services or paper towels from our bathrooms. they're just tons and tons of it. were generated about 8.5 tons a day of recyclable paper at her hub site in san francisco. we plan on increasing that. we also have a hub site in san jose. a hot site in richmond at our --this is a nationwide program for the office of sustainability to-for the backhaul program but we learned a lot of really valuable lessons here in san francisco good we got a ways to go. we can make it better. and that circle. to move forward and do a better job. that's about it. it's going east. all the way across. thank you very much. >> president omotalade thank you so much for that presentation. commissioners, questions? comments?

>> commissioner: you guys are terrific. we would be so successful if we have more partners like you to. and the postal service so we thank you very very very much. good luck with convincing all the rest to do exactly what you've done. thank you. >> president omotalade i like to echo what commissioner wald said. kudos to all of you for tackling a huge endeavor but were better planet and better city because of it. i thank you for presenting tonight. i thank you for the enthusiasm that you brought to zero waste. that's amazing. thank you. i will let commissioner stephenson 7- >> commissioner stephenson uncle and i think it's hard to

say you are wrong about something to see palm and own up to it and then decide to make a priority and so i'm very impressed with the efforts and all the work in a really love the fact that the post audit was also the and included a picture of that because it shows it's a governmental changes. they're so things we can do and there were still working on it. thank you so much. >> president omotalade commissioner bermejo >> commissioner bermejo: encourage you to think of your enthusiasm. when people are excited change happens. >> president gomel: anthony ali read the actual commendation each week not happened yet. >> clerk: file number 2016 05 resolution commending the unit states postal service san francisco district for their collaboration with the san francisco dept. of the environment zero waste program whereas the san francisco the barman of environment contacted the unit states postal service san francisco district in june

the barman of environment contacted the unit states postal service san francisco district in june 2014 regarding the implementation of the san francisco zero waste ordinance initiative and where is the rest ps sf welcome the opportunity to collaborate with the city and county of san francisco to enhance us ps sf existing recycling operations majority included diversion of paper plastic and cardboard recyclables and where is the us ps sf added proposal materials discarded food waste and all cycles and bottles are plastics and containers, to their existing zeiss recycling part is that whereas in july of 2014 usps sf partnered with a sitting county of san francisco to execute a plan to train over 3500 usps ploys that all 31 post offices within the city and county of san francisco, including the san francisco processing and distribution center, and effective ways to increase the collection recyclables and the postwar

material what the same time we put this thing and placing more than 300 new recycling and composting collection containers in high-traffic areas and all of their san francisco locations, and whereas the rest ps sf consequently reduced rental service by analogy of 70% at san francisco post office locations resulting in significant cost savings projected to reach more than $200,000 per year now, therefore be it resolved the san francisco commission on the environment extends accommodation and its appreciation to the united states postal service san francisco district courts partnership and dedication to divert compostable materials out of the waste stream and enhance existing recycling practices. be it further resolved the san francisco commission on the interment recognize the unit states postal service san francisco district for bring public awareness to diverting significant quantities of trash tonnage from landfills and incinerators in composting and recycling 12 san francisco towards his goal to achieve zero waste by 2020. be it further resolved that san francisco commission on the

environment encourages the niceties postal service district if i'll be outstanding example set forth by the san francisco counterparts in adopting the implement similars it was practices. >> president the oma thank you. we will open this item up for public comment. >> testifier: good evening commission. this one will be brief but i work a lot on recycling issues. it's pretty important to me. first of all, i'll join the other commissioners insane just how spectacular it is that the u.s. postal service and your work has accomplished could such an amazing step forward on the part of the u.s. postal service that went to spread nationwide. one thing i would ask of the u.s. postal service, who is akin to it locally on her own is that you take it to up a notch from a big notch and do, as in other countries where people with their own mailboxes is no recipients can what

little plot on their mailbox and on their door, mail slot that says, no, unsolicited mail. no junk mail. that would not just to write a lot of paper into recycling, it would eliminate massive amounts of paper from being produced in the first place and that would really make the usps become even orders of 92 more stellar in the eyes of folks like me. if you take to them except that would be awesome. >> president omotalade thank you. any further public comment? hearing none, public comment is closed. commissioners, i believe we need a motion to approve this resolution? moved and seconded. commissioners, all in favor aye. any opposition? any

extensions? hearing none, the resolution commending the units is postal service san francisco district for the collaboration with the dept. of environment and human waste program is approved. thank you. next item on the agenda >> clerk: the next item is a presentation on efforts and san francisco to conserve and restore biodiversity at the sponsors deborah raffaella director speakers peter russell and dr. john hasek professor of biology at san francisco state university. >> president omotalade allege you introduce it director >> testifier: you'll remember our last commission meeting we had a very passionate discussion that talking about

the pesticide list and then evolves into a discussion of small discussion, a lot of questions, mostly around biodiversity and the potential importance of it the challenges that the city might face the city and so when i spoke with the president of the commission we felt that there was enough questions raised during the commission meeting that it would be a good idea to step back and hear about the cities history on biodiversity as well as it's thinking about the past path forward. so, i've asked my own staff member peter pascal, who is the department biodiversity specialist, as well as an outside expert and we have a very grateful that dr. heffernan from san francisco state university is with us tonight to set the context of the larger look at the issue before we dive deeper into some of the tools that might be one might not be used

around this issue. with that, i would love to introduce peter basco. >> testifier: thank you. if we could have the visitation for item number 7? ugly head and adduce myself my name is peter basco biodiversity corridor at the dept. of environment.. i've been there for 2 years and i work under jen jackson the wonderful jen jackson are healthy toxic reduction manager. i'm happy to be here and i also went to actually think the commission for passing resolution back in 2011 specifically analogy and promoting the importance of san francisco's diversity which led to hiring the active involvement of the program. thanks for that. still waiting for the presentation to come up. having technical difficulties. presentation number one for item number 7, 7a.i'm not a good joke teller.

i told anthony that before i came here today. i guess were ready to go. so, thanks again for this opportunity it in a nutshell, what i do and what our program does is to foster the conservation frustration stewardship of the cities local nature and biodiversity to my aunt by the same token to connect san francisco to do our best to connect to nature and their neighborhood. these are 2 sides of the same coin. because in today's day and age not only do people need nature and is more and more research coming out on that every day but also nature needs people. to take care of it to heal it heal the damage that humans have done to it for a long time across the

globe. so what we are trying to do is evil a healthier culture of what note wake nature stewardship. we do this into spheres. so, the slide on the right illustrates the parks and natural areas open spaces that's twin peaks where kind of a reservoir of our indigenous biodiversity besides and then, also the built environment is an opportune to connect people to nature right in the neighborhood. so, we also have the opportunity to invite people into wild nature, but then as i said, to try to empower them to bring that wild nature into their own neighborhoods. so we have it every sickle day of their 365-24 7. so, really what our program does is hold division for a more bio diverse san francisco. just like one of the

other spheres of the department work with play a citywide role in supporting and promoting this work. so supporting many organizations and agencies for collaboration convening in order to think about how to better connect people to nature , was the best way to bring nature into the built environment that i have the privilege as well as representing this incredible movement in international network and conferences for example, and so i could spend all my time promoting all this wonderful work that's going on in san francisco. it would go a long way to achieve the goals of all these organizations. so, despite is one of my favorites because-i'm going to grab some water. i'm sorry. this is my favorite slide because it introduces the richness of a

quarter-century of natural resources stewardship and volunteer-based ecological restoration in san francisco. so, this is agencies, many jurisdictions, city state and federal many organizations. probably even missing some. my apologies to anyone who's missing on the slide but the slide should does only include folks doing on the ground habitat restoration and stewardship. this doesn't even include the huge. of people doing education. at the unified school district for example in all their partners and all the other local organizations and community groups connect people to nature in their neighborhood. so, were going to move on to another slide could unfortunately people at slide could from the wonderful image

