In at least one tree species, scientists say the culprit appears to be a fungal pathogen.
Eric Simons
What a City Can Do for Nature
In the early 1990s, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service reviewed the status of a rare coastal sand dune plant called the San Francisco lessingia, which grows only in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. The background the service … Read more
Atmospheric Rivers Like This One are Vital to Understanding California
Ten days ago the state set new heat records and brush fires broke out. Burn areas in the Santa Cruz Mountains rekindled. Then, over the last three days, a 2,000-mile-long filament of water in the sky burst over the areas that last week sat brown and smoking.
Land Back
Repatriation is much discussed and little practiced in the Bay Area. Why is it hard to return land?
With Fewer than 2,000 Butterflies Counted So Far, Western Monarch Takes an Astonishing Step Closer to Extinction
After dipping below its potential “extinction threshold,” the beloved butterfly population crashed again in 2020.
California Commits to Conserving 30 Percent of its Land and Water by 2030. What Does That Mean?
On October 7 California Governor Gavin Newsom ordered the state to create a new California Biodiversity Collaborative and conserve 30 percent of its land and coastal waters by 2030. Conservationists have celebrated the enshrinement of biodiversity preservation among the state’s … Read more
Add “Dry” to the List of 2020 Descriptors
Pandemic, civil rights protests, fires, election, and oh yes, possibly the second driest calendar year on record.
After Another Dry October, Have Water Worries Returned?
San Francisco records back-to-back fully dry Octobers for the second time in 170 years.
Look Up
This fall and winter offer opportunities to see many of the most beloved astronomical phenomena, if you just look up.
A Salmon Shark Strands Under the Orange Sky
A North Bay birder on a field trip to the coast on September 9 found a four-foot salmon shark washed up dead at Doran Beach, in Bodega Bay. It’s the second stranding of a salmon shark in the last month … Read more