Recently students from San Francisco’s public high schools visited Mori Point and the controversial Sharp Park Golf Course. They learned about the impacts the course is having on the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog, and learned what they can do to help these species recover. You can join them: send a message to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and tell ’em to Restore Sharp Park!

Over 100 enthusiastic supporters joined the Wild Equity Institute, Save the Frogs!, Sierra Club, Center for Biological Diversity, H.O.M.E.Y., and Action for Animals at noon today in front of San Francisco’s City Hall for the Endangered Communities, Endangered Species Rally!

Wild Equity Institute’s Executive Director Brent Plater and San Francisco Supervisor John Avalos
discuss restoring Sharp Park at the Endangered Communities/Endangered Species Rally.
From k9sound on Vimeo.

In honor of Save the Frogs Day, the rally called on the City of San Francisco to close the failing Sharp Park Golf Course, quit killing endangered snakes and frogs, end the wasteful spending, and create a better public park at Sharp Park.

Alfredo Najera III of H.O.M.E.Y. talks about the monetary losses and wasteful spending associated with the unsustainable Sharp Park Golf Course in Pacifica while San Francisco community services are being cut.

Supervisor John Avalos announced he is about to submit legislation that would close the golf course and convey Sharp Park to the National Parks Service, which would restore the park to the native wetlands that it should be.

Casey Allen, a volunteer with the Sierra Club, exhorts the crowd to “take a hike” to compare Mori Point’s restored habitat to the critter-hostile setting across the property line at the golf course.

Rose Braz of the Center for Biological Diversity reviews the alarming rate of species extinction.

Two H.O.M.E.Y.s — Homies Organizing the Mission to Empower Youth.

Brent Plater, Executive Director of the Wild Equity Institute, inspiring the crowd.

Saturday, April 30, 2011, 12pm-2pm — In honor of Save the Frogs Day, join 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. We’ll also have an activity and information table for kids of all ages. RSVP Required: please use this website to RSVP. Rain or Shine. Meet at the Mori Point Entrance Gate, Pacifica, CA, 94044.

Our friends at Change.org heard that Sharp Park Golf Course may be restored and turned into a National Park, and started a new petition to the Recreation and Parks Department to demand that San Francisco stop killing endanagered species on the property and restore the land.

The petition has resonated with people around the world, and it is getting just under 100 signatures a day. Add your signature to the petition so we can make sure San Francisco understands that restoring Sharp Park has broad public support.

San Francisco Garter Snake

The Wild Equity Institute has filed a lawsuit against the San Francisco Recreation and Park Department today for violating the Endangered Species Act at Sharp Park golf course, a financially troubled, city-owned course located within Golden Gate National Recreation Area. The Center for Biological Diversity, National Parks Conservation Association, Surfrider Foundation, Sequoia Audubon Society and Sierra Club joined the federal lawsuit. The Washington, D.C. public-interest law firm Meyer, Glitzenstein & Crystal represents the coalition in the suit.

“We put San Francisco on notice that it was violating the Endangered Species Act in 2008. Three years later the City is still killing endangered species at Sharp Park,” said Brent Plater, Executive Director of the Wild Equity Institute. “Last week more California red-legged frogs were killed by the golf course. It’s time for San Francisco to stop subsidizing this endangered species-killing golf course in San Mateo County and start working towards a better, more sustainable future at Sharp Park.”

This California red-legged frog egg mass was stranded and left to die after Sharp Park Golf Course’s pumping operations drained the frog’s habitat. Wild Equity Institute sent a letter to authorities requesting that they take emergency steps to save the egg mass when it was first exposed to the air, but no action was taken.

Sharp Park is a wetland that San Francisco regularly drains so golf can be played on the land. But draining the land reduces the depth of the water in breeding and feeding areas for the California red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake. San Francisco has known about the problem since at least 1992, when the first biological surveys found dead California red-legged frog egg masses on the property. Yet the City still does not have any Endangered Species Act permits to kill endangered wildlife.

In recent years, the City’s management has resulted in several violations of the Endangered Species Act:

• In 2005, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service sent a notice of violation to San Francisco for killing California red-legged frogs.
• In 2006, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service concluded that Sharp Park Golf Course lawn mowers killed a San Francisco garter snake.
• Park Department documents show that more than 100 red-legged frog egg masses were jeopardized this winter by pumping, and had to be relocated on an emergency basis to prevent them from being killed.
• This week another California red-legged frog egg mass was killed by pumping operations at Sharp Park.

