January 2024
This Month's Issue:
2023 BEC Recap
Tap Takeover with Pure Project
Treat Yourself: Cooking with Scraps
Gas Leaf Blower Ban
Leave those Leaves Alone!
Learn How to Make Biochar
Flu Season Tips
Kiss those Christmas Trees Goodbye
What Waste Goes Where?
Altacal's Snow Goose Festival
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Looking back at BEC's year
Butte Environmental Council has had quite a year full of tree plantings (you can view a clip of our most recent plantings in Corning here), salmon raising, educating and more!
None of these accomplishments would have been possible without you, our generous members, volunteers, and donors who make all of the important work we do possible.
If you, dear reader, believe in this critical work, please consider becoming a sustaining member of BEC with a monthly recurring donation of as little as $4 a month. To support environmental education in our community, you can make a donation to BEC online or call the office (530-891-6424) to learn more.
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Doors open at 8 p.m.
Bring your friends and come hang out with BEC and Pure Project.
Can't make it but want to support BEC? Donate here!
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Pure Project and Butte Environmental Council: Tap Takeover
Come on down to the Winchester Goose for Pure Project’s Tap Takeover on Dec. 29.
Pure Project, a San Diego based brewery will have a variety of their craft beers for attendees to try. There will be a $10 cover fee at the door, which will go to support BEC.
In addition to eco-friendly brews, guests will have the chance to purchase Pure Project merchandise and see live performances from local artists, including Solar Estates, Not the Same, and Sons of Jefferson.
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Treat Yourself Before You Throw it Out
Come join us on Jan. 20th from 2-4pm at the South Chico Community Assistance Center to learn how to turn overripe or excess produce into delicious, nutritious treats.
Though composting is a great option for reducing food waste in landfills, there's another way we can divert food waste before it becomes worm food. We can cook it up into something tasty!
Every month, we'll be holding cooking demonstrations at the South Chico Community Assistance Center in Chico. This month, we're making tasty kiwi muffins with those soft kiwis that are always going ripe too soon.
We'll have warm drinks and taste testing at the end of every workshop. Sign up here before spots fill up.
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California to ban gas-powered leafblowers | |
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Beginning Jan. 1st, you will hear less and less of the deafening, gas powered leaf blowers that seem to always be running in your neighborhood. This is part of a new bill passed by the state, Assembly Bill 1346, which prohibits the sale of all gas-powered lawn tools including:
- Leaf blowers
- Mowers
- Hedge trimmers and more
All of these are categorized as small off-road engines, which are pollutant-heavy devices that release more carbon emissions than automobiles. In fact, using a gas powered leaf blower for just one hour releases as much pollution as driving for 1100 miles in a Toyota Camry.
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The ban only prohibits the sale of these devices, and people who own gas-powered lawn equipment are free to continue using their devices.
However, eventually landscaping businesses will need to upgrade to the battery powered devices.
Luckily, small businesses and sole-proprietor landscapers can apply to the California Clean Off-Road Equipment Voucher Incentive Project (CORE) to receive discounts of up to $400 on electric leaf blowers and up to $1250 on select lawn mowers.
For more info on the CORE program, click here.
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Leave the Leaves Alone!
It’s frustrating when leaves clog stormwater drains and our gutters. However, using leaf blowers and raking the leaves into the street aren't as helpful or environmentally friendly as other methods. Here are some ways we can use the leaves to their full potential:
- Rake the leaves into jute bags. You can leave these bags in your yard over the winter to be used as mulch for your garden. The jute is all natural and will break down on its own.
- Rake the leaves into piles by your compost bin to use as brown material, a necessity for healthy compost.
- Place a layer of cardboard over any damaged soil or unused garden bed then spread a layer of soil or finished compost across the cardboard. Spread the leaves on top. This is a great one-and-done mulching method and looks attractive once the leaves are down.
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There are many reasons we should use the leaves to their full potential, such as:
- Raking leaves is much better for the environment! Most leaf blowers are gas powered and pollute the air with harmful emissions.
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If we keep the leaves for ourselves, they will nourish our soil and provide shelter for small critters such as the Yellow Faced Bumblebee (Bombus vosnesenskii), an amazing pollinator, and Pillbugs (Armadillidiidae), which are excellent decomposers for our compost.
- Raking leaves out onto the road makes parking difficult and clogs up storm drains.
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Upcoming Biochar Demonstration & Fuel Reduction
On Jan. 13 join the Butte Fire Safe Council, Biocharcoaliation, CCAC and other local organizations in learning how to make Biochar and reducing fuels in Paradise.
Attendees will be educated on topics of biochar, carbon sequestration, building better burn piles, supporting forest health and more.
Be there by 9 a.m.
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Flu Season Tips
With the holiday behind us, Flu season will be in full swing. Do your part and limit the spread of Covid-19 and other nasty germs by following these easy to implement tips!
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Kiss those Christmas Trees Goodbye
Residents can dispose of Christmas trees at curbside for collection from Dec. 26 to Jan. 22. at no cost.
Trees must be free of decorations and flocking, before disposal. Cut and place small sections in the green cart, making sure the lid can close.
Customers also have the alternative to discard Christmas trees at Chico’s compost facility at no additional cost.
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You can also compost your Christmas tree yourself. You'll need a wood chipper or hedge trimmer. The wood chips will make a good base for your pile, but don't add too many of the needles, as they can slow the process. | |
Dispose of things correctly this season!
The holidays are a time of giving, but with those gifts come waste! However, it doesn’t have to be this way. Knowing the difference between what you can recycle vs what belongs in the trash goes a long way in reducing waste.
One thing that especially causes problems at the Neal Road Landfill is batteries! When disposed of in your black bin, they end up in the landfill and can combust or explode causing fires to occur. Please dispose of them properly.
For more information on how to properly dispose of batteries, broken Christmas lights and other forms of hazardous waste, check out Butte County’s website that deals with household hazardous waste.
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Gratitude, Geese, and You
Altacal Audubon Society Presents: The Wild & Winged Snow Goose Festival of the Pacific Flyway 2024
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Join in the search for birds on their annual migration of the Pacific Flyway with 4-days of action-packed field trips hosted by experienced trip leaders from Han. 25-28.
The event is designed to celebrate “the remarkable journey of millions of waterfowl and raptors along the Pacific Flyway that call the Northern Sacramento Valley their home during the winter months.”
In addition to holding over 60 field trips over four days, the event will have a “Gathering of Wings" Banquet & Silent Auction, Keynote speakers from Lundberg Family Farms and more.
There will also be an Avian Art exhibit at monca, beginning Jan. 25th and lasting until March 17th.
To get in the Snow-Goose mindset, check out Mary Oliver's poem on the majestic birds here.
For any questions you have, you can reach out to the event planners at info@snowgoosefestival.org, or by calling the Festival Office at 530-592-9092.
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Does the holiday season have you feeling extra generous? Are you looking for a good way to start the new year? Donate to BEC! | |
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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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