The following appeals came in by email in  the last 24 hours from Lisa Viani:

·         Can anyone go help Nancy Powell at Vincent Park out on the Richmond shoreline? Volunteers are needed simply to keep people off of the beach while the oiled birds are resting. "Officials" are trying to catch the birds at night while they are less aware, but in the meantime, bicyclists and dog walkers are going under the yellow caution tape and disturbing the birds. Thanks for any help you can offer. We don't need a million people just a few, a team, maybe who can sit there all day until the sun goes down (take shifts?) and keep people away? Tom, could any Richmond police help??????

·         Can anyone go help Nancy Powell at Vincent Park out on the Richmond shoreline? Volunteers are needed simply to keep people off of the beach while the oiled birds are resting. "Officials" are trying to catch the birds at night while they are less aware, but in the meantime, bicyclists and dog walkers are going under the yellow caution tape and disturbing the birds. Thanks for any help you can offer. We don't need a million people just a few, a team, maybe who can sit there all day until the sun goes down (take shifts?) and keep people away? BRING FOOD AND WATER. Tom, Mayor McLauaghlin, could any Richmond police help?????? PLEASE HELP US HELP THESE BIRDS!!!!!!!!

·         Can you help us? We need someone out there to close off the trail near Costco in Rchmond ASAP People are disturbing the birds, going beyond the tape, not staying on the trail and letting dogs chase oiled birds. We need help from Richmond Fire, PD, anyone NOW

·         I am a friend of Lisa Owens Viani. The Coast Guard claims to have  boomed off the entrances to the marsh in time, but it happened too late and the booms are now containing spilled fuel in the marsh. As the fuel collects on the landward side of the booms during the outgoing tide, no one is there to suction off the fuel. In fact, no one is doing any organized clean up in the area that I can see, and bags of fuel that rag tag volunteers have collected are in piles by the side of the trail. The East Bay park service drives by, saying we need to sample them before they are collected. Do know if anything can be done to address clean up in the Richmond area ?

·         I have been out on the Richmond shoreline (bet. Pt. Isabel and Pt.  Richmond) with a group of volunteers for the past four days. We are rescuing oiled birds and cleaning off off of the shore. There is NO ONE official out there to help us with the exception of ONE guy from the Oil Spill Response Network, and a Contra Costa HazMat team who helped us with equipment. They told us they weren't allowed to buy a boat, otherwise, they would have been able to put in a deep water boom. With those exceptions, there has been no Coast Guard, no one cleaning the shore except us. There have been a few Fish and Game and Coast Guard people show up, but they don't know where they are (literally). they had to ask us in order to get their GPS coordinates, and then they drive off. One of the parks district guys didn't know where Friendship Park was. Can you get us some real help, not just guys who stand around in uniform shooting the breeze? Why is Richmond always left for last? If we weren't out there, not one would be. We're happy to stop any time the "professionals" show up.

Also, see the following:

There is a volunteer training opportunity to take place tonight - Wednesday - as a response to the impact of the recent oil spill in the Bay Area. It would be good to encourage all those interested to attend this training in San Francisco tonight.

Trainings and Cleanups-Baykeeper
Thanks to the pressure we've been putting on the cleanup agencies and to the grassroots cleanups of Kill the Spill (http://sfoilspill.blogspot.com/), we're happy to announce a large-scale training opportunity tomorrow night in San Francisco. Participating in these trainings is the only way to be legally certified to help out with beach cleanups. We know it will make a huge impact in fighting the spill. Please attend!

Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Certification
Wednesday, November 14th
County Fair Building 9th & Lincoln in Golden Gate Park
6pm - 10pm

In addition, on this Friday morning, Nov. 16, the Mayor will be opening up her office for a meeting (at 10 a.m.) with those who have been trained and all interested others. This will be an opportunity to regroup in order to address Richmond shoreline volunteer clean-up efforts.

The Mayor is calling for and would like to discuss the creation of a Richmond Shoreline Defense Corps, organized and led by community volunteers. Let's come together and begin to chart out a course for addressing the problems created by this oil spill and prepare also for future potential environmental disasters.

When: Friday, November 16th
Where: Mayor's Office, 1401 Marina Way South, Richmond
When: 10 a.m.

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BAYKEEPER ACTION ALERT

Nov. 14 Training
And a Trip To Washington, DC

Trainings and Cleanups
Thanks to the pressure we've been putting on the cleanup agencies and to the grassroots cleanups of Kill the Spill (http://sfoilspill.blogspot.com/), we're happy to announce a large-scale training opportunity tomorrow night in San Francisco. Participating in these trainings is the only way to be legally certified to help out with beach cleanups. We know it will make a huge impact in fighting the spill. Please attend!

Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Certification
Wednesday, November 14th
County Fair Building 9th & Lincoln in Golden Gate Park
6pm - 10pm

We're also working on scheduling another large-scale training in Marin over the weekend. Look in upcoming action alerts for details.

The City of San Francisco will be leading cleanups for trained workers Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We will announce locations and details as they become available.

San Francisco Baykeeper Congressional Testimony
Baykeeper heads to Washington, DC tomorrow to testify in a congressional briefing to the Senate Commerce Department, which oversees the Coast Guard. Senators Barbara Boxer, Dianne Feinstein, and Maria Cantwell have asked us to testify to the inadequate spill response efforts as they initiate an investigation to what went wrong.

Volunteer Opportunities
Baykeeper needs volunteers later this week to walk docks all around the Bay to educate boat owners and marina operators how to handle contaminated boats. You can read about this on-the-ground outreach program in tomorrow's update. If you haven't already, email volunteer@baykeeper.org with your availability and which tasks you're interested in, and we'll get you scheduled to come in. Thanks to everyone who has already offered to help.

Please continue to contact friends to sign up for volunteer alerts or to make a donation to support San Francisco Baykeepers efforts out on the water to respond to this crisis.

Mayor's Office

1401 Marina Way South

Richmond, CA 94804

510-620-6503