“Restoring the natural ecosystem at Sharp Park is not only the lowest-cost alternative, it will serve the recreation needs of the greatest number of people including hikers and birders while saving endangered endemic species. It’s a win-win-win,” said Nancy Arbuckle, conservation chair of the Sequoia Audubon Society.

“We feel strongly that an interconnected and protective coastal ecosystem (beach, dune and barrier lagoon) must be recognized as a dynamic, integrated unit; you can’t save just one part and expect it to work correctly,” said Michael Stewart, vice chair of the San Francisco chapter of the Surfrider Foundation. “This would provide the most benefit to local endangered species, an expansion of desired recreational opportunities, and the best (and least expensive) flood protection for the community at Sharp Park – two, four or even zero legged.”

Background

A peer-reviewed scientific study by coastal restoration experts, released in February, concluded that restoration of the natural lagoon and beach processes at Laguna Salada wetlands in Sharp Park will provide the most public benefit and best protect endangered species, at much less expense than the Park Department plan for maintaining the status quo. The report makes several key findings:

• Restoring Sharp Park is the cheapest public option, particularly compared to the San Francisco Park Department plan or the option of maintaining the status quo.
• Restoring the natural processes of the lagoon and surrounding wetlands will provide the best flood protection for neighbors against sea-level rise and coastal storm events.
• Removing the golf course to restore habitat to the east of the lagoon is essential for the long-term sustainability of endangered species found on the site.

The new restoration alternative would allow beneficial natural processes to reconfigure the Laguna Salada wetlands and beach to a natural dynamic, providing the most benefit to endangered species, protecting the beach from erosion, ensuring resilience and adaptivity for habitat to respond to sea-level rise, and improving flood protection for adjacent residential areas, all with lower long-term costs and maintenance requirements. The authors and peer reviewers of the report have unparalleled expertise in Bay Area coastal and aquatic ecology and wildlife, hydrology, coastal engineering and ecosystem restoration.

The report findings clear up some common misconceptions put forth by supporters of the golf course and the Park Department. Among the report findings:

• Laguna Salada was historically a brackish-fresh water lagoon, not a saline tidal lagoon, and supported thriving populations of the garter snake and red-legged frog;
• The golf course did not “create” freshwater habitat for the frog and snake;
• The sea wall is not necessary for protecting endangered species habitat or preventing flooding of neighborhoods; it in fact contributes to flood risk and the unsustainable character of the existing land use.

The new restoration plan is estimated to cost about $5 million over a 50-year time frame. In contrast, the Park Department preferred plan would drain taxpayers of between $12 million and $18 million in short-term costs (including seawall construction) along with hundreds of thousands of dollars per year for infrastructure operations and maintenance, and continuing liability for fines for Endangered Species Act violations.

In response the Park Department abandoned plans to reinforce a beach-eroding seawall that protects the golf course; it also conceded that current golf operations are not compatible with protection of endangered species.

Statements by Conservation Groups on San Francisco’s Change of Position on Sharp Park Golf Course Management

Background
Sharp Park golf course, owned and operated by the city of San Francisco and located in Pacifica within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, faces significant problems with flooding, achieving environmental compliance and financial losses. The coastal wetland is home to two endangered species, the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog. A recently released, peer-reviewed scientific study by coastal restoration experts concluded that restoration of the natural lagoon and beach processes provides the most public benefit and best protects endangered species, and is much less expensive than a San Francisco Park Department plan or maintaining the status quo.

In a change of position Wednesday, the Park Department abandoned plans to reinforce a beach-eroding seawall that is needed to support golf operations; it has also concluded that current golf operations are not compatible with protection of endangered species at the site. A working group of land managers convened by the Park Department issued a puzzlingly brief two-page policy findings report on Sharp Park that agreed with the conclusions of the peer-reviewed study on the impacts of sea-level rise and coastal erosion and the futility of armoring, maintaining or further raising a seawall that protects the golf course and recommended a transition to a naturally managed “barrier lagoon” at Sharp Park. Below are statements on the position change from conservation groups involved in the issue.

