I find myself awakening to the wonder of time — the deep, slow, earth-time of trees, and dirt, and rocks — and to the aching grief of human greed and misunderstanding.
The Generosity of Trees
March 30, 2021 •
First Look
Timely news, art, ideas and science from the natural world of Northern California.
Editor’s Letter: Spring Renewal
March 30, 2021 •
You can smell a burned forest before you see it. An acrid scent hangs in the air for a long time after the flames are out. When my husband, daughter, and I drove into an area of Sonoma County consumed … Read more
Rebuilding Big Basin
March 24, 2021 •
California’s first State Park burned in the 2020 CZU Lightning Fires. Now conservation groups want it to rebuild as the model of state parks for the future.
City and Regional Goals Clash as Newark Pushes Ahead With Low-Density Housing in A Bayshore Flood Zone
March 9, 2021 •
Can, or should, regional agencies intervene in a city’s development decision?
Disease Outbreak Appears to be Killing Bay Area Trees
March 4, 2021 •
In at least one tree species, scientists say the culprit appears to be a fungal pathogen.
LNU Fire Complex Scalds Some Berryessa-Snow Mountain National Monument Landscapes, Spares Others, Tour Reveals
February 23, 2021 •
The splash of green on the ashen landscape was unexpected. Marc Hoshovsky, a naturalist retired from a career with California state agencies, was reviewing a satellite photo of areas burned in the LNU Complex fire last fall, hoping to tease … Read more
What a City Can Do for Nature
February 18, 2021 •
In the early 1990s, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service reviewed the status of a rare coastal sand dune plant called the San Francisco lessingia, which grows only in San Francisco and San Mateo Counties. The background the service … Read more
The Most Eye-Catching Mushrooms to See in Winter
February 10, 2021 •
A naturalist on the “flowers of winter”
Meet the Rare Dawn Redwood at a Bay Area Park
February 4, 2021 •
Rare and once thought extinct, the dawn redwood is an ancient relative of the more familiar coast redwood.
Atmospheric Rivers Like This One are Vital to Understanding California
January 28, 2021 •
Ten days ago the state set new heat records and brush fires broke out. Burn areas in the Santa Cruz Mountains rekindled. Then, over the last three days, a 2,000-mile-long filament of water in the sky burst over the areas that last week sat brown and smoking.