[00:00:01]
OKAY. GO AHEAD. ALL RIGHT. WHOA. HEY. ALL RIGHT, SO WE ARE READY TO START THE MEETING.
IT'S NOW OPEN. LET'S GO AHEAD AND TAKE ROLL CALL.
[Roll Call]
OKAY. THIS IS YULIE PADMORE, RECORDING CLERK TAKING ROLL.TODAY'S MEETING IS BEING HELD PURSUANT TO THE BROWN ACT.
STAFF IS PROVIDING LIVE AUDIO AND VIDEO STREAMING.
MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WISHING TO MAKE A PUBLIC COMMENT MAY DO SO BY PROVIDING A COMMENT IN PERSON.
JOINING LIVE VIA ZOOM WITH A LINK PROVIDED ON THE AGENDA LOCATED ON THE DISTRICT WEBSITE.
IF THERE ARE NO QUESTIONS ABOUT THE MEETING PROCEDURES, WE CAN BEGIN.
[Approval of Minutes]
AND WE HAVE TWO SETS OF MINUTES. THE FIRST ONE FROM OCTOBER 29TH 2024, WHICH I WILL CLARIFY, I WAS NOT AT THAT MEETING, BUT I BELIEVE IT'S OKAY FOR ME TO BE A PART OF THIS VOTE TO APPROVE THOSE MINUTES, AND THEN THE SECOND ONE FROM FEBRUARY 25TH, 2025, WHICH I WAS IN ATTENDANCE.SO DO I HAVE A MOTION FOR APPROVAL? YEAH. COUNCIL, CAN YOU RESPOND TO THAT? I BELIEVE UNDER WHATEVER PROCEDURAL PARLIAMENTARY RULES WERE UNDER ROSENBERG'S RULES OR NO RELATIONSHIP.
RIGHT. YOU'RE JUST ACKNOWLEDGING THAT THE MINUTES ARE PROPERLY BEFORE YOU IN THE FORMAT.
YOU DON'T HAVE TO ACTUALLY HAVE ATTENDED THAT MEETING SO THAT WE CAN IMPROVE THEM.
IF YOU'D PREFER TO PASS IT AND ADOPT IT AT A LATER TIME, YOU COULD DO THAT AS WELL, BUT IF YOU'RE JUST, I'M OKAY WITH IT. ALL RIGHT THEN IN THAT CASE, YOU CAN VOTE ON IT.
SO I'LL MOVE THAT. WE APPROVE BOTH MINUTES FROM OCTOBER 29TH AND FEBRUARY 25TH, AND THEN I'LL SECOND AND THEN. ALL IN FAVOR? AYE . ALL RIGHT THEN THAT PASSES UNANIMOUSLY.
GREAT. OKAY, SO THEN WE WILL MOVE ON TO ITEM NUMBER THREE.
[Public Comments on Items Not on the Agenda]
PUBLIC COMMENTS NOT ON THE AGENDA. DO WE HAVE ANY MEMBERS OF THE PUBLIC WHO WISH TO SPEAK? NO, AND I'M JUST GOING TO LOOK IN THE ZOOM ROOM HERE FOR A MOMENT.WE HAVE NO PUBLIC COMMENTS. NOT ON THE AGENDA.
[Informational Items]
AND WE HAVE FOUR A THE IPM ANNUAL REPORT FROM 2024.IT'S ON NOW. GOOD AFTERNOON, AND TO CLARIFY, I THINK IT'S ITEM FIVE A TO CLARIFY.
GOOD AFTERNOON. DIRECTORS, COFFEY AND SANWONG, DEPUTY GENERAL MANAGER, ASSISTANT GENERAL MANAGER.
MY NAME IS PAMELA BATES. I'M THE IPM SPECIALIST.
THANK YOU. I'M HERE TODAY TO SHARE THE 2024 ANNUAL INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT REPORT.
TODAY WE'RE GOING TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT IPM AS A BRIEF OVERVIEW.
WE'VE GOT A FEW NEW PEST ALERTS, PROGRAM AND TRAINING UPDATES, 2024 HERBICIDE USE TRENDS AND IPM CASE STUDIES FOR 2024. SO I KNOW THAT I ALWAYS TALK ABOUT INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT AND THE GENERAL CONCEPT, AND I'LL MAKE IT BRIEF THIS YEAR, BUT I DO ALWAYS LIKE TO TOUCH BASE WITH YOU FOLKS ABOUT THIS CONCEPTUAL MODEL OF WHAT INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT IS.
YOU SEE BEFORE YOU A TRIANGLE AND AT THE BASE OF IT, IT HAS CULTURAL PRACTICES.
THIS TRIANGLE ILLUSTRATES THE DIFFERENT METHODOLOGIES THAT WE USE TO TREAT PESTS, CULTURAL BEING, THE FOUNDATION OF WHAT WE DO. A CULTURAL METHOD IS A METHOD IN WHICH WE CHANGE THE ENVIRONMENT WITHIN WHICH AN ORGANISM BECOMES A PEST, RIGHT? SO YOU MAY CHANGE THE MOISTURE REGIME, YOU MAY USE GRAZING, ETC.
OF OUR CULTURAL PRACTICES. THE GREATEST OF THESE IS PREVENTION.
PREVENTION ARE THINGS LIKE BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, COMING TO A WORK SITE OR STARTING YOUR DAY WITH CLEAN EQUIPMENT, NOT SPREADING DISEASES AND WEEDS THROUGH THE WORK THAT WE DO.
EDUCATION IS ANOTHER CULTURAL PRACTICE. DESIGN.
PEST CONTROL THROUGH DESIGN. SO THOSE ARE THE B IGGEST AND MOST POWERFUL TECHNIQUES THAT WE HAVE,
[00:05:04]
AND WE APPROACH ALL OF OUR PEST MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES WITH THOSE IN MIND.NEXT UP THE PYRAMID. YOU'LL SEE THAT THERE'S THE PHYSICAL OR MECHANICAL METHODOLOGIES.
THESE ARE THINGS LIKE HAND PULLING WEEDS, PRUNING, MOWING, YELLOWJACKET TRAPS OR GOPHER TRAPS, BARRIERS FLAMING MOVING UP. YOU'LL HAVE BIOLOGICAL AGENTS.
THESE ARE THINGS THAT ARE SELECTIVE PREDATORS THAT THE USDA, FOR INSTANCE, WILL RELEASE INTO THE ENVIRONMENT TO HELP CONTROL NEWLY INTRODUCED INSECTS AND ALSO WEEDS AND THEN AT THE TOP OF THE PYRAMID IS THE CHEMICAL OPTION.
GENERALLY, WE LIKE TO THINK OF CHEMICAL OPTIONS AS THE LAST RESORT.
SOMETIMES THEY'RE THE FIRST STEP THAT WE HAVE TO USE TO GET THINGS BACK INTO BALANCE SO THAT WE'RE ABLE TO USE MECHANICAL AND CULTURAL MEANS, AND IN THE CHEMICAL TRIANGLE, YOU'LL SEE THAT THERE'S THE ORGANIC PESTICIDES.
THESE ARE THINGS THAT ARE NATURALLY DERIVED, AND THEN THERE'S THE CONVENTIONAL PESTICIDES, AND THESE ARE ALL DIFFERENT CATEGORIES OF TOOLS THAT WE HAVE, BUT THE ONE THING I FORGOT TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT IS WHAT ARE PESTS? PESTS ARE THINGS THAT THE DEFINITION IS THEY ARE INJURIOUS TO SOME ACTIVITY, SOME HUMAN ACTIVITY.
FOR INSTANCE, YOU CAN HAVE AN AGRICULTURAL PEST LIKE ARTICHOKE THISTLE.
YOU CAN HAVE A PUBLIC HEALTH PEST LIKE CYANOBACTERIA TOXINS.
YOU CAN HAVE AN ECOLOGICAL PEST LIKE A RUSSIAN KNAPWEED.
IT'S ALSO AN ECOLOGICAL PEST. SO WE USE THESE METHODOLOGIES TO HELP CONTROL SOMETIMES ELIMINATE THESE PESTS. OUR IPM DEPARTMENT IS A IS FOR STRONG NOW.
THERE ARE FOUR OF US AND WE HAVE 120 PLUS THOUSAND ACRES AND A LOT OF PESTS, PRIMARILY WEEDS, AND SO WE THE BULK OF INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT ACTIVITIES ARE PERFORMED BY PARK OPS STAFF AND WE TRAIN THEM EVERY YEAR.
EVERY YEAR WE DO ALMOST 200. WE TRAIN ALMOST 200 STAFF.
WE COVER THE PESTICIDE SAFETY, BUT WE ALSO COVER MECHANICAL METHODOLOGIES, CULTURAL METHODOLOGIES AND BE ON THE LOOKOUT FOR NEW PESTS, BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, ETC.. WE ALSO PERFORM 17 PARK LEVEL FIELD TRAININGS.
WE COLLABORATED WITH UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT AND THE CALIFORNIA INVASIVE PLANT COUNCIL TO PUT ON TWO HERBICIDE CALIBRATION TRAININGS. WE MEET REGULARLY WITH PARK STAFF TO HELP THEM CREATE A PARK INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT PLANS, AND WE ALSO HELPED WITH SAFETY TRAINING AND DID VECTOR BORNE DISEASE TRAINING.
SO YOU CAN SEE THAT WE'VE GOT A PRETTY HEAVY TRAINING SCHEDULE AND WE ALSO, ON A DAILY BASIS, PROVIDE SCIENCE BASED TECHNICAL SUPPORT TO PARK OPS, DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION AND PLANNING, AMONGST OTHER DIVISIONS IN THE DISTRICT. I HAVE SOME NEW PEST ALERTS FOR YOU.
THE INVASIVE SHOT HOLE BORER, OR ISHB, PREVIOUSLY ONLY LOCATED IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, HAS INFESTED AND DESTROYED A NUMBER OF TREES, BOTH HORTICULTURAL AND RIPARIAN TREES.
WE KNEW EVENTUALLY IT WOULD COME UP NORTH BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT INSECTS DO, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, MOST PESTS GET TRANSPORTED BY PEOPLE AND OUR VARIOUS ACTIVITIES.
SO WE THINK THAT THIS PEST MADE IT UP. DID A BIG JUMP FROM SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TO SAN JOSE, PROBABLY THROUGH WOOD, ON FIREWOOD, HOBBY WOOD, ETC..
THIS IS A RECENT DISCOVERY IN 2024. LATE 2024 WAS UNFORTUNATE.
IT HAS BEEN FOUND IN RIPARIAN TREES IN SAN JOSE AND ALSO IN STREET TREES IN SAN JOSE.
THERE IS A WIDE HOST RANGE, UNFORTUNATELY, BUT THERE'S A SMALLER REPRODUCTIVE HOST RANGE, AND OF THESE TREES, THERE'S ONLY A FEW THAT ACTUALLY WILL BE KILLED.
SO WE ARE IN THE SURVEILLANCE PART OF THE INFESTATION, THE INVASION, AND WE'RE DEVELOPING RECOMMENDATION FOR MANAGEMENT AND RESPONSE FOR PARK OPS. THE DIFFICULT PART FOR THIS IS THAT WE WILL HAVE ECOLOGICAL IMPACTS, AND WE WILL ALSO HAVE RECREATIONAL IMPACTS, BECAUSE ONE OF THOSE TREES IS THE SYCAMORE, AND WE HAVE A LOT OF SYCAMORE TREES IN OUR PARKS.
[00:10:05]
WE HAVE OUR NATIVE SYCAMORES AND WE HAVE THE LONDON PLANE THAT'S A THAT'S A BIG SHADE TREE AND A LOT OF OUR PARKING LOT.SO WE CAN ANTICIPATE THAT THERE WILL BE IMPACTS AND SO THAT YOU'LL SEE MORE TO COME.
SECOND, PEST ALERT FOR THIS YEAR IS WE HAVE A NEW LINEAGE OF SUDDEN OAK DEATH, AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE FAMILIAR, YOU PROBABLY ARE FAMILIAR TO SOME DEGREE WITH SUDDEN OAK DEATH. IT'S A PATHOGEN THAT'S MOVED THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENT BY PRIMARILY BAY TREES.
THIS NEW LINEAGE WAS DISCOVERED IN 2024. WE DO KNOW THAT SUDDEN OAK DEATH WAS INTRODUCED INTO THE WILDLAND ENVIRONMENT BY NURSERY STOCK PLANTINGS, AND THIS IS ANOTHER ONE OF OUR BMPS.
WE RECOMMEND THAT ANY NURSERY STOCK PLANTINGS IN THE DISTRICT COME FROM PHYTOSANITARY NURSERIES.
UNFORTUNATELY, THIS NEW LINEAGE, WHICH YOU WILL HEAR IN THE FUTURE, REFERRED TO AS NA2, IS MUCH MORE VIRULENT THAN THE NA1, AND SO WE KNOW THAT THIS COULD HAVE EVEN MORE DEVASTATING IMPACTS TO OUR OAK WOODLANDS, WHICH ARE CRITICAL TO OUR ECOSYSTEMS. WE'VE DEVELOPED WE'VE DETERMINED QUARANTINE ZONES FOR THE KNOWN POPULATIONS THAT HAVE, OR FOR THE KNOWN SAMPLES OR KNOWN POSITIVE SAMPLES, THE TREES THAT ARE KNOWN TO HAVE THIS NA2, AND WE HAVE SPECIFIC MANAGEMENT, HANDLING OF CERTAIN VEGETATION SO THAT WE DON'T MOVE THOSE THAT NEW LINEAGE FROM ONE PART OF THE PARK TO THE OTHER OR OUTSIDE OF OUR PARKS, AND WE CAN ANTICIPATE THAT THOSE QUARANTINE ZONES WILL CHANGE. INDEED, WE HAVE JUST GOTTEN RESULTS BACK FROM SAMPLING, AND SOME OF THOSE QUARANTINE ZONES HAVE GOTTEN A LITTLE BIT BIGGER AND WILL DO CONTINUED SURVEILLANCE MONITORING THIS SUMMER WITH THE SOD BLITZ.
THE GOOD NEWS IS THAT TREATING OR STOPPING SUDDEN OAK DEATH FROM MOVING THROUGH THE ENVIRONMENT IS THE SAME FOR THE NA1 LINEAGE AS IT IS FOR THE NA2, AND THAT IS KEY. THE KEY TO THAT IS WHAT WE NOW KNOW IS THE TRANSMISSION THROUGH THE WILDLAND IS FROM THE BAY OAK ASSOCIATION.
SO IT IS BAY LEAVES THAT ARE THE PRIMARY [INAUDIBLE] FOR THE PHYTOPHTHORA, AND IT REALLY TAKES WARM, WET LATE SEASON RAINS TO MOVE THAT FROM A BAY LEAF TO AN OAK TRUNK.
ONCE THE OAK IS INFECTED, THAT'S A DEAD END. THAT OAK IS NO LONGER INFECTIOUS.
IT'S TRULY REALLY THE BAY LEAVES, AND WE DO KNOW THAT WITHIN A 30 FOOT RADIUS FROM THAT OAK TREE, THAT ANY CONTROL OF ALL SAPLINGS AND SEEDLINGS WITHIN THAT AREA CAN EFFECTIVELY STOP THE TRANSMISSION OF SOD, AND WE DO HAVE RESEARCH NOW FROM UC BERKELEY THAT HAS SHOWN THAT IS A VIABLE RESPONSE, AND SO THAT'S THE GOOD NEWS.
THAT IS PART OF THE BNP'S THAT WE HAVE FOR THE NA2, BUT WE WOULD LIKE TO EXPAND THAT AND DO MORE TRAININGS FOR STAFF TO DO BASE SAPLING CONTROL WHERE THIS IS NOT WE'RE NOT WE'RE NOT TARGETING BAY TREES.
THOSE ARE VERY IMPORTANT ECOLOGICAL COMPONENTS, BASE SAPLINGS AND SEEDLINGS WITHIN THAT 30 FOOT RADIUS OF OAK TREES, AND WE CAN EFFECTIVELY STOP SOD FROM MOVING THROUGH OUR FORESTS WITH ENOUGH EFFORT.
SO YOU'LL SEE AND HOPEFULLY HEAR MORE ABOUT THAT.
SO THIS IS JUST TO REMIND EVERYONE THAT THE BULK OF THE WORK THAT WE DO HERE IN THE PARK DISTRICT IS MECHANICAL AND CULTURAL PEST MANAGEMENT, AND I KNOW YOU'VE SEEN IT ALL IN THE PARKS MOWING LINE TRIMMING, HAND PULLING, ETC.
ALL OF THE PESTS THAT WE ENCOUNTER FOR RECREATIONAL AND ECOLOGICAL REASONS.
YELLOW JACKETS, GOPHERS AND DIFFERENT TYPES OF VEGETATION. A LOT OF WHAT WE DO AND PRIMARILY MOST OF WHAT PARK OPS DOES IS MECHANICAL MOWING, LINE TRIMMING, MULCHING, TREE REMOVAL, REMOVAL, A LOT OF VOLUNTEER WORK, BUT THE BIGGEST OF OUR TOOLS IS GRAZING 87,000 PLUS OR MINUS ACRES, GIVE OR TAKE. EACH YEAR IS OUR MOST POWERFUL VEGETATION MANAGEMENT TOOL THAT REALLY PROMOTES AND MAINTAINS BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY AND OUR CRITICAL GRASSLANDS. YOU MIGHT THINK THAT MECHANICAL AND CULTURAL MANAGEMENT WOULD BE SOMETHING THAT WE COULD TRACK, BUT IT'S REALLY DIFFICULT. WE TRIED FOR MANY YEARS, DIFFICULT TO TRACK AND COMPARE, BUT KNOW THAT 'S THE BULK OF WHAT WE DO.
HOWEVER, WITH PESTICIDE USE, THAT'S REGULATED AND WE HAVE TO REPORT BOTH TO THE STATE AND TO OUR COUNTY, IT'S HIGHLY CONTROLLED, MONITORED, DOCUMENTED, ETC.
SO WE HAVE A LOT OF DATA ON THAT. IT DOES REQUIRE TRAINING AND APPROVAL.
THERE'S A WHOLE REQUEST TO USE PESTICIDE PROCESS AND APPROVAL THAT GOES THROUGH THE IPM DEPARTMENT BEFORE CHEMICAL USE IS USED IN OUR PARKS, AND WE MAINTAIN A DATABASE OF ALL CHEMICAL USE, AND THEN OUR YEARLY REPORT PROVIDES THAT INFORMATION TO THE PUBLIC AND TO STAFF, ETC., AND WE ALSO USE THIS TRACKING TO TRACK.
WE USE THIS DATA TO TRACK EFFECTIVENESS AND TRENDS ETC., AND SO THAT'S WHAT THE IPM REPORT WILL BE ABOUT, MOSTLY ABOUT THE CHEMICAL USE AND SOME OF THE TRENDS THAT WE'RE OBSERVING, JUST AS YOU JUST TO BE AWARE,
[00:15:09]
WHEN THAT IPM ANNUAL REPORT COMES OUT YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THERE'S A LARGE TABLE AT THE END.DON'T WORRY. WE'RE NOT GOING TO GO OVER THIS TABLE RIGHT NOW BECAUSE IT'S REALLY BIG AND REALLY SMALL. THE WRITING IS REALLY SMALL, BUT THIS IS APPENDIX A IN THE BACK, AND THIS IS WHERE WE REPORT ALL CHEMICAL USE BY BOTH CONTRACTOR AND STAFF APPLICATORS BY PARKS.
SO YOU CAN GO TO DIFFERENT PARKS AND YOU CAN SEE WHAT CHEMICALS ARE USED WHERE.
WE ALSO REPORT ON ALL CHEMICAL USE FOR OUR CONCESSIONAIRES.
THAT INCLUDES GOLF COURSES. WE DO HAVE ONE CONVENTIONAL FARM, ETC, AND OUR STRUCTURAL PEST CONTROL IS REPORTED AS WELL IN THE ANNUAL REPORT, BUT WE'RE GOING TO GO OVER MORE PARK OPS RELATED STUFF, AND WE LOOK MORE CLOSELY AT SOME OF THE SPECIFIC PRODUCTS THAT ARE REALLY KEY TO THE WORK THAT WE DO EVERY YEAR, AND THE FIRST THE FIRST PRODUCT CATEGORY IS OUR EARLY SEASON WEED TREATMENT.
THIS IS THE HYBRID COMBO THAT WE USE TO PROVIDE A LOW TO NO VEGETATION IN CERTAIN AREAS WHERE WE HAVE THE PROBABILITY HIGHER PROBABILITY OF FIRE.
SO THIS IS OUR FIRE SAFETY CATEGORY. THIS IS AREAS WHERE WE CONTROL VEGETATION AROUND FIRE PITS BARBECUES GRAVEL PARKING LOTS, CURB STOPS. ROAD EDGES ETC. IT'S A HYBRID APPROACH BECAUSE WE USE AN ORGANIC BURNDOWN HERBICIDE, AND WE MIX THAT IN COMBINATION WITH A CONVENTIONAL PRE-EMERGENT HERBICIDE, AND THAT WAY WE CAN KILL ANY NEWLY EMERGED WEEDS AND STOP THE EMERGENCE OF FUTURE WEEDS AND WHAT'S REALLY KEY TO THIS IS TIMING.
THE TIMING IS A VERY NARROW WINDOW. NOW THAT WE ARE REALLY DIALING IN OUR WEED MANAGEMENT STRATEGIES, WE REALLY HAVE TO GET THESE PRODUCTS DOWN. SHORTLY AFTER THE FIRST EFFECTIVE RAIN, WHEN MOST OF OUR ANNUAL GRASSES AND WEEDS IN THESE AREAS GERMINATE, AND YOU CAN SEE IN THAT PHOTO, THOSE ARE THE RECENTLY GERMINATED FORBS AND GRASSES.
T HAT'S THE COTYLEDON TO FIRST TRUE LEAF STAGE, AND THAT'S WHEN WE REALLY WANT TO TARGET THOSE, AND YOU CAN SEE IN THE GRAPH THERE'S A FIVE YEAR TREND.
NOT A LOT CHANGES WITH THE PRE-EMERGENT BECAUSE THAT'S GENERALLY BASED ON AREA.
SO SOME YEARS WE'LL BE ABLE WE SEE MORE HIGHER USE AND WE SEE LOWER USE OTHER YEARS.
SO THAT'S A BIT VARIABLE IN THERE, BUT I THINK IN GENERAL WHEN FOLKS GET IT DOWN EARLY ENOUGH, THEY'RE SEEING REALLY GOOD EFFECT IN THOSE AREAS WHERE WE WANT VERY LITTLE VEGETATION.
THE TRICLOPYR USE THIS IS BETTER KNOWN AS THE GARLON PRODUCTS.
THIS IS A BROADLEAF SELECTIVE HERBICIDE. THAT MEANS THAT IT REALLY SELECTS AND CONTROLS BROAD LEAVES, NOT GRASSES. SO NO EFFECT ON GRASSES. THIS IS ALSO OUR MOST EFFECTIVE WOODY TREATMENT PRODUCT.
IT'S A POWERFUL HABITAT ENHANCEMENT TOOL ALSO.
THIS IS A TOOL THAT WE USE WHEN WE DO A LOT OF ECOLOGICAL HEALTH TREATMENTS.
IT IS ALSO SAFE TO USE IN ENVIRONMENTS NEAR HUMANS, WILDLIFE AND ALSO NEAR WATER.
YOU CAN SEE IN THAT FIVE YEAR TREND, WE'VE HAD A PRETTY BIG INCREASE, AND YOU CAN YOU CAN SEE A BIG JUMP ESPECIALLY STARTING IN 2020, AND PERHAPS YOU REMEMBER WHAT HAPPENED IN 2020.
