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.
Two weeks ago, Los Angeles supervisors voted to ban retailers from distributing single-use plastic bags in unincorporated parts of the county. Then on November 29, the governor argued for a statewide ban of plastic bags at a Sacramento press conference. Now San Jose becomes the nation's largest city to ban plastic bags.
In 1992, Amy Hutzel started as an intern at the nature center in Alviso, in the South Bay. Since then, she's been involved in the biggest wetlands restorations on the West Coast, and she shares her tips on the best places to see restoration in action, all over the Bay.
A short, compelling series of essays and paintings of a dozen species of California wildlife from Rebecca Solnit and Mona Caron.
In San Ramon, a November ballot measure related to a proposed housing development in the Tassajara Valley threatens open space and San Ramon’s urban limit line. Meanwhile, voters in Petaluma and Santa Rosa will have a chance to strengthen their cities’ limits on urban sprawl.
On November 2, voters will decide if California should do something it has never done before: provide dedicated funding for its state parks. Beyond curing the parks’ seemingly endless maintenance backlog, the new funding promises increased public access and educational programs.
Not everyone can say they had a hand in preserving 30,000 acres of parkland. But longtime Bay Area resident Janet Santos Cobb can. Cobb helped pass a landmark East Bay park bond in 1988, and she's been fighting for wildlands and wildlife ever since.
After a summer spent watching our nation scramble to clean up one of history's largest oil spills, it seems like an especially good time to get our own hands dirty working to protect our nation's fragile natural resources. Call it fate or coincidence then that both Coastal Cleanup Day and National Public Lands Day take place this Saturday, September 25th.
Would removing Stanford's Searsville Dam be a boon to threatened fish, a costly distraction from protecting other species, or even a danger to local residents and other wildlife? Government officials are taking public comment until August 30, and we have a short primer to help you get your bearings...
You can often find Bay Area native Anthony DeCicco teaching kids in Oakland about the wonders of wetlands at Martin Luther King Jr. Shoreline. Other times, look for him walking his dogs at Point Isabel Regional Shoreline.
This Wednesday, July 14, California State Parks officials are convening a public meeting to examine the future of Candlestick Point State Recreation Area. Candlestick, to most people, means football, but the state recreation area just beyond the stadium is noteworthy in its own right: It was the first state park ever created specifically to serve an urban population, and it sits across South Basin from Hunters Point and draws many visitors from the industrial city's southeast waterfront.
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
