Antioch Dunes

During an inter-glacial period approximately 140,000 years ago, a network of sand dunes and desert environments stretched from the location of the modern-day Mojave Desert across the Central Valley to the San Joaquin River.  As California’s climate changed the dunes retreated, but a stretch of desert-like habitat was left behind along the San Joaquin near Antioch, California.

Contra Costa Wallflower

The isolation of this area in Antioch allowed the species found there to evolve into unique life forms found nowhere else on Earth.  Today the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge protects the remnants of these habitats, upon which three federally protected species depend: the Contra Costa Wallflower, the Antioch Dunes Evening Primrose, and the Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly.

Prior to European settlement, the Antioch Dunes were probably several hundred acres in size. Currently, because of past sand mining, agriculture, and urban development, only about 70 acres of the sand dune habitat remains, all within the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge.

Today these areas are threatened by a new mechanism: nitrogen deposition.  The California Energy Commission has approved five natural gas power plants within roughly one mile of the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge.  The power plants have and will have significant nitrogen emissions.  Sand dunes like the Antioch Dunes are nitrogen deficient, and the changes in plant and microbial communities resulting from increased amounts of the airborne deposition of this chemical has been documented to cause cascading negative effects on ecosystem processes and the species that depend upon the structure of the existing native plant community.  One of the primary adverse effects is the enhancement of environmental conditions for the invasion of non-native weeds, which out-compete native plants.

The Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly, the Antioch Dunes Evening Primrose, and the Contra Costa Wildflower are all highly endangered, and even small changes in the plant distribution at the dunes could take these species, adversely modify critical habitat, impede recovery, and even cause the species to go extinct.  In particular, the Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly is so critically endangered that a single failure in the productivity of the species host plant could lead to the permanent extinction of the species.

Moreover, the power plants are concentrating large amounts of pollution in a diverse, moderate- to low-income community--in no small part because of environmental justice gains in more organized communities that prevented power plants from being built there.  Antioch is the last stop for many power plant projects--and the local community's air quality suffers because of it.

The Wild Equity Institute is working with conservation, environmental justice, and social service organizations to reduce emissions from these power plants so that people and the plants and animals that live near the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge can thrive.

Latest News

Lange's Metalmark Butterfly
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Last Stand for the Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly?

In February 2017, Wild Equity will appear before the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, where the health of Antioch's people and the continued existence of the Bay Area's most imperiled butterfly will be on the line.   But we can't win…

It’s Air Quality Awareness Week: Who Bears the Brunt of Air Pollution?

This week (May 2-6) is the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Air Quality Awareness Week. Unfortunately, the EPA is still giving the green light to projects (e.g. new power plants) which poison the air and compromise the health and…

Wild Equity Challenges EPA’s Motion to Dismiss

Appearing before a federal judge in Oakland on October 21st, Wild Equity challenged the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s ongoing failure to protect communities and endangered species in Antioch, CA, from a PG&E power…

Wild Equity Sues EPA for Failing to Curb PG&E Pollution in Antioch

For Immediate Release, June 3, 2015 Contact:  Brent Plater, bplater@wildequity.org, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 572-6989 Wild Equity Institute Sues EPA for Failing to Curb PG&E Pollution in Antioch From L to R: Lange’s Metalmark…

Photoset: Revitalizing the Antioch Dunes

Recently, Wild Equity was proud to get together with our longstanding partners at the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge to work on rejuvenating the precious imperiled ecosystem that is present there. We were privileged to plant young,…

Elite Students Complete Wild Equity/FWS Conservation Internship

Wild Equity Institute Staff Attorney Laura Horton ended a year-long project with the Toyota TogetherGreen fellowship program on August 8, 2014. Laura received a grant from the TTG program in September, 2013, and created a project that brought…

Federal Judge Tells EPA: No More Delays on Wild Equity Institute’s Antioch Dunes Petition

For Immediate Release, July 8, 2014 Contact:  Laura Horton, lhorton@wildequity.org, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 235-0492 Federal Judge Tells EPA: No More Delays on Wild Equity Institute’s Antioch Dunes Petition San Francisco, Calif.—Yesterday…

Wild Equity’s Laura Horton Kicks Off Summer Program with Antioch Students to Protect Endangered Butterfly

Wild Equity Staff Attorney Laura Horton kicked off the summer component of her Toyota TogetherGreen project last week at the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. The project, funded by a Toyota and National Audubon Society grant, was created…

Wild Equity Institute Sues EPA for Failing to Curb PG&E Pollution in Antioch

For Immediate Release, March 26, 2014 Contact:  Laura Horton, lhorton@wildequity.org, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 235-0492 Wild Equity Institute Sues EPA for Failing to Curb PG&E Pollution in Antioch San Francisco, Calif.— The…

Antioch High School Students Help Restore Butterfly Habitat

The National Audubon Society and Toyota recently recognized Wild Equity’s Staff Attorney Laura Horton as a conservation leader with the prestigious Toyota TogetherGreen fellowship. Laura is using the grant from Toyota TogetherGreen fellowship…
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Wild Equity Staff Attorney Wins Prestigious Award

