PLANNING AND CONSERVATION LEAGUE

PLANNING AND CONSERVATION LEAGUE FOUNDATION

CALIFORNIA TODAY
Newsletter of the Planning & Conservation League

March 2007

Volume 37, Number 1

Protecting the Mountain Lion, page 3

iStockphoto.com

Taking It To The Districts

By: Melanie Schlotterbeck

A Shared Passion...
By: Richard Taylor

Each month, PCL is bringing concerned activists to meetings with their state legislators - in their local offices. Just a few weeks ago, we met with Assembly member Todd Spitzer of the 71st District. With 18 groups in attendance, we were quite pleased with the positive and productive discussion about some of Orange and Riverside Countys most pressing issues. We discussed important topics including the proposed extension of the 241 toll road through San Onofre State Beach, the proposed tunnel through the Cleveland National Forest, regional open space funding needs, and poorly planned developments. Not surprisingly, land use decisions in the Inland Empire are significantly impacting other counties like Orange and Los Angeles. The Assembly member immediately identified these growth and traffic concerns. He offered helpful suggestions to improve the line of communication on these and other critical issues. In fact, he offered to meet quarterly and PCL will make sure these meetings provide Southern California conservation groups with an opportunity to make a difference!

Since its founding in 1980, Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP has been representing community groups, local governments, and state agencies in an array of land use, natural resources, and environmental protection matters. During that time, PCL has frequently been a valued client or an ally of the firms clients, and our work with PCL has produced some important results! For instance, Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP has represented PCL in cases that fought back against efforts to weaken the California Environmental Quality Act, to ensure that agencies consider realistic water demands for new developments, and to protect the local initiative power for land use planning. Most recently, the firm represented PCL in successful litigation in Martis Valley that led to habitat protection and workforce housing at a prime gateway to Lake Tahoe. Last year, the firm and PCL partnered with a broad coalition of groups to help defeat Proposition 90, which would have jeopardized important homeowner, community, environmental, and quality of life protections. The lawyers at Shute, Mihaly & Weinberger LLP come from diverse backgrounds but share a passion for the work of the Planning and Conservation League!

Melanie Schlotterbeck

CALIFORNIA TODAY Planning and Conservation League & PCL Foundation

Dear Friends,
CALIFORNIA TODAY (ISBN 0739-8042) is the quarterly newsletter of the PLANNING AND CONSERVATION LEAGUE AND THE PCL FOUNDATION
1107 Ninth Street, Suite 360, Sacramento, CA 95814 PHONE: 916-444-8726 FAX: 916-448-1789

E-MAIL ADDRESS: pclmail@pcl.org WEB ADDRESS: http://www.pcl.org Membership to PCL is $35 a year and includes a subscription to CALIFORNIA TODAY. Periodicals postage paid at Sacramento, CA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes for CALIFORNIA TODAY to the PCL Office: 1107 Ninth Street, Suite 360, Sacramento, CA 95814

PCLF BOARD OF TRUSTEES

DAVID HIRSCH, Chairman RALPH B. PERRY III, Vice Chairman DANIEL S. FROST, Secretary-Treasurer COKE HALLOWELL, Trustee GERALD H. MERAL, Trustee ARMANDO RODRIGUEZ, Trustee

PCL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

JOHN VAN DE KAMP, President BILL YEATES, First Vice President KEVIN JOHNSON, Senior Vice President SAGE SWEETWOOD, President Emeritus BILL CENTER, Secretary-Treasurer

ELISABETH BROWN JAN CHATTEN-BROWN PHYLLIS FABER RICK FRANK DOROTHY GREEN RICK HAWLEY DOUG LINNEY DAVID MOGAVERO LYNN SADLER TERESA VILLEGAS

ORGANIZATIONAL BOARD MEMBERS

Big Sur Land Trust Breathe California, Sacramento-Emigrant Trails California Association of Local Conservation Corps California Oaks Foundation California Trout Greenspace - The Cambria Land Trust Golden Gate Audubon Society The Laguna Greenbelt, Inc. Marin Agricultural Land Trust Marin Conservation League Mountain Lion Foundation Sierra Nevada Alliance Southern California Agricultural Land Foundation Train Riders Association of California The Trust for Public Land

PCL/PCL FOUNDATION STAFF

GARY A. PATTON, Executive Director TINA ANDOLINA, Legislative Director REN GUERRERO, Project Manager - Legislative Advocate CHARLOTTE HODDE, Water Policy Specialist DR. MONICA HUNTER, Central Coast Water Project Manager MINDY McINTYRE, Water Program Manager JONAS MINTON, Senior Water Policy Advisor GERALD PEREZ, Administrative Director MATT VANDER SLUIS, Project Manager - Legislative Advocate CHRIS WARD, Database Manager MELANIE SCHLOTTERBECK, Grants & Outreach Consultant

