordpress.com and type "tesla" into the search box. Please read below to find out how you can help. East Bay Regional Parks District (EBRPD or District) has is- sued their draft 2012 Master Plan for public comment. The 1997 Master and current 2012 draft Master Plan both iden- tify Tesla as a Potential Regional Preserve, which is critical. Involvement of the East Bay Regional Park District is one possible way we might be able to protect Tesla Park's native habitat values and we need to keep this option open. (See Continued on page 2 Continued from page 1 pages 71 and 79 in the Master Plan document at http: / / www. ebparks.org/ Assets/_Nav_Categories / Park_Planning/ Master+Plan/ Master+Plan+2012+Draft.pdf ) Not unexpectedly, the OHV user advocacy group, including the Blue Ribbon Coalition, is going after East Bay Regional Park District for retaining Tesla as a Potential Regional Pre- serve in the draft 2012 Master Plan update. The Blue Ribbon Committee has issued an alert asking their followers to contact EBRPD and attend the public meetings demanding Tesla be removed from the Master Plan and, as an intimidation ploy, that EBRPD provide OHV access in their parks (http: / / www. sharetrails.org/ alerts/ 2012/ 09/ 06/ extreme-environmental- groups-collaborate-with-east-bay-region-park-district-to- impose-closureagenda-on-propose). We need your help to tell EBRPD that Tesla should remain in the final Master Plan update and to reject the OHV intimi- dation. Please 1) send a letter/ email to the District, 2) if possible at- tend one of the several remaining public meetings that will be held in the next few weeks, and 3) comment on the EBRPD online Forum. Send Letter or Email: The message can be short and straight forward, such as: I support the inclusion of the 3,400 acre Tesla park land in eastern Alameda County in the EBRPD 2012 Master Plan update as a Potential Regional Preserve. Please keep Tesla in the final 2012 Master Plan and Map adopted by the District. Email to the clerk of the board, Apulido@ebparks.org or info@ ebparks.org with Subject - Draft 2012 Master Plan - Keep Tesla in Master Plan. Or send mail to: Carol Severin, President of the Board of Directors Robert Doyle, General Manager East Bay Regional Parks District 2950 Peralta Oaks Court PO Box 5381 Oakland, CA 94605-0381 Attend Public Hearing: You can visit: http:/ / www.ebparks. org/ planning/ mp to find a list of public meetings taking place in the coming weeks to take public comments on the Master Plan draft. Please attend a hearing if you can and let your voice be heard. Comment on EBRPD Forum: The OHV Users have hijacked the Parks District online Forum. If you are a blogger, go the EBRPD Forum, sign in and add comments (http: / / ebrpd- masterplan.org/ ) We appreciate your help. Dublin City Council Candidate Forum on the Environ- ment ATTN Dublin Residents: Due to the current City Council Race in Dublin, EBCNPS is working with the Sierra Club, The Greenbelt Alliance and Save Mt. Diablo to organize a Candidate forum on the Environment. This event would be similar to the candidate forum EBCNPS sponsored last spring for the Contra Costa County Supervisors election. It would be a non-biased informational event with all the candidates invited to discuss their views on the environmental issues fac- ing Dublin. The timing for this event has been tentatively set for October 3. Please stay tuned to the conservation webpage: http: / / ebcnps.wordpress.com for more detailed information as it becomes available. The Tesla property, under attack by OHV supporters. Photo by Mack Casterman. 2 THE BAY LEAF October 2012 NATIVE PLANT FAIR Sat. October 27 10-3 Sun. October 28 Noon -3 THE BAY LEAF October 2012 3 Come celebrate native plants with the East Bay Chapter, California Native Plant Society on Saturday, October 27, 10-2 and Sunday, October 28, noon-3 at Native Here Nursery. Over 200 species of local native plants will be on offer, over 20,000 individual plants from $5 to $30 each. Check the chapter web site www.ebcnps.org after September 30 for the plant list. Bulbs, garden plant markers, CNPS caps and other items will be sold as well. Lake and Lake photography will again be a vendor. Check the nursery's new website www.native- herenursery.org for updates on additional artists. Angela Hunkier will be selling her watercolors and pastel drawings of flowers. Most priced below $1 50. Pottery by Margaret Norman and friends will be for sale. Janice Bray will be selling the latest edition of the CD East Bay Native Plants. Sales benefit the chapter and are a major support of the chapter's activities. Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and some debit cards are accepted. Cash or check will speed you through checkout. Sharpen your quills and fill up your inkwells. This year's Plant Fair has a new feature! On Saturday, October 27, 1 pm until 3 pm, poetry will join art and flowers. Deep Roots: Poetry and Plants Starting with an open reading for 30 minutes on native-plant-related themes (bring your poetry to read), followed by one hour and 30 minutes of readings by featured poets, including: Kim Shuck, author of the collection Smuggling Cherokee and winner of numerous writing awards including the Native Writers of the Americas First Book Award, and the Mary Tall Mountain Award. Lucille Lang Day is the author of eight poetry collections and chapbooks, most recently The Curvature of Blue. She has also published a children's book, Chain Letter, and her memoir. Mar- ried at Fourteen, will soon be out from Heyday Press. Her poetry and prose have appeared widely in such magazines and anthologies as Atlanta Review, The Hudson Review, The Threepenny Review, and New Poets of the American West. Her website is http://lucillelangday.com. Chris Olander is a California Poetry In The Schools (CPITS) poet, eco-educator, and a California State Championship Poetry Coach for Poetry Out Loud. Kirk Lumpkin is a poet, performer, lyricist, environmentalist, and cultural worker. He is the author of two books of poetry, In Deep and Co-Hearing. He has released two poetry/music CDs with his band The Word-Music Continuum, the self-titled CD The Word-Music Continuum and more recently Sound Poems. He works as the Special Events & Promotions Coordinator of the Ecology Center's Farmers' Markets. On Sunday, October 28, 1 pm Native Plants for Butterflies in Your East Bay Garden Liam O'Brien, lepidopterist A talk focused on native plants female butterflies need to lay their eggs on that you can grow in your East Bay garden. Think beyond nectar sources (flowers): Think about what you can serve the caterpillars to munch on and continue their life cycles. The talk will be illustrated by Liam's beautiful paintings of butterflies. 4 THE BAY LEAF October 2012 NO ON A 1 (OAKLAND ZOO TAX) CAMPAIGN Our campaign to defeat Measure Al, the Oakland Zoo's parcel tax measure, is heating up. As many of you know, we are fighting to protect a critical remnant of California's native plant heritage in Oakland's Knowland Park that is threatened by an expansion of the Oakland Zoo. The bal- lot measure language obscures the fact that funds from Measure Al can be used to pay for this development or any other expansion. CNPS and Friends of Knowland Park are alerting the public to the full facts of the parcel tax measure so that voters can have an informed choice on election day. (For more background, see the Conservation Analyst's Report in the September Bay Leaf). As we continue to study the ordinance that this measure would enact, we have discovered some deeply troubling facts. Parcel taxes usually fund special tax districts (and school districts). By law special tax districts must have certain key "good government" provisions. For instance, they must have publicly elected or appointed boards of directors, and they are required to abide by the California Public Records Act (PRA) and the Brown Act. These laws help ensure that the public has access to important records that may not have been available in the normal course of business and have adequate notice of meetings and the minutes from those meetings. However, the East Bay Zoological Society (EBZS), which manages the zoo, is a private nonprofit corporation with a privately elected board of trustees. It is not required to comply with the Public Records Act (PRA) or the Brown Act. Its management agreement with the City of Oakland states that it must abide by the Oakland Sunshine ordi- nance, which is a far weaker law than the Brown Act and is poorly enforced by the city. In other words, if the measure passes, the EBZS will be able to tax Alameda County property owners, but the public will not be able to find out key information about how their tax dollars are being spent. Nor can they find out how the zoo spends the rest of its millions of dollars in annual public subsidies. Our understanding of this dilemma is not hypothetical but based on hard experience. Last year during the environmental review hearings, we made a PRA request of the City to produce the documents required by its management agreement with the EBZS. Four months later some of the documents were released but two key documents were never produced: the financial information that would show what money the zoo actually possesses to build the expansion (zoo executives repeatedly claimed that the zoo didn't need any more public money for the expansion), and the minutes of its meetings.Those eager to know more about the current financial condition of the zoo will have to dig to find the last audited financial report from 2010-2011 from its website. In it they will discover that the zoo identifies only some $3 million specifically set aside for the $ 72 million California project. Zoo executives deny