Alameda Creek Dam Policies Could Decide Frogs’ Future

August 27, 2010 •  by

Sarah Kupferberg, a research scientist at UC Berkeley, is fascinated by foothill yellow-legged frogs, once common but now scarce in Alameda Creek. The SF Public Utilities Commission is rebuilding the Calavares Dam, and the way that dam gets managed may well determine the fate of these rare frogs.

Getting Closer to the Water in Petaluma

January 1, 2010 •  by

River advocate David Yearsley continues his quest to connect people of all ages to the Petaluma River, now with a Petaluma River Heritage Center that focuses on boating, boatbuilding, and wetland restoration.

Restoring Two Creeks for Coho

January 1, 2010 •  by

Restoration work along Marin County’s Redwood Creek is making this watershed more habitable for the state’s southernmost run of coho salmon, while activists push for new protections in the Lagunitas watershed, home to California’s largest remaining runs of these once-plentiful fish.

Petaluma’s Teenage Fish Force

January 1, 2010 •  by

At first glance the tan building blends into the rest of Petaluma’s Casa Grande High School. It’s nondescript from the outside, but it houses a rare kind of conservation organization, the United Anglers of Casa Grande. The high school students in the club run their own hatchery, and learn more about salmon than most folks ever know…

The Keeper of the Waters

July 1, 2008 •  by

Gayle Ciardi, the first woman to serve as a watershed keeper for the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, is the fourth-generation of her family to work on the SFPUC watershed.

The Key to Willow Creek

October 1, 2007 •  by

Thanks to the efforts of dozens of volunteers, a biologically rich watershed on the Russian River has become one of the newest additions to our state park system.

The Napa Valley, and a History of Water and Wine

January 1, 2007 •  by

The Napa Valley was once a place of enormous natural bounty, fed by a vibrant, healthy river teeming with salmon and steelhead. Today, the valley is more famous for its managed bounty of grapes and fine wine. The river, hemmed in by vineyards, has too often been relegated to the status of a waste canal. But now a unique alliance of growers and scientists has come together to give the Napa’s upper reach a chance to regain some of its wildness.

Looking Ahead on the Napa River

January 1, 2007 •  by

In our January-March 2007 feature, “Valley of Water and Wine,” we highlight the innovative work of landowners along the Napa River who are initiating restoration projects on the upper reaches of the river. The Rutherford Dust Society, a group of … Read more