The San Francisco Bay is our region’s dominant geographic feature.
Rush Ranch Open Space features the largest intact brackish tidal marsh in the San Francisco Estuary. That’s why it has been designated, along with China Camp State Park, as California’s newest and largest National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR). The NERR … Read more
The rounded hills by the Bay are the first thing that catch your eye at Coyote Hills Regional Park. But the brackish and freshwater marshes behind the hills have a charm of their own. Remnant of a once-extensive mix of tidal and freshwater wetlands that sustained a thriving Ohlone community for several thousand years, the marsh is now home to marsh wrens, muskrats, and one of the East Bay's few remaining patches of tules.
The past two decades have witnessed an explosion of scientific studies of the San Francisco Bay estuary, vastly improving our understanding of its natural history and ecology. Every two years the San Francisco Estuary Project brings together researchers, government officials, … Read more
Habitat Loss On the fringes of the Bay lie the varied wetlands that feed and shelter the Bay’s wildlife. Chinook salmon, white croaker, and northern pintails feed in the shallow water as it fluctuates with the tides. Topsmelt, Pacific staghorn … Read more
In the 40 years since the movement to save San Francisco Bay began, we have moved from desperately fending off more bay fill projects to proactively restoring thousands of acres of shoreline wetlands. Yet how healthy is the Bay that we are saving? What are the factors that affect the health of the Bay and what are we doing about them?
by John Hart (text) and David Sanger (photography), University of California Press, 2003, 212 pages, $34.95 (www.ucpress.edu). Early European explorers sailed right past the mouth of the San Francisco Bay; blinded by sun or fog, or perhaps the monotony of … Read more
Dubbed the cosmic center of the universe by locals, Elkhorn Slough is one of the richest wetlands along the California coast, a magnet for wildlife and humans alike. And the best way to see it all is in a kayak.
Through the purchase of 16,500 acres of Bay Area salt ponds from Cargill, Inc., the stage is set for the largest tidal wetlands restoration project ever attempted on the Pacific Coast. The South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, consisting of … Read more
An increasing number of gray whales have been spotted in San Francisco Bay in recent years. Why are these aquatic giants venturing here now in greater numbers? Are they temporary refugees? Or are they adding a regular stop on their 10,000-mile-long migration route?
What makes the Bay such a magnet for shorebirds and waterfowl, hosting more of them than any other Pacific coastal wetland in the U.S.? Looking at some of the Bay's habitats through the eyes of four different species gives us a unique perspective on this avian haven.
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