Statements
Statement by Neal Desai, Pacific Region associate director of the National Parks Conservation Association: “The Park Department now appears to acknowledge the conclusions of the recent scientific study by coastal experts at ESA–PWA that preserving the current golf operations is not financially sustainable and is damaging to the recovery of the endangered San Francisco garter snake and California red-legged frog within the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. San Francisco policymakers should seriously consider the science-based ESA–PWA study as a blueprint for how to solve the various problems plaguing Sharp Park so our national treasure is preserved and protected for our children and grandchildren to enjoy.”

Statement by Brent Plater, executive director of the Wild Equity Institute: “We agree that recreation can coexist with endangered species protection at Sharp Park; however, recreation that relies on dredging, pumping and mowing operations is not compatible with endangered species. Bay Area residents want our parks more sustainable and expect our scarce parks funding to improve recreational services within San Francisco communities, not subsidize suburban golf in Pacifica. Restoring Sharp Park in partnership with the National Park Service can build a better public park that everyone can enjoy.”

Statement by Jeff Miller, conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity: “The Park Department’s working group seems to be embracing a more sensible approach to restoring this important wetland and concurs that reviving the natural barrier beach and lagoon system is the only viable option for Sharp Park. However, some of the working group’s two-page ‘findings’ are unexplained assumptions and unsubstantiated assertions that lack the scientific foundation of the peer-reviewed 212-page scientific study. The best science shows, first, that restoring Sharp Park is the cheapest option, particularly compared to the San Francisco Park Department plan or maintaining the status quo; second, that restoring natural processes of the lagoon and surrounding wetlands will provide the best flood protection for neighbors against sea-level rise and coastal storm events; and third, that removing the golf course to restore habitat to the east of the lagoon is essential for the long-term sustainability of endangered species found on the site.”

Additional Information
Some of the assertions in the Park Department policy statement are unsupported and contrary to the conclusions of the peer-reviewed scientific report by coastal restoration experts. The claim that short-term habitat enhancements and golf “could be compatible” is unexplained, and the ESA–PWA report shows maintaining the golf course is not compatible with protecting the endangered species at the site, since the Park Department “restoration” plan would squeeze endangered species habitats between the golf course and the seawall in the area most vulnerable to salinity intrusion. The working group adopts the misguided Park Department recommendation to dredge the lagoon to reduce sediment, ignoring the fact that loss of open-water habitat is caused by artificial pumping down of the lagoon to maintain the golf course, not sedimentation. Dredging is extremely expensive, damaging to endangered species habitat, and unnecessary; the preferred solution is to raise the lagoon water levels and allow the wetlands to expand and spread eastward where the golf course is currently located.

The working group statement cites a new pumping protocol for the lagoon, initiated due to illegal pumping and drawdown of water levels killing endangered red-legged frog egg masses after the Park Department received a notice of violation from the Fish and Wildlife Service and a notice of intent to sue by conservation groups. The statement disingenuously and falsely implies the pumping problem is solved, yet conservation groups documented dewatering by pumping this month and illegal stranding of red-legged egg masses this week, in violation of federal law.

A public briefing, titled “The Future of Sharp Park,” on the ESA–PWA report will take place March 17 at 12:30 p.m. at the San Francisco Planning Urban Research Association (SPUR), 654 Mission Street, San Francisco. Click here for more information about the event.

To read the ESA–PWA peer-reviewed scientific report, go to wildequity.org.

Restore Sharp Park!

Folks,

Thank you for your interest in creating a new National Park at Sharp Park! We’ve got three important actions for you to take ASAP in this message: two from your chair, and one very much out of it.

1. E-mail the Recreation and Parks Commission and demand that they reject the Recreation and Parks Department’s Proposal to move forward with an all-golf alternative at Sharp Park. Send an E-mail now to recpark.commission@sfgov.org.
2. Call Congresswoman Jackie Speier and tell her Sharp Park isn’t too big to fail: no federal bailout for an endangered species-killing golf course! If we are going to get federal dollars involved, we deserve to gain an asset in return, and the best asset would be a new National Park at Sharp Park! Call 650-342-0300.
3. Attend the Recreation and Parks Commission hearing on November 19, 2pm at San Francisco’s City Hall, Room 416, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, in San Francisco. Tell the Commission we deserve better than the all-golf alternative proposed by the Recreation and Parks Department!

