Last week Chattanooga – yes Tennessee – launched their campaign to become a National Park City and are now vying with us in Sacramento to be first in North America. They recorded the launch and it’s very inspiring to see the support from London and Adeliade.
I love this short description – “We are bringing nature into our back yards, spaces, and part of our lives. Creating nature is part of our lifestyle.” Prof. Chris Daniels. That’s what makes National Park Cities so compelling is they change your view of the city and are all about creating positive change by connecting us with nature.
I need more leaders to help Sacramento move our campaign forward so get ahold of me if you want to help! Our thinking is ahead of Chattanooga, but they will catch us quickly if we don’t progress.
Did you know we are in a biodiversity hotspot – one of only 33 worldwide covering less that 2.5% of the globe? We are! Join us in documenting all the crazy plants and animals that live here with the City Nature Challenge this weekend and be a Citizen Scientist! It’s easy – get the iNaturalist app and follow the steps.
You can do it at a BioBlitz event at California Duck Days, MOSAC, and many other spots too!
There are a lot of great events as part of our National Park City Festival this weekend too – find them on Sac365 – Duck Days, Vernal Pool Tours, Bike Tour and May is Bike Month kickoff. Lots to choose from but choose something!
Our month-long celebration to explore the region’s nature, public art, and history starts this Saturday and will be filled with events like hikes, bike rides, tours, garden days, mural paintings, trail building, and much more! Sacramento365 is our promotional partner has created a Festival Page where you can explore and register for the events coming this month. Get out your calendar and make some plans!
I was able to visit Soil Born Farms for their Regenerative Ag Farm Tour yesterday and it was amazing to see the diversity of techniques and habitats they are creating. In their plans are agroforestry with native oaks and elderberry, and native grasslands with grazing. Soil Born is abuzz with activity and you can see the volunteers weeding the garlic beds and different groups mulching and attending other classes – I recommend a visit and using their classes to learn how to best grow food in your own yardscape.
Founder Shawn Harrison explained how they are converting weedy fields to permanent annual beds by limiting disturbance, cycling cover crops with solarization, and adding biology such as compost full of microorganisms and mycorrhizae. They are regenerating the soil so it continues to improve and become more productive as they add the biological inputs. It’s a huge contrast to the conventional agriculture you see where plowed fields kill all the microorganisms along with the plantlife and expose the soil to the elements, then add chemical fertilizers to get crops to grow in the sterile medium. Kiss the Ground movie is a great primer.
There’s a parallel in our urban fabric. Most of our region is auto-based suburbs and strip malls that lack life and vibrancy, just like those empty fields you see exposed to the sun. Our task with Sacramento National Park City is to regenerate the region by adding nature and life. It means planting trees and adding gardens, reducing paving and making opportunities for walking and biking, and adding art and creativity. It’s incremental and everyone can play a part, and in the end we can live in a place filled with diverse nature and art where exploring is a joy – just like that rich soil Soil Born is growing delicious veggies in. Our first big initiative is starting up in April with a Festival to celebrate all the great things to explore in the region and we’ll regenerate from there. Stay tuned!
Eventhough it’s been cold, the blossoms are starting to spread around town and remind us of our beautiful trees getting ready to shade us all summer! We have to celebrate early in CA, so Arbor Week starts now! Sacramento Tree Foundation gives you some tips on how to Hanami by enjoying the cherry blossoms and is planning a whole new experience for us next year.
To get a better feel and get in the mindset for Hanami, check out this short story from Possible City – I love this quote in particular – “Alighting on the mainland side would be quicker, but he goes one stop further, exiting on the island. In the ensuing walk, there is always something to notice that makes his day a little bit better. Well worth the extra time, Kawaguchi thinks.”
Challenge: Look for something in your city every day that brings you delight and makes your day a little better! An unexpected delight! Feel free to share what you find!
With the state and nation setting goals to conserve 30% of our land by 2030 I’ve wondered what our baseline in the Sacramento area is. Turns out it’s only 7%, so we have a long way to go here! If you would like to hear what local land
trusts are doing to try and preserve more habitat and working lands in our region we did a presentation for ECOS Habitat 2020 Committee March 2023 that is recorded below. We need to pick up the pace and scale of conservation and need your voice with us!
The first 8 minutes are introductions of the people on the call, so you may want to skip that!
Thursday the Spring Speaker Series kicks off at Camp Pollock with Vernal Pools – I’ve always heard of Carol Witham and excited to hear her expertise! Sac Splash has their Critter Walks to tour the pools on March 5 and 19 so reserve a spot.
Friday Atrium 916 is hosting a eco-concious gallery opening, wine, and art-making with a chance to meet the artists. Reserve a spot here.
Need to learn how to prune your fruit trees? Dominic Allamano is leading a series of workshops all around town with Alchemist CDC, Del Paso Heights Grower’s Alliance, and others starting this Saturday and Sunday.
Need to get plants for spring planting? Miridae Mobile Nursery will be out at Sudwerk in Davis and Grounded in Midtown this weekend!
And Green Drinks will be hosting a Climate Resiliency Workshop next Wednesday (2/15). National Park City is planning a month long festival highlighting events like this and more in April and May, so if you want to get involved come on down to Green Drinks at Leftys and meet us!
Next year has a lot of great projects are starting that have potential to improve our region! The new Del Rio Trail that will connect Land Park south to Freeport will move dirt, Broadway will finally get a road diet that will make it much safer for bikes and ped crossings, SACOG funded a new trail in Citrus Heights along with Del Rio. Getting Around Sacramento thinks we did well with Active Transportation funding this year with 7 transformative projects supported from the state. Plus there is good news on addressing food deserts with grant awards to 17 groups including Alchemist CDC to expand access at farmers markets.
So a lot to track and support next year! What is missing for our region is large scale urban greening and habitat protection projects getting funded – we have to keep working on those so we get our fair share of everything the state is putting out there!
Part of the fun of this National Park City initiative is we get to collaborate and learn with groups all over the globe! Right now there is a ton going on that you can join in!
River to River Trail meeting – Founders of the SF Crosstown Trail and Boston’s Walking City Trail are in town for CIM and want to meet with help with our own Instant Urban Trail at Oak Park Brewing Sunday, Dec 4 at 3:30pm.
Our National Park City partners in Galway, Chattanooga, Chicago, Belfast and Glasglow are putting on their first webinar on Urban Greenways and Blueways with lots to share – I hope they record it since it will be 3am our time – that’s one of the challenges with these international things!
National Park Cities created a new collaboration group we are participating in. Let me know if you would like to be added!
Biophilic Cities reports on how nature based solutions have been integrated into Cities4Diversity in 35 cities in 16 countries with tons we could apply here.
Our September list was missing a key event we just learned about – 916 Day! Celebrate the City of Trees with plantings in council districts around the city – and not all of them are on the 16th – a lot seem to be on the 10th and the 17th, but the Garcia Bend celebration happens on the real day! Parks are the gems in our National Park City crown so come out and show them some love – seeking 916 volunteers. Keep watering those trees too – I’ve seen a lot of parched leaves falling early and you don’t want to lose that investment!
Sacramento Park City 