slide to the bullet slide. this is just to give you a sense of slapshot really a long history of policymaking behalf of san francisco's nature and biodiversity. so, from the san francisco barcodes from back in the 70s or 80s. i don't remember when i was from but basically disturbing animals. promoting not disturbing wildlife enterprise. i'm to go over i handful of these just highlight a few. this is really to show the rich history of this city supporting our local nature and biodiversity. the sustainability plan in the late 90s and really a guiding document for sustainability vision as a city as well as guiding the department in its work since the 1990s. bundle production element goes back to the 1980s and is devoted to giving instructions

to the city about natural resource conservation at a lot of people don't know we have environmental protection elements but there it is. this is an interesting one which i recently uncovered the urban design element is actually some of the strongest language with respect to natural areas. just reading the 2nd boat natural areas in the city to remain in their original state or your place will and must not be further diminished. so, also we have the recreation open space element or the rows which was recently updated. maybe you're familiar with that. that was in 2014. that has an objective with many policies that are devoted to really strengthening our policy around promoting around local nature and connecting people to it. within the rows, there are references to urban force plan as well as agreeing connections plan, both

of which also more specifically promote bringing nature into the built environment. sold green urban force in the vision of 24 green connections were creating walkable likable habitat rich corridor in the city. now they became a cool tool we would work with the planning to barman in collaboration with other agencies and that's called the san francisco plant finder and with that we encourage and try to empower folks select appropriate plans to plant in their community and back yard and front yard local project to really create resilience and tolerance in san francisco. one of the green connections, one of the 24 decisive agreeing harris street corridor and that is a great illustration on the potential for the intersection the relationship between the parks and natural areas and the built environment. this

butterfly that only is not corridor in the presidio is only building in the hills above the sunset but in these little street parks are wrong along the avenue. so is one of my favorite examples of nature in the city. this is a one of the sites. you can see san francisco state who signed up to monitor the butterfly over, and see how the restoration of these little urban sites are progressing. than him to show you a few slides illustrating the worker on the city on the part of other entities, agencies and organizations in a turnover to dr. after that. this is grandview park. this is also the northern end of the green street corridor. this is better than the city working with a much page department. then twin peaks this is recreation plan society which has been having workdays and natural areas on wednesdays since 1990 or 1991. in 1994

this is part of san francisco property audubon as a turkic school education program out at pier 94 and of course national park service working with volunteers and interns managing the plant on the 17 coastal bluff. then, out of the presidio they have a triumphant national park service conservancy and so his presidio trust work with student volunteers at mountain like they recently have been weeding the lake and restoring native fauna which is amazing and finally when of our newest local storage of programs is [inaudible] just to give you a stock shot of what's going on around the city. now, with pleasure introduce dr. john

happen at which a professor of biology at san francisco state and former chair of the leave for 15 years and all jump into the next presentation. i'm hill available for questions. >> testifier: thank you, peter thank you to the question for this opportunity to speak to you tonight about something near and dear to my heart. the sustaining and enhancing biodiversity in this wonderful city i live in good i moved to san francisco in 1977 and i got a job at san francisco state like many people sort of fixing our mind reference point when we first visit a place or see something good since that's the way it is a mess away should be forever. if you're one of the native americans that first moved >> we have asked them to put it up. 7b. there it is. >> testifier: if you are one of the first native americans to make it into san francisco

10,000, 12,000 years ago thursday will be a quite a different place. you could walk out to the islands the short of san francisco. this would've been no san francisco day or river. the sacramento river with an antidote over next to the-get quite a different spot and if you walk out onto those planes you have seen things like this. large animals, mastodons chine sloths creatures that are now extinct. actually when they went extinct within a few hundred years after this artist rendition came into being. so san francisco has been a place of change. it's been a place that has seen a lot happening over the last 10-15,000 years which is an instant in geological time. where did those animals go? there went extinct all over the north america. it's called the pleistocene deck station. when not exactly sure. it could've been the arrival of the humans overhunting which is

still a problem in some areas where diseases we might've brought in that we now see affecting our own species as easy diseases around orchid and climate change of various sorts about them. the glaciers were melting and climate was changing rapidly. so, many scientists believe were at a time now with the even greater risk of extension at the end of the pleistocene than those mammoths and saber toothed tigers when nixon. the time and were called the sixth-grade extension. with great extension to gut the dinosaurs. 65 million years ago. so just to put that in perspective, none of us are safe from events that might affect us. even though willing organisms on the planet are susceptible to extension. severn billion people on this planet doesn't protect us necessarily for being potentially in the same place in front careful about how we steer our planet. now much of

the biodiversity planet is grounded in 36 biodiversity hotspots. these are found around the world. these are areas that many unique species and hotspots of that are also greatly threatened in terms of increased extension for the fauna and flora in those etiquette if you look at that blue arrow, that's pointing to northern california and the san francisco bay area. we are part of one of those biodiversity hotspots. a spot where there are many unique organisms but animals found nowhere else in the world. the part of the fabric of life that provide a variety of services and so on. we of course also a major urban area. we earn area that is made up of a highly educated electorate. with many environments all interests and goals. we are place of innovation. a place where

solutions come to mind and to fruition. a place where hopefully we can survive and come up with ways attorney around the biodiversity crisis is imminent that were in with at this point. what are things to cause things to go extinct breed about 5 major things. these include habitat loss and fragmentation did we see that among things. moving habitat overkill and overfishing. not as big a problem in san francisco today. perhaps earlier introduced species. san francisco and speak san francisco bay have the dubious ascension of the more the places that the largest species in the plan. and this disrupts natural ecosystems in various ways. now were doing with human caused climate change as well

on top of all that. this butterfly on the left is the -butterfly once found only in san francisco now extinct but it's given its name as a conservation icon to the society which is an international conservation organization. so, why should we care about this? with the will of nature or are intrigued by biodiversity the services from the biodiversity area. many of these things are important. only highlight a few good pollination of plants. if you like fruits and vegetables and things like that on your table, then thank you abe or a hummingbird for some creature like that. if you like an area mosquito free think of a damsel 5 were some other creature making its life even on those creatures keeping in track and reducing transmission of diseases and also the

biodiversity creates genetic resilience another resilience to change climate change and other kinds of events. provides additional resources to my education opportunities, research opportunities, just the opportunity to see amazing things. i guess is a sexual kid back in texas, have things in my backyard ignoring my parents if i had had that opportunity to come close and face-to-face with biodiversity, who knows what i might be. i might be a stockbroker or thank you. most larger animals not only the hundred pound animals in the places seen but many others since then. there are no players left in san francisco except last month are quite a few in the financial district i think as things oneself in the stock market but i think the bulls are back now. there are

some survivors. some of you may have some of these in your backyard. i know i do good skunks and possums and creatures of that sort. we have lost were some creatures that just hanging on. the san francisco garden snake was pure. it's in the world, one found in san francisco now has gone only down in the peninsula is hanging on the future sites did the mission blue butterfly again a conservation icon for the bay area is hanging on by a clock, if you will ever top of twin peaks. many people were making efforts to make sure it stays there for years to come. there are also winners. unfortunately many of these winners are invasive species. if you have ants commence your picnic automates your house at night these probably non-native ants were artificially transmitted from argentine.

