Practices WILD Cities Principle One
San Francisco's Biodiversity Guidelines for Development
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: San Francisco Department of the Environment, a WILD Cities Champion; San Francisco Planning Department
These guidelines represent cutting edge objectives and policies for encouraging new developments to integrate nature into the built environment.
San Francisco's General Plan Biodiversity Objective
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: San Francisco Department of the Environment, San Francisco Planning Department
The Biodiversity Objective within San Francisco's General Plan sets out to protect and enhance the biodiversity, habitat value, and ecological integrity of open spaces and encourage sustainable practices in the design and management of our open space system.
Links:
http://openspace.sfplanning.org/
Sustainability Plan Biodiversity Chapter
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: San Francisco Department of the Environment
Comprehensive biodiversity policies that served as the foundation for inspiring twenty years of local ecological management and stewardship in San Francisco, California.
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Links:
Sustainability Plan Biodiversity Chapter
Guidelines for Urban Forest Restoration
Location: New York City, New York, USA
Agency or Organization: New York City Department of Parks & Recreation
A compendium of the theories and practices developed over 30 years of natural area restoration by the NYC Department of Parks & Recreation’s Natural Resources Group. The book includes ecological and restoration principles to forest restoration, as well as a step-by-step guide to building sustainable urban forests. The information is specific to the NYC experience but is relevant to most dense urban areas: a legacy of encroachment upon and neglect of natural areas, fragmentation, and the rampant spread of invasive plant species.
Links:
Guidelines for Urban Forest Restoration, New York City (pdf)
Benefits of Trees and Urban Forests: A Research List
Agency or Organization: Alliance for Community Trees
Summarizes and cites findings from numerous city-based studies calculating ecosystem benefits, including: green infrastructure, public health, roads & traffic, business, property value, climate change & carbon, energy use, community, and wildlife & biodiversity
Links:
Benefits of Trees and Urban Forests (PDF)
Treasure Island Sustainability Plan
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: Treasure Island Development Authority
To protect and restore indigenous biological communities, create new habitat, maximize habitat value in developed areas, and provide opportunities for people to interact with nature.
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Links:
Treasure Island/Yerba Buena Island Sustainability Plan
Urban Forest Master Plan
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: Treasure Island Development Authority
To protect and restore indigenous biological communities, create new habitat, maximize habitat value in developed areas, and provide opportunities for people to interact with nature.
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Links:
Treasure Island/Yerba Buena Island Sustainability Plan
Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Mumbai, India
Location: Mumbai, India
Agency or Organization: Sanjay Gandhi National Park
Write summary
Links:
Urban Bird Treaty, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Location: Cities throughout the United States.
Agency or Organization: U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service
A program working with cities and partners to conserve migratory birds through education, hazard reductions, citizen science, conservation actions, and conservation and habitat improvement strategies in urban/suburban areas.
Links:
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Urban Conservation Treaty for Migratory Birds
Urban Bird Treaty Resource Book V2
Fish Hotel, Chicago, Illinois
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Agency or Organization: Friends of the Chicago River
Friends of the Chicago River offers an alternative vision for the River's fish habitat and recovery by installing the Fish Hotel in 2005. Thousands of visitors from around the world were in awe of the beautiful floating garden, our Fish Hotel, off of the Chicago Riverwalk. This glimpse of color along Chicago’s second waterfront not only provided an oasis in the midst of a busy city and gave valuable habitat in an otherwise limited reach of the river, but it inspired the City of Chicago to commit to more permanent habitat that will take the river to the next level. Fish are making a remarkable comeback. In 2012, Friends of the Chicago River removed the Fish Hotel from the Chicago River because they had achieved their goal—proving that if we built habitat fish could thrive.
The City is planning to install floating islands and in-stream habitat when it completes the next phases of the Chicago Riverwalk.
Links:
Friends of the Chicago River Fish Hotel
DC Wildlife Action Plan
Location: Washington, D.C., USA
Agency or Organization: DC Department of the Environment
DC has created a Wildlife Action Plan, to help assess biodiversity and plan for conservation of species within the district.
Links:
Wildlife Action Plan | DC Department of the Environment
Local Action for Biodiversity (LAB) City Reports, ICLEI
Location:
Agency or Organization: [ICLEI]((http://cbc.iclei.org/)
These 21 reports from cities and counties around the world outline the ecology as well as the political and civic processes in place to "mainstream" biodiversity in urban areas.
Links:
Biodiversity Mainstreaming Toolbox for land-use planning and development in Gauteng, Cities Biodiversity Centre
This resource provides tools for the management of biodiversity in urban areas through land-use planning, environmental authorizations, and the establishment and maintenance of protected areas, prepared for the Gauteng region in South Africa. The tools include bioregional plans, environmental management frameworks, and a biodiversity stewardship strategy, among many others.
Links:
Biodiversity Mainstreaming Toolbox for land-use planning and development in Gauteng (PDF)
URBIS Project: Biodiversity and ecosystem services Factsheet
Biodiversity and health example (Not sure this one goes here. Maybe better suited for another principle)
Links:
Biodiversity and ecosystem services: the foundation for human health and well-being Factsheet (PDF)
Biodiverse City Collaborative-- San Francisco
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: Inter-organizational
Inter-organizational collaborative working on specific citywide projects to connect San Franciscans with nature in the city.
For information on Biodiverse City Collaborative, contact Peter Brastow at the San Fransisco Department of the Environment.
San Francisco's Biodiversity Website
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: San Fransisco Department of the Environment
Online resource for connecting San Franciscans with the full breadth of information and opportunities of nature and biodiversity in San Francisco.
Links:
San Francisco's Biodiversity Website
GGNRA Native Plant Nurseries
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
Restoring for the ages by providing the living link required to restore native plant communities and habitat throughout the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.