that Measure Al money will be used to fund the expansion. But the fact remains that they can- not legally make that claim in any of the ballot measure language and still keep the option to use it for expansion construction and operating expenses. We believe that the public is entitled to know much more about the entire context in which this ballot measure has been brought forth, including the fact that the county and zoo have conducted a stealth campaign. Over the weeks leading up to the election, we will continue to post infor- mation on our website: www.saveknowland.org. We have formed a campaign committee and registered it with the Fair Political Practices Commission. Our committee name is "No on Al to Save Knowland Park. Sponsored by the East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society." You will see our disclaimer on our flyer and other cam- paign information. We need you to help spread the word! Here are some things that you can do to help us defeat Measure Al: • go to www.saveknowland.org, download our flyer and give it to friends, family, and neighbors • post a lawn sign • send us your personal endorsement (you can e-mail it to Mack Casterman, our Conservation Analyst, at conservation@ebcnps.org) • spread the word through Facebook and Twitter • consider making a donation. Donations are not tax-deductible. You can send checks made out to: No on Al to Save Knowland Park. On the sub- ject line, please include "sponsored by the East Bay Chapter, California Native Plant Society." Checks can be sent to: No on Al % Lee Ann Smith, Treasurer 111 Shadow Mountain Oakland, C A 94605 Finally, if you make a donation of $100 or more, you must include your name, address, occupation, and employer. The Fair Political Practices Commission closely regulates how money is donated and spent, and how we record and report financial transactions. Thank you for your help in keeping us in compliance! Laura Baker THE BAY LEAF October 2012 5 NATIVE HERE Of course the big news from Native Here is that we are pre- paring for the Plant Fair which takes place at the nursery October 27-28 (see 2 page insert in this issue). Volunteers have been working hard to update the list of plants on offer. Of course, as the nursery is open all year, three times each week for sales of plants, the plant list is constantly changing. Hours continue to be Tuesday afternoons, noon-3 pm, Friday mornings 9 am to noon, and Saturdays 10 am to 2 pm in an effort to accommodate a variety of customer schedules. Vol- ume and professional discounts are in effect during regular hours, but NO percentage discounts will be in effect during the Plant Fair. Keeping track of those is too much to ask of event volunteers. Native Here has a new internet presence at www.native- herenursery.org and a continuing Native Here Nursery Face- book page (check out our plant identification quiz). We also will be posting special gatherings for those who join the East Bay Chapter California Native Plant Society MeetUp group, recently created by Frances Dahlquist. Steve Toby (stevetoby@comcast.net) is still scheduling volun- teers to help with the Plant Fair, especially setup on Friday, October 26 and cleanup immediately following the Fair on Sunday, and also on Monday, October 29. Volunteers are welcome to join the volunteer nursery crew any time the nursery is open, and/ or other times by arrange- ment. Charli Danielsen, nursery manager JEAN ROBERTSON: NEW CONSERVATION CHAIR The EBCNPS Conservation Committee is happy to introduce our new Conservation Chair, Jean Robertson! Below is a brief autobiography. We are all looking forward to working with Jean to achieve our Chapter's conservation goals. I was born in Jamshedpur, India, and I came to the Bay Area as an infant. I grew up in Piedmont (and in Australia as a teen), and have lived in various spots in the East Bay as well as in remoter parts of Northern California. For the past 19 years. Eve made my home in Oakland near the Emeryville border. I feel fortunate to live in the vibrant, creative and diverse Bay Area. We are rich in parks, open space and many wonderful and unusual ecosystems, plant communities, and natural wonders. For that reason, we are hugely challenged by our duty to exercise proper stewardship toward these treasures. As a recent member of our conservation committee and your new Conservation Chair I am grateful for the opportunity to work with a dedicated and skilled group of individuals, in the form of CNPS, East Bay. I am happy to be able to plug into this excellent group and add my energies to it. Some of my earliest volunteer work was as a teenager explor- ing marine biology at Point Reyes, while also building picnic tables, and clearing trails for the national seashore. Also in my teens I participated in a stream bank restoration project behind my high school. In more recent years as an adult, I