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Save Knowland Park – The City Council voted…

By now most of you have probably heard that the vote did not go our way at the Oakland City Council on Tuesday night, with a 6–2 vote to pass the “conservation easement” ordinance, moving the zoo one step closer to breaking ground. However, two courageous Councilmembers did stand with the public and voted against approving this fake “conservation easement” that will smooth the way for the razing of the heart of Knowland Park: Dan Kalb and Rebecca Kaplan. Continue Reading →

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THIS IS IT: Last chance to protect Knowland Park!

Please come to Oakland City Council meeting

Tues 11/18 starting 5:30 pm

Oakland City Hall at 1 Frank Ogawa Plaza

Council Chambers, 3rd Floor

Please RSVP here if you can attend: bit.ly/knowlandmeeting.

Beautiful & wild Knowland Park is home to native wildlife, including rare and threatened species, and it was deeded to the city of Oakland to remain a public park forever. The Oakland Zoo wants to take over the heart of it (77 acres of prime habitat on western ridge) for an exhibit of species that are now regionally extinct due to development! …plus restaurant, gift shop, offices and meeting rooms, and a gondola ride that will transport Zoo visitors uphill to the ridgetop development. This is not conservation. Once the chain-link perimeter fence goes up and the richest portion of Knowland Park is bulldozed, it’s gone forever―habitat significantly damaged, no free public access. Continue Reading →

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This Is It! Your Action NOW Is Urgently Needed

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As you know, the zoo’s plan to use the most environmentally sensitive areas of the park that are located on the ridgeline is now running into trouble. Because the destruction of wildlife habitat is so severe and permanent, the wildlife regulators are requiring the zoo to make up for it by setting aside more than 50 additional acres of land. So, the zoo wants to take (for free) even more of our public Knowland Park (land that is already protected as parkland under the Deed of Transfer). This land would have all public access removed from it. This fiasco, as the Sierra Club said, has “gone from bad to worse.” Continue Reading →

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“Zoo Gone Wild” Investigative Article Lays It Out!

Knowland Park from above, © 2013 Steve Whittaker"

Knowland Park from above
© 2013 Steve Whittaker”

The East Bay Express has published an in-depth article about the zoo’s expansion plans in Knowland Park called “Zoo Gone Wild.

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Sierra Club Expresses Serious Concerns about Zoo Expansion Location

Oakland Zoo’s proposed expansion into Knowland Park goes from bad to worse

July 28, 2014

10272777_228030487396164_7927941693625751956_oThe Sierra Club has grown increasingly concerned about the California Trails exhibit that the Oakland Zoo proposes to build on the ridge line of Knowland Park. The City of Oakland approved the fifty-six-acre project in 2011 on a fifteen-year-old Mitigated Negative Declaration. Since then, however, the permitting agencies have provided significant pushback to the zoo’s claim that the project would have no significant environmental impacts. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) recommended that the project be built within the zoo’s existing footprint to avoid significant impacts to rare plant communities and to the threatened Alameda whipsnake. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), meanwhile, sent the zoo’s application back to the drawing board, noting that the project is at best conceptual.

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