Read on:

Last week San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Department released its long-delayed report on alternative visions for a future Sharp Park. But rather than use the best scientific evidence to create a new vision for Sharp Park, the Recreation and Parks Department’s General Manager Phil Ginsburg recommended selecting an all-golf alternative at Sharp Park, and relegating the endangered species on the site to the portions of Sharp Park we know will be underwater as climate change occurs and sea levels rise.

If this alternative is selected by San Francisco, the endangered species on the property will be lost forever, as will the opportunity to build a better public park with recreational amenities everyone can enjoy. You can hear Restore Sharp Park supporters debate this issue on KQED’s Forum.

The report contains many surreal statements to help the General Manager reach this conclusion. For example, the report claims that picnicking is the “most significant and widest scale” impact on both species at Sharp Park. You read that right: picnicking—not habitat destruction, not lawn mowers, not even the pumping operations that caused the Fish and Wildlife Service to issue an enforcement letter to the City—is the activity we conservationists should be truly worried about, according to the RPD report.

You don’t need to be an expert to know that lawnmowers and pumping operations have killed more endangered species on the site than your throw rug and bottle of Chianti. But if you had any doubt, check out the evidence yourself at our YouTube site by viewing Twain’s Frog and the Beautiful Serpent.

With absurd statements like this, we were glad to see that a peer review team had been established to critique the report. But now Phil Ginsburg is trying to bypass the peer review and is planning on presenting his recommendation as an action item to the Recreation and Parks Commission next Thursday, November 19, at 2pm.

And in the meantime, Congresswoman Jackie Speier wants to offer a federal bailout for the golf course: she is proposing an earmark of federal money to subsidize the golf course if San Francisco decides it doesn’t want to spend anymore money on the course.

This has gone too far. It’s time for us all to stand up for the “underfrog”: Please take these three actions and help create a better public park at Sharp Park!

1. E-mail the Recreation and Parks Commission and demand that they reject Ginsburg’s rush to judgment about Sharp Park. Send an E-mail now to recpark.commission@sfgov.org.
2. Call Congresswoman Jackie Speier and tell her Sharp Park isn’t too big to fail: no federal bailout for an endangered species-killing golf course! If we are going to get federal dollars involved, we deserve to gain an asset in return, and the best asset would be a new National Park at Sharp Park! Call 650-342-0300.
3. Attend the Recreation and Parks Commission hearing on November 19, 2pm at San Francisco’s City Hall, Room 416, 1 Dr. Carlton B. Goodlett Place, in San Francisco. Tell the Commission we deserve better than the all-golf alternative proposed by Phil Ginsburg!

Thank you,

Brent Plater

Thanks to your support, Congresswoman Jackie Speier sent this constituent letter to Wild Equity Institute members and supporters on December 4, 2009, announcing that there is “no federal money available” to bailout Sharp Park Golf Course, and stating that Sharp Park’s “frog and snake habitat could eventually become federal property and/or be managed by the National Park Service.” We were proud to see our Congresswoman make such a profound commitment to restore Sharp Park.

A Restoration Vision for Sharp Park.

But recently released documents paint a different picture of the Congresswoman’s position. The documents show that on December 1, 2009, the Congresswoman submitted a $5,000,000 funding request for a federal financial bailout of the golf course. The request, presented to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, would fund the controversial and fatally flawed all-golf alternative at Sharp Park. The request’s purposes include protecting “recreational golfing in a scenic setting” and “protecting the golf course [to] increase revenue generated on site due to reduced flooding.”

So how can the bailout request and the constituent letter be reconciled? Through the use of doublespeak. The Congresswoman calls the all-golf alternative the “Sharp Park San Francisco Garter Snake Recovery Effort,” ignoring the heavy criticism of the plan by ecologists, biologists, and coastal engineers who have explained that the all-golf alternative will actually harm endangered species recovery efforts. Even the National Park Service has raised concerns about the all-golf alternative, stating that the alternative may have negative impacts on endangered species at both Sharp Park and the federally-owned adjacent land, Mori Point. But if the Congresswoman re-frames the all-golf alternative as a recovery action for endangered species, she can give her constituents cake and eat it too.

