The San Francisco Bay is our region’s dominant geographic feature.
Water desalination may seem too costly and too riddled with complications to go anywhere fast. But that doesn’t mean water managers are giving up hope. Faced with an uncertain future of diminishing water supplies, officials are floating plans for 17 … Read more
A long, wavy greenish-brown kelp dangles off the docks at South Beach Marina by AT&T Park in San Francisco. It may seem like the seaweed belongs there, but it’s an invasive kelp from Asia, known as Undaria pinnatifida. It’s so … Read more
Mark your calendars for September 9th! EcoFair Marin is back, and even better this year, with over 80 exhibits, do-it- yourself demonstrations and speakers, including author Van Jones, as keynote presenter. Inspired by San Rafael’s Climate Action Plan and presented in … Read more
It's early on a weekday morning, and Chris Pincetich is sifting through a small pile of debris on Stinson Beach. He's at the high-water mark, called the wrack line. That's where buoyant ocean flotsam gets stuck as the tide goes out. As we walk along, he stops and points out how plastic strapping looks a lot like weathered eelgrass. Pincetich isn't your ordinary beachcomber. He's a scientist trying to compile a local data set for a global problem: marine plastic pollution.
A recent study has proven the obvious: San Francisco Bay is a major conduit for invasive species. And the biggest culprit? Cargo ships and their ballast water. Environmentalists are now pushing for new treatment requirements to stem the tide of alien species.
How do you develop a booming Oakland when there’s a big creek in your way? Bury it underground, cement it over, channel it with culverts, and turn it into a gravel quarry. Sounds like a plan, right?Sausal Creek has undoubtedly taken a lot of abuse. But one thing must be said: Oakland owes much of its economy to the roughly 3-mile creek that meanders from its headwaters in the Oakland Hills to the San Francisco Bay.
At the northwestern edge of Richmond, near Point Pinole Regional Shoreline, a modest bayshore wetland stands ready to emerge from decades of neglect. Thanks to the residents of nearby Parchester Village and staff of the East Bay Regional Park District, Breuner Marsh will become precious public recreation land and a refuge for sensitive species imperiled by sea level rise.
It’s been just over a year since the devastating earthquake and tsunami wiped away coastal towns in Japan. As communities rebuild and mourn the loss of loved ones, a portion of the 25 million tons of wreckage is now swirling around the ocean and making its way to California shores.It’s a unique research opportunity for scientists who have never before seen such a sudden, massive deposit of ocean debris from a one-time event.
The San Francisco Bay model is running wet again, now that the dust has settled on a nearly 2-year renovation project. The scale replica of the bay and Sacramento-San Joaquin River delta system has been largely out of the public eye -- and dry -- as construction crews upgraded the building and installed new exhibits and solar panels. Now, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which runs the 1.5 acre model on a sea-front building in Sausalito, is welcoming visitors again, starting with a grand re-opening celebration on Saturday.
New artificial islands at Oakland’s Arrowhead Marsh provide some welcome refuge for endangered clapper rails. But can they be expanded into enough other habitats to keep the birds safe from rising sea levels?
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
