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On the first day of summer, a thunderstorm crackled across much of California. Eight thousand lightning strikes ignited over 2,000 fires that burned more than 1.1 million acres by late July. California ecosystems have evolved with lightning-induced fires, but the … Read more
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The dramatic fall silhouette of the California buckeye shows off its giant seeds, that largest of any of our native plants.
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Harbor seals, migrating seabirds, and other wildlife find shelter in the productive waters of Drakes Estero at Point Reyes.
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Springtime certainly has its charms–the hills turn green, wildflowers emerge, the days get longer. And summer is the traditional time to get outside. But fall is the season I look forward to most. True, the days are shorter, and the … Read more
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Redwood City’s Bair Island is the domino that that didn’t fall to development, and now an unusual team of activists, business leaders, and government officials is leading the way toward restoration.
Get a few rash ideas about poison oak!
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It’s easy to forget how much of the Bay Area was once a working landscape. Row crops, orchards, and pastures held sway in places now covered by freeways and houses. But a surprising amount of that working land endures in our parks and preserves. In the East Bay, ranchers still run cattle on thousands of acres of land, both public and private. And in a few places, thanks to the East Bay Regional Park District, kids and adults can learn firsthand about skills people once took for granted: how to plant a seed, plow a field, grind grain into flour, or spin wool into yarn.
Why is this bird attacking my windows?
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It was 140 years ago, in October 1868, that the Hayward Fault unleashed the magnitude 6.8 temblor that put the fault on the map. The quake shook the entire region and virtually leveled the then-small hamlets of Hayward and San Leandro. Now, the land along the fault line is among the most densely populated in the region, a sobering situation given the likelihood of a repeat performance in the near future. But despite their destructive potential, the Hayward and the Bay Area’s other faults are the driving force behind our region’s varied and beautiful topography. Understanding how they work is key both to understanding our local landscapes and to preparing for the next Big One.
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More than 900,000 shorebirds use San Francisco Bay sometime during the year, and fall is a great time to see them.
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