We all deserve better than a federal bailout of an endangered species-killing golf course: we don’t pay polluters to not pollute, and similarly the golf course, not federal taxpayers, should pay for the golf course’s compliance with environmental laws. If federal dollars are going to be part of the solution at Sharp Park, we deserve a federal asset in return, and there would be no better asset than a National Park property that everyone can enjoy, not just golfers. Contact Congresswoman Jackie Speier today at (202) 225-3531 and ask her to support a better public park at Sharp Park, and contact the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee at (202) 225-4472 and ask them to fund a true restoration option at Sharp Park, not the all-golf alternative.

As San Francisco proposes massive cuts to city services, more and more residents are demanding that San Francisco close the money-losing, endangered species-killing Sharp Park Golf Course.

WEI Allies: Bring Our Money Back

San Francisco is proposing massive cuts to youth services while privatizing our parks and open spaces. These cuts will disproportionately impact poor, disenfranchised communities in San Francisco, precisely when services are needed to offset the impacts of the financial crisis.

Yet at Sharp Park, San Francisco continues to subsidize suburban golf in San Mateo County by up to $300,000 each year, and is planning to spend tens-of-millions more to try and build an elite golf course on the property.

This gamble on golf is not only environmentally unsound, but fundamentally unfair when San Francisco taxpayers are facing cuts in services they desperately need.

This is why residents throughout San Francisco are demanding that San Francisco close Sharp Park Golf Course and give the property to the National Park Service. by dumping this money-losing golf course, San Francisco can free-up funds for neighborhood services, services that would otherwise face further cuts.

You can be part of the solution by demanding a more equitable budget on Wednesday, May 26, at 2:00pm. Join us at Civic Center Plaza to ask public officials for a budget that protects people and our environment, not suburban golf in San Mateo County.

In another Orwellian move, the Recreation and Parks Department has installed a fence along Sharp Park to keep birders and hikers from accessing the property. WEI supports the enforcement of strong ethical principles to ensure outdoor recreation has no impact on the natural world. But birders and hikers have never harmed endangered species at Sharp Park. Yet just behind the fence the Department continues to drain aquatic habitats and run lawn mowers on the land, activities that do kill endangered species.

The exclusion of other recreation users from Sharp Park is about the Department’s skewed priorities, not protecting the environment. This is particularly disturbing because the Department’s own survey shows that the #1 recreational demand is for more hiking trails; golf comes 16th out of 19 options in the same survey. It’s time for the Department to restore Sharp Park and get its priorities in-line with the public’s.

We need you to tell the SF Board of Supervisors to break out the “green scissors”: eliminate the environmentally destructive Sharp Park Golf Course from the City budget and redirect the money saved back to San Francisco’s neighborhood parks and community services, where the money belongs.

On Monday, June 21 at 4pm in San Francisco’s City Hall, Room 250, the Board of Supervisors will have a hearing on San Francisco’s budget. Come to the hearing early, around 3:30pm, to get a speaker card and find out when you’ll get a chance to speak. This could be a long one, so if you can’t stay please send an email to info@wildequity.org with your comments and we’ll hand them in for you.

The SF Weekly recently exposed that Sharp Park Golf Course is a much larger liability to SF’s budget than the Parks Department had previously disclosed (read the article here).

The Board of Supervisors can draft a more environmentally sustainable and equitable budget by simply stopping the subsidy for suburban golf in San Mateo County and redirecting the money saved to our communities and neighborhood parks that are struggling the most during the financial crisis.

See you there, but if you can’t make it please send your comments to info@wildequity.org and we’ll make sure the Supervisors get them. Thanks for all you do!

On Monday in Pacifica, Bob Battalio, PE, gave a fascinating presentation about the constraints and opportunities placed on coastal communities as sea level rises and erosion processes reshape California’s coast.

Mr. Battalio explained that Pacifica’s beaches are eroding, and that sea walls tend to exacerbate this erosion on the ocean-side of the wall, often resulting in the loss or reduction of beaches. He also emphasized that planned adaptation strategies can be more sustainable and less costly than responding to sea level rise by armoring the coastline, with the added benefit of preserving public access and coastal resources for future generations to enjoy.

The slides from the presentation are now available for download at the Wild Equity Institute’s website here.

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.

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.

A Flooded Day at Sharp Park Golf Course.

Photo by John Curley. Creative Commons license.

