An election is always cause for reflection: on the candidates and issues we are asked to support (or oppose); the state of our democracy; and our individual roles within it.

Today is no different. And while it may be some time before the full repercussions of today’s election will be known, we can immediately start reflecting on our relationship to each other and our relationship to the plants and animals that accompany us on Earth.

Here’s to a new opportunity: another chance to get involved and help build a more equitable world for us all. At the Wild Equity Institute, we always have the time to help you find your place within our growing movement to build a healthy and sustainable global community. Contact us to find out how you can become involved in our work.

The work begins near home. Today we stumbled across this photo of Sharp Park’s Laguna Salada. The lagoon is reclaiming it’s historic boundaries with water collected from the winter rains. It reminds us how easily and instantly the floodplain can be restored: and that we can build a better, more sustainable, and more equitable park at Sharp Park, just as nature is already attempting to do.

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New documents released by the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department show that another $63,000 was spent to install and repair a pump at the controversial Sharp Park Golf Course, adding to the course’s environmental and economic woes.

The 63-thousand Dollar Pump Installation at Sharp Park

The project follows a $238,000 project to fix the pumping operations implemented just two years ago.

The golf course’s expenses are partly responsible for the Department’s unpopular plan to commercialize San Francisco’s public spaces. For example, at a recent community meeting about Dolores Park, General Manager Phil Ginsburg argued for a controversial vending-cart plan to close a 70-thousand dollar shortfall in Dolores Park’s budget.

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Thanks to calls, letters, and compelling public testimony, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has delayed approval of a recycled water project that would benefit the controversial Sharp Park Golf Course.

The SFPUC was asked to give its General Manager authority to negotiate a recycled water delivery contract with San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department. The contract would deliver recycled water from a treatment plant in Pacifica to Sharp Park Golf Course.

As currently proposed, three-quarters of the recycled water from the treatment plant would be delivered to Sharp Park Golf Course. But since the golf course may not persist, the current proposal jeopardizes the long-term feasibility of the recycled water project: if the SFPUC cannot find alternative customers for this water, the project could become infeasible and set a bad precedent for future recycled water projects.

The Wild Equity Institute and other environmental organizations argued that the Commission needs to provide opportunities to deliver the water to other users before locking-in contractual agreements for a golf course that may not exist.

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Tomorrow, Tuesday September 28, 1:30pm at San Francisco City Hall room 400, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission will vote to authorize the SFPUC General Manager to negotiate a memorandum of understanding with Phil Ginsburg and the Recreation and Parks Department to deliver recycled water to Sharp Park Golf Course. The vote is item 14 on the agenda. You can find out more here.

The Wild Equity Institute supports using recycled water for non-potable uses. In general, recycled water is a great substitute for drinking water, when the substitution is appropriate.

But this vote is pre-mature. As currently proposed, 75% of the recycled water from this project is slated to quench Sharp Park Golf Course: even though the golf course is unlikely to exist in the near future as sea level rises and environmental and economic constraints force the City to provide recreational golf elsewhere. This is why people from across the political spectrum, from San Francisco’s Green Party to Republican Senator John McCain, have all opposed investing millions of dollars in a water project for a marginal golf course.

So why the rush to vote? A document request by the Wild Equity Institute has found part of the answer: to beat a deadline for federal stimulus dollars for the project. With federal stimulus money on the line, the PUC and its partners seem to be spending money and making agreements first, and thinking about the consequences later.

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San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department is seeking federal funding from the Army Corps of Engineers to build a sea wall at Sharp Park: a sea wall that ecologists and biologists have stated will doom the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog, and cause Sharp Park Beach to erode away as sea level rises. We need you to take action today to stop this golf course bailout effort in its tracks.

Read More About the Golf Bailout Here:

The Department is trying to obtain the funds from Section 206 of the Water Resources Development Act: a federal program that directs the Army Corps of Engineers to restore aquatic ecosystems. The Department convinced Congresswoman Jackie Speier to initiate the request: and true to her early statements in support of restoring Sharp Park, her request claims that the money will be used to protect endangered species at Sharp Park, not bailout the golf course.

But legislative research by the Wild Equity Institute indicates that the Department has a very different—and arguably illegal—purpose for the restoration money: the Department’s formal letter in support of the project expressly states that the funds will be used to ‘reconstruct the Sharp Park Seawall’ and to ‘maintain the existing recreational opportunities provided by the golf course’.

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A 2010 study released by UC Berkeley Environmental Science, Policy, & Management students concludes that Sharp Park Golf Course should be closed and the land restored in partnership with the Golden Gate National Parks.

