Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chevron oil refinery along the East Bay's “Chemical Coast.” (Jude Stalker)
Plan signaled a monumental shift in public consciousness, and provided
the positive attitude toward good planning for the bay that prevails to this
day.” BCDC has since won international recognition as a model citizen's
initiative.
At its inception, BCDC was the first coastal zone management agency
in the world. Both the commission and Save the Bay have been strong
voices for the bay ever since. According to Gilliam, who was in Gulick's
living room in 1961, the save the bay movement marked the origin of an
environmental
movement, one with goals distinct from the
conservation
movement to save wild things and places that preceded it. “It was the first
major revolt against the dominant postwar mindset of unrestricted devel-
opment, the mandate of 'progress,' the tyranny of bulldozers . . . demon-
strating the power of grassroots action,” Gilliam writes in a 2007 retro-
spective article.
In the decades immediately after Save the Bay galvanized ordinary
people into action, many other groups materialized to keep watch over
other aspects of the bay's business. On the peninsula, two women suc-
ceeded in saving Palo Alto's baylands in 1965, and two couples endeavored
to champion tidal marsh restoration and wildlife-friendly salt ponds. Not-
ing that the bay could not be cut off from the rivers and runoff that feed
into it, Bill Davoren launched The Bay Institute in 1981, and Friends of the
River stepped in to help with upstream issues. Ducks Unlimited, United
Anglers, and the Pacific Coast Fishermen's Federation soon got involved