argentine ant was common because policy we made of ants that are not invasive and they get pushed out by these creatures and those native answer actually important things to like for the butterfly because they part of that fabric that is so poured to us. invasive plants. this one of the major issues in natural areas and other parts of california especially san francisco things like the so-called bermuda buttercup which comes from the keep region of south africa now been passed around the world. if a plant back in the beautiful, but also very invasive. as mobiles that it produces underground so when you pull it up it comes back in 5-tenfold from the bolts are down below and chokes out other vegetation. so much as been lost but the good news is there still time to turn things around. isn't a concerted effort intrinsic action from whole variety of folks. people talked about some groups in san

francisco were already involved in making those efforts. the good news is we saw a lot of species surviving in san francisco even in the so-called urban jungle as i sometimes like to call it. by graduate students have documented 128 species of spiders in the presidio. i don't open a viewer spider foes arachnophobia is certainly something that's common in humans with a love-hate relationship of spiders but these are really important features and we have a few in san francisco for helping control other creatures that might otherwise be out of balance and there not been arrested most spiders are not harmful to humans at all. if only one species in this area the black widow spider that's potentially harmful. all the rest of them really our allies and the food chain. san francisco there's many many native bees. 66 species of

these in the presidio along. many people think of these only of honeybees. honeybees are european there brought to san francisco and the gold rush days by the early colonists to this area but we have a large number of native bees in fact more efficient than honeybees in pollinating backyard plants and natural plants in various areas around the city and around california. as many you have heard probably lots of pollinators is now a worldwide concern in the recent un report picking out a couple weeks ago. there are even species unique to san francisco that are hiding in plain view. they have a escaped our attention for years. san franciscan was recently rediscovered in the presidio during construction project on doyle drive. it thought to be extinct by now transplanted from the construction site to other areas of the presidio. again, it's going to take all of us

working together for nonprofits, to businesses to common citizens to make a difference to things like the green history project pollination corridor and a median strips and so on. habitat restoration can work. this is crissy field. crissy field used to be a vast wasteland. with only a few palm trees and leaves. the stored to a wonderful marshland and wetlands now provides green habitat that is resilient to climate change as ocean levels rise and also habitat for a whole variety of species including 20 species of these. you may figure out him and entomologists will be small creatures. green building wiener about them early. they can be part of the mix as well provide all kinds of services to us. including places like for plants and animals to live in the city that otherwise would not have habitat for them. then our natural areas which are among our crown

jewels. in the san francisco and natural pantheon. this is my backyard. i love going to the park. one of my reason my wife and i but a house there in 1977 was was right next to glen park canyon. so we were willing to go well into debt paying $70,000 for that house. one of the better investments actually we've ever made. the great place for my daughter to grow up as well. in fact, it's really a lucky child with hands-on expense with nature. this my daughter. she's lucky she's been taken around the world that we have traveled but in fact, most of our children now in san francisco and around the world grew up in urban environments and expense nature nearby to them and biodiversity nearby. perhaps nearby in a vacant lot in natural area the

green rooftop whatever it might be but unfortunately some of them expensive on their cell phones. what we really want to show you all over is to have the opportunity to have hands-on experience with nature to learn with it and bond with and become part of the solution for conserving biodiversity and to celebrate it as they grow and mature through their lies. they can see amazing things right here in san francisco. they don't have to go to the amazon or something like that. they can see a stick insect like this caterpillar doing a remarkable job of looking like a stick, a plane stick not moving until maybe you probe a little bit you find out it's actually an inch worm that can wiggle away and live to queue another leaf maybe tomorrow. or come in contact with something like this. this is a sphinx moth. wonderfully camouflaged on a tree in glen park canyon

but if you get close to it at your nose up to it and just touch it, this is what it does. growing up its wings and it's wonderful threat display playing like it's a really tough treacher and hoping that you're a bird that doesn't like big eyes and will fly away be scared by this thing so i can live. ability to compose windows and those with nature's web biodiversity gets to our children and that's the heritage i hope will leave for them. so, several take-home message. biodiversity provides many services for all of us including brazilians of the basic the face of climate change. i believe really sincerely that all children deserve the experience biodiversity in their neighborhoods close by where they can actually learn about these things. perhaps go into education, environmental education or just know about it as they grow up. working together worldwide we can

prevent a 6th mass extinction actually believe san francisco can be a leader in finding solutions to this crisis. we are an amazing city. some amazing people. an amazing opportunity. so, thank you i appreciate the opportunity to talk you and thanks again. >>[applause] >> president omotalade thank you so much. thank you so much for that presentation. i'm going to open up to my fellow commissioners for comment. i would like to first just say so

much of my childhood was spent outdoors but i truly appreciated a presentation because there were very few childhood memories that i can actually remember where i was and outdoors exploring a plane with nature working at garden with my grandparents just exploring beautiful things that is planet earth. so thank you for that. i think we should, as are responsible to make sure children in the future have those exact same opportunities. so, fellow commissioners, comments? questions? >> commissioner stephenson: i've a huge question. i want to be talked about here before many times and when we look at biodiversity and you give a great perspective on some of the past present and future, how do we assess the importance in how we-what we stress, i guess in terms of helping how

things were how things are right now and how things are in the future. the city right now in the middle climate change where plants used to work here may not be able to thrive here. and where plants that we could bring in work that could thrive here might help with carbon mitigation efforts as such. how do we start to prioritize that approach or what approach? what is the best signs out there today with regard to looking toward the future and think about biodiversity? >> testifier: i'll start off in a let dr. time and if he wants to. i went to a really great conference last january in san jose of the california plant society. really one of it they don't do it every year. but incredible breath of talks about science and climate

science. one of the big take-home things i took home from that is that yes, the climate is changing it yes it's getting hotter. though the jury is out how that could affect the fog city talk what the coast here in san francisco the jury is out in terms of effort up more fog or less fog. last summer was up crazy less fog summer. who knows. also the heterogeneity of the bay area in general is incredible. so, how we go about doing the logical restoration is really case-by-case just continue what were doing and i think there are some folks who are promoting maybe in the case of altitude, more straightforward case where this plant uplands that are this also did in this plant them at this all today because the creatures are going up so that's a little bit more straightforward but here withers

amount of engineering and uncertainty about the fog it just continue to do what we are doing just another reason to do to increase our ecological restoration efforts because the healthier ecosystem is more resilient the face of climate change and that uncertainty. i think that's the best i can do with that. perhaps profess. perhaps the doctor something to add >> testifier: let me see what i connected having one amazing things about san francisco are microclimates we have. the fact that we have a variety of organisms. some thinkers that maybe the same be she's adapted to slightly different climates in different parts of the city. these are potentially the lottery tickets we have out there. some of those may be winners. some of them may be losers as the climate changes. at this point we don't know exactly what that change is going to be. we know with pretty good certainty the temperature is going to be hotter on average and the weather is going to be more variable. but that leaves us a

lot of latitude in terms of what that might mean on any particular day. so, i think in terms of design one of the important things we need to think about is the opportunity for organisms to move, which cities make difficult so think about corridor. certainly think about that in planning the city. and those kinds of things i think can help. we are also lucky that if you look to the south we actually have a fairly large arena open space to the south of san francisco. back in the reservoir of plants and organisms that might move northward up the peninsula but did not completely isolated from the ability for some natural movements to take place. it's a difficult job description being odd. knowing how to manipulate what creature is going to be in the right place at the right time is

still something were trying to figure out as going to take a lot of research and trial and error in some cases for that to work through as well. >> president omotalade commissioner wald >> commissioner wald thank you. in addition to thanking the doctor for introducing us to biodiversity indisputable slides and as reminders of my childhood which was also spent largely outdoors, i want to thank peter, really for documenting the rich political history of this city when it comes to biodiversity. in some of the policies you showed on your slide were brand-new to me

