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Letter to GoreApril 3, 2000
Vice President Albert Gore Dear 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 vernal pool complexes of substantial acreage left in the Central Valley. Vernal pools and swales (vernal wetlands) are unique freshwater beacons in a larger mosaic of grassland, oak woodland, and riparian woodland in the California landscape. They are ponds and drainages varying in size from a few square feet to many acres, perched over restrictive soil layers or bedrock. As you well know, the endemic biota in the vernal wetlands are what make these ephemeral havens such biological wonders. Vernal wetlands provide habitation and foraging for many special status species. I hope that you will support the Army Corps of Engineers in encouraging a substantive alternatives analysis. There are viable options to the project that would provide for the campus and its associated needs, that would not facilitate sprawl or damage a highly sensitive biological site. For example, the 1,800-acre Bell View Ranch is located adjacent to Merced and has already received a Clean Water Act permit and local zoning. Placing the campus near existing infrastructure is smart growth and protective of California’s diminishing natural resources. California as a whole has lost 91% of the estimated five million wetland acres that were present in the 1780’s, leaving less than 450,000 acres in the state (Audubon 1992). Vernal pools have not fared much better with less than 30% of California’s original vernal pools intact today (Holland 1978) and the remainder in imminent danger from urban sprawl, vineyard creation, and inadequate agency standards and staffing. Approximately 200,000 acres of wetlands remain from the original four million acres in California’s Central Valley (ecoregion [6]) (Audubon 1992; Kempka and Kollash 1990), making the extant vernal wetland savanna acreage critical to the vitality of the wildlands in this region. Vice President Gore, please demonstrate your enthusiasm for education and the wildlands of California by encouraging a change in location for U.C. Merced. The preservation of one of the few remaining large vernal pool complexes is of utmost importance for the heritage of the Central Valley and the wildlife that are dependent on these wetlands for survival. Sincerely,
Barbara Vlamis
cc: Art Champ, USACE Posted August 2000 |
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