Eat an Oyster, Restore a Reef
Linda Hunter pulls up to Bay Natives Nursery in Bayview-Hunters Point and opens the rear hatch of her gray Prius. Inside are several white plastic buckets full of shells. They...
Conservation
How Otters Keep Seagrass Healthy
Seagrass beds are important to consider when regarding climate change not only because they can sequester carbon in soils, but also because seagrass may buffer against ocean acidity.
Bringing Parks to the People
America’s national parks are often imagined as faraway destinations for special vacations. We’ve set aside places like Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone as getaways unrivaled in majesty and glory. I...
Behind the Name at the East Bay Parks
How often have you encountered a trail, campsite—or even an entire park—with an odd or mysterious name? Eighty-five years ago, visionary academics, public officials, and hikers, living mostly in Oakland...
Restoring a Watershed in the Heart of San Francisco
Water, naturally, seeps or springs up from the ground and flows downhill until it reaches an outlet. To restore a watershed you would need to protect all of that space—the...
Healing the Body, Mind, and Cultural Divide: It’s More than a Walk in the Park
One Saturday morning late last spring, I pulled into Garin Regional Park in the hills above Hayward. I didn’t have the $5 for parking, but intuiting why I was there,...
Save the Redwoods Has a Deal to Acquire A Forest of Giant Sequoias Rivaling the Mariposa Grove
The purchase includes the fifth-tallest tree on earth, the Stagg Tree, a 250-foot-tall, 3,000-year-old giant.
Can Better Forestry Jobs Prevent Fires and Restore Rural America?
On an unseasonably warm November day in a rural neighborhood in the western Sierra Nevada, men with chainsaws patrol a tree thicket that burned three years ago. One man, whose...
Open Space Park or Hotel? The Future of the Burlingame Shoreline Could Set a Precedent for Climate Adaptation
For perhaps the first time in 80 years the California State Lands Commission, which negotiates and hands out leases for state-owned shoreline property, faced a decision this summer between competing...
A New Plan for Saving the Bay’s Recently Thriving Herring
As recently as five years ago, it was great to be a herring in the San Francisco Bay. Populations of the small silver fish had declined up and down the...
