State park advocates hit capitol halls
California state parks advocates are hitting the halls of the Capitol on Tuesday to remind lawmakers that they won’t go away, even though many parks are closing come July. There...
Author Archives: Alison Hawkes
Alison Hawkes was a Bay Nature editor from 2011-2017. Before Bay Nature she worked in journalism for more than a decade as a former newspaper reporter turned radio producer turned web editor with each rendition bringing her closer to her dream of covering environmental issues. She co-founded Way Out West, a site dedicated to covering Bay Area environmental news.
A bird’s eye view of new wind turbines in Altamont Pass
Wind power companies are taking a bird’s eye view in siting new turbines in the Altamont Pass.As a major re-powering effort gets underway to replace 50-year-old windmills with fewer and...
Green film festivals showcase local flavor
It’s showtime. What better way to spend a blustery day in early March than to visit the two green film festivals in San Francisco? This year’s line-up features a number...
Benicia wants to run state park on California’s dime
The cash-strapped city of Benicia has come up with a novel way to keep its local state recreation area open and off the list of California park closures: get the...
Great year to view monarch butterflies
Monarchs may be the most celebrated and regal of the Lepidoptera, and they're hitting record highs in the Bay Area. Ardenwood Historic Farm in Fremont is estimating their numbers at...
Christmas Bird Count is serious citizen science
Some say it's a "military style" operation, and surely the level of expertise in the field can be intimidating. But the Christmas Bird Count is also great fun for normally...
Big solar on ice in Alameda County
After one solar company proposed covering 2,000 acres of open space in eastern Alameda County, county planning officials are preparing a new solar policy that will take into account environmental...
Pinnacles tests out tribe’s fire tradition
When Europeans arrived at what is now Pinnacles National Monument, the land was not exactly a “pristine” or “untouched” vision of nature, but rather a managed ecosystem that itself had...
Fake grass in Golden Gate Park worries bird advocates
The Beach Chalet Athletic Fields may not seem like an ecological oasis, but environmentalists are fighting a San Francisco plan to replace natural grass with artificial turf. They say the...
High tech robots may launch new era in ocean exploration
Four surfboard-sized vehicles set sail off the coast of the San Francisco Bay on Thursday in an attempt to break world records in ocean exploration and robotics. The “wave gliders”...
