
A discovery pack is a simple tool that can greatly enhance your study of nature. A well-stocked pack will fit in with any field trip, whether to the beach, desert, forest, city neighborhood, vacant lot, park, or even grandma’s house for dinner. Using your skills of observation, questioning, and comparing, you can learn a lot…

September 21, 2003, 4:30 a.m., Dan is moving about in the kitchen. There is a plan afoot, so to speak. Last night it sounded like fun, but as I lever myself into my wheelchair in the dark bedroom I’m trying to remember whose bright idea this was. Still, I’m up, I’m up, and Dan puts…

In addition to the statewide measures and open-space protection efforts in Napa, Solano, and Santa Clara counties, citizens in Sonoma County and in the East Bay city of Fremont will also decide on critical habitat preservation measures in November. The Sonoma County Agriculture and Open Space Preservation District has protected 70,000 acres in the county…

WEBSITES California Oak Mortality Task Force www.suddenoakdeath.org or http://nature.berkeley.edu/comtf This is the most comprehensive source of information for the general public about sudden oak death and the pathogen that causes it. Useful pages on the site include: History and Background http://nature.berkeley.edu/comtf/html/history___background.html Chronology of disease discovery, research, and regulation Affected habitats Ecological threats posed by the…

Suggestions for how gardeners can help prevent the spread of the pathogen that causes Sudden Oak Death.

With our strong state Coastal Commission, major public support for ocean protection, and thousands of square miles protected in marine reserves, California’s bountiful coastal waters might seem amply protected from major industrial uses like offshore oil drilling. But a bill that would allow individual states to opt out of a ban on drilling on the…