California Affiliate National Wildlife Federation

Gary A. Patton Executive Director

CALIFORNIA TODAY Planning and Conservation League & PCL Foundation

Claire Schlotterbeck

REGIONAL VICE PRESIDENTS

This years Symposium (on April 14th) will focus on how we can both define and confront the challenges that are testing this generation. Its going to be a How To meeting, but its How To with a twist. Lots of useful information will be available, but our most important efforts will be to develop our collective capacity to make the fundamental political and policy changes that can help us win the battles ahead. Global warming is only one of the challenges we face, though its a huge one. The global environment, our state and national economy, and our ability to achieve a just society are all at risk. This generation (those of us who are alive today), is being tested as few other generations have ever been tested. Perhaps the closest analogy, in American history, is the challenge this nation faced in World War II. The future of human civilization was at stake in that war, and within about a year after Pearl Harbor, Americans had fundamentally changed their economy, changed their attitudes, and transformed a consumer-oriented, inward-looking society into a different nation entirely. As in World War II, both This is our national monument remembering the individual actions and governmental attack on Pearl Harbor. What will be our monument to our successful battle to stop global warming? actions are called for now. We need to make fundamental changes in how we live - in how we relate to the natural world, and to each other. The challenges that test us are above all moral challenges. Finding a way to meet those challenges, together, is what our How To Symposium is all about. PCL has always been a league of local groups fighting for a healthy economy, environmental protection, and to achieve our social equity goals. Reinforcing, strengthening, building, and then deploying an ever more impressive league of environmental and environmental justice groups from throughout California is going to be essential, if we hope to be successful in meeting the challenges that now confront us. I am personally convinced that work within the environmental movement, in California, is our best opportunity to make the social, economic, and political changes we need to make. On April 14th, in Sacramento, lets figure out, for the year ahead, just how were going to do what we know we must.

The Mountain Lion Foundation

In 1987, PCL Board Member Bill Yeates was helping secure funding for Proposition 70 to protect land. That experience led him to see the potential for directly protecting one of the animals that walked that land. His one-year old Mountain Lion Foundation (MLF) launched a statewide ballot measure, beginning a partnership that has flourished for more than 20 years. Initially, PCL ran MLFs Proposition 117, the only initiative in modern history to qualify for the ballot with all-volunteer signature gatherers. Proposition 117 banned the sport hunting of mountain lions and set aside $30 million per year for 30 years to protect the landscapes on which wildlife and people depend. It has been a fabulous success. More recently, PCL successfully sponsored a National Wildlife Federation resolution asking that all state wildlife agencies be encouraged to make mountain lion management practices consistent with the best available science as delineated in the Cougar Management Guidelines. Another success! Today MLF works in 14 states, with two new flagship programs in California. Working with South Coast Wildlands, MLF staff will partner with myriad PCL members and others to protect 16 of the most critically endangered wildlife corridors in Southern California. With another PCL organizational board member the Sierra Nevada Alliance - MLF staff will work with AmeriCorps, 4-H, and FFA to disseminate wildlife friendly practices to keep people, pets, livestock, and

Cougars Common

Cougars Rare

Mountain Lion Foundation

A new study by researchers from Oregon State University found that cougars in Zion National Park have a profound impact on other aspects of the ecosystem.

lions safer in the Central Sierra. This has particular urgency since a California Department of Fish and Game expert stated we have no more than 40 years to change our policies in the Sierra or risk losing lions from the entire range. In fact, the international science committee, charged with monitoring the worlds species, has declared puma concolor nearly threatened and perhaps vulnerable to extinction, due to persecution (hunting) and land use practices. While MLF is expert on reducing persecution, in California, the Foundation depends on PCL and partners to take the lead in directly protecting land. We feel Californias many land protection organizations are doing an excellent job. Thats why we worked to get 30-year funding in place through Prop 117, as well as from many bond acts, to help them do that job, said Lynn Sadler, CEO of MLF and also a Vice-President of PCL. That allows MLF to focus more directly on the non-acquisition elements of habitat protection. Because of the cascade of extinction that occurs whenever a top carnivore is lost from the landscape, we all know that if you havent saved the lion, you havent saved the land, Sadler added. Were doing our part and PCL members are doing theirs. With partners like that, I have to believe we can still save Americas Lion. To learn more about MLF, visit: www.MountainLion.org. Partnerships between PCL and other on-the-ground organizations are essential to the environmental movement. We encourage your group to become an organizational affiliate to PCL. To learn more about becoming an affiliate please email Melanie Schlotterbeck at mschlotterbeck@pcl.org.