A Restoration Vision for Sharp Park

The independent study, based on Recreation and Park Department data and interviews with environmental and golf advocates in the Bay Area, reviewed the fiscal, recreational, and environmental impacts of Sharp Park Golf Course. The study made a number of important findings:

• Sharp Park Golf Course is not financially self-sustaining and loses thousands of taxpayer dollars every year.
• Millions of capital improvement dollars are required to make the golf course competitive, but there is no guarantee that the investment would improve profitability of the course.
• The golf course is harming two endangered species, the California red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake.
• The golf course serves a small community of golfers that is declining, while demand for other outdoor recreation is increasing.

The study concludes that restoring Sharp Park in partnership with the National Park Service is the best alternative for Sharp Park, because it will resolve environmental problems at the site while matching public recreation supply with modern recreation demand.

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Sunday, September 19, 2010, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. — 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. Rain or Shine. Meet at the Mori Point Trailhead, Pacifica, CA, 94044. Take the Sharp Park exit off Hwy. 1 and continue south on Bradford Way about 0.5 mile to the gate/trailhead at Mori Point Rd. Roadside parking is limited; carpooling is encouraged. Samtrans buses #110 and #112 stop nearby.

California red-legged frog

We’ve got two great Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year trips this weekend to see some of the rarest species on the San Francisco Peninsula. Join us for some time outside, good conversation, and opportunities to build a healthy and sustainable community for people and the plants and animals that accompany us on Earth!

• Gowen, Gowen, Gone? Climate Change, Adaptation, & the Presidio’s Gowen Cypress. Saturday, August 28, 2010, 10 a.m.-12 p.m.— Join Brent Plater of the Wild Equity Institute and Dr. Daniel Gluesenkamp of the Bay Area Early Detection Network on a short walk and discovery of the Presidio’s misplaced Gowen Cypress. The Gowen Cypress is a federally listed species, but it isn’t native to the Presidio, and its presence in the Golden Gate National Parks raises questions we all need to grapple with. When is it appropriate to move imperiled wildlife and plants, and when we do it, how do we do it properly? In an era of climate change, these questions will become more important—and more difficult—to answer. Join us to search for this tree in the Presidio and begin answering these questions, all while earning points towards the 2010 GGNP Endangered Species Big Year grand prize. RSVP Required: please use this links on this web page to RSVP. Rain or shine. Meet at the parking area near the intersection of Pacific Ave. and Walnut St., San Francisco, CA 94118. Easily accessible by bike and transit: check www.511.org for details.

Gowen Cypress in the Presidio

• Twain’s Frog & the Beautiful Serpent. Sunday, August 29, 2010, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. — 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. Rain or Shine. Meet at the Mori Point Trailhead, Pacifica, CA, 94044. Take the Sharp Park exit off Hwy. 1 and continue south on Bradford Way about 0.5 mile to the gate/trailhead at Mori Point Rd. Roadside parking is limited; carpooling is encouraged. Samtrans buses #110 and #112 stop nearby.

Can you find four California red-legged frogs in this photo?

A new article in the Pacifica Tribune highlights the significant financial and legal risks Sharp Park Golf Course places on the City and County of San Francisco, and given San Mateo County’s own $150 million dollar budget deficit, urges San Mateo County to support building a better, restored landscape on Sharp Park.

The article notes that Pacifica City Manager Steve Rhodes went to San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors’ budget hearings to urge the City to continue funding Sharp Park. Yet efforts to protect the threatened Western Snowy Plover in Pacifica have been stymied because city officials have claimed there aren’t sufficient public resources to implement processes to protect the bird.

It’s time for Pacifica to get its priorities straight. read the article here and then submit a letter to the editor of the Pacifica Tribune supporting a restored Sharp Park. Send your letter to Editor & Publisher Elaine Larson today.

Pacifica’s Economic Development Committee reignited a controversial development proposal by resolving to develop an area known as the Pacifica Quarry, which is adjacent to the National Park Service’s Mori Point. The resolution urges the City of Pacifica to plan and entitle a “village type” development on the property: even though the area has been designated as an Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Area by the Coastal Commission.

If the development moves forward it will jeopardize the continued existence of two species listed under the Endangered Species Act: the area is occupied habitat for the California red-legged frog and provides suitable habitat for the San Francisco garter snake. The development could also negatively impact the adjacent National Park lands.

The development proposal highlights the critical importance of restoring Sharp Park, which is on the other side of Mori Point from the Pacifica Quarry. At Sharp Park we can build a better public park free of “takings” claims made by private developers; adapt our coast to rising sea levels without building sea walls that destroy beaches; and provide restored habitats for Twain’s Frog and the beautiful serpent.

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