Natural Areas Plan in limbo

Laudato si', mi' Signore, per sora nostra matre Terra,
la quale ne sustenta e governa,
e produce diversi frutti con coloriti flori et herba.

Praise be to you, My Lord, for our sister, Mother Earth,
Which sustains and governs us,
And produces diverse fruits with colored flowers and herbs.

These verses from Song of the Creatures express St. Francis' reverence for life and biodiversity - one of the reasons our city's epynomous patron has been called the "patron saint of environmentalism". It is fitting that the birth of the modern environmental movement took place right here in San Francisco, with the founding of the Sierra Club by John Muir at the turn of the last century. It is also fitting that San Francisco, almost unique among large North American cities, contains an astounding array of biodiversity - including many species found only here. Due to the variety of soils and microclimates, the San Francisco bioregion has been recognized by the eminent biologist E.O. Wilson as a "biodiversity hotspot" - a status confirmed by the United Nations' designation of the protected lands in San Francisco as part of the "Golden Gate Biosphere Reserve".

The core city program to protect and enhance San Francisco's biodiversity is the Recreation and Parks Department's Natural Areas Program (NAP). In accordance with state law and the city's own "Sustainability Plan", the NAP is to be guided by a management plan, the Significant Natural Resource Management Plan, on how to protect the city's significant natural resources for the next 20 years. After years of planning and scores of public meetings, a new plan was finalized last summer and approved by the Recreation and Park Commission to be forwarded for environmental review. Unfortunately, since then, for more than a year, the commission has been sitting on it.

In a manner all too typical of the commission's modus operandi, an item authorizing funding for environmental review was mysteriously pulled from the May 17 agenda without any public explanation. Since then, after a shuffling of commissioners, meetings without quorums, and numerous canceled meetings, that item remains at the bottom of a list for which the hearing date is "to be determined". Even as they have approved Open Space funds to subsidize golf, swimming pools, artificial turf, and all sorts of things which have nothing to do with open space, they seem willing to allow the essential management plan for our city's natural areas to remain in limbo.

Planning for protection and enhancement of our local biodiversity is too important to be held hostage to the petty politics and ulterior motives of the commissioners or maladroit marionetteering by the mayor's office. Once allowed to start, the environmental review will take at least a year. Even in the best of circumstances, that means that the planning process will have taken more than 10 years by the time it's complete - all this to develop a 20-year plan!

So why are the department and the commission continuing to delay the final stage of the planning process?

WhatYouCanDo

Attend a commission meeting and tell the commissioners in person to expedite environmental review and final passage of the NAP Management Plan. The commission meets the first and third Thursday of every month at 2:00 pm in Room 461 at City Hall.

If you can't make it to a meeting, please send the message in writing to:

Larry Martin, President
Recreation and Park Commission
McLaren Lodge, Golden Gate Park
501 Stanyan St.
San Francisco, CA 94117-1898.

The commission needs to take seriously the city's commitment to protecting local nature and biodiversity. Tell the commissioners that San Franciscans really do care about our natural environment. Take a moment to communicate solidarity with all the creatures - tutte le creature - who make up our ecologically and culturally diverse community of San Francisco.

Steven Chapman, conservation chair, Sierra Club San Francisco Group