4/15/2022
Welcome to Monitor Notes, a weekly roundup of news items, event announcements, and updates on past Bay Area Monitor articles.
Rooting Gardens in Native Plants
What if, with one fell swoop, you could support wildlife, provide yourself with beautiful daily scenes of birth and regrowth, all while using barely any resources or water? Well, you can, by planting even just one California native plant.
According to survey results recently released through University of California Davis and UC Agriculture and Natural Resources, the large numbers of people who gardened during the pandemic did so to increase their personal food security and to serve as an antidote to anxiety. While the mental health benefits of gardening are well-established, these gardens can also include plants well-suited to California’s ecology and water cycle.
Read more from Allison Kidder, the Monitor’s new science and ecology reporter.
Native Plant Garden Tour
April 16th and 17th, 10am
The Bring Back the Natives Garden Tour is being held virtually this weekend, April 16th and 17th, and in person April 30th and May 1st.
From Monitor reporter Allison Kidder: “The tour allows participants to walk behind numerous side gates to view gardens containing a minimum of 70 percent native plants and witness the pageantry of a springtime garden full of California natives. These outlets of creativity and hard labor are all located in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties but the plants grown in these gardens are applicable to all nine Bay Area counties.”
Find more information at the Tour’s website, and follow this link to register.
News from Around the Bay
LWV Hosting Alameda Candidate Forums
Monday April 18th, 6pm
The six Leagues of Women Voters that represent Alameda County are hosting a series of virtual candidate forums for offices on the June 7th primary election ballot. The forums will offer an opportunity for members of the community to submit questions and learn more about each of the candidates running for office. The forums begin on April 18th, featuring the candidates for District Attorney. Find out more about the full series here, and follow this link to register for April 18th’s forum. You must be registered to attend.
Nature-Based Solutions
Wednesday April 20th, 4pm
Greenbelt Alliance is celebrating Earth Week by hosting a virtual webinar advocating for nature-based solutions to problems facing communities across the Bay Area. Veronica Pearson of Marin County Parks and Josh Bradt of the San Francisco Estuary Partnership will share ” tips on incorporating nature-based solutions into planning processes, creating equitable policies that prioritize frontline communities, and best practices for community engagement.” Register here. The webinar is part of Greenbelt Alliance’s ongoing Resilience Playbook Webinar Series, more information on which can be found here. Photo by Shira Bezalel
Bike Highways in the Bay
If you’re a cyclist in the Bay Area, then you might already be following Caltrans’ work to establish a bike highway in the region. The recently completed feasibility assessment can be found here, and they’ve asked cyclists to fill out a survey on design features for a proposed bike highway.
From Caltrans: “This survey should take 10 minutes to complete and will ask you a series of questions about different design features that will help you feel more comfortable while riding on the bike highway. All questions are optional and all responses are anonymous.”
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