Believe it or not, the Sierra Club has sued to demand deforestation of the East Bay Hills, followed by the use of pesticides! East Bay Regional Park District, UC Berkeley, and the City of Oakland will use FEMA dollars to raze hundreds of thousands of healthy trees in a plan to convert public lands to hot, dry “grasslands with islands of shrubs.” Driven by the Sierra Club, this project will WORSEN CLIMATE CHANGE by releasing vast amounts of carbon. It will also SHATTER A COMPLEX ECOSYSTEM, destroying precious habitat for millions of creatures. Finally, according to fire experts and the US Forest Service, it will WORSEN FIRE DANGER:
• By eliminating shade and fog drip provided by living trees, which retain moisture and serve as natural fire retardants;
• By destroying windbreaks that provide barriers to wind-driven fires typical of California wildfires;
• By replacing trees with highly flammable grass on unshaded ground. Most California wildfires start in grass.
After cutting the trees, they will apply thousands of gallons of toxic pesticides, Including Monsanto’s RoundUp and Dow’s Garlon. The World Health Organization has classified RoundUp as a probable human carcinogen.
Over 1,800 members of the local Sierra Club Chapter have signed a petition in opposition to the Sierra Club’s support for this project. The Club’s by-laws now obligate the Club to conduct an official vote of the membership on this issue. The Club must change its policy if the membership votes against it.