Mountain Lion Foundation

CALIFORNIA TODAY Planning and Conservation League & PCL Foundation

Ripple and Beschta 2003

A Sneak Peek at the 2007 Symposium

By: Melanie Schlotterbeck

THE EVENT For more than 40 years the Planning and Conservation League has been on the frontlines of the battle for environmental protection. We all know that our environment, economy, and society face serious threats, and that we need to confront them. From poorly planned developments to environmental injustice, from debilitating traffic congestion to water shortages, now is the time to meet these challenges. Climate change, flood protection, land use reform, and other environmental issues are testing our creativity and resolve. As a league of environmental organizations from across California, we want you not only to get the latest information on these environmental issues, but also to walk away with the tools to be effective environmental advocates in your region. Join the PCL and the PCL Foundation at its annual symposium to help us identify the battles that we simply must win, and to find the tools that will help us win them, at the grassroots and statewide level.

THE SYMPOSIUM & AWARDS BANQUET DETAILS Date: Saturday, April 14, 2007 Symposium: 8:00AM - 5:00PM Banquet: 5:00PM - 7:30PM Location: Sacramento Convention Center 1400 J Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 SCHEDULE 8:00 - 8:30 8:30 - 8:45 8:45 - 9:15 9:15 - 9:30 9:30 - 11:30 11:30 - 1:00 1:00 - 2:30 2:30 - 2:45 2:45 - 4:15 4:15 - 5:00 Registration and Continental Breakfast Welcome Keynote Policy Presentation Break Five Policy Panels (you choose one) Keynote Policy Presentation & Lunch Five How To... Workshops (you choose one) Break Five How To... Workshops (you choose one) Networking

BANQUET 5:00 - 7:30 Awards Banquet

Our event is part of the national Step It Up 2007 campaign as a call for action on climate change.

Visit Our Website to Learn More: www.PCL.org

How To... Organize a Winning Land Use Campaign

When a big bad development proposal comes to your town, how do you feel? Angry? Frustrated? Powerless? Or emboldened, energized, and ready to take back your town? California faces tremendous challenges from urban sprawl, but local activists all across the state are leading the charge to reshape how land use decisions are made. At this workshop, land use campaigner Autumn Bernstein will lead a lively discussion about the new strategies and tools that local activists are using to successfully stop bad development, leverage community support, and retake control of our communities futures.

Approaching The Boiling Point: Solutions to Global Warming

To follow-up on last years Symposium, A Climate of Change, a morning panel discussion will focus on the latest solutions to global warming. Because California has so much at risk from global warming, and because we are a world leader on solutions, we have speakers from diverse perspectives to give their opinions on how individuals and our communities can take action to make a difference. Our panel includes representatives from utility agencies (PG&E and Sacramento Municipal Utility District), environmental groups (Environmental Defense and National Wildlife Federation), and the religious community (Sacramentos Westminster Presbyterian Church).

CALIFORNIA TODAY Planning and Conservation League & PCL Foundation

REGISTRATION FORM
Name

REGISTRATION & FEES Your Symposium registration fee covers continental breakfast, lunch, refreshments, and all Symposium materials. You will be given an opportunity at the event to offset your travel related carbon emissions. Registration is as follows: $85 Current PCL Members $95 Non-Members $110 Non-Members plus a PCL Membership $20 Students (with valid photo ID) $25 Students plus a PCL Membership $250 MCLE $40 Evening Banquet OUR POLICY PRESENTERS

Organization Address City, State, Zip Phone Email Meal Preference: Omnivore Vegetarian Amount: $ Vegan Fax

PAYMENT OPTIONS

1. Credit card - register online at: www.PCL.org OR fill out this form and fax it to (916) 448-1789, Attention: Chris Ward Credit Card # (Visa/MC) Exp. Date

2. Check - make payable to PCL Foundation and mail with form to: Planning and Conservation League Foundation Attn: Chris Ward 1107 Ninth Street, Suite 360 Sacramento, CA 95814

Peter Douglas, Coastal Commission

Congressman Jerry McNerney

Linda Adams, Cal EPA

WE NEED YOUR INPUT

Help us determine our room arrangements by letting us know which panel and workshops you would like to attend.

Policy Panels (9:30 - 11:30) (Choose one)

How To... Navigate Californias Capitol Corridor

From inception to signature, getting your bill into law requires a broad range of skills. This workshop will outline the fundamentals of developing legislation and moving it through the State Capitol. Further, we will explore the nuances of navigating the system - from member meetings and agency relations to the critical connections at the staff level that can make or break a bill. Finally, case studies, audience participation, and a glimpse into the State Budget process that often looms largely over the Legislatures agenda will round out this session that will train participants to stay on the right track when it comes to lobbying.