Mark Buell, the new President of San Francisco’s Recreation and Parks Commission, has agreed to meet with the Wild Equity Institute, Surfrider Foundation, National Parks Conservation Association, Sequoia Audubon, San Francisco League of Conservation Voters, and the Center for Biological Diversity after being put on notice of a forthcoming lawsuit over the City’s violation of environmental laws at Sharp Park Golf Course. The groups are represented by the Washington, D.C. public-interest law firm Meyer Glitzenstein & Crystal.

A restoration vision for Sharp Park.

“The coalition of environmental, justice, and social service organizations calling for closing Sharp Park Golf Course continues to grow and is stronger than ever before,” says Brent Plater, Executive Director of the Wild Equity Institute. “We’re glad to work with Commissioner Buell to ensure that, just as he would never conduct the public’s business without complying with open government laws, we do not conduct the endangered species’ business without complying with the Endangered Species Act.”

The controversial Sharp Park Golf Course is owned by San Francisco but located in suburban San Mateo County. The golf course receives failing grades from golfers in most categories measured by the National Golf Foundation, has lost hundreds of thousands of dollars since 2004, and has been killing two species protected by the Endangered Species Act, the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog, for decades.

The new notice explains that the City of San Francisco continues to violate the Endangered Species Act by harming endangered species without permits. Although the City has produced a plan to protect the golf course from liability, the plan is routinely violated, and even if fully implemented would still require approval from state and federal wildlife authorities before it can be lawfully implemented. The notice provides San Francisco with 60-days to remedy these violations or litigation will commence.

For more information on the Wild Equity Institute’s campaign to restore Sharp Park, click here.

Thanks to thousands of calls and emails from supporters like you, the federal bailout of Sharp Park Golf Course proposed by Congresswoman Jackie Speier was not adopted by the 111th Congress before the congressional session expired. This means that the bailout proposal is over: unless it is reintroduced and passes both the House of Representatives and the Senate during the 112th Congress. With the Republican takeover of the House of Representatives, this seems unlikely to occur.

“Democrats & Republicans, environmentalists and budget hawks, social service providers and open space advocates all agree: there should be no federal bailout of Sharp Park Golf Course,” said Brent Plater, Executive Director of the Wild Equity Institute. “If federal dollars are spent at Sharp Park, taxpayers deserve a federal asset in return, and the best asset would be a National Park that everyone can enjoy, not just golfers.”

A Restoration Vision for Sharp Park.

The federal golf bailout submitted by Representative Speier would have taken money dedicated to wetland restoration and used it to build a sea wall at Sharp Park. To justify this diversion of funds, the Congresswoman argued that the sea wall was needed to protect endangered species at Sharp Park. However, ecologists and biologists that have reviewed the proposal determined that the opposite is true: the sea wall would doom Sharp Park’s endangered species while causing Sharp Park Beach to erode away.

Although the possibility seems slim, the federal golf bailout could be reintroduced in the 112th Congress. Fortunately, Representative Speier has increasingly focused her efforts on restoring the Bay Area’s wetlands. She was recently quoted in the San Francisco Chronicle stating that “restoration of our wetlands is critical for wildlife and our future.”

Contact Congresswoman Jackie Speier today at (202) 225-3531 and thank her for her efforts to restore the Bay Area’s wetlands. While you haver her on the phone, encourage her to extend this concern to Sharp Park by supporting a new national park on the property.

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.

During the hearing, the SFPUC General Manager suggested that distributing this water to a diverse user base may be cost prohibitive. But this is contrary to the conclusions reached in the environmental review documents prepared for the recycled water project, which states “[i]f Sharp Park’s use as a golf course were to cease, recreational use of the property would still require water for irrigation purposes . . . . If the needs for the project change as planning progresses, the North Coast County Water District (District) and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) will make necessary changes to the project.”

The SFPUC will now wait for the Recreation and Park Commission to take the lead on the contract, perhaps as soon as the Recreation and Park Commission’s October 21, 2010 public meeting.

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’.

Unfortunately, this request has become part of H.R. 5892, the House of Representative’s Water Resource Development Act bill for 2010. We need to make sure the Sharp Park project is redefined so the money is properly spent on restoration: and if we can’t, we need to stop H.R. 5892 in its tracks by preventing companion legislation from being introduced in the Senate.

Help us convince public officials that if federal funds are spent on Sharp Park, we should receive a federal asset in return: a new National Park with recreational facilities everyone can enjoy and a preserve that supports San Francisco’s and California’s namesake endangered species. Please take action today: the Center for Biological Diversity has set-up this action alert so you can point-and-click your way to a better public park at Sharp Park.