have been involved with community gardens in my neighborhood, in both Oakland and Emeryville working as coordinator, and as a member of the board of directors. Also, I helped create, with a group of neighbors, and with the City of Oakland, a block long native plant garden on the site of a former trashy median strip. I worked successfully on the Doyle St Greenway project in Emeryville, for a number of years, showing up at council meetings, advocating for a linear park to be created where there were only railroad tracks embedded in a wide stretch of urban asphalt. They said at the time that that street was destined to be a major thoroughfare for vehicular traffic. but with the persistent advocacy of neighborhood groups and individuals, we now have a linear park that is a keystone of treasured open space in this dense urban environment. My profession is landscape contracting, with a focus on cus- tom residential garden projects. Eve been doing this work for about 28 years now. My specialty is with infrastructure: particularly irrigation, but also with lighting, water features, and anything technical. A special area of interest is working with native plants and working on and observing the prog- ress of restoration projects and land management projects of various scales. I got my professional training mostly on the job, supple- mented with classes at the Merritt College Horticulture Department and with seminars and field trips over the years. In the early days of working as a landscape laborer, digging out stumps and digging ditches, I was mentored by and eventually worked side by side with an excellent and talented landscape designer. Our design/ build partnership lasted for 10 years and we created many interesting and cutting edge gardens, working with native plants whenever we could, back when natives were not a trend. Nowadays I continue to enjoy collaborations with designers, and others on landscape projects. I have had the opportunity to work in many different micro- climates and corners of the Bay Area. I love my work and I very much enjoy working outside, being physical and solving problems. One of the gifts I can bring to the job of Conservation Com- mittee Chair is a love for and a delight in our Bay Area open spaces and wild places. I offer energy, open mindedness and a willingness to do what I can to advocate for the protection and enhancement of these special as well as common places. The main reason why I joined the conservation committee is that I decided it was time to work on a more regional (rather 6 THE BAY LEAF October 2012 than neighborhood) scale on behalf of the non-human aspect of nature and the green world. One of my favorite and most restorative things to do is to go for a long ramble in nature. I hope that my work on the conservation committee will contribute to the protection of our precious places, and I am glad to roll up my sleeves and dig in. Jean Robertson Jean Robertson FIELD TRIP Sunday October 21 at 10 am. Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Join us on a plant walk featuring this refuge's salt marsh and nearby uplands, starting at the new visitor center off of Marshlands Road. This is part of SF Bay National Wildlife Refuge Bioblitz weekend, but this plant walk is beginner- friendly instead of a competition for finding unusual species in particular. Bring binoculars and hand lenses if you have them, wear shoes that can stand some mud and dirt, and be prepared for full sun conditions. I will bring several copies of the plant list prepared by Sally Reynolds in 2004, or you can bring your copy of Barbara Ertter's Annotated Checklist of the East Bay Flora, which includes most of the taxa at this site. For plant enthusiasts who prefer plant mugshots for identifi- cation, I recommend Phyllis Faber's Common Wetland Plants of Coastal California, published by Pickleweed Press. Directions: Go south on 1-880 from most locations in the East Bay, and then exit onto westbound I-84/DeCoto Road. Exit 1-84 at Paseo Padre Parkway, which is the last exit before the toll booths for the Dumbarton Bridge, and turn left to cross over 1-84. Stay on Paseo Padre Parkway until you see the refuge turnoff at Marshlands Road, past some salt marsh areas that glisten white when dry. Follow Marshlands Road into the refuge until you reach the new visitor center and parking lot, just to the right of Marshlands Road. If you have any questions, please e-mailjanetgawthrop47@gmail.com or de.vsinter@gmail.com. LONG-TIME MEMBER WILLIAM BADE William Bade, a long-time member of and volunteer for the East Bay Chapter, died peacefully on the 10 th of August. He is survived by his wife, Elly, also a member and former head of the book program, and by his six children and five grandchildren. Bill was a mathematician and was for many years a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. See the