Spaces. Its a lot easier to clean concrete, maybe, but at the end we end up with a much warmer and lesshuman, lessenvironmentally connected city. So we want to work through that. We already talked about the actual local and native plant supply. The last one staffing and resources really focused on collaboration. We really in a lot of our work, we want to really acknowledge and build into our work plans that collaboration costs money and not lose sight of that. Finally, our next steps, we are going to be working very specifically on applying the social equity lens to our work plans for the next couple of years. Were also going to be interfacing with stakeholders, including other departments and any other stakeholders that you might recommend about these key initiatives, ways they can be successful and other ideas. One of the great things from your resolution and it set us up in this practical way as we head into our own work plans to be integrating this work and looking to solve for the longterm maintenance and stewardship challenges. We thank you again for your attention. Unless you have any immediate questions, i would like to call up our colleague from the port, but also were happy to take immediate questions. Thank you, lisa. I dont see any questions, but i do want to acknowledge supervisor mandalman has joined us. Im here to convey the ports enthusiastic support for the biodiversity work that has been initiated in the last year and a half. On march 26 of this year, the Port Commission unanimously adopted its own biodiversity resolution that reflects the goals set forth in the citywide resolution, but also tailored towards the particular ways that the port can implement biodiversity on our property. That is both on land, open space that the port owns, and also in working with our private Development Partners to see that biodiversity is incorporated into the really extensive, new urban development that were undertaking to the greatest extent possible. The port has worked to cultivate partnerships with the golden gate society and the department of recreation and parks and lots of local organizations in our southern waterfront area where the primary open spaces are. The natural areas are small and unique in the opportunity they provide to promote Public Engagement and equitable access to nature, and thats something that our Port Commissions are really committed to and enthusiastic about working on as we implement the biodiversity resolution at the port thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, please. I am here on behalf of the recreation and parks department. We too would like to voice our support for this resolution and to thank the board and the department of the environment and the Planning Department for passing and implementing citywide biodiversity vision which aligns very closely with key aspects of rec and parks departments longstanding commitment to biodiversity and also the public. Biodiversity is a core initiative. Biodiversity conservation and also promoting citizen stuartship of ecological resources. Our Core Department values that are included in numerous of our initiatives and policies. This is also enshrined in many of our guiding documents, including our Mission Statement as well as our Strategic Plan, which tells us that we must increase biodiversity and also to increase eco literacy of park users and park staff. The third document is our Natural ResourcesManagement Plan which has numerous goals that include promoting biodiversity, restoring native flora and fauna, promoting soil and water conservation, Climate Change resiliency and also environmental justice. A few highlights quickly of rec and park departments work in this realm. The roots in the 080100. And also our stewardship work. Rec and park departments natural areas includes 32 natural areas, over 1,000 areas of the city across 32 different parks. These are managed on an ongoing basis through the Natural Resources division. We had numerous ecological stewardship initiatives, including the volunteer program which on most recent count had over 200,000 volunteer hours from the public. Also many friends of groups that we aligned very closely with, groups such as Youth Stewardship Program which get youth from all over the city out into green spaces and involved in ecological initiatives. The San Francisco children in Nature Initiative and the list goes on and on. We have many, many things that we do in this realm pm also prioritizing sustainable and native landscaping in new infrastructure, parks, Capital Improvements that were making is a very strong focus in our capital and planning division. We really have worked for a long time in many ways to protect San Franciscos diverse biological resources and were proud to support this initiative. Thank you. Thank you, spencer. Supervisor fewer. Lets open this up for Public Comment. Seeing no comments from my colleagues, so im going to call some cards that ive gotten. Greg i think mr. Brasseau may want to add one thing. If i may add jennifer from public works to come up. Absolutely. Hi, thank you, ill keep this brief so we can get to the Public Comments. Just as everyone else, i would really like to reinforce public works to recognize the success of this initiative and to thank the supervisors on this and to peter for bringing us together on a monthly basis. What i want to share is the power of bringing these groups together that we could be much more effective working together towards the public goal. We design, implement, and maintain latin scapes all over the city. We have had a vested interest in the land use. Some of the