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UID:Indybay-18787808
SEQUENCE:18917462
CREATED:20160620T230300Z
DESCRIPTION:Protest the Deforestation and Poisoning of the East Bay Hills by UC 
 BerkeleyWednesday, June 29, 201612 NoonUC Berkeley (Southside 
 Entrance)Bancroft Way and Telegraph AveBerkeley, California    STOP THE 
 DEFORESTATION ANDPOISONING OF THE EAST BAY HILLS!   UC Berkeley, the East 
 Bay Regional Park District, the City of Oakland, and others, with funding 
 from FEMA and other public moneys, plan to kill over 450,000 healthy trees 
 in the East Bay hills, some over a hundred years old, on over 2,000 acres 
 of public lands from Point Richmond to Castro Valley. The destruction has 
 already started, and is expected to escalate as early as August, the end of 
 the official nesting season, unless we stop it. Millions of animals will 
 die from the loss of homes and food and the devastation left by bulldozers, 
 chainsaws, and poison, and the air quality and climate in the Bay Area will 
 suffer. Large amounts of herbicides are planned to be applied over a 
 10-year period, including Roundup (glyphosate, Monsanto), Garlon 
 (triclopyr, Dow), and Stalker (imazapyr, BASF). These pesticides have been 
 shown to cause serious health problems in both humans and animals, as well 
 as complex negative  ecological  impacts on  forest organisms. They persist 
 in the soil, and have found their way into watersheds and ground water. 
 Roundup has been banned in many countries because of its toxicity, and the 
 World Health Organization recently classified glyphosate as a 2A probable 
 carcinogen. The poison would affect everyone who uses the parks, and wash 
 into the bay from the creeks. Do we need more cancer and chronic 
 illness? When asked for public comment about one of the most important 
 parts of cities -- our parks and open space -- of the 13,000 people who 
 responded, 90% opposed the plans. Since then, over 65,000 have signed a 
 petition demanding the projects be stopped. Why is the will of the people 
 being ignored? Under the guise of fire safety, the agencies involved plan 
 to kill moisture-rich forests that precipitate over 10 inches of water from 
 fog drip in the midst of drought.  According to FEMA, the goal is to 
 transform much of the East Bay parks landscape into "grassland with islands 
 of shrubs", but this will increase fire danger by creating a highly 
 flammable environment where fires can spread quickly, driven by winds 
 unimpeded by tall trees. Our once beautiful parks will be barren and 
 desolate, and when the rains start, the landslides will come. These 
 destructive actions are driven in large part by the ideology that the 
 eucalyptus, acacia, and Monterey pines are non-native plants, that are 
 harmful to native ecosystems. Conservation biologist David Theodoropoulos 
 thoroughly debunked this ideology at a recent event in Berkeley, viewable 
 online at youtube.com/watch?v=n1i3RP7eDFc Eucalyptus are the preferred 
 nesting site for eagles, hawks, and large owls, and preferred resting site 
 for migrating Monarch butterflies. They also feed hummingbirds, bees, and 
 other pollinators. Monterey pines create incredible animal and plant 
 diversity. A survey of 173 ornithologists reported that 47% of birds eat 
 from non-native plants. In spite of the myths, eucalyptus are actually 
 less flammable than native bay laurels. Firefighter David Maloney, 
 appointed to the Oakland-Berkeley Mayors' Firestorm Task Force to 
 investigate the causes of the 1991 Hills Fire and make recommendations to 
 prevent its recurrence, said: "The Task Force Report concluded that the 
 spread of the fire was mostly due to the radiant heat generated by burning 
 houses… The spread of the fire was not due primarily to burning trees -- 
 eucalyptus or any other species."  For more details, visit these 
 websites:  SaveEastBayHills.org MillionTrees.me 
 HillsConservationNetwork.org EastBayPesticideAlert.org/wpad.html 
 TreeSpiritProject.com/sfbayclearcut BAPD.org/trees.html  Get in touch, and 
 get involved:  Coalition to Defend East Bay ForestsContact: 
 defendeastbayforests@riseup.netAlerts: 
 lists.riseup.net/www/info/eastbayforests-infoInfo: 
 facebook.com/CoalitiontoDefendEastBayForests    No Clearcuts, No Pesticides 
 - Defend East Bay Forests!    .\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/06/20/18787808.php
SUMMARY:Protest the Deforestation and Poisoning of the East Bay Hills by UC Berkeley
LOCATION:UC Berkeley (Southside Entrance)\nBancroft Way and Telegraph Ave\nBerkeley, 
 California
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2016/06/20/18787808.php
DTSTART:20160629T190000Z
DTEND:20160629T203000Z
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