WE HAD THE BAY AREA DIEBACK. THAT WAS AFTER A PROLONGED DROUGHT WHEN A REALLY LONG HEAT SPELL, AND WHAT HAPPENED WAS MANY OF OUR EUCALYPTUS AND ACACIA STARTED SHOWING SIGNS OF DIEBACK.
LOTS OF LEAF LOSS AND LEAF AND BRANCH DIEBACK, AND SOME WHOLE TREE DIES, DIED, CREATING A HUGE AMOUNT OF FUELS, AND SO THERE WAS A QUICK RESPONSE TO THAT. A LOT OF FUEL REDUCTION PROJECTS WERE KICKSTARTED AT THAT TIME, AND THAT'S ESSENTIALLY WHY WE SEE A PRETTY BIG INCREASE IN THESE TRICLOPYR PRODUCTS, BECAUSE THEY ARE PRIMARILY USED IN THE WOODY VEGETATION TREATMENTS.
SO YOU CAN SEE IN THIS PHOTO A NEWLY THINNED EUCALYPTUS FOREST IN ANTHONY CHABOT, AND SOME OF THOSE STUMPS WERE TREATED WITH HERBICIDE AND DIED COMPLETELY, AND SOME HAVE A LOT OF ROOT RESOURCES IN THE GROUND, AND SO THERE'LL BE SOME RESPROUTING, AND THEN WE HAVE TO GO BACK AND RETRIEVE THOSE, AS WELL AS SOME OF THE WEEDS THAT BECOME PRETTY DOMINANT ONCE THE CANOPY IS OPENED UP.
NEXT IS THE SPECIAL USE HERBICIDES. WE KIND OF BIN A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT, VERY SELECTIVE HERBICIDES.
THIS IS WHAT WE USE TO HELP MAINTAIN OUR PERMIT COMPLIANCE FOR SOME OF OUR LARGER PROJECTS, MITIGATION REQUIREMENTS AND IMPACTS FOR MUCH OF OUR RECREATIONAL USE MAINTAINING TRAILS, WE HAVE TO HAVE WE HAVE MITIGATION,
[00:20:02]
AND THIS IS A WE DO A LOT OF HABITAT ENHANCEMENT, AND THIS IS THE CATEGORY THAT WE THE CATEGORY OF PRODUCTS THAT WE USE FOR MUCH OF THOSE PROJECTS, AND YOU CAN SEE THAT OVER THE LAST FIVE YEARS THEY'VE BEEN IT'S RELATIVELY STEADY.WE HAD A DECREASE FROM LAST YEAR. THAT WILL GO UP AND DOWN DEPENDING ON IF WE GET NEW.
SO THAT'S AN EXAMPLE OF SOMETIMES YOU'LL SEE A BUMP, BUT GENERALLY I DON'T EXPECT THAT TO EVER CHANGE TOO MUCH UNLESS UNLESS WE REALLY START ELIMINATING SOME OF THESE DIFFICULT LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMERS, AND THEN NEXT WE HAVE GLYPHOSATE.
WE DO STILL HAVE GLYPHOSATE AS A TOOL IN OUR ECOLOGICAL TOOLBOX, BUT IN 2019, THE BOARD PASSED A RESOLUTION BANNING THE USE OF GLYPHOSATE PRODUCTS IN DEVELOPED AREAS. SO AGAIN, WE USE THIS PRODUCT WHERE THERE'S NO PUBLIC ACCESS AND WE USE IT MUCH LIKE THOSE THOSE SPECIAL USE PRODUCTS. RIGHT. THIS IS FOR HABITAT ENHANCEMENT.
LANDSCAPE SCALE RESTORATION PROJECTS. CERTAIN WEEDS THAT ARE VERY DIFFICULT TO TREAT.
SO OVERALL, THOSE ARE THOSE KIND OF LARGER BINS WHERE WE ANALYZE A LITTLE BIT MORE CLOSELY, BUT THIS IS THE BIG PICTURE, I THINK FOR US IN AT THE DISTRICT, AND THAT IS THIS IS HERBICIDE USE FROM 2022, FROM 20, FROM TWO. OH BOY. I CAN'T EVEN READ THAT.
I FORGOT MY GLASSES, YOU GUYS. FROM 2000 TO 2024, AND WHAT WE'VE DONE IS WE'VE TAKEN ALL OF THE HERBICIDE USE AND WE'VE NORMALIZED IT OR DIVIDED IT BY THE ACRES MANAGED RIGHT. SO NOW WE CAN COMPARE YEAR TO YEAR, RIGHT.
YOU CAN SEE THAT BIG JUMP FROM 2020 UP BASED ON THE OUR INCREASED ACREAGE OF TREATMENTS SPECIFICALLY AROUND THE 2020 DIEBACK, AND IT'S KIND OF LEVELED OUT BETWEEN 2023 AND 2024, AND I THINK THAT IS A COMPELLING STORY.
A QUICK MENTION ABOUT GROUND SQUIRRELS. THIS IS THE PARADOX OF THE PARKS.
THE GROUND SQUIRRELS ARE A KEYSTONE SPECIES, AN ECOSYSTEM ENGINEER.
REALLY CRITICAL, IMPORTANT. THEY PROVIDE A LOT OF HABITAT FOR MANY OF OUR ENDANGERED SPECIES.
THEY'RE DELICIOUS FOOD FOR THAT BEAUTIFUL GOLDEN EAGLE THAT YOU SEE THERE, BUT THEY ALSO ARE A PEST, RIGHT? WE CREATE A LOT OF GREAT HABITAT FOR GROUND SQUIRRELS.
THEY LIKE HARDSCAPES TO BURROW UNDER BECAUSE THEY DON'T COLLAPSE.
THOSE BURROWS DON'T COLLAPSE, RIGHT? SO THEY LOVE TO BURROW UNDERNEATH OUR ASPHALT TRAILS, OUR CONCRETE BLOCKS AND PILINGS AND BIG RIP RAP ROCKS.
THAT IS GOOD HABITAT FOR THEM, AND SO IT'S A CONUNDRUM, A DIFFICULTY FOR US, ESPECIALLY NOW IN 2020.
WE DID USE THOSE IN SOME AREAS SPECIFICALLY WHERE WE COULDN'T USE ASPHYXIANTS OR OTHER TYPES OF TREATMENTS THAT WOULD HARM SOME OF THOSE BURROW DWELLERS, SPECIFICALLY THOSE THREATENED AND ENDANGERED SPECIES, AND SO NOW WITHOUT THAT, WITHOUT THAT TOOL, WE ARE USING ASPHYXIANTS AND TRAPPING BOTH LETHAL AND LIVE TRAPPING WITH EUTHANASIA AFTERWARDS, BUT TO LESS EFFECT. THOSE ARE BOTH LESS EFFECTIVE METHODS OF CONTROLLING GROUND SQUIRRELS IN AREAS THAT ARE DEVELOPED AND BEING UNDERMINED BY THIS ECOSYSTEM ENGINEER. SO YOU'LL PROBABLY HAVE HEARD AND WILL CONTINUE TO HEAR, THAT WE ARE STILL TRYING NEW AND DIFFERENT WAYS OF CONTROLLING THEM IN AREAS THAT WE DO HAVE TO. WE DO HAVE TO HAVE SOME MANAGEMENT.
SO WE'RE GETTING DOWN TO THE END WHERE WE'RE GOING TO TALK ABOUT CASE STUDIES AND WE TAKE ALL OF OUR DATA AND WE PUT IT WITHIN BINS OF GOALS. SO WHY DID WE DO ROUGH MOWING IN THIS AREA? WHY DID WE USE AN HERBICIDE OVER HERE. WHAT WAS THE GOAL OF THAT, AND SO WE HAVE FIVE GOALS THAT WE'VE IDENTIFIED THAT HELP CATEGORIZE GRANTED LOTS OF THINGS. CAN THEY. THERE'S A LOT OF INTERSECTION.
SOMETIMES IT'S DIFFICULT TO SAY WELL IS THAT MORE RECREATION OR IS THAT MORE FIRE SAFETY? BUT IN GENERAL WE CAN CATEGORIZE MOST OF OUR USE, CATEGORIZE MOST OF OUR USE WITHIN THESE FIVE GOALS PUBLIC HEALTH,
[00:25:03]
FIRE SAFETY, RECREATION, ECOLOGICAL FUNCTION, AND HEALTHY FORESTS, AND THE REPORT IN TODAY I'LL HIGHLIGHT SOME OF THOSE CASE STUDIES THAT KIND OF ILLUSTRATE WHERE WE DO THAT WORK. SO FOR INSTANCE, PUBLIC HEALTH.WHEN WE HAVE TREATMENTS THAT ARE DESIGNED TO MITIGATE HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS OR STRUCTURAL PEST CONTROL, OR STINGING INSECTS, WASPS AND MOSQUITOES THAT WOULD GO UNDER THE PUBLIC HEALTH BIN, AND THAT'S HOW WE SORT OUR DATA.
FIRE SAFETY, WE TALKED ABOUT THAT WITH THAT HYBRID APPROACH.
THAT'S FIRE STRIPS ON ROADS AND TRAILS, IGNITION AREAS AROUND FIRE PITS, BARBECUE, BARBECUES, PARKING LOTS, STRUCTURES, ETC.. RECREATION, ANY KIND OF TRAIL ACCESS OR HAZARDOUS TREE REMOVAL OR TURF MANAGEMENT.
LANDSCAPING AND GARDENS. RECREATION. ECOLOGICAL FUNCTION.
THESE ARE THE THINGS LIKE RESOURCE PROJECTS THAT WE MENTIONED, HABITAT ENHANCEMENT, ETC..
HEALTHY FORESTS ALSO KNOWN OUT ON THE IN THE FIELD AS FUELS REDUCTION.
THESE ARE OUR EUCALYPTUS PLANTATION, THINNING BRUSH AND WEED CONTROL AND FUEL TREATMENT AREAS.
SOMETIMES IS POISON OAK. SO GENERALLY THIS IS A GREAT HABITAT PLANT.
WE DON'T WANT TO KILL IT. SOMETIMES SOME OF US DON'T WANT TO TOUCH IT, BUT IT IS AN AMAZING PLANT, AN AMAZING BUSH AND VINE. HOWEVER, SOME PEOPLE GET REALLY, REALLY BAD DERMATITIS AND YOU CAN IMAGINE AS A PARK STAFF, IF YOU HAVE TO TREAT IT YEAR AFTER YEAR AFTER YEAR, SOMETIMES YOU REALLY DEVELOP BAD DERMATITIS.
SOME PEOPLE END UP IN THE HOSPITAL AND INDEED SOME PUBLIC ALSO ARE EXTREMELY ALLERGIC TO IT.
SO THERE ARE PLACES WHERE IT'S EASIER TO CONTROL.
THERE ARE PLACES WHERE IT TENDS TO BE A MONSTER.
IT'S JUST THE PERFECT CONDITIONS. IT EVERY MONTH IT'S GROWING INTO YOUR TRAIL, AND SO THIS IS A PLACE WHERE SOMETIMES PARK STAFF SAY, I CAN'T KEEP DOING THIS. SO-AND-SO IS OUT ON WORKERS' COMP.
IT'S CRAZY, AND WE'LL LOOK AT THE SITE AND WE'LL SAY, THIS IS REALLY THIS IS THE PLACE WHERE WE REALLY NEED TO PUSH THIS POISON OAK BACK, AND CHEMICAL USE IS ONE PLACE WHERE THAT CAN BE REALLY EFFECTIVE FIRE SAFETY.
AGAIN, WE TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT HYBRID APPROACH.
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHERE WE NEED TO HAVE A LESS THAN 5% VEGETATION AROUND THOSE HIGH IGNITION SOURCES, AS WELL AS THAT ZONE ZERO AROUND THE DISTRICT STRUCTURES, AND REALLY YOU WANT TO THINK ABOUT THIS FIRE SAFETY, FOR INSTANCE, IN THIS PICNIC AREA ADJACENT TO VERY DENSE EUCALYPTUS FOREST AS PROTECTING OUR PARKLANDS FROM UNINTENDED FIRE STARTS.
ECOLOGICAL FUNCTION. THIS IS A GREAT PHOTO OF ONE OF OUR MEADOWLAND OR GRASSLAND RESTORATIONS.
THIS IS AN EXAMPLE OF WHERE CONTROLLING BROADLEAF WEEDS AND EXOTIC ANNUAL GRASSES REALLY ALLOW FOR NATIVE PERENNIAL VEGETATION TO PROLIFERATE AND SPREAD, AND THIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF USING ORGANIC BURNED DOWN SHORTLY AFTER THAT GERMINATION PERIOD TO SUCCESSFULLY CONTROL THOSE EXOTIC ANNUALS, BOTH FORBS AND GRASSES, AND FOLLOWED UP WITH VOLUNTEER SUPPORT.
SAFE AND ACCESSIBLE RECREATION. THIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF SOME OF THE AMAZING POLLINATOR NATIVE GARDENS THAT A LOT OF STAFF PUT IN, AND THEY DO REQUIRE WEEDING. THEY REQUIRE WEEDING WHEN YOU FIRST START TO PUT THOSE PLANTS IN.
OTHERWISE THOSE WEEDS BECOME THE GARDEN, AND THE PLANTS, THEY DON'T SURVIVE ONCE THEY HAVE ESTABLISHED THEY'RE VERY COMPETITIVE AND GENERALLY REQUIRE LESS AND LESS WEEDING, BUT YOU CAN SEE THAT THIS IS A NATIVE POLLINATOR GARDEN, HELPS REDUCE TURF.
IT PROVIDES HABITAT FOR BIRDS AND POLLINATORS, IT CREATES HABITAT AND IT CONNECTS HABITAT, AND THAT WEED CONTROL IS CRITICAL, AND THIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE OF HOW SOMETIMES A LITTLE CHEMICAL CONTROL HELPS WITH THAT.
THAT BERMUDA GRASS THAT'S SO DIFFICULT TO GET TO TAKE CARE OF, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU'RE TRYING TO CONVERT TO A [INAUDIBLE] DOMINATED AREA AND AGAIN, WEED CONTROL HELPS PREVENT THE SPREAD TO MORE NATURAL AREAS.
HEALTHY FORESTS. THIS IS A GREAT EXAMPLE THAT WE TALKED ALREADY ABOUT THIS BARRIER DIEBACK.
WE HAVE TALKED ABOUT IT THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS.
THIS THINNING OCCURRED IN 2024. YOU CAN SEE ON THE LEFT HAND SIDE THAT OVERSTOCKING AND THAT FOREST ACTUALLY HAD BEEN CUT MANY YEARS AGO, A COUPLE OF YEARS BEFORE I STARTED WITH THE DISTRICT, BUT IT WASN'T TREATED CHEMICALLY, AND SO THOSE ROOTS DIDN'T DIE, AND THEY RESPROUTED IN A COPPICED FORMAT AND MADE IT EVEN MORE DENSE CREATING MORE FUEL.
SO FIRE CAME IN AND DID SOME MAJOR CUTTING AND SOME MASTICATION AND SOME FOLLOW UP WITH HERBICIDE, AND YOU CAN SEE HOW THE CONTROL OF THAT THOSE EUCALYPTUS IS REALLY AND THE WEEDS THAT KIND OF FOLLOW ARE REALLY CREATING A MORE FIRE RESILIENT
[00:30:08]
AND ULTIMATELY NATIVE UNDERSTORY. YOU CAN KIND OF SEE IN THE BACKGROUND, THERE'S A LOT OF OAKS, A LOT OF OAK AND BAYS WERE ALREADY IN THE AREA AND NOW ARE BEING RELEASED FROM THAT COMPETITION.ONCE THEY BECOME MATURE. THEY'RE THE NEW SHADED FUEL BREAK, RIGHT? SO ULTIMATELY THESE AREAS ARE BECOMING MORE NATIVE AND MORE FIRE RESILIENT AND PROVIDE MUCH BETTER HABITAT.
OH, A QUICK NOTE ABOUT THAT. SORRY, I FORGOT TO MENTION, BUT WE DID.
YOU SAW THE BIG JUMP IN THE USE OF TRICLOPYR PRODUCTS, PRIMARILY DUE TO FUELS REDUCTION, WE INCREASED OUR TREATMENT ACRES BY ALMOST 100% FROM 2023 TO 2024.
WE INCREASED OUR HERBICIDE USE BY 50% FOR THOSE FOR THESE PROJECTS.
SO I THINK THAT 'S A COMPELLING STORY. JUDICIOUS USE OF THIS POWERFUL TOOL, ALONG WITH THE MECHANICAL THAT WAS PERFORMED. OKAY, SO PROGRAM DIRECTIONS FOR 2025.
WE'RE GOING TO CONTINUE WITH OUR PREVENTION PROGRAMS, THE SURVEILLANCE AND MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE INVASIVE SHOT HOLE BORER, THE SOD NA2 SURVEILLANCE AND MANAGEMENT RECOMMENDATIONS.
WE'RE WE'RE PROVIDING RECOMMENDATIONS AND WE'LL HOPEFULLY BE ROLLING OUT TRAININGS AND SUPPORT FOR PARK STAFF WHO WANT TO HELP WITH THAT OAK WOODLAND PRESERVATION BY CONTROLLING THOSE BAY SAPLING SEEDLINGS. EARLY DETECTION RAPID RESPONSE IS A PROGRAM THAT WE'VE LAUNCHED AND ARE CURRENTLY IN THE TRAINING PROCESS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THIS. WE'RE TRAINING PARK STAFF ON THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF WEEDS THAT ARE JUST BARELY INTRODUCED OR COULD BE INTRODUCED INTO THEIR REGIONS.
WE WANT THEM TO KNOW WHAT THEY ARE. WE WANT THEM TO KNOW WHAT THEY LOOK LIKE, WHEN TO LOOK FOR THEM, AND HOW TO RAPIDLY RESPOND SO THAT WE DON'T END UP WITH THE NEXT STINKWORT.
FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE IN THE KNOW, AND WE ARE CONTINUING TO BUILD THOSE IPM PARK PLANS WITH PARK STAFF, WE DIGITIZING THESE PARK MAINTENANCE AREAS TO HELP THEM STRATEGIZE PUT THINGS ON A CALENDAR.
THERE'S THIS IMAGE OF THE PARK PORTAL THAT IS VIEWABLE THROUGH PARK VIEW.
SO WE'VE GOT A BUSY YEAR AHEAD OF US. HOPEFULLY NO MORE PESTS, AND I'M HAPPY TO TAKE ANY QUESTIONS.
WONDERFUL. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THIS VERY INFORMATIVE AND WELL-PREPARED REPORT.
COLIN, DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? WE CAN DO BOTH. PAM, HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR YOUR DEPARTMENT IS RESOURCED. YOU HAVE ENOUGH PEOPLE, HAVE ENOUGH BUDGET, HAVE ENOUGH EQUIPMENT.
IS IT SOMETHING THAT I UNDERSTAND YOU'RE ALWAYS GOING TO STRIVE FOR MORE, BUT IS DO YOU FEEL ADEQUATELY RESOURCED? NO. ABSOLUTELY NOT. I THINK EVERYBODY WOULD ANSWER THAT QUESTION.
I THINK WE'RE DOING A GREAT JOB WITH WHAT WE'RE DOING, AND BUT JUST THE LAST FOUR YEARS HAVE REALLY ILLUSTRATED THE FACT THAT WE'RE GETTING MORE AND MORE PEST SPECIES, AND WHEN THEY ARE FOREST SPECIES, THOSE CAN BE PRETTY DEVASTATING.
SO WE'RE NOW IN THE FOREST PEST MANAGEMENT BUSINESS AS WELL.
IT USED TO BE KIND OF OCCASIONAL. NOW IT'S REALLY BASICALLY WE'RE GOING TO BE DOING THIS EVERY YEAR. SO NO, WE AND VERTEBRATE CONTROL IS ANOTHER EXAMPLE.
SO NO, WE DEFINITELY NEED MORE ECOLOGISTS ON BOARD AND WE DESPERATELY NEED OUR OWN SERVICE YARD.
WE LIKE TO THINK THAT WE OBVIOUSLY ALWAYS NEED MORE MONEY, BUT WE NEED MORE PEOPLE.
PEOPLE GET WORK DONE, NOT MONEY GETS WORK DONE.
PERHAPS YOU'VE HEARD THAT FROM OTHER FOLKS IN THE DISTRICT, BUT I BELIEVE IT'S TRUE.
OUR STAFF GET A LOT OF GREAT WORK DONE, AND WE CONSIDER PARK OPS AS AN EXTENSION OF THE WORK WE DO.
THERE ARE A FORCE MULTIPLIER. SO WE DO A LOT OF TRAININGS.
WE LIKE TO DO MORE TRAININGS. WE LIKE TO PROVIDE MORE SUPPORT FOR THEM.
SO IF THAT ANSWERS YOUR QUESTION. SO A LOT OF FIELD WORK IS ACTUALLY UNDERTAKEN BY PARK STAFF.
AFTER YOU'VE ENGAGED IN TRAINING AND PROGRAMING.
YES. YEAH. THEIR ANNUAL MAINTENANCE, WE YOU KNOW, WE PROVIDE TRAINING FOR THEIR ANNUAL MAINTENANCE.
WE TRY TO PROVIDE MORE EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT METHODOLOGIES.
WE HELP WITH IDENTIFICATION AND BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES SO WE DON'T MAKE OUR PROBLEMS WORSE.
[00:35:09]
PEST MANAGEMENT. YEAH. VEGETATION MANAGEMENT I KNOW SOMETIMES IT SOUNDS WEIRD, BUT OUR BIGGEST PEST IS VEGETATION.OTHERWISE, WHY ARE WE CONTROLLING IT? RIGHT. IT GETS IN THE WAY OF OUR TRAILS.
RIGHT. YOU DON'T HAVE TRAILS IF YOU OR IT'S COVERED WITH VEGETATION.
IT'S A PEST. IT'S A RECREATIONAL PEST. WE HAVE AGRICULTURAL PESTS, RIGHT? WE HAVE FORAGE THAT WE PROTECT WHEN WE TREAT ARTICHOKE, THISTLE, YELLOW STAR THISTLE, PURPLE STAR THISTLE, ETC.. OKAY, WELL, THIS HELPS US IN UNDERSTANDING HOW OUR BUDGET FOR OPERATIONS AND PEST MANAGEMENT INTERACT AND COME TOGETHER. DIRECTOR COFFEY I JUST ADD THIS IS IPM IS A PART OF EVERYTHING WE DO.
SO BEYOND EVEN JUST OPERATIONS AND OUR IPM TEAM, WHETHER IT'S THE WORK THAT FIRED DEPARTMENT DOES OR LIKE OUR GRAZING PROGRAM AND STEWARDSHIP, IT'S ALL CONNECTED TO IPM AND I LIKE TO THINK ABOUT IT'S SORT OF THE WAY OUR EQUITY TEAM BRINGS EQUITY INTO ALL THE DIFFERENT WORK THAT OUR TEAM DOES, THAT THIS THIS TEAM IS LIKE THE BRAINS BEHIND OUR APPROACH TO IPM THAT THEN GETS MULTIPLIED ACROSS THE ENTIRE DISTRICT.
