The East Bay Municipal Utilities District (EBMUD), which manages 28,000 acres of public land in Alameda and Contra Costa counties, is currently seeking public input on its draft Master Plan. Not only does this Master Plan call for the destruction of tall, healthy, carbon sequestering trees, but the continued and expanded use of toxic herbicides on watersheds which contain precious reserves of drinking water for the people and wildlife of the East Bay.

Despite language in the Draft Master Plan acknowledging that Monterey Pine and Eucalyptus trees provide “ecological value,” including vital animal habitat, food for insects and small mammals, roosting sites for birds, noise control, shade, wind breaks, needed ground moisture, fire risk mitigation, and iconic beauty, the EBMUD plan calls for the destruction of Monterey Pine and Eucalyptus trees.

This effort will not only result in the willful decimation of many forests, but the elimination of some of the most beloved, shady hiking trails and picnic areas in the East Bay. While environmentalists in other California counties are joining together to save historic groves of Monterey Pines now dying in record number due to drought and many communities are planting trees to reduce the dangerous effects of climate change, EBMUD is proposing cutting entire groves of them down.

The use of herbicides to treat the stumps of many of the trees to be destroyed will greatly exacerbate the use of toxic chemicals now being banned by government agencies worldwide, including the Marin Municipal Water District which has eliminated the use of herbicides.

Please sign the petition telling EBMUD to eliminate language in the Master Plan calling for the destruction of healthy trees, and to eliminate the use of toxic pesticides near our drinking water and the drinking water of countless animals.