projects weve created has been ongoing. New projects that we have in the works including the Southeast Community center with the San Francisco public utility commission, which has a focus on plants, but also nature play children. Also the rec park tries to integrate native plants into childrens everyday lives. Something thats been in our agenda is the sunset boulevard master plan. I would like to thank supervisor marr for his support on that project. The planting master plan for the boulevard, but creates a corridor. We brought together an Amazing Group of partners. It was amazing to bring all of these groups together and to see what the power of that effort includes. Thank you to everybody and we support this initiative. Thank you very much. Lets open it up for Public Comment now. Good afternoon, supervisors. Im a native san franciscan and for the last 20 years ive been doing Habitat Restoration starting in the presidio and with the Natural Resources division as a volunteer. For me theres nothing more spiritually rewarding than to do Habitat Restoration and to watch biodiversity return to areas that were degraded or were concrete. For instance, at fredrick and aruelo street in 2010 we established a street park. We had the concrete removed from the traffic island and we planted all San Francisco native plants which we propagated at the former hank recycling center. Now we have seven species of butterflies and nesting sparrows in that traffic island. Its very rewarding to see this happen. It makes life worth living. We have to be reminded many times that this planet is the only place we are aware of in the entire universe that has life on it. Its a very special place and we need to treat it with great respect. I would like to mention a few action items that i would like to see possibly happen since i work in Golden Gate Park every day. The key is our parking lot should be removed and returned to parkland. There are 500 people waiting to get a garden spot at the Golden Gate Park community garden. That parking lot is a horrible eye sore good afternoon. Im the lawn policy leader for the earth center. Id like to express my gratitude as well to the committee, San Francisco environment, and the Interagency Working Group for your combined efforts to promote healthy biodiversity in San Francisco as a priority. Members of the board, with due respect to the other significant issues that come before this committee, protecting our biodiverse ecosystems is the most important. Climate change and the destruction of our environment is the greatest existential threat humanity has ever faced. Time is of the essence if we hope to preserve the environment that is so precious to this city. We would urge the board to loosen the purse strings, to provide the support necessary to employ qualified staff to study, monitor, and quult elevate local native plant production. Unfortunately, money, board resolutions, and interagency cooperation is not going to be enough to solve this problem. Every person in this room likely resides that treating nature as a commodity to be solved is an old paradigm that has failed us. Because the health and welfare of the citys residents is dependant on the natural environment, the board must do more. Its time to grant legal rights to nature. If corporations can have legal standing, why not the natural environment. In providing Legal Protection to the natural environment, we would urge the city to join tens of municipalities across the nation as well as several municipalities who have granted legal rights to nature to enable our biodiverse thank you. I volunteer in the natural areas. Thank you for supporting the citys biodiversity policy. Its a great start, but there are some barriers to a successful implementation. Im hoping our supervisors can help remove some of them. Number one, gardenready local ready plants are in short supply. Rec and parks supply some, but most of their supply is not native plants. The presidio has a model nursery that the city should try to replicate. There are landscaping gardens that can act as a demonstration for planners. Right now a master plan doesnt really exist. Number three, a Biodiversity Baseline needs to be established along with yearly goals and metrics to track success. An inventory of all the species in the city would help you monitor the rise or decline of priority species, map habitat change, and target threats. An houferl assessment of the city will help you target places like degraded open spaces and sterile wide yards. Create a biodiversity handbook for land managers, policy makers, conservationalists and others. Number five ws the city needs a naturalist to help the public understand biodiversity a little better. Thank you for addressing all these obstacles and i hope you continue pressing for better biodiversity. Thank you, supervisors. I am the president of the california native plan society. First, a thank you for bringing the biodiversity resolution forward. A big thank you to your staff for such a fine report on the progress on the policyies. Naturally our robust Human Development has caused degradable action. The percentage of indigenous plants here now are among the lowest in any city in america. Meanwhile, the landscaping continues to introduce exotic plants at a feverish pace. As a naturalist, its sobering to see these poor planting decisions. The good news is that many of the problems weve caused are relatively easy to fix. Simply switch to planting the nearly 500 beautiful indigenous plant species to exist here. Lets invest some resources into this movement and watch the returns come in. Hire some