Bay Nature Local Heroes | Environmental Justice | Farming and Ranching | Health | Parks | Policy | Pollution | Stewardship

Development Threats in Los Medanos Hills

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The hills above the Concord Naval Weapons Station are part of a property proposed for development by local builder Albert Seeno’s Discovery Builders. But local open space advocates are hoping to negotiate protections for this vital greenbelt between Concord and Pittsburg.

Environmental Education Off the Grid

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San Francisco’s first fully off-the-grid building comes to Bayview-Hunters Point, thanks to the nonprofit Literacy for Environmental Justice. The new EcoCenter is a working model of sustainability in a neighborhood that knows firsthand the costs of conventional waste management and power generation.

Restoring Two Creeks for Coho

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Restoration work along Marin County’s Redwood Creek is making this watershed more habitable for the state’s southernmost run of coho salmon, while activists push for new protections in the Lagunitas watershed, home to California’s largest remaining runs of these once-plentiful fish.

Petaluma’s Teenage Fish Force

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At first glance the tan building blends into the rest of Petaluma’s Casa Grande High School. It’s nondescript from the outside, but it houses a rare kind of conservation organization, the United Anglers of Casa Grande. The high school students in the club run their own hatchery, and learn more about salmon than most folks ever know…

Worth the Wait

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Fenced off in plain sight for decades, the Concord Naval Weapons Station is the largest piece of undeveloped, unprotected land in Contra Costa County. Now, after years of debate and planning, a large portion of the former base is poised to become a major new regional park, as well as a critical open space link and wildlife corridor stretching from the summit of Mount Diablo to the shores of Suisun Bay.

Chevron Gives Ground

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After two years of negotiation with the East Bay Regional Park District, Chevron has agreed to allow access to two parcels of land on Chevron property that moves a step closer to extending the San Francisco Bay Trail along Richmond’s Point San Pablo Peninsula. But there’s a lot more work to do…

State Park Heroes: The Volunteers

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Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger recently won an award form the National Park Trust (really), apparently for not closing the parks after all. But it’s the hundreds of volunteers across the region who are helping remaining staff keep things together, while they also fight for a permanent funding solution.

Saving Sonoma Mountain

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At 2,463 feet, Sonoma Mountain is not even close to our region’s tallest peak. But its broad slopes hold a remarkable diversity of iconic Bay Area landscapes, from redwood groves to oak woodlands to ranchlands and vineyards. And at the summit, the views sweep from ocean to valley. With new acquisitions and trails in the works, public access to those views keeps getting better and better.

Land Trusts Face Bondless Future

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State budget problems mean that local land trusts are holding onto land they planned to hand over to the state, and facing tough times in the absence of bond funding.