Save the East Bay Hills

I know this isn't a local issue, but thought it was disturbing enough to post. If it happens there it could happen closer to home...


THIS IS A TERRIBLE PLAN BY FEMA TO CLEAR CUT THOUSANDS OF TREES FROM THE EAST BAY HILLS AND APPLY TOXIC HERBICIDES. PLEASE SEE THE INFORMATION BELOW ABOUT THIS AND HOW TO WRITE LETTERS TO TRY TO STOP THIS. THE WORK IS TO BEGIN SOON.

SEE ALSO THE FACEBOOK PAGE FOR SAVE THE EAST BAY HILLS: If you would like to stay updated on our efforts to stop the plan, please join us at facebook.com/savetheeastbayhills.

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Save the East Bay Hills

The City of Oakland, UC Berkeley, and the East Bay Regional Parks District have received federal funding for an environmentally catastrophic plan to destroy Eucalyptus, Monterey Pine, Monterey Cypress, and Acacia forests on East Bay public lands, including 11 regional parks such as Tilden, Redwood, Sibley Volcanic, Huckleberry, Lake Chabot and Miller-Knox Shoreline. As many as 400,000 trees in the East Bay hills will be cut down and toxic chemicals made by Monsanto and Dow will be applied on their stumps. Costing nearly $6 million, this plan will radically transform the character and appearance of the hills while threatening human health and safety and causing great animal suffering, including the decimation of habitat vital to several protected species.

According to FEMA, the federal agency funding this proposal, the goal is to eliminate forests in 2,059 acres so that the land can be transformed into “grassland with islands of shrubs.” FEMA admits that the plan will cause, “unavoidable adverse impacts… to vegetation, wildlife and habitats, protected species, soils, water quality, aesthetics, community character, human health and safety, recreation, and noise.”

In addition to cutting down hundreds of thousands of trees, this plan will repeatedly expose the people and animals of the East Bay to hazardous herbicides being banned in other Bay Area cities and internationally, including Monsanto’sGlyphosate and Diuron and Dow Chemical’s Triclopyr These herbicides have been found to cause DNA and chromosomal damage in human cells and increase the risk of Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma, to increase the risk of breast, kidney, and bladder cancer, to cause severe birth defects when tested on poor animals including rats born with their brains outside their skulls, to harm birds and aquatic species and to damage the kidneys, liver and the blood of dogs, the latter being an issue of particular concern to the legions of dog walkers which regularly visit our public parks. Herbicide drift will inevitably result in chemicals spreading far beyond their original point of application, especially given that much of the herbicide application is to be done along East Bay ridgetops where strong winds, storm runoff and numerous creeks which run down the hillsides past and even through private property will deliver these chemicals to residents’ doorsteps and even a playing field - the North Oakland Sports Center - where families gather throughout the year for recreation and organized sports. FEMA specifically notes “potential adverse health effects of herbicides on vegetation management workers, nearby residents, and users of parks and open space.”

Learn more about this pending environmental catastrophe by clicking here.

Learn more about the poisoning plan by clicking here.

See maps and photos of impacted areas by clicking here.

Learn about an alternative plan that does not cut down any trees by clicking here.

Learn what you can do to try and stop this by clicking here.

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Save the East Bay Hills is a coalition of families who live in the East Bay hills working to stop the pending deforestation and poisoning of our public lands.