Save Trestles Special Revisited
Orange County is still looking at building a long sought-after toll road through the backcounty of San Onofre State Beach in the San Mateo Creek watershed, despite the state and federal government repeatedly saying no.
Two-Part PBS Special On California State Parks
When the state of California set aside Yosemite Valley for protection as a park in 1864, it marked the beginning of California’s state park system, and the beginning of the idea of preserving a landscape and an environment as a wholly protected, public place. Eventually, the California State Park system became the model upon which the National Park Service would be built. Filmmakers David Vassar and Sally Kaplan talked with Tommy about California Forever, their new, two-part PBS special on the history and current challenges of California’s state parks.
California State Parks Foundation Legacy Award Winners Video
We’re pleased to present a video co-produced and directed by Treehuggers International founder and host Tommy Hough, in tandem with his Primary Focus production partner Gary Meade, for the California State Parks Foundation. Created for this year’s Parks Advocacy Day, an annual state parks lobbying event in Sacramento, the clip is a collection of the foundation’s Legacy Award winners, i.e. legislators who have gone above and beyond the call of duty in protecting California’s state park system.
Earth Day Restoration at California State Parks and the Crystal Cove Alliance
With the failure of Proposition 21, California’s remarkable state park system remains faced with similar threats of closure faced in previous years, but with $22 million in proposed cuts to state parks in Governor Jerry Brown’s proposed budget, park closures have gone from a worst case scenario to a certainty. The only question, at this point, is which parks will be closed and which organizations, conservancies, and local governments may be able step up and help. The Crystal Cove Alliance establishes a template for how it can be done.
Statement On the Defeat of Proposition 21
The best way to get people excited about the natural history and legacy of California State Parks is by getting friends, family, and neighbors into the Great Outdoors to experience parks and connect with them. Whether in a Redwood grove at Prairie Creek, hiking the bluffs at Montaña de Oro, or savoring the view from Font’s Point at Anza-Borrego, it doesn’t take much for the average person, when confronted with the beauty and wonder California State Parks, to find their “batteries recharged” and their sense of peace and balance restored.
Prop. 21 Gives California State Parks Hope
Treehuggers International supports the California Parks Access Pass, which will generate $500 million a year exclusively for California State Parks, and remove parks funding from the political roller coaster of the general fund.
New Surfrider Film Illustrates Cross Purposes of Water Agencies
Surfrider’s Belinda Smith, the Executive Producer of the animated film “The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water,” details how the mission of water agencies often runs counter to age-old lessons about the water cycle, plus Surfrider’s Stefanie Sekich discusses the current state of California’s dreaded oil-for-parks initiative.
Treehuggers International Heading to Sacramento for Parks Advocacy Day
Treehuggers International is heading to Sacramento on March 8th to put in a little face time with California state legislators to not only encourage lawmakers to keep California State Parks open, but to reject a proposal to eliminate public funding for parks with funding from controversial offshore oil drilling projects which may never be approved.