California’s oak woodlands need your help!
by Pat Veesart
Close your eyes and try to picture California in your mind. What
do you see? The snow-capped Sierra Nevada? Towering redwoods shrouded
in mist? The steep cliffs and crashing waves of the Big Sur coastline?
Or perhaps golden hills studded with gray-green oak trees under
a cyanic sky? Oak woodlands are one of California's signature landscapes-a
natural icon of the Golden State.
Oak woodlands are the richest terrestrial wildlife habitat in California.
Over 330 species of birds, mammals, reptiles, and amphibians depend
upon them. These woodlands are also home to hundreds of species
of plants and play a critical role in protecting soils, regulating
water flow in watersheds, and maintaining water quality in streams
and rivers.
In the last 250 years, California has lost 90% of its majestic valley
oaks and one third of all species of oaks combined. Of an estimated
10-12 million acres of original oak woodlands, only some seven million
acres remain. Most are degraded to some degree, and only about 4%
enjoy protected status.
Oak woodlands continue to be impacted by intensive urbanization
and agriculture. The California Resources Agency estimates that
more than 14,000 acres of oaks are lost annually to development,
rangeland "improvement," and conversion to more intensive agricultural
uses such as vineyards.
Because oaks are considered "non-commercial" species, they are not
subject to state laws which regulate timber harvest. Local protections
through General Plans, resolutions, ordinances, and voluntary efforts
generally have failed to slow the loss of California's oak woodlands.
Senate Bill 711, introduced in the state legislature last year by
Senator Sheila Kuehl (D- Los Angeles), would require California's
counties to prepare Oak Woodland Management plans or ordinances
that require mitigation for the loss of oak woodlands and specify
minimum mitigation measures. Unfortunately, SB 711 was bottled up
in the Assembly Appropriations Committee because of opposition from
development and agriculture interests. The author intends to move
it out of committee and to a vote in 2004.
SB 711 is a common-sense approach to protecting California's vanishing
oak woodlands that has the flexibility to allow development and
agricultural activities to continue in areas where oaks occur.
California's oak woodlands need and deserve protection. If our children
and grandchildren are to enjoy California's unique oak-studded landscape,
then it is incumbent upon us to take the steps necessary to preserve
them now. Please call or write your legislators and ask them to
support SB 711, or join Sierra
Club California's Legislative Action Network to receive alerts
on this and other important state legislation.
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