ConnectingCalifornia.org: For more places to hike, climb and explore, and Trails within 15 minutes of every California home and workplace. OUR GOAL: Connecting California with 1000 Miles of Parks, not 500 miles of Continuous Concrete Sprawl, with permanently preserved farmland greenbelts around every major city, with connected open space rings that link the entire state together. Think it'll never happen? It already is. Read the success stories on our website!
This book is written for people who care about their community, their city, their country, their planet, but who have found through bitter experience that their local elected officials (city council members and county supervisors), along with most staff members, are in the pockets of developers; they couldn’t care less about their community, their city, their country, or their planet.
The author is not a lawyer, but has successfully sued cities and counties, stopping or modifying several developments local government had approved. The purpose of this book is to share his experiences in doing this with others so inclined, but not to give legal advice. It will show you how to influence governmental decisions about development most effectively, while simultaneously preparing for a lawsuit, should you later decide to file one. This book can also help you decide whether to file a lawsuit, considering the costs, the risks, and the possible benefits...
A controversial land swap that would locate the world's largest landfill near Joshua Tree National Monument has again been stopped after a new appeals court ruling.
For the last 20 years, the Kaiser Corporation’s tried to develop a landfill on property at Eagle Mountain. Not just any landfill – Eagle Mountain would take in 20,000 tons of garbage a day, 6 days a week, 16 hours a day at its peak.
Kaiser sought to swap land with the federal Bureau of Land Management to amass enough property for its dumping needs. The mining company obtained permits and cleared state court challenges.
But the National Parks Conservation Association and a desert-area couple challenged the swap deal in federal court, and a judge blocked it. Now an appeals court has upheld that ruling.
Judges determined that the federal land agency focused too much on the company's goals for the land, and not enough on the public interest. The court also found fault with the agency's scrutiny of environmental effects.
Kaiser Ventures and the BLM could still appeal the decision. Conservation groups and desert dwellers call the ruling a major victory in a 20-year dispute over the fate of the Eagle Mountain project.
To see the full court ruling, visit:
http://www.npca.org/media_center/pdf/Ninth_Circuit_Opinion.pdf
For background information, visit:
http://www.npca.org/pacific/desert/threats/eaglemountaindump.pdf
Eagle mountain dump loses suit at 9th circuit
http://www.pe.com/localnews/rivcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_E_eagledump11.4644444.html
With a strong network of partners — including landowners, ranchers, wine industry leaders and developers — The Nature Conservancy is working to conserve Las Californias. We are doing this in a variety of ways, such as:
Miles of mountainous coastline, beautiful sandy beaches and ancient redwood forests — few places in the world contain such stunning landscapes and seascapes. Boasting sunny, dry summers and mild, wet winters, Las Californias shares its unique and desirable climate with the Mediterranean Basin, and is one of only five Mediterranean habitat zones on Earth.
Taking up a mere 2.2 percent of the Earth's land area, these five Mediterranean habitats harbor 20 percent of the world's plants species — thousands of which are found nowhere else on Earth. Within Las Californias alone, chaparral, grasslands, oak woodlands and coastal forests support 1,500 plant species found only here.
The region's stunning natural beauty and highly sought-after climate draw people from the world over. Experts predict that by 2020, California's population will have soared to 43 million. This rapid growth threatens the region's remaining natural areas, farms and ranchlands. Approximately 40,000 acres of working farms and ranchlands are lost to development and urbanization every year. In Northern Baja California, coastal wetlands and other delicate habitats face similar threats from an increase in both population and tourism.