THANK YOU. THAT'S HELPFUL. PAM ON SUDDEN OAK DEATH AND THIS NEW SHOT HOLE BORER ISSUE, I'M HAVING TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING EXACTLY WHAT THE PATHOGEN IS VERSUS WHAT THE CARRIERS ARE, AND I THINK MAYBE THAT'S BECAUSE I'VE BEEN FOLLOWING FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS NOW. SUDDEN OAK DEATH AND HOW IT WAS FOR A NUMBER OF YEARS, JUST UNKNOWN HOW IT WAS BEING TRANSMITTED AND WHETHER IT WAS BEETLES OR FUNGUS OR WHATEVER.
SO IT STRIKES ME AS SOMETHING I NEED TO JUST ASK IN TERMS OF WHAT WE KNOW NOW ABOUT THE SUDDEN OAK DEATH PATHOGEN AND HOW IT'S TRANSMITTED IN OUR BEETLES STILL INVOLVED, FOR INSTANCE.
WHAT WHAT WHAT DO WE KNOW? AND THEN I WANT TO ASK YOU ABOUT THE BAY TREES.
YEAH. GREAT. GREAT QUESTION, AND IT'S A LOT. SUDDEN OAK DEATH IS IS A PHYTOPHTHORA, WHICH IS A WATER MOLD AND A WATER MOLD. THAT WOULD BE THE COMMON WAY TO, YOU KNOW, SO THE ONE OF THE MANY POTATO BLIGHTS THAT OCCURRED IN IRELAND, THAT WAS PHYTOPHTHORA INFESTANS. IT'S A WATER MOLD AND THEY'RE UBIQUITOUS.
THEY'RE VERY COMMON. THE PROBLEM IS WHEN THEY GET INTRODUCED INTO AREAS THAT DON'T HAVE PREDATORS OR ANTAGONISTS IN A, IN A NATURAL SYSTEM, AND SO PHYTOPHTHORA RAMORUM USING THE GENETICS THROUGH DIFFERENT LABS.
FOR INSTANCE, THE UC BERKELEY LAB WE WORK CLOSELY WITH, THEY'VE DONE THEY'VE BEEN ON THE FOREFRONT OF THIS, AND THEY'VE DONE A LOT OF THE GENETIC ANALYSIS THAT WE NOW KNOW THAT THE PHYTOPHTHORA RAMORUM WAS INTRODUCED BY NURSERY PLANTS INTO THE WILDLANDS, BUT THERE'S NOT A LOT OF NURSERY PLANTS IN WILDLANDS.
THEY KNEW AND WERE ABLE TO CAPTURE AND BAIT OUT THE PHYTOPHTHORA RAMORUM FROM A LOT OF DIFFERENT HOST SPECIES, AND IN FACT, THERE'S OVER 200 HOST SPECIES WITHIN A FOREST ENVIRONMENT.
UNDERSTORY PLANTS, OVERSTORY PLANTS LOTS OF PLANTS CAN HOST PHYTOPHTHORA RAMORUM AND NOT DIE.
THE QUESTION WAS, WERE THEY TRANSMITTING IT TO THESE OAK SPECIES THAT ARE SUSCEPTIBLE? AND IT TOOK A LONG TIME TO FIGURE OUT WHO WAS DOING THE SPORULATION RIGHT.
WHICH PLANTS WERE MAKING THE MOST SPORES AND WHICH PLANTS WERE CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE TREES THAT WERE SUSCEPTIBLE? JUST THE CLASSIC DISEASE TRIANGLE. SO RECENT RESEARCH HAS CONFIRMED THAT IT IS THE BAY LEAF, THE BAY TREE, SPECIFICALLY THE BAY LEAF THAT IS THE PRIMARY SPORE PRODUCER, AND WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT OUR OAK WOODLAND FORESTS, THEY HAVE NOT BEEN MANAGED AS THEY WERE TRADITIONALLY MANAGED BY NATIVE AMERICANS.
RIGHT, AND SO THERE WAS A LOT LESS UNDERSTORY PLANTS.
RIGHT. THAT WAS NOT SOMETHING THAT OAK TREES WERE USED TO HAVING, AND THEN WHEN YOU INTRODUCE A PATHOGEN INTO THERE, SUDDENLY YOU HAVE THE VECTOR. SO THE SAPLINGS AND SEEDLINGS ARE LOW ENOUGH TO THE GROUND AND CLOSE ENOUGH TO THE OAK TRUNK THAT IN THE RIGHT CONDITIONS, THOSE SPORES ARE CREATED, AND THEN THEY'RE SPREAD THROUGH WATER, SPLASHING WATER OR DRIVEN WATER THROUGH RAIN AND WIND ONTO THE OAK TRUNK.
[00:40:02]
AND NUMBER TWO, IT HAS TO LAND ON OAK TRUNK. IF IT LANDS ON OAK LEAF NOTHING HAPPENS.NO DISEASE. IT HAS TO LAND ON THE TRUNK. ISN'T THAT CRAZY? IT SEEMS LIKE IT'S SO UNLIKELY FOR SOD TO MOVE THROUGH OUR FORESTS, EXCEPT FOR THE FACT THAT WE HAVE SO MANY BAY SAPLINGS AND SEEDLINGS UNDERNEATH OUR OAKS, AND THEY ARE SO CONNECTED. SO BAY TREES CAN INFECT EACH OTHER, NOT DIE, AND THEN INFECT AN OAK TREE THAT WILL DIE.
YOU CAN HAVE PHYTOPHTHORA RAMORUM RAINED DOWN ON THE LEAVES OF THE OAK TREE AND NOTHING WILL HAPPEN.
THERE WILL BE NO DISEASE. IT HAS TO LAND ON JUST THE RIGHT SPOT, THE TRUNK.
IT HAS TO BE BIG ENOUGH, CRENULATED ENOUGH TO HOLD THAT THOSE SPORES, THAT WATER WITH SPORES IN IT LONG ENOUGH FOR IT TO BURROW INTO AND GET INTO THE CAMBIUM. WOW, ALARM JUST WENT OFF BECAUSE I HAVE A COUPLE OF VERY LARGE COASTAL OAKS NEAR MY HOME, AND THERE ARE ALL SORTS OF SAPLINGS GROWING UNDER THEM.
WELL, I CAN I PLEASE CONTROL YOU CAN PULL THEM OUT, YOU CAN CUT THEM.
YOU MAY NEED TO, DEPENDING ON THE SIZE. YOU MAY NEED TO STOP THEM FROM RESPROUTING WITH A LITTLE HERBICIDE, AND YOU CAN LOOK ALL OF THAT INFORMATION UP ON THE GARBELOTTO LABS WEBSITE.
SO HOW WITH ALL THE OAK BAY WOODLANDS THAT WE HAVE WITHIN OUR PARKLANDS, HOW DO YOU. YOU WOULD HAVE TO GO THROUGH ALL THESE WOODLANDS TO REMOVE BAY SAPLINGS NEXT TO OAK TREES.
I TRIED TO TELL PEOPLE, DON'T GET LOST IN THE FOREST.
CONTROL THE BAY SAPLINGS THERE, BAY SAPLINGS AND SEEDLINGS.
SO DON'T LOOK AT THE WHOLE FOREST. SO BE SELECTIVE.
LASTLY THE GLYSOPHATE USAGE BETWEEN 2020 AND LAST YEAR SEEMS TO FLUCTUATE A LOT.
YEAH. I'M WONDERING WHY IS THAT JUST A FUNCTION OF HOW? OUR FUELS MANAGEMENT PROGRAMS ARE CREATING EUCALYPTUS STUMPS.
SO THE GLYPHOSATE WE DON'T GENERALLY USE IN THE FIELDS FOR EUCALYPTUS.
I JUST REALIZED I'M THINKING OF GARLAND. YEAH.
THE GARLAND WAS A STEADY INCREASE, ESPECIALLY FROM 2020, JUST BECAUSE WE KEPT BITING OFF MORE AND MORE ACREAGE TO TREAT, BUT THE GLYPHOSATE, YOU'RE RIGHT, GOES BACK AND FORTH, AND IN FACT, I THINK WE DID A BIT OF A WE DID A BIG JUMP LAST YEAR BECAUSE WE OUR PERMITS THAT ALLOW US TO DO ROUTINE MAINTENANCE ALONG TRAILS.
WE RE-UPPED THAT NEW PERMIT AND WE HAD NEW MITIGATION REQUIREMENTS, AND SO WE HAD TO CHOOSE A WHOLE NEW AREA, AND SO WHEN WE HAD TO KNOCK DOWN ALL THE LEPIDIUM LATIFOLIUM, THAT WAS JUST A FOREST, TOOK A LOT MORE HERBICIDE.
WE WERE JUST BACK THERE LAST WEEK, AND WE SPENT AS MUCH TIME THERE WITH A FRACTION OF THE CHEMICAL, BECAUSE WE HAD TO HUNT FOR IT. TRANSLATE, WHAT WAS THE PLANT? PERENNIAL PEPPERWEED. SO, AS YOU KNOW, YOU'LL SEE THAT FLUCTUATE.
I THINK DEFINITELY, ESPECIALLY AS WE TAKE ON NEW PROJECTS OR GET NEW LAND.
IT'S JUST CURIOUS. ALL RIGHT. WONDERFUL PRESENTATION AS USUAL, AND I REALLY APPRECIATE IT.
IT'S VERY INFORMATIVE, AND I ALWAYS LEARN SOME LATIN.
ME TOO. OKAY. YEAH. GREAT. SO I GUESS I HAVE ONE OVERARCHING QUESTION ABOUT TIMELINE. SO THIS IS OUR 2024 REPORT.
TODAY WE'RE RECEIVING AN INFORMATIONAL ITEM ONLY ON THIS REPORT.
OR HOW DOES THAT PROCESS WORK? I'LL LET MY DIVISION LEAD, AND THEN I GUESS WHILE YOU'RE COMING UP, I ALSO WANT TO HEAR ABOUT THE 2025 TIMELINE WHEN THAT STARTS HAPPENING, SINCE WE'RE KIND OF ENTERING THE MIDPOINT OF 2025.
YEAH, THANKS FOR THE QUESTION. DIRECTOR SANWONG DIVISION LEAD FOR STEWARDSHIP, MATT GRAUL. TYPICALLY IN THE IPM POLICY, IT SETS UP THAT WE BRING IT TO THIS COMMITTEE AND AS AN INFORMATIONAL REPORT, AND THAT'S THE I MEAN, AND THEN WE POST ON THE WEBSITE, IT'S AVAILABLE PUBLICLY, BUT WE DON'T PRESENT IT TO THE FULL BOARD.
TYPICALLY. IT'S TYPICALLY THIS IS THE OPPORTUNITY FOR THE PUBLIC TO HEAR IT TO BE COMMENT ON IT,
[00:45:02]
AND THEN IT GOES. IT WILL BE ALL OVER THE WEBSITE.ALL THE PAST REPORTS ARE ON THE WEBSITE, BUT THAT'S TYPICALLY HOW WE DO IT.
IT'S JUST AN INFORMATIONAL ITEM. IT'S BECAUSE IT'S JUST BASICALLY REPORTING INFORMATION THAT STAFF, T HERE'S NO BOARD NECESSARILY DECISION. IT'S JUST REPORTING INFORMATION THAT WE'VE COLLECTED TO THE PUBLIC.
RIGHT, AND I JUST ADD, I THINK ONE OF THE GOALS WITH THIS IS TRANSPARENCY, RIGHT? FOR THE PUBLIC AND FOR YOUR BOARD AND TO GET INPUT, BUT OVERALL THIS IS PART OF OUR OPERATIONS, AND JUST HOW WE DO BUSINESS ACROSS THE PARK IS YOU KNOW, HAVING IT INFORMED BY THIS INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT APPROACH, AND SO THIS IS OUR OPPORTUNITY TO KIND OF DAYLIGHT THAT AND JUST PROVIDE THAT TRANSPARENCY, AND THEN ONCE THIS GETS POSTED TO SHARE WITH THE PUBLIC, WE'LL START ON THE 2025 PROCESS.
SO THIS IS ONGOING WORK. IT'S HAPPENING ALL THE TIME, AND THIS JUST CAPTURES THE PREVIOUS YEAR AND DESCRIBES IT SO SIMILAR TO WHEN YOU CLOSE YOUR FINANCIAL BOOKS FOR A PREVIOUS YEAR, IT TAKES SOME TIME TO COMPILE THEM AND THEN REPORT OUT.
SO THIS IS LOOKING AT LAST YEAR, AND SO NEXT YEAR ABOUT THIS TIME WE'LL COME BACK TO YOUR COMMITTEE AND REPORT ABOUT WHAT HAPPENED DURING THIS CURRENT YEAR, BUT THE WORK IS ONGOING ALL THE TIME. THAT'S GREAT TO KNOW.
THANK YOU FOR CLARIFYING THAT, AND I'M CURIOUS HOW MUCH OF THIS ARE WE REQUIRED TO DO VERSUS IS IS OPTIONAL FOR THE PARK DISTRICT. IN 1987, THE BOARD PASSED THE IPM PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES, AND THIS IS PART OF OUR COMMITMENT, BASED ON THAT BOARD POLICY, TO REPORT ANNUALLY ON PESTICIDE USE.
YEAH, I MEAN, I THINK I'M NOT SURE IF YOU MEAN IS THE TRANSPARENCY PIECE REQUIRED OR IS THE ACTUAL WORK ITSELF REQUIRED? MAYBE A LITTLE BIT OF BOTH, AND THEN I GUESS WHAT I'M LEADING INTO IS, YOU KNOW, I HAVE EXPERIENCE WITH ANOTHER AGENCY THAT MANAGES LARGE ACREAGE.
FOR EXAMPLE, THERE'S THE PATTERSON RANCH PROPERTY, WHICH IS 5000 ACRES NEXT TO DEL VALLE.
THAT ZONE SEVEN OWNS AND MANAGES, AND JUST, YOU KNOW, IN TERMS OF SENSE OF SCALE, DEL VALLE, I BELIEVE, IS AROUND 4400 ACRES, AND I DON'T THINK I'VE EVER WHEN I WAS ON THE ZONE SEVEN BOARD OF DIRECTORS, WE DIDN'T HAVE AN INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT ITEM THAT WE REVIEWED, AND SO I'M JUST CURIOUS, YOU KNOW, WHAT'S THE EITHER FEDERAL OR STATE REQUIREMENTS, IF ANY? IT SOUNDS LIKE WE HAVE THIS BOARD POLICY FROM BEFORE, AND WE REALLY DO VALUE TRANSPARENCY.
SO I'M JUST TRYING TO UNDERSTAND WHAT'S REQUIRED AND WHAT'S YOU KNOW, A LITTLE BIT MORE ABOVE AND BEYOND, BUT CORE TO OUR VALUES HERE AT EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT.
MAYBE I CAN DESCRIBE IT A LITTLE BIT. I'M SURE PAM MIGHT HAVE MORE DETAIL, BUT YOU KNOW, THERE ARE STATE REGULATIONS AROUND THE USE OF PESTICIDES, AND WE FOLLOW THOSE REGULATIONS IN EVERY APPLICATOR IN THE ENTIRE STATE FOLLOWS THOSE REGULATIONS, WHETHER THEY'RE A PUBLIC AGENCY OR A PRIVATE COMPANY.
WE GO ABOVE AND BEYOND IN TERMS OF PROVIDING TRANSPARENCY, AND THEN ALSO IN TERMS OF HAVING A REALLY TECHNICALLY SAVVY TEAM TO ADVISE THE REST OF OUR TEAM ON ECOLOGICALLY SOUND APPROACHES, AND SO, YOU KNOW, I THINK THIS PRESENTATION IS SORT OF AN EXAMPLE OF HOW OUR TEAM GOES ABOVE AND BEYOND WHAT'S REQUIRED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE'RE GOOD STEWARDS OF THE LAND THAT WE TAKE CARE OF.
I THINK ALL OF THESE ARE SUCH IMPORTANT TOPICS, AND FROM WHAT I UNDERSTAND, YOU HAVE A SPECIAL CERTIFICATION AS WELL, RIGHT? FOR INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT. SO THERE IS ALSO A STATE CERTIFICATION OPPORTUNITY TO, TO, TO HAVE THIS BACKGROUND AND THIS KNOWLEDGE AND BE ABLE TO PUT TOGETHER THIS TYPE OF REPORT.
YEAH, SURE, AND I WILL. JUST TO PIGGYBACK ON WHAT YOU JUST SAID ALL OF OUR REPORTING GOES TO FIRST TO THE COUNTY AND THEN UP TO THE STATE, AND SO ANY MEMBER OF THE PUBLIC CAN SEARCH THAT EXTENSIVE BUT VERY NOT USER FRIENDLY SYSTEM TO SEE WHAT WE DO ON OUR, ON OUR LANDS. THIS IS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR US TO EXPLAIN MORE AND REALLY DIVE DOWN INTO THE DETAILS AND FOR US, OURSELVES TO USE THAT INFORMATION TO MAKE BETTER DECISIONS.
RIGHT, AND THEN FOR ME TO HAVE MY POSITION AS THE IPM SPECIALIST, I HAVE TO HAVE A PEST CONTROL.
SO I HAD TO DO. NOT ONLY DID I HAVE TO HAVE A DEGREE, BUT I HAD TO DO SOME ADDITIONAL COURSES TO SATISFY THOSE REQUIREMENTS, AND THEN I WAS ABLE TO FORTUNATELY GET THAT LICENSE, AND THAT'S CALLED A PEST CONTROL ADVISOR'S LICENSE.
THAT LICENSE ALLOWS ME TO WRITE RECOMMENDATIONS, WHICH IS THE LEGAL PRESCRIPTION TO USE A PESTICIDE,
[00:50:04]
BUT PART OF THAT LICENSE ALSO REQUIRES THAT WE CONSIDER THOSE INTEGRATED STRATEGIES AS WELL, AND THAT WE WRITE THOSE INTO OUR RECOMMENDATIONS, AND THEN IN ADDITION TO THAT, I HAVE A QUALIFIED APPLICATOR CERTIFICATE THAT ALLOWS ME TO EITHER TRAIN AND TO APPLY PESTICIDES, BUT ALSO TO TRAIN OTHERS TO APPLY THOSE PESTICIDES.EVERYBODY ON MY TEAM ALSO HAVE THAT QUALIFIED APPLICATORS CERTIFICATE, AND I THINK MAYBE YOU ALLUDED TO THE QUESTION WHY WAS THERE NOT AN IPM PROGRAM OR COORDINATOR AT ZONE SEVEN? OTHER LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCIES DON'T ALWAYS HAVE AN IPM DEPARTMENT.
WELL, MANY OF THEM DON'T HAVE AN IPM DEPARTMENT.
THEY'RE NOT IN CHARGE OF THE TRAINING. THEY DON'T ACTUALLY GO OUT AND WORK IN THE FIELD WITH FOLKS.
SO IT'S A LITTLE BIT THEY'RE A LITTLE BIT TIED BY THAT COORDINATORS DEFINITION.
SO WE I THINK WERE ONE OF THE FEW PLACES THAT ACTUALLY HAVE AN IPM PROGRAM.
THERE'S A FEW OTHER IPM SPECIALISTS IN OTHER AGENCIES, BUT THEIR PROGRAMS GENERALLY ARE NOT QUITE AS BIG OR MAYBE DON'T HAVE THEIR HANDS AS, AS IN AS MANY POTS AS WE DO. SO IT'S SOMETHING THAT WE MEET WITH REGULARLY WITH DIFFERENT IPM COORDINATORS OR DIFFERENT FOLKS THAT ARE INVOLVED ON SOME LEVEL WITH INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT, BOTH FROM THE FROM CITY GOVERNMENTS, FROM OTHER LAND MANAGEMENT AGENCIES, ETC., AND IT'S DEFINITELY SOMETHING THAT I THINK IS LACKING OVERALL IN CALIFORNIA IN GENERAL, AND THERE'S A NEW PROGRAM CALLED THE SUSTAINABLE PEST MANAGEMENT.
IF YOU LOOK IT UP, IT'S BROAD AND WIDE REACHING, AND IT WE'LL SEE HOW THAT STARTS TO ROLL OUT, BUT I'M HOPING THAT PUTS INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT OR SUSTAINABLE PEST MANAGEMENT MORE ON THE MAP SO THAT FOLKS ARE ARE UTILIZING THESE STRATEGIES, CREATING THOSE THOSE PROGRAMS OR POSITIONS SO THAT WE ALL TALK TOGETHER A LITTLE BIT MORE AND WE ALL PULL TOGETHER IN THE SAME DIRECTION MORE, ESPECIALLY AROUND EDUCATION, PREVENTION, PEST MANAGEMENT, LIKE ISHB ARE SOME OF OUR REALLY CRITICAL PESTS THAT WE HAVE TO DEAL WITH.
YEAH, I THINK THAT'S GREAT, AND , YOU KNOW, I THINK, YOU KNOW, COLIN SORT OF ALLUDED TO THIS AS WELL, TALKING ABOUT HIS COASTAL OAKS AND MAYBE THE POSSIBILITY OF SOME SAPLINGS, SAPLINGS ON HIS PRIVATE PROPERTY.
YOU KNOW, WE ALSO HAVE A LOT OF PRIVATE PROPERTY OWNERS AS WELL AS PUBLIC AGENCIES, AND YOU, WHEN I THINK ABOUT PESTS, YOU KNOW, THE PESTS DON'T KNOW IF THEY'RE ON EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT LAND VERSUS A WATER AGENCY LAND VERSUS PRIVATE LAND.
SO IF WE'RE TRYING TO TALK ABOUT, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THESE NEWER YOU KNOW, PESTS THAT ARE STARTING TO EMERGE, I THINK IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO STAY INVOLVED.
SO I'M REALLY HAPPY TO HEAR THAT YOU'RE INVOLVED IN SOME OF THESE DIFFERENT YOU KNOW, NETWORKING GROUPS AND STAYING UP TO DATE ON THIS SUSTAINABLE PEST MANAGEMENT PROGRAM IN CALIFORNIA. I THINK THAT 'S SOMETHING THAT WOULD BE REALLY GREAT FOR US TO CONTINUE TO MONITOR, MAYBE AS PART OF OUR GOVERNMENT AND LEGISLATIVE PROGRAM, BUT ALSO TO KEEP THE BOARD INFORMED AS YOU KNOW, THAT DEVELOPMENT HAPPENS BECAUSE I DO THINK THAT WE MAY BE, AND WHAT I'M LEANING TOWARDS IS I GET THE IMPRESSION THAT WE HERE AT EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT WERE REALLY LEADERS IN HAVING THIS INTEGRATED PEST MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, AND I'D LIKE TO SEE US GET TO A POINT AT SOME POINT IN THE FUTURE.
