In the San Francisco Bay Area, slices of nature pop up in the most unexpected places, a testament to the region's wealth in biodiversity and the resilience of its natural systems. Bringing nature to urban areas is not just about ensuring the survival of species, but enhancing people's quality of life through a fulfillment of our innate need to be with nature.

San Francisco Natural Areas Program

July 1, 2007 •  by

San Francisco’s Natural Areas Program is in the final stages of hammering out a plan to guide the management and improvement of its designated Natural Resource Areas. Of the 3,480 acres managed by the Recreation and Parks Department, 31 sites … Read more

Mount Sutro’s Untold Understory

July 1, 2007 •  by

It’s almost impossible to miss Sutro Tower, the lanky broadcast antenna that looms 977 feet above the summit of one of San Francisco’s tallest hills, itself over 900 feet tall. However, few people know that underneath that landmark sit 61 … Read more

Making Peace with Coyote

January 1, 2007 •  by

Clementine is a 130-pound great Pyrenees—a white shag carpet of a dog who sleeps through the day out in the rolling hills of West Marin, guarding up to 1,500 head of sheep owned by Bill Jensen. Jensen lives on 240 … Read more

Book Review: New Guardians for the Golden Gate

October 1, 2006 •  by

New Guardians for the Golden Gate: How America Got a Great National Park, by Amy Meyer with Randolph Delehanty, UC Press, 2006, 338 pages, $29.95 www.ucpress.edu How quickly we forget. Less than 40 years ago, the Presidio was an active … Read more

Unearthing Mountain Lake

October 1, 2006 •  by

In 2001, bulldozers excavated two immense old army water tanks that long sat at the edge of Mountain Lake, a two-and-a-half-acre lake in San Francisco’s Presidio that’s one of only three natural lakes in the city. That same year, native … Read more

Hunters Point Power Plant Controversy

April 1, 2006 •  by

On Wednesday, March 15, the San Francisco Public Power Commission voted unanimously to close the aging Hunters Point power plant as early as this April. This might sound like a victory for the Bayview Hunter’s Point community, but they’ve heard … Read more

Update: Steelhead on Alameda Creek

January 1, 2006 •  by

2005 “By the Water’s Edge: A Chronicle of Two Creeks” Our January-March 2005 issue highlighted the riparian habitats of the East Bay’s Alameda Creek watershed. Recently, the Alameda Creek Alliance (ACA) received $1 million from the National Fish and Wildlife … Read more

Casino Proposal at Arrowhead Marsh

April 1, 2005 •  by

The 1,220-acre Martin Luther King Jr. Regional Shoreline Park, near the Oakland Airport, includes 72 acres of restored wetlands and the distinctively shaped Arrowhead Marsh, which reaches out into the waters of San Leandro Bay. These wetlands, in the midst … Read more

Letter from the Publisher

April 1, 2005 •  by

Parking the car in front of my house a few weeks ago, I noticed movement across the street. It was a deer—a mature doe, I believe—walking up the sidewalk in the early evening twilight. Aware of my presence, but not … Read more