#mccovey

[jamisonwieser]

San Francisco's newest park is open! 

China Basin Park is part of the high-density, mixed-income, mixed-use Mission Rock development that the San Francisco Giants – Go Giants! – are building on what had been a parking lot across the channel from their waterfront ballpark in Mission Bay.

40% of the housing is priced below market rate, 1/3 of the land is dedicated to public open space, the park opened two weeks ago, and it is fantastic.

I could not have picked a better time to take my dog for a walk and check it out.

I didn't know a game was going on until I arrived and walked onto the field facing the ballpark at a picture-perfect moment. Someone was flying a kite, groups of people were hanging out on blankets, and a dad was playing catch with his kids while the crowd in the ballpark cheered.

It's only going to get better as the trees and plants grown in.

[sanfranciscoblog]

A statue of SF Giants legend Willie McCovey stands over McCovey Cove, opposite the ballpark.

[jedivoodoochile]

Actor and future minor league baseball player Kurt Russell meets Willie McCovey.

[roryrusty]

Kyle Schwarber touches down in McCovey Cove.

https://x.com/mlb/status/1942790496914444306?s=46

(https://x.com/mlb/status/1942790496914444306?s=46)

Splashdown Schwarber style

[312cards]

Willie McCovey, 1976 Topps

[reasonsforhope]

"In Northern California, a Native American tribe is celebrating the return of ancestral lands in one of the largest such transfers in the nation’s history.

Through a Dept. of the Interior initiative aiming to bring indigenous knowledge back into land management, 76 square miles east of the central stretch of the Klamath River has been returned to the Yurok tribe.

Sandwiched between the newly-freed Klamath and forested hillsides of evergreens, redwoods, and cottonwoods, Blue Creek is considered the crown jewel of these lands, though if it were a jewel it wouldn’t be blue, it would be a giant colorless diamond, such is the clarity of the water.

Pictured: Blue Creek

It’s the most important cold-water tributary of the Klamath River, and critical habitat for coho and Chinook salmon. Fished and hunted on since time immemorial by the Yurok and their ancestors, the land was taken from them during the gold rush before eventually being bought by timber companies.

Barry McCovey Jr., director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department, remembers slipping past gates and dodging security along Blue Creek just to fish up a steelhead, one of three game fish that populate the river and need it to spawn.

Profiled along with the efforts of his tribe to secure the land for themselves and their posterity, he spoke to AP about the experience of seeing plans, made a decade ago, come to fruition, and returning to the creek on which he formerly trespassed as a land and fisheries manager.

“To go from when I was a kid and 20 years ago even, from being afraid to go out there to having it be back in tribal hands … is incredible,” he said.

Part of the agreement is that the Yurok Tribe would manage the land to a state of maximum health and resilience, and for that the tribe has big plans, including restoring native prairie, using fire to control understory growth, removing invasive species, restoring native fish habitat, and undoing decades of land-use changes from the logging industry in the form of culverts and logging roads.

“And maybe all that’s not going to be done in my lifetime,” said McCovey. “But that’s fine, because I’m not doing this for myself.”

The Yurok Tribe were recently at the center of the nation’s largest dam removal, a two decades-long campaign to remove a series of four hydroelectric dams along the Klamath River. Once the West Coast’s third-largest salmon run, the Klamath dams substantially reduced salmon activity.

Completed last September, the before and after photographs are stunning to witness. By late November, salmon had already returned far upriver to spawn, proving that instinctual information had remained intact even after a century of disconnect.

Pictured; Klamath River flows freely, after Copco-2 dam was removed in California

“Seeing salmon spawning above the former dams fills my heart,” said Joseph L. James, chairman of the Yurok Tribe, the leaders of the dam removal campaign along with the Karuk and Klamath tribes.

“Our salmon are coming home. Klamath Basin tribes fought for decades to make this day a reality because our future generations deserve to inherit a healthier river from the headwaters to the sea.”

Last March, GNN reported that the Yurok Tribe had also become the first of America’s tribal nations to co-manage land with the National Park Service under a historic memorandum of understanding involving Redwoods National Park.

