Is it OK to catch crawdads?
Q: A group of families goes out every year, catching up to 300 crawdads for a big feast, releasing those with eggs. We often wonder if we’re depleting the supply....
Science and Nature
Islands in a Sea of Grass
The East Bay hills are dotted with hundreds of ponds, many of which offer welcome habitat and shelter to native wildlife, from threatened California red-legged frogs and tiger salamanders to...
Letter from the Publisher
About 15 years ago, I took a solo backpack trip in the Carson-Iceberg Wilderness near Ebbets Pass in the Sierra. On the first morning, camped beside a small lake, I...
Discover the Rare Rocks and Flowers of Tiburon’s Ring Mountain
Perched 600 feet above San Francisco Bay, Ring Mountain has spectacular views of the surrounding ridgelines, Bay, and urban areas. But you can also find much deeper views into the...
The Simple Life of a “By the Wind” Sailor
Usually around late April, following spring storms, Northern California beaches are littered with something that looks like gobs of purple-tinted slimy cellophane.
Whispers in the Water
By a quiet picnic area in the Presidio, water gurgles out of the hillside, spills over brick walls, and disappears underground on its way north to Crissy Field and the...
April Fooling!
Would you believe a twig is watching you? That some leaves can walk? And that if you brush against a piece of bark, it just might fly away? Insects play...
Farallon Island Fur Seals
Two hundred years ago, the captain of a 280-ton whaling vessel reported seeing a bounty of fur seals on the Farallon Islands, 28 miles west of San Francisco. Subsequently, the...
Forrest Deaner Native Plant Garden
The newly fledged Forrest Deaner Native Plant Garden in the Benicia State Recreation Area has the distinction of being the second public garden in the Bay Area to focus exclusively...
Presidio, Past and Present
San Francisco’s Presidio is among the richest historical sites in the Bay region, or perhaps in all of California, a place with structures and changes in the landscape that go...
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