NO DEADLINE, BUT WHERE WE CAN ALSO HELP BE LEADERS IN THE EAST BAY COMMUNITY BECAUSE, YOU KNOW, THERE'S SOME, YOU KNOW, SMALLER CITIES OR SOME PRIVATE LANDOWNERS THAT COULD REALLY BENEFIT TO HEARING ABOUT SOME OF THE WORK THAT WE'RE DOING BECAUSE THEY MAY NOT BE AWARE ABOUT THESE, YOU KNOW, BAY LEAF SAPLINGS NEAR OAK TREES AND THE RISK OF THAT ASPECT OF THINGS AND I THINK THAT 'S REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO SHARE, MAYBE FROM A PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS PERSPECTIVE, AND SO I THINK HAVING THIS REPORT DURING TODAY'S COMMITTEE MEETING IS HELPFUL IN THAT REGARDS BECAUSE THIS WILL BE RECORDED AND AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC, BUT I THINK IN THE FUTURE JUST DIFFERENT WAYS THAT WE CAN ALSO HELP BETTER COMMUNICATE THIS INFORMATION AND OR PROVIDE THAT SUPPORT TO OTHER PUBLIC AGENCIES, AND WHEN I THINK ABOUT SOME OF THE LARGE PRIVATE RANCHES IN, YOU KNOW, EASTERN ALAMEDA COUNTY, I KNOW THAT THERE'S AND I THINK THIS MIGHT BE THE SAME IN CONTRA COSTA COUNTY. THERE'S THE CONSERVATION RESOURCE RESOURCES DISTRICT, THE CRDS THAT REALLY HELP TO PARTNER WITH LARGE PRIVATE LANDOWNERS, AND , YOU KNOW, THEY MAY NOT BE AS AWARE OF SOME OF THESE DIFFERENT, YOU KNOW, PEST RISKS, AND I THINK IT'S ALSO HELPFUL TO WORK WITH AGENCIES LIKE THAT ARE WORKING WITH THE PRIVATE LANDOWNERS. SO REALLY THANK YOU. I DID HAVE TWO OTHER QUESTIONS WITH THE GRAZING THAT YOU MENTIONED, THE 87,000 PLUS ACRES. I JUST DID SOME QUICK MATH IN TERMS OF OUR TOTAL ACREAGE, AND IT LOOKS LIKE WE GET WE'RE GETTING PRETTY CLOSE TO 70% OF OUR
[00:55:10]
TOTAL ACREAGE THAT WE'RE USING GRAZING, WHICH I THINK IS WONDERFUL, AND I'VE ALWAYS BEEN YOU KNOW, INTERESTED IN CONTINUING TO HEAR ABOUT OUR GRAZING PROGRAMS AND SO I THINK THAT 'S AN INTERESTING STATISTIC AND DATA POINT TO, TO KEEP IN MIND, AND THEN ON THAT SAME NOTE, YOU KNOW, WHEN I LOOK AT THE REALLY NICE CHART THAT YOU PUT TOGETHER, LOOKING AT OUR ACREAGE AND THE INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT AND PARKLANDS, IT LOOKS LIKE WE'RE GETTING CLOSE TO 100% OF PARK DISTRICT MANAGED LANDS IS NOW PART OF THAT ACREAGE THAT WE'RE, YOU KNOW, APPLYING SOME SORT OF MANAGEMENT OF.SO NOT NECESSARILY HERBICIDE BECAUSE THAT 'S THAT BLUE SECTION.
YEAH. THAT'S ALL ACREAGE. ALL ACREAGE. SO EVEN WHEN WE HAVE LAND BANK PROPERTIES, THOSE ARE STILL MANAGED WE MAY HAVE NOXIOUS RANGELAND WEEDS THAT WE ARE TREATING ARTICHOKE, THISTLE, BIG LANDSCAPE TRANSFORMERS.
SO ADDITIONALLY THAT THEY'RE GENERALLY GRAZED.
SO THAT'S ANOTHER METHOD OF TREATMENT. OFTENTIMES OPERATIONS HAS TO MOW JUST SO TRAILS ARE ACCESSIBLE OR FIRE ROADS ARE ACCESSIBLE FOR FOR CATTLE INFRASTRUCTURE, ETC.. SO EVEN IF IT'S NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, IT'S STILL VERY MUCH MANAGED.
SO WE PUT ALL OF THE ACREAGE IN THAT IN THERE.
WE HAVE A LOT OF PARTNERSHIPS AND LEASES WITH OTHER AGENCIES, AND , YOU KNOW, THE TWO THAT I WROTE DOWN AS I WAS LOOKING AT THIS, BOTH HAPPEN TO BE WATER AGENCIES. SO I WAS THINKING OF QUARRY LAKES WITH ALAMEDA COUNTY WATER DISTRICT, AND I KNOW THAT WE HAVE SOME CONSTRAINTS IN REGARDS TO ALGAL BLOOM MANAGEMENT AT QUARRY LAKES BASED ON ACWD REQUIREMENTS, AND THEN, YOU KNOW, I WAS ALSO THINKING ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE OHLONE WILDERNESS AND SUNOL REGIONAL WITH SFPUC.
I DON'T KNOW IF THEY HAVE OTHER RESTRICTIONS. SO HOW DOES THAT GET YOU KNOW, MANAGED BY YOUR TEAM WHEN WE HAVE SOME DIFFERENT REQUIREMENTS, WHEN WE HAVE THESE DIFFERENT LEASE AGREEMENTS, I HAVE TO IMAGINE THAT EVERY LEASE AGREEMENT PROBABLY HAS ITS OWN SPECIAL CONSTRAINTS.
YEAH, THAT'S A LOT. SO WE THOSE STATISTICS DO INCLUDE ALL OF THE PROPERTY THAT WE MANAGE BUT MAY NOT OWN FOR SURE, AND IT'S MY JOB TO KEEP TRACK OF WHAT WE CAN DO WHERE WE DO HAVE SOME LIMITATIONS, LIKE YOU MENTIONED, WITH QUARRY LAKES IN TERMS OF TREATMENT IN THE WATER IN GENERAL, WE DON'T HAVE OTHER THAN PERMIT REQUIREMENTS. SOMETIMES THERE'LL BE SOME MINOR TWEAKS TO THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF HERBICIDES THAT CAN BE USED, IF WE'RE MANAGING PROPERTIES. WE HAVE MOST OF OUR TOOLS IN THE TOOLBOX, WITH THE EXCEPTION OF, FOR INSTANCE, THOSE WATER AGENCIES AND QUARRY LAKES IN PARTICULAR AROUND THEIR WATER, BUT YEAH, IT'S MY JOB TO KEEP TRACK OF ALL OF THOSE DIFFERENT PERMIT REQUIREMENTS.
THAT'S A LOT TO KEEP TRACK OF. SO THANK YOU FOR DOING THAT WORK, AND I GUESS, YOU KNOW, THE FINAL ONE THAT I KNOW I HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO HAVE A CONVERSATION WITH YOUR TEAM ABOUT LAST YEAR IS MOSQUITOES AND MORE SPECIFICALLY YOU KNOW, SOME OF THE WORK THAT CONTINUES TO HAPPEN AT COYOTE HILLS. I KNOW THAT WE DO HAVE A LOT OF CONCERN AT COYOTE HILLS IN REGARDS TO MOSQUITO ABATEMENT.
WHEN I TALK TO THE FOLKS AT ALAMEDA COUNTY MOSQUITO ABATEMENT, THEY LIKE TO SHARE WITH ME HOW THEY MORE OR LESS HAVE ONE MEMBER OF THEIR STAFF ALMOST ON SITE AT COYOTE HILLS ALMOST FULL TIME. SO I'M JUST CURIOUS IF YOU CAN SHARE A FEW COMMENTS ON I GUESS COYOTE HILL SPECIFICALLY, BUT THEN ALSO HOW WE WORK WITH THE MOSQUITO ABATEMENT ORGANIZATIONS.
YEAH, THAT'S A WHOLE 'NOTHER BAG OF WORMS OR BAG OF MOSQUITOES.
SO WE WORK WITH BOTH VECTOR CONTROL IN CONTRA COSTA AND ALAMEDA COUNTY, AND IT'S NOT JUST MOSQUITOES, IT'S YELLOW JACKETS AS WELL, AND SO THEY'LL ACTUALLY COME OUT AND TREAT SOME OF OUR YELLOW JACKET NESTS.
THOSE ARE A LOT EASIER TO DEAL WITH THE MOSQUITOES.
YOU'RE RIGHT. THEY HAVE FOLKS SURVEY IN SURVEILLANCE YEAR ROUND.
WE GET MOSQUITOES PRACTICALLY YEAR ROUND. WE HAVE LOTS OF DIFFERENT SPECIES AND LOTS OF DIFFERENT HUMAN DISEASES THAT CAN BE TRANSMITTED TO HUMANS, AND SO THEY'RE OUT THERE SURVEILLING BOTH FOR SPECIES, AND ALSO THEY HAVE SURVEILLANCE FLOCKS OF CHICKENS FOR WEST NILE VIRUS, FOR INSTANCE AND THEN WHERE WE INTERSECT WITH THEM IS VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
[01:00:04]
BECAUSE IN ORDER FOR THEM TO GET INTO SOME OF THESE AREAS, THESE GREAT HABITAT AREAS, THEY NEED ACCESS TO IN ORDER TO USE LARVICIDE AND THAT'S THAT BT, THAT BACILLUS THURINGIENSIS. IT'S GENERALLY ENCAPSULATED IN SOMETHING.THEY HAVE TO SHOOT IT INTO THESE REALLY DENSE AREAS, AND SO IN A LOT OF PLACES WE HAVE INTERFACED AND WORKED WITH ALAMEDA COUNTY AND CONTRA COSTA COUNTY ON HOW TO MANAGE VEGETATION IN A WAY THAT STILL MAINTAINS HABITAT, BUT ALLOWS ACCESS FOR SOME OF THOSE, FOR SOME OF THOSE APPLICATORS. SOME PLACES WE'RE ABLE TO USE DRONES NOW, WHICH IS A REAL IT'S JUST WONDERFUL.
THAT WAY WE'RE LESS ON THE HOOK FOR SOME VEGETATION MANAGEMENT.
IN OTHER PLACES, NOT SO MUCH, AND SO WE DO HAVE TO CONTINUE TO MAKE SURE WE MAINTAIN CORRIDORS OPEN AND SOMETIMES LITTLE KEY WAYS FOR THEM TO GET INTO IN ORDER TO MAINTAIN THAT MOSQUITO LEVELS AT AN ACCEPTABLE LEVEL.
DOES THAT ANSWER YOUR QUESTION? IT DEFINITELY DOES.
IT APPEARS THERE IS NO PUBLIC COMMENT FOR THIS ITEM.
THANK YOU. OKAY. ANY ANY FINAL WORDS? COLIN. ALL RIGHT.
WELL, THANK YOU SO MUCH. THIS IS GREAT. ALL RIGHT.
SO NOW WE'LL MOVE ON TO THE NEXT ITEM, THE DISTRICT PLAN UPDATE.
GOING TO GIVE A QUICK INTRODUCTION HERE. JOINED BY NEOMA LAVALLE, PRINCIPAL PLANNER AND DAVE BRUCKHEIMER, OUR GIS COORDINATOR OR GIS SUPERVISOR. TO GIVE A BIT OF AN UPDATE ON JUST SOME OF THE MAPPING WORK THAT'S BEING DONE AS PART OF THE DISTRICT PLAN. SO I THINK COMMITTEE MEMBERS ARE AWARE WE'RE GOING TO BE COMING BACK TO THE FULL BOARD OF DIRECTORS ON JUNE 3RD TO GIVE A BIT OF A COMPREHENSIVE UPDATE ON EVERYTHING THAT WE'VE HEARD THROUGH OUR INTERNAL ENGAGEMENT EFFORTS.
WHAT WE'RE HEARING THUS FAR, OR SORT OF WHAT THE PLAN IS WITH REGARD TO PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT AND JUST A LOT OF THE BACKGROUND AND FINANCIAL ANALYSIS WORK THAT'S THERE AS WELL AS SOME OF THE MAPPING AND DATA WORK THAT'S BEING DONE, BUT WE WANTED TO TAKE THE OPPORTUNITY TO BRING THIS TO THIS COMMITTEE BECAUSE WE'VE GOTTEN A LOT OF QUESTIONS IN RECENT MONTHS, JUST ABOUT QUESTIONS ABOUT IF IF WE KNOW CERTAIN CERTAIN BITS OF DATA ABOUT, SAY, SPECIES LOCATIONS OR WHERE LOCATIONS OF OUR HISTORIC RESOURCES ARE AND SOME OTHER THINGS, AND I'LL JUST SAY, AND I THINK PAM'S PRESENTATION IS A GOOD EXAMPLE OF WHERE THERE IS A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE IN THIS PARK DISTRICT THAT'S HELD BY STAFF MEMBERS AND HELD IN OUR FILES, HELD IN A NUMBER OF OTHER PLACES, AND PART OF THE GOAL OF THE DISTRICT PLAN IS REALLY TO MAKE SOME OF THIS INFORMATION MORE AVAILABLE, ACCESSIBLE AND TRANSPARENT TO THE PUBLIC AND SO THAT'S ONE OF THE GOALS HERE, IS TO MAKE MAPS AND DATA MORE ACCESSIBLE.
SO WE HAVE TWO TOOLS THAT HAVE BEEN DEVELOPED THAT HAVE BEEN LED BY NEOMA AND DAVE.
SO WITH THAT, I'LL TURN IT OVER TO NEOMA TO DO A DEEP DIVE INTO THAT, BUT AND THEN WELCOME.
ANY QUESTIONS AFTER THAT, MAMA. ALL RIGHT. THANK YOU, RYAN.
I'M GOING TO SHARE MY SCREEN REAL QUICK. OH.
OKAY. SO AS BRYAN GAVE AN OVERVIEW, THIS PRESENTATION WILL BE FOCUSED ON THE INITIAL MAPPING AND DATA THAT WE'VE MADE AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC AS PART OF THE DISTRICT PLAN PROCESS. A KEY OUTCOME IS, OF COURSE, PROVIDING THIS DATA AND PROVIDING ACCESS TO MAPS AND DATA, AND THE PLANNING AND GIS STAFF, ALONG WITH OTHER STAFF SUPPORT SUCH AS OUR STEWARDSHIP STAFF.
[01:05:06]
WHO WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE DISTRICT AS WE EMBARK ON THIS PROCESS.WE HAVE POPULATION DATA, SO INFORMATION ON DEMOGRAPHICS AND EQUITY AND WHO'S LIVING IN THE EAST BAY.
VISITATION DATA, SO INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS OF WHO'S COMING TO OUR PARKS AND WHERE THEY ARE COMING FROM, AND AS WELL AS PARK ACCESS. HOW DO PEOPLE ACCESS OUR PARKS.
SO WE HAVE ENVIRONMENTAL AND RESOURCE DATA THAT IS RELEVANT TO PARK PLANNING AS WELL AS LAND ACQUISITION, AND ALONG WITH THAT DATA AS WELL, WE PROVIDED DATA JUST ABOUT, YOU KNOW, WHERE THE PARK DISTRICT HAS SERVICE YARDS OR POLICE STATIONS AS WELL, SO THAT PEOPLE CAN REALLY GET A GOOD UNDERSTANDING OF THE FULL BREADTH OF THE PARK DISTRICT AND WHAT WE PROVIDE IN TERMS OF SERVICES AND PROTECTION OF OUR RESOURCES. WHEN YOU GO TO THE DISTRICT PLAN WEBSITE, YOU'LL KIND OF SCROLL DOWN AND YOU'LL GET TO THIS THIS AREA OF THE WEBSITE, LEARN ABOUT THE PARK DISTRICT. WE MIGHT BE CHANGING THIS EXPLORE THE PARK DISTRICT TAB INTO MORE OF A MAP FORM.
SO WE HAVE TWO TWO WAYS TO EXPLORE DATA. THE FIRST WAS SORRY.
THIS IS WE'RE GOING TO GO DOWN HERE TO THE. SORRY.
HERE WE GO. SO EXPLORE THE PARK DISTRICT. SO RIGHT NOW, THIS IS THE STORY MAP, AND LIKE I SAID BEFORE, IT'S GROUPED AROUND A VARIETY OF DIFFERENT TOPICS.
SO YOU CAN GO STRAIGHT TO THOSE TOPICS OR YOU CAN YOU CAN CONTINUE TO SCROLL DOWN.
SO THE POPULATION DATA, KIND OF GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT THE PARK DISTRICT VISITATION DATA, ACCESS DATA AND PLANNING DATA. THIS IS REALLY MEANT TO BE A PRIMER.
BEFORE YOU GO ON TO THE MORE COMPLEX TOOL, WHICH IS THE WEB MAP.
THERE ARE, OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF THE DISTRICT PLAN AND OUR GOALS, AND THEN AS YOU GO DOWN ON THIS TOUR OF OUR DATA, YOU'LL BEGIN TO SEE THE DIFFERENT THEMES. SO WHO LIVES IN THE EAST BAY? THIS IS REALLY THIS DATA THAT WE PROVIDED HERE IS REALLY FOCUSED ON POPULATION DEMOGRAPHICS, EQUITY METRICS, AND REALLY HOW WE'RE STRIVING TO MEET ALL OF OUR GROWING AND EVOLVING POPULATIONS IN THE EAST BAY.
AS YOU GO THROUGH THIS DATA, THERE WILL BE A SHORT EXPLANATION OF AS YOU GO THROUGH THESE MAPS, THERE'LL BE A SHORT EXPLANATION OF SORT OF WHERE THE DATA CAME FROM AND HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE DATA, BECAUSE IT CAN GET A LITTLE COMPLICATED. THE FIRST I'M GOING TO CLOSE THE LEGEND HERE.
SO IT'S NOT TAKING UP THE WHOLE MAP AND WHOOPS SORRY.
THERE WE GO. OH. OKAY. SO AS YOU LOOK, THE FIRST ONE YOU COME TO IS THE POPULATION DENSITY. THE WAY YOU CAN INTERACT WITH THIS DATA IS WITH THIS MAP IS BY YOU CAN ZOOM IN.
YOU CAN ALSO EXPAND THE MAP AND THEN JUST USE A SCROLL BUTTON, BUT I'M GOING TO USE FOR THE EASE OF THIS I'M GOING TO USE THESE TOGGLE BUTTONS HERE SO YOU CAN SCROLL IN AND THE POPULATION DENSITY SHOWS HOW MANY PEOPLE LIVE IN ONE PARTICULAR AREA IN ONE ACRE WITH A DARKER COLOR, MEANING THAT MORE PEOPLE LIVE IN THAT PARTICULAR AREA.
THEN, AS YOU CONTINUE TO SCROLL DOWN, WE HAVE INFORMATION ON THE POPULATION UNDER 18, AND YOU CAN SEE DARKER AREAS WHERE WE HAVE HIGHER POPULATION OF OUR RESIDENTS ARE UNDER 18, POPULATION OVER 65, AND AGAIN, EACH EACH LAYER OF THESE MAPS HAS A BRIEF EXPLANATION OF OF THE DATA ITSELF.
WE HAVE THE PREDOMINANT POPULATION CATEGORY. SO THIS IS WHERE THERE'S A PARTICULAR RACE OR ETHNICITY THAT IS HAS A HIGHER PERCENTAGE, HAS THE HIGHEST PERCENTAGE IN THAT CENSUS TRACT.
IF YOU CLICK ON HERE YOU'LL SEE IT'S NOT JUST ONE.
[01:10:04]
SO IT'S KIND OF IT'S AN INTERESTING WAY TO EXPLORE, AND THEN WE ALSO HAVE A POPULATION WITH A DISABILITY AS WELL AS MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME AND LINGUISTIC ISOLATION, WHICH JUST MEANS THERE'S LIMITED ENGLISH SPEAKING HOUSEHOLDS IN THOSE PARTICULAR AREAS, AND THEN ACCESS TO VEHICLE, WHERE ARE THE HOUSES WHERE THERE IS A HIGH ACCESS TO VEHICLES IN THAT HOUSE. SO PERCENTAGE OF HOUSEHOLDS WITH NO VEHICLE DARKER COLOR VERSUS HOUSEHOLDS WITH VEHICLES, AND THEN YOU CAN GO AND CLICK AND LEARN EVEN MORE ABOUT THE DATA BY GOING TO THESE INDEPENDENT WEBSITES OF WHERE WE SOURCE THE DATA FOR.THE NEXT THEME THAT WE LOOKED AT IS, YOU KNOW, WHAT IS THE PARK DISTRICT? SOME FOLKS ARE VERY FAMILIAR WITH THE PARK DISTRICT. OTHERS RESIDENTS MIGHT NOT BE AS FAMILIAR.
THEY MIGHT BE FAMILIAR WITH THEIR LOCAL PARK. LIKE IF THEY LIVE IN CASTRO VALLEY, THEY MIGHT BE VERY FAMILIAR WITH LAKE CHABOT, BUT THEY MIGHT NOT REALIZE HOW MANY PARKS THE PARK DISTRICT HAS. SO THIS IS KIND OF EXPLORING A LITTLE BIT MORE OF THE DATA JUST IN THE JUST RELATED TO THE PARK DISTRICT ITSELF.
WE PROVIDED INFORMATION ON THE METROPOLITAN SECTORS.
YOU KNOW, HOW WE EVALUATE THE POPULATION PROJECTIONS IN THESE THREE DIFFERENT SECTORS, AS WELL AS LONG TERM GOALS AND SPECIAL OPPORTUNITIES AND THE CHARACTERISTICS OF EACH SECTOR. WE HAVE A DISTRICT WARD MAP AS WELL. YOU CAN CLICK ON YOU CAN CLICK ON THE WARD ITSELF AND IT'LL POP UP INFORMATION ABOUT THE WARD. THE BOARD MEMBER WHO REPRESENTS THAT WARD PICTURE, AND THEN YOU CAN MOVE ON TO YOU KNOW, WHERE ARE THE REGIONAL PARK FACILITIES? SO WE HAVE A VARIETY OF LAYERS HERE. YOU CAN, OF COURSE, THERE'S OUR REGIONAL PARKS.
YOU CAN CLICK ON A PARK, THERE'LL BE A POP UP OF, YOU KNOW, IS IT LAND BANKED? THE OFFICIAL NAME, AND HOW MANY ACRES? THAT'S JUST THE LAND BANKS AREA AS A BLACK DIAMOND MINES, NOT THE WHOLE PARK. IF YOU LOOK OVER HERE AT LAS TRAMPAS, THE THE.
THERE'S TRAIL INFORMATION AS WELL. REGIONAL TRAILS AS WELL AS OUR INTERNAL TRAILS.
PARK ENTRANCES. WE JUST HAVE DOTS HERE, BUT IF YOU CLICK ON THE INDIVIDUAL ENTRANCE, IT'LL TELL YOU WHETHER OR NOT IT IS A STAGING AREA, JUST A WALK IN ACCESS, AND THEN THERE IS WHERE AVAILABLE THERE'S PICTURES OF WHAT THAT ENTRANCE LOOKS LIKE, WHERE OUR VISITOR CENTERS ARE LOCATED. FIRE STATIONS AS WELL AS OUR POLICE STATIONS.
SO THIS IS, AND THEN FINALLY, OUR SERVICE AND CORPORATION YARDS TO SORT OF JUST GIVE FOLKS WHO MIGHT WANT TO BE EXPLORING MORE ABOUT THE PARK DISTRICT AN UNDERSTANDING OF NOT JUST PUBLIC FACILITIES, BUT ALSO HOW WE, YOU KNOW, WHERE OUR FACILITIES THAT WE'RE OPERATING OUT OF TO MANAGE ALL OF OUR PARKLANDS AS YOU MOVE ON. THERE'S OUR OH. I'M SORRY. FINALLY, THERE'S OUR PARK.
THERE'S A LINK TO OUR ACTUAL PARK FINDER APP, WHICH IS ALREADY ON OUR WEBSITE.
SO, W HERE ARE THE ARCHERY RANGES? WHERE ARE THE SWIM FACILITIES? SO PEOPLE CAN CLICK OVER TO PARK FINDER FROM THE STORY MAP.
SO PARK VISITATION. SO WHERE ARE PEOPLE COMING FROM WHO VISIT OUR PARKS? YOU KNOW, THERE'S WE CHOSE KIND OF THREE MAIN METRICS.
