Berkeleyside reports on
Toilets? Cannabis grows? Rising temps? We looked into theories and history behind the Bay Area algae bloom Questions swirl as carcasses rot at Lake Merritt, the Berkeley Marina and beyond. We talked to experts and explored 100 years of local fish-kills.
Read more at What caused the fish-killing algae bloom in the San Francisco Bay?
Posted in Uncategorized
Wildearth Guardians reports
Federal court upholds moratorium on new coal leasing as a Trump-era rollback is rolled back
It’s another big win for the climate!
In a powerful ruling, a federal judge this month held the Trump administration illegally overturned a ban on new coal leasing adopted by President Obama.
Read more at Federal coal ban reinstated – WildEarth Guardians
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Federal Coal Ban
Posted in Environment, Park | Tags: Wilderness Act of 1964
NPR reports
A species of iguana that went extinct nearly 200 years ago on one of the Galápagos Islands appears to be making a comeback, with some help from a team of conservationists.
The last person to spot a Galápagos land iguana on Santiago Island in Ecuador was Charles Darwin in 1835. When an expedition team from California arrived in 1906, the iguanas were nowhere to be found.
Read more at A critical species of iguana was reintroduced to one island in the Galápagos : NPR
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Iguanas
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Posted in Birds | Tags: Birdy Music
The New York Times reports
It’s the first known case of an animal helping algae reproduce, and could suggest that pollination first evolved in the world’s ancient oceans.
In a study, published Thursday in the journal Science, scientists found that a tiny crustacean, Idotea balthica, played the role of pollinator for a species of seaweed. They do this by inadvertently collecting the algae’s sticky spermatia, its equivalent of pollen, on their bodies and sprinkling it around as they move from frond to frond in search of food and shelter.
Read more at Like Bees of the Seas, These Crustaceans Pollinate Seaweed – The New York Times
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Crustaceans Pollinate Seaweed
from East Bay Regional Parks
Per order of the East Bay Regional Park District’s Fire Chief, due to possible high fire risk, selected parks/areas will be closed Sunday, September 4, through Monday, September 5, 2022.
SFGate reports
The city of Walnut Creek announced Wednesday that it would close its open-space parks from Sept. 1-6 to deter people from hiking and other outdoor activities as a heat wave looms over the Bay Area.
Betsy Burkhart, a communications manager for the city of Walnut Creek, told SFGATE that the closure affects a number of popular recreation areas, including Acalanes Ridge, Borges Ranch, Howe Homestead Park, Lime Ridge, Sugarloaf Open Space and Shell Ridge, covering more than 1,400 acres and over 30 miles of trails.
— Read on www.sfgate.com/travel/article/Bay-Area-parks-close-Labor-Day-heat-wave-17413993.php
Posted in Park | Tags: East Bay Park Closures
SF Gate reports
The hearts of marine biologists across California sank when the first photos of a dead humpback whale in Half Moon Bay surfaced Monday morning.
Alisa Schulman-Janiger, a research associate at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, recognized the distinctive fluke on the massive 49-foot beauty stretched across the sand at Manhattan Beach, 30 miles south of San Francisco, the day before.
Schulman-Janiger reached out to her friend Ted Cheeseman, who founded an online database tracking whales around the world, and he confirmed the worst — Fran, California’s best-known, lovable whale, a favorite among scientists and whale watchers, was killed by what was likely a brutal ship strike. Fran was in great shape and well-nourished with a full body of blubber, but her skull was knocked off her spine, likely by a ship, according to the necropsy. Her only child was with her and it’s unknown whether it survived.
Read more at California’s best-known whale dies from likely ship strike
Posted in Animals | Tags: Humpback Whale
Photos from a visit to the Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley on August 30, 2022.
The Regional Parks Botanic Garden is a botanic garden of California native plants.
To learn more about the garden go to Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden. You can see other photos from the Regional Parks Botanic Garden on the garden’s Flickr group page at Regional Parks Botanic Garden.
