Camping and Backpacking | Climbing | Gardening | Kids and Nature | Paddling | Point Reyes Walkabout | Trails

Kids Clean Up and Make Art at Ocean Beach

May 20, 2011 •  by

How do you get 500-plus kids to sit still on the beach? Tell them a helicopter is about to fly overhead and take their collective photograph, and that by the way, they’ll also be on television. It happened at Ocean Beach, and all in the name of ocean conservation.

Get on the Bus!

January 10, 2011 •  by

Butterflies fluttering through the Mission, mice nibbling their way down Sansome, pelicans gliding up Geary. Starting today and tomorrow, four MUNI buses will make a splash with Endangered Species, an art project that has redesigned buses with photographic murals of endangered or threatened species who live around San Francisco.

A Classroom in the Woods

January 1, 2011 •  by

The East Bay Regional Park District is not just the nation’s largest and oldest regional park district. It also has what’s likely the largest corps of professional naturalists of any local park agency. For generations of kids, that’s meant accessible opportunities for hiking, camping, getting dirty, and–most important–discovering the outdoors and getting to know our plant and animal neighbors.

Trailing Ahead in the East Bay

October 21, 2010 •  by

Currently, the East Bay has 175 miles of pedestrian and bicycle trails serving over 2.5 million people across the Alameda and Contra Costa counties. But there are still significant gaps. The East Bay Regional Park District is poised to start filling those in after this week’s announcement of a $10.2 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

Terwilliger Guides Share their Love of Nature, and So Can You

July 27, 2010 •  by

For more than thirty years, volunteers have been sharing their love of nature with children through the Terwilliger Nature Guide program. Named for renowned nature educator Elizabeth Terwilliger, the program is now part of the larger efforts of the San Rafael nonprofit known as WildCare. Anyone can become a nature guide after completing a training session. The next session will take place on August 14.

School of Rock

July 1, 2010 •  by

Berkeley native Erik Vance first encountered the rocks of the East Bay hills as a teenager looking for excitement. For a century, geologists at UC Berkeley have used them to teach geologic mapping, in the process unraveling the complex geology of our hills. And for decades pioneering rock climbers learned techniques here that they took with them to the Sierra and beyond.

A Sneak Peak at the Presidio’s Newest Trail

June 10, 2010 •  by

There’s no mistaking the signs of this year’s late spring in the Presidio, with California poppies, beach strawberries, and beautiful (but invasive) calla lilies appearing in increasing numbers every day. But the Presidio is also experiencing a far more gradual and deliberate regrowth as well: that of its network of trails.