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Butte Environmental Council E-Sentinel
March 2023
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BEC's Mission is to protect and defend the land, air, and water of Butte County and the surrounding region through action, advocacy and education.
Our monthly newsletter is designed to keep our community informed about local issues that impact our region's environmental quality and bring you opportunities to become involved.
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Is this email cut off at the end? Click the link provided at the end to view the full email in a new window. | |
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In this month's issue:
- Endangered Earth! Earth Day - Day of Action April 22
- Walk for Earth Puppet Making Workshops
- Chico Plants Trees! March 18
- California Arbor Week
- Upcoming Community Events
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- Community Garden Plots now available!
- Garden and Composting Update
- Seeking Volunteers!
- Apply to be a Climate Action Fellow!
- 2023 Calendar of Events
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Saturday, April 22, 2023 marks 53 years of Earth Day celebrations!
Earth Day is the annual celebration that honors the achievements of the environmental movement, a movement started in the 70’s to advocate for local, federal and state governments to work together with the people to protect the environment. Earth Day serves as a day to remind people of the endless need to continue to protect the Earth's natural resources for future generations to come.
This year BEC is hosting a passion packed array of Earth Day Events on Saturday, April 22!
The Walk 4 Earth and Rally will kick off Earth Day in downtown Chico. From 9:00 to 10:30 am you will be able to walk 4 earth while showcasing your earth art project. You can participate in the parade in a number of ways. In the past years, BEC has been known for creating Endangered species puppets out of paper mache. If you want to create a puppet for the parade you can read more below in the puppet making article. Want to participate in the walk? We take ALL sorts of folks and demonstrations walking for environmental action in the Walk for Earth?
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See “20 Ways to Participate in the Walk for Earth” HERE
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See BEC’s Puppetmaking Handbook HERE
After the foot parade a variety of volunteer climate action projects will take place around Butte County from 11 to 2pm. You can read more information below in the call for volunteers article.
The fun doesn't stop there! After that we will be hosting the Environmental Community Gathering from 5 to 8pm at the Rose Garden, 545 Vallombrosa Ave, where there will be music, refreshments, informational boots, fun demonstrations and activities for all ages.
Stay tuned at www.becnet.org/bec-events/eee for more details regarding BEC’s Earth Day FUN!
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Endangered Species Puppet Making Workshops | |
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The Endangered Earth Event will take place on Saturday, April 22, from 9:00 AM until 8:00 PM. The Walk for Earth foot parade and rally in downtown Chico will begin at 9:00 AM. Registration will begin at 8 am at Children's Park. Anyone can participate in the parade for free!
How you can be involved: Creating a paper mache puppet (using newspaper and tape) the puppet creator gets to choose an animal while learning all about its size, lifespan, food, shelter, and ecosystem. This STEM project engages our minds in science, engineering, and art. One way the Butte Environmental Council has supported STEM education is by providing endangered species puppet making workshops. If you are interested in creating a puppet, BEC will organize visits from puppet-makers to help launch this project. Please schedule a visit using our online scheduling system Setmore, linked HERE. You will choose Puppet making #1. There are two workshops to choose from: Puppet making #1 is the most important, most people will not need the second workshop. If you have problems finding or scheduling a time please let us know by emailing action@becnet.org.
ALL puppet making classes will be an hour and a half long and happen on Mondays starting March 6th. The last day to register for a workshop is April 3rd.
We’ve found that the total time to create a papier mache puppet is about 5-6 hours. So make sure you start early. The workshop is only for the introduction and paper packing portion of the puppet making; finishing the puppets is the puppet creators responsibility.
In addition, BEC has created a video series by puppet-makers Susan Tchudi and Emma Beesley that you can use to guide your students in puppet making. Links to these videos can be found below.
Part 1: https://youtu.be/vl0YcfMWQ6E
Part 2: https://youtu.be/uIFlRJuB2PU
Part 3: https://youtu.be/bqfP1ouxfUM?t=2
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CHICO PLANTS TREES! MARCH 18 | |
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Our next community-wide tree-planting event was postponed due to the extremely stormy weather forecast. We are hoping for a break in the weather to give us a decent volunteer work day on Saturday, March 18th, the new event date.