SO THERE'S PARK VISITS PER PERSON, AND YOU CAN SEE KIND OF WHERE ARE THE WHERE ARE THE AREAS WHERE WE HAVE A HIGH VISITATION PER PERSON FOR THE FOLKS LIVING WITHIN THAT CENSUS TRACT. SO WE HAVE VISITS PER PERSON. HOW MANY VISITS TOTAL FROM THAT PARTICULAR CENSUS TRACT TO A PARK AND THEN THE POPULATION OF THAT PARTICULAR CENSUS TRACT. THIS IS A SLIGHTLY KIND OF SIMILAR DATA, BUT IT'S JUST GENERALIZED A LITTLE BIT MORE AND JUST GIVES YOU A SENSE OF THE HOT SPOTS OF WHERE WE HAVE WHERE ARE THE HIGH VISITATION TO OUR PARKS THE VISITORS ARE COMING FROM AND THEN THERE'S THE VISITS PER PARK.
SO IN THIS ONE YOU CAN ZOOM IN, YOU CAN CLICK ON A PARK.
SO LET'S SAY WE CLICK ON BRIONES. YOU GET A QUICK OVERVIEW OF HOW MANY VISITS IN 2024, AND THEN HOW BIG WAS THAT PARK, AND THEN KIND OF JUST AS A COMPARISON, IF WE ZOOM IN TO CROWN BEACH.
YOU KNOW, ACREAGE IS MUCH SMALLER, BUT A MUCH HIGHER VISITORSHIP.
THEN PARK ACCESS, HOW ARE PEOPLE ACCESSING THE PARKS AND HOW EASY IS IT TO ACCESS? SO OUR CONSULTANTS, PLACEWORKS DID A AN ANALYSIS OF WALKING ACCESS, BIKE ACCESS, TRANSIT AND DRIVE DRIVABILITY.
[01:15:01]
SO AS YOU CLICK ON WALK ACCESS, THE HERE IT SHOWS YOU IN THE DARKER COLORS WHERE THERE'S GOOD ACCESS, AND THAT MEANS KIND OF WITHIN A QUARTER OF A MILE AND DOWN FROM THERE.YOU KNOW, IT'S A LITTLE EASIER. THIS WAS YOU KNOW, WITHIN A MILE OF A PARK ENTRANCE, BUT ALONG A KIND OF CITY BIKE PATHWAY, OR A CITY STREET THAT'S BEEN DESIGNATED A BIKE ROUTE.
SO YOU CAN SEE THERE'S A LITTLE BIT, A LITTLE BIT EASIER TO GET TO PARK ENTRANCES ON A BIKE, TRANSIT ACCESS IS A LITTLE MORE CONSTRAINED. THE ANALYSIS WAS REALLY BASED ON TRANSIT ROUTES THAT ARE WITHIN A QUARTER MILE OF SOMEBODY'S RESIDENCE, THAT GO TO ONE OF OUR PARK ENTRANCES OR SERVE ONE OF OUR PARK ENTRANCES.
SO YOU CAN SORT OF SEE THE AREAS OF THE DISTRICT WHERE WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, HIGHER LEVELS OF TRANSIT ACCESS VERSUS THE AREAS THAT ARE LESS SERVED BY TRANSIT. SO A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO IDENTIFY POTENTIAL PARTNERSHIPS AND THEN DRIVING ACCESS, OF COURSE, IS FOLKS WHO LIVE IN RESIDENCES THAT HAVE ACCESS TO CARS, THAT IT'S WITHIN THREE MILES OF A PARK ENTRANCE.
SO YOU CAN SEE MOST A LOT OF OUR DISTRICT HAS FAIRLY GOOD DRIVING ACCESS, WITH THE DARKER COLOR, PURPLE BEING GOOD ACCESS AND THEN GOING DOWN.
WE DON'T HAVE A TON OF AREAS THAT ARE THAT VERY, VERY LIGHT PURPLE THAT WE WERE SEEING ON SOME OF THE OTHER MAPS, AND THEN FOR THE PLANNING DATA, THIS IS REALLY KIND OF TO GIVE THE PUBLIC AND OTHERS WHO ARE USING THIS STORY MAP, SORT OF A BROAD IDEA OF WHAT WE ARE CONSIDERING WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT PLANNING FOR AREAS, MANAGING OUR PARKLANDS AS WELL AS SORT OF ACQUISITION PRIORITIES.
SO THERE'S INFORMATION, OF COURSE, THAT WE HAVE OUR OWN DATA AND THEN DATA THAT WE USE FROM OTHERS.
SO CALENVIROSCREEN IS REALLY LOOKING AT POPULATIONS THAT ARE DISPROPORTIONATELY BURDENED BY MULTIPLE SOURCES OF POLLUTION AND YOU CAN KIND OF SEE THAT IN RELATION TO OUR PARKLANDS, WHERE THOSE POPULATIONS ARE, OF COURSE, THE RED AND ORANGE ARE THE AREAS WHERE IT'S THEY HAVE THE HIGHEST SCORES FOR BEING BURDENED BY MULTIPLE SOURCES OF POLLUTION, AND THEN YOU CAN ACTUALLY GO TO THE GREEN WEBSITE ITSELF AND LEAVE THE STORY MAP HEALTHY PLACES INDEX SHOWING SOCIAL CONDITIONS THAT DRIVE HEALTH, SUCH AS EDUCATION, JOB OPPORTUNITIES, CLEAN AIR AND WATER, AND THEN YOU CAN ALSO GO STRAIGHT TO THE HPI WEBSITE, BUT AGAIN, KIND OF THE SAME IDEA. IT'S SORT OF BEING ABLE TO SEE IT IN RELATION TO OUR PARKLANDS, AS OPPOSED TO JUST SORT OF GOING TO THAT WEBSITE ITSELF, AND IT'S NOT NECESSARILY HIGHLIGHTING OUR PARKLANDS, AND THEN THE TREE EQUITY SCORE. SO THIS IS REALLY KIND OF MEANT MORE FOR URBAN AND URBAN TREE CANOPY, BUT WHERE ARE THOSE AREAS WHERE MAYBE THE URBAN TREE CANOPY IS LOWER AND WHAT DOES THAT HOW DOES THAT RELATE IN TERMS OF WHERE OUR PARKLANDS ARE AND THEN FOR OUR OWN DATA, WE HAVE OUR STORY MAP, WHICH KIND OF TAKES THREE REPRESENTATIVE SPECIES, SPECIAL STATUS SPECIES AND WHERE YOU CAN FIND THEM IN OUR PARKS.
SO IF YOU CLICK HERE. SO WE CHOSE THREE. THERE'S THE CALIFORNIA RED LEGGED FROG CALIFORNIA TIGER SALAMANDER AS WELL AS ALAMEDA WHIPSNAKE, AND REALLY WHY WE CHOSE THESE SPECIES WAS PARTIALLY BECAUSE THEY'RE YOU KNOW, WE HAVE VERY GOOD DATA, AND THEY ARE FOR THE ENTIRE DISTRICT ON WHERE WE IN WHICH PARKS WE HAVE FOUND THESE SPECIES, AS WELL AS SOME LIKE ALAMEDA WHIPSNAKE IS ONLY FOUND IN THE EAST BAY, WHICH WAS ANOTHER FACTOR.
SO IF YOU CLICK ON THE PARK, IT'LL SAY, YOU KNOW, IN THIS PARTICULAR PARK, LAS TRAMPAS, ALL THREE SPECIES ARE FOUND IN THAT PARK, WHEREAS YOU MIGHT CLICK ON ANOTHER PARK WITH A LIGHTER COLOR AND ONLY THE ALAMEDA WHIPSNAKE.
SO THIS IS JUST TO KIND OF GIVE YOU AN IDEA THAT, YOU KNOW, WE ARE AWARE OF WHERE A LOT OF OUR NATURAL RESOURCES ARE, AND , AND IT CERTAINLY FACTORS INTO OUR PLANNING AND OPERATIONS AND LAND MANAGEMENT PRACTICES, AND THEN YOU CAN GO TO NATURE CHECK, WHICH IS A DATA SET THAT THE PARK DISTRICT WORKED WITH PARTNER AGENCIES AS WELL TO PUT TOGETHER AND FOR THE EAST BAY, AND SO THERE'S EVEN MORE DATA THERE TO EXPLORE.
WE ALSO HAVE CRITICAL HABITAT DATA THAT WE GOT FROM US FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE.
YOU CAN CLICK ON KIND OF WHAT THAT PARTICULAR HABITAT IS FOR WHICH ANIMAL, AND THE LISTING STATUS.
WE ALSO HAVE HABITAT AND CONNECTIVITY LINKAGES DATA, AND YOU CAN SEE THIS IS JUST OUR PARKLANDS, BUT IN THE OH NO, SORRY. WE ALSO HAVE WATER DISTRICT LANDS TURNED ON HERE AS WELL.
[01:20:03]
SO YOU CAN SEE THAT, YOU KNOW, WE PLAY A CRITICAL ROLE IN THESE CRITICAL LINKAGES, BUT ALSO SO DO THE WATERSHED LANDS AND OTHER OPEN SPACE LAND LANDOWNERS VEGETATION. FOR RIGHT NOW WE'RE USING THE CONSERVATION LANDS NETWORK DATA, BUT WE WILL BE UPDATING THIS THE STORY MAP AND OUR OTHER WEB MAP, WITH DATA THAT THE PARK DISTRICT HAS RECENTLY PUT TOGETHER AND RELEASED IN TERMS OF OUR VEGETATION DATA.SO WE'RE REALLY EXCITED TO BE ABLE TO USE THAT DATA, BUT THIS FOR NOW, WILL GIVE YOU A SENSE OF, YOU KNOW, THIS IS THE URBAN LANDSCAPE. OF COURSE, YOU CAN TURN ON THE LEGEND FOREST, WOODLAND, SHRUBLAND. YOU KNOW, WE'RE SHOWING ALL THE VARIETIES OF OF LAND COVER THAT WE HAVE WITHIN OUR PARKLANDS, AND THEN YOU CAN REALLY ZOOM IN TO A PARTICULAR AREA, AND I BELIEVE YOU CAN CLICK ON AND SEE, OKAY, WHAT IS THAT HABITAT. THAT'S, THAT'S POPPING UP THERE, AND IT'LL BE SAME ONCE WE UPDATE IT WITH THE DATA THAT WE RECENTLY HAVE OURSELVES, AND THEN THERE'S ALSO CONSERVATION LANDS NETWORK, WHICH IS A REGIONAL STRATEGY FOR THE ENTIRE BAY AREA.
WE HAVE HOW THEY HAVE SCORED DIFFERENT LANDS, AND WE JUST TOOK OUR TWO COUNTY DATA, BUT THEY HAVE DONE THIS FOR THE ALL NINE COUNTIES IN TERMS OF YOU KNOW, WHICH WHICH LANDS ARE ESSENTIAL FOR CONSERVATION, BIODIVERSITY AND SUPPORTING LOCAL ECOLOGICAL FUNCTION AND WHICH ONES, YOU KNOW, AND THEN DIFFERENT CATEGORIES CONNECTORS, GOLF COURSES, RURAL, RESIDENTIAL, ETC. URBAN. SO THESE ARE KIND OF ALL ONCE YOU GET THROUGH THE STORY MAP, THEN WE'LL HAVE A LINK DOWN HERE TO WHAT I WILL SHOW YOU, WHICH HAS NOT YET BEEN MADE LIVE YET, BUT TO OUR I'M GOING TO REFRESH THIS, BUT THIS IS THE DISTRICT. THIS IS ALL ALL THE SAME DATA, BUT A LITTLE BIT MORE INTERACTIVE THAN WHAT I JUST SHOWED YOU ON THE STORY MAP.
SO SOME PEOPLE WILL GO THROUGH THE STORY MAP. I THINK THEY'LL FEEL PRETTY HAPPY WITH, YOU KNOW, THEY LEARN SOMETHING NEW. THEY, YOU KNOW, EXPLORE DATA. THERE ARE GOING TO BE PEOPLE WHO WANT TO DIG A LITTLE DEEPER, AND SO WE PUT TOGETHER THIS WEB MAP TO KIND OF, YOU KNOW, ADDRESS THAT NEED AS WELL. SO FIRST YOU'LL COME TO THIS [INAUDIBLE] PAGE WHICH WILL SAY, YOU KNOW, A LITTLE BIT INFORMATION ABOUT THE DISTRICT PLAN PROCESS AND ALSO REDIRECTING PEOPLE BACK TO THE STORY MAP IF THEY HAVEN'T HAD A CHANCE TO EXPLORE THAT.
BECAUSE LIKE I SAID, THE STORY MAP HAS KIND OF ALL THOSE EXPLANATIONS OF THE DIFFERENT DATA LAYERS AND WHERE THE WHERE THE DATA CAME FROM, ETC., AS WELL AS A LINK BACK TO THE DISTRICT PLAN WEBSITE.
WE STILL HAVE A COUPLE UPDATES AND EDITS TO PUT INTO THE THIS PARTICULAR WEB MAP BEFORE IT'S RELEASED WIDELY, AND ONE OF THOSE THINGS WILL BE ALSO ON THIS DETAILS PAGE OR MENU WILL BE A LINK BACK TO THE STORY MAP AND THE DISTRICT PLAN WEBSITE AS WELL. SO THIS IS OUR PARKLANDS, AND THEN HERE ARE ALL THE LAYERS THAT WE'RE LOOKING AT, AND WHAT'S KIND OF NICE ABOUT THIS IS THAT YOU CAN TURN ON SAY PARK ENTRANCES, AND YOU CAN KIND OF COME DOWN TO SAY, THE POPULATION DATA AND TURN ON POPULATION DENSITY, AND YOU'LL BE ABLE TO SEE THAT YOU CAN LAYER THE DATA ON TOP OF EACH OTHER.
YOU CAN KIND OF ASK YOURSELF A QUESTION OF LIKE, WHERE DO WE HAVE PARK ENTRANCES, WHERE THERE'S A HIGH POPULATION DENSITY, AND TAKE A LOOK AT IT. YOU CAN ALSO MOVE THESE LAYERS AROUND.
YOU CAN MOVE THIS UP ABOVE AND THEN TAKE A LOOK AT HOW POPULATION DENSITY LOOKS OVER DATA, IF THAT MAKES SENSE. SOMETIMES YOU MIGHT MAKE THE WRONG MOVE.
YOU CAN ALWAYS REFRESH, BUT IT'S JUST A WAY FOR PEOPLE TO TURN ON WHERE THE PARK ENTRANCES IN RELATION TO THE FIRE STATIONS AND I'LL TURN OFF POPULATION DENSITY TO TAKE THAT AWAY.
TO EVERYBODY. THE STORY MAP IS ALREADY UP AND LIVE.
SO PEOPLE HAVE BEEN EXPLORING IT AND WE CERTAINLY ENCOURAGE MORE PEOPLE TO TAKE A LOOK.
I THINK I LOVE MAPS AND SO HOPEFULLY OTHER PEOPLE ENJOY EXPLORING ALL OF THIS DATA AS WELL, AND I'M HAPPY TO TAKE ANY QUESTIONS ON EITHER THE STORY MAP OR THE DISTRICT, THE WEB MAP FOR THE DISTRICT PLAN.
YEAH. THANK YOU. NEOMA, SO I JUST WANT TO JUST EMPHASIZE YOU KNOW, WE'RE DATA.
I KNOW THE BOARD LOVES DATA. MULTIPLE PURPOSES FOR IT.
[01:25:02]
BUT TO MAKE THAT INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO THEM, AS WE'RE GOING THROUGH THIS DECISION MAKING PROCESS AND WE'RE VISIONING AND WE'RE DOING THINGS THAT WE HAVE ACCURATE DATA SO WE CAN REALLY TALK ABOUT WHAT'S FEASIBLE, WHAT'S POSSIBLE AND WHAT CAN BE IMPLEMENTED.SO IT'S A TOOL TO HELP THE PUBLIC AS WE KIND OF GO THROUGH DECISION MAKING AND THE BOARD AS WELL, BUT WE'LL ALSO BE USING THIS DATA AND WE'LL, IT'LL CONTINUE TO BE BUILT THROUGHOUT THE PROCESS, AND REALLY AS WE GET TOWARDS THE END, WE'LL BE ABLE TO KIND OF DO A BIT OF A NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND REALLY BE ABLE TO DIAL IN AND CONNECT WITH YOU KNOW, WHICH ARE THE NEIGHBORHOODS THAT ARE LEAST, LEAST SERVED YOU KNOW, WHERE ARE WE'LL KNOW WHERE OUR HABITATS ARE MOST SENSITIVE, WHICH AREAS CAN REALLY SUPPORT A HIGHER LEVEL OF RECREATIONAL USE, WHICH AREAS MAYBE ARE MORE OF A PASSIVE PRESERVE TYPE OF AREA AND THEN, OF COURSE, YOU KNOW, SOME OF THOSE AREAS WHERE, YOU KNOW, NEOMA SHOWED DATA ABOUT WHERE SPECIES ARE PRESENT AS YOU DIAL IN AND YOU RECOGNIZE THAT YOU KNOW, PRESENCE DOESN'T NECESSARILY MEAN THEY'RE PRESENT THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PARK AND IT SORT OF GIVES US AS PLANNERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO KIND OF DO THAT.
MORE DETAILED PLANNING ABOUT WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT A TRAIL ALIGNMENT, ARE WE ARE WE ACTUALLY GOING AND IMPACTING A CERTAIN HABITAT OR NOT AND WHAT SORT OF MEASURES CAN BE IMPLEMENTED TO MITIGATE FOR ANY POTENTIAL SIGNIFICANT IMPACTS, WHICH IS SOMETHING THAT WE'RE ALWAYS LOOKING AT, AND THEN JUST LASTLY, I'LL SAY WHAT WHAT WE'RE ALSO DOING IS WE'RE COLLECTING DATA ON WHERE WE'RE GETTING AND WHAT TYPE OF RESPONSES THAT WE'RE GETTING THROUGH THE PUBLIC SURVEYS. SO WE'LL BE GIVING AN UPDATE NEXT WEEK ON LIKE I SAY, OUR PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT.
I CAN SAY TODAY I JUST GOT A REPORT BACK THAT WE'RE AT ABOUT 2000 RESPONSES SO FAR ON THAT.
SO SO WE'RE DOING PRETTY GOOD FOR HAVING JUST STARTED AND SO I EXPECT THAT NUMBER WILL CONTINUE TO GO UP AS IT GOES THROUGH JULY 31ST, AND AS THIS ALL ENDS UP, WE'LL BE ABLE TO KIND OF COMPARE SOME OF THAT PUBLIC INPUT AND WHERE WE'RE GETTING RESPONSES TO SOME OF THIS OTHER RESOURCE AND FACILITY DATA THAT WE HAVE HERE. SO THANKS AGAIN. GREAT WORK TO NAOMI, DAVE AND THE WHOLE PLANNING GIS TEAM, AND WE'RE HAPPY TO ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS. THIS IS INCREDIBLE.
THANKS SO MUCH FOR GOING THROUGH THIS ONLINE OR WHAT'S AVAILABLE ONLINE.
STORY MAP. IT WAS REALLY NEAT TO SEE. SO THANK YOU FOR THAT.
COLIN, DO YOU WANT TO GO FIRST WITH ANY QUESTIONS COMMENTS? OH YEAH.
SO I WAS READING THROUGH THE PACKET AND I CAME ACROSS THIS DESCRIPTION AND WENT TO THE SITE TO CHECK OUT THE STORY MAP AND WEB MAP. NOW, I UNDERSTAND THE WEB MAP WASN'T ACCESSIBLE TO THE STORY MAP WAS ENOUGH BECAUSE I MEANT TO JUST CHECK IT OUT AND LOOK AT IT IN ABOUT FOUR HOURS LATER, I'M STILL GOING THROUGH THIS STUFF.
IT IS FASCINATING. ABSOLUTELY FASCINATING STUFF.
MUCH OF IT WAS REINFORCING, IN OTHER WORDS, INFORMATION THAT I ALREADY PRETTY MUCH KNEW, AND THAT'S A GOOD FEELING IN A LOT OF THE POPULATION STATISTICS, FOR INSTANCE, BUT I WANT TO TEST A COUPLE OF AREAS, AND I KNOW THIS IS GOING TO GO ON FOR I DON'T WANT TO I COULD TAKE UP A LOT OF THIS MEETING. I WON'T, BUT I JUST WANT TO CHECK OUT A COUPLE OF THINGS TO JUST REALLY HIT ME AS SIGNIFICANT THAT I HADN'T KNOWN BEFORE AND I'M REALLY ASKING THIS IN THE CONTEXT OF WHETHER I'M UNDERSTANDING WHAT I WAS LOOKING AT AND UNDERSTANDING THAT IT'S VERY, VERY IMPORTANT TO OUR SECOND CENTURY PLAN WORK, AND THAT WAS THE ACCESS INFORMATION IN THOSE MAPS, AND I WANT TO MAKE SURE I UNDERSTAND THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN VISITS PER PERSON AND VISITS PER AREA, AND I GUESS MY, MY UNDERSTANDING WAS VISITS PER PERSON SHOWED US, AND THIS IS ONE OF MY QUESTIONS, AT LEAST SOME REGION, SOME, SOME DIVISION OF THESE REGIONS THAT WERE THE DATA WAS DERIVED FROM AND LOOKING AT A SURVEY, AND I DON'T KNOW HOW WE GET THIS INFORMATION OF INDIVIDUALS THAT RESIDE WITHIN THAT REGION, AND A SURVEY OF HOW OFTEN EACH INDIVIDUAL VISITS ONE OF OUR PARKS.
SO WHERE DOES THAT COME FROM? AND DO I HAVE THAT RIGHT?
[01:30:02]
IT'S YEAH, IT'S A LITTLE BIT MORE NUANCED THAN THAT.SO THEY USE PINGS FROM CELL PHONES THAT ARE USING SPECIFIC APPS THAT ARE DATA SHARING WITH THIS PARTICULAR PLATFORM, AND THEN KIND OF THE SIMILAR THEY CREATE LIKE A PANEL FROM THAT CELL PHONE DATA.
SO SIMILAR TO THE WAY YOU HAVE A PANEL WHEN YOU'RE POLLING.
SO SAY YOU CAN POLL 300 PEOPLE, BUT KIND OF PREDICT HOW A COUNTY WILL VOTE.
THEY'RE USING THE SAME KIND OF STATISTICAL METHODOLOGY AND, AND TOOLS FROM CELL PHONE INFORMATION, FROM CELL PHONE DATA. OH MY GOSH, AND THAT CELL PHONE DATA.
THEY BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING US. YEAH I KNOW IT'S LOCATION SERVICES.
WHEN YOU AGREE TO KIND OF ALLOW AN APP TO USE YOUR LOCATION SERVICES.
TURN THAT OFF, BUT IT'S ACTUALLY VERY VALUABLE DATA FOR A LOT OF DIFFERENT GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS, PRIVATE BUSINESSES. YOU KNOW, IT'S USED VERY IT IS USED VERY WIDELY.
IN FACT, WE INTERVIEWED OTHER PUBLIC AGENCIES THAT WERE USING IT AND WERE KIND OF SURPRISED BY THE BREADTH OF DIFFERENT AGENCIES THAT WERE INTERESTED IN IT, BUT SO THIS DATA BASICALLY THEN IS ABLE TO TELL WHERE SOMEBODY'S HOME CENSUS BLOCK IS GIVEN BY HOW MANY HOURS A DAY THEY SPEND OVERNIGHT IN A PARTICULAR AREA.
IT'S JUST GENERALIZED DATA WHERE THEY ARE USING PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS.
OKAY. SO MY OWN UTILIZATION SHOWS UP UNDER PARK VISITS PER PERSON AS AN INDIVIDUAL WHO RESIDES IN HERCULES IN A SPECIFIC CENSUS, NOT YOUR SPECIFIC DATA. IT'S JUST SAYING NO, BUT THEY'LL TAKE THE CUMULATIVE OR AGGREGATE, WHATEVER THE TERMINOLOGY OF FOLKS WITHIN THAT REGION, WITHIN HERCULES, WITHIN A CENSUS TRACK, AND HOW OFTEN THEIR PHONE SHOWS UP. SO IT WOULD BE MINE.
