Conservation Corner
Dark Sky Symposium - The Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society, the Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, and the Sierra Club Bay Alive Campaign invite you to our symposium on dark skies and bird-safe building and lighting design. The use of LED technology and energy saving lighting fixtures are bringing with them an unintended, yet pervasive and harmful effect: the over-lighting of our nights. Learn about the biological and physical effects of light at night and strategies that can guard our health and environment while providing safe and practical lighting solutions.
Please join us on the afternoon of Wednesday, November 16, for our symposium – Light at Night: A Glowing Hazard. For more information, see here and register here.
Santa Clara County Wants to Hear Your Personal Experiences With Lehigh Cement Plant – The Lehigh Cement Plant and Quarry has been destroying the Cupertino hillside and polluting the air and water with numerous local, state, and federally recorded violations for a hundred years. In February, the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to consider options for the acquisition of the property. As part of ongoing investigations into their operations, the County is looking for public input–whether positive, negative, or neutral–to determine whether there is evidence that operation of the Lehigh Cement Plant has created a public health or safety nuisance. A direct personal experience can include, for example, your personal experience of any impacts from the Lehigh Cement Plant to the environment at or near your address, including with respect to air quality, noise, water, traffic, health, or safety.
To share your experiences, please fill out this form by 5:00 pm on Friday, October 28, 2022.
We Won! - For several years, we have persistently (and vocally) opposed the proposal by the San Jose Light Tower (AKA Breeze of Innovation) to build a monumental light pollution generator at Arena Green park, the confluence of the Guadalupe River and Los Gatos Creek in downtown San Jose. We learned that due to “environmental concerns with the riparian corridor, regulatory challenges, and air traffic noise,” the proponents of the project are no longer seeking to place it in Arena Green and are now hoping to build their “Breeze of Innovation” at Plaza de Cesar Chavez instead. We are greatly relieved and will continue to follow the project to ensure that future lighting does not harm the environment.
SCVAS endorsement of San Benito County Measure Q – If passed by voters, this ballot measure will protect agriculture and range land in the county from development and sprawl.
Cupertino Updates
Speak up for native habitat at a new park – The City is building a new park that will run along Saratoga Creek, Lawrence-Mitty Park, and is asking for public feedback. Although there are three designs, the designers will look at the most popular features of each. Of note, the second design (Concept B: Story Trail) has the most natural habitat of the three. Unfortunately, the designers stated that, while the immediate areas next to the creek will have native vegetation, they plan to use non-native trees in other areas. Please take the survey by Monday, October 31, with the following suggested responses.
Question 5: Choose “B – Story Trail” as the preferred concept
Question 7: Choose “As much sound wall as possible.” (The other choices will reduce the amount of habitat.)
Question 8: Ask the City to plant all native plants and trees that have high habitat value.
No illuminated signs – A new storage facility recently proposed adding two enormous illuminated signs on their buildings that would face the 280 freeway. This not only would have added to the overall light pollution of the city, but it would also have distracted motorists violating the city’s design criteria and harm the scenic corridor along the freeway. We spoke up, and the Planning Commission rejected the freeway-facing signs.
Wildlife protections in golf course maintenance contract – The City Council was asked to sign off on a renewal of the maintenance contract of Blackberry Farm Golf Course, which is located next to Stevens Creek and McClellan Ranch. Out of curiosity, we looked at the over 700 page document that the City Staff prepared and noticed that the new contract did not include many of the wildlife and creek protections that the previous contract had. For example, the new contract did not require workers to conduct bird nest surveys before tree maintenance during nesting season. We spoke up, and the City acknowledged the omissions and are adding our recommendations to the new contract.