Land Use
BEC's Years of Land Use Advocacy
The environmental focus of BEC has shifted through the years. In the beginning, the implementation of a recycling program for Butte County was the driving force behind the organization. Over the next 15 years, intensive efforts resulted in the designation of wilderness areas in Northern California. Today responsible land use and development is the leading issue. "BEC has survived twenty years and an evolution of change," commented John Merz, a driver in BECs curbside recycling program and general manager from 1981 to 1982.
Advocacy plays a vital role in the successes made towards preservation of the environment. Actions taken by BEC to promote environmental issues include:
- letter-writing campaigns,
- attending legislative hearings,
- observing local areas,
- sponsoring regional meetings,
- ensuring that sound environmental analyses are prepared before construction begins on property in Butte County, and
- taking legal action when necessary.
Here are just of the major land use issues BEC has dealt with over the years:
Articles
What’s going on in Bidwell Park these days?
Park Watchby Tom BarrettThis article was first printed in 2001. It is included here for archival purposes.The Annie Bidwell Trail planning is plodding along. Thanks to everyone who has provided valuable input on the trail proposal and have commented during discussions of the ABT at Park Commission meetings....
Gravel Mine Proposed for Cherokee
The Mining Application and Reclamation Plan was filed with the Butte County Planning Department by Advanced Mineral Technology of Nevada. Inc. on February 15, 2001 for Sugarloaf Mine at Cherokee. It was then reviewed at the Mining Committee meeting on March 6, 2001. General recommendations and comments were made by the committee.The...
Know Your Local Land Trust!
Nonprofit land trusts have been a huge success in protecting open spaces threatened by the sprawling, haphazard development that is eating away landscapes we once took for granted.Indeed, local and regional land trusts have protected 4.7 million acres of open space in thousands of communities, where their local presence allows them to...
Chico General Plan Review
The following BEC Byline was originally published in 2001. It is included here for archival purposes.Meeting Thursday, May 17, 2001The Chico Planning Commission will meet Thursday, May 17th to discuss the need for expanding Chico’s boundaries. The public is encouraged to attend the meeting in the Chico City Council...
Wildland Road Erosion Workshop
by Jim Brobeck This workshop was conducted on October 21, 2000 and was hosted by the Butte Creek Watershed Workshops and Field Tour Series.Matt Quinn and Eric Ginney, both from CSU Chico, did extensive field exploration in the Scotts John Creek watershed (a tributary of Butte Creek) to find examples of road construction to...
Hazardous to Safe: Hydro Strategic Graphic
Support Letter from the Sierra Club
I am writing on behalf of the Sierra Club, Yahi Group, to express our appreciation to Butte Environmental Council for protecting Butte County wetlands as reported in your Thursday article. These are sensitive lands; all concerned know that they are to be managed comprehensively. Attempting to split out one parcel to be developed...
A Dream For Upper Bidwell Park
The Annie Bidwell Trailby Michael Jones My three children wade up the South Fork of the Kern River, golden flecks of mica sparkle in the water. They have walked 11 dusty miles today, and have now found the real world equivalent of heaven. California’s native golden trout swim in these waters. The sparkle in children’s...
New Growth Areas for Chico
Hearing January 8, 2002The umpteenth round of "lets break the Chico General Plan" was before the public Tuesday, January 8, 2002. How the public, all residents impacted by decisions made by the Chico City Council, is allowed to address the issue is important since the Council has clearly limited discussion in hearings on the issue in...
Disc Golf and the Future of Bidwell Park
By Randy Abbott, Friends of Bidwell Park Not everyone is happy about the City of Chico’s plans to permanently develop 40 acres of Tuscan ridge-top wilderness for Chico’s disc golf community in the city’s historic Upper Bidwell Park. Friends of...
Proposed Reopening of the Cherokee Mine
As reported by Randy Glass of the Feather River Canyon News last month, "Advanced Mineral Technology Inc., a mining company out of Idaho, is in the process of acquiring the rights to purchase approximately 900 acres including the old Cherokee Mine, and is proposing to open the mine once again." The plan is to mine silica sand, leftover...
New Growth Areas for Chico
Hearing January 8, 2002The umpteenth round of "lets break the Chico General Plan" was before the public Tuesday, January 8, 2002. How the public, all residents impacted by decisions made by the Chico City Council, is allowed to address the issue is important since the Council has clearly limited discussion in hearings on the issue in...
Ridgeway Development Approvals Challenged by BEC
A petition was filed in Butte County Superior Court December 8, 1999 to require the Board of Supervisors to rescind their action that permitted continued grading without adequate environmental review and permits for the Ridgeway Development of Dan Kohrdt. Despite explicit advice from Butte County Counsel’s office, indicating that allowing the...
First Meeting of Bidwell Park Trail Advisory Group
On March 12th, the Bidwell Park Trail Advisory Group met for the first time. This is a community group mandated by the Bidwell Park Trails Manual, a document approved by the Bidwell Park and Playground Commission on June 28, 1999. The goal of this advisory group is, according to the Manual, "to develop useful dialogue between user groups and...
Dragonflies... for a Change of Pace
by Kathy BiggsLike birds and butterflies, dragonflies come in vibrant colors, they fly, and they have interesting life histories and behaviors. They emerge from their natal waters and change from ugly aquatic underwater nymph to beautiful, dazzling flying predators during the...
Wetlands Protections At Risk
Calls Urgently Needed To Epa Adminstrator Whitman!This BEC Byline was originally published in 2001. It is included here for archival purposes.The Bush Administration buzz saw that has been obliterating environmental rules and initiatives on land, air and water is careening towards an important wetland and stream...