The nonprofit Save the Redwoods bought a piece of land adjacent to the park, which receives 1 million visitors annually and is a UNESCO Natural Heritage Site, and handed it over to the Yurok for stewardship.

The piece of land, which contained giant redwoods, recovered to such an extent that the NPS has incorporated it into the Redwoods trail network, and the two agencies will cooperate in ensuring mutual flourishing between two properties and one ecosystem.

Back at Blue Creek, AP reports that work has already begun clearing non-native conifer trees planted for lumber. The trunks will be used to create log jams in the creek for wildlife habitat.

Costing $56 million, the land was bought from the loggers by Western Rivers Conservancy, using a mixture of fundraising efforts including private capital, low interest loans, tax credits, public grants and carbon credit sales.

The sale was part of a movement called Land Back, which involves returning ownership of once-native lands of great importance to tribes for the sake of effective stewardship. [Note: This is a weirdly limited definition of Land Back. Land Back means RETURN STOLEN LAND, PERIOD.] Studies have shown around the tropics that indigenous-owned lands in protected areas have higher forest integrity and biodiversity than those owned by national governments.

Land Back has seen 4,700 square miles—equivalent to one and a half-times the size of Yellowstone National Park—returned to tribes through land buy-back agreements in 15 states." [Note: Since land buyback agreements aren't the only form of Land Back, the total is probably (hopefully) more than that.]

-via Good News Network, June 10, 2025

[gummyartstradingcards]

[bostonfly]

I know a guy who REALLY loves baseball. This is "Bob Gibson Vs. Willie McCovey".

(not my photos)

[principiumindividuationis777]

[randrcards]

Willie McCovey 2022 Donruss # 164

[hope-for-the-planet]

From the article:

Through a Dept. of the Interior initiative aiming to bring indigenous knowledge back into land management, 76 square miles east of the central stretch of the Klamath River has been returned to the Yurok tribe. Sandwiched between the newly-freed Klamath and forested hillsides of evergreens, redwoods, and cottonwoods, Blue Creek is considered the crown jewel of these lands, though if it were a jewel it wouldn’t be blue, it would be a giant colorless diamond, such is the clarity of the water. It’s the most important cold-water tributary of the Klamath River, and critical habitat for coho and Chinook salmon. Fished and hunted on since time immemorial by the Yurok and their ancestors, the land was taken from them during the gold rush before eventually being bought by timber companies. Barry McCovey Jr., director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department, remembers slipping past gates and dodging security along Blue Creek just to fish up a steelhead, one of three game fish that populate the river and need it to spawn. Profiled along with the efforts of his tribe to secure the land for themselves and their posterity, he spoke to AP about the experience of seeing plans, made a decade ago, come to fruition, and returning to the creek on which he formerly trespassed as a land and fisheries manager. “To go from when I was a kid and 20 years ago even, from being afraid to go out there to having it be back in tribal hands … is incredible,” he said. Part of the agreement is that the Yurok Tribe would manage the land to a state of maximum health and resilience, and for that the tribe has big plans, including restoring native prairie, using fire to control understory growth, removing invasive species, restoring native fish habitat, and undoing decades of land-use changes from the logging industry in the form of culverts and logging roads. “And maybe all that’s not going to be done in my lifetime,” said McCovey. “But that’s fine, because I’m not doing this for myself.”

[rjzimmerman]

Excerpt from this story from the Associated Press (AP):

As a youngster, Barry McCovey Jr. would sneak through metal gates and hide from security guards just to catch a steelhead trout in Blue Creek amid northwestern California redwoods.

Since time immemorial, his ancestors from the Yurok Tribe had fished, hunted and gathered in this watershed flanked by coastal forests. But for more than 100 years, these lands were owned and managed by timber companies, severing the tribe’s access to its homelands.

After a 23-year effort and $56 million, that became reality.

Roughly 73 square miles (189 square kilometers) of homelands have been returned to the Yurok, more than doubling the tribe’s land holdings, according to a deal announced Thursday. Completion of the land-back conservation deal along the lower Klamath River — a partnership with Western Rivers Conservancy and other environmental groups — is being called the largest in California history.

The Yurok Tribe had 90% of its territory taken during the California Gold Rush in the mid-1800s, suffering massacres and disease from settlers.