MY PHONE WOULD CONTRIBUTE TO THIS DATA BASED ON THE READ OF MY VISITS TO VARIOUS PARKS.
THAT'S CORRECT. YES, AND THEN THEY USE THAT TO PREDICT IT FOR THE WHOLE POPULATION.
SO IF THEY HAVE GOTTEN LIKE A SAMPLE OF, SAY, 100 VISITS OR 100 PHONES FOR A PARTICULAR AREA, AND THEY LOOK AT THE POPULATION AND THEN THEY SAY, WELL, OKAY, FOR THAT HUNDRED VISITS, THEN WE CAN KIND OF, SORT OF PREDICT HOW EVERYBODY LIVING IN THIS AREA MIGHT BE USING THE. HOW COMFORTABLE ARE WE WITH THE ACCURACY OF THAT AS A DATA POINT? WE HAVE WE HAVE COMPARED IT TO OUR OWN NOT NOT NECESSARILY THIS CENSUS DATA, BUT WE'VE CERTAINLY COMPARED THE VISITATION DATA TO OUR OWN ECO COUNTERS, LIKE OUR OWN TRAIL COUNTERS, AND FOUND THE DATA TO BE VERY LIKE IN LINE WITH OUR OWN DATA THAT WE'RE GETTING FOR VISITOR COUNTS.
LET ME SHIFT THEN TO BUT COME BACK TO VISITS PER, WHAT'S THE OTHER ONE? PARK VISITS PER AREA WHICH PRODUCES DIFFERENT VOLUME UTILIZATION INFORMATION.
IF I WANT TO MAKE SURE I'M UNDERSTANDING THAT ONE PER AREA.
SO NOW INSTEAD OF LOOKING WELL YOU TELL ME. WELL SO THE FIRST ONE THAT YOU WERE LOOKING AT WAS, YOU KNOW, VISITS PER PERSON WITHIN A CENSUS TRACT.
SO WE'RE LOOKING AT THE WHOLE CENSUS TRACT, RIGHT.
OKAY. SO THE VISITS PER AREA IS LOOKING AT MORE SORT OF WITHIN THAT CENSUS TRACT.
WHERE ARE PEOPLE VISITING FROM? SO IF YOU LOOKED AT THE PREVIOUS ONE, WE'LL LOOK AT MAYBE CASTRO VALLEY AREA YOU KNOW, THE ENTIRE CENSUS TRACT FOR THIS AREA HERE IS PRETTY BIG IN TERMS OF AN AREA, BUT THERE'S A LOT OF AREAS WHERE PEOPLE DON'T LIVE BECAUSE IT'S WATERSHED LAND, ETC.. SO THE VISIT. SO THE NEXT ONE, THE VISITS PER AREA SO HONES IN IN THIS AREA AND REALLY SHOWS, OKAY, THIS IS WHERE PEOPLE ARE LIVING AND THIS IS WHERE THEY'RE COMING FROM. SO IT'S NOT SO MUCH BASED ON THE CENSUS TRACT AS OPPOSED TO KIND OF MORE OF A RADIUS OR HOTSPOT WITHIN THAT CENSUS TRACT OF WHERE PEOPLE ARE COMING FROM, AND LET ME USE WHAT YOU JUST CLICKED ON BECAUSE I DID THE SAME THING. YOU'RE LOOKING TO AN AREA BETWEEN SOUTH OF MORAGA AND SLIGHTLY EAST OF THE SAN LEANDRO RESERVOIR, WHERE NOBODY LIVES, BUT MAYBE A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE, AND WHEN YOU LOOK AT PARK VISITS PER PERSON, THAT REGION THEN SHOWS UP AS A HIGH UTILIZATION AREA, AND IT CLICKED WITH ME THAT 'S MAYBE BECAUSE A HANDFUL OF PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIVE THERE AND THEY'RE SURROUNDED BY PARKS.
YES, EXACTLY, AND ALSO THAT A LITTLE PART OF THAT CENSUS TRACT WAS ACTUALLY IN CASTRO VALLEY.
[01:35:04]
PORTION OF THE CENSUS TRACT. SO THE CENSUS TRACT IS REALLY LARGE. IT GOES ALL THE WAY UP TO HERE, BUT ACTUALLY WHERE PEOPLE ARE LIVING IS DOWN HERE, AND THAT'S REALLY WHERE THE CONCENTRATION OF THE VISITS ARE. SO HOW IS THE HOW DOES THE COUNTING HERE DIFFER BETWEEN PER AREA AS OPPOSED TO PER PERSON.WHAT, ONE CELL PHONE. THEY'RE BOTH. THEY'RE BOTH THE SAME.
IT'S JUST THE SAME WAY OF LOOKING AT THE DIFFERENT. IT'S THE SAME. IT'S A DIFFERENT WAY OF LOOKING AT THE SAME DATA. SO IT JUST ALLOWS YOU TO THE CENSUS TRACT ALLOWS US TO LOOK AT WE CAN TIE IT A LITTLE BIT MORE EASILY TO SAY OTHER DATA THAT'S COLLECTED AS PART OF THE CENSUS, LIKE ETHNIC DATA OR LANGUAGE DATA. SO WE CAN JUST LOOK AT THE TRACT WHERE THAT DATA IS COMING FROM AS OPPOSED TO THE POPULATION CENTER.
SO THE PER AREA STATISTICS WILL REFLECT WHETHER OR NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE LIVE THERE.
YEAH. ALL RIGHT. AS OPPOSED TO WHERE THE HOTSPOTS ARE FROM WHERE VISITORS ARE COMING FROM.
THIS STRUCK ME AS OF ALL THE STUFF I WENT THROUGH ON THE STORY MAP REALLY QUICKLY AS VERY SIGNIFICANT FOR US IN TERMS OF PLANNING AND UNDERSTANDING OUR WARDS.
IT THE UTILIZATION PER PERSON TO ME, WAS STRIKING IN THAT IT REVEALED SOMETHING I WAS A LITTLE AWARE OF, BUT NOT IN THIS CONTEXT OF BRENTWOOD IS THE RESIDENTS OF BRENTWOOD ARE REALLY NOT USING OUR PARKS VERY MUCH. ACCORDING TO THIS FIGURE.
DUBLIN IS SIMILAR, AND ONE MORE PITTSBURGH. SO WHAT REALLY JUMPED OUT TO ME WAS OF OF WITHIN THE TWO COUNTIES. THERE WERE THREE AREAS OF FAIRLY HIGH RESIDENCY, VERY HIGH, FAIRLY HIGH POPULATIONS WHERE THEY FELL INTO THAT PER PERSON VISITS, REALLY LOW, AND TWO OF THEM ARE IN MY WARD, BRENTWOOD AND THE OLD NORTHERN PART OF PITTSBURGH AND DUBLIN. SO AM I. IS THAT OKAY TO JUMP OUT? AM I MISSING ANYTHING IN THAT? NO. YOU'RE BOTH NODDING.
OKAY, THANKS. THEN I'M DONE, BUT ALSO IT DOES.
THE PLACER.AI DATA DOES REQUIRE CELL PHONE COVERAGE AT THE PARKS, AND SO THERE ARE SOME PARKS THAT DON'T HAVE AS GOOD OF CELL PHONE COVERAGE, AND SO UNLESS WE HAVE THE INFRARED TRAIL COUNTER THERE TO HELP, YOU KNOW, CALIBRATE THE DATA, IT IS POSSIBLE THAT SOME OF THE PARKS WHERE THERE'S NOT GOOD CELL PHONE COVERAGE MAY NOT BE CAPTURING THE VISITS ACCURATELY, AND I DO BELIEVE WHERE WE HAVE A LOT MORE LARGER OPEN SPACES, THERE'S GOING TO BE LESS CELL PHONE COVERAGE RELIABILITY.
SO, FOR EXAMPLE, DEL VALLE, WHILE WE MIGHT HAVE THE INFRARED COUNTERS THERE, WE HAVE THE KIOSK.
THE CELL PHONE COVERAGE IS NOT AS STRONG IN THE DEL VALLE AREA.
SO THERE MAY BE SOME POTENTIAL, I GUESS MARGIN OF ERROR MIGHT BE BIGGER IN DEL VALLE COMPARED TO.
THAT'S WHY I FEEL A LITTLE COMFORTABLE WITH ITS ACCURACY.
THERE'S A BASIC TENANT HERE. IF PEOPLE DO NOT LIVE NEXT DOOR TO A PARK OR CLOSE TO A PARK, THEY'RE USING OUR PARKS LESS THAT. THAT SEEMS TO BE SOME CORRELATION HERE.
I'LL JUST ADDRESS THE CELL PHONE. SO I THINK YOU ARE CORRECT.
THERE IS SOME ISSUES WITH THE APPS, BUT MANY OF THE APPS ACTUALLY CONTINUE TO RECORD INFORMATION EVEN WHEN THEY'RE NOT CONNECTED TO THE CELL PHONE ITSELF OR TO THE CELL DATA, THE CELL SERVICE ITSELF, AND THEN THEY UPLOAD THEIR DATA AFTERWARDS.
SO THERE'S MANY PEOPLE WHO USE MAYBE AN APP, AND I'M NOT SAYING THIS IS ONE OF THE APPS THAT THEY HAVE A PARTNERSHIP WITH, BUT AN APP LIKE STRAVA WILL RECORD YOUR RUN EVEN IF YOU'RE IN AN AREA WHERE THERE IS NO CELL SERVICE, BUT THEN WHEN YOU GET HOME, THAT DATA GETS UPLOADED TO THE APP, AND SO THEN THEY KNOW WHERE YOU'VE BEEN.
SO THAT'S IF YOU HAVE LOCATION SERVICES TURNED ON.
I'M ACTUALLY REALLY MAKE SURE TO TURN OFF ALMOST ALL MY LOCATION SERVICES, AND THERE MAY ALSO BE WHEN I THINK ABOUT A CITY LIKE DUBLIN, WHERE WE DO HAVE A LOT OF FOLKS WHO. I GUESS I'M ANECDOTALLY SHARING THIS.
I DON'T HAVE THE SPECIFIC DATA ON THIS, BUT FOLKS WHO MAY BE MONITORING THEIR LOCATION SERVICES MORE CLOSELY, IT MAY ALSO BE THAT SOME OF WHAT YOU'RE SAYING COULD BE TRUE.
[01:40:04]
WITH LOOKING AT THIS. I THINK IT'S REALLY GOOD OVERALL, BUT LIKE IT'S NOT GOING TO BE 100%. YEAH, AND I WILL SAY THIS PARTICULAR PLATFORM WILL ONLY USE THE PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS ONCE THEY HIT A CERTAIN NUMBER OF PANEL VISITS.SO WITHIN A CERTAIN WITH A CERTAIN PERIOD OF TIME.
SO THEY, YOU KNOW, THEY HAVE THEIR OWN CONTROLS TO KIND OF MAKE SURE THAT ACROSS THE, ACROSS THE BOARD THAT THE ACCURACY IS RELATIVELY CONSISTENT, BUT YEAH I AGREE. YEAH. YEAH. SOME PEOPLE ARE MORE, YOU KNOW, LOCKED DOWN ON THEIR PHONES AND OTHERS ARE NOT, BUT I THINK IN GENERAL, IT AT LEAST PROVIDES US A WAY TO.
THEN WHEN WE LOOK AT AN AREA BE LIKE, OKAY, DO WE NEED TO DO FURTHER STUDIES? DO WE NEED TO DO IN PERSON, YOU KNOW, CONTACT, YOU KNOW, REACH OUT, YOU KNOW, IS THAT AREA ACTUALLY NOT GOING THERE, YOU KNOW, TO WHERE WE THINK THEY ARE. SO IT'S AT THE VERY LEAST KIND OF AN INDICATOR TOOL FOR US OF MAYBE WHERE WE NEED TO LOOK A LITTLE DEEPER.
YEAH, I THINK IT'S A GREAT INDICATOR TOOL, AND YOU KNOW, I GUESS IF WE'RE USING DUBLIN AS AN EXAMPLE AND AGAIN, ALL THAT I'M SHARING IS ANECDOTAL, BUT , YOU KNOW, WHEN I IS USING THEIR PREDICTIVE MODEL AND TRYING TO SAY, YOU KNOW, WHERE PEOPLE GENERALLY SLEEP AT NIGHT, I KNOW A LOT OF PROFESSIONALS AND PEOPLE THAT TEND TO DO A LOT OF TRAVEL OUT OF THE AREA TEND TO LIVE IN DUBLIN, AND AGAIN, I'M SAYING THIS ALL ANECDOTALLY, BUT, YOU KNOW, IT MAY ALSO INACCURATELY PREDICT WHERE SOME OF THE PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN DUBLIN MIGHT BE SLEEPING AT NIGHT.
BECAUSE I KNOW, I KNOW PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN DUBLIN THAT MIGHT BE OUT OF THE COUNTRY FOR 3 TO 6 MONTHS OF THE YEAR, FOR YEAR, FOR EXAMPLE. IT'S JUST TELLING ME THAT WE SHOULD SEEK AND PURSUE MORE PARKLAND IN THE DUBLIN AREA.
WELL, THERE'S THAT COMMENT, TOO. GETTING TO THE BOTTOM OF IT THE SAME WAY I FEEL ABOUT BRENTWOOD.
YEAH, I'M JUST SAYING, I THINK THAT THE PLACER.AI DATA IS INCREDIBLE AND I THINK IT'S A REALLY GOOD INDICATOR BUT THERE MIGHT BE THESE CAVEATS DEPENDING ON A NUMBER OF DIFFERENT FACTORS, YOU KNOW. SO JUST TO AND I THINK IT'S THAT CASE WITH ANY SORT OF DATA.
SO YEAH WE YOU KNOW EVERYTHING WE LOOK AT. YOU HAVE TO.
GREAT. DID YOU HAVE ANY OTHER COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? YEAH. I JUST WAS REMEMBERING THE PARKS PER AREA MAP SEEMED TO ALSO COVER THE NINE BAY AREA COUNTIES. WAS I LOOKING AT THAT CORRECTLY, THAT THERE ARE POCKETS OF AREAS WITHIN ADJOINING REGIONS THAT THIS THIS MAP MAPS FOR US IN TERMS OF UTILIZATION.
SO THERE'S REALLY A NEIGHBORHOOD IN SAN FRANCISCO THAT'S A FAIRLY HIGH USER OF OUR PARKS.
IS A LITTLE PIECE OF PURPLE IN DOWNTOWN IN OR, I GUESS, I DON'T KNOW, I DIDN'T ZOOM IN, BUT IT WAS IN SAN FRANCISCO, BUT WE GET SIGNIFICANT AGAIN, WE WOULD GUESS THIS IS TRUE, BUT UTILIZATION FROM SANTA CLARA COUNTY, UTILIZATION FROM MARIN AND SONOMA. IT'S JUST THAT WAS FAST.
YEAH. HERE YOU GO. YEAH. YEAH. AS OPPOSED TO SOME OF OUR OTHER DATA, WHICH MIGHT BE ALSO BAY AREA WIDE, WE REALLY THOUGHT THE VISITATION DATA WOULD BE INTERESTING TO SHOW KIND OF WHERE OUR VISITORS COMING FROM OUTSIDE OF OUR DISTRICT SEE THOSE PURPLE SPOTS IN THE CITY? YEAH, ACTUALLY, WE SHOULD FIND THOSE PEOPLE AND THANK THEM.
THANK YOU. THESE ARE SOME OF MY QUESTIONS, TOO. SO I'LL COME BACK TO YOU BECAUSE I THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE SOME OTHER COMMENTS, BUT I'M ALSO VERY CURIOUS ABOUT SOME OF THIS, AND I GUESS THE AREA THAT I TEND TO LOOK VERY CLOSELY AT IS SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, AND , YOU KNOW, ONE OF THE THINGS I THINK ABOUT IN REGARDS TO SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY IS A LOT OF PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY YOU KNOW, SPECIFICALLY IN MOUNTAIN HOUSE, TRACY, MANTECA TEND TO WORK IN A LOT OF THE CITIES IN WARD FIVE, AND AND, YOU KNOW, WE DO COLLECT IN TERMS OF PROPERTY TAXES FROM COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES, AND SO I ALWAYS THINK ABOUT THAT, THAT THE EMPLOYEE BASE AT SOME OF THE BUSINESSES WITHIN, YOU KNOW, OUR, OUR TWO COUNTY, ALAMEDA, CONTRA COSTA COUNTY, YOU KNOW, WE DO ALSO HAVE, FROM MY PERSPECTIVE, A DUTY FOR THE EMPLOYEES OF THOSE BUSINESSES, AND SO, YOU KNOW, I DO TAKE A CLOSER LOOK, AND I DO KNOW THAT YOU KNOW, PARKS LIKE DEL VALLE AND SHADOW CLIFFS ARE UTILIZED BY PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY. SO I THINK THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT DATA TO HAVE, AND THEN I ALSO THINK ABOUT TRANSIT, AND I KNOW WE DID. I REALLY APPRECIATE THAT 'S INCLUDED IN THE MAPPING.
YOU KNOW, I THINK A LOT ABOUT ALSO FUTURE TRANSIT, AND I KNOW THAT THERE'S A VERY LARGE PROJECT THAT INTENDS TO CONNECT THE TRI-VALLEY WITH SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY, THE VALLEY LINK PROJECT, AND I DON'T KNOW IF WE INCLUDE SOME OF THAT IN THIS MAPPING,
[01:45:07]
AND IT MIGHT BE DIFFICULT TO INCLUDE FUTURE TRANSIT AS WELL. SO I RECOGNIZE THAT AND I'M NOT ADVOCATING THAT WE DO THAT, BUT JUST TO KEEP IN MIND THAT THERE'S SO MUCH MORE IN REGARDS TO FUTURE PLANNING AND WITH SOMETHING LIKE VALLEY LINK, I THINK THAT WILL HAVE STOPS, YOU KNOW, RELATIVELY CLOSE TO BRUSHY PEAK, DUAL IN CANYON AS WELL AS, YOU KNOW, THE TERMINAL STATION IS THE DUBLIN PLEASANTON STATION, WHICH IS WHERE THE IRON HORSE TRAIL AND TASSAJARA CREEK TRAIL GO THROUGH.PLUS THEN IT WOULD CONTINUE ON TO THE NEXT BART STATION OF WEST DUBLIN, PLEASANTON, WHERE IT'S PRETTY CLOSE TO THE ALAMO CREEK TRAIL AND, YOU KNOW, POTENTIALLY GARMS, AND SO I THINK THAT YOU KNOW, THINKING ABOUT THIS WHILE, YOU KNOW, WE THINK ABOUT THE NINE COUNTY BAY AREA COUNTIES, SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY IS NOT INCLUDED IN THE NINE COUNTIES YET.
I THINK REGIONALLY, THERE'S SO MANY PEOPLE FROM SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY THAT WORK IN THE BAY AREA, AND SO THAT'S SOMETHING FOR US TO JUST KEEP IN MIND IN TERMS OF PLANNING, AND YEAH, THAT WAS MY POINT IN SAN JOAQUIN COUNTY AUT I LIKE THAT WE HAVE THE DATA HERE, SO THANK YOU. YEAH.
OKAY. IF YOU HAVE OTHER QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS LOOKING CLOSELY AT WALKING AND BIKING ACCESS SOME OF THAT WAS DIFFICULT TO GATHER. SOME OF THE HIGH THE PURPLE DARK AREAS ARE REALLY FAR FROM SOME PARKS IN TERMS OF WALKING OR BIKING. DOES THIS INCLUDE ACCESSIBILITY TO REGIONAL TRAILS? THAT WAS WHAT CLICKED IN MY MIND IS IF IF THIS INCLUDES ACCESS TO REGIONAL TRAILS, THEN SOME OF THESE MAKE SENSE IN TERMS OF WALKING AND BIKING.
YEP. THE ANSWER I GOT THAT ONE. GOOD. THAT'S EXACTLY RIGHT.
YEP. GOOD. THANK YOU. OKAY. I KNOW, I KNOW, AND SO, AND PLEASE FEEL FREE IF I SPARK ANY INTEREST, FEEL FREE TO JUMP IN WITH SOME OF THE THINGS. IS JUST A WONDERFUL TOOL AS IT'S MEANT TO BE, AND I HOPE PEOPLE TAKE USE OF IT, AND , YOU KNOW, WE HAVE TENS OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE OUT THERE THAT ARE AVID USERS OF THESE PARKS, AND THEY'LL BE FASCINATED BY THIS, AND , YOU KNOW, THE MORE WE CAN PUSH IT OUT THERE AS AVAILABLE AND ADVERTISE IT YOU'LL GET PEOPLE LIKE ME THAT JUST SPENDS HOURS ON IT. IT'S FASCINATING, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PEOPLE WHO PUT THIS TOGETHER, BOTH INTERNALLY AND OUR CONSULTANTS. YEAH, IT WAS REALLY GOOD WORK FROM A LOT OF DIFFERENT TEAM MEMBERS.
SO ONE IS WITH THIS MAP, ARE WE KEEPING TRACK OF, YOU KNOW, THE NUMBER OF UNIQUE VISITS TO THIS WEBSITE AND HOW MUCH TIME, YOU KNOW, IF COLIN'S ON THERE FOR FOUR HOURS OR ARE WE KEEPING TRACK OF THAT TIME? YEAH, WE KEEP TRACK OF NUMBER. WE KEEP TRACK OF THE NUMBER OF VISITS.
YOU KNOW, AS WE START TO GATHER, YOU KNOW, SURVEYS.
SO I ALWAYS TALK ABOUT, YOU KNOW, ATTITUDINAL DATA VERSUS BEHAVIORAL DATA, AND ATTITUDINAL DATA WOULD BE, YOU KNOW, THE SURVEYS, AND WHEN PEOPLE ARE TAKING THE SURVEYS.
THEY'RE KIND OF SHARING THEIR ATTITUDES WITH US. WHEREAS BEHAVIORAL DATA IS WHEN PEOPLE ACTUALLY VISIT THE WEBSITE AND ARE INTERACTING WITH THE WEBSITE, WE CAN TRACK THAT. SO IT'S ALWAYS KIND OF INTERESTING TO COMPARE THE TWO TO EACH OTHER, AND THEN I'M CURIOUS, IS THERE A REALLY EASY LINK TO PROVIDE FEEDBACK, WHETHER IT'S GOING TO THE SURVEY THAT WE CURRENTLY HAVE OPEN FROM THIS MAP? BECAUSE I COULD SEE SOMEONE SPENDING FOUR HOURS ON THE MAP AND THEN STARTING TO THINK, OH, I HAVE FEEDBACK OR THINGS THAT I WANT TO SHARE WITH THE PARK DISTRICT. I'M JUST CURIOUS IF YOU COULD SHOW ME SOME OF THAT USER EXPERIENCE.
SO AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STORY MAP, ONCE YOU. OH, SORRY, I KEEP ON.
HOLD ON. I CAN JUST SHARE IT. THERE'S A LINK TO THE DISTRICT PLAN SURVEY RIGHT AT THE BOTTOM THERE.
