The study and science of plants.
Three days after the Indian--I'll call him Fidel--avenged the assault on his wife and slayed the young rancher who'd committed the horrible deed, the posse of vigilantes pursuing him found him, not near the small settlement of Marshall, but across Tomales Bay on a ridge; and not in a thicket of coyote bush and low-growing fir where he might've hidden, but in the middle of an open grassland.
The shrublands of the Point Reyes National Seashore, which include the northern coastal scrub and maritime chaparral, hooked me long ago with their vibrant charms. Found on slopes within the influence of the sea, they hug the land as tightly as a knitted sweater, shrugging off the challenges of wind, salt spray, and fog.
With golden summer hillsides and enticing mosaics of forest and field, the grasslands of California are iconic. Yet few people realize that some of those grasslands are actually coastal prairie, one of the most diverse—and most endangered—ecosystems in the world.Today less than 5 percent of this vibrant habitat remains comparatively intact. Much has been lost to more than a century of fire suppression, development, tilling and invasion by non-native species.
Chaparral and scrublands are often overlooked, dismissed even, as valuable habitat in places like Point Reyes National Seashore. But the unassuming assemblage of low-lying shrubs and herbs are the right tools for the job in many difficult landscape situations, and hold a beauty of their own. Perhaps it's time to rethink scrublands as a rightful native habitat, good in the wild and garden.
Breeze has been building mountain bikes for 40 years, and he remembers friendlier days when cyclists and hikers peacefully coexisted.
Stinging nettles and horsetail, plus lots of wildflowers, on the trail at Point Reyes.
Working off historical records of rare plant locations, plant "hunters" on Mount Tamalpais are scouring the mountain in search of the illusive Mason’s ceanothus shrub and other botanical novelties. The goal: update the location and numbers of California rare plants in the California Natural Diversity Database.
In the Santa Cruz Mountains, some passionate folks look after rare plants and animals in a unique habitat defined by sand but threatened by mining, development, and fragmentation.
Jules Evens clocks another 5 miles of his 154-mile adventure through Point Reyes, this time with Douglas irises and other wildflowers coming into bloom. Another great hike you can take at Point Reyes!
Just a century ago, foraging for wild foods would have been unremarkable--part of daily life for many people. That's not true today, but foraging is making a comeback, with ever more people interested in finding food in the wild. But with a growing population and diminishing natural resources, is this sustainable? We head out with local foragers and ask about the ethics of foraging in a metropolis.
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
