Letter from the Publisher

January 1, 2004 •  by

I wonder if the rest of you will be as surprised as I was to learn that the area around Fifth and Mission Streets in San Francisco used to be dominated by sand hills, some at least 40 feet high. … Read more

Out in the Tules

January 1, 2004 •  by

The rounded hills by the Bay are the first thing that catch your eye at Coyote Hills Regional Park. But the brackish and freshwater marshes behind the hills have a charm of their own. Remnant of a once-extensive mix of tidal and freshwater wetlands that sustained a thriving Ohlone community for several thousand years, the marsh is now home to marsh wrens, muskrats, and one of the East Bay’s few remaining patches of tules.

Where the Elk and the Antelope Played

January 1, 2004 •  by

A million years ago, in a climate much like ours today, the land around an ancestral bay teemed with large animals: mammoths and saber-tooth cats; bears, horses, and peccaries. By 300 years ago, the mammoths were gone, but grizzlies, elk, condor, and pronghorn were abundant.European settlers wiped out many of those animals, but programs to reintroduce some of them are now under way. Which raises the question: What should a healthy, native megafauna look like now?

Megafauna Resources

January 1, 2004 •  by

To learn more about ancient megafauna and efforts to protect and restore the Bay Area’s megafauna: Megafauna Video Check out our feature article on the Bay Area’s prehistoric megafauna, and then watch KQED’s video on megafauna, part of their Quest … Read more

Marine Sonar Controversy

October 1, 2003 •  by

Marine reserves would probably not protect whales and other ocean mammals from the severe acoustic trauma of submarine-detecting Low-Frequency Active (LFA) sonar—which transmits sounds of up to 215 decibels. The good news on this front is the recent decision by … Read more

Monarch Day at Natural Bridges

October 1, 2003 •  by

To see slightly more diminutive returning migrants, head south on Sunday, October 12, for Welcome Back Monarchs Day at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. By mid-October, the butterflies have begun to arrive from as far away as 2,000 … Read more

Ocean Awareness Campaign

October 1, 2003 •  by

As thousands of monarchs return to the protection of the California State Park system, a coalition of marine conservation organizations wants to remind Americans that less than one percent of the world’s ocean waters benefit from such government-administered refuges. The … Read more

State of the Estuary

October 1, 2003 •  by

The past two decades have witnessed an explosion of scientific studies of the San Francisco Bay estuary, vastly improving our understanding of its natural history and ecology. Every two years the San Francisco Estuary Project brings together researchers, government officials, … Read more