Local Hero: Mia Monroe, Muir Woods National Monument
April 17, 2013 by Jacoba Charles
Officially, Mia Monroe is Site Supervisor of Muir Woods. But what she really does is serve as a passionate ambassador for nature.
About
Marin county-based science writer Jacoba Charles grew up tending sheep on her family’s Sonoma County ranch. Her work has been published in the New York Times, Salon.com, and the Point Reyes Light.
Contributions
The Phenology Project
April 01, 2013 by Jacoba Charles
The California Phenology Project’s citizen scientists are studying changes in plant life cycles to better understand local climate change impacts.
Bay Area native plants play it safe, biologically speaking
March 14, 2013 by Jacoba Charles
Bay Area plant species bloom to their own tune. Our plants are always sending something out, but they’ve also learned to play it safe.
Bohemia Ranch Goes Public
July 11, 2012 by Jacoba Charles
A remarkable Sonoma County landscape is finally preserved, protecting redwoods, Sargent cypress, serpentine grasslands, and a beloved waterfall.
A campaign to save California’s coastal prairie
June 25, 2012 by Jacoba Charles
With golden summer hillsides and enticing mosaics of forest and field, the grasslands of California are iconic. Yet few people realize that some of those grasslands are actually coastal prairie, one of the most diverse—and most endangered—ecosystems in the world.Today less than 5 percent of this vibrant habitat remains comparatively intact. Much has been lost to more than a century of fire suppression, development, tilling and invasion by non-native species.
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The Grass Really Is Greener
April 24, 2012 by Jacoba Charles
A project in West Marin shows how ranchers, and a whole lot of compost, can help mitigate climate change.
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Getting to Market in Sunol
October 01, 2011 by Jacoba Charles
In the Sunol Valley, beyond the subdivisions of Pleasanton, Fred Hempel grows tomatoes alongside other farmers growing figs, strawberries, and more. It’s all part of an unusual experiment in micro-farming unfolding under the leadership of Sustainable Agriculture Education on land owned by the San Francisco water department.
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Cultivating Community in Santa Rosa
October 01, 2011 by Jacoba Charles
Bayer Farm brings open space and food security to a section of Santa Rosa that needs more of both. With help from the nonprofit Landpaths, people in the Roseland neighborhood are helping each other plant and harvest food, and community.
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Keeping it in the Family in Rio Vista
October 01, 2011 by Jacoba Charles
For more than a century, Jeanne McCormack’s family has grown grain and raised livestock on a few thousand acres near Rio Vista. But she and her husband Al Medvitz didn’t take a straight line to ranching. Instead, they detoured through Africa and Asia. Now, they’re in it for the long haul.
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Sedimental Journey
April 01, 2011 by Jacoba Charles
For years, controversy raged about the future of Bolinas Lagoon, a significant coastal wetland that seems forever in danger of filling in, to the detriment of the fishing fleet and wildlife like seals and shorebirds. While some locals continue to push for dredging, others say this is all part of a natural cycle. But sea level rise driven by climate change might swamp the whole debate.
