Exploring Nature in the San Francisco Bay Area
The first time I began to pay closer attention to the small band of Columbian blacktail deer that coexist—more or less peacefully—with my neighborhood’s human residents was during the summer of 1997 while working outside on my house in Belmont on the San Francisco Peninsula. Here, as in many other Bay Area neighborhoods, human habitation…
The Bay Area is home to almost 150 species of butterflies, skippers, and moths—and to quite a few butterfly lovers as well. If you number yourself among that group, spring is high season. Here’s a sampling of local butterfly events: The Bay Area is home to the largest concentration of butterfly counts in the country,…
Late last year, the California High-Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) withdrew its controversial proposed Central Valley-Bay Area routes that would have girdled Henry Coe State Park and the adjacent Orestimba Wilderness. But while the heart of the park has been spared, John Woodbury of the Bay Area Open Space Council cautions that the two northerly Diablo…
Redwood Regional Park, Alameda County – French Trail: From the Canyon Meadow Staging Area, set a course north along the Stream Trail toward the Skyline Gate. Verdant grassy meadows and shadowy redwood groves trade off as you make your way parallel to Redwood Creek, where rainbow trout frequent the waters. From Skyline Gate, the West…
Here are several local organizations that have recently taken steps to preserve redwood forests in the Bay region and beyond. Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) Together with the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, in 1999 POST acquired 1,065 acres known as the Bear Creek Redwoods, located south of San Jose in Santa Clara County. (650)854-7696…
David Amme, author of “Grassland Heritage” in Bay Nature’s April-June 2004 issue, called purple needlegrass “the undisputed candidate for official state grass.” Now that may soon become literally as well as figuratively true: State Sen. Michael Machado, D-Linden, is sponsoring legislation to make purple needlegrass California’s official state grass. The long-lived, drought-tolerant purple needlegrass, or…
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