obituary in the San Francisco Chronicle at http: / / www. legacy.com/ obituaries/ sfgate/ obituary. aspx?n=william- bade&pid=159888307#fbLoggedOut. THE BAY LEAF October 2012 7 Available for the Plant Fair: the new edition of: East Bay Native Plants 2012-2013 This year’s 2012-2013 edition contains: * Pictures and information about 468 local species of Trees, Shrubs, Perennials, Annuals, Bines, Bulbs, Ferns and Grasses * Old Jepson 1993 names and new Jepson 2011 name changes as well as common names of each plant * Natural locations of each plant within our counties * Only $25,00 (w hich helps support CNPS our chapter and Native Here Nursery) * We can dropbox the new CD on your mobile device Delia Taylor, Laura Baker, and Karen Putz setting up for this year's Solano Stroll. 8 THE BAY LEAF October 2012 RESTORATION PROJECTS Saturday, October 6 (first Saturday of each month), 10:00 am to 2:00 pm, Pt. Isabel We remove invasive plants and re-vegetate with native plants grown from plants found at the site. We are located at the end of Rydin Road just off the 1-580 next to Hoffman Marsh. Contact e-mail: kyotousa@sbcglobal.net, cell: 510-684-6484 Saturday, October 6, 9:00 am. Genista rip at Redwood Re- gional Park Join this ongoing effort to beat back French broom, one of the most widespread invasive species in the East Bay. You can just show up at the Skyline Gate parking lot and look for the park ranger's vehicle. Park staff will have water, gloves and tools for loan. If you have questions, please e-mail janetgawthrop47@gmail. com or DRosario@ebparks.org. Saturday, October 13, 9:30 am. Huckleberry Botanic Pre- serve We will focus on pulling and bagging cape ivy and Vinca within the park again, unless early rains permit harder weed- ing. We will meet in the parking lot, and then hike into the worksite. Volunteers who wish to work at the knoll near the park entrance may do so if they wish. Park staff will have poison oak block, tools, gloves and water. If you have special tools requests or questions, please e-mail jmanley@ebparks. org or janetgawthrop47@gmail.com Sunday, October 21, 9:00 am, Sibley Regional Park This restoration crew will proceed with the choice of pulling Vinca and forget-me-nots near the Skyline parking lot, or at- tacking the wall of broom nearer the Old Tunnel Road staging area (Orinda side of the park). I will not attend this month (see field trips), but I can answer most questions about the work and plants involved if you e-mail. Requests for tools should be e-mailed to jmanley@ebparks.org. SUDDEN OAK DEATH TALKS AND WORKSHOPS East Bay (Berkeley/Oakland/Orinda) SOD Blitz results meeting. Date: Thursday, October 4, 2012; Time: 6-7pm. 159 Mulford Hall, UC Berkeley Campus, Berkeley. Come hear the results from the SOD Blitz of April, 2012. The meeting will last about one hour and will include: 1) the results of SOD Blitz testing in our local communities, 2) the latest information and recommendations for SOD manage- ment, 3) treatment options and strategies for your area. You will also learn about the SODMAP, the most comprehensive map of North America showing the spread of the Sudden Oak Death pathogen of SOD in North America. Details and further information can be found at www.mat- teolab.com, or contact Shelagh Brodersen at garberparkstew- ards@gmail.com. Sudden oak death field treatment workshops: attend a 2-hour field treatment session offered by Dr. Matteo Garbe- lotto, UCCE Specialist in Forest Pathology and Mycology, UC Berkeley and learn about methods aimed at the prevention and spread of Sudden Oak Death. Dr. Garbelotto will cover the latest information on SOD, integrated pest management approaches to help manage SOD, selection of ideal candidate trees for treatment, when and how to treat trees, as well as fire issues, including how and when to protect your home from SOD-related risk, when to perform yard work such as pruning so as not to increase the risk of infection, and how to safely dispose of infected plant material. Field Treatment Meetings: listed below are the SOD Field Treatment Meetings being offered by Dr. Garbelotto this fall in several communities in the East Bay. Dr. Garbelotto recommends that you attend the results meeting prior to the field meeting and, if possible, attend a field meeting in your community. Friday, October 5, 10 am, Garber Park, 144 Evergreen Lane, Berkeley (near the Claremont Hotel). Contact: Shelagh Brod- ersen at garberparkstewards@gmail.com. Saturday, October 6, 10 am, Tilden Park, Spillway Picnic Area, near the Lake Anza parking lot, Tilden Regional Park, Berkeley. Saturday, October 6, 2 pm, Knowland Park, Oakland. Con- tact: Laura Baker at lbake66@aol.com. Sunday, October 14, 10 am, Lafayette/Orinda Community Center, 500 St. Mary's Road, Lafayette. Contact: Greg Travers, GTravers@ci.lafayette.ca.us UC Berkeley Campus, SOD Treatment Training Workshops. Wednesdays, 1-3: 9/5, 10/17, 10/31, 11/14. Under the big oak tree at the Tolman Hall Portico. Registration: This workshop is free, but registration is required. To register, email your name, date you'd like to sign up for, and affiliation (if applicable). Register by email, garberparkstewards@gmail.com, or call 510-847-5482. Further details and information can be found at www.matteolab.com. THE BAY LEAF October 201 2 9 WILDFLOWERS IN KNOWLAND PARK Indian Warrior ( Pedicularis densiflora). Photo by Laura Baker. Woodland star ( Lithophragma sp.) Photo by Laura Baker. 