Rock Creek Flood Plain Development
This week, Butte County held more public meetings to discuss the Rock Creek/Keefer Slough Flood Control Project. There was an attorney and about ten property owners in attendance. There were only two environmentalists at the meeting, but that is realistic for the area. It reminds me of Tim's Bousquet's comments in his May 4, 2000 Chico...
NEFR Is Alive and Well
NEFR, Neighbors for Environmental and Fiscal Responsibility, is alive and well. Nearly two months after petitions in opposition to the Otterson Drive Extension were submitted to city hall, the grassroots group is as committed as ever to preserving Comanche Creek and to enforcing sound fiscal management in city government. The petitions, well...
Act Now: To Keep Sprawl Out of Butte County
What do Butte County residents want their county to look like in one or two generations? Does Sacramento County have the look or maybe Yuba County that is even closer to us? How much urban sprawl is acceptable? Does the cost of housing persuade you to envision sprawl as the only solution? Would degraded air pollution and traffic jams...
Hazardous to Safe: A Case Study of Chemical Contamination at the Diamond Match/Louisiana-Pacific Chico Facility
by Katherin PolanThe purpose of the Diamond case study is toOutline social processes, which determine the Diamond site hazardous in 1991 and safe in 2000,and provide a critique of this process;Address risk assessment and examine the role of risk when assessing...
Mechoopda Casino Projects: Bad Location with Dangerous Consequences
Aerial view...
Observations of the Yucatan Environment
By Nora Burnham It has been 14 years since I last visited the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. In the past, I thought it was one of the cleaner parts of Mexico as far as Merida being a very clean city and the highways less littered. Development has hit the "Mayan Riviera" big time since my last visit, but it appears that at some...
Public Transit Best For The Upper Ridge
by Paul SmithOn October 4, 2000, Mike Crump, director of Butte County Public Works, informed the Paradise Irrigation District directors that the long awaited engineering and environmental review of the Magalia Reservoir dam crossing would begin soon. The work will be financed by a $500,000 grant from the state.Bob...
Beavers or Meadowfoam: Widening Highway 149
by Jill LacefieldThe question of whether to protect beavers or meadowfoam when widening Highway 149 took center stage at a recent meeting between the Butte County Association of Governors (BCAG) and CalTrans. County Supervisor Jane Dolan spoke for protection of the beavers,...
Sick at Heart
by Shawn HamiltonAs a teenager I spent summers on property abutting the historical Sugarloaf Mine at Cherokee, which an out-of-state company proposes to reopen in order to mine silica. My happy memories of that location include swimming and swinging from rope swings every summer in a lovely pond overlooking tbe site. After...
Chico Wetlands
This article was origianlly published in 2001.A pristine wetland site in southeast Chico is currently part of a proposal open for public comment through the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer. The 347-acre project proposes to fill 6.85 acres of jurisdictional wetlands to build a high school and 700 single-family residential units and...
BEC vs. Butte County, et. al Lawsuit Settled
Butte County and Dan Korhdt settled the lawsuit filed by BEC and Caryn JonesJanuary 26, 2000Butte County and Dan Korhdt settled the lawsuit filed by Butte Environmental Council and Caryn Jones Tuesday January 25, 2000 without going to court. The settlement revokes the Dan Korhdt grading permits issued prior to proper...
Curbing Sprawl to Fight Climate Change
by Worldwatch InstituteStrategies to combat climate change are likely to fail unless they include incentives for stopping urban sprawl, reports a new study by the Worldwatch Institute, a Washington. D.C.-based research organization. Sprawling urban areas are helping to...
E-R Letter Praises BEC's Solution
July 30, 2005 We at New Urban Builders appreciate the recognition for our effort to work out a win-win solution on the former Pleasant Valley Assembly of God property along Humboldt Road (E-R editorial, July 25). However, the full story must rightly include the vital role of the Butte Environmental Council (BEC) and its...
Letter to Gore
April 3, 2000Vice President Albert GoreThe White HouseWashington, DC 20500Dear Vice President Gore:The site selected for U.C. Merced is of grave concern to Butte Environmental Council and its 800 members. The proposed 10,300-acre U.C. Merced and new community project is located on one of the very few remaining...
Know Your Local Land Trust!
by Keith McKinley Nonprofit land trusts have been a huge success in protecting open spaces threatened by the sprawling, haphazard development that is eating away landscapes we once took for granted.Indeed, local and regional land trusts have protected 4.7 million acres of open space in thousands of communities, where their...
Hazardous to Safe (continued)
Groundwater: the remedial action chosen by L-P to address the PCP contamination was a combination of groundwater extraction, treatment, reinjection, and institutional controls. The general idea is to pump out the contaminated water via extraction wells, run it through granular...
Proposed Reopening of the Cherokee Mine
As reported by Randy Glass of the Feather River Canyon News last month, "Advanced Mineral Technology Inc., a mining company out of Idaho, is in the process of acquiring the rights to purchase approximately 900 acres including the old Cherokee Mine, and is proposing to open the mine once again." The plan is to mine silica sand, leftover...
BEC Letter to the Butte County Planning Commission
Submitted on the Oct. 28, 1999 Dear Commission Members:There is a serious problem that I would like to bring to the attention of the Planning Commission regarding the proposal for a Research and Business Park designation to the General Plan.Butte County has a seriously deficient general plan. A general plan is a...
