March 2024
This Month's Issue:
The 45th Endangered Species Faire
Lease a Garden Plot
Oak Way Garden's New Resident
Let's Talk Compost
Monday Mixers
The Garden Blitz is Here!
Event Recap: Biochar Workshop
BEC Spotlight: Kelpie Wilson
Cooking with Scraps: March Edition
Landfill Trips this Spring
Green Waste Disposal for Spring
Save the Date: This Way to Resilience
BEC's Special Shoutout
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The 45th Annual Endangered Species Faire
The Endangered Species Faire is BEC's way of giving all endangered species a voice!
When: Saturday, April 20, 2024 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Chico City Plaza.
At 10 a.m., we will meet at the City Municipal Parking Lot, 222 Salem Street, in front of the hand sculpture. From there we will begin our Procession of Species foot parade through Downtown. The parade will then lead to the City Plaza, where there will be live entertainment, educational booths, food and local vendors.
Visit our website, to learn how you can participate in our Procession of Species foot parade or register to secure your spot in the parade here!
Are you a part of a local non-profit or business? Table at the Faire!
We are looking for local businesses, organizations and other community partners to table at the event. If your entity would like to participate in the event, please fill out our form online.
Do you want to gain publicity for your entity? Sponsor the Faire! If your entity would like to sponsor the event, you may qualify for a complimentary vendor space! Sponsors starting at the $250 Silver Steward level are guaranteed a 10'x10' booth space.
BECome a “Friend of The Faire” by making a donation to help us provide live animal demonstrations, musical entertainment and puppet making materials. Support us by making a donation online.
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If you would like to learn more or sign up for a garden plot, please email steward@becnet.org or by calling our office at 530.891.6424 and ask for Miranda | |
Lease a garden plot in time for Spring gardening!
Do you live in a place that does not offer any or enough space to grow your own food?
At Oak Way Garden, you can lease a garden plot, available in various sizes, to grow your own crops!
Garden plots are leased on a yearly basis, with the opportunity to renew.
The cost of the plot varies on the size, but it goes to pay for the water bill that BEC pays each month.
The garden is located off of 8th and Nord, 1500 8th Ave, and is adjacent to Oak Way Park.
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The Oak Way Community Garden has new resident! | |
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Introducing our Free Food stand, a project from our partners at the Butte County Local Food Network, which is designed to operate as an outdoor food pantry.
These stands are the perfect for both community gardeners and members to place their whole, extra produce, promoting food access in their community.
No chopped produce, cans or boxes will accepted, just fine, fresh produce please!
This Free Food stand joins the likes of several already in operation all across the county.
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Do you or the business you work for compost?
Are you knowledgable about compost, food waste, or local and state policies surrounding either of them?
Whether you answered these questions with yes or no, you can help out the Butte Compost Coalition by filling out the survey that best applies to you.
The answers you give will go toward the next steps in improving our county's food waste and composting infrastructures.
Your answers could change the way we deal with food scraps and waste, and help to create a more sustainable future.
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Mix Things Up with Monday Mixers
Join us at our Community Garden for our Bi-weekly Monday Mixers.
Monday mixers serve as a great opportunity to learn about composting, see the science in action, and help out and
explore our community garden.
The month of March will have two mixers, one on the 11th and one on 25th. Spots are limited, so the sooner you register, the better.
Sign up for this month's mixers here.
For questions on Monday Mixers or about composting, email sustainability@becnet.org.
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The Garden Blitz is HERE!
The Butte County Local Food Network is excited to announce the 5th Annual Spring Garden Blitz! This event totally rocks it. You purchase or apply for a scholarship garden package that includes a raised wood bed with hardware cloth for critter control, soil, plants and mulch.
A team of volunteers will come out and install your garden in your backyard. To date, we have installed over 400 gardens since March 2020 and we aim to get that number close to 550 by 2024.
Garden Package Applications close March 25th or when capacity is reached. Find out more, purchase or apply for a scholarship garden here, or volunteer here.
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Event Recap: Biochar Workshop | |
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The Biochar's Coalition recent workshop on Feb. 17, was an overwhelming success. The event attracted dozens of volunteers who came together to learn about Biochar and experience making it.
Attendees got to learn all about the process of pyrolysis and see it in action as they added armful after armful of woody organic matter to burn-piles.