Nearly two-dozen allies have joined the Wild Equity Institute in demanding heightened environmental and fiscal scrutiny of Sharp Park Golf Course. The controversial golf course is killing endangered species and loses money, and a new community group letter and a park group letter ask the San Francisco Board of Supervisors to stop prioritizing the suburban golf course the City owns in San Mateo County, and instead prioritize neighborhood and community services threatened by the ongoing recession.

San Francisco Budget Rally; Sharp Park is “Bleeding Green”

San Francisco’s budget crisis is resulting in substantial cuts to neighborhood parks and community services. But cash flow isn’t the only factor in determining what is cut and what is not: these decisions are also a product of the City’s priorities.

The community and park groups recently submitted two letters highlighting the choices the City can make, and specifically highlighting the ongoing financial losses at Sharp Park Golf Course as a misplaced priority.

The SF Weekly recently wrote that Sharp Park’s liability is nearly twice what the Recreation and Parks Department claimed last year, and will require at least $17 million in capital investments to remain operating. If we instead invested this money in our neighborhood parks and community services, we’d be well on our way to building a healthy and sustainable community for people and the plants and animals that accompany us on Earth.

The groups joining the Wild Equity Institute in the letters represent a broad spectrum of San Mateo and San Francisco Counties, and include Arriba Juntos, the San Francisco Bay Chapter of the Sierra Club, the Chinese Progressive Association, Neighborhood Parks Council, Coleman Advocates for Children & Youth, Pacifica’s Environmental Family, Vietnamese Youth Development Center, Arc Ecology, Sunset Youth Services, Sequoia & Golden Gate Audubon Societies, San Francisco Youth Commission, Our City, Mission Beacon Community Center, Pacifica Shorebird Alliance, Mission Community Peace Collaborative, San Francisco Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, Homies Organizing the Mission for Youth Empowerment, National Parks Conservation Association, the San Francisco League of Conservation Voters, Nature in the City, and the Center for Biological Diversity.

Congresswoman Jackie Speier has introduced a bill to spend a billion federal dollars and create a new federal office dedicated to San Francisco Bay wetland restoration.

It’s a great sign that, after some early missteps, the Congresswoman finally understands the importance and timeliness of science-based wetland restoration projects.

Now we need the Congresswoman to display the same vision for coastal wetland restoration at Sharp Park.

Wetland restoration is one of the best investments we can make to build a healthy and sustainable global community for people and the plants and animals that accompany us on Earth, particularly in coastal areas that will be affected by sea level rise.

And that’s why restoring Sharp Park makes so much sense. Restoring Sharp Park’s wetlands will create a better public park on the land that everyone can enjoy, preserve endangered species, and defend our coastal communities against a warming and rising sea.

A Restoration Vision for Sharp Park.

And under the Wild Equity Institute’s plan, restoration will also boost Pacifica’s struggling economy by creating the first and only visitor center for the Golden Gate National Parks’ San Mateo County properties. These facilities have a demonstrated track record of providing an economic boost to local economies, a boost that the current golf course has failed to provide to date.

Let’s get Congresswoman Speier on the right track on both sides of the San Francisco peninsula. Call her today at (202) 225-3531, thank her for introducing the new wetland restoration bill, and then encourage her to support similar efforts to restore Sharp Park.

December 15, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: BRENT PLATER, WILD EQUITY INSTITUTE, 415-572-6989

MORE LEGAL VIOLATIONS AT SHARP PARK UNEARTHED
GOLF COURSE HAS UNPERMITTED POLLUTANTS IN WATER
ALL GOLF ALTERNATIVE WOULD VIOLATE ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT

SAN FRANCISCO— E. coli, fecal coliform, ammonia, phosphates, zinc, mercury, selenium, copper: these are just some of the pollutants found in the aquatic habitats for two endangered species at Sharp Park Golf Course, and two new legal notices filed by the Wild Equity Institute demand that the City clean-up its act.

“We’ve known for a while that the quantity of water at Sharp Park was an issue, but now the quality is an issue too,” said Brent Plater, Executive Director of the Wild Equity Institute. “Luckily there’s a single, economical solution to both issues: restore Sharp Park’s natural wetlands and let nature’s filters absorb the excess water and scrub the contaminants out for us.”

