Natural History Wanderings

Save Knowland Park has updates on efforts to save the park. Progress has been made but the zoo hasn’t given up trying to expand the zoo into the park. This would destroy native habitat with rare species. Below are some of the recent developments. Read the full Article at The Fight Goes On, and the News is Good! | Save Knowland Park.

Petition Delivered: 2100 signatures on our petition urging the US Fish & Wildlife Service to deny regulatory permits for the expansion project. The petitions were delivered to their offices in Sacramento (with copies to the state Fish and Wildlife agency as well). You can still sign the petition at: https://www.change.org/petitions/save-knowland-park-protect-oakland-s-largest-wildland-park-from-a-destructive-development

Big News! Friends of Knowland Park has just learned that our fiscal sponsor, the California Native Plant Society, will be awarded a grant from the Stout Foundation for our new joint campaign to educate the public about Knowland Park and its many natural resources that are threatened by the zoo’s expansion plans. The grant is substantial, but we still need to raise about $3000 more to launch and sustain our campaign. Can you chip in to help? Every single dollar goes toward our efforts to spread the word. We are heading down the home stretch now in our efforts to save the Park and stave off this terrible expansion plan, because the zoo continues to insist that if it gets the “kill” permits it needs from the wildlife regulators, it will start the bulldozers. We have to mobilize even more public opposition, and fast! Use the Donate button on our website at http://www.saveknowland.org/donate/ or send checks to our Treasurer, Lee Ann Smith, 111 Shadow Mountain, Oakland, CA 94605

Read full Article at The Fight Goes On, and the News is Good! | Save Knowland Park.

Knowland Park is in its dry season now, and to the untrained observer (especially after the goats grazed it down to bare mineral soil), the park may appear a bit desolate and spare. Some people who don’t really look closely say “there’s nothing there.” But hikers now report regularly seeing the coyotes and foxes who are drawn to the easier hunting, and after just a wee bit more rain, we will begin to see hints of the glorious, achingly lovely velvet green that softly blankets the hills during the wet time. Then the tadpoles will reappear in the puddles not yet bulldozed away, the ancient “fairy ring” of puffball mushrooms will reappear, the rare wildflowers will bloom again on the hills and down the ridges. Knowland Park remains alive and wonderful. Help us keep it that way!