Lawmakers scramble to avert park closures
With state park closures only a month away, California lawmakers are scrambling to send long-lasting aid to the state park system and keep the gates open.
Category: Stewardship
The San Francisco Bay Area is bejeweled with hundreds of parks and open space preserves as well as a rich set of laws and policies meant to ensure the survival of vulnerable species and ecosystems. Real people made this happen through a dedicated call to stewardship.
Conservation Action Award: Ellie Cohen
Ellie Cohen became president and CEO of what is now PRBO Conservation Science in 1999. Under her leadership, the organization has grown from the local Point Reyes Bird Observatory, founded in 1965, to a hemisphere-scale operation, conducting bird-focused applied ecosystem studies on land and at sea. PRBO uses its wealth of data and partnerships to assess and reduce the impacts of changes in climate and land use on ecosystem health.
Youth Engagement Award: Sean FitzHoward
Sean FitzHoward has a head start on contributing to local conservation. At 16, the high school junior has already completed an internship with The Bay Institute. Now she's volunteering with the California Academy of Sciences. She also founded and runs the Protect the Bay Club at San Francisco's Lowell High School. We caught up with her at Crissy Field to talk about her passion for local environmental action.
Upside to a down economy: less pressure on open space
One of the impacts of the economic recession over the last few years has been less interest in developing the Bay Area’s remaining open space.A new report released on Tuesday by Greenbelt Alliance finds that a down real estate market, combined with public policies to restrict growth, has led to a 20 percent drop in the amount of Bay Area land “at risk” for development, compared to six years ago.An estimated 77,300 acres is no longer in the immediate cross-hairs of developers and suburban planners, according to At Risk: The Bay Area Greenbelt 2012. And some 3 million acres total are now protected.
Wanted: Sand for Endangered Butterfly
The imperiled Lange’s metalmark butterfly lives only on a small stretch of remnant dunes near Antioch. Managers of the Antioch Dunes National Wildlife Refuge hope to create precious new habitat, while a captive-breeding program keeps the butterflies just short of extinction.
First to the finish line: Jack London State Park
For the past 35 years, Valley of the Moon Natural History Association has been helping greet and educate visitors at the Jack London State Historic Park in Sonoma County.As of May 1, however, it’s taken charge of the whole park: 1,400 acres, 10,000 artifacts, and more than a dozen historic buildings.
Occupiers restart debate on future of Gill Tract
On a typical spring day in early May at the Gill Tract, UC Berkeley agriculture researchers would be busy preparing for the summer research season.But this year, in a fenced-off field that usually grows experimental crops, a temporary encampment has sprung up. A group of students and others associated with the Occupy movement have rototilled the soil and planted their own vision of the future of farming.
Despite Promise of Developer Funds, Candlestick Point Will Close
Candlestick Point State Recreation Area in southeast San Francisco is California's first urban state park, and offers city-dwellers a slice of nature along the Bay. State budget cuts landed it on the list of park closures, even though a massive redevelopment project next door promises to deliver $50 million to Candlestick.
Conservatives attack Franciscan manzanita
The last remaining specimen of Franciscan manzanita is happily basking in the sun in an undisclosed location in the Presidio, apparently unaware that conservative talk radio has it out for its survival. Fanning the flames on government spending, shock-jocks are calling its 2010 rescue the "untold story of the year."
Angel Island gets TLC for Earth Day
Over 150 volunteers crammed onto a ferry that set sail from Tiburon in honor of upcoming Earth Day this Sunday.Their destination? The hiker’s paradise of Angel Island. With a backdrop of clear skies and a light breeze, the crew on Saturday joined the California State Parks Foundation’s (CSPF) effort to clean up and restore 17 of the state’s neglected parks.