Sharp Park Golf Course maintains several culverts and drainage ditches which the golf course uses to collect storm water and irrigation run-off, and then discharges this water through point sources into endangered species habitats on the property. The Clean Water Act prohibits the discharge of pollutants into United States waters without a permit, but recently released water sampling data shows that Sharp Park’s discharges contain a variety of pollutants. The golf course does not have a permit, and in a letter prepared by the law firm Environmental Advocates, WEI demands that San Francisco put an end to these illegal discharges immediately.

A second notice letter alleges that San Francisco’s proposal to invest up to $11million dollars in golf course improvements designed to push endangered species off City property and onto adjacent lands violates the Endangered Species Act and jeopardizes recovery efforts for the species. The City’s plan has been heavily criticized as fundamentally flawed by ecologists, biologists, and coastal engineers because it fails to assess how climate change will affect the property and because it makes the preposterous assertion that picnickers are a greater threat to endangered species than golf course lawn mowers and pumping operations.

“The City’s all-golf alternative may provide job security for paid consultants, but it’s a pink slip for Twain’s Frog and the Beautiful Serpent said Plater. “Recovery efforts that actually work are already being implemented at Mori Point, next to Sharp Park: we should take a page from their recovery book rather than burning it.”

The controversial Sharp Park Golf Course is beset by numerous problems: it loses money, it harms endangered species, and it’s poor design and unfortunate placement causes the course to flood during normal winter rains, putting the surrounding communities at risk.

The best solution to these intersecting problems is to close the golf course, restore the natural flood-protection features that the golf course destroyed, and operate the land in partnership with the National Park Service, which already owns and manages properties adjacent to Sharp Park. A restored Sharp Park can reduce the risk and exposure of catastrophic flooding events, recover endangered species, spur Pacifica’s economy, and create recreational opportunities everyone can enjoy.

The Recreation and Parks Department released its controversial report about the future of Sharp Park last month. Now the San Francisco Board of Supervisor’s Government Audit & Oversight Committee will have an opportunity to hear from the Department—and from you—about the future we desire on this land. Please attend this important hearing on Wednesday, December 16th, 1pm at San Francisco City Hall room 263 and tell the Board of Supervisors that we deserve a better public park at Sharp Park!

Ecologists, biologists, coastal engineers, & restoration and recreation advocates have criticized the report because it has several fatal flaws: it fails to consider the impacts of climate change and sea level rise on Sharp Park; it fails to consider sensible restoration alternatives at Sharp Park; and it proposes that we manage Sharp Park like a zoological exhibit for the two imperiled species on the property, the San Francisco garter snake and the California red-legged frog, by surrounding the habitat with golf and a reinforced sea wall to keep picnickers away from the land. You read that right: the report suggests that picnickers are a more significant and widespread threat to the endangered species than the golf course, even though the golf course has killed many of the animals and picnickers have never been accused of harming a single one.

A Restoration Vision for Sharp Park

At this hearing, you will hear an impassioned defense of the report from paid biological consultants who will earnestly insist that surrounding the endangered species with threats and uninhabitable space will ultimately be good for the species because it will allow us to grow snakes and frogs like any other agricultural product and encourage future generations of endangered species to migrate away from Sharp Park altogether.

But we need not triage our biological heritage this way. There is still time for us all to choose a better future for Sharp Park by restoring Sharp Park’s ecology while protecting the endangered species on the property and providing recreational opportunities everyone can enjoy. We know it can be done: the National Park Service is already doing so at the adjacent property, Mori Point.

So please attend this hearing and speak up for a better public park at Sharp Park! If you cannot attend you can send comments via email to support the cause.

Thanks to the thousands of calls, letters, and email messages sent by all of you, Congresswoman Jackie Speier met with a delegation of people working to build a better public park at Sharp Park on Monday, November 30. The Congresswoman heard our voice, but is continuing to chair behind-the-scenes meetings with the golf lobby—and without us—to reduce public access to Sharp Park, privatize course management, and force taxpayers to foot the bill for the environmental problems the golf course has created. It is simply not just to privatize our public spaces while taxpayers foot the bill for golf’s environmental harms. Contact the Congresswoman and thank her for meeting with us, but let her know we need her help finding solutions for everyone at Sharp Park, not just the golf lobby.