A story about the life and legacy of celebrated scientist, conservationist and mentor Gordon Chan.
Author Archives: Eric Simons
Eric Simons is a former digital editor at Bay Nature. He is author of The Secret Lives of Sports Fans and Darwin Slept Here, and is coauthor, with Tessa Hill, of At Every Depth: Our Growing Knowledge of the Changing Oceans.
Wildlife
After More Than One Million Nature Observations Worldwide, the Most Common Sighting Was …
After 50,000 people made nearly 1.3 million observations worldwide, what was the most common species found in the Bay Area and in the world?
Climate Change
Now, California Waits for the Fires
Drought returns to California, with a long fire season ahead.
Nature News
Disease Outbreak Appears to be Killing Bay Area Trees
In at least one tree species, scientists say the culprit appears to be a fungal pathogen.
Urban Nature
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
Nature News
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.
Winter Issue 2021
Land Back
Repatriation is much discussed and little practiced in the Bay Area. Why is it hard to return land?
Wildlife
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.
Stewardship
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
Climate Change
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.
