Down to the Sea Again
Daly City's cliffs hold tales of ancient seas and volcanic eruptions. But don't count on them to stand still under your feet, or your home.
History
Taking Refuge
At this small, sandy National Wildlife Refuge on the industrial outskirts of Antioch, you'll find great views of the San Joaquin River, and rare plants and insects that don't exist...
Old Oaks Fleck Franklin Ridge Above Martinez
John Muir National Historic Site in Martinez. Trail: 7.8 mi, 1,505 ft elevation gain, out-and-back
Man in the Mud
Since immigrating to the United States from Norway in the 1950s, Hallvard Haugnes spent almost every day of his life moving mud around the South Bay salt ponds –all in...
In the Shadow of Giants
The hills above Oakland once held some of the largest redwoods ever seen, one estimated at 31 feet in diameter. Ten million years ago, such trees towered over much of...
Dredging up an Avian Oasis
What do you get when you scoop up 250,000 cubic yards of muck from the Petaluma River? Prime shorebird habitat, of course. Unlikely as it may seem, Shollenberger Park is...
Saving El Palo Alto
Imagine a landmark so prominent that anyone looking south from San Francisco or north from San Jose could spot it. Spanish missionary Padre Pedro Font wrote in his diary in...
Grassland Heritage
When Spanish explorers first saw the San Francisco Bay in 1769, they found a land cloaked largely in perennial grasses. But the extirpation of the native elk herds that grazed...
Apperson Ridge Quarry
In 1984, Alameda County approved Oliver de Silva, Inc.’s plans to build a hard rock quarry at Apperson Ridge, east of Sunol Valley. Twenty years later, de Silva has yet...
Where the Elk and the Antelope Played
A million years ago, in a climate much like ours today, the land around an ancestral bay teemed with large animals: mammoths and saber-tooth cats; bears, horses, and peccaries. By...