, but taken together they reminded me again-i'm not to ask a question-they reminded me again how many people really in san francisco care so much about local nature and biodiversity and over what extended period of time they have been concerned and to bring us back to what prof.-nick said, it seems to me well, to me it is very important for us to protect and preserve the legacy, the biodiversity legacy that we have now. the native plants and the remnants indigenous populations of both flora and fauna. that we have here in the city and the

opportunities that we have 2 approve that just because you're a city doesn't mean that we can't have nature and indeed to be defined in a way what it means to be a city and a city that cares as much about preserving ecological communities as we do about preserving cultural communities, and that when we see that housing crisis that faces so many people in san francisco that in nature there is an equivalent crisis. that has been brought about by human action, but also by things that are beyond our control. i think you both, really for making me

at least feel worse obstacle that i did before i came here to do what i can to protect and preserve what is left in san francisco. >> president omotalade: i like to have a few more comments. as i look at this nature and biodiversity and the city i also have to look at it through an equity lines. i see that just nature and biodiversity in the green on this map is fairly well represented on the west side of the neighborhoods on you side i think we still challenges of their those communities are just as deserving biodiversity in their densely probably edited areas is the less populated website is what guy would challenge us to consider before thinking not about just the preservation and also the creation of more green and open spaces. >> commissioner wald laceration side of the discussion. >> president omotalade absolute. anything else

commissioners before open up to public comment hearing none, open up to public comment and so first name i have here [calling names] >> testifier: before i begin may i make a request? for making this request of a grandmother. as a lady here with young children could just about to go to the playground. abducting to do with her but i told her that i would text her when she put in a request for public comment and i think she's going under number 8. she is very young children with her. is it possible for me to text her and ask her to come to make whatever, that she wants to make?

>> president omotalade i don't know is that for agenda item 7 >> testifier: that's i don't know she's for 7 or 8. >> president omotalade were happy to have her for 7 or 8. >> testifier: i will texture them. thank you limits. this is concerning item 7. i asked if there's a reasonable argument that the environment department in this commission as to allow the use of 2 or one herbicides based on policy 4.2 of the roads recreational space him and for the city's charter or for the natural areas mission which is protected remnants of native plants. i will say briefly, no the answer is no. neither the general plan for the rose nor the natural

area program assumes spring. in fact, in the natural areas program mission statement talks about volunteer stewardship, not herbicides as part of their original mission. despite the biodiversity program to the contrary there is in fact no scientific evidence that biodiversity be enhanced by eliminating so-called invasive plant species. in fact, the chief scientist of the nature conservancy, peter-has gone on record that california has 21% more species due to our non-native naturalized so-called aliens being added. i have reference for that specific reference and his source, which came out of the just and manual have actual numbers if you're interested. there is also considerable scientific evidence that there are similar amounts of biodiversity, in the

canopy of such an non-native trees such as eucalyptus is need other native trees. the sources for this are many studies that i can quote but briefly, one by dr. joe mcbride he talks about at the commonwealth club in 2014, and one by dov sax. a massive study by robert stebbins in the 80s. one by--and are written for a street counsel with dr. mcbride. san francisco actually retains 97% of its native plants since 1850. there's only 19 of 6 under 95 plants existing in san francisco in 1850 that have gone extinct. the source for that is a journal of the global

ecology and biogeography in 2011 that is actually the extinction. i can provide the sources if you wish. thank you >> president omotalade thank you. next next speaker, please. san francisco forest alliance. >> testifier: i would like to thank you today for taking this subject up. i would like to also say that in terms of time spent in backyards i believe the natural areas program uses a lot of pesticides and so we do want our children to enjoy i know this is getting into item made by the terms of the biodiversity, i want to piggyback what she said and say we are not god. the climate change, the climate change

issue is stronger today than ever. today's front-page headline i like to enter this into the record from james hansen, questions about how soon we will pass the point of no return in which we look and consequences that cannot be reversed on any timescale that people care about. consequences include sea level rises of several meters which we estimate could incur this century. or latest next century it possible fuel omissions continue at a high level. that would mean lots of coastal cities most of the world's large cities in all their history. this is today. this is breaking news today. i've got 3 articles from 3 different sources regarding this study. these reports by one of the world's top climate scientists was referencing this. so, here's another one. this is the actual report itself. i spelled

the super storms evidence from paleoclimatic data, climate modeling modern observation that 2°c will global warming could be dangerous. so, when we have in the terms of and the purposes of biodiversity, trying to manage in a godlike way our natural parks and putting our children in danger because of the pesticides that are there, then i'm questioning the role biodiversity. i'm questioning, as your question or not she's not here right now-how this all plays into a new playground where new frontier in terms of, change. i believe san francisco should lead-it's a city that leads in every other way and we should lead-ugly speaking again on item 8, we should lead in terms of allowing the green mass in our parks to be given a value not to be felling them and not

to be managing them as god. >> president omotalade thank you. next speaker, please. ron parker from the san francisco forest alliance. >> testifier: good evening commissioners. thank this time i'm a resident of district 735 years and i use the city parks quite frequently. this inquiry might. as canyon park lake merced and mclaren park. several videos were nt you recently. i can assume you looked at them but anthony was good enough to send this to you. one of which included a san francisco dot worker in natural areas program speaking on the video. when he spoke about was specifically encoding

and my observing him bring herbicides about davidson he said he's enhancing the biodiversity by spraying the weed patches to protect the plants that involve here. i selectively applying herbicides. that's a quote directly from this worker. what is interesting about this statement is he is trying to protect the plants that involve here. that implies to me, there is no certainty it's going to work. is going to have to reapply the herbicide again and again in the fax hold this to be true. he also spoke about the plants they've all fear which implies the non-natives evolved over time. will be more of a pertinent statement that expect him to say he's trying to protect the plants are native here. my point is about the workers use of the word

diversity. we just heard a great presentation mr.-and the professor from san francisco stated my point is much more understanding of the word biodiversity should be brought forth. i've not heard a definition of that tonight. i had some slides. i saw some people sponsor that what does this mean? is it specifically meaning invasive plants are evil? and must be destroyed with chemicals. is that what biodiversity means. what the public would say myself or someone from the fan alliance means biodiversity means not using the herbicides in trying something other than a chemical to go after something that is viewed undesirable in the native areas of our city parks. so biodiversity from genes, from species to ecosystems that was on the side. many services working together with biodiversity? i would welcome

your definition of that. or put it in writing. began omotalade thank you. next speaker, dr. jennifer-california inst. for biodiversity. >> testifier: my name is jennifer erskine. i am a plant ecologist. i focus on weeds and natural areas and very narrow fax on diversity both the effects of the species and the effects of removal i did my doctoral work and now the currently executive director of the nonprofit that looks, teaches using rigorous science and the outdoors to teach children science. so, i want to

start and say that most scientists define nonnative species as those which have arrived here before-not before on-site. with or after european explorers arrived. so that is what the scientific researchers consider as an nonnative species. so just so that is defined for the group. i want to thank peterand dr. have to not for the presentation. my focus is not on the herbicide aspectinvasive species could affect the versed. specifically such species though the greens invading those issues related to pieces such as acacia, and those 2 in particular.