SO TAKE THE SURVEY AND THEN ALSO GO BACK TO THE WEBSITE, AND THEN WHERE I WAS SHOWING ON THE WEB MAP THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE, THERE'S THIS DETAILS WE'RE GOING TO ADD IN UNDER INFO, A LINK BACK TO BOTH THE WEBSITE AND THE SURVEY, AND THE AND THE STORY MAP, SO THAT FOLKS CAN EASILY GET BACK TO WHICHEVER, WHICHEVER PAGE THEY NEED TO, AND THAT WAS KIND OF OUR HOPE. DIRECTOR SANWONG WAS THAT FOLKS COULD GO THROUGH THE STORY MAP AND LEARN A LITTLE MORE AND THEN FEEL LIKE, YOU KNOW WHAT? I DIDN'T KNOW THAT OR I DIDN'T KNOW WE HAD A FIRE STATION IN IN A LOCAL PARK NEAR MY HOME.
I ALWAYS GO TO THIS ONE PARK AND IT DOESN'T HAVE THE FIRE STATION, BUT THIS OTHER PARK DOES.
[01:50:01]
MAYBE ARE REALLY FAMILIAR WITH MAYBE THEIR LOCAL PARK, THE ONE THEY GO TO THE MOST, THEY CAN LEARN A LITTLE MORE, MAYBE ABOUT SPECIFIC TOPICS THAT MAY INTEREST THEM MORE AND THEN, YOU KNOW, HAVE MORE TO HAVE MORE TO CONTRIBUTE.YEAH, I THINK THAT'S GREAT AND ALSO MY THEORY, YOU KNOW, I THINK THE AREA WHERE I LIVE IN THE EAST BAY, PEOPLE CERTAINLY KNOW OUR PARKS BY THE PARK NAME.
THEY KNOW SUNOL, THEY KNOW DEL VALLE, BUT THEY DON'T NECESSARILY KNOW EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT AS AN ORGANIZATION, AND SO I THINK THIS COULD ALSO HELP, POTENTIALLY IF THEY FIND THEMSELVES ON OUR WEBSITE, AND THEY MIGHT BE VERY FAMILIAR WITH DEL VALLE AND LOVE DEL VALLE AND NOT REALIZE THAT, OH MY GOSH, LOOK AT ALL THESE OTHER PARKS THAT ARE PART OF THE SYSTEM.
SO THERE'S ALSO THAT ASPECT OF THINGS. SO I LOVE THAT HAVING THE LINKS IN THERE I THINK COULD BE REALLY VALUABLE ALSO TO GET TO COLLECT SOME OF THAT ATTITUDINAL DATA FROM THE SURVEY, AND THEN IN TERMS OF, I MEAN, I THINK THAT SO MUCH WORK HAS BEEN DONE TO PUT TOGETHER THESE MAPS AND IT'S SO INTERESTING. ARE WE GOING TO DO SOME SORT OF MAYBE LIKE A SHORT VIDEO OR SOMETHING TO HELP? AND MAYBE WE COULD EVEN CLIP THE TODAY'S PARTS OR PORTIONS OF TODAY'S PRESENTATION FOR A SHORT VIDEO JUST TO HELP PROMOTE INTEREST AND DIRECTING PEOPLE TO THESE MAPS. IS THAT SOMETHING THAT WE'VE DISCUSSED IN TERMS OF, YOU KNOW, THE PUBLIC COMMUNICATIONS AROUND THIS, A SHORT VIDEO, LIKE AN INSTRUCTION VIDEO HADN'T BEEN DISCUSSED YET, BUT IT'S SOMETHING WE COULD POTENTIALLY PUT TOGETHER. I KNOW OUR PUBLIC AFFAIRS TEAM OR EXTERNAL AFFAIRS TEAM IS WORKING ON A KIND OF A BLAST, JUST SPECIFICALLY ON THE STORY MAP AND THE WEB MAP, AND THAT SHOULD BE GOING OUT SOON. TO KIND OF HIGHLIGHT THAT FOR FOLKS, AND MAYBE THERE'S A WAY TO KIND OF JUST HAVE LIKE A 10S OF LIKE, YOU KNOW, YOU CAN CLICK HERE AND MOVE THE MOVE THE LAYERS AROUND OR, YOU KNOW, LEARN MORE.
SO WE CAN CERTAINLY WE CAN CERTAINLY EXPLORE THAT IDEA.
YEAH, I THINK THAT'S GREAT. I THINK THAT'S A REALLY GREAT IDEA, AND THEN I SAW THAT YOU HAD THE HCD HOUSING I THINK. RIGHT. DOES THAT INCLUDE, LIKE THE RHNA FUTURE GROWTH WHERE THE PARCELS ARE LOCATED, WHERE THERE'S MOST LIKELY GOING TO BE FUTURE HOUSING, PARTICULARLY HIGHER DENSITY HOUSING? I DON'T THINK SO, THOUGH IT MIGHT. IF YOU GO TO THEIR WEBSITE, THERE MIGHT BE MORE INFORMATION AVAILABLE ON THAT.
WE SORT OF, YOU KNOW, ALONG WITH THE PLACE WORKS TEAM, WE SORT OF PULLED THE DATA LAYERS THAT WERE, YOU KNOW, EASY TO ACCESS, ESPECIALLY IF THEY WERE PARTNERED WITH THE MAPPING PLATFORM AND THEY HAD ALREADY PROVIDED THOSE LAYERS.
SO I CAN CERTAINLY ASK IF THAT'S. YEAH, AND THAT'S OKAY.
YOU KNOW, I THINK THAT'S GOING TO BE REALLY DIFFICULT TO PUT INTO, POTENTIALLY DIFFICULT TO PUT INTO THIS STORY MAP. SO I DON'T KNOW IF I'M NECESSARILY ADVOCATING FOR THAT, BUT I GUESS SIMILAR TO THE VALLEY LINK EXAMPLE OF FUTURE TRANSIT, WHICH ACTUALLY ALSO IN THE TRI VALLEY, CERTAINLY NEAR THOSE VALLEY LINK STATIONS, THERE IS SOME EFFORT TO ALSO HAVE HIGHER DENSITY HOUSING BUILT NEAR THOSE FUTURE POTENTIAL STATIONS.
SO THERE'S A LOT OF FUTURE PLANNING, AND IT'S TOUGH TO LIKE BRING THAT INTO THIS TYPE OF MAP.
SO THIS I GUESS WHAT I'M IDENTIFYING HERE IS ONE AREA WHERE WE MAY NOT HAVE EVERYTHING IN THIS BEAUTIFUL STORY MAP, BUT TO BE AWARE THAT AS WE'RE THINKING ABOUT OUR SECOND CENTURY DISTRICT PLAN, THERE'S ALL THESE OTHER, YOU KNOW, FUTURE PLAN ALL THESE OTHER AGENCIES AND ORGANIZATIONS THAT ARE PUTTING TOGETHER FUTURE PLANS, WHETHER IT'S TRANSIT OR HOUSING OR THE NEXUS OF BOTH, AND SO HOW WE AT EAST BAY REGIONAL PARK DISTRICT ARE AWARE OF THAT AND HOW THAT GETS INTEGRATED INTO THE OVERALL SECOND CENTURY DISTRICT PLAN? IT'S SOMETHING FOR US TO CONSIDER. I DON'T KNOW IF IT'S NECESSARILY GOING TO BE VALUABLE IN THIS STORY MAP EXPERIENCE.
THERE'S GOING TO BE THIS WHOLE OTHER PROCESS WHICH IS GOING TO BE SORT OF FORECASTING, LOOKING AT DIFFERENT SCENARIOS, AND WHEN WE GET INTO THE CONVERSATION ABOUT LIKE TRADE OFFS AND DIFFERENT SORT OF DECISIONS THAT NEED TO BE MADE AS PART OF THE DISTRICT PLAN AND LOOKING AT LIKE WHAT OUR NEEDS ASSESSMENT IS OR FUTURE GROWTH.
LIKE THAT'S WHERE THAT INFORMATION WILL REALLY START TO COME OUT. SO WE'RE RIGHT NOW STILL IN SORT OF THIS EXISTING CONDITIONS PHASE, BUT THAT'S WHERE WE INTEND TO TAKE THIS ALL. YEAH, AND SO I THINK JUST TO BE CLEAR ABOUT THAT, WHICH I THINK THIS IS PRETTY CLEAR ABOUT THAT, BUT JUST SO THAT WE'RE WE KNOW THAT THERE'S ALSO THIS ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT THERE'S ALL THESE OTHER, YOU KNOW, FUTURE PLANNING SCENARIOS HAPPENING OUT THERE AND THAT WE'RE GOING TO HAVE THAT INTEGRATED.
HOWEVER, IT WORKS BEST TO BE INTEGRATED INTO OUR PLAN, I THINK IS GREAT, AND THEN THE FINAL ONE THAT I HAVE IN REGARDS TO THIS ON THE ENVIRONMENTAL ONE, I THINK THAT 'S I APPRECIATE THE HEALTHY, HEALTHY PLACE INDEX AND THE POLLUTION AND TREE EQUITY SCORE.
YOU KNOW, RECENTLY I WAS IN A PRESENTATION WHERE I GUESS THE TOPIC WAS ENCAMPMENTS, AND ONE OF THE
[01:55:01]
THINGS THAT SOMEONE HAD DONE WAS PUT TOGETHER SOME DATA ABOUT HEAT AND WIND FACTORS IN THE BAY AREA, AND I GUESS WHEN THOSE WERE THE TWO VARIABLES THAT WERE BEING LOOKED AT WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF THINKING ABOUT ENCAMPMENTS LIVERMORE ENDED UP REALLY RISING TO THE TOP IN REGARDS TO EXTREME HEAT AND EXTREME WIND POTENTIAL, AND SO I DON'T KNOW HOW THAT NECESSARILY FEEDS INTO, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE'RE LOOKING AT ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS FOR PARK DISTRICT PLANNING, BUT I DO KNOW THAT WE DO HAVE CONCERNS ABOUT HEAT AND WIND, AND I KNOW THAT WE HAVE CLOSED OUR PARKS WHEN WE HAVE, YOU KNOW, EXTREME HEAT WARNINGS.I THINK WE'RE STILL A LITTLE BIT UNSURE OF WHEN TO CLOSE CERTAIN PARKS WHEN THERE'S A LOT OF WIND, BUT THAT CAN ALSO BE A FACTOR IN TERMS OF EXPERIENCING SPECIFIC PARKS WHEN THERE IS A HIGH WIND EVENT, AND THEN I ALSO THINK ABOUT THINGS LIKE, YOU KNOW, FLOOD RISKS AND DROUGHT RISKS.
SO I DON'T KNOW HOW THAT MIGHT FIT INTO THIS MAP PER SE, BUT I GUESS WHEN YOU'RE SHOWING SOME OF THESE OPTIONS, THAT'S SOMETHING THAT I WANT TO MAKE SURE THAT I MENTION, AND AGAIN, THIS COULD BE SIMILAR TO THE FUTURE PLANNING AND THE FORECASTING ASPECT OF THINGS THAT MAYBE THOSE ITEMS DON'T NECESSARILY NEED TO BE INTEGRATED INTO THE STORY MAP, BUT THAT I THINK THEY ARE STILL, YOU KNOW, RISKS AND STILL FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN THINKING ABOUT.
OUR SECOND CENTURY DISTRICT PLAN, BUT OTHERWISE THAT'S ALL THAT I REALLY WROTE ON.
I WISH WE COULD KEEP TRACK OF DURATION AND MAYBE TRACK SPECIFIC BOARD MEMBERS.
I'M CURIOUS. COLIN AT THE END OF ALL THIS, HOW MANY HOURS YOU MIGHT END UP LOGGING ON THE WEBSITE? YEAH. NONE OF MY BUSINESS. OKAY, BUT , YOU KNOW, YOU GOT TO WATCH THOSE LOCATION SERVICES.
LET'S SEE IF THERE'S ANY PUBLIC COMMENT ON THIS ITEM.
WE HAVE NO PUBLIC COMMENT AT THIS TIME. THANK YOU.
ANY FINAL COMMENTS? SO THANK YOU SO MUCH. THIS WAS REALLY GREAT.
THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. I'D LIKE TO SUGGEST WE JUST TAKE A QUICK FIVE MINUTE BREAK, IF THAT'S OKAY.
ALL RIGHT. WELCOME BACK. LET'S GO AHEAD AND LOOK AT OUR FINAL ITEM C.
CAN EVERYBODY HEAR ME? GOOD AFTERNOON, AND THANK YOU FOR THIS OPPORTUNITY TO SPEAK.
MY NAME IS TAMMY LIM, AND I'M A WILDLIFE BIOLOGIST WITHIN THE STEWARDSHIP DEPARTMENT.
ABOUT HALFWAY THROUGH, I'LL BE HANDING OVER THE PRESENTATION TO DILLAN NAGRIK, OUR WILDLIFE INTERN.
DILLAN IS A RECENT GRADUATE OF UC BERKELEY, AND WHILE THERE WAS A MEMBER OF THE SHELL LAB, THIS LAB. RESEARCH. HIS RESEARCH FOCUSES ON URBAN ECOLOGY AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE ISSUES, AND DYLAN'S EXPERIENCE HAS MADE THEM UNIQUELY QUALIFIED TO WORK ON THIS PROJECT, AND WE ARE SO THRILLED TO HAVE THEM.
SO WHEN I GO TO ONE OF OUR PARKS, THEY ARE NEARLY ALWAYS CLEAN AND WELL MAINTAINED, BUT DESPITE THAT, WE STILL HAVE SOME WASTE CONTAINMENT ISSUES AT THESE GARBAGE CANS, COURTYARDS AND ALSO DUMPSTERS.
MANY OF THEM ARE OPEN OR ACCESSIBLE TO WILDLIFE AND OR THE ELEMENTS, AND THERE ARE THREE PRIMARY REASONS WE SHOULD FOCUS MORE ATTENTION AND EFFORT TO SEPARATE AND COVERING OUR WASTE RECEPTACLES. FOR ONE, OBVIOUSLY WILDLIFE THEY CAN AND DO ENTER WASTE RECEPTACLES AND DUMPSTERS TO FORAGE.
TWO THERE ARE STATE REGULATIONS THAT REQUIRE THAT DUMPSTERS DO NOT LEAK WATER OR LIQUIDS, AND THEN THREE CALIFORNIA STATE CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVES REQUIRE SEPARATION OF WASTE INTO THE THREE STREAM SYSTEM. THE UNIT SHOWN HERE IS IDEAL.
[02:00:09]
SO WHY WORRY ABOUT WILDLIFE IN OUR TRASH? BECAUSE IT CAN HAVE VERY BAD CONSEQUENCES, BOTH FOR PEOPLE AND WILD ANIMALS.FOR ONE, LOOKING AT THIS FIRST PHOTO, WILD ANIMALS THAT ARE EITHER FED INTENTIONALLY OR GET USED TO FORAGING IN HUMAN REFUSE OFTEN GET REALLY COMFORTABLE, COMFORTABLE, COMFORTABLE WITH PEOPLE. THIS IS WHAT WE REFER TO AS HABITUATION.
LIKE THESE RACCOONS THAT APPROACH ME IN SUNOL.
HENCE THE SAYING A FED ANIMAL IS A DEAD ANIMAL.
SECONDLY, OVERABUNDANT ANIMALS A WHOLE BUNCH OF FOOD LEFT OUT IN THE OPEN IS NOT GOOD FOR ANYONE.
AN EASILY AVAILABLE AND PLENTIFUL FOOD SOURCE CAN LEAD TO INCREASED INCREASE SURVIVABILITY AND MORE REPRODUCTION, AND SOME OF THE ANIMALS THAT MAY BENEFIT FROM THESE FREE FROM THESE FOOD SOURCES INCLUDE FREE ROAMING DOMESTIC CATS, OPOSSUMS, HOUSE MICE, AND NON-NATIVE RATS. THESE ARE ALL SPECIES THAT DO AND CAN PREDATE ON NATIVE AND EVEN ENDANGERED SPECIES, AND THEN THIRD, AS YOU CAN SEE WITH THE GROUND SQUIRREL HERE, AN EXCESS OF HUMAN HUMAN FOOD CAN ALSO CAUSE OBESITY AND POOR HEALTH OUTCOMES FOR WILDLIFE. CHEETOS AREN'T GREAT FOR HUMANS, NOR, AS IT TURNS OUT, FOR WILDLIFE EITHER.
ANIMALS ALSO FORAGING IN THE SAME SPACE CLOSE TO EACH OTHER CAN ALSO SPREAD DISEASE.
OR AS WE LIKE TO SAY, WE MEET TO TALK TRASH. THE GARBAGE WORKING GROUP INCLUDES STAFF FROM ACROSS THE DISTRICT IN THESE DEPARTMENTS, AND WE'RE WORKING TOGETHER TO FIND SOLUTIONS TO WASTE STREAM ISSUES, SOME OF WHICH ARE, FOR ONE, BARRIERS TO GETTING COVERED DUMPSTERS. IT ALL SEEMS LIKE A PRETTY EASY THING TO DO, BUT IT'S ACTUALLY KIND OF COMPLICATED.
FOR ONE, IN BUSIER PARKS, THOSE DUMPSTERS NEED TO BE EASILY OPENED AND CLOSED MULTIPLE TIMES A DAY, ESSENTIALLY REPEATEDLY. WE WORK WITH A NUMBER OF WASTE PROVIDERS THAT OWN THE DUMPSTERS.
WE CAN REQUEST CLOSED DUMPSTERS FROM SOME PROVIDERS, BUT FULFILLMENT IS ALSO BASED ON AVAILABILITY.
THIS IS A GOOD OPTION, ALTHOUGH IT IS PRETTY EXPENSIVE, BUT AS AGAIN, WE DON'T OWN THE DUMPSTER ITSELF, WE NEED TO DESIGN THE HOUSING TO FIT VARIOUS DUMPSTER SIZES.
THESE ARE OUR THREE STREAM WILDLIFE PROOF WASTE RECEPTACLES.
THE PROJECT WAS CONCEIVED BY AND IS BEING ADVISED BY A POSTDOCTORAL RESEARCHER AT THE UC BERKELEY LAB, DR. LAUREN STANTON, SHOWN HERE IN THE UPPER LEFT, AND THE REGIONAL PARKS FOUNDATION HAS PROVIDED US WITH TWO GRANTS, ONE TO SUPPORT THE PURCHASE OF EQUIPMENT FOR THIS STUDY YOU'LL BE SEEING TODAY, AND ANOTHER TO PURCHASE PROTOTYPE COVERS FOR DUMPSTERS.
THE CAMERAS FOR THIS STUDY WERE SET UP BY OUR INTERN FROM MERRITT COLLEGE, MELISSA HUNG, WHO DID AN AMAZING JOB BOTH RUNNING THE STUDY AND ALSO COMPLETING A PRELIMINARY ANALYSIS, AND SHE COMPLETED HER INTERNSHIP IN DECEMBER.
THIS SPRING, THE DISTRICT COLLABORATED WITH THE HISPANIC ACCESS FOUNDATION TO PROVIDE THREE INTERNSHIPS ONE AN INTERN IN RECREATION, ONE ALSO WORKING ON WASTE STREAM ISSUES IN OUR SANITATION GROUP, AND THEN DYLAN, WHO'S WORKING WITH US IN STEWARDSHIP.
SO BEFORE WE STARTED, WE ALREADY HAD THE HYPOTHESIS THAT COVERED DUMPSTERS ARE BETTER OVERALL FOR WILDLIFE BECAUSE THEY REDUCE FORAGING AND THEREFORE HABITUATION AND OVERABUNDANT POPULATIONS OF CATS AND RATS, BUT AS PART OF THIS COLLABORATIVE EFFORT WHERE WE WERE WORKING WITH INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL COLLABORATORS.
WE WANTED TO HAVE THE ACTUAL DATA TO SUPPORT THIS HYPOTHESIS.
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SO TO DO THIS, WE CHOSE FOUR DUMPSTERS TO STUDY CLOSED DUMPSTERS AT BOTH TILDEN AND REDWOOD, SHOWN HERE IN ORANGE TEXT, AND OPEN DUMPSTERS AT CROWN BEACH AND LAKE CHABOT, SHOWN HERE IN THE GREEN TEXT.AT EACH OF THESE DUMPSTERS, WE SET UP 3 TO 4 TRAIL CAMERAS.
THESE WERE SET TO EITHER CAPTURE STILL PHOTOS SHOWN BY THE CAMERA ICON THAT YOU CAN SEE.
HERE. OR WITH A VIDEO CAMERA ICON SHOWN HERE.
THE CAMERAS WERE POSITIONED TO EITHER CAPTURE ACTIVITY WITHIN THE DUMPSTER SO ANIMALS FORAGE, FORAGING ACTUALLY INSIDE THE DUMPSTER, OR POSITIONED TO CAPTURE ACTIVITY AROUND THE APPROACH AND THE BASE OF THE DUMPSTERS.
THE INTENT HERE WAS TO QUANTIFY AND IDENTIFY THE ANIMALS THAT WERE USING THESE AREAS, BUT ALSO TO SEE IF THERE WERE ANY INTERESTING BEHAVIORAL INTERACTIONS BETWEEN THE ANIMALS AND THE DATA THAT WE'LL BE PRESENTING TODAY THAT HAVE BEEN ANALYZED ARE MOSTLY OF THE STILL PHOTOS SHOWING WITHIN DUMPSTER ACTIVITY.
THANK YOU, TAMMY, AND THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ALLOWING ME TO SPEAK HERE TODAY.
SO COMBING THROUGH THE PHOTOS AND THE VIDEOS, IT IS CLEAR THAT TRASH WAS ADDED TO ALL OF THESE DUMPSTERS SEVERAL TIMES A DAY, WHETHER THAT BE THROUGH A VEHICLE OR SOMEONE JUST DUMPING TRASH INTO THE DUMPSTERS WITH A BUCKET.
ON THE FLIP SIDE, TRASH WAS REMOVED FROM THE DUMPSTERS ONLY A HANDFUL OF TIMES THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE PROJECT, WHICH MAKES SENSE IN THE VEIN OF SAVING RESOURCES.
NOW, THESE FORMER DUMPSTERS HAPPEN TO BE OUR OPEN DUMPSTERS, AND IT IS POSSIBLE THAT THESE DUMPSTERS WERE LEFT OPEN BECAUSE OF HOW MUCH TRASH IS BEING ADDED TO THESE DUMPSTERS. IT'S MORE OF A HASSLE TO OPEN AND CLOSE THESE DUMPSTERS WHEN SO MUCH TRASH IS BEING ADDED, BUT THE POINT BEING HERE IS THAT THERE'S CONSTANT ATTRACTANTS, NEW ATTRACTANTS FOR WILDLIFE TO BE ATTRACTED TO.
SO WHAT SPECIES ARE WE SEEING AT THESE DUMPSTERS? WELL, IT DEPENDS ON A NUMBER OF FACTORS, ONE OF WHICH BEING THE TIME OF DAY.
AT NIGHT WE TEND TO SEE MOSTLY RACCOONS IN RATS.
YES. THE SO LOVINGLY NICKNAMED TRASH PANDAS LIVE UP TO THEIR NAMES, AS THEY'RE SEEN FORAGING THROUGH DUMPSTERS FOR TEN MINUTES, 30 MINUTES OR EVEN UP TO AN HOUR. I'LL TOUCH A BIT MORE ON THE RATS A BIT LATER, BUT OTHER SPECIES WE SAW AT NIGHT WERE COYOTES AND OPOSSUMS, WHICH TENDED TO FORAGE AROUND THE DUMPSTERS, BUT NOT NECESSARILY IN THE DUMPSTERS, ALTHOUGH WE DID CATCH A PICTURE HERE OF ONE RAMBUNCTIOUS OPOSSUM DURING THE DAY. WE SAW A WHOLE NEW SET OF SPECIES, OFTEN A LOT OF CORVIDS, MOSTLY CROWS, JUST FORAGING THROUGH THE DUMPSTERS, BUT WE ALSO SAW A LOT OF CALIFORNIA GROUND SQUIRRELS, FOX SQUIRRELS, GULLS AND OTHER SONGBIRDS. OFTEN THEY WERE FORAGING TOGETHER, MOSTLY LEAVING EACH OTHER ALONE, BUT STILL FORAGING ALL IN THE SAME DUMPSTER. ANOTHER FACTOR THAT WE LOOKED AT, AND PERHAPS THE ONE THAT REVEALS THE CRUX OF THE ISSUE HERE, IS SPECIES PRESENCE AT OPEN VERSUS CLOSED DUMPSTERS.
