California is a world biodiversity hot spot. Full stop. Roughly 32 percent of the nation’s native plants are found in California, and those 6,500 species provide habitat that supports the state’s multitude of wildlife. To protect that biodiversity as the … Read more
This past July, the East Bay Regional Park District announced a ban on the controversial herbicide glyphosate, also known by the brand name Roundup. The prohibition was effective immediately in picnic areas. The district said it would discontinue use of … Read more
Where do turtles go in the winter and summer? —Alma, Sebastopol I am assuming you are referring to our only native freshwater turtle—the western pond turtle—which you might see basking in the sun and then quickly kerplunking right into the … Read more
Something is amiss on Sherman Island, a whale-shaped swath of farm and grazing land at the confluence of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers. If you don’t know what ails the place, it might be hard to pinpoint the problem. … Read more
Things to see and do in nature in Northern California this fall.
In his 1979 book The Tree, British novelist John Fowles characterizes nature as “an experience whose deepest value lies in the fact that it cannot be directly described by any art … including that of words.” Undeterred by the impossibility … Read more
There’s a resurgence in exploring and documenting nature worldwide
Linda Hunter pulls up to Bay Natives Nursery in Bayview-Hunters Point and opens the rear hatch of her gray Prius. Inside are several white plastic buckets full of shells. They come from oysters eaten the previous day by customers at … Read more
Seagrass beds are important to consider when regarding climate change not only because they can sequester carbon in soils, but also because seagrass may buffer against ocean acidity.