“To go from when I was a kid and 20 years ago even, from being afraid to go out there to having it be back in tribal hands … is incredible,” said McCovey, director of the Yurok Tribal Fisheries Department.

Land Back is a global movement seeking the return of homelands to Indigenous people through ownership or co-stewardship.

In the last decade, nearly 4,700 square miles (12,173 square kilometers) were returned to tribes in 15 states through a federal program. Organizations are aiding similar efforts.

[baseballbybsmile]

Today In 1959: San Francisco Giants rookie Willie McCovey makes a sensational major league debut, going 4-for-4 with 2 triples vs. Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Robin Roberts!

[lordmccoveycove]

Click Image Above to Read Story

Chapters: 7/? Word Count: 30,943 Fandom: Expanded Universes (General) Rating: Mature Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply Characters: Leo Verde, Lilith Montgomery Additional Tags: The Lost Era (2293 - 2364), Adult Language, Angst, Drama, Espionage, Crew as Family, Starfleet Intelligence, Starfleet Marine Corps

Series: Part 12 of Star Trek: First Duty, Part 1 of First Duty: Musashi Summary:

First Novel of First Duty: Musashi!

Stardate 4402.48: Three months after its commissioning, Captain Leo Verde and the crew of the starship Musashi are sent to the far corner of Federation space to augment Border Service patrols and secretly support covert anti-piracy operations already underway. When a deep-cover operative's identity is compromised, the crew must execute a high-stakes rescue mission with lives on the line, putting themselves between ruthless pirates and the fragile security of the far reaches of Federation's frontier.

Cover: USS Musashi rendered by Star Trek Online, Orion Nebula by NASA JWST (public domain), 2270s Delta by PDMahler (deviantArt, used with permission), lettering by Lord McCovey Cove.

[brookstonalmanac]

Birthdays 1.10

Beer Birthdays

William Copeland (1834)

Nancy Johnson (1961)

Todd Alstrom (1969)

Eric Salazar (1973)

Frances Michelle (1987)

Five Favorite Birthdays

Pat Benatar; rock singer (1953)

Jim Croce; pop singer (1943)

Donald Fagen; musician (1948)

Bernard Lee; actor, "M" (1908)

Max Roach; jazz musician, drummer (1925)

Famous Birthdays

John Acton; English historian (1834)

Stephen Ambrose; historian, writer (1936)

Earl Bakken; inventor (1924)

Sune Bergström; Swedish biochemist (1916)

Katherine Blodgett; inventor, scientist (1898)

Ray Bolger; actor (1904)

Francis X. Bushman; actor, director, and screenwriter (1883)

Jared Carter; poet and author (1939)

Shawn Colvin; singer (1956)

Eldzier Cortor; painter (1916)

Roy E. Disney; businessman, Disney CEO (1930)

Dean Dixon; American-Swiss conductor (1915)

Aynsley Dunbar; English drummer and songwriter (1946)

George Foreman; boxer (1939)

Cynthia Freeman; author (1915)

Al Goldstein; pornographer (1936)

Evan Handler; actor (1961)

Ronnie Hawkins; rockabilly singer (1935)

Paul Henried; actor (1908)

Barbara Hepworth; sculptor (1903)

Rosella Hightower; ballerina (1920)

Walter Hill; film director (1942)

David Horowitz; activist and author (1939)

Frank James; outlaw (1843)

Robinson Jeffers; poet, writer (1887)

Janet Jones; actor (1961)

Jeffrey Catherine Jones; comics and fantasy artist (1944)

Donald Knuth; mathematician, computer scientist (1938)

Philip Levine; poet (1928)

Martin Lichtenstein; German physician and explorer (1780)

Linda Lovelace; pornstar (1939)

Willie McCovey; San Francisco Giants 1B (1938)

J.P. McEvoy; writer (1897)

Sal Mineo; actor (1939)

Cyril Neville; musician (1948)

Milton Parker; businessman, co-founder of the Carnegie Deli (1919)

Johnnie Ray; singer-songwriter and pianist (1927)

Charles G. D. Roberts; Canadian poet and author (1860)

John Root; architect (1850)

Michael Schenker; German guitarist and songwriter (1955)

Tony Soper; English ornithologist (1929)

Rod Stewart; pop singer (1945)

Scott Thurston; American guitarist and songwriter (1952)

Bill Toomey; Olympic gold medalist for Decathlon (1939)

Robert Woodrow Wilson; physicist and astronomer (1936)

Johannes Zick; German painter (1702)

Johann Rudolf Zumsteeg; German composer (1760)

[reasonsforhope]

The Klamath River’s salmon population has declined due to myriad factors, but the biggest culprit is believed to be a series of dams built along the river from 1918 to 1962, cutting off fish migration routes.

