The Wild Equity Institute is excited about two events this Saturday, May 19. In the morning we’ll be offering a special trip to view the San Mateo Woolly Sunflower on normally inaccessible SFPUC watershed lands, and then in the afternoon we’ll be joining Save the Frogs for a tailgate celebration for endangered species at Sharp Park Golf Course’s parking lot! Join us for both—let us know if you’d like to carpool. Details below:

Saturday, May 19, 2012, 10:00 a.m.-12:00 p.m.: Join Brent Plater of the Wild Equity Institute and Tim Sullivan of the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission for a leisurely walk into the usually inaccessible Crystal Springs watershed to search for the endangered San Mateo woolly sunflower. Park in the small parking lot slightly east of the Crystal Springs Road and Tartan Trail Road intersection, in San Mateo, CA. RSVP required: please use this website to RSVP. Part of the Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year, a competitive event to help endangered species recover.

Join Us May 19, 4:30pm, Sharp Park Golf Course:
Tailgate & Drum for Frogs, Occupy Sharp Park!

On May 19, golf purists think they will “celebrate” the 80th year of the money-losing, endangered species-killing golf course at Sharp Park.

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The Wild Equity Institute and the Wilderness Arts & Literacy Collaborative ("WALC") at Downtown High School recently completed another successful Endangered Species Big Semester by helping students explore the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge, learn how environmental justice victories in San Francisco are linked to a fossil fuel power plant construction boom in Antioch, and take action to help the Refuge’s endangered species recover.

WALC students remove invasive weeds at the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge.
Invasive weed growth is exacerbated by pollution from power plants that ring the Dunes.

Successful environmental justice campaigns in San Francisco led to the closure of two power plants in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill and Bayview-Hunters Point communities since 2006. In part to recoup the power lost when these power plants closed, the California Energy Commission approved five power plants, all ringing the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. The concentration of power plants in this location threatens community health and three endangered species found at the Refuge. The Wild Equity Institute is bringing environmental justice advocates and grassroots conservation organizations together to challenge this massive power plant expansion.

On WALC’s third and final trip of the Endangered Species Big Semester, students connected our successful struggles for conservation and environmental justice in San Francisco with the new fossil fuel power plants in Antioch, observed endangered species threatened by this proposal, and then took action to help these species recover.

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In 2012, the Wild Equity Institute is partnering with Downtown High School’s Wilderness, Arts, & Literacy Collaborative and the Mission Beacon Center at Everett Middle School to help at-risk youth discover the connections between the plights facing their communities and the plight of our local endangered species.

WALC’s Catherine Salvin helps students with their field journals
during an Endangered Semester trip to Mori Point.

Wild Equity Institute Executive Director Brent Plater helps Mission Beacon
students find Western Snowy Plovers at Ocean Beach.

The joint project is called “Endangered Semester,” an off-shoot of the Wild Equity Institute’s signature education project, the Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year. Generously supported by Audubon/Toyota TogetherGreen, the California Wildlands Grassroots Fund of the Tides Foundation, and Patagonia SF, the project provides students from these schools with opportunities to see and help save endangered species in the field, while earning prizes for learning how to communicate with public officials, make sustainable and healthy lifestyle choices, and take ownership of their local green spaces and parks.

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Informal reports from several locations suggest that the Mission Blue Butterfly is flying in the GGNRA right now. That means it’s the right time for Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year participants to score points in the year-long competition to see and save the park’s endangered species.

To give you an extra incentive, the Wild Equity Institute is offering a $25 Sports Basement gift certificate to the first person who logs a GGNP sighting of the Mission Blue on our website!

Mission Blue Butterfly, © Margo Bors.

The Mission Blue is a small, quarter-sized butterfly. Males are characterized by dark-bordered, silver blue to violet blue upper wings, while females have brown upper-wings with blue traces. The species flies from March until mid-June, but an adult Mission Blue Butterfly only lives for 6-10 days, so the time for observing any one individual is short. It uses one of three species of perennial lupines as a host plant: the silver lupine (Lupinus albifrons) the Lindley varied lupine (L. variicolor) and the summer lupine (L. formosus). Sometimes the butterfly makes it easy to spot: the species has the unique behavior of actually sitting on its lupine host for a while.

