Category: News

Interesting article at the NY Times: Australian researchers have found that walking leashed dogs along woodland paths leads to a significant reduction in the number and diversity of birds in the area, at least over the short term. These land management issues will be increasingly important in the future, and CGF will have to figure...

After hearing about how groups have used the world simulation Second Life for virtual meetings, I’ve set up a Committee for Green Foothills avatar, named Greenfeet Underwood. Hopefully this will be one more way to communicate with people, although right now I’m very new at using it. Anyone trying to reach us in this initial...

(We sent this letter today about the latest problem with the Institute Golf Course in Morgan Hill. -Brian) August 29, 2007 Morgan Hill City Council Re: Agenda Item #4 – Institute Golf Course Dear Mayor Tate and City Councilmembers; The Committee for Green Foothills has reviewed the Santa Clara Valley Audubon Society letter regarding the...

The good news is the news coverage given by the Mercury News to the unusually harsh criticism by government agencies and others over the Draft Environmental Impact Report for Coyote Valley: An unusually harsh set of comments by conservation groups and federal, state and local government agencies threatens to send San Jose’s environmental review of...

(We submitted the following letter to support AB 697, a bill sponsored by Assemblyman Ira Ruskin to extend the allowable payback time for bonds issued by MidPeninsula Regional Open Space District. This may sound technical and boring, but the result is more upfront money to buy land before the costs spiral out of control. We...

Via Grist, a disturbing story about the gray whales that migrate through the San Mateo County coastal area: pronounced warming means there’s not enough food in the Arctic zones to support the migration, so whales are switching to different food items and staying in different areas. California may have some more resident whales, but a...

(The following are CGF’s main points as to why developing the 8,000 acre Castro Valley Ranch is a mistake. For more background, see CGF’s newsletter article here, and our comments on the Draft EIR here. -Brian) 1. NMFS, USFWS and Cal DFG, together with all the environmental groups and some individuals, all stated they believed...

(Committee for Green Foothills wrote the letter below regarding Half Moon Bay’s Pilarcitos Community Park. -Brian) —– June 11, 2007 Mayor Naomi Patridge and Members of the City CouncilCity of HalfMoonBay 501 Main Street Half Moon Bay, CA94019 Dear Mayor Patridge and Members of the Council, The Committee for Green Foothills is deeply concerned about...

Following up on a previous blog post and the Spring 2007 Green Footnotes book review of “Last Child in the Woods,” there’s a good discussion of the lack of access to nature for children on the KQED radio show, Forum, available here. We need to protect local open space so the kids have somewhere to...

A landowner might think about how much more her property would be worth if she could just add another floor or build closer to a creek, without considering what would happen to her property value if all her neighbors and everyone for miles around were free to do anything they wanted with their property. Via...