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.

Ballot Measure Results

January 1, 2007 •  by

Last November, the Bay Area electorate headed to the polls to help decide the fate of several important land-use issues. As our votes slowly turn into policy and action on the ground, Bay Nature asked two regional open space advocacy … Read more

Dredging the Port of Sonoma

January 1, 2007 •  by

At first glance, the wide-open stretch of Highway 37 along San Pablo Bay between Vallejo and Novato may look like a sleepy rural backwater, but the range of wetland habitat protection projects here, combined with open farmland, give this corridor … Read more

Purchase of Coast Dairies Land

January 1, 2007 •  by

Over the years, local surfers, picnicking families, and even ravers have used the seven beaches on former dairy farm land known as Coast Dairies eight miles north of Santa Cruz. But those strips of sand—a sliver of the newly protected … Read more

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.

Book Review: Exploring a Sense of Place

October 1, 2006 •  by

Exploring a Sense of Place: How to Create Your Own Local Program for Reconnecting with Nature, by Karen Harwell and Joanna Reynolds. Self-Published, 2006, 92 pages, $25.00 www.exploringsenseofplace.org Ask yourself these questions: On what day are the shadows shortest where … 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

Ballot Initiatives for Open Space

October 1, 2006 •  by

Not so very long ago, two counties on opposite corners of the Bay competed to grow the best stone fruits in the West. With fertile soils and favorable climates, Santa Clara and Solano counties have rich agricultural heritages stretching back … Read more