Exploring Nature in the San Francisco Bay Area
Why couldn’t I buy live crabs this Thanksgiving? Whether or not you choose to use your carnassial teeth for their intended purpose, eating Dungeness crabs (Metacarcinus magister) is something of a regional tradition around the holidays. A “crab feed” is to the West Coast as a lobster bake is to the Northeast, a bull and…
What salamanders live in the Bay Area? Ahh yes, salamanders. The under-appreciated amphibians, second to their more well-known and vocal (if slightly obnoxious) cousin the frog. For these slimy critters, existence under the forest floor or in murky bodies of water often hides them from even the most enthusiastic of hikers. This is true even…
A fox seems to be strolling up to the hidden camera, perhaps spotting it, or perhaps just wandering by. The camera, placed by Susan Ferry, is deep within Henry W. Coe State Park, the largest state park in Northern California, with plenty of space for foxes to roam and survive. Camera traps are one of…
Update Nov. 15, 2019: This story has been revised to reflect the city’s vote on Thursday, Nov. 14 to approve the project. Planners, climate scientists, and environmentalists generally agree that two of the most critical measures California should take to reduce its carbon emissions are to build more dense urban housing near transit and to…
No need for alarm — it’s just a sign of fall.
Much of California enjoys a mild Mediterranean climate where the weather typically swings like a pendulum from warm, dry summers to cool, wet winters. Year-to-year, this pendulum can swing with great variation. If it doesn’t swing toward rain and snow between October and March, it leads to drought; if it does, we might see record-breaking…
Independent, nonprofit environmental journalism connecting people with nature in the San Francisco Bay Area.