leguminous species are nitrogen pictures but they increase nitrogen in the soil and make more nitrogen available in the soil. which changes the whole soil dynamics. the species native to many of our coastal environments have not evolved to have this increase nitrogen availability, yet the non-native species that are invading have the ability to take advantage of this increase nitrogen availability in the soil. so, we are finding that many of these varmints and dated by nitrogen fixers are becoming more invasive non-native species. so, even when restoration occurs if the spaces are not treated and removed its difficult to get native species to come in. it's really important for luminous

species to be controlled. i wanted to mention that in the first presentation it was discussed and 2 of you commissioners discussed the recreational use of native areas. of these areas. the desire to- >> president omotalade thank you. >> testifier:. i worked for several years was deeply involved in forest watershed restoration. i know a lot about restoration and biodiversity. i grew up in the sierra mountains. truly natural areas. the

presentations we saw looked great. what they didn't show you was the incredible dark side that the biodiversity movement has become since its beginnings which were just about to making sure we stop using endangered species. they've turned into a frankenstein monster that is about wiping out massive tracts of 150-year-old trees in san francisco and east bay pacifica to try to get old habitats to come back to hope that we can replace biodiversity that way. these are 150-year-old forests that are biodiversity in their own right. they are standing the test against human destruction and we have dr. situation people think there's

biodiversity to destroy 150-year-old forest. i sent you an e-mail around 1 pm. hopefully it got you. it has some good links in it. the key problem i want to deal with is to removal of trees. there's other problems with the natural areas program and bio efforts towards biodiversity but the removal of trees is the big one that you can see from what i e-mailed you that it causes massive increases in greenhouse gases going into the atmosphere pacifica, alone, getting rid of those trees will increase greenhouse gases to the chain of adding 555 cars to the road. the east bay hills if we accomplished getting rid of those trees the biodiversity folks want would increase-it be the equivalent of adding 15,000 cars to our california highways. so, the number one

threat to biodiversity on this planet, the one we need to be most worried about, is the global climate crisis and global warming that's been induced which has the potential to be like another extension extension which could wipe out 90% of life is spent that the biodiversity threat. trying to cut down trees to restore of diversity is absolutely extinct insane way to try to solve a problem and it's incredibly counterproductive. we need to stop cutting down trees as part of this program. >> president omotalade: next speaker, please. >> testifier: thank you so much for allowing us to go early. we appreciate get my name is jesse rapier on the mom that i run a preschool in the

dooley valley and him the according urban out the cultural lines. as a mom preschool teacher am very concerned about any use of pesticides on speaking on item number 8. very concerned about any pesticides or herbicides in san francisco parks. also as a preschool teacher i would say that what most parents that come to my business are looking for for the kids for their city kids is a nature experience. time outside time playing in the dirt could weave all these wonderful parks natural areas all over san francisco and it's terrible that i think mike is there and i don't worry about putting him on the ground to run around in such things. so, specifically, [inaudible] in san francisco for number of reasons but specifically we love to ask not to target edible plants get all the kids i know, every 3 old i note knows this plans. this is a what you call it-they'll love

it the sour flavor is very appealing to them. by understanding it's a plan targeted with herbicides >> i like the sour grass. >> you want them despite? no because they run over to it and eat it. specifically asked not target any notes edible nut target especially the sour grass and i'll say it addition to being a mom and a preschool teacher, i am a native plant enthusiasts and i am up wildlife enthusiast because about wildlife enthusiasts mineta plant enthusiasts. spain pesticides and herbicides in order to achieve a perfect state of native plants is totally misses the point to my mind. that's not the way to add biodiversity. it's not the way to increase flora and fauna in the city. as we were the organizers does other things you can do besides using

chemical sprays. that's what we're asking for. because we give out the bugs that we care but the birds that i still run a native plant garden. i live right next to that lot for 5 years and so only 4 species of birds ever there. we have tons of plans that were not native. while it was a farm we saw 40 species of birds. so thanks very much for your time. >> president omotalade thank you. next speaker, please. >> testifier: we need to pick our battles. the the spencer

plans for spivak are unsustainable. the flora and fauna that arrived here since 1769 are here to stay. they can be removed from that small natural area, but there'll always come back and we really shouldn't keep on polluting our parks with toxic chemicals and try to bring that back. my key point here is you see all the people in the room that all here for one thing in particular jersey the importance of its and with the-about to be approved and the plan greatly expanded was the use of these negative methods. older to point out some testimony and jake-from prozac confirm when asked the question whether any

non-native plants properly removed and they never come back, and there are none. let's give up on that. have a natural areas program and take care of our natural heritage but using some of these methods is just not the way to go. it's not working. >> president omotalade thank you. next speaker, please. item 7. >> testifier: so the biodiversity in san francisco is amazing. we all know it and we all love it. one of the reasons i love being here is the redwoods about the coastal scrubs. the chaparral. it's amazing. there's a lot of rare and endangered species there makes san francisco unique. these are the species we only find here in this area. theirs

are also our responsibility. i think people who didn't know about the species realize that what do we do about biodiversity loss be. there's very little i can do about the elephant but i can do a lot about the species in my backyard. so, i started to volunteer and i really love with the open spaces doing. i love that they're bringing people out. the connecting them with the plants and animals and people are becoming connected to the cities and some 8 amazing ways. i really love what you said about creating more open spaces and creating parks for kids to play in the mets break up summit concrete and that create pores green spaces. also, i would say let's not also forget the animals that were here good let's not forget those that are been trying to survive. let's include that into creating

these more parklands. when you mentioned climate change and what to do about that, it makes me nervous when i start thinking about creating anything is going to bind the hands of our land manager. because i don't think it's going to be one solution. i think it's going to be a whole lot of many different solutions . with our biodiversity, with all of these unique ecosystems we are going to have to find many unique solutions and i really just encourage more staff, more funding like all that stuff and also let's not find the hands of our land management. they're very educated and am really impressed with them. they're very knowledgeable that things are moving in the right direction. we need to support them >> president omotalade thank you. him and to call up the next 3 speakers. caen

>> testifier: on a san francisco resident of 15 years i started out as a dog walker in the city using all these parks and open spaces as my place of business and also my recreational habitat. i want to thank the commission for inviting these presentations from peter pascoe dr. hafford. the city has a long history of protecting its biodiversity in leading the way it's the appeal we need to continue and expand our efforts in that direction. the organization that peter mentioned that were on the slide are very familiar to me. i began engaging in stewardship in san francisco my early 20s and i was really mesmerized by the vision within the city to preserve these areas. appreciate peter reminding us that rich history of leadership by san francisco and conserving biodiversity allergy to continue that tradition.

>> president omotalade thank you. next speaker, please. not here? we will move on to- public comment is closed. [calling names]. public c batch22:16:55 [calling names]. [calling names]. [calling names]. [calling names]. [calling names]. [calling names]. [calling names]. [calling names]. [calling names]. [calling names]. >> testifier: good evening my personal expense i was up presidio park spent i have to tell you, was it a real life change that i have retired from the business career by that time. but what we learned about the environment and how it is so integrated was really one of the best educations i could've had free of charge. just saturday mornings 9-12 pm in the rain. but we were able to

see firsthand and be a part of transformation of a landscape that wasn't broken down park parking lot full of trash and broken rails at the edge of san francisco bay into this beautiful place that attracted species that have not been there in many many years. when i think audubon also recorded the fact that the western blue board erred returned on the habitat of data plans in part of the presidio after 100 years that would not have happened if we hadn't returned the native habitat to that particular area. soak i support the indigenous plant species for what they represent because they are indigenous to the area. i believe that we should also trust the intellectual and scientific capability of the

people that we have put in charge of a biodiversity program to use signs carefully and best management practices using the best tools that they can as safely as they can to control invasive species that prevents our native species from growing. >> president omotalade thank you. [calling names]. >> testifier: my name is jonathan winter. i'm sure as the ipm coordinator for the open space. which is a collection of preserved 23 preserves just south of here taken about 16,000 acres. what i want to speak to you today about is not only am i core data am also a citizen of the san francisco 2 young children

