Quick Take
Santa Cruz has an exciting opportunity to create a riparian forest downtown in San Lorenzo Park, says local environmental activist Barbara Riverwoman. The park, in the area known as the Benchlands, could be a local treasure and “an ecological jewel of our downtown,” she writes. City staff, however, advocate cutting the park into three, using the middle for pop-up sports and events and using the edges for the forest. A Parks & Recreation Commission meeting is set for Monday. The commissioners’ recommendation then goes to the city council.
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Santa Cruz has a unique and exciting opportunity to fully restore the 6.3-acre floodplain in San Lorenzo Park near the county government center to its original status as a riparian forest. This would give us a quiet and beautiful forest within walking distance of downtown.
This currently degraded area – adjacent to the river from Water Street to Soquel Avenue – is the only remaining stretch of land along the downtown river that is not corseted by a levee. Flood waters annually soak the area with the potential to support a dense forest of native trees, shrubs and understory, including cottonwoods, box elders, willows and alders – plus all the wildlife such a native forest can support.
We should take advantage of this local treasure by protecting it and enjoying it as an ecological jewel of our downtown.
Instead, on Monday, the Parks & Recreation Commission will be considering a plan to cut the proposed forest restoration project into three parts, with forest fragments on each end and the most environmentally valuable area in the middle continuing as a non-absorbent, mowed lawn that does not belong in such close proximity to a native restoration project. The city has yet to define the exact sizes of the future divisions, but the middle portion is the area that until last year held a legal encampment.
How does the city staff believe this environmentally and educationally rich area should now be used?
The staff suggests pop-up sports, maybe large group events, probably the current disc golf course — all threats to a potentially rich wildlife area and source of human solace. I don’t think it takes too much imagination to understand why pounding music, flying frisbees and active sports events would defeat the very reason for the forest’s existence, for both wildlife and human beings.
MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD
Interested community members can attend the Parks & Recreation Commission meeting at 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8, in the city council chambers at 809 Center St. or can write the commission at prcommission@santacruzca.gov.
Plus, we already have ample space for cultural activities like outdoor concerts and theater in the plan for the amphitheater and plaza area of the layout for the upper, non-flooded area of the park. Similarly, the plan already designates possible space at the north end of the park for soccer and other pop-up sports.
A riparian forest would offer a uniqueness ideal for Santa Cruz. What a way to distinguish our city and to celebrate our land at a time when riparian forests across the nation are being destroyed by development.
I spent five years after retiring as a preschool teacher co-authoring the San Lorenzo River Blog, which documented birds on the river. I have long dreamed of making this area into an accessible space so more people can come to appreciate the amazing plants and animals that a riparian forest can support.
What a way to take back an area for the city by giving it back to nature.
Santa Cruz is lovely already, but imagine if we had our own “version” of Central Park downtown? As an older woman, I long to walk in this accessible space before I die.
On a larger scale, full restoration of the Benchlands would align beautifully with the recent decision by the United Nations to declare 2021-2030 the Decade of Restoration.
It would – many of us hope – be a people-friendly space that would include easily accessible pedestrian-only trails, carefully managed access to the river, educational and public service opportunities and a beautiful and peaceful green oasis in the heart of our growing downtown area, perfect for relaxed walks and quiet contemplation.
Statewide, our community should also consider how this project would contribute to California’s Riparian Bird Conservation Plan (RBCP), which found that the loss of riparian habitats could be the most important cause of population decline among land bird species in western North America.
Sadly, our city staff, inexplicably, is recommending the fragmented plan, which would carve out the heart of a future forest.
This is happening despite pleas from a majority of nature-loving, environmentally informed community members and the advice of local environmental leaders.
I find the city’s preference for fragmentation and noisy, fast-moving events on a critical wetland deeply troubling.
The city, to its credit, met with local native and environmental leaders in the early stages of outreach efforts. This included a meeting with Valentin Lopez, chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, as well as with leaders of the Sierra Club, the Santa Cruz Bird Club and the California Native Plant Society.
A few excerpts will help clarify the sense of urgency people feel around this issue. For instance, Lopez says, “We have a moral obligation to take care of these lands. … We would like the floodplain to be all native plants and we would like to be consulted on which plants are chosen.”
He adds that early tribes often chose to live in areas where two rivers met, in spots exactly like the area in the southeast corner of the Benchlands.
Jerry Busch, former executive director of the local branch of the Sierra Club, says, “In an era when riparian habitat is shrinking in the county, riparian birds declining and songbird numbers dropping precipitously nationwide (~30%) due to habitat loss, placing event space – a non-resource-dependent use – in a declining and sensitive habitat is morally unacceptable. Maintaining a cleared area of riparian habitat is equivalent to destroying it for non-site-dependent human activities.”
Lisa Sheridan, president of the Santa Cruz Bird Club, which has 507 members, says the club “strongly supports the restoration of the entire floodplain with native plants to enhance its biodiversity, enrich our community and save maintenance costs.” The club, she says, believes “intrusive human uses like festivals, food trucks and playing fields should be limited to the upper part of the park in order to minimize disturbance to wildlife and the trampling of vegetation.”
I am concerned that city staff might have placed undue emphasis on the online survey in October, where a small and statistically insignificant majority of respondents supported partial restoration over full restoration. This should not offset the overwhelming support shown for full restoration at the final citywide meeting and the almost 100% support indicated in letters to the commission.
From an environmental as well as democratic perspective, I think the park’s commission must challenge the recommendation of the staff and advise the city council to support full restoration.
Barbara Riverwoman is a retired preschool teacher who spent five years of her retirement co-authoring the San Lorenzo River Blog about birds on the river. Born on a houseboat on the Minnesota River, she has lived along the river in Santa Cruz for 43 years. She made Riverwoman her legal last name in 1982, long before she began to write about and advocate for the San Lorenzo River.