Maybe you take the bus to work or abandon the gas pedal on Bike to Work Day, but how do you know whether you and your neighbors are making a difference in your community?
Kids Tracking Climate, in Real Time
July 1, 2012 •
Kelly Hackett
This article was part of the special publication "The Parks and the People" was supported by funding from the following organizations:With 130,000 members, the California State Parks Foundation is the only independent non-profit organization dedicated to protecting, enhancing, and advocating for California's magnificent state parks.Since 1918, Save the Redwoods League has protected and restored redwood forests and connected people with their peace and beauty so these wonders of the natural world can flourish. To date, the League has completed the purchase of more than 189,000 acres of redwood forest and associated land.The S. D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation is dedicated to advancing a productive, vibrant, and sustainable California through grantmaking that supports nonprofit organizations and initiatives that demonstrate the potential to address critical challenges to the health and prosperity of California.Thanks to the following people for their assistance, advice, and support: Jennifer Benito, Bob Berman, Carol Berman, Diana Colborn, Jerry Emory, Bree Hardcastle, Roy McNamee, Bill Meister, Steve Nilson, Loren Rex, Danita Rodriguez, Alexis Stoxen, Traci Verardo-Torres.
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How Sausal Creek made Oakland
May 7, 2012 •
How do you develop a booming Oakland when there’s a big creek in your way? Bury it underground, cement it over, channel it with culverts, and turn it into a gravel quarry. Sounds like a plan, right?Sausal Creek has undoubtedly taken a lot of abuse. But one thing must be said: Oakland owes much of its economy to the roughly 3-mile creek that meanders from its headwaters in the Oakland Hills to the San Francisco Bay.
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State Parks Crisis: Get Involved!
April 1, 2012 •
We’ve rounded up the key links you need to plug into the movement to save California’s state parks.
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A Wiggle in Time
March 14, 2012 •
If you ride your bike in San Francisco, chances are you have discovered The Wiggle, and you’re probably thankful you did. The meandering one-mile route from Duboce Ave to Fell St. saves cyclists from notoriously steep hills as they make their way from downtown to western neighborhoods.There’s a reason why the riding is easy. The bike route was a once stream bed in a place called San Souci Valley, now thoroughly transformed into the Victorian-dotted neighborhoods of Duboce Triangle and the Lower Haight.
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SF Bay Model reopens after facelift
February 24, 2012 •
The San Francisco Bay model is running wet again, now that the dust has settled on a nearly 2-year renovation project. The scale replica of the bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta system has been largely out of the public eye — and dry — as construction crews upgraded the building and installed new exhibits and solar panels. Now, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which runs the 1.5 acre model on a sea-front building in Sausalito, is welcoming visitors again, starting with a grand re-opening celebration on Saturday.
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Presidio’s forest resists the sands of time
February 2, 2012 •
The Presidio in San Francisco is a forested oasis, home to around 300 bird species. But once upon a time, the park was coastal dunes with nutrient-poor, shifting soils. Just how the Presidio was transformed is a story of one man’s grand ambitions that are still playing out today, as stewards of the Presidio struggle to maintain a forest as an historic landmark.