When Avalon Qian was 12 years old, she went on a two-week backpacking and kayaking trip to Point Reyes led by the outdoor nonprofit GirlVentures. It was the first time she’d slept outside under the stars. Secure in a campsite … Read more
2020 Community Hero Award Winner Vincent Medina Changes the Ohlone Narrative
Vincent Medina learned as a volunteer tending the gardens at Mission Dolores in San Francisco that his grandmother from six generations ago was buried in its cemetery. She lived at the mission against her will until she died. A Chochenyo-speaking … Read more
2020 Environmental Educator Award Winner John Muir Laws Introduces the World to Nature Journaling
He remembers the precise excursion when his future found him. John Muir Laws was with his mother’s botany group on Table Mountain and a woman with a sketchbook captured his attention. She was sitting and drawing the flowers they were … Read more
2020 Conservation Action Hero Sejal Choksi-Chugh Keeps the Bay Clean
In 2011, when Sejal Choksi-Chugh was in her ninth year as an attorney at San Francisco Baykeeper, their staff scientist was on a routine boat patrol and saw toxic petroleum coke dust blowing into the Bay from the Levin-Richmond Terminal, … Read more
2019 Youth Engagement Hero Tina Cuevas Inspires Trail Outings
When Tina Cuevas quit her tech marketing job, her dad said: “Well, you tried it, that’s good. Now what do you want to do next?” She wanted to pursue her passion for people and the outdoors. She joined the Bay … Read more
2019 Conservation Action Hero Robert Doyle Expanded the East Bay Parks
Robert Doyle often wonders what would have happened had John Muir simply explored but never written about the wilderness he loved. Over the course of his conservation career, Doyle has used the power of storytelling to secure funding, gain public … Read more
2019 Citizens Hero Lennie Roberts Helped Keep the Peninsula Open
If you’ve ever enjoyed a drive on that rugged stretch of California coast where Highway One winds south of Pacifica, past Half Moon Bay and down through Pescadero, you should probably thank Lennie Roberts. “Lennie is considered the sixth supervisor … Read more
2019 Environmental Education Hero Anthony Khalil Works for Equity in Fast-Changing San Francisco
If you told the teenage Anthony Khalil that someday he would be a mentor, educator, and leader in the fight for environmental justice, he may not have believed it. Back then he just loved to be outside. For the young … Read more
Bay Nature Announces 2019 Local Heroes
Bay Nature selects four winners for its annual awards.
Bay Nature Institute Announces Three New Board Members
Bay Nature Institute is proud to announce the appointment of three new members to its board of directors.