At 9am, we will kick off the event at the Dorothy F Johnson Center on E 16th St. Then at 10 am volunteers will be sent out to their planting locations for the day and will be expected back around 1 pm.
You can help us expand the urban canopy this spring by volunteering to help us plant up to 50 trees in various neighborhoods throughout Chico! If you were signed up as a volunteer for March 4th and still would like to volunteer on March 18th, please confirm with the Urban Forest Coordinator by emailing urbanforest@becnet.org. If you were not signed up to volunteer previously but would like to sign up now, also email the Urban Forest Coordinator.
Special thank you to all of the volunteers who have already signed up, we can not do it without you!
The deadline to receive a tree during this event has passed, however, the free tree inquiry form is LIVE on our website for you to request a tree to be planted during future events or by our weekly Wednesday tree planting team.
We have a wonderful group of volunteers who plant trees weekly on Wednesdays. If you would like to be a volunteer on a weekly basis as well, you can sign up by contacting urbanforest@becnet.org.
On the horizon: The next community tree planting event is scheduled for winter of 2023, so don’t fret there is always another opportunity to plant a tree with BEC.
Lastly, keep your eyes peeled for more information regarding the winter event. We are always in need of amazing volunteers, just like you, to help us improve the natural spaces in our communities!
Funding for the City of Chico “Seed to Shade” project has been provided from the 2021/2022 California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE) Urban and Community Forestry Program General Fund.
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California Arbor week begins on March 7th each year in honor of famed California Horticulturist Luther Burbank’s birthday. Burbank developed over 800 varieties of fruits, flowers, and vegetables in his career and was known to have produced 20,000 tree seedlings in less than one year. Show your support for trees and BEC's tree-planting efforts by volunteering or donating to our Tree Fund campaign at https://bit.ly/BEC-tree-fund
California Arbor Week is also a special time dedicated to learning about the important role that trees play in keeping our ecosystems healthy and thriving. In addition to learning about the important role that trees play in our ecosystems, we should also take action by planting more trees to sustain the valuable resource that trees are.
You may ask yourself, “More trees?! We already have so many!” Well, just like all living things, trees have a lifespan. When a tree reaches the end of its lifespan, it is important to have young maturing trees established in the ground to replace the old mature tree in order to sustain ecosystem health.
Not only do trees play an essential role in keeping our ecosystems healthy, they also provide us with mental, physical, social and economic benefits. Trees encourage physical activity outdoors which is known to help improve mental and physical health. Spending time outdoors also increases your chances of social interactions with others in the community which helps build connections and bring people together while also adding beauty to the landscape, increasing property value. And these are just some of the mental, physical, social and economic benefits that trees provide in any given area, which is why we should continue to plant more of them in our parks, schools and community shared spaces.
If you know of any places that can benefit from anything mentioned above, please reach out to Miranda at steward@becnet.org. Trees PLEASE is a program dedicated to enhancing schools, parks and community shared spaces.
Funding for this project has been provided through California ReLeaf and the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CAL FIRE), Urban and Community Forestry Program with funds made available through the California Drought, Water, Parks, Climate, Coastal Protection, and Outdoor Access For All Act of 2018.
Join BEC in celebration of TREES during "Arbor Days"
From California Arbor Day, March 7, through National Arbor Day, April 28, your generous contribution to the BEC Tree Fund will help us exceed our goals to plant more than 200 large, climate-change-busting shade trees! Donations made to the fund during this time will be matched by 200%... that's a lot of tree-planting power!
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Other Upcoming Community Events | |
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3/5- 9:30am Beginning Bird Walk at Feather River Parkway with Altacal Audubon Society
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3/10- Green building webinar online 10-12 (Link)
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3/17 or 3/18 - Seed Gathering & Land Tending with Chico TEK (LINK)
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3/18 - Oroville Arbor Day Event (LINK)
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3/25 - Paradise Grazing Festival with Butte County Fire Safe Council (LINK)
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3/31-4/2 - Garden Blitz Chico to Gridley with Butte County Local Food Network -- Volunteers Needed! (LINK)
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Every Friday - Volunteer at Verbena Fields with TEK Chico from 10am-1pm (LINK)
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Every Thursday - Help make local compost with Paradise Community Compost (more info HERE)
View BEC's expanded Community Events Calendar HERE. If you would like to promote your environmental-related event to the next newsletter or on the community calendar on our website, please email staff@becnet.org.