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Over the course of six hours, with the help of multiple Ring of Fire Kilns, they were able to produce 12 cubic yards of Biochar, equivalent to a 3-ton reduction in CO2 emissions.
This carbon, rather than contributing to carbon emissions, will be stored in the soil where it will go on to improve soil health.
View all the photos from the event here.
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BEC Spotlight: Kelpie Wilson | |
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Kelpie Wilson, a special guest at Biochar Coalition’s recent Biochar training, sat down with BEC and spoke with us about all things biochar.
Wilson, who is the inventor of the Ring of Fire Biochar Kiln, is also a Chico State Alumni from the class of 1987. During her time at the college she even worked with BEC, volunteering in the same sector which she would go on to change throughout her career.
After graduating with a degree in mechanical engineering, she eventually found her way to Oregon, where she focused on forest remediation and worked to change the process of forest management, eventually “winning the battle.”
She then worked as a journalist for several years, writing about subjects like climate and energy.
Her interest in Biochar really took off in 2007, when she attended a Biochar conference in Australia.
Since then, Wilson has spent her time researching, using and promoting Biochar and all its beneficial properties, such as carbon sequestration, filtration, and soil remediation.
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Wilson’s combination of hard work and passion led her to establish her own company, Wilson Biochar, and create the Ring of Fire.
This durable and extremely efficient tool is used to produce Biochar in mass, up to three cubic yards of biochar in just four hours.
The end product, which holds moisture, can then be deposited back into all sorts of soil to improve soil health.
“Our forests need charcoal,” She said. “It’s part of the natural ecosystem.”
The Ring of Fire is used by all sorts of organizations all over the world, including “a wide variety of farms, small woodland owners, forestry contractors, fire-safe councils, ecological restoration groups, tribes, universities and research institutions, and state and federal agencies.”
Wilson has a book coming out later this year, “The Biochar Handbook,”a comprehensive collection of all the biochar knowledge and experience she has compiled over the past 15 years.
The Biochar handbook is available to pre-order now and will be released on June 27.
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Join us for the third installment of our Cooking with Scraps series.
We will meet at the South Chico Community Assistance Center, on March 30, from 2-4pm.
This workshop's menu will consist of banana bread and more!
As always, spots are limited and will fill up fast. If you're interested in changing some overripe fruit into scrumptious banana bread, sign up here!
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Landfill Field Trips this Spring | |
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Now is the time to schedule a landfill tour!
Our falconer at the Neal Road Recycling & Waste Facility, Dave Meyers, will be having falcon meet & greets at the facility until the end of March.
This is an exciting opportunity for students to learn how the falcons keep the landfill seagulls at bay and to see that there is no "away" when it comes to trash.
Want a free charter bus to and from the landfill? Register and fill out a charter bus scholarship form, and see the birds of prey before they're gone.
Tours are available every week, Tuesday through Thursday.
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Green Waste Disposal Schedule for Spring | |
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Are you a resident of Butte County who lives in the wild urban interface? Have high winds and storms led to an accumulation of branches and tree limbs in your yard?
Neal Road Recycling will accept your Green Waste Debris for free on designated dates!
Find out if your property resides in the wildland interface here.
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Save the Date: This Way to Resilience
Join the California Climate Action Corps on March 29 for "This Way to Resilience," a symposium highlighting Butte County's community resilience efforts, from 9am - 2pm, in Chico State's Colusa Hall, Room 100.
Come and learn about local resilience, connect with aid groups and organizations, and discover actionable steps to combat climate anxiety. Your participation helps forge a sustainable future, empowering both the community and yourself.
There will be educational exhibits, presentations from experts, plenty of volunteer and networking opportunities, and of course, pizza.
Every individual is an invaluable piece of their community, and we would love to have you there.
To attend, please sign up here.
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Recently, the Office of Community Partnerships and Strategic Communication's released their 2023 "Year in Review."
This state organization promotes community outreach in regions all over the state. Butte Environmental Council is one of the OCPSC's partners for the Northern CA region.
We look forward to continuing our partnership into 2024, and working to support and inform Butte county and the surrounding communities.
For the full OCPSC "Year in Review," click here.
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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
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Contact Us!
313 Walnut Street #140
Chico, CA 95928
530-891-6424
staff@becnet.org
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