and san francisco public schools. i got my masters degree at usf my masters degree bogus on biodiversity and i want to point out there is -we've been talking about diversity and what exactly that is. but i think most people understand biodiversity as a species number of species we have but also ask population of those species. so it's an interaction with the population and also number of species. the study that was done in the presidio shows creek percent of the population, which is don native invasive were taken of approximate 66% cover the native area. so, i think we need to make sure we are very clear about our wording here. what is non-native and what is invasive? nonnative means they were brought here originally from europeans and invasive is

a subset of those nonnative. that something that we have to keep in mind. that we are targeting those 3% that are doing the most damage and not going after every single species we see. traditional use of herbicide is one of many tools using a program. when the other tools that are used, but it's a necessary tool. to make sure we do not lose what we consider temporary loss of these areas. the loss of habitat over time great a fax on the rest of the biodiversity from our flora and fauna. most concerns i've heard from citizens is the fact that pesticides of being dangerous in the thing to keep in mind that is typically due to broadcast spray. this is not something natural lands we do spot spring. it's minimal amount of pesticide used in these areas to get his job done we want to get done. the last

thing i just want to say is spirit discount scientific evidence focused on a narrow focus of a few studies and not too tight hands of the land managers that have done so much studying and working the land for so long. >> president omotalade bt [calling names].thank you. [calling names] >> testifier:good evening commissioners. my name is sorry. as a resident volunteer with various stewardship or limbs and the city i want to share with you my 2 excitement about our cities embracing the importance of biodiversity. san

francisco has joined many other cities he's in the world to help embrace biodiversity is an important issue for our survival. biodiversity mean you see it everywhere in san francisco in open spaces and parks as was discussed earlier. biodiversity addresses the issues concerning our natural heritage. we will have a much more resilience and healthier environment in the city to live if we can sport a beautiful maine in the ecosystem and the native plants and the native birds is what will survive here because they belong to this area. i have a great opportunity to give school children educational walks in nature and natural habitats and help them connect to urban ecology. i get to witness

firsthand the light in the eyes and enjoyment of our youth by connecting them to nature telling about the existing biodiversity. many my hope is a mother and as an educator is the program of biodiversity gets fully supported by our city and by this commission. so we can have a real effective management of all our land, not just our parks and open spaces but beyond that across the different departments. i also want to say, i don't believe supporting biodiversity is playing god. i've heard that a few times tonight. i personally believe it's addressing equities for nature. our local nature and equity for ourselves. if we cannot allow major to have a space how can we allow equity among ourselves speak. i find our natural heritage terry telling about who we are and if our next

generation will not have access to that they'll be incredibly sad. >> president omotalade thank you. next speaker, please. here? >> testifier: i'm jill fehrenbacher. the local mom. activist and journalist. i want to speak to biodiversity and say i appreciated presentation we saw earlier. i think that every sickle person in this room supports biodiversity. they've mostly people care deeply about the environment. where all environmentalists. that's why were at this meeting. i think where there is disagreement is over what biodiversity means.. the definition of its and basically what that means. to me, biodiversity means having as many species as much like in an area as possible. herbicides are the very definition of them

. herbicides bean plant killer. when you kill species you lose biodiversity. something i think is important to point out and if you talk to the scientists, they'll agree with you, the herbicides that are being used do not selectively only target non-native species. they are broad herbicides. they kill everything they come in contact with. they kill not only plans but they have toxic affect on animals as well. mammals,, insects and each herbicide is different and you can read all the details on each one and understand how they affect different flora and fauna but they affect pollinators. they affect if you spake garland on native california poppy or-it will kill those plans as well. so, herbicides do not relate to advocate for the fact that herbicides do not support biodiversity. they distort biodiversity. that's the main

thing i want to say. i also like our speaker earlier, i also moved to glen canyon area for the candidate i love that. i love bringing my children into the canyon and i think that we are doing a real disservice if in the name of biodiversity we are intending to kill any different species that live in that area. so thank you. >> president omotalade bt thank you. [calling names] >> testifier: the natural

areas program >> president >> omotalade is your

microphone on? >> testifier: sorry. the natural areas program targets of 40 different species for herbicide use. first i want to focus on as many of the speakers before me have done is-. this is the only species now that requires the use of-, which is an herbicide probably even worse than-. as long as been following this issue, the hapless and capitals to was by a high priority of alternative. but that same it's [inaudible] that abuse has been substantially reduced. right now in the last 2 years except for one mistake at glen eagle the main use of this has been on

the natural areas. i like to suggest this is a bad idea for several reasons. first, it's a plant that will live long as we just saw. i'm sorry all these pictures are so small. i don't exactly why that was a series of 4 pictures showing children and of course you saw the real ring only minutes ago. spring this exposing them to the pesticide which is not approved for crop use. it also provides nectar for wildlife. that's a butterfly the bugs provide food for gophers which are an animal at the bottom of the food bed good everything from coyotes to

fox is due out. that's a honeybee. that's a picture i took today and need to be on it. secondly, there's no reason to believe the herbicide is useful. it seems to dominate the landscape when simpler but it dies down in summer. other plans become quite evident. in fact, some studies suggest the [inaudible] which benefits grass. quite frequently other plans do intermingle with it. many of these species are-but different species of plants with differently. so let me show you this is california poppy going with it. this is lupine growing with it. these are both as it happens species

that like [inaudible]. normal plans like lupine or copy our body are >> president omotalade thank you. next speaker, please. [calling names]. >> testifier: hello. denise willie member of california plan society speaking as an individual type. i want to first address the definition of biodiversity because it was gone by scientists we'll will submit he was referring to indigenous species. that is, species that evolved in a particular place. natural biodiversity. what is managed

by biodiversity hotspot? as you are from the dr. california is one of 35 internationally recognized biodiversity hotspots and that refers to native were digitally species in california. so, when you hear the word biodiversity, keep in mind that it's the indigenous species that are most at risk whether a person is referring to native and non-native species were strictly native and indigenous species. were not at risk of the world losing catalase were sour grass we are at risk of losing many species that live in california and only in california. the california society catalog maybe 63-over 6200 species of plants native

to california for approximately 1/3 were over 2100 species of those native plants are at risk and threaten by human activities. where to start? plants are primary producers. all they need is some light and air and lands a little bit of water. then you have editors predators and people we do plants. as a food web, food chain whatever that starts with plants. that's where we start because this area of san francisco is very hot very much part of that biodiversity hotspot. we need to protect the plant. we need to protect the plants that are indigenous to san francisco. now the city has already identified 32

significant natural resource areas. those are open spaces. those are the areas that are being managed by the natural resource division of spivak parks and recreation these the places we need to start. >> president omotalade thank you. next speaker, please. [calling names] >> testifier: good evening. i want to thank peter and prof. for their presentation this evening. i've been a resident of san francisco for about 25 years and 20 of those years i've been involved in doing part of maintenance and 15 of those resource management and working with a number of different volunteer groups. school groups, adults, children. all pull back some of the

information that prof. talked about but the wonderful biodiversity we haven't san francisco. going from the western regions we have absolutely beautiful doing communities. we have old woodlands remaining in san francisco, lovely grasslands throughout central san francisco and then in the eastern regions of san francisco as well as traits are lovely but merced and rock outcrops. to speak in part to your point about not having green spaces on the eastern regions of san francisco i think that's reflective of the development that occurred here. we are fortunate enough that the central eastern or central western and southeastern areas were developed later and higher peak that remain as lovely

diverse biologically rich communities that support a diversity of both resident and migratory animals species. some of them rare and endangered as prof. mentioned the mission new butterfly. not only are these areas important for wildlife but also important for our enjoyment. the native plants we have we also have in space of plants and the invasive plants that have the tendency to outcompete our native plants requires responsible land management that responsible land management includes mostly doing mechanical removal of invasive species. earlier, there was discussion about removal of plants in the key family. this number of other plans very easily removed by hand. mustard added shannon some we also addressed with herbicides are easily addressed initially by removing part of

the vegetation and following up later with an herbicide application. i want to finish off just saying i support promoting and protecting our biodiversity for the future and by decreasing habitat loss by managing invasive cc and preserving our existing open spaces. >> president omotalade thank you. next speaker, please. [calling names] >> testifier: thank you very much. i'm chris joyner am so excited to see so many people here actually addressing this extraordinarily important issue for 21st century which is biodiversity that to manage it properly. break complex issue.

