Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival November 6-8, 2026
The 28th Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival will feature a full weekend of festivities, with guided crane tours offered throughout the event.
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Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 8, 2026
SANDHILL CRANE FESTIVAL TOUR REGISTRATION OPENS September 8, 2026 at 9:00 AM
Posted in Bird Festivals, Birds | Tags: Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 8, 2026
Amazing Turtle Journey
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 7, 2026
Upcoming UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Events
See the events calendar for the UC Berkeley Botanical Garden at Garden Events
Posted in Class/Workshop, Garden | Tags: UC Berkeley Botanical Garden Events
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 7, 2026
Photos of Regional Parks Botanic Garden 9/5/26
Photographed in the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on September 5, 2026.
The Regional Parks Botanic Garden is a California native plant garden. It is located within Tilden Park in the hills above Berkeley, California, It is a 10-acre garden includes many of the state’s rare and endangered plants and a place for visitors to wander among trees, shrubs, flowers, and grasses from plant communities throughout the state. There are free weekend and holiday tours. Admission and parking are free. For more information about the garden visit the Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden.
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 7, 2026
There’s One Creature of The Deep That Can Scare Even Orcas Away
Science Alert reported
Then scientists discovered that these fearsome predators had a nemesis of their own: the mighty orca (Orcinus orca), sleek and cunning, hunting white sharks for their tender, nutrient-rich livers.
Just the hint of a squeal from a pod of long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas) can send orcas packing.
Read more and see video of Pilot Whales chasing Orrcas at There’s One Creature of The Deep That Can Scare Even Orcas Away
Posted in Animals | Tags: Orcas, Pilot Whales
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 6, 2026
Tejon Ranch Upcoming Events
See All Upcoming Tejon Ranch Events at Events
Posted in Walks & Hikes | Tags: Tejon Ranch activities
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 6, 2026
Plants may be evolving the wrong traits for a warming world | ScienceDaily
ScienceDaily reported
Morning glories may be getting caught in an evolutionary tug-of-war between surviving climate change and attracting increasingly scarce pollinators. Over just nine years, researchers found that the plants’ rate of adaptation plunged by 96%, even though they still had plenty of genetic diversity to evolve.
Read on www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2026/09/260901010719.htm
Posted in Class/Workshop, Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Plant Adaptation
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 6, 2026
Unbelievable Record Dive by Beaked Whale
Space Daily reported
In 2020 scientists tracking a beaked whale logged a dive that seemed physically impossible: 3 hours and 42 minutes underwater on a single lungful of air, by far the longest dive ever recorded in any mammal on Earth.
The whale’s body plan suggests it should suffocate within half an hour, yet it vanishes into the deep for nearly four hours—a biological contradiction that challenges everything we thought we knew about mammalian limits.
Read more at Record Dive
Posted in Animals | Tags: Beaked Whales
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 5, 2026
Trump signs order to remove endangered species status for grey wolves
The BBC reported
The US president says the move will help ranchers, but conservationists say it could derail efforts to recover populations.
Posted in Animals | Tags: Loss Wolf Protections
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 5, 2026
Trump Administration Moves to Drop Protections for More Wetlands
10bmnes reported
The Trump administration on Friday took another step toward stripping federal protections from millions of acres of wetlands, which help filter drinking water for many communities and provide critical habitat for birds, fish and other wildlife.
The proposed rule from the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would significantly narrow the definition of “waters of the United States,” or WOTUS, that are protected from harmful pollution under the Clean Water Act of 1972.
The new version is more sweeping than an initial proposal released in November, which would have removed federal protections from fewer wetlands nationwide. The plan would deliver a victory to farmers, ranchers and rural landowners who have chaffed at the protections, calling them an infringement on their property rights.
Read more at Trump Administration Moves to Drop Protections for More Wetlands
Trump Administration Moves to Drop Protections for More Wetlands
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 5, 2026
Butterflies Around the World Are Moving to New Habitats, Largely Because of Climate Change, a Study Suggests
Smithsonian Magazine reported
Researchers examined data on 1,758 butterfly species—about ten percent of all those known—from 105 countries and estimated that about one in ten global species has shifted its distribution range.
