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Davisite Banner. Left side the bicycle obelisk at 3rd and University. Right side the trellis at the entrance to the Arboretum.

Category: Environment

  • Tree Davis and Central Park Gardens Seek Volunteers to Help Grow Public Green Spaces!

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    Master Gardener Peggy Smith teaches volunteers about propagating perennial plants in Central Park Gardens

    Application Deadline: January 10

    (From press release) Are you passionate about the environment and looking for a meaningful way to give back to your community? Tree Davis, in collaboration with Central Park Gardens, is excited to announce its Green Volunteer Training program, inviting individuals to take an active leadership role in nurturing sustainable green spaces in Davis.

    Through this program, volunteers will have the unique opportunity to contribute to the beautification and sustainability of local parks, gardens, and trees. Tree Davis and Central Park Gardens welcome all who want to make a positive environmental impact, whether they are an experienced gardener or someone eager to learn.

    Following a Zoom orientation session on January 23rd from 6-7 pm, the training will be held on Sundays from 9 am to 1 pm on January 26, February 2, and February 9. Hands-on training with expert instructors will include planting, pruning, and weed management for the care of young trees and a variety of native and drought tolerant garden plants. Trainees will also learn leadership skills and tips for engaging volunteers in landscape improvement and stewardship projects.

    After completion of the training, volunteers will be asked to commit to volunteering at least once a month for a year with either Tree Davis or Central Park Gardens. Both organizations offer flexibility in scheduling with options for assisting as a team leader for weekend events or working more independently on weekdays.

    Apply today

    Don't miss out on this opportunity—apply now to secure your spot and be part of this impactful program! Have questions? Contact Hope from Tree Davis at hope@treedavis.org.

    Become part of the Central Park Gardens and Tree Davis volunteer teams and help maintain and enhance the city’s greenspaces, playing a key role in creating vibrant urban landscapes across Davis.

    Learn more and apply by January 10 at https://www.treedavis.org/green-volunteer/. A $20 training fee is requested to cover materials.

  • UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden Seeks Weekly Volunteer Gardeners

    Volunteers next to large weed bin

    Apply by Monday, Jan. 13

    (From press release) Are you passionate about nature, eager to learn new skills, and ready to give back to your community? The UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden invites you to join its dedicated team of gardening volunteers in 2025!

    Volunteering with the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden is an opportunity to connect with others who share your love for the outdoors, gain hands-on experience in sustainable gardening practices, and enjoy perks like early access to plant sales at the Arboretum Teaching Nursery, and seasonal events. It’s a rewarding way to spend your time while contributing to one of UC Davis’s most beloved spaces.

    Gardening volunteers work alongside expert horticultural staff to maintain and beautify Arboretum and Public Garden landscapes and work in teams that focus on specific areas. Each week, volunteers and staff collaborate to ensure these landscapes remain vibrant and inviting for the community.

    Key Details:

    • Application Deadline: Jan. 13, 2025
    • Commitment: One year, with weekly team shifts of two hours on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday mornings (flexible schedules accommodated).
    • Training Program: A comprehensive training program will be held in winter 2025. Classes include expert instruction and hands-on projects covering topics like plant identification, pruning, tool care, and weed management.
    • Training Dates: Thursdays, 9 a.m.-noon (Jan. 30, Feb. 6, Feb. 13, Feb. 20, Feb. 27, March 6).
    • Training Fee: $20 materials fee, payable on the first day of training.

    Apply Today

    Space is limited, so don’t wait to secure your spot! Have questions? Contact UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden Headquarters at (530) 752-4880 or arboretum@ucdavis.edu.

    Join the UC Davis Arboretum and Public Garden weekly gardening volunteer team and help them continue to create beautiful, thriving landscapes that inspire and engage the community.

    Learn more and apply by January 13, 2025:  https://arboretum.ucdavis.edu/volunteer

  • Thurs, Jan 23: New book on Aldo Leopold’s land ethic at the Avid Reader

    Millstein Avid Reader Event AnnouncementFrom the Department of Shameless Self-Promotion, I bring you an announcement of an upcoming event for my recently-published book: The Land Is Our Community: Aldo Leopold’s Environmental Ethic for the New Millennium (University of Chicago Press).   Mark your calendars now for this free event, one month from today!

    Event info:

    Thursday Jan 23rd, 2025
    6:30 PM-7:30 PM
    Avid Reader
    617 2nd Street
    Davis, CA
     
    Publisher's book description:

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  • Letter to Chancellor May from Fossil Free UCD

    The following was emailed to Chancellor May on December 11, 2024.