Links:
San Francisco's Interagency Biodiversity Working Group
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: San Fransisco Department of the Environment
Guiding the development of an active interagency partnership to elevate biodiversity and natural resources management to a higher policy priority for San Francisco.
Links:
Interagency Biodiversity Working Group Website
San Francisco's Natural Areas Program (NAP)
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: San Francisco Recreation and Park Department (SFRPD)
The program works to preserve, restore, and enhance remnant Natural Areas in San Francisco, and to develop and support community-based site stewardship of these areas.
Links:
Wild Habitat Conservation in San Francisco's Natural Areas
Partnership-based Shoreline Habitat Restoration)
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: The Port of San Francisco; Golden Gate Audubon
To protect the salt marshes and adjacent "buffer zones" and continue to maintain and improve wetland and upland habitat, as well as public access opportunities.
Links:
For more information about the Port's wetland restoration efforts, please contact Carol Bach at: (415) 274-0568; [email protected]
Presidio Interagency Natural Resources Stewardship Program
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
Agency or Organization: The Presidio Trust; National Park Service; Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy
Managing and stewarding the natural resources and native habitats of the Presidio and connecting people and their local National Park.
Links:
Open Space Stewardship + Partnership
Oasis: Citizen Science (Video)
SF Plant Finder
Agency or Organization: San Francisco Department of the Environment, San Francisco Planning Department
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
A plant database for creating habitat in San Francisco. Citizens can search based on their location and also by plant community throughout San Francisco.
Links:
Green Hairstreak Corridor
Agency or Organization:San Francisco Parks Alliance and DPW, Hoover Middle School and Kids in Parks, Hands-on Bay Area, and San Francisco Department of the Environment, and in addition we receive ongoing help from neighborhood volunteers and hundreds of unique volunteers
Location: San Francisco, California, USA
The Green Hairstreak Corridor is a true urban wildlife corridor in the heart of San Francisco working primarily to connect two butterfly populations that had become isolated by urbanization. Nature in the City currently maintains 14 public habitat gardens, and the butterfly is now seen flying throughout the neighborhood.
Links:
Green Hairstreak Corridor: Connecting Islands in the Sky to Save an Imperiled Butterfly
Audubon Society's Bird Town Designation
Agency or Organization: [Pennsylvania Audubon Society]((http://pa.audubon.org/)
Location: Pennsylvania, USA
Bird Town is a working partnership of Audubon and municipalities in Pennsylvania to promote conservation and community-based actions to create a healthy, more sustainable environment for birds and people. Provides tools to engage residents, schools and businesses in making more ecologically-friendly decisions, conserving energy and in the process, saving money.
Links:
How Does My Municipality Become a Bird Town?
The Million Tree Initiative
Agency or Organization: [Pennsylvania Audubon Society]((http://pa.audubon.org/)
Location: Denver, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Ontario and Shanghai.
The Million Tree Initiative prompts cities around the world to combine city and private efforts to increase and protect urban forest by planting at least 1 million trees. Cities currently involved include Denver, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Ontario and Shanghai, Stellenbosch, among others.
Links:
Shanghai Roots and Shoots Million Tree Initiative
Creating Nesting Plattforms for Osprey in Chicago
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Agency or Organization: Friends of the Chicago River
Osprey are a conservation success nationally yet are still endangered in Illinois. Rarely seen far from water, osprey are starting to reproduce in the Calumet region but there are not enough natural nesting locations for the next generation to spread. For osprey, nesting success is dependent upon having very tall platforms in large open areas, free from predators, and adjacent to good fishing grounds. Fortunately they adapt easily to manmade structures such as telephone poles and channel markers. Osprey specific nesting platforms are easily attached and these platforms have been key to establishing osprey in other areas. The presence of a male osprey is a good indicator of a place that would make a successful nesting area and three have been identified along the upper reaches of the Chicago River, one at Gompers Park (Chicago Park District owned) and two at the Skokie Lagoons (Forest Preserves of Cook County owned). Past studies indicate that within a few years it is very likely that successful nesting will occur.
Links:
Friends Installs First Osprey Nest
Friends of the Chicago River Ospreys, Bats and Turtles
Chicago River Fish Hotel
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Agency or Organization: Friends of the Chicago River
Throughout the lifecycle of fish, they seek out shallow, rocky areas for spawning, mating, and maturing. Given the depth of the Main Stem downtown however, the Chicago River has been less than a four star resort for its aquatic life. Friends of the Chicago River was able to offer an alternative vision for fish habitat and recovery by installing the Fish Hotel in 2005. This glimpse of color along Chicago’s second waterfront not only provided an oasis in the midst of a busy city and gave valuable habitat in an otherwise limited reach of the river, but it inspired the City of Chicago to commit to more permanent habitat that will take the river to the next level.
The City is planning to install floating islands and in-stream habitat when it completes the next phases of the Chicago Riverwalk.
Links:
Chicago's Gullywalking Project
Location: Chicago, Illinois, USA
Agency or Organization: Friends of the Chicago River
On its way to becoming one of the region’s greatest ecological, social, economic, and recreational resources, the Chicago River system still faces many challenges, chief among them is stormwater runoff. One of stormwater’s major impacts are gullies which are created when poorly managed surface water rips through an ecological area and erodes away the soil into the river. That now lost land can smother aquatic creatures and block sunlight.
To begin to address these gullies along the Chicago River, Friends’ started a new Gullywalking volunteer corps to locate them along the river in the Forest Preserves of Cook County. The findings can be found in the report below.
Links:
Uncovering Gullies: Protecting the Chicago River in the Forest Preserves of Cook County
Other Principle One Entries:
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