i would like to thank john heffernan for introducing that to me complex at sf state where i was a master students and following that up with nature conservancy group and the people here in san francisco. now i run an organization that does the children outside and educate staff at sf unified and many other districts about the importance of science, good science, nature, natural history of biodiversity. it comes from a passion as many rest of spoken about going up in the wilderness to open the wilderness in san francisco the spring of 1967-present some lucky to been here through the changes but as dr. haffner said the land has to go back further to understand the system going on. i want to say this issue about pesticides, herbicides and 11 address it again it's very complex one that would be good to those that have knowledge of the abilities to restore what came before through mechanical works as christopher said, and through continual stewardship as many

others will say here that jake-over 80 years ozone committed work and i would say is a time and a place for all factors to get into play because we are a green city. their strength biodiversity is beauty and biodiversity. positive future lies in maintaining biodiversity at the issue at hand is habitat loss and invasive and the distraction of biodiversity of course the actual elephant in the corner is global warming. their strength and preserving the diversity for addressing the challenges of global warming and why bother has presented many times that i want talk about it is simplistic term legacy to her students, we have a refuge it's our sponsor blue jacket that refuge open to use-it's a place for outdoor recreation are an

inspiration to the natural laboratory food water and shelter for ourselves and technological downtime as we look down so much major member to look up in a bird chirping will help that. and great opportunities for creative thought and restoring our cognitive memory has been described in the literature that we are freiwald services with water carbon nitrogen so i like to close by saying that expose you to unlock your wii because you were that she give you know some to empower not only ourselves but our youth to maintain our home as stewards and no biodiversity is not one that is all that together we must work together to doubt and that dirty. >> president omotalade tan thank you. next speaker, please. [calling names] >> testifier: my name is greg spark. i looked into them. when i was a kiddies to play over diamond heights which is now developed. we see water snakes

amoxil is but i feel like i'm really from an ancient time i'm only 67. so it's been very painful to watch so much of the open space where i used to play as a kid and for all of us wherever we used to play as a kid return to those sites and you see that much of the open space is now gone. it's a worldwide problem. i volunteer at the natural areas program and the national park service and it's very rewording to see how to manage these remnant habitats. so learned a lot from these when managers and i would recommend that if you're not aware of how to do habitat restoration, just go out and volunteer and you learn so much and you become very connected to the natural world of san francisco. if you do it enough it becomes very spiritually

rewarding because you can watch how we have repaired the damage that was done in the past and restored habitat allowing nature to come back and become part of the habitat. also a small native plant nursery in golden gate park where i propagate san francisco native plants that i give those plans out to the public for free because i know the importance of native plants. it implants are the foundation of all the ecosystems. without the nato plans you lose all the native species. so we need to propagate native plants, trust the land managers who work on this on a daily basis so questions were asked earlier, what should we do? to save biodiversity in san francisco? on this planet? number one, deal with the burning of fossil fuels. this commission should

do whatever it can to reduce dependence on automobiles and once we reduce their people out of their cars and get amount mutiny or bicycles, walking can be a joy. then we can move the asphalt and concrete and create wildlife ordinance community gardens could san francisco could be a paradise. we should as the environmental commissioners that you are you should strive for sustainable san francisco where we don't have to burn fossil fuels, where we can restore habitat for wildlife and weekends with and enjoy a sustainable world. we have the ability. >> president omotalade thank you. next speaker, please. [calling names] >> testifier: my name is william murphy. i am a member of the san francisco hatch

house harry's. we are a running club. the last 4 years we have been that one workers. we don't know any science that we don't know any of that stuff it we've been doing things like eradicating himalayan blackberries from you 70 marsh and mclaren park. this last saturday 6 of us spent 2 hours pulling radishes off of bernal hill. so, not talking about big picture and those kinds of things. the small pictures, there are a few people in this city who run the natural areas program who are working with the only a few people like us to do things like maintaining bernal hill as a grassland. 2

main town you so may marsh as a marsh. none of those things will be that way if the radish grows like it can. radishes probably it is not non-native. i believe it's actually the same powerplant we would find anywhere in san francisco, but bernal hill is now a native area as a grassland. so, you need tools besides just us fleeing them to make it stay grassland. we've taken an entire area of you 70 marsh and pulled blackberry which is what looked like they were talking about blood and sweat to get those things out of there. there are

now wholesale firms in that area. so, i hear i'm here to support those managers of the natural areas program and whatever tools they need and if that means a tiny bit of pesticides and herbicides, let them have it. >> president omotalade thank you. rascal. any further public comment? >> testifier: i did put in a card for the next item but i want to throw in a quick comment on this item to address a question that commissioner stephenson wrote earlier. with climate change how do we undertake conservation. it is a new and developing science

.johnson director of california invasive plant counsel. the national fish and wildlife service led a collaborative effort between the federal government and stakeholders to develop a national framework for climate adaptation for fish and wildlife plants. one of the upper level recommendations is to address existing ecological stressors mainly invasive species. that's one of the recommendations for allowing data biodiversity to adapt but the state wildlife action plan that was just recently revised to engage invasive species as the top threat to native wildlife in california. >> president omotalade thank you. one other hand please come forward. >> testifier: jackson. you had

me before i spoke to the policy committee meeting recently that written a lot. i don't the commissioners must be weary soul out of consideration i might get really reassure. this item and the next item all i want to say is don't restrict the program from using tools that are essential to it. herbicides are essential to. that's all. thank you. >> president omotalade thank you. please come up. >> testifier: my name is victoria hammond did i have to point out to everybody who is saying the tiny tiny bit of roundup and garlic that we use in the parts the last time their records available was 2014 and p parks and recreation

alone explained sprayed roundup 174 times in city parks and 79 times in the natural areas. so just to put that into perspective, where all for biodiversity. were all environmentalists in europe but we've got to find another way to do it without these toxic chemicals that are killing people. >> president omotalade thank you. yes? >> testifier: i have a question for the drug. i understand this presentation was scheduled and supported by you because on march 8 international women's day about the biodiversity it i think the biggest concern was about health impact of herbicides. so, i do hope that you would

invite-the doctor began to speak those limited to 3 min. each to speak about dangers of herbicides. that's one ticket i hope it will happen before this is approved. now, there was a given the definition of native as something which was here before arrival of europeans. just kind of selective random point in time and saying whatever was there before the europeans arrived was good and after europeans arrived is bad. you can select different times. if this wonderful presentation which was showing mastodons and camels here and why native is something which started at the time europeans arrived, why not

go back in time ends restore whatever was there? as you probably heard many times, crisis right now is trying to restore the-which is on this earth in 7th century. so this which is going on is kind of a string of things. you're inserting something which probably was there and nobody knows exactly what was there but it's okay to use. toxic. also the commission that you are talking about being [inaudible] don't be so much because [inaudible] i can tell you, since the 90s i haven't seen a single ladybug in my

neighborhood. the number of butterflies is going down. i don't remember when i saw the last dragonflight and there's much less these bees on the plants in the front yard than it used to be. of course there are [inaudible] i don't have time but i'm saying that all this biodiversity it's very good things for chemical companies. san francisco should be opposing it is not supporting [inaudible]. >> president omotalade thank you. i think the gentleman behind you is first. >> testifier: my name is richard dotzler. listening to comments i really hope that the panel the city does come up with a really operational definition of biodiversity. i

think the it's incorrect to assume that introduced plants are invasive plants. that native plants are not invasive to the circumstances. you can look very quickly and san francisco you look at meta-lake and northlake in marin county you look at [inaudible] these are all places that are overridden by beta plants as well. i think that san francisco is a city of on native plants. for years many animals, many birds over 162 species of regular recurring birds in san francisco the overlying majority use them to nest in cavities of the streams the higher limbs of trees. to season these trees. out of all the species of animals, the

berkeley birds are gone as well. so, i hope we include non-native plants as part of biodiversity. or change the word biodiversity because that's not what biodiversity means. if there are subspecies that are runaways of particular [inaudible] under, change or we should take care of them. we are creating a culture here where people first asked is that a plant native or non-native pivots native and they write off as being invasive and let's kill it. let's poison it. that's not the right thing to do. i think it's important again we come up with the definitions we follow the policies to keep san francisco a bio diverse environments.