naturalists. Work in appreciation of our Natural Heritage into the city staff and school curriculum. Its a lot of fun. At its core, you are in the business of community happiness. Experience in local nature has proven to increase happiness. Lets celebrate our unique Natural Heritage weve been given. Thank you for listening. Thank you. Good afternoon. Im a board member and a field trip leader for golden gate autobahn society. Im speaking to show support for the resolution. One thing ive learned is about how birds have an incredible way of capturing peoples attention. Once people have tuned in these beautiful animals, they cant turn away from the environmental challenges they face and the human activity that causes it. The biodiversity of birds is remarkable. Over 500 species has been reported here, but that species richness is completely dependant on native plants. Native plants have a long evolutionary history and they provide food and shelter as well as support insects that many of the birds rely on. Many birds have seen frightening declines. Cityscapes need to be part of the solution if species are to survive the major challenges of habitat loss and Climate Change. For the migrators and the locals, the ability to adopt to all these changes will be on their ability to find food. I am the head of the urban chair forest council. As the chair of the urban forest council, i would like to inform you that we just finished our Strategic Plan we spent the last couple months foflg on that and our top priority is as follows. Develop a policy for the urban forest with respect to biodiversity, tree species pallet, availability, and Climate Change. We also decided that we need to expand our focus on backyard trees and park trees. We plan to use the focus of biodiversity on looking at those other areas. Now, when it comes to street trees, we have to acknowledge the fact that there are other issues that biodiversity may not be the determining factor of the trees that we put in the streets of San Francisco because of the way they interact with sidewalks and the public. But with Everything Else that were doing, we will be looking at the lens of biodiversity and how we approach backyard trees and park trees. In addition to that, as chairman of the ed friends of the living forest, we will be hoping to be launching a new project in the fall no, spring of this year where we want to be selling california native trees to homeowners to put in their backyard. In addition to that we have a robust urban forest understory in terms of planting gardens. Weve placed 100,000 square feet of discreet in the last ten years and 80 of those gardens have native california plants. Thank you very much. Hello, im the executive director of the speed fund. We are a Small Organization that has been supporting grassroots [ indiscernible ] official statement, raising the profile and priority of San Franciscos own indigenous nature and biodiversity. Thank you. As a funder, we understand that our society has many problems that need to be solved and the needed solutions often end up having to compete for the funding that they need. Given the worrying trajectory of our planets biodiversity and the interrelated biodiversity as weve been reminded today, we think the resources should be top of the priority list for San Francisco. As a zero waste and energy conservation, San Francisco can be a national and an International Environmental leader in eke logical ecological protection. Our foundation will continue to make our small contributions to the citys ecological health. We urge the citys government to add resources where they are needed to achieve the biodiversity vision. Thank you. Good afternoon. Im here for two organizations. One is chair of sf urban riders and were the local Mountain Bike advocacy group. We work on trails primarily, but adjacent to trails is all the environment. We take care of that and do native Habitat Restoration. One of the more recent things is i met a birder. There are birds that havent been here since 2015. I was certainly surprised to see a map i worked on on a board presentation. Of course i would just like to recognize all the amazing work in the city departments all the gross roots organizations that are not here. These bring people into nature to many parts of the city they have never seen before im really glad to see the idea of signing it. The thing that strikes me is that maintenance is always an issue. Many of the projects have been funded by the city, but theyre Capital Funds and allow us to start things, but maintenance is a concern. The continued support from the city supports the biodiversity. Good afternoon, supervisors. We wanted to thank supervisor fewer for sponsoring this hearing and for bringing this issue forward. Biodiversity is critical. Were in an ecological crisis, not just a climate crisis. Hearing the talks about there is not enough money, i dont think this city has a budget problem. I think we have an accounting problem. Everyone who has looked and said, okay, what if a dollar spent planting a tree, what does that mean for the city . Everyone who has looked at it found 5 back in terms of direct City Services and savings. These could be things like Stormwater Management and supporting local health, clean water and health, happiness, preventing runoff and so on. To say that theres not enough money to green the city, every little city is looking at their own silo. If you look at the whole system, greening makes terrific sense. Two ideas that we love, this twin peaks park. There is enough land to create this park where urban people could have this experience of na