Cupertino Parks

Calling all Cupertino Residents!: Share your love for parks and nature!

Here are two opportunities for Cupertino Residents to express their love for nature, wildlife birds and what makes Cupertino special:

• Share your Parks and Recreation story:

Do you have a short story to tell about an experience in nature, or about the birds along Stevens Creek? The deer, quail, and coyote? The great-horned and screech owls or the red-shouldered hawk? Have you participated in a bioblitz along the creek, or visited the McClellan Ranch bird feeders? Have you seen children enjoying the birds, the bugs, the deer, the meadow?

July is ‘Parks and Recreation Month’ and Cupertino wants to hear your favorite stories about Cupertino parks! Fill out this survey by May 13th, and your story might be featured in Cupertino’s July Scene.

This is a unique opportunity to share our experience and ensure that the Cupertino Parks Department understands just how important wildlife, birds and nature are to you and your family.

And please share the stories with us as well - we’d love to hear them!

• Prioritize Birds and Native Habitat Restoration in Cupertino’s New Park, Lawrence-Mitty:

Cupertino has a new park and you can help design it! Please complete this survey by May 23rd to provide design input for the City’s new park, Lawrence-Mitty!

Please include the following recommendations:

No outdoor lightingNative habitat restoration and enhancementTrails that are unlit, slow, winding, narrow trails that have minimal impact on surrounding habitatNo shade sails or other artificial shade mechanisms that would retain heat. Instead, provide more trees for shade.This park would be a great spot for planting native trees as per the CAP requirements

Artificial Light At Night (ALAN) Educational Videos!

One of our focus advocacy efforts is raising awareness about and reducing Artificial Light At Night (ALAN). ALAN negatively affects virtually all species on Earth, especially birds trying to migrate. We advocate for responsible outdoor lighting through city planning documents, advocating for dark sky and bird safe design ordinances, commenting on development projects, and raising awareness through education initiatives. One of these initiatives is our ALAN video series featuring our Environmental Advocacy Assistant Giulianna Pendleton! Check out our two-part video series below!

Video #1: Wildlife and Harvest 2021 SCVAS Light Pollution

Video #2: SCVAS Light Pollution Volume 2

San Jose at night: Keith Wandry

March Conservation Corner

Giulianna’s Op-ed on the Newts of Alma Bridge Rd.

Giulianna, our Environmental Advocacy Assistant, wrote an op-ed published in the Los Gatan to raise awareness about the declining newt population on Alma Bridge Rd near Lexington Reservoir in Los Gatos. If you are interested in helping monitor the newts, please visit the Newt Patrol, a volunteer-based group led by Dr. Merav Vonshak. Read the article here.

California Newt: Dr. Merav Vonshak

ACTION NEEDED: Vallco in Cupertino is now The Rise and it's A LOT of glass

On the project’s website, please scroll down to “Comments” and enter: “Please adhere to the City of Cupertino's Bird Safety and Dark Sky ordinance. Please turn all lights off inside office buildings after 11PM”

Check Your Inbox for Upcoming Action Items!

Look out for upcoming Action Alerts! Midpen Open Space will soon be considering a new electric bike trail policy, the Palo Alto Parks and Recreation Commission will be discussing the new Baylands Comprehensive Conservation Plan, and Cupertino’s City Council will be considering changes to Blackberry Farm Golf Course. We need voices like yours to speak up in public meetings and write to your elected officials to protect birds and their habitat!

Recruiting Palo Alto Volunteers

Do you live or work in Palo Alto and are looking for ways to take action in your community? We are looking for volunteers to advocate for the natural community in Palo Alto! We need strong voices to speak up at public meetings to raise awareness about lighting, bird safety, and habitat protections. If you are interested in this opportunity, please reach out to Shani Kleinhaus at advocate@scvas.org.

Win! Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District (Midpen) New Mitigation Policy

The Midpen Board of Directors approved a new mitigation policy. In a letter we submitted with Green Foothills, California Native Plant Society Santa Clara Valley Chapter, Sierra Club Loma Prieta Chapter, and CLEAN South Bay, we asked the new policy to include evaluation criteria for any third-party mitigation proposals - and the Board unanimously approved our proposed change! The new policy also includes a requirement that "the project and mitigation will likely result in a long-term benefit to the affected resource,” meaning third-party mitigation proposals must result in a net benefit to the environment.

Sunnyvale Moffett Park Specific Plan

Dave Zittin

Birds and Biodiversity should be prioritized in the Moffett Park Specific Plan

Sunnyvale City Council is hosting a Moffett Park Specific Plan (MPSP) Study Session on Monday, March 7th at 6:00pm. They will discuss open space and urban ecology and they need to hear from us!

Moffett Park and the Sunnyvale Baylands are home to over 200 bird species, both native and migratory, including burrowing owls. The MPSP will allow 20,000 new housing units and 10 million square feet of office space to be developed in Moffett Park, and we need your help to make sure birds are protected and their habitats expanded and enhanced to nurture biodiversity and native flora and fauna.

Tens of thousands of new residents and employees will live, work and enjoy open space at the edge of the bay. We must ensure that access to parks and wetlands is planned through a conservation lens that will allow birds and wildlife to thrive.

Please email Sunnyvale City Council and ask for strong habitat protections, protective lighting and bird safety standards, and measures to ensure that birds and wildlife in the wetlands thrive. Please forward this alert to your friends and neighbors and ask them to do the same!

Sample Email:

To: council@sunnyvale.ca.gov,

CC: moffettpark@sunnyvale.ca.gov,

BCC: Advocate@scvas.org

Subject: Protect Sunnyvale Birds and Open Space in the MPSP

Dear Mayor Klein and Council Members,

[Say a little about yourself] As a community member, nature enthusiast, and bird watcher, I write to ask that you follow the San Francisco Estuary Institute’s recommendations to:

• Establish a minimum of 44 acres of high habitat value eco-patches and hubs.

• Establish a minimum of 40% canopy cover district-wide.

• Expand wetlands and establish terrestrial buffers as setbacks adjacent to the wetlands and flood channels.

• Ensure mobility greenways include habitat, canopy, and dark sky attributes and that habitats are effectively connected and sufficient to support wildlife in an urban area.

Please prioritize strong bird safety and dark sky standards for Moffett Park and plan access to baylands and nature along the bay in a way that allows sensitive species and ecosystems to thrive.

Our local open spaces are dwindling and we need plans such as the MPSP to prioritize nature, create responsible development, and balance habitat and human access. Habitat patches that foster connectivity, native plants and wildlife, and restore habitat are beneficial for both humans and nature. Please prioritize nature and open space in the MPSP!

Thank you,

[Your Name]