California: SF Bay Area conservation report called: Golden Lands, Golden Opportunity
“Golden Lands, Golden Opportunity” focuses on areas of public benefit
in each of the nine Bay Area counties. The goals outlined in the
report are to make sure all Bay Area residents have a park within a
10-minute walk of their home, to improve urban parks and to create
transit connections.
Click link for full text/increase funding for writer/producer of these
words: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/04/BA4Q15ME6N.DTL
The report, prepared by San Francisco’s Greenbelt Alliance and the Bay
Area Open Space Council, is an attempt to coordinate the region’s
land-use plans and streamline local, state and federal funding for
various projects. “Many of the lands that we take for granted, the
hillsides and farmland that we drive by, aren’t protected,” said
Elizabeth Stampe, spokeswoman for the Greenbelt Alliance. “These lands
function as a network for animals and plants to roam and for public
recreation, so the more we can knit together, the better they will
function.
The idea was to identify lands that provide public benefits
that aren’t protected from development.” Stampe said mountains,
forests, watersheds and wildlife in the region draw people to the area
and help fuel the region’s $400 billion economy. As many as 1 million
more people are expected to move to the Bay Area by 2020, she said, so
now is the time to protect the region’s green space. The giant green
corridor envisioned in the report would not mean commerce or private
business would cease.
The 100,000-acre coastal dairy belt in Sonoma
County, vineyards in Napa and fertile farmland in Contra Costa, Santa
Clara, Solano and Marin counties would be protected. Trails linking 47
cities in the nine Bay Area counties would also be funded, including
the 500-mile Bay Trail and the Carquinez Strait Scenic Loop. In San
Francisco, a 13-mile corridor along the southeastern waterfront known
as the Blue Greenway would bring recreation to an underserved area of
the city. Watersheds along the San Mateo and Santa Clara county
coasts, urban parks in Alameda and the 470,000 acres of redwood
forests and woodlands in Sonoma County would be protected under the
plan. High-priority lands would either be purchased or placed under
conservation easements. Farmers and other land stewards would be given
the support and resources needed to take care of the land and sell
locally farmed products.
Click link for full text/increase funding for writer/producer of these
words: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/02/04/BA4Q15ME6N.DTL
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