The Partnership News & Events

Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour

A variety of bird and butterfly friendly, pesticide-free, water conserving, low maintenance gardens that contain 50% or more native plants will be open on Sunday, May 2, 2010, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. at various locations throughout Alameda and Contra Costa counties. More than 40 garden talks will be scheduled throughout the day.

Visit www.BringingBackTheNatives.net and browse the "Preview the Gardens" section to read garden descriptions, view garden photos, and more. Preregistration is required. There is no fee, but contributions are appreciated to help off-set the cost of organizing the tour (approximately $15 per participant). Click here to register for the May 2, 2010 tour. 

Volunteers are needed to spend a morning or afternoon greeting tour participants and answering questions about natives. Complete the Volunteer section of the registration form if you would like to help out this year. 

Once again, as part of the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, a number of native plant nurseries will be open on Saturday, May 1 and Sunday May 2, 2010 from 10:00– 5:00. Take advantage of this opportunity to shop for unique or hard-to-find native plants that are not normally available in most nurseries! You do not need to register for the Tour in order to shop at these nurseries on the weekend of the Extravaganza. Click here for more information.

Applications for the 2011 Tour are being accepted. Click here to download the application form.

Town Hall Meeting #5 for the South Livermore Valley Area Plan

The Alameda County Planning Department will hold a town hall meeting on Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at 6:00PM at the Martinelli Center in Livermore to discuss increased traffic and parking needs in South Livermore. No advance registration is required. Please click here for more details and the agenda. 

 Wildlife Escape Ramp Workshop was featured in Ag Alert Magazine and Newspaper

On June 30th we were proud to offer a workshop to highlight wildlife friendly water developments. Ranch water developments for livestock are an important source of water for many species. Unfortunately, birds, bats and other animals can sometimes get caught in troughs. Not good for wildlife, and the resulting foul water isn't good for livestock either. Installing escape ramps is a cheap and effective way to keep troughs clean and safe.

Read more about the workshop and the wildlife friendly practices in the article:
"Ranchers build escape ramps for bats and other wildlife" by Steve Adler or in our August/September Newsletter.