Read more at Butterflies Around the World Are Moving to New Habitats, Largely Because of Climate Change, a Study Suggests
Posted in Butterflies | Tags: Butterfly Habitats, Climate change
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 4, 2026
Trees straighten themselves using a system that works like muscles
Earth.com reported
New research reveals a hidden sensorimotor system inside trees that controls tension wood and helps them maintain an upright posture.
Read on www.earth.com/plants/trees-straighten-themselves-using-a-system-that-works-like-muscles/
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: How trees grow straight
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 4, 2026
Earth set to exceed global warming threshold, UN report warns. What happens now?
NBC Bay Area reported
In a strategic retreat in the fight against climate change, the United Nations has acknowledged that Earth has lost its chance to prevent some of the worst of global warming’s harms. So now the world must figure out how to get temperatures below the danger zone and back to safety, officials say.
Read more Earth set to exceed global warming threshold, UN report warns. What happens now?
Posted in Environment | Tags: Climate change
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 4, 2026
High-Elevation Discovery Raises New Questions About Which California Trees Will Survive Climate Change
The Revelator reported
Birds may have been burying Jeffrey pine seeds up high for thousands of years. But now that they’re sprouting, this new species of subalpine tree may change the playing field.
Posted in Environment, Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Jeffrey Pines
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 3, 2026
Upcoming CNPS Events
See the calendar of upcoming events of the California Native Plants Society at https://www.cnps.org/events
Posted in Talks | Tags: Upcoming CNPS Events
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 3, 2026
Rare, tentacled sea creature spotted in California waters
SF Gate reported
For the first time, researchers have spotted a rare, deep-sea squid alive off the California coast.
During an August ocean expedition south of Monterey, researchers found a bigfin squid — with the scientific name Magnapinna sp. — undulating about 2 miles underwater.
Read more and see photos at Rare, tentacled sea creature spotted in California waters
Posted in Animals | Tags: Bigfin squid, Magnapinna sp
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 3, 2026
Scientists believe newly discovered demon cavefish may be among the rarest fish in the world
CNN reported
Bobcat Cave near Huntsville is home to the endangered Alabama cave shrimp, two species of cave crayfish and the southern cavefish. Those were all Dr. Matthew Niemiller expected to find when he set out to survey the cave system last year.
Instead, he discovered a bizarre-looking fish, previously unknown to science. Niemiller said he believes this fish may be among the rarest in the world.
Read more at Scientists believe newly discovered demon cavefish may be among the rarest fish in the world
Posted in Animals | Tags: Demon Cavefish
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 2, 2026
Upcoming Events at East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden
See upcoming events at East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden at events.
Posted in Garden, Park, Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: East Bay Regional Parks Upcoming Activities
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 2, 2026
Almost half of world’s farmers poisoned by pesticides every year, experts find Pesticides
The Guardian reported
Study reveals that pesticide poisoning kills 11,000 people each year, with India accounting for nearly 60% of fatalities
Posted in Environment | Tags: Pesticides Poisoning Farmers
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 2, 2026
Plan to wipe out Catalina Island deer herd enters final hunting phase
KTLA reported
A California conservation group’s state-approved plan to kill roughly 2,000 nonnative deer on Catalina Island is moving forward, with applications for what officials say will be the island’s final deer-hunting season now open.
Read more Plan to wipe out Catalina Island deer herd enters final hunting phase
Also read from the the Catalina Island Conservancy Tentative Ruling Would Allow Catalina Island Mule Deer Removal to Proceed
Posted in Animals | Tags: Catalina Island Conservancy, Deer
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 2, 2026
Sick, disoriented sea lions are washing up on California beaches
SF Gate reported
A toxic algal bloom is causing a surge of poisonings along the California coast, severely sickening sea lions and other marine mammals and leaving some dead on the shore.
Dozens of sea lions have been sickened by domoic acid poisoning, a toxin produced by algae that can cause seizures and heart failure, according to a news release from the Marine Mammal Center, a nonprofit wildlife rescue organization.