>> president omotalade thank you. yes? >> testifier: nancy smith. the longtime resident of san francisco could all be very brief. i think part of this discussion suggests we can make a distinction between diversity and natural biodiversity. we wonderful parks like the civic center rate outside. like large areas of golden gate park will begin of concerts and we also have very few natural areas we want to protect natural biodiversity. there, i think we should rely on intelligence and expertise for land managers to do the best job they can and with various techniques they need to maintain those areas. >> president omotalade thank

you. i'm going to do one last call for public comment before i close public comment. public comment on this matter is closed. >>[gavel] >> president omotalade there is no action item on this. so we can now move to the next item on the agenda. >> clerk: next item is approval of resolution file 2016 03 adopting the 2016 reduced risk pesticide list per city properties. under the environment though the department maintains a reduced this pesticide list identifying those pesticides may be used on city properties subject to restrictions they spent 3 documents are draft resolution file 2016 003 restrictions on most hazardous herbicides modified postings signed for

pesticide treatment 2016 reduced risk pesticide list. the sponsors debra rafael director. the speakers dr. chris geiger. integrated pest management program manager. by mental specialist with the san francisco international airport tim ramirez land and resource management manager san francisco public utilities commission, lisa wayne open-space manager san francisco rep parks and recreation department to show you mix an integrated pest management specials with her, do public works. this item is discussion and action. >> president omotalade director would you like to introduce this one as well >> testifier: yes. tonight you have an action item before you is coming back to you after 2 months of extensive work. in light of the new designation regarding the harm of one of the products on our list, you asked us to revisit the protections put in place to protect the health of workers in the health of the public. we have done that. so, what you

will hear tonight is a summary of the extensive amount of time that our staff and our staff and our department from across the city has spent with a truly good and safe efforts to ask the question what else can be done. you challenged us to find additional restrictions to put additional protections in place and to ask the question, is it necessary? what you will hear is our recommendations to you about how we move forward. i would like to before i asked chris to start, how they to remind you and everyone that this is not a fixed moment that is the end of a discussion. it's a point in time. that the law the ordinance says on an

annual basis this commission must ask the same set of questions. that we will continue to come before you as new information becomes available, as new opportunities for removal of items from the list come new additions we might want to put on the list. this is very much a living document and i'm interested to hear what not only this geiger has to say but also what all the other permits. i asked him, we hasn't specifically to come tonight because there were a lot of questions last commission meeting about what is it really look like and so we want to answer that question for you, not from our perspective but from the perspective of the professionals what hast with taking your guidance and making it real in the field. with that, chris you may start. >> testifier: good evening. back again and i want to thank

the commissioners for a lot of great conversation and question and thank the members of the community also. it has been a very long but i think ultimately a productive conversation but these restrictions. how's that? i should point out there are 2 other members of the group from puc may be chiming in on this. a compliance manager with natural resources jessica -supervising biologist with the same group. so, i am back after quite a lot of discussion on this topic and went on to talk about charlie mercifully brief good i know the hour is late. i'm going to go into the specific changes to those restrictions that we have come up with that are before you.

i'm not that go through the ones you party scene at the last meeting. i'll explain a little bit about what is behind those. also, here's a summary of the major concerns that came out with the public and the various submissions and conversations we had and then i'm asked major city partners to join me from the airport public utilities commission parks and recreation and public works. then finally give you a little idea what sort of timeline lies ahead in our program. we thanks to debbie, we like to talk about things in terms of the why, why were doing this in several pension people mention this. i feel like it's aimed for the same one more time. for so were the toxic reduction program. we try to reduce toxics every day. we try to minimize harm every day. it's what we do. his lower devoted to but more poorly i think everyone in this room

shares the same why essentially. we once per month better and run until stewardship better management of our lands, safer practices and safer for the environment. i hope we can all agree on that that's good to remember what you agree on. when we get down to over doing and how we do it or do of course is trying to make a plan on better weed management minimizing and how we do it, that's where you get into q3 2 expertise we have here tonight and also expertise we speak with every month from other departments in our meetings. so, the existing restrictions as i mentioned i'm not to go through these except imagine we do anticipate substantial reduction in herbicide use police

restrictions along no use for fairly cosmetic purposes. that's a significant thing. also the 15 foot buffer around any path is also very significant. the additions that we've made after all these conversations, number one, is we are adding a clause that says that we no use on blackberry bushes during berry season do something that's largely been done already but it's important to put these codify these things make it clear in our training and conversations with city staff that this is not acceptable and the soweto protect people and wildlife. we are updating our contractor requirements were talked about contractors who work for the departments especially on renovations rebuilding rec centers that sort of thing. to make sure they are on board with the dam

and its requirements and their following the policy we put out there. right now it stated a more general way that there can be retrained and what is required from the relevant hygiene core nader but were working on more specifically language and procedures that we hope to develop with a severe we always talk about this with parks and recreation a couple months back and developed putting into place now on contractors and that's i think it's going to be a big improvements. we are requiring the use of blue indicator dye for treatments this is specially important when you're often in the middle where often by hilltop to make it very clear

where a pesticide or herbicide application has been made as your are a couple pictures courtesy of parks and recreation the give you an idea what's going on here. the picture on the left you can actually see some-has been treated around a plant there preserving. that's a plant in the middle that was not sprayed. is kerry gives you an idea of how specific they get with these treatments. the scene on the right is another spot spraying huge amount of treatments and natural areas have done-do at least will speak to this are these kinds of presurgical events and the guy i think will give an added level of transparency and for warning if anyone happens to be there. i should point out within a few minutes those were not look like anything anyone would ever want to eat. they're

going to be wilted. direct supervision by a licensed person this is something that came up as a proposal last time and we have talked to all the relevant departments about this to see if something workable and what this means is having a licensed person the means of pest control agriculture pest control advisor qualified applicator on site at the time of these products being used and this serves to provide better oversight and making sure they're doing things right . it also helps with worker protection because worker protection is only as good as the worker who is there and putting on what they should be putting on this provides another level of oversight on that. they actually act to reduce herbicide you somewhat tedious having these requirements in place. we don't know that but it's likely. in our discussions with the departments they're going to

need some time to reshuffle staff or get ready for this so we proposed a six-month buffer. starting accidents requiring the direct supervision of climate. another tradition is a requirement to use some sort of barrier for any treatment in the past. remember, were not allowing people who pass except if it's a public health and provoke safety issue. and usually its poison oak. you cannot have workers without objection is a worker health issue and so in this kind of the case will have some sort of barrier as an example, to make it abundantly clear that this is been treated along with the usual postings before and after.