    Dear Chancellor May: 

    We write with appreciation for the actions campus staff are taking to reduce UC Davis’ greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and to ask you to ensure that UCD sets strong goals for Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions reductions in response to UCOP’s call for campus targets for all UCs to be submitted by 1/1/2025 (for background see here).

    Specifically, we would like UCD to officially establish targets of 75% reductions in Scope 1 and 2 emissions below the 2019 baseline by 2030, 81% by 2035, and 95% by 2040, which are the feasible potential reductions identified by our own Fossil Fuel-Free Pathway Plan (FFFPP).

    We view the strong intermediate 2030 target from our campus FFFPP as particularly important, given the urgency of the climate crisis. Communicating around near-term goals that are meaningful for our undergraduate students will show them our commitment to leading on the climate crisis. 

    We would also like to encourage campus to accelerate the process for tracking and reducing Scope 3 emissions (those generated off-campus, for example by travel and commuting). The state is requiring public and private companies to submit annual reports of such emissions by 2030 (a date which may be moved up to 2027), and strong near-term Scope 3 reductions will be needed to set us on a track toward UCOP’s goal to “reduce total emissions (scope 1, 2, and 3) at least 90% by 2045 without relying on carbon offsets.” We would like to be a part of campus discussions around Scope 3 targets and processes.

    Finally, we would like to let you know that a group of us has formally asked the Academic Senate to consider a detailed proposal for a Climate Crisis General Educational (GE) Requirement so that all UCD undergraduates will graduate with some background in climate science, action, and justice concepts. This one-course requirement would probably be allowed to overlap with other GEs so as not to increase time-to-graduation. We are happy to provide further details, and hope we can count on your support to make UCD a climate education leader. UC San Diego adopted such a requirement last year, starting for the class entering Fall 2024.

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  • Voting for Harris is Voting for These Power Women

    Wonderfulwomen
    Venessa Chang – Department of Energy, Lina Khan – Federal Trade Commission, Julie Su – Department of Labor

    By Scott Steward

    I am motivated to keep Venessa Chang, Lina Khan and Julie Su in power (see bios below). These women are in charge of our government’s renewable energy future, market, and wage equity.  That goes very much away if Trump wins. 

    Against Trump’s authoritarian challenge, good men and good women have come together in associations where differences are put aside to elect Harris/Walz.

    Indivisible Yolo (Indivisibleyolo.org) has built a platform of action here at home. For the next two weeks, the aim is to prevail in defending democracy.

    Get involved. IY has already paved the way – training at no cost.  indivisibleyolo.org.  Weekdays and weekends. Canvassing to win congressional districts in California. Calls to win abortion rights in Arizona. Volunteers virtually go where they are needed.   You need a computer and a cell phone to be fully able to help.   It's the most important 2 weeks ever.

    When we call, text, knock we win!  Come join in!    

    (this message is provided by the author alone and not any organization)

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  • Reminder – TODAY – renown experts give climate lecture on UCD campus

    Storer Lecturship in the Life Sciences: How Decades of Climate Denial, Disinformation and Doublespeak by Big Oil Fueled the Climate Crisis

    ClimateLectureTuesday October 22, 4:00 – 7 pm ARC Ballroom (and Zoom)

    Register here: https://bit.ly/102224StorerReg (or use QR code in flyer).   All are welcome.  Please register soon to help ensure an accurate headcount.

    Speakers:

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  • Free climate lecture on UCD campus, Tues Oct 22

    Storer Lecturship in the Life Sciences: How Decades of Climate Denial, Disinformation and Doublespeak by Big Oil Fueled the Climate Crisis

    ClimateLectureTuesday October 22, 4:00 – 7 pm ARC Ballroom (and Zoom)

    Register here: https://bit.ly/102224StorerReg (or use QR code in flyer).   All are welcome.  Please register soon to help ensure an accurate headcount.

    Speakers:

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  • Sierra Club Yolano Group Opposes New Changes Proposed for our Revered Davis Citizen Advisory Commissions

    The changes will threaten Commission independence and stifle innovation

     By the Sierra Club Yolano Group Management Committee

    A recent op-ed by Dan Carson and Elaine Roberts Musser (see here)  alerted Davis residents to a concern with a new proposal before the Davis City Council that has the potential to substantially limit citizen input into environmental issues in the City of Davis. 

    According to the op-ed, Mayor Josh Chapman and Councilmember Bapu Vaitla recently began asking Davis City Commissioners for feedback on their proposal for “clarification of how items are placed on a commission meeting agenda.”