Read more at Sick, disoriented sea lions are washing up on California beaches
Posted in Animals | Tags: Sick California Sea Lions, Toxic Algal Bloom
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 2, 2026
The Klamath dams have been removed. What will this mean for juvenile salmon on their way to the ocean?
Western Fisheries Research Center reported
It has been almost two years since the largest dam removal project in U.S. history took place at the border of Oregon and California. The Klamath dam removal, beginning in 2022 and ending in 2024, removed four hydroelectric dams from the Klamath River: J.C. Boyle Dam, Copco No. 1 Dam, Copco No. 2 Dam, and the Iron Gate Dam.
Read more at What will this mean for juvenile salmon on their way to the ocean?
Posted in Animals, Environment | Tags: Dam removal, Salmon
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 1, 2026
HIghway 140 to Yosemite Closed Due Fire
Hwy 140 (outside the park) closed between El Portal (Cedar Lodge) and Midpines due to a fire. Hwy 140 open between El Portal and Yosemite.
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 1, 2026
California Assembly kills wildfire liability plan Gov. Newsom agreed to with legislators
KRCA reported
PG&E and Southern California Edison’s stocks rise after the development.
California’s Assembly on Tuesday killed a wildfire liability plan that lawmakers and Gov. Gavin Newsom agreed to days ago.
Amid opposition to the proposal from the state’s two biggest power companies, Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas did not bring the legislation up for a vote.
Read more at California Assembly kills wildfire liability plan Gov. Newsom agreed to with legislators
Posted in Environment | Tags: Wildfire Liability
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 1, 2026
Virtual Talk: San Francisco’s Parrots 9/9/26
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Posted in Birds, Talks | Tags: San Francisco’s Parrots
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | September 1, 2026
Rare palm tree rediscovered in Madagascar after nearly 100 years
Monga Bay reported
Researchers have tracked down 28 individuals of a palm tree species last recorded in Madagascar nearly 100 years ago.
Nearly every tree of the species, Ravenea latisecta, was found within four protected areas in the Andasibe-Mantadia region of Madagascar, according to a recent study.
Read more Rare palm tree rediscovered in Madagascar after nearly 100 years
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Ravenea latisecta
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | August 31, 2026
Ecosystems of Rock-Eating Fungus And Tardigrades Found Thriving Deep Within a Gas Shale
Science Alert reported
scientists have discovered evidence of a whole community of complex organisms – fungi, worms, and even tardigrades – that call the Antrim Shale home.
Read more at Ecosystems of Rock-Eating Fungus And Tardigrades Found Thriving Deep Within a Gas Shale
Posted in Animals | Tags: Fungi, New Species, tardigrades, worms
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | August 30, 2026
Grand Canyon flooding knocks out water pipeline serving tourists at the national park, officials say
SF Gate reported
Officials say dozens of people have been evacuated from the depths of the Grand Canyon because of heavy rain and flooding. The National Park Service says flash flooding on Saturday destroyed…
Read on www.sfgate.com/news/article/dozens-evacuated-from-grand-canyon-after-flash-22410088.php
Posted in Park | Tags: Grand Canyon Flood
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | August 30, 2026
Beavers leave a trail as they head into the Arctic – Ecological Society of America
Beavers leave a trail as they head into the Arctic – Ecological Society of America
Read on esa.org/blog/2026/04/27/beavers-leave-a-trail-as-they-head-into-the-arctic/
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | August 29, 2026
Introduction to iNaturalist 9/12/23
Introduction to iNaturalist Regional Parks Botanic Garden
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The session includes hands-on practice in the Garden and is ideal for both new and experienced iNaturalist users who want to build their skills. Ethan Rayner, of The Watershed Project, and an iNaturalist Ambassador, will be presenting this introductory program. No reservations required; open to the public. Directions to the garden To get the most from the training, download the iNaturalist app and create an account in advance: https://www.inaturalist.org |
Posted in Class/Workshop, Garden, Talks | Tags: iNatualist
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