RPA carefully maintains its status as an independent, public-interest observer of the park district and the natural and cultural heritage of Bay Area lands.

For practical purposes our main focus is on the park and open space lands of the East Bay—especially those lands that have been entrusted to the East Bay Regional Park District.  .

We believe it is extremely important to protect natural ecosystems that enable native plants, animals, birds, and all the other forms of life that make up the natural environment .RPA recognizes that the human population  growth and climate change present a tremendous challenge to the District and to citizens of the region. Working together we must make adequate provision for the future so citizens will continue to enjoy the kind of access to nature that East Bay residents have enjoyed or even taken for granted in the past.

 

 

The RPA board of directors is made up of individuals who still believe in the long-range vision of the founders of the Regional Parks Association. In order to pursue our goal the following objectives have been identified:

1. to help inform the public about natural resource preservation matters in the East Bay region through periodic newsletters, field trips, conferences, lectures, etc;

2. to seek out and help disseminate scientific and technical information about the preservation of natural and cultural resources;

3. to support acquisition of additional land for park purposes;

4. to support the creation and ongoing operation of educational and interpretive facilities including visitor centers and natural history museums;
5. to foster a balance of uses in the East Bay regional parks including the preservation and restoration of natural areas;
6. to monitor and comment on plans, proposals, and other activities of the East Bay Regional Park District and other public agencies that manage park and open space lands in the East Bay region;
7. to build alliances with other environmental organizations that are active in the field of natural and cultural heritage preservation in the East Bay Region.

Some of the actions we have taken to further these goals:

• MONITORING THE PARK DISTRICT DECISION-MAKING PROCESS: RPA representatives attend park district board meetings and many board committee meetings, and then report back to the RPA board on a regular basis. The RPA board sends periodic newsletters to its members by mail and posts on this web site
• LAND USE DEVELOPMENT PLANS: RPA has studied and commented on land use plans for parks within the EBRPD District.
• BOND FUND CAMPAIGNS: RPA has supported various bond measures designed to support the EBRPD, including Measure AA in 1988, and more recently Measure WW, the $$$ bond passed in 2009.
• LIVESTOCK GRAZING: RPA has been vocal when grazing  policies and practices have not been adequately carried out and damage done to parklands. We are encouraged by newly etc…..
• ANNUAL MEETING  RPA sponsors an annual meeting on environmental issues that once a year brings together 30-35 East Bay environmental groups

 

“One of the penalties of an ecological education is that one lives alone in a world of wounds.  Much of the damage inflicted on land is quite invisible to laymen.  An ecologist must either harden his shell and make believe that the consequences of science are none of his business, or he must be the doctor who sees the marks of death in a community that believes itself well and does not want to be told otherwise.”

Aldo Leopold

Father of Wildlife Ecology

1887-1948