Recent Legal Developments in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Practice (MCLE) Approaching The Boiling Point: Solutions to Global Warming Solving Californias Land Use Puzzle Taking Our Community Temperature: An Environmental Justice Perspective Making Strategic Water Investments in a Changing Climate

How To... Workshops (1:00 - 2:30)(Choose one)

Enforce Legal Rights and Government Obligations Under Californias Government-In-The-Sunshine Laws (MCLE) Navigate Californias Capitol Corridor Make Friends with the Media Run a Community Initiative Organize a Winning Land Use Campaign

How To... Workshops (2:45 - 4:15) (Choose one)

Collect Attorneys Fees in California: What Every Environmental Attorney Should Know (MCLE) Make CEQA Work for You Effectively Frame an Issue Organize Your Community 101 Run a Successful Referendum

CALIFORNIA TODAY Planning and Conservation League & PCL Foundation

Marin County s Green General Plan

By: Dawn Weisz and Alex Hinds

The Marin County Community Development Agency is updating its General Plan based on principles of sustainability, with a strong focus on global warming initiatives, and with metrics to track the Plans progress over time. The County has conducted a baseline assessment of greenhouse gas emissions and established a target to reduce emissions 15% below 1990 levels by 2020. This and other targets are easy for the public to track using a newly launched web tool, See-It. You can See-It at: www.Future-Marin.org. Marin County has addressed its local contributions to climate change in both the Plan itself, and in the Environmental Impact Report. Although the projected increase in vehicle miles traveled along with an affluent population continues to show an increase in greenhouse gas emissions in the future, many of the policies and

programs in Marins draft Countywide Plan are designed to reduce this trend. Specifically, the Plan will decrease greenhouse emissions Marin County Civic Center utilizes clean energy. through infill development, increasing green building and the use of renewable energy, changing transportation patterns, diverting solid waste, increasing the biocapacity of open spaces which can absorb greenhouse gases, and supporting sustainable farming practices and local food production. These programs will combine to turn around Marins trend of increasing greenhouse gas emissions, and set a new bar for greening up General Plans.

A State Treasure - the California Delta

By: Matt Vander Sluis

Water Education Foundation

The California Delta, part of the largest estuary in the Western Hemisphere, is experiencing an unprecedented ecological collapse, with several aquatic species hovering at the lowest population levels ever recorded. This ailing 700,000 acre ecosystem just east of San Francisco Bay also faces impending crises from rising sea levels, crumbling levees, poorly planned development, and a host of other threats. Its the canary in the coal mine and its telling us theres trouble ahead. Yet despite the somber predictions, PCL believes the health and resiliency of the ecosystem can be improved with benefits for the entire state. By protecting the Deltas floodplains for habitat instead of houses, young families looking for an affordable location wont have to worry if their first home will flood before they pay off the mortgage. A healthy Delta means a strong salmon fishing industry, recreational opportunities for millions of Californians, and a reliable drinking water supply that wont fluctuate wildly as emergency measures are taken to protect

aquatic species driven to the edge of extinction. With a thriving Delta, bird lovers from San Diego to Eureka will know that one of the few remaining resting stops on the Pacific Flyway has been preserved, and that their favorite feathered friends will be back next season. Protecting the Delta is about creating a better future for our children to enjoy. Thats why were working on your behalf to save this state treasure. PCL is pressuring state agencies to take immediate actions to stop the current fish crisis before these species disappear, while fighting efforts to increase pumping of freshwater out of the estuary. Were partnering with scientists and engineers to chart out how to respond to a catastrophic failure of Delta levees in an environmentally sound manner. And were crafting a vision of a healthy Delta that can adapt to the changing environmental conditions that we inevitably face because of global climate change. Our preferred Delta future wont be a mirror of the past; but it will rely on lessons from the past to preserve the robust, dynamic system that the Delta once was. To help us protect the Delta, please contact Matt Vander Sluis at mvander@pcl.org.

