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

New Golf Course in Menlo Park

January 1, 2006 •  by

After hearing testimony from 89 speakers, bleary-eyed Menlo Park city council members voted 3 to 2 on November 1 to move forward with plans for a public golf course in the heart of Menlo Park’s only open space. Converted from … Read more

Conservation Easements Around the State

January 1, 2006 •  by

California leads the nation in the number of land trusts, with over 150. Similar to their Bay Area counterparts, land trusts throughout the state use conservation easements to protect a wide range of natural resources, from forests to farmland to … Read more

Livermore Valley

January 1, 2006 •  by

Along Tesla Avenue at the south edge of Livermore, rows of grapevines angle from the roadside, showing a trace of fall color on their taut wires. Almost within earshot of the bustle of town, it’s the kind of place you’d … Read more

People and Easements

January 1, 2006 •  by

From a modern house on a knoll in the Nicasio Valley, Randy Lafranchi, fifth-generation Marin County dairyman and second-generation easement partner, surveys his family’s domain. Most of its 1,200 acres, from ridgetop to county road to water district reservoir, lie … Read more

Private Land, Public Good

January 1, 2006 •  by

How do you preserve significant parcels of open space in an era of rising land prices and shrinking public budgets? In the 1990s, more Bay Area land was protected using conservation easements, where the owner can stay on the land but gives up development rights, than by outright purchase. Though not without their critics, easements are reshaping the way we go about saving our local landscapes.

San Mateo Coast

January 1, 2006 •  by

South of San Francisco, the Peninsula displays a kind of natural zoning-by-topography. On the east side, along the Bay, is where most people live. To the west is a chain of lofty, forested hills, the Santa Cruz Mountains; farther west … Read more

Bayshore Visitor Centers

October 1, 2005 •  by

For many Bay Area commuters, the San Francisco Bay is unfortunately more an obstacle to be crossed during rush hour than the signature natural feature of our region. But a variety of shoreline parks and visitor centers offer us an … Read more

Eastshore Park, Two Decades in the Making

October 1, 2005 •  by

Eastshore State Park, an 8.5-mile-long ribbon of East Bay shoreline between the Bay Bridge and Richmond’s Marina Bay, is proof that many good things don’t come easily. The park is the result of 20 years of advocacy, negotiation, and planning … Read more

Casino Proposal at Arrowhead Marsh

April 1, 2005 •  by

The 1,220-acre Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Park, near the Oakland Airport, includes 72 acres of restored wetlands and the distinctively shaped Arrowhead Marsh, which reaches out into the waters of San Leandro Bay. These wetlands, in the midst … Read more