NOW, THIS GRAPH HERE DISPLAYS ALL THE DIFFERENT SPECIES THAT WE'VE BEEN SEEING AT THESE DUMPSTERS, AS WELL AS THE NUMBER OF PHOTOS OF EACH SPECIES THAT WE'RE SEEING AT A GIVEN DUMPSTER.
THE BARS IN GREEN HERE REPRESENT OUR OPEN DUMPSTERS AT CROWN BEACH AND LAKE CHABOT, WHILE THESE LARGER NUMBERS IN RED OVER HERE AND HERE REPRESENTS THE PHOTOS OF SPECIES WE'RE SEEING AT OUR CLOSED DUMPSTERS.
THESE TWO BEING OUR TILDEN SITE. JUST LOOKING AT THE NUMBERS HERE, THERE'S A VAST GAP BETWEEN THE NUMBER OF PHOTOS WE'RE SEEING AT OUR OPEN DUMPSTERS VERSUS OUR CLOSED DUMPSTERS, FOR EXAMPLE, FOR RACCOONS, WE'RE ONLY SEEING ABOUT FOUR OF THEM AT OUR TILDEN SITE, WHEREAS AT OUR CROWN BEACH SITE, WE'RE SEEING OVER 12,000 AND OVER 7000 AT OUR LAKE CHABOT SITE.
SAME THING HERE WITH OUR CORVIDS, ONLY 13 AT TILDEN SITE AND OVER A THOUSAND AT CROWN BEACH IN LAKE CHABOT SITE FOR ALL THE OTHER SPECIES OF WILDLIFE. WE DIDN'T SEE ANY OF THEM AT OUR CLOSED DUMPSTER SITES, SO THEY'RE ALL ZERO.
SO AGAIN, THIS REVEALS THAT THERE IS A VAST GAP IN THE NUMBER THAT WE'RE SEEING AT OPEN SITES VERSUS CLOSED SITES, BUT ALONG WITH THE SPECIES VARIETY AND SPECIES QUANTITY, THERE ARE SEVERAL OTHER ISSUES THAT CROP UP AT THESE OPEN SITES,
[02:10:01]
ONE OF WHICH BEING THE FACT THAT ANIMALS CAN SOMETIMES GET STUCK IN THESE DUMPSTERS HERE.HERE WE HAVE A PHOTO OR VIDEO OF A RACCOON THAT HAS BEEN STUCK IN THIS DUMPSTER OVER HERE.
NOW, FORTUNATELY, PARK STAFF HAS BEEN SO KIND AS TO HELP THESE RACCOONS OUT BY PUTTING DOWN A PLANK FOR THEM TO CLIMB OUT OF, BUT UNFORTUNATELY, TRASH IS SOMETIMES TOSSED IN THE DUMPSTERS WHILE WILDLIFE IS STILL IN THE DUMPSTERS.
SUCH AS CONCRETE. SO THIS PUTS ANIMALS AT RISK OF BEING CRUSHED FROM THE ONCOMING TRASH.
HERE WE HAVE A VIDEO OF A COYOTE LOOKING FOR A RACCOON INSIDE THE DUMPSTER.
THIS CREATES MORE HABITUATION WITHIN COYOTES TO BE MORE USED TO FINDING PREY NEAR HUMAN ITEMS, SUCH AS DUMPSTERS, AND AS TIMMY MENTIONED BEFORE, HABITUATION CAN LEAD TO AGGRESSION.
COYOTES HAVE NEVER USUALLY BEEN SEEN THIS CLOSE TO THE DUMPSTER, USUALLY FORAGING AROUND THE DUMPSTERS, BUT AGAIN, THIS SHOWS THAT THEY'RE GETTING MORE USED TO BEING CLOSE TO HUMAN ITEMS, AND ON THE SIDE OF THE RACCOON, THIS PUTS THEM OF COURSE HIGH RISK OF BEING PREDATED ON WITH HARDER ROUTES FOR THEM TO ESCAPE BEING PREDATED ON, AND ANOTHER SIDE NOTE RIGHT HERE THIS PLANK RIGHT HERE HAS BEEN PUT DOWN BY OUR PARK STAFF, AS I MENTIONED BEFORE, TO HELP RACCOONS CLIMB OUT OF THE DUMPSTERS IN CASE THEY DO GET STUCK.
NOW, ASIDE FROM COYOTES, OTHER PREDATORS ALSO VISIT OUR DUMPSTERS.
HERE, WE HAVE A PHOTO OF ONE OF THE CATS THAT HAVE VISITED OUR DUMPSTERS HERE, AND AS SOME OF YOU MAY KNOW, CATS DO CREATE HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CREATE A PROBLEM FOR URBAN BIRD POPULATIONS IN URBAN ECOSYSTEMS. WE DO HAVE A FREE ROAMING CATS PROGRAM HERE IN THE PARKS DISTRICT TO HELP MANAGE THESE FREE ROAMING CATS AND REHOUSE THEM, AND HAVING CATS AT THESE DUMPSTERS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO UNDERMINE SOME OF THE GOALS AND WORK DONE BY THIS FREE ROAMING CAT PROGRAM, AND ALSO, HAVING CATS AT THESE DUMPSTERS CAN BRING HARM TO THE BIRDS THAT ALSO VISIT THESE DUMPSTERS HERE.
AS CUTE AS SOME OF THESE CATS CAN BE. I MENTIONED EARLIER THAT RATS OFTEN VISIT THESE DUMPSTERS.
HERE WE HAVE A PHOTO OF ABOUT 10 TO 12 RATS IN THIS ONE CORNER OF OUR LAKE CHABOT DUMPSTER, SO YOU CAN IMAGINE WHAT THE REST OF THE DUMPSTER LOOKS LIKE.
RATS HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO CARRY DISEASES THAT CAN BE FOUND IN THEIR URINE AND DROPPINGS.
SO THIS AGAIN HAS THE POTENTIAL TO PUT PEOPLE AT RISK WHO ARE INTERACTING WITH THESE DUMPSTERS, OF INTERACTING WITH THIS URINE AND DROPPING THE URINE AND DROPPING OF THESE RATS.
ADDITIONALLY, THE FOOD THAT ANIMALS CAN CONSUME WITHIN THE DUMPSTERS ARE NOT VERY HEALTHY FOR THEM.
AS TAMMY MENTIONED, CHEETOS ARE NOT GOOD FOR HUMANS, AND THEY'RE NOT GOOD FOR ANIMALS AND THAT GOES FOR ALL SORTS OF DIFFERENT FOODS THAT THESE ANIMALS MAY FIND IN THESE DUMPSTERS. THAT LEADS TO HIGHER OBESITY RATES WITHIN THESE ANIMALS.
SO I'VE TALKED ABOUT SEVERAL DIFFERENT ISSUES HERE, AND ALL OF THESE ISSUES LEAD TO THE EXACERBATION OF HUMAN WILDLIFE CONFLICT, SUCH AS THE HABITUATION WITHIN THE COYOTES, LEADING TO GREATER AGGRESSION WITHIN THEM.
THE INCREASED NUMBERS OF WILDLIFE WE SEE AT THESE OPEN DUMPSTERS, THE ZOONOTIC DISEASES SUCH AS THOSE CARRIED BY THE RATS, PHYSICAL HARM THAT'S BROUGHT TO THE ANIMALS, SUCH AS BEING CRUSHED BY TRASH, AND UNHEALTHY FOOD SUBSIDIES THAT ARE FOUND FOR ALL WILDLIFE THROUGHOUT ALL OF THE DUMPSTERS. THE BAY AREA, IN FACT, TENDS TO BE A HOTSPOT FOR HUMAN WILDLIFE CONFLICT.
THERE HAVE BEEN SEVERAL REPORTS OF COYOTES ATTACKING AND KILLING PEOPLE'S PETS IN THE SAN FRANCISCO AND BAY AREA, AND THIS AGAIN, IS A RESULT OF THE HABITUATION AND ACCLIMATION TO PEOPLE IN GETTING MORE COMFORTABLE WITH BEING CLOSER TO PEOPLE, WHICH GETS THEM CLOSER TO PEOPLE'S PETS.
RACCOONS ARE ALSO NOT OFF THE HOOK. THEY'RE KNOWN FOR SORT OF MAKING A MESS OF PEOPLE'S YARDS BY TOSSING TRASH AROUND EVERYWHERE, AND APPARENTLY THEY'RE STARTING TO BREAK INTO PEOPLE'S BANKS OR JUST BANKS.
SO I GUESS WE GOT TO START WATCHING OUR BACKS.
[02:15:02]
WE DON'T REALLY KNOW WHAT THAT IS. OUR ENTIRE TEAM HAS TAKEN A LOOK AT IT, AND WE HAVE A WHOLE BUNCH OF THEORIES.I INITIALLY THOUGHT, HEY, IT COULD BE A FOX. IT COULD FOX, A COYOTE, BUT SOME OF THE BODY PLAN ASPECTS OF THAT DON'T NECESSARILY MATCH UP WITH THAT OF A FOX OR A COYOTE. SO FOR NOW, WE'VE SETTLED ON IT BEING A VERY SKINNY RACCOON, BUT THE JURY IS STILL OUT ON THAT ONE.
HERE WE HAVE A VIDEO OF A BEAUTIFUL BARN OWL RIGHT HERE.
JUST FORAGING AROUND THE DUMPSTER AT OUR LAKE CHABOT SITE, BUT ALONG WITH THAT, WE HAVE A GREAT HORNED OWL THAT HAS ALSO VISITED THE DUMPSTER ITSELF IN THE AT THE LAKE CHABOT SITE, PROBABLY LOOKING FOR ALL THOSE LITTLE RATS THAT I WAS POINTING OUT EARLIER.
SO WHAT ARE THE MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS OF THIS PROJECT? WELL, I'M NOT GOING TO BE CRYPTIC ABOUT IT. CLOSED DUMPSTERS ARE BETTER FOR BOTH HUMANS AND WILDLIFE ALIKE, AS IT REDUCES THE QUANTITY AND VARIETY OF WILDLIFE WE SEE AT THESE DUMPSTERS, PUTTING THE WILDLIFE LESS AT RISK OF PHYSICAL CONTACT WITH THE DUMPSTERS, AS WELL AS EATING THE FOOD WITHIN THE DUMPSTERS.
ADDITIONALLY, IT ALSO REDUCES THE CHANCES THAT WILDLIFE SUCH AS COYOTES WILL BE HABITUATED TO MORE HUMAN ITEMS SUCH AS THESE DUMPSTERS, LEADING TO LESS POTENTIAL AGGRESSION WITH PARK GUESTS OR PARK STAFF.
SO WHAT ARE THE NEXT STEPS FOR THIS PROJECT? WELL, FIRSTLY, IN THE SHORT TERM WE HOPE TO GET COVERS FOR THE TWO OPEN DUMPSTERS WITHIN THIS STUDY, THOSE BEING AT CROWN MEMORIAL AND LAKE CHABOT, AND WE HOPE TO REDO THE STUDY TO GET MORE DATA ON WHAT THE CHANGE IN QUANTITY AND VARIETY OF WILDLIFE ARE AT THOSE SITES. IN THE LONG TERM, WE HOPE TO FIND COVER SOLUTIONS DISTRICT WIDE TO AGAIN REDUCE THOSE HUMAN WILDLIFE CONFLICTS ACROSS THE ENTIRE DISTRICT, AND AS MENTIONED BEFORE, WE HOPE TO ADD MORE BEAR SAVER TRASH CANS TO HELP PARK VISITORS BETTER MANAGE THEIR WASTES BY SPLITTING THEM INTO LANDFILL, RECYCLE, AND COMPOST, BUT THAT'S ALL I HAVE FOR TODAY.
AGAIN, THANK YOU ALL FOR ALLOWING ME TO SPEAK HERE TODAY, AND DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS FOR US? OKAY. THAT WAS REALLY AWESOME. THANKS SO MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR RESEARCH AND JOINING US TODAY.
THIS WAS REALLY INFORMATIVE, I REALLY APPRECIATE GETTING TO HEAR THIS REPORT, SO THANK YOU.
COLIN, DO YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS? NO. IS THERE AN INTERNAL CONTROVERSY OR DIFFICULTY WITH JUST COVERING THE DUMPSTERS AT NIGHT AT LEAST? MAYBE I CAN SPEAK TO IT AND THEN MATT CAN PROVIDE SOME MORE DETAILS.
THAT'S JUST THE OBSERVATION FROM AN AMATEUR. YEAH, AND I JUST TO MENTION SO THIS, YOU KNOW, WORK WAS DONE IN PARTNERSHIP WITH OUR OPERATIONS DIVISION, OUR MAINTENANCE FOLKS, AND IT'S SOMETHING THAT OUR TEAM HAS BEEN INTERESTED IN ADDRESSING AND THE CHALLENGES, AS WAS MENTIONED, IS, YOU KNOW, IN ADDITION TO JUST HOW WE UTILIZE THE DUMPSTERS, THE DUMPSTERS ARE PROVIDED BY THE WASTE HAULERS, AND SO WE'RE ACTUALLY GOING THROUGH A PROCESS RIGHT NOW OF YOU KNOW, GETTING INTO NEW, POTENTIALLY NEW CONTRACTS FOR SOME OF THOSE WASTE HAULING SERVICES, AND SO IT'S REALLY AN OPPORTUNITY TO REVISIT SOME OF THOSE CONVERSATIONS WITH THE HAULERS TO SEE IF THERE'S SOME BETTER WAYS TO ADDRESS IT, AND AT THE SAME TIME, LIKE TAMMY MENTIONED, THERE MIGHT BE OPPORTUNITIES, EVEN IF WE'RE NOT ABLE TO ACQUIRE NEW DUMPSTERS THAT ARE COVERED IN THOSE AREAS, TO CONSIDER IF THERE'S OTHER OPPORTUNITIES TO ADDRESS THIS .
SOME OF THOSE PIECES ARE WITHIN OUR SPAN OF CONTROL, LIKE THE BEAR SAVERS AND OUT IN THE PARKS VERSUS, YOU KNOW, OPEN TRASH CANS, BUT THEY'RE ALSO A SIGNIFICANT EXPENSE, AND SO THAT'S ONE OF THE THINGS THAT, AS WE'RE THINKING IN THE FUTURE OF, OF PLANNING FOR PARK IMPROVEMENTS THAT WE CAN CONSIDER AND BRING TO YOUR BOARD.
OKAY, THAT ALL MAKES SENSE. THANK YOU. THERE ARE SUCH THINGS AS ALBINO RACCOONS, SO MAYBE THAT IS.
I'VE SEEN ONE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. VERY PALE GRAY AND A LITTLE ORANGE.
THE INTERNSHIP THAT YOU'VE SERVED IS THAT FACILITATED THROUGH UC BERKELEY OR.
TELL ME ABOUT IT. I'M JUST REALLY PLEASED THAT WE HAVE PEOPLE SERVING IN THAT CAPACITY.
NO, THIS CURRENT INTERNSHIP IS NOT FACILITATED BY UC BERKELEY.
[02:20:04]
BUT , YEAH, NO, THIS THIS INTERNSHIP HAS BEEN FACILITATED BY THE HISPANIC ACCESS FOUNDATION, WHICH IS NOT AFFILIATED WITH UC BERKELEY. I WAS JUST CURIOUS.THANK YOU, AND THANK YOU FOR SERVING. OF COURSE.
SO. OKAY. YEAH, I THINK THIS IS REALLY HELPFUL.
I'M REALLY GLAD THAT THIS HAPPENED. CERTAINLY.
LET'S CONTINUE THE CONVERSATION. I THINK THAT THIS IS REALLY IMPORTANT FOR US TO CONSIDER.
I GUESS SOME OF MY QUESTIONS WOULD BE AS WE CONTINUE THIS CONVERSATION, YOU KNOW, I GUESS I HAVE MY OWN THEORY THAT WE HAVE PROBABLY AT LEAST 20 DIFFERENT WASTE HAULERS THROUGHOUT THE PARK DISTRICT. I DON'T KNOW WHAT THAT NUMBER IS, BUT I KNOW WE HAVE TO HAVE AT LEAST SOME NUMBER OF DIFFERENCES IN.
EACH ONE PROBABLY HAS THEIR OWN SITUATION. SO THAT WOULD BE OF INTEREST TO HEAR ABOUT IN THE FUTURE, AND THEN I GUESS BECAUSE I ALWAYS DO LIKE THE DATA, ONE OF THE THINGS I NOTICED ON THE TRASH ADDED TRASH, REMOVED BAR CHART. I DON'T HAVE PAGE NUMBERS ON HERE, I ALREADY DO.
YOU KNOW, I CAN SHARE. YOU KNOW, YESTERDAY WAS MEMORIAL DAY. I HAPPENED TO FIND MYSELF AT SHADOW CLIFFS ON MEMORIAL DAY, AND I HAVE TO FIRST SAY THAT THERE WERE SOME GOURMET COOKING HAPPENING AT SHADOW CLIFFS YESTERDAY.
I WAS VERY IMPRESSED WITH PARDON ME, SOME OF THE KITCHEN, THE OUTDOOR KITCHEN OR OUTDOOR COOKING SETUPS AT SHADOW CLIFFS, BUT I CAN ONLY IMAGINE THE VOLUME OF POTENTIAL TRASH AFTER AFTER THAT.
SO I WOULD ALSO BE CURIOUS, YOU KNOW, THINKING ABOUT VOLUME LIKE CERTAIN DAYS LIKE MEMORIAL DAY OR 4TH OF JULY, BUT WE ALSO SEE HAPPENING. SO I THINK THAT THOSE ARE SOME THINGS FOR US TO KEEP TRACK OF, BUT I THINK THAT THIS STUDY IS SO COMPELLING, ESPECIALLY THE WILDLIFE ASPECT. I MEAN, YOU KNOW, WHEN WE THINK ABOUT SOMETHING LIKE OWLS, YOU KNOW, AT THESE AT THESE SITES, AND IT DOES MAKE SENSE.
OWLS DO LIKE RATS, FOR EXAMPLE, AND THEY ALSO JUST MAY BE ATTRACTED TO THE SENSE OR OF THE FOOD, THE SCENT OF THE FOOD. I THINK THAT IT'S GOOD FOR US TO KEEP.
KEEP TRACK OF THIS, AND SO IT'S GREAT THAT THE REGIONAL PARKS FOUNDATION FUNDED THE CAMERA EQUIPMENT AND THE ABILITY TO BE ABLE TO TRACK THIS, BECAUSE I THINK IT REALLY DOES GIVE US A VERY COMPELLING, YOU KNOW, CASE STUDY AND REASON TO CONTINUE THIS, THIS CONVERSATION. SO THANK YOU SO MUCH. WHAT I'D LIKE TO SEE IS IF WE HAVE ANY PUBLIC COMMENT ON THE ITEM.
WE HAVE NO PUBLIC COMMENT AT THIS TIME. OKAY, AND ANY FINAL COMMENTS BOTH FROM COLIN AND THEN MATT.
OH, SO YEAH, AND JUST TO AGAIN, MATT GRAUL DIVISION LEAD FOR STEWARDSHIP, I JUST WANTED TO ACKNOWLEDGE OUR OPERATIONS STAFF WAS HERE BECAUSE WE KNEW WE MIGHT HAVE SOME SPECIFIC QUESTIONS, BUT THEY COULDN'T STICK AROUND. SO BUT THEY ARE LOOKING AT THIS IN THE IN THE RFP FOR THE NEW TRASH HAULERS.
I DON'T KNOW THE EXACT NUMBER, BUT I KNOW WITHIN THE NEW CONTRACTS, THEY'RE CREATING OPTIONS FOR COVERED DUMPSTERS SO WE CAN PAY AN ADDITIONAL FEE, AND THAT WILL BE SOMETHING THAT WILL BE CONSISTENT WITH ALL THE WASTE HAULERS.
NOW WE'LL STILL HAVE THE CHALLENGES WITH CAN THEY PROVIDE THEM OR ARE THEY AVAILABLE WHEN WE NEED THEM? ARE THEY THE RIGHT SIZE? WE'RE STILL TRYING TO PUT SOME OPTIONS AND CREATE MORE OPPORTUNITIES, AND THEN ALSO WITH THE BEAR SAVERS, I KNOW MATT SPENT SOME OF THE FINANCIAL CHALLENGES TO REPLACEMENT, BUT AS WE'RE DOING THOSE REPLACEMENTS, WE'RE USING SOME OF THIS INFORMATION AND OTHER DATA WE'RE DOING TO PRIORITIZE THAT.
THE REPLACEMENT IN AREAS WHERE WE'RE SEEING SOME BIGGER IMPACTS.
IN OPERATIONS, AND THEN ALSO OPERATIONS IS LOOKING AT SOME OTHER PILOT STUDIES AND SOME OF OUR PARKS TO LOOK AT ALTERNATIVES TO JUST USING BAGS AND SO I THINK THAT'S SOMETHING I KNOW ROBERT KENNEDY IS LOOKING AT AND LOOKING AT. WHAT PARKS CAN THEY TRY SOME OF THE DIFFERENT TECHNOLOGY FOR USING CANS THAT WOULD BE DUMPED INTO A LARGER CAN, WHERE WE DON'T NECESSARILY NEED BAGS AND WE CAN LIMIT SOME OF THAT, THE BAG USAGE, AND THEN KEEP THOSE AREAS COVERED, TOO, AS WE'RE DOING THAT. SO THAT'S SOME STUFF THAT I'M SURE TALK ABOUT IN OTHER VENUES ONCE THEY GET THOSE PILOTS LAUNCHED, BUT THEY'RE ACTIVELY WORKING TO PUT SOME OF THAT STUFF IN PLACE. SO I JUST WANT TO SPEAK A LITTLE BIT FOR OPERATIONS, BECAUSE THEY JUST WANTED TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE QUESTIONS, BECAUSE WE KNEW THERE WOULD BE A LOT OF THESE QUESTIONS. YEAH. THAT'S FINE, AND THANK YOU TO THE OPERATIONS STAFF THAT WAS HERE EARLIER, AND THANKS FOR MENTIONING THAT THEY WERE HERE, AND I THINK IT'S, IT'S GOOD THAT WE'RE CONTINUING TO LOOK AT THIS AND THAT THIS WILL CONTINUE TO BE A PART OF OUR CONVERSATION BECAUSE I THINK IT'S REALLY IMPORTANT, AND REALLY THESE PHOTOS AND THESE VIDEOS PROVIDE THAT COMPELLING REASON.
SO THANK YOU FOR THE RESEARCH AND PRESENTING THAT TODAY.
THANK YOU. ALL RIGHT. SO THAT TAKES US TO THE END OF OUR AGENDA.
[02:25:05]
ARE THERE ANY ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR THIS COMMITTEE? I DON'T BELIEVE SO. SO THEN WE'LL MOVE ON TO ADJOURNMENT.THANKS, EVERYONE. THANK YOU.
* This transcript was compiled from uncorrected Closed Captioning.