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Community Garden Plots Available | |
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Butte Environmental Council manages the Oak Way Community Garden, located at 8th Ave & Highway 32 (Nord), and adjacent to the Oak Way Community Park. The garden has 40 plots on a half-acre that serves about 20 families at any given time. Gardeners grow their choosing of food, flowers, medicine, and/or fiber. We partner with Drop in the Bucket Composting Service to recycle food scraps from the community and produce rich soil on site. We believe putting our hands in the dirt has the power to heal hearts and minds, and we invite you to participate in this community project.
There are two garden plot sizes, 15x15' and 25x25', each with its own water spigot. There are a few smaller plots in various shapes and sizes that range from 4x8' to 8x16'. Each plot is rented for a one year term and will be renewed in February 2024.
If you are interested in renting a plot at the garden, please email steward@becnet.org to learn more or sign up.
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Garden Volunteer Day
We host a monthly volunteer work day at our Oak Way Community Garden. Bring out your friends and family to do some gardening and explore the space. We also accept food scraps for compost!
This month’s event will be Saturday March 11th from 12-2pm.
Rain cancels.
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Garden Materials Donations
Oak Way Community Garden is in need of materials donations!
If you have shovels, rakes, wheelbarrows, etc. that you aren't using bring them by a garden work day!
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Drop In The Bucket
We have a weekly compost pickup service!
Sign Up as a household or a volunteer at HERE.
Join the pickup brigade and help collect food scraps in your neighborhood!
We have 3 community garden drop off sites.
You can learn more on our website https://www.becnet.org/composting
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Seeking All Community Volunteers! | |
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Calling all Volunteers!
As mentioned above BEC has organized an array of events for Earth day. One of these events is an opportunity for Butte County citizens to volunteer to work on climate action projects around Butte County. These volunteer projects will teach volunteers and Butte county residents about how important it is to care for our environment, the three focus areas for these projects are Urban Greening, Wildfire resiliency, and Organic waste and edible food recovery. If you would like to volunteer please email action@becnet.org to find out more details!
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Butte County Local Food Network Garden Blitz is coming!
Our friends over at The Butte County Local Food Network are holding the 4th Annual Spring Garden Blitz! Due to weather, the event is now scheduled for March 31- April 2 in Chico and Gridley.
If you would like to help install garden boxes, or have a truck, please consider donating your time in helping those in the community have the ability to grow their own food right in their backyard, literally! To sign up as a volunteer, visit bclocalfood.org.
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Apply NOW to become a Climate Action Corps Fellow! | |
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Did you know: BEC is a host site for Climate Action Corps Fellows? We anticipate placing two summer fellows in June and July as well as four fellows for the 2023-2024 11-month cohort. Read more about the program through the state of California and how to apply!
California Volunteers are currently accepting applications for Fellow positions to serve in the 2023 California Climate Action Corps Summer Fellowship and the 2023-24 California Climate Action Corps Fellowship!
To learn more about the 2023 Summer Fellowship, click here. To learn more about the 2023-24 Fellowship, click here.
During the summer program, 80 fellows will be placed for two months (June 5 to August 4, 2023) with host partner agencies and organizations throughout the state. In the fall, 115+ full-time fellows will start an 11-month term of service (September 18, 2023, to August 15, 2024). Fellows will mobilize communities through climate volunteer engagement, climate action and education service projects focused on urban greening, organic waste and edible food recovery, and wildfire resiliency.
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YOU are the reason BEC thrives!
BEC is a grassroots non-profit dedicated to a healthy environment for us all. Our work is made possible by people like you! Being a BEC member means sustaining the work we do for the environment of Butte County and the surrounding area:
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Angel Members contribute $35 or more each month
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Sustaining Members contribute between $4 and $34 each month
You don't have to be a member to contribute:
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One-Time Donations of any amount helps us serve our community and the environment!
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Volunteers help by donating their time, energy, expertise, and resources.
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Thank you for your continued support of
Butte Environmental Council.
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Caitlin Dalby
Executive Director
(530) 891-6424
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