Save Mount Diablo E-News | November 12, 2020 |
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How Volunteers Brought Back the Peregrines
Fastest Birds on Earth: Friday, Nov. 20 at 4 PM
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Once extinct in the Bay Area, these masters of the sky have made a dramatic comeback. How did they do it? With help from a remarkable team of bold biologists and determined volunteers.
Mount Diablo Interpretive Association and Save Mount Diablo will premiere the newest film in the Audible Mount Diablo series, The Return of the Pine Canyon Peregrines.
You're invited to a special Thanksgiving presentation on Friday, November 20, 2020, at 4:00 PM via YouTube, with a live Q&A panel discussion following immediately on Zoom.
Join in to see this uplifting story, spanning more than 100 years, of the falcon’s fall and rise. By 1950, DDT had wiped out peregrines in the Bay Area, including in Pine Canyon, and had nearly driven the species extinct in the US as a whole.
Just-in-time restoration efforts brought this fastest-critter-in-the-world back from the brink.
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SMD Organizes Massive Volunteer Cleanup
Volunteers Remove Graffiti, Broken Glass in Pine Canyon
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Save Mount Diablo recently helped organize a massive volunteer cleanup effort in the Castle Rocks area of Pine Canyon.
Together with Mount Diablo State Park, the East Bay Regional Park District, the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association, and the Bay Area Climbers Coalition, volunteers worked to remove a lot of trash, especially shards of glass that filled the sand pits surrounding the bases of the Castle Rocks.
Birds such as peregrine falcons and eagles rely on sand to fill their crops and aid in digestion, so having clean sand here is especially important.
A specialized group of climbing volunteers focused their efforts on removing and replacing bolts on highly traveled climbing routes. Another specialized group of volunteers focused their efforts on graffiti removal on Castle Rock.
This amazing teamwork from passionate volunteers who love the area was incredible. Through collaborative restoration efforts like these, our beloved open spaces are able to thrive, as are our communities.
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Our Grants Program Is Now Open!
Supporting Scientific Research on and around Mount Diablo
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The Mary Bowerman Science and Research (MBSR) program provides small grants, especially to students, for research projects on Save Mount Diablo properties and protected lands in the Mount Diablo region.
Grants of up to $2,500 will be awarded to applicants who are conducting studies that will enhance the ecological understanding of the region and inform land management and conservation practices.
We are currently accepting grant applications! The final deadline for this grant round is February 26, 2021.
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What Does Mount Diablo Mean to You?
Tell Us What's Important to You So We Can Serve You Best
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We need your help! Save Mount Diablo's staff are making decisions daily about what we create and what we share with you.
Please help us make our articles, blog posts, videos, and other communications better and more meaningful for you.
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We Light the Beacon to Send You Love & Hope |
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The Beacon on November 9 at sunrise. Photo: Ted Clement |
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Save Mount Diablo volunteers and staff light the Mount Diablo Summit Beacon at sunset on Sundays so that it shines brightly until they rest it the next day after sunrise.
The Beacon serves as a source of inspiration and gratitude, to bring our communities together and help them look up to the light.
It is a beacon of hope, something that unites us and reminds us to look to our mountain and nature, and something that thanks our heroes during these trying times.
On Sunday, November 29 and Sunday, December 6, we will not light the Beacon so we can show our respect, prepare, and set the stage and anticipation for the traditional December 7th Beacon lighting for National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day.
On December 7, we will light the Beacon in honor of the Pearl Harbor Survivors and National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day. On that day, Save Mount Diablo and our partners will also put on a special virtual event with presentations by Pearl Harbor survivors from our area. Details about how to sign up for this virtual event will be sent out soon.
Beginning again on December 13, we'll resume lighting the Beacon every Sunday evening and resting it the following Monday after sunrise until the pandemic crisis in our area has passed. Sending you love, hope, and light from atop Mount Diablo!
Watch local Beacon expert and long-time volunteer John Gallagher light the Beacon one Sunday evening this fall.
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Edward Sortwell Clement, Jr.
Executive Director
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Save Mount Diablo is a nationally accredited nonprofit land trust founded in 1971 with a mission to preserve Mount Diablo's peaks, surrounding foothills, and watersheds through land acquisition and preservation strategies designed to protect the mountain's natural beauty, biological diversity, and historic and agricultural heritage; enhance our area's quality of life; and provide recreational opportunities consistent with the protection of natural resources. Learn more.
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