HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/9/2021 Item 4a, Mulholland
Delgado, Adriana
From:Christine Mulholland <cm1334@outlook.com>
Sent:Sunday, November 7,
To:E-mail Council Website
Cc:Purrington, Teresa; Hill, Robert; Hermann, Greg; Allan Cooper
Subject:Re: Letter to the City Council
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To the Mayor and Council Members,
I am out of town, so I will weigh in by supporting the comments from Allan Cooper below.
I see lights near the top of Bishop Peak from my window, sometimes later than 10 pm, and not infrequently. It is
apparent we do not have adequate monitoring to preserve the night hours for the critters that live there.
I have therefore little faith that the public will be any more considerate elsewhere when you allow the camel’s nose
under the tent. Nor do I expect better monitoring service on Cerro San Luis.
Please, once again, I ask you to preserve the intent of acquiring open space and the governing policies in the COSE. Do
not continue allowing the intrusion of humans after sunset.
Thank you,
Christine Mulholland
On Nov 6, 2021, at 5:16 PM, Allan Cooper < wrote:
To: San Luis Obispo City Council, Greg Hermann, Deputy City Manager, Robert Hill,
Sustainability and Natural Resources Official and Teresa Purrington, City Clerk
Re: November 9, 2021 Meeting; Public Hearing Agenda Item #4A - OPEN SPACE
WINTER EVENING HOURS OF USE AT CERRO SAN LUIS NATURAL RESERVE
From: Allan Cooper, San Luis Obispo
Date: November 6, 2021
Honorable Mayor Stewart & Council Members -
Mayor Erica Stewart, during the Council’s October 19th meeting, wondered aloud why we don't
need just as much protection for the wildlife during our daytime use of the trails as compared to
our night time use of the trails.
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Here is the reason why. Of our mammalian relatives, nearly 70% are nocturnal. Owls, rodents,
foxes and badgers are nocturnal. Insects and animals that come out 1-2 hours after sunset are
moths, bats, rabbits and bobcats.
Moreover, findings, published on 14 June in Science, show that most mammals become on
average 20% more active at night in response to higher levels of human disturbance during the
day. Human activities - including day time hiking & biking - are driving mammals around the
world to be more active at night, when they’re less likely to run into people, according to a new
study.
This finding confirms previous assumptions that animals tend to avoid people, probably because
they perceive them as a threat, says Chris Darimont, a conservation scientist at the University of
Victoria in Canada. But the study also produced some surprising results, he adds. One of them
is that non-lethal activities including hiking and agriculture elicit the same responses from
mammals as lethal activities such as hunting. “It doesn’t matter whether we’re having a picnic in
a park or cutting down trees, the wildlife around us perceives us as a risk to their survival,”
Darimont says.
In conclusion, because of the potentially negative impacts of a more nocturnal lifestyle, it is
critical that people restrict certain recreational activities to specific hours of the day. Just
because we don't see wildlife on a daily basis doesn’t mean it’s not out there.
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