Climate Chronicles: A Sea Change for Seabirds on the Farallon Islands
October 04, 2012 by Glen Martin
You’ll likely smell them before you see them: A rich ammoniac scent engulfs our boat, and then they loom out …
About
Former San Francisco Chronicle environmental reporter Glen Martin has been published in a number of magazines, including Audubon, Sierra, Outside, Discover, Wired, Men's Journal, California, and California Lawyer. His last book was The National Geographic Guide to Wildlife Watching.
Contributions
The Farallon Islands: To be there is to understand wildness
September 26, 2012 by Glen Martin
The Farallon Islands off the San Francisco Bay may be small in scope but it ranks with the Serengeti in its significance to conservation.
Lessons from the Mountain
July 01, 2012 by Glen Martin
The looming bulk of Mount Hamilton is a familiar sight to anyone driving Highway 101 through the Santa Clara Valley. At 4,196 feet, it’s the tallest peak visible from the shores of San Francisco Bay. This is the most expansive wild landscape in the Bay Area: roughly 700,000 acres of public parks, university and conservancy reserves, and private ranches. Now it’s also become a living laboratory for studying the affects of climate change.
A “digital naturalist” studies climate change
June 27, 2012 by Glen Martin
Mike Hamilton, director of the Blue Oak Ranch Reserve on Mount Hamilton, describes himself as a “digital naturalist.” He’s wired the reserve’s 3,260 acres with sensors, sent up drone helicopters, and even set up a “Robosquirrel” in an effort to find out how climate change is impacting the region’s ecosystem.
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The Middle Way
July 01, 2011 by Glen Martin
Grizzlies may be long gone and mountain lions few and far between, but many smaller predators are thriving in Bay Area wildlands and even in cities and suburbs. From plentiful raccoons and skunks to elusive badgers, midsize predators are major players in local ecosystems, so next time you hear the late-night clatter of garbage cans, give a nod to these scrappy survivors.
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Big Plans for Wild Lands
April 01, 2011 by Glen Martin
When it comes to the challenge of preserving biodiversity in the face of climate change, population growth, and other pressures, you have to think big. A new regional plan does just that with a proposal for a comprehensive Conservation Lands Network whose implementation would help ensure the preservation of diverse habitats essential for the survival of healthy populations of native species.
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Beyond Jaws
January 01, 2010 by Glen Martin
Fast, silent, and deadly, the great white shark has long evoked both fear and awe among those who live, work, and play along the California coast. Yet for all its press–both good and bad–we’ve known remarkably little about the life of this iconic creature. But recent scientific studies using pioneering tracking techniques are finally giving us a better look at the white shark’s wide-ranging haunts and habits.
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All in a Roe
January 01, 2009 by Glen Martin
This winter, as they have for decades, fishermen in the Bay’s last commercial fishery will launch their boats in search of spawning herring. These small fish come into the Bay from the ocean to lay their eggs. People aren’t the only ones on the hunt for herring; seals and seabirds depend on this bounty as well. But changing consumer tastes, rising costs, and unstable marine conditions have put the squeeze on the both the hunter and the hunted, and now the survival of this historic fishery is very much in question.
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Taking the Heat
January 01, 2008 by Glen Martin
Though we may not be able to detect it on a day-to-day basis, climate change has come to the Bay Area and is already leaving its mark on local ecosystems: rising tides in the Bay, increasingly severe wildfires, acidification of ocean waters. While it may be too late to avoid global warming’s early stages, there is a lot we can do to both understand and mitigate its impacts on our landscapes and watersheds. With the support of world-class research institutions and an active environmental movement, Bay Area scientists are taking the lead in this crucial effort.
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Valley of Water and Wine
January 01, 2007 by Glen Martin
The Napa Valley was once a place of enormous natural bounty, fed by a vibrant, healthy river teeming with salmon and steelhead. Today, the valley is more famous for its managed bounty of grapes and fine wine. The river, hemmed in by vineyards, has too often been relegated to the status of a waste canal. But now a unique alliance of growers and scientists has come together to give the Napa’s upper reach a chance to regain some of its wildness.
