BEC Timeline

1975

In its first year of incorporation, BEC was a cooperative with representatives from five environmental groups: Wes Dempsey of the Sierra Club, Steve Evans of Northstate Wilderness Committee, David James of Community Gardens Project, Michael McGinnis of Forces to Restore Earth's Environment (FREE), and Jonnel Schmitz of Student Environmental Collective.

California State University, Chico's Community Action Volunteers in Education (CAVE), provided office space and facilities for BEC's first eleven years of operation.

"The initial members were driven by the intention to save the world or at least a piece of it," said Michael McGinnis, a founder.

1976

BEC moves to 708 Cherry Street.

1977

BEC made its first significant contribution to Butte County in 1977 when it introduced a multi-use recycling service.

"BEC made recycling a way of life in Butte County," said Jon Luvaas, past attorney for BEC.

Glass, tin, aluminum, cardboard, and newspaper were collected in the curbside program. A $1 fee was charged per month for pick-up service.

"Recycling offers an immediate benefit to our education;" said Michael McGinnis, the first general manager of BEC, "it is a direct way to see a result in the physical quality of life."

Late 80s

In the late 1980s, when large disposal companies entered the market for recycling, BEC sold its recycling service to North Valley Disposal. The organization began to focus on education, advocacy, and referral services.

Note: The figure at the top of the page shows the BEC Recycling Center, and the figure directly above is the Recycling Center sign.

1994

BEC relocates to its present site at 116 W. 2nd St., Suite #3.

BEC and 35 years of Environmental Protection

By Nikki Schlaishunt

In 1975 a few idealistic students founded the Butte Environmental Council. “The initial members were driven by the intention to save the world or at least a piece of it,” said Mike McGinnis, a founder. Over the past thirty-five years, BEC’s work has helped preserve our quality of life through the protection of our land, air, and water. BEC started the first recycling center in Chico, and in 1977 introduced a curb side recycling program. By the late 1980’s recycling had become a way of life. When large disposal companies entered the market for recycling, BEC sold its recycling service to North Valley disposal and began to focus on education, advocacy and referral services.

Education

One of the key components in effective environmental protections is education. To this end, BEC has run two of the longest public education events: The Endangered Species Faire, and the Park and Creek Cleanups. For the past thirty-one years, BEC’s Endangered Species Faire has commemorated Earth Day with a full day of exhibits, activities, presentations and entertainment. Between 3,000 and 10,000 people of all ages visit and participate in northern California’s oldest annual environmental fair.

Since 1986, BEC has sponsored clean-ups to preserve the aesthetic beauty and environmental integrity of parklands and creeks in the Chico area. This hands-on environmental education experience engages the community in the active care of our environment. In September of this year, 228 volunteers removed almost 5 tons of trash and recycling from public land and waterways. Other BEC environmental education programs include sponsoring environmental speakers such as Joseph Cornell, Lou Gold, and Walkin’ Jim Stoltz; sponsoring education programs such as the Lassen Summer Naturalist Camp (1985), the Ishi Wilderness Conference (1980), and the Vernal Pool conference (1996 & 2006); and providing the public with environmental education through publications like The Vernal Pools of Butte County book (1994), and our quarterly newspaper the Environmental News (since 1995).

Advocacy

Another key component of environmental protection is advocacy. BEC has been actively involved in many different advocacy challenges over the past thirty-five years. In 1975, representatives from BEC, North State Wilderness and Sierra Club began efforts to get Ishi, Bucks Lake and Chips Creek designated as wildness areas. In 1984, the 4,100 acre Ishi area and the 1,900 acre Bucks Lake area were designated as wilderness.

On the urban front, BEC has been a proponent of urban growth that takes environmental as well as human issues into account. To this end, BEC has been successful in defeating excessive development plans, including the Canyon Ranch project in the Nance Canyon by Neal Road, and the Rancho Arroyo/Bidwell Ranch project adjacent to Upper Bidwell Park. Environmental impacts from Canyon Ranch would have included turning Neal Road into an eight-lane throughfare, and would have had significant impacts on groundwater, wildlife, and downstream drainage. The Rancho Arroyo/Bidwell Ranch land is covered with vernal pools, provides groundwater recharge, protects a critical watershed and veiwshed and includes a wildlife corridor connected to Bidwell park. In 1995-96 BEC created a plan with funding mechanisms to establish a preserve on this land; in 1997 the City of Chico purchased the land; and in 2005 the City Council voted to rezone the land to open space, protecting this critical ecosystem.

Litigation

Suing to force compliance with environmental law is one of the tools that BEC uses to protect the environment when education and advocacy fail. There is great pressure in our society to pursue profit above and beyond all other values. This includes valuing profit over the environment, and over community health and quality of life which rests upon a healthy environment. Because of this, sometimes the best collaboration falls through and the only recourse left is to sue.

BEC litigation includes: In 1999 BEC successfully sued the Butte County Supervisors over violations of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and Butte County’s code in the Ridgeway Development project. The courts halted the project until an adequate environmental review was done, as the law requires. More recently, BEC sued the California Drought Water Bank over water transfers that were done without proper environmental review. In March 2010, the courts sided with BEC and agreed that the law requires an environmental review before doing a water transfer.

BEC 2010 and Beyond

BEC continues to be very active in Butte County. Our advocacy program is working to protect our groundwater, improve our air quality, and encourage growth that is healthy for the community and the environment. Our education program continues to work to educate the public about environmental health and wellness through our workshops and our educational outreach materials. We are moving towards a membership development model that focuses on bringing people together and protecting the environment through building strong community. We are still working to save the world.

From the Fall/Winter 2010 issue of the Environmental News.