    Carson and Roberts Musser state:

    “…in a big change, proposals initiated by a commission would now be subject to review and veto — by either any relevant council subcommittee (two councilmembers) or that commission’s assigned Council liaison (typically one councilmember).The Chapman-Vaitla plan says these new rules would apply whenever the council wished to “undertake a particular task/project/discussion.” In other words, almost anything and everything a commission might ever want to do would be subject to veto by one councilmember. The Council and city staff would dictate what a commission can or cannot do, but the commission itself would have absolutely no control over its work.” (Bold emphasis added)

    If enacted, we find this proposal deeply concerning and undemocratic.  Historically, at least six of Davis’s volunteer citizen commissions regularly dealt with environmentally-related matters: Tree; Open Space and Habitat; Natural Resources; Bicycling, Transportation, and Street Safety; Utilities; and Recreation and Park Commission (for the latter, with topics such as the use of toxic pesticides and drought-tolerant plantings).

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  • Palomino Place Project receiving comments on environmental impact report until Sep 23

    By Roberta Millstein

    Screen Shot 2024-09-02 at 1.29.22 PMA Davisite reader sent me the following information.  Until that point, I hadn't realized that comments were being sought on the environmental impact report for the proposed Palomino Place Project, so I thought I would share the information with other Davisites, too.  I haven't seen anything in the Davis Enterprise or Vanguard about it (though it is possible I just missed it).

    Apparently, the draft Subsequent EIR ("subsequent" to the EIR from 2009) for the Palomino Place Project has been available since early August. Comments on the draft are due September 23. Comments would typically point out errors, inconsistencies, omissions of data or analyses, conclusions not based on evidence, or failures to provide discussion required by CEQA.

    As the post below indicates, there is also a public meeting about the project on Sep. 11.

    City link to Palomino Place documents:

    https://www.cityofdavis.org/city-hall/community-development-and-sustainability/development-projects/palomino-place

    Draft Subsequent EIR released August 2024:

    https://documents.cityofdavis.org/Media/Default/Documents/PDF/CDD/Planning/Special-Projects/Palomino-Place-2023/Supplemental%20EIR/Draft-Palomino-Place-SEIR-August%202024.pdf

    Notice of Availability (NOA) of Palomino Place Subsequent EIR:

    https://documents.cityofdavis.org/Media/Default/Documents/PDF/CDD/Planning/Special-Projects/Palomino-Place-2023/Supplemental%20EIR/NOA-20240807-Palomino-Place-SEIR.pdf

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  • Will council let out-of-town landlord ignore Climate Policy?

    Time to enforce the Law at Oakshade Mall?

    By Alan ”Lorax” Hirsch

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    Near Treeless North Parking at Oakshade Mall

    To give the landlord more flexibility to find tenants, Davis council is being asked to rezone the Oakshade Mall (Safeway)  located  at south Pole Line Rd x Cowell.  This is before council  on the Tuesday 8/27/24 agenda ( see  staff report  item #4).   However this landlord is notorious for their neglect of its trees and is in violation of city tree protection ordinance.

    So, while makes sense for city to update zoning in response to a changing retailing climate,  it also  makes sense to do updates in city’s  relationship with this out-of-town landlord in regard to the Climate Crisis and city’s  CAAP policies, changes to sustain  Davis’s quality of life by deal with global heating.

    More Shade is Existential

    It is forecast that half Davis’s  summer days will be over 100 degree in 50 years. Unshaded asphalt reachs 140+ degrees in those conditions.  Davis’s CAAP climate plan appropriately calls for more tree shade as part our adaption plan.  To have that shade in 50 year tree need to be planted now. And investing in tree is just good marketing sense of a long-term landlord-  as contrast with incentive for on-site property manager who  often just think about next quarter’s cash flow so look everywhere to cut maintenance cost.

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    30 year old oak at Oakshade Mall

    But beyond increased tree shade called for Davis CAAP climate plan, this shopping center development has for years been in  gross violation of the city’s  1990’s tree ordinance under which it was approved.  That ordinance required “50% parking lot shade in 15years”  The landscape plan the developer/landlords signed off as part of plan- check had them agree to no just plant trees, but maintain the newly planted trees to obtain that 50% tree shade level.  This was not an impossible requirement:  If you drive West of Cowell just 2 block to the Kaiser clinic you can see tree can be grown in Parking lots.

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    In the past, a large shade tree was (killed?) and replaced with small shrub…that was then topped

    However, the landlord & his property managers have not grown and maintain trees as agreed over near 30 years the mall has been in operation. And when trees have died they have either not been replace, or replace with a shorter species. And the irrigation system has been neglected.

    As you can see from attached recent arial pictures- (and picture in below linked article from 2018), the landlord has not met their legal requirement of 50% shade.   A visit the site will make obvious the gross number of  missing, stunted and dead trees.  The north parking area is nearly tree-free.

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