CALIFORNIA TODAY Planning and Conservation League & PCL Foundation

Gwen Johnson

California Land Use Initiative

The Planning and Conservation League has teamed up with other environmental, land use, transportation, social justice, labor, and business organizations to make sure that state bond expenditures are truly smart investments for the future of California. Yes, its critically important to make significant new investments in the states infrastructure. No, not all investments are created equal! It does not make sense, for instance, for Californians to spend $40 billion dollars to perpetuate the patterns of sprawl that undermine the California economy, destroy our farmlands and natural environment, and make it harder for working families to find quality affordable housing near the place they work. Last year, PCL helped build a coalition that demanded what amounts to a smart growth investment policy for California. Were continuing our efforts now. The PCL commitment to smart investments is aiming to steer monies from Proposition 1C, the Housing Bond, into projects that truly meet the infill mandate that can help stop poorly planned developments. We are also joining with the California League of Conservation Voters and the Natural Resources Defense Council to demand that virtually all our infrastructure spending be specifically designed to reduce VMT (Vehicle Miles Traveled) by at least 10% by the year 2030. Our idea is to measure how were doing, using VMT as the metric. By reducing the vehicle miles traveled by Californians, we cut down global warming emissions, reduce energy use, help clean up our air, and stop the sprawl that is fundamentally undermining almost every aspect of Californias environment and community life. Heres a quick fact: If we can reduce VMT by 10% by 2030, that is equivalent to taking every car and truck off the roads in California for 1.5 years! You can get more information on the PCL website (www.PCL.org), and find out how to get involved!
Melanie Schlotterbeck

By: Gary Patton

A Spotlight on San Diego County

By: Kevin Johnson

Stated with cautious optimism, the New Year is looking quite bright for the environment in the San Diego region. The long awaited update to the County General Plan is nearing its final phase, with the EIR due out in the early fall. A critical feature of the proposed update is the downzoning of hundreds of thousands of back country acres from 4, 8, and 20 units per acre to 40, 80, and 160 units per acre. In conjunction with the downzoning feature, the new Plan currently incorporates the conservation subdivision concept, requiring the clustering of units after large parcels are subdivided. The combination of the clustering requirement and the downzoning would go a long

Conservation Biology Institute

way to help preserve both the character and habitat value of the vast, environmentally sensitive lands in eastern San Diego County, and would really put the brakes on poorly planned developments. Efforts are also underway to spend habitat acquisition funds, approved by San Diego voters through the adoption of Transnet. This continuing sales tax, which will raise over $14 billion over the next 40 years for transportation system improvements in the County, included the dedication of $880 million for habitat conservation and mitigation uses. A 25 member environmental working group, put together by San Diego Association of Governments is working actively to front load the conservation expenditures, with the current goal of budgeting $450 million in spending over the next 10 years. Planning is also going forward aggressively to leverage these anticipated funds with money from Proposition 84, Proposition 50, and the recently adopted Proposition 1E. Combining Transnet conservation funding with money from a variety of statewide measures could foreseeably result in well over a billion dollars being spent on mitigation and habitat acquisition programs in the County in the next 10-20 years. Join with PCLF to support these efforts!

CALIFORNIA TODAY Planning and Conservation League & PCL Foundation

PLANNING AND CONSERVATION LEAGUE PLANNING AND CONSERVATION LEAGUE FOUNDATION

1107 NINTH STREET, SUITE 360 SACRAMENTO, CA 95814

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VISIT US ON THE WEB: www.PCL.org or www.PCLFoundation.org

A Tribute to a Long Time Friend: Barbara Eastman

By: Melanie Schlotterbeck

The environmental community has lost a wonderful treasure with the passing of our friend Barbara Eastman in December of last year. A longtime PCL Board member and environmental advocate, Barbaras commitment to the environment is one for the record books. Born in 1918, Barbara grew up in Oakland and met her husband, Bill, while attending UC Berkeley. By the 1960s, the South Bay was a hotbed of conservationists and Barbara engulfed herself in environmental causes. In fact, she is a co-founder of the Citizens for Regional Recreation and Parks, known to most of us now as the highly successful Greenbelt

Alliance. Its no surprise that she has received many awards over the years for her environmental protection accomplishments, including a Sierra Club distinguished service award in 1986. As for PCL, Barbara often hosted fundraisers in Inverness to promote PCLs conservation work and traveled to Sacramento to lobby on behalf of our sponsored legislation. Even in death, Barbara continues to give to the environmental community. She has requested that donations in her honor be made to PCL and other local conservation organizations. Thank you, Barbara, for your enthusiasm, spirit, and dedication to this great state and to PCL. Barbaras passing reminds us all that we can continue to give by listing PCL as a beneficiary in our estate plan.

The Eastman Family

Give the Gift of Nature to Someone Special on Your List

For just $35, you can send a friend or family member a membership to the Planning and Conservation League.
Throughout the year, your gift recipient will receive: Our quarterly publication of CALIFORNIA TODAY TODA Special invitations to local events and workshops Updates on projects of statewide significance Action alerts about environmental legislation Call us today 916-448-8726 about giving the gift of nature!