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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 larger ones, the companies are making use of new techniques in risk mapping to avoid the numbers of raptor deaths that have become part of the political fabric of the Altamont Wind Resource Area.
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Got rats? As appealing as it may seem to have your rodent intruders done away with the drop of a few blue pellets, the city of San Francisco is telling its citizens: “Don’t take the Bait.”The campaign seeks to turn public opinion away from best-selling rat and mouse poisons for the sake of wildlife and the environment. The trouble is that the poison-infused rodents eventually become toxic prey to any creature higher up on the food chain. Stick to the classic snap trap, officials say.
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The vision to create a 550-mile trail around the San Francisco Bay is threatened by state park closures scheduled for this summer, trail advocates say.The Bay Area Ridge Trail may not be the target of California state budget cuts, but because it runs through four state parks that are on the chopping block, advocates are worried about its future. As the July 1 deadline approaches on state park closures, the trail advocates say it’s still unclear how trail access, maintenance, and public safety will be handled, as well as what happens to long term prospects for connecting new trails to the loop.
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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 of films from Bay Area filmmakers and ones that touch on local topics. Among them is Bay Area filmmaker Jon Shenk’s “The Island President” about how the recently ousted leader of the Maldives, Mohamed Nasheed, is trying to save his country from being the first obliterated by sea level rise. In an interview, Shenk explains why all coastal cities — including Bay Area cities — should take what’s happening in the Maldives to heart.
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A group of renegade agricultural activists is challenging the notion that nothing comes for free by grafting fruit-bearing branches onto trees lining city streets.Over the past year, the Guerrilla Grafters – a diverse group of volunteers who started in San Francisco – has been splicing fruit-bearing branches onto ornamental fruit trees around the city in an effort to grow apples, cherries, pears, and other fresh produce that urban residence can enjoy for free.
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Inspired by a teaching stint with inner-city kids 20 years ago, English-born teacher Mandi Billinge founded an organization that gives thousands of Bay Area children their first hands-on experience with nature.
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Whether you’re looking for lessons in seed saving or hikes in nature, you’ll find them in the hills above Los Altos at Hidden Villa, which was home to the region’s first youth hostel and interracial summer camp.
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In west Petaluma, a hilly, treeless plot of land will be declared the Paula Lane Nature Preserve next month because of the tenacious work of local residents who were inspired by an equally tenacious creature — the American badger.
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Scientists and citizen scientists may share a love of nature, but they have few tools to exchange information. A new online tool called the Bay Area Bio-Atlas seeks to deepen those links in an effort to provide a real-time field guide to the region’s flora and fauna.
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Berkeley Assemblymember Nancy Skinner muses about an early internship gathering park data, how local governments are leading the world on environmental issues, and why she wants to make reflective roofs as popular as recycling.