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The Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year is off to a rapid start, with students and members of the public competing to see and save our local endangered species. This weekend we’ll search and help save two of the most imperiled species of all: the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog. Join us for a great hike in a gorgeous place and guaranteed wildlife sightings!

• Twain’s Frog and the Beautiful Serpent—Saturday, March 17, 2012 10:00 am to 12:00 pm: Join Brent Plater of the Wild Equity Institute to search for two of the most imperiled vertebrate species on the San Francisco peninsula: the California red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake. This will be a leisurely walk to enjoy the restoration work being conducted at Mori Point and to learn about the bold steps being taken to save both species from the brink of extinction. RSVP required: please use this website to RSVP. Meet at the Mori Point Entrance Gate, at the intersection of Bradford Way and Mori Point Road, Pacifica, CA, 94044. Rain or Shine. Part of the Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year, a competitive event to help endangered species recover.

The GGNP Endangered Species Big Year is in full swing, and we’re helping you compete this weekend by leading a trip to see and help save the diminutive Western Snowy Plover at Ocean Beach! Come join us as we search for these little guys and learn how we can all take part in the species’ recovery. See you outside!

Saturday, February 25, 2012, 12:00 pm – 2:00 pm: Join Brent Plater of the Wild Equity Institute as we take a leisurely walk from the San Francisco Zoo to Ocean Beach searching for the threatened snowy plovers. Once we reach Ocean Beach we’ll head north observing wildlife and searching for these cryptic birds. RSVP required: please use this website to RSVP. Meet at the San Francisco Zoo Parking Lot Entrance on Sloat Blvd., near the Great Highway, San Francisco 94132. Bring a lunch. Free. Rain Cancels. Part of the Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year, a competitive event to help endangered species recover.

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Click either page for a .pdf download:

Contact:
Elizabeth Sorrell (212) 979-3185
Kaberi Kar Gupta (559) 357-3157
Mira Manickam (609) 356-3908
Brent Plater (415) 572-6989
John C. Robinson (707) 688-2848
Ian Signer (917) 843-2759

Five California Environmentalists Singled Out for Leadership
Honorees Receive Audubon/Toyota TogetherGreen Fellowships

New York, NY, November 16, 2011 – Five California residents are the recipients of a national fellowship that will enable them to help build on conservation work in the state.

Supported by a conservation alliance between Audubon and Toyota, the TogetherGreen Fellowship offers specialized training in conservation planning and execution, the chance to work and share best practices with gifted conservation professionals, and assistance with project outreach and evaluation. Each Fellow receives $10,000 towards a community-focused project to engage local residents in conserving land, water and energy, and contributing to greater environmental health.

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• September 14, 2011, 7:30 p.m.—Shaping San Francisco: Endangered Species Campaigning: Shaping San Francisco/CounterPULSE hosts a discussion about endangered species campaigning with Todd Gilens, creator of the Endangered Buses art project; Brent Plater, Executive Director of the Wild Equity Institute; and Jessie Raeder of the Tuolomne River Trust. You’ll learn about some of the most pressing issues facing San Francisco’s local endangered species, and how you can become part of the solution and help these species thrive. RSVP for the event here.

Todd Gilens Endangered Buses Project.

In 2011, the Wild Equity Institute partnered with Downtown High School in San Francisco to give students and endangered species a second chance at life. The joint project was called “Endangered Semester,” and it provides students who have not succeeded in traditional classrooms an opportunity to see 10 endangered species in the field, while taking 10 actions that help these species recover. It was a competitive event: as the students see and help save endangered species, they earn prizes that help their class succeed.

Endangered Semester Presentation at Downtown High School

The Endangered Semester was completed in four phases. First, students were provided an in-class description of the project, including specific instructions on how to see endangered species in the field ethically and how to complete actions that help species recover. Next students were taken on three field trips to observe species and conduct recovery actions. Third, students were provided with self-directed opportunities to see endangered species near their homes, and make healthy lifestyle choices that would also benefit conservation. Finally, the students’ scores were tallied and prizes awarded in an end of the semester celebration.

On January 13, 2011, students completed their first trip to help see and save Coho Salmon at Muir Woods National Monument and Muir Beach. Although inclement weather made it difficult to spot salmon, the students marshaled on and planted 120 native plants along creek beds to help improve spawning habitat for the anadromous fish.

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