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From Hayward to Glen Ellen

February 5, 2009

Welcome to the first issue of Bay Nature Connections! This weekend you can connect with birds in Sausalito and San Francisco. On Valentine's Day weekend, learn about amphibians, take the kids for a surprising activity with squids, or find out about fungus in Point Reyes.

Happening Now!

Our picks from Bay Nature's regional events calendar

Find more events on the full BayNature.org Events Calendar. Or check out our latest articles, videos, featured parks, and interactive map.

From the Field

Connecting with: Peter Brastow, director of Nature in the City

Peter Brastow is the founding director of Nature in the City, a non-profit organization dedicated to encouraging stewardship and ecological restoration of the natural areas of San Francisco. Peter's career in, as he puts it, "the broad spectrum of the environmental field" began in the 1990s, when he went to grad school in geography and studied how humans interact with their environment. He says, "the critical eye I brought to these issues, as a result of immersion in a fairly socialist-oriented geography program, helped me realize that our environmental problems couldn't be separated from the way our society functions." Because of his studies, he began interning at the Presidio and later volunteering with the California Native Plant Society, Yerba Buena Chapter. This experience provided him the opportunity to work closely with native plant habitats, but also inspired him to work more broadly with San Francisco's nature and natural areas, restoring biodiversity throughout the city.

Today, Nature in the City works to preserve the city's habitats in a number of ways. Currently, the organization is advocating for passage of the Significant Natural Resource Areas Management Plan (SNRAMP), a document produced by the San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department (SFRPD) that outlines a plan for the protection, restoration, and stewardship of the department's 31 natural areas. Because SNRAMP will protect the city's natural heritage, guiding management activities and site improvements in these 31 areas for the next 20 years, Peter explains, "it is extremely important that it passes."

Visit Nature in the City to learn more.

Thank you for reading this week's Bay Nature Connections. We hope you enjoyed it! Contact me if you have any feedback about the newsletter or the magazine.

Beth Rodio
Marketing and Outreach Director
Bay Nature Institute

An exploration of nature in the San Francisco Bay Area. Bay Nature magazine is a project of the 501(c)(3) nonprofit Bay Nature Institute.

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