Human settlement in the San Francisco Bay Area dates back 10,000 years to early Native American settlements. Today, the region is a teeming metropolis of 7 million people that collectively challenge the health of the region's ecosystems. How it got this way is a story that prompts a deeper understanding of our place in the landscape.

On Sacred Places

April 1, 2003 •  by

Tom Smith. A simple name. Not so the man. My great-great-grand-father. Father and grandfather and great-grandfather to many Coast Miwok and Pomo people. I’ve told stories about him, stories I have heard, stories others tell: how he performed miracles healing … Read more

The Fire Down Below

April 1, 2003 •  by

A shower of magma-heated liquid and steam makes for more than just a pretty Calistoga postcard. It’s a 30-million-year-old lesson in California’s dynamic underground history of sliding plates, volcanic eruptions, and molten rock.

Between River and Bay

January 1, 2003 •  by

At the intersection of coastal tides and inland rivers there’s a place that’s rich in history and full of life. The Delta has been greatly altered by human hands, but at Big Break Regional Shoreline, its watery charms are accessible to those willing to venture off the beaten path.

Rooted in History

January 1, 2003 •  by

Once a major crossroads for the Coast Miwok, and briefly a home for the Grateful Dead, Rancho Olompali now sits quietly beside Highway 101 north of Novato. But follow its trails and you’ll hear the echoes of the voices of those who came before.

Whaling from San Francisco Bay

January 1, 2003 •  by

Though whales were never hunted in San Francisco Bay itself, the whaling industry had a long presence here. Beginning in the 1830s, whaling ships of British and New England–based fleets wintered in San Francisco Bay. A hundred ships or more … Read more

A Redwood Century at Big Basin

July 1, 2002 •  by

At the dawn of the 20th century, a number of Peninsula residents—including photographer Andrew Hill and lawyer Delphin Delmas—watched in horror as loggers cut their way into groves of ancient redwoods in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Determined to preserve these Titanic offsprings of Nature for future generations, these pioneering citizens banded together to lobby for the creation of California’s first state park—Big Basin.

Postcards from Pescadero

July 1, 2002 •  by

True, there was no e-mail, snail mail, or even Pony Express, but somehow postcards from intrepid explorers of the San Mateo coast in days of yore have reached our mailbox. Take a unique trip through time and discover how the beach and marsh at Pescadero came to be the treasures we love to visit today.

Butterflies and Bulldozers on an Island of Time

April 1, 2002 •  by

San Bruno Mountain rises along the southern border of San Francisco, remnant of an ecosystem that once covered much of this peninsula. The mountain provides a tenuous refuge for some of the rare plants and endangered butterflies that have lost much of their former habitat. And it beckons to people who want a taste of the San Francisco peninsula as it was before Europeans arrived.

Undercover San Francisco

April 1, 2002 •  by

Have you ever wondered what some familiar spots in San Francisco looked like 300 years ago? Environmental artist Mark Brest van Kempen did, so he went back in time and took some pictures.