For Immediate Release, November 6, 2013 Contacts: Laura Horton, Wild Equity Institute, lhorton@wildequity.org, (415) 235-0492 Agatha Szczepaniak, Audubon, aszczepaniak@audubon.org, (212) 979-3197 LAURA HORTON RECEIVES AUDUBON…

EPA, PG&E Fail to Protect Endangered Butterfly–Again

For Immediate Release, December 17, 2013 Contact:  Laura Horton, lhorton@wildequity.org, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 235-0492 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, PG&E Fail to Protect Endangered Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly—Again ANTIOCH,…
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Shop at Amazon & Support Wild Equity

Wild Equity always recommends shopping locally and supporting businesses in your community. But sometimes that isn’t possible: for example, where else will you find an original portrait of the Antioch Dunes Evening Primrose? When you…

Wild Equity’s Antioch Dunes Victory Featured by Rose Foundation

The Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment features Wild Equity’s Brent Plater and our work protecting Antioch’s people and endangered species in the Foundation’s most recent newsletter. Click the image to read…

Patagonia SF Selects Wild Equity for a 2013 Environmental Grant

Today Patagonia’s San Francisco store awarded Wild Equity $3,000 for our campaign protecting community health and endangered species near the Antioch Dunes. Wild Equity’s Laura Horton, Amy Zehring, Brent Plater, Sarah Fliesher,…
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Lawsuit Launched to Protect Endangered Butterfly and Local Communities

For Immediate Release, July 24, 2013 Contacts: Laura Horton, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 235-0492 Jonathan Evans, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 436-9682 x318 Roger Lin, Communities for a Better Environment, (510) 302 0430…

Wild Equity Lawsuit Brings Millions of Dollars to Antioch’s Communities, Endangered Species

For Immediate Release, July 8, 2013 Contacts: Brent Plater, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 572-6989 Shana Lazerow, Communities for a Better Environment, (510) 302-0430 × 18 Jonathan Evans, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 436-9682…

New Study Adds Urgency to Eliminating Nitrogen Emissions in Antioch

A recent, well-publicized study suggests that cost-effective methods for eradicating invasive weeds may harm the Lange’s metalmark butterfly, adding urgency to the Wild Equity Institute’s efforts to eliminate the underlying cause…
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Wild Equity Featured in a New Book, Wild Ones

In a new book on animals in America, Wild Ones, Jon Mooallem dedicates nearly 100 pages to the Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly. He describes the storied history and destruction of their habitat in the Antioch Dunes, no longer actual sand dunes…

Saturday, April 13, 10am: Explore the Antioch Dunes with Wild Equity

You are invited to join the Wild Equity Institute and the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service on a guided tour of the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge. The Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge is home to three federally protected endangered…

2/22, 7:10pm: Brent Plater Discusses Wild Equity on KOWS, 107.3 FM

Brent Plater, Wild Equity’s Executive Director, will be interviewed on KOWS 107.3 FM’s Tommy’s Holiday Camp about Wild Equity’s work protecting people and the plants and animals within and surrounding the Antioch Dunes…

Wild Equity Unanimously Wins Rose Foundation’s 2012 Reality Grantmaking Award

In a reality grantmaking panel with $1,000 on the line, program officers from the Hewlett Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation, the California Wildlands Grassroots Fund, the Northern California Environmental Grassroots Fund, and the Rose…

Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly Inspires Electric, Organic Artists

The Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge is in serious trouble, but artists working in diverse media are beginning to tell this landscape’s tale. Sawyer Rose’s NATIVE: California Plants in Glass, Metal, & Light. Sawyer Rose’s…

Wild Equity Ties Antioch and SF Communities, Conservation Struggles Together

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…
Power Plants Pollute Antioch
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Lawsuit Launched Challenging Massive Power Plant Expansion in Northern California

December 20, 2011 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contacts: Brent Plater, Wild Equity Institute, (415) 572-6989 Adrienne Bloch, Communities for a Better Environment, (510) 302-0430 x16 Jonathan Evans, Center for Biological Diversity, (415) 436-9682…
Wild Equity Logo
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Best. Hate. Voicemail. Ever!

Artwork by Liam O’Brien The Wild Equity Institute’s lawsuit to protect the Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly was a hot topic with Bay Area media outlets this week, covered by The Bay Citizen, CBS 5, and the Contra Costa Times. But our favorite…

WEI Heads to Court to Protect Antioch’s Communities and Wildlife

On Friday, January 21, the Wild Equity Institute will appear in court to protect human health and endangered species. You can attend the oral argument: it is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. in courtroom 10 on the 19th floor of the United States…

Downtown High School Completes Endangered Semester with Wild Equity

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…

Lawsuit Launched to Protect the Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly from PG&E Power Plant

December 28, 2010 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Brent Plater, Wild Equity Institute, 415-572-6989 Lawsuit Launched to Protect the Lange’s Metalmark Butterfly from PG&E Power Plant Nitrogen Emissions Threaten Survival of Critically…