Exploring Nature in the San Francisco Bay Area
Some say it’s a “military style” operation, and surely the level of expertise in the field can be intimidating. But the Christmas Bird Count is also great fun for normally solitary birders and a chance to grow the next generation of naturalists.
After one solar company proposed covering 2,000 acres of open space in eastern Alameda County, county planning officials are preparing a new solar policy that will take into account environmental concerns like the loss of wildlife habitat. The debate is the latest in a series of clashes nationwide between green power and conservation.
From whale-watching expeditions to wildflower forays to the annual Christmas Bird Count, naturalist David Wimpfheimer takes great pleasure in leading people on what he likes to call natural “treasure hunts.”
Scorpions don’t just inhabit bleak desert landscapes. The Bay Area has four local species of scorpion, as one butterfly enthusiast discovered on an expedition to Albany Hill one crisp November day.
The San Francisco garter snake and its food of choice, the California red-legged frog, may get new landlords at their wetland home, the San Francisco-owned Sharp Park in Pacifica, if the board of supervisors passes legislation today that would clear the way for a transfer of its management to the National Park Service.
When Europeans arrived at what is now Pinnacles National Monument, the land was not exactly a “pristine” or “untouched” vision of nature, but rather a managed ecosystem that itself had become dependent on fires set by the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band. Scientists are studying the traditional fire practices to help the ecosystem build greater resilience…
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
