June 2024

This Month's Issue:

It's Getting Hot in Here

Increasing Accessibility in Lower Bidwell Park

Attention Shoppers

Benefit for the Friends of Butte Creek

The Plumas Forest Climate Emergency

Make Time for a Monday Mixer

A RARE Opportunity

Help Us Win

Nonprofits: You'll Want to Hear This

Improving Outdoor Experiences

Today, June 4, the City Council will decide whether or not to close Lower Bidwell Park to thru vehicle traffic on weekends and National Holidays. The city plans to repave Peterson Memorial Way and South Park Drive in the next couple years, and must consider the degrading effect that cars have on the road for other users (by foot, wheelchair, bike, recumbent handbikes, etc.), who struggle to traverse car-damaged asphalt.

The Vallombrosa, East Eighth, One Mile, Cedar Grove, 5 Mile, and Hooker Oak parking spaces will remain open for cars during the weekends when Lower Bidwell Park is closed to traffic. Citizens are encouraged to propose solution-oriented suggestions that align with the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund Transportation Policy Center. Examples include paving the gravel pathways that lead to Lower Bidwell Park roads from main parking lots, or adding more Disability Parking spaces to the One Mile parking lot. 

Reducing car traffic as much as possible significantly reduces micro-plastics and 6PPD-q levels in Big Chico Creek, protecting the health of all wildlife species that rely on the creek for survival. Car traffic in forested areas, such as Lower Bidwell Park, allows diesel runoff to leak into root systems which limits the tree roots ability to grow and significantly reduces seed germination. Noise pollution from vehicles also decreases viable bird nesting range and disrupts bird communication ability, pushing them further from trafficked areas despite adequate tree canopy coverage. The City of Chico has an opportunity to shift from vehicle dependency to multi-modal transportation in an effort to address climate change and fossil fuels as a finite resource. To send an email to Chico City Council members regarding the proposed weekend and holiday vehicle closures of Lower Bidwell Park roads, click the button below.

Make sure to visit us at the BEC booth where we will be distributing tomato plant starts while supplies lasts!

For questions about Monday Mixers email sustainability@becnet.org

Come learn something new, put love into the soil and meet like-minded members of a growing compost community!

We thank everyone who helped us get the Great Nonprofit Award in 2022 and we hope you can help us achieve it again in 2024!

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife wants to hear from you! If you have five minutes, take their survey to help improve outdoor experiences and conservation efforts in Wildlife Areas and Ecological Reserves managed by the CDFW. 

While all public opinion will be taken into consideration, the CDFW is most eager to hear from people who rarely visit or who have never visited a Wildlife Area or Ecological Reserve.

Butte Environmental Council recognizes the original occupants of what is now referred to as the Butte County area and the descendants who are still living here. They include:

Tyme Maidu Tribe-Berry Creek Reservation

Enterprise Rancheria

Mechoopda Indian Tribe

Mooretown Rancheria 

We acknowledge and are mindful that these first people have a special and sacred relationship with their ancestral lands and the waters that run through these lands, sustaining them for centuries. We strive to learn from their ways and to be considered by the tribes as allies to respect and steward resources in this life-giving place

Support Butte Environmental Council!

BEC is a grassroots non-profit dedicated to protecting the health of our environment. Our work is made possible by people like you! Your contribution helps us plant trees, clean the creeks, and bring environmental education into the classroom.

Consider becoming a Sustaining Member today for as little as $5/month.