Proposal to Create a Natural Carbon Sink at Bedwell Park Moves Forward

A proposal to plant as many as 1,000 native trees and shrubs at Bedwell Bayfront Park to offset carbon dioxide emissions will pass another mark on its timetable at the end of the month.

Data collection being done by the city of Menlo Park should be done by March 31. Currently, staff is working to get soil depth measurements and soil samples.

"At that point, we'll meet with the Friends sometime (in the) next month, discuss the data, and figure out what the next steps are," says Rebecca Fotu, Menlo Park Environmental Programs Manager.

According to city documentation, the project would eliminate an estimated 200,000 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions annually, and would store over 2.5 mission pounds of carbon dioxide during the life of the project.

Most of the carbon dioxide comes from cars traveling directly adjacent to the park on Highway 84, the Bayfront Expressway, east of Highway 101.

Caltrans granted the city $300,000 to move forward with the idea.

Friends of Bedwell Bayfront Park wants to keep the open space and vistas, and has provided detailed input to the city of some of the issues to be considered.

The group gave a presentation at a January, 2011 meeting, arguing that the idea of adding so many new trees and shrubs to offset carbon emissions is “overly optimistic.”

According to arguments in the group's presentation, “The city’s pledge of a minimum of 100 tons of annual carbon dioxide sequestration from 1,000 slow-growing trees and shrubs is overly optimistic when more reputable carbon calculation models are employed, such as the California Air Resources Board."

Robin Smith, the Friend's of Bedwell Bayfront Park's birds and natural history expert, said a major concern is the animals in the park, and what it would do to change their habitat.

“The project would change [the animals’] habitat enough, that we don't know if they'd use it again,” she said.

Smith added that she thought the City would have a difficult time successfully growing native species at the park.

She added that planting trees in the open space areas of the park would change the way the park feels, as it offers a “vista of open space” now, with the ability to see to the San Francisco Bay, to Mount Hamilton, and more.

Staff has met with the Friends in the past year to discuss the data collection.

Fotu hopes to begin the planting by Fall of this year. According to specifications outlined in the so-called "Carbon Dioxide Mitigation Grant," the planting must be finished by April, 2014.