Important Upcoming Meeting
I completely understand if you don’t remember SEASP because it has been quite a few years since it has been on anyone’s radar screen. SEASP stands for the South East Area Specific Plan, which is the proposed new zoning for the lands in and around Los Cerritos Wetlands. After much discussion and community dialog, it was passed by the City Council back in 2017.
Since then, the City of Long Beach has been in dialog with the Coastal Commission’s staff regarding SEASP because the final approval needed will be by the Coastal Commission. We recently found out SEASP will be before the Coastal Commission on Thursday, October 8th.
Where we are now is that Coastal Commission staff is recommending to Commissioners that they should approve SEASP as long as 16 additional conditions are met. Some of the additional conditions we agree with and some we don’t. For example the language contained within the staff recommendations really recognizes the important role that buffers play in protecting sensitive wetlands habitat from the hubbub of urban life. The Coastal Commission’s staff report strengthens the protections provided by buffers. However we think perhaps the lighting levels and standards could be tweaked to better protect fragile wetlands species. We are also worried that the final plan be able to truly protect Los Cerritos Wetlands from climate change, particularly steadily increasing sea level rise.
We too have been busy and have hired our own experts to provide extra review and subsequent recommendations to ensure the final outcome is the best it can be for animals, habitat, and the community. To learn more about the status of SEASP, our views on the matter and those of our experts we will be hosting two Community Zoom meetings. At these meetings you will hear directly from our experts to learn what’s in store for Los Cerritos Wetlands and how to make it better.
Zoom Community meeting #1 will feature Dr. Travis Longcore, a truly accomplished educator and scientist who had done groundbreaking research on the impacts of urban lights on fragile wetlands wildlife, especially on those species that are primarily nocturnal. He will walk us through the impacts of lighting on wetlands habitat, how best to measure impacts to habitat and how to make SEASP the most wetlands friendly it can be. The new SEASP is already pretty good, employing bird-safe standards recommended by the Audubon Society. But Dr. Longcore will talk about things that can be done to make it even better. After all, whatever is voted on by the Coastal Commission will set the standards for the foreseeable future, so we better get it right.
What: Community meeting featuring Dr. Travis Longcore.
When: Thursday, October 1st at 7:00PM
Why: To learn the latest details about the proposed SEASP and how to improve it, especially in the area of habitat friendly lighting, email me to rsvp and for information about how to join the meeting.
Our second community briefing will be on Tuesday, October 5th and feature Dave Hubbard from Coastal Restoration Consultants talking about Environmentally Sensitive Habitat Areas and other issues within Los Cerritos Wetlands. I’ll be sending out further details about that meeting in my next email.
Also at these meetings will be Terry Watt, our planning and land use advisor, who will help answer any questions you may have.
Hope to see you on Thursday, October 1st, and then on Tuesday, October5th, for two interesting and thoughtful community briefings.
Long Beach Gives
Last week was a real whirlwind for those organizations that participated in Long Beach Gives, on Thursday, September 24th.
Collaboratively, in one day, 154 Long Beach based non-profits (including us!) raised $1,738,941. Isn’t that amazing? The goal was for one million and they came pretty close to 2 million. The goal for the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust was to raise $8,000 and we came pretty close, too. We raised $7,452. Since I am a compulsive person (LOL) I sure would love it if we could hit our goal of $8,000. It would only take $458 to make it happen. If that motivates you, (and I hope it does) I urge you to make a donation through the Long Beach Gives portal. All contributions to the Los Cerritos Wetlands Land Trust are tax deductible.
Another cool thing about Long Beach Gives is finding out you have new friends and supporters. In this case we made new friends with the folks that produce the Ohana Festival, who donated to the Land Trust through Long Beach Gives. How cool is that?
AB 1788
Thanks to everyone who made phone calls or emails and letters to Governor Newsom and our local legislators in support of AB 1788. Sincere appreciation for our local legislators, Assemblymember Patrick O’Donnell, Senator Lena Gonzalez and Senator Tom Umberg for voting yes on the bill. I am certain they were under a lot of pressure. Also three cheers for Assemblymember Richard Bloom for his years of persistence in tackling this issue!
This is a great win, not only for raptors but for other wildlife, and pets too.
AB 1788 will prevent more poisonings by strongly curbing the use of second generation anticoagulant rodenticides (with some exceptions) until the California Department of Pesticide Regulation finishes its reevaluation.
I urge you to send the Governor a note of thanks for signing this important bill.
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