10 THE BAY LEAF October 201 2 Save Knowland Park! Vote NO on Alameda County Measure A1 www.saveknowland.ora Measure A1 is an irrevocable 25 year tax that: • Could fund $72 million massive zoo expansion into public park land in Knowland Park (Oakland’s largest wildland park) ■ Allows taxpayer funds to be used to build 34,000 square foot restaurant, gift shop, visitor center and office complex. A1 allows Zoo to use taxpayer funds for future expansions as well. ■ Paves over and destroys ecologically rich wildlife and native plant habitat ■ Displaces a rare plant community used by many species of native wildlife, including threatened Alameda whipsnake. • Gives taxing authority to a private organization with no publicly elected representatives. ■ Allows privately selected Zoo Board to tax residents without being required to follow state public open records laws. 25-year tax for privately-run operation, with no true public accountability, is unacceptable. Vote No! - Zoo already gets public funds from multiple sources - other needs are much higher priority. ■ Zoo currently gets millions of dollars in public funding, including Oakland city funds, hotel taxes, East Bay Re- gional Park District funds, other bonds, and a multimillion-dollar State Parks grant. ■ Schools, libraries, and other public programs should take priority. MeasureAl is Opposed by: East Bay Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, Friends of Knowland Park, Alameda Creek Alliance, California Native Grasslands Association, Resource Renewal Insti- tute and many other individuals and orgs. that care about protecting our precious parklands. Paid for by No on Al to Save Knowland Park, PAC #1351843 Sponsored by East Bay Chapter, California Native Plant Society THE BAY LEAF October 2012 11 DIRECTORY Joe Willingham 510-705-1798 pepel 066@comcast.net Bay Leaf Assistant Editor David Margolies 510-654-0283 dm@franz.com Bay Leaf Mailing Holly Forbes hforbes@berkeley.edu h 510-234-2913 w 510-643-8040 Conservation Jean Robertson, Chair gaiajean@yahoo.com Conservation Analyst Mack Casterman conservation@ebcnps.org 510-734-0335 Funds Development Delia Taylor, Chair deliataylor@mac.com Hospitality Howard Julien Arendtson, Chair 510-548-7400 howard@hjuliendesigns.com Information Infrastructure Peter Rauch, Chair peterar@berkeley.edu Membership Co-Chairs Tim Kask timkask@yahoo.com Carol Castro 510-352-2382 carolbcastro@hotmail.com Volunteer coordinator Delia Taylor volunteer@ebcnps.org Programs Vacant Publicity (vacant) Officers President David Bigham david@hjuliendesigns.com, 1 544 La Loma, Berkeley, CA 94708, 510-843-4247 Vice President and Chapter Council Delegate Bill Hunt wjhunt@astound.net Recording Secretary Tina Wistrom cmwistrom@yahoo.com, 510- 207-0370 Corresponding Secretary Robert Sorenson rls@sorensonvision.com Treasurer David Margolies 510-654-0283 dm@franz.com Committees Bayleaf Newsletter Bay Leaf Editor and Webmas- ter, Chair Carol Castro carolbcastro@hotmail.com Field Trips Janet Gawthrop, Chair janetgawthrop47@gmail.com Rare Plants Heath Bartosh, Chair 925-957-0069 hbartosh@nomadecology.com Bryophytes John Game, Chair 510-527-7855 jcgame@stanford.edu Unusual Plants Dianne Lake, Chair 510-741-8066 diannelake@yahoo.com Vegetation Megan Keever, Co-Chair megan@stillwatersci.com Nicole Jurjavcic, Co-Chair nicole@stillwatersci.com EBCNPS Sponsored Ac- tivities Native Here Nursery 510-549-0211 Manager — Charli Danielsen nativehere@ebcnps.org Sales — Margot Cunningham bunchgrassmarg@gmail.com Plant Fair Charli Danielsen, Chair nativehere@ebcnps.or- Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour http://www.bringingbackthenatives.net/ Sunday, October 7, 2012 10:00 - 4:00 Fall 2012 Plant Sale and Open Garden Day On several dates in October you can enjoy tours of private gardens. Membership Application and Renewal Form Name Address Zip Telephone Email I wish to affiliate with: East Bay Chapter (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) Other Membership category: Individual, $45 Family, Library, Group or International, $75 Plant lover, $100 Patron, $300 Benefactor, $600 Mariposa Lily, $1500 Limited Income or student, $25.00 Other Mail application and check to: California Native Plant Society, 2707 K Street, Suite 1, Sacramento CA 95816 12 THE BAY LEAF October 201 2