“We’re in a place where we have more money than we have applications,” says Brandon Bates, assistant state conservationist with NRCS. And the agency really doesn’t want to have tosend this money back to Congress.
First Look
Timely news, art, ideas and science from the natural world of Northern California.
The Amanitas Are Blooming. Don’t Eat Them.
January 4, 2024 •
Death caps and Western destroying angels, both common in the Bay Area, thrive after rainfall, the East Bay park district warns.
Oakland’s Urban Tree Dreams Get (Partially) Funded
December 21, 2023 •
The city’s draft urban forest plan has drawn more than 800 comments—many clamoring for more native trees.
A River Runs Above Us
December 19, 2023 •
In mid-November 2021, a great storm begins brewing in the central Pacific Ocean north of Hawai‘i. Especially warm water, heated by the sun, steams off the sea surface and funnels into the sky. This article is from Hakai Magazine, an online … Read more
Inside the East Oakland Plant Nursery That’s Breaking the Incarceration Cycle
December 14, 2023 •
“Nobody’s got our kind of re-entry program that mixes soil, re-entry, healing, and good pay,” says Planting Justice’s operations manager, Lynn Vidal.
Bay Nature’s Best, Deepest, and Weirdest Reads of 2023
December 13, 2023 •
Stories of the birds and the beasts, plus plants, protists, and fungi. The whales versus the crabbers, a shortage of seeds, an unexpected lake, kelp babies; dirt bikers, vaxxed condors, the strange feet of coots. All here.
As Cities Heat Up, USDA Grants $42 Million for Urban Trees Around the Bay
December 7, 2023 •
The money is meant to fix longstanding tree-cover gaps in disadvantaged neighborhoods—but it’s a fraction of what’s needed.
The Comeback Quail
November 30, 2023 •
The official bird of San Francisco has been AWOL in the city for years. But the Presidio hopes to change that.
All Vaxxed Up and Ready to Roost, Six Captive-Born Condors Fly Free
November 29, 2023 •
Though, faced with freedom, Condor 1139 and his fellow juveniles take their sweet time to step across the threshold. “We’re on condor time,” says a program manager.
It’s Looking Like a Banner Year for Baby Newts in the North Bay
November 27, 2023 •
“In some areas, they blanketed the road,” says a volunteer newt-rescue organizer.