Now, after decades of Indigenous advocacy, four of the structures are being demolished as part of the largest dam removal project in United States history. In November, crews finished removing the first of the four dams as part of a push to restore 644 kilometres (400 miles) of fish habitat.

“Dam removal is the largest single step that we can take to restore the Klamath River ecosystem,” [Barry McCovey, a member of the Yurok Tribe and director of tribal fisheries,] told Al Jazeera. “We’re going to see benefits to the ecosystem and then, in turn, to the fishery for decades and decades to come.” ...

A ‘watershed moment’

Four years later, [after a catastrophic fish die-off in 2002,] in 2006, the licence for the hydroelectric dams expired. That created an opportunity, according to Mark Bransom, CEO of the Klamath River Renewal Corporation (KRRC), a nonprofit founded to oversee the dam removals.

Standards for protecting fisheries had increased since the initial license was issued, and the utility company responsible for the dams faced a choice. It could either upgrade the dams at an economic loss or enter into a settlement agreement that would allow it to operate the dams until they could be demolished.

“A big driver was the economics — knowing that they would have to modify these facilities to bring them up to modern environmental standards,” Bransom explained. “And the economics just didn’t pencil out.”

The utility company chose the settlement. In 2016, the KRRC was created to work with the state governments of California and Oregon to demolish the dams.

Final approval for the deal came in 2022, in what Bransom remembers as a “watershed moment”.

Regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted unanimously to tear down the dams, citing the benefit to the environment as well as to Indigenous tribes...

Tears of joy

Destruction of the first dam — the smallest, known as Copco 2 — began in June, with heavy machinery like excavators tearing down its concrete walls.

[Amy Cordalis, a Yurok Tribe member, fisherwoman and lawyer for the tribe,] was present for the start of the destruction. Bransom had invited her and fellow KRRC board members to visit the bend in the Klamath River where Copco 2 was being removed. She remembers taking his hand as they walked along a gravel ridge towards the water, a vein of blue nestled amid rolling hills.

“And then, there it was,” Cordalis said. “Or there it wasn’t. The dam was gone.”

For the first time in a century, water flowed freely through that area of the river. Cordalis felt like she was seeing her homelands restored.

Tears of joy began to roll down her cheeks. “I just cried so hard because it was so beautiful.”

The experience was also “profound” for Bransom. “It really was literally a jolt of energy that flowed through us,” he said, calling the visit “perhaps one of the most touching, most moving moments in my entire life”.

Demolition on Copco 2 was completed in November, with work starting on the other three dams. The entire project is scheduled to wrap in late 2024.

[A resilient river]

But experts like McCovey say major hurdles remain to restoring the river’s historic salmon population.

Climate change is warming the water. Wildfires and flash floods are contaminating the river with debris. And tiny particles from rubber vehicle tires are washing off roadways and into waterways, where their chemicals can kill fish within hours.

McCovey, however, is optimistic that the dam demolitions will help the river become more resilient.

“Dam removal is one of the best things we can do to help the Klamath basin be ready to handle climate change,” McCovey explained. He added that the river’s uninterrupted flow will also help flush out sediment and improve water quality.

The removal project is not the solution to all the river’s woes, but McCovey believes it’s a start — a step towards rebuilding the reciprocal relationship between the waterway and the Indigenous people who rely on it.

“We do a little bit of work, and then we start to see more salmon, and then maybe we get to eat more salmon, and that starts to help our people heal a little bit,” McCovey said. “And once we start healing, then we’re in a place where we can start to help the ecosystem a little bit more.”"

-via Al Jazeera, December 4, 2023