A hike on the Hazelnut Trail at Montara Mountain leads you through several scrub communities and straight into a botanical puzzle.
Science and Nature
Spring Issue 2001
Old Hills, New Economies
The vast expanse of rugged country east of high-tech Santa Clara Valley, crowned by the Bay Area’s highest peak, has been a refuge for wild species—humans included—for a very long time.
Spring Issue 2001
Out of an Ancient Sea
The oak-dotted, rounded hills of Contra Costa and eastern Alameda counties are a familiar sight, but do you know how they got to be that way?
Spring Issue 2001
Peering into Muddy Waters
One measure of the ecological richness of the Bay is its role as a major nursery for five resident species of sharks.
Spring Issue 2001
Stowe Lake Herons, With 2000 Viewing Dates
Springtime is mating time, and the Bay Area provides its residents with a splendid opportunity to view the new families of one of our most majestic birds—the great blue heron. The largest heron in North America, great blues average nearly … Read more
Spring Issue 2001
What makes wildflowers so colorful?
At the precise moment we are looking at them, flowers are sending light rays back to us. But not all of them are sending us the same kind of light in the same way. The different colors are different wavelengths … Read more
Spring Issue 2001
Wildflower Web Site
One of the joys of our Mediterranean climate is the Bay Area’s long wildflower season. Among the first reports this year was the January sighting of blooming fetid adder’s tongue and redwood sorrel in Muir Woods. If you want up-to-date … Read more
Winter Issue 2001
USGS Menlo Park’s California Center
Still trying to sort through the confusion of rocks and minerals that make up the Bay Area? Then you might want to visit the Menlo Park offices of the U.S. Geological Survey. Stop by the library’s California Center to see … Read more
Winter Issue 2001
Rush Ranch Protects One of the Few Remnants of Estuarine Marsh in the Bay Area
On the edge of the tidal marsh fringing Suisun Slough, a streaky dark-brown sparrow gleans seeds of tules and other rushes from the exposed mud. A shadow passes: a northern harrier, cruising for mice. The sparrow vanishes into a tangle … Read more
Winter Issue 2001
Bob Walker Photography Exhibit at Oakland Museum
Bob Walker was a passionate defender of Bay Area open space and a brilliant landscape photographer with an amazing eye for light and shape. A former chair of the San Francisco Chapter of the Sierra Club, Bob was also a … Read more
.jpg){kind=link}