The Guardian reports
A wildfire burning in a remote part of northern California appears to have caused the deaths of tens of thousands of fish, according to a Native American tribe.
The Karuk Tribe said in a statement that the dead fish of all species were found on Friday near Happy Camp, California, along the main stem of the Klamath River.
Read more at Wildfire implicated in death of tens of thousands of fish, California tribe says | California | The Guardian
Posted in Animals | Tags: Wildfire and Fish Deaths
The New York Times reports
A harmful algal bloom known as a red tide is killing off “uncountable” numbers of fish in the San Francisco Bay Area, with residents reporting rust-colored waters, and piles of stinking fish corpses washing ashore.
Read more Toxic Red Tide Kills ‘Uncountable’ Numbers of Fish in the Bay Area – The New York Times
Posted in Animals, Environment | Tags: Fish Deaths, Red Tide
The New York Times reports
In space you can’t hear a black hole scream, but apparently you can hear it sing.
In 2003 astrophysicists working with NASA’s orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory detected a pattern of ripples in the X-ray glow of a giant cluster of galaxies in the constellation Perseus. They were pressure waves — that is to say, sound waves — 30,000 light-years across and radiating outward through the thin, ultrahot gas that suffuses galaxy clusters. They were caused by periodic explosions from a supermassive black hole at the center of the cluster, which is 250 million light-years away and contains thousands of galaxies.
Read more at Hear the Weird Sounds of a Black Hole Singing – The New York Times
Posted in Astronomy | Tags: Black Hole Singing
The BBC reports
An endangered butterfly that was once extinct in the UK has had its best summer in 150 years.
The large blue butterfly is one of Europe’s most endangered insects but thousands have been recorded this summer in south-west England.
It is the result of a long-term conservation project, led by the Royal Entomological Society.
Read more at Huge recovery for butterfly once extinct in the UK – BBC News
Posted in Butterflies | Tags: Butterly extinction, Large Blue, Phengaris arion
The New York Times reports
there is hope for the return of the corncrake’s call. In recent years, conservationists, government agencies and farmers have come together to try to reverse the decline in numbers of the corncrakes — and preserve the corncrake’s “kek kek” for new generations.
Read story atIrish Farmers Help Save a Bird Whose Calls Used to Herald Summer -The New York Times
The San Francisco Chronicle reports
The harmful algal bloom that has now spread from the northern to the southern reaches of San Francisco Bay is the largest in over a decade, causing an unprecedented amount of fish to die and residents to question how close they should get to the water.
While scientists can’t yet pinpoint an exact cause of the bloom, which first began in late July, the fish kills are a sign that it has grown in intensity. The last major algal bloom in the bay, in 2004, was caused by a heat wave; that is not the case now. However, some say the record-breaking drought could be playing a role, and that more needs to be done to improve the bay’s water quality to prevent such algal blooms, which are expected to increase in intensity with climate change.
Read more at S.F. Bay’s algae bloom is the largest in over a decade. Here’s why it’s puzzling scientists
Posted in Environment | Tags: Lake Merritt Algal Bloom
HealthLine reports
Read more at Spending Time In Nature Is Good for You. New Research Explains Why
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Benefits Spending Time in Nature
from Mono County Tourism
Download the Eastern Sierra Fall Color Map at https://www.monocounty.org/plan-your-trip/visitor-guides/
Posted in Fall Foliage | Tags: Mono County Fall Color
The N.Y. Times reports
Some species of fungi can store exceptional levels of carbon underground, keeping it out of the air and preventing it from heating up the Earth’s atmosphere. Others help plants survive brutal droughts or fight off pests. There are those especially good at feeding nutrients to crops, reducing the need for chemical fertilizers.
Read story at Unearthing the Secret Superpowers of Fungus
Posted in Mushrooms | Tags: climate change and fungi, Fungi, Mushrooms
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Posted in Walks & Hikes | Tags: Tejon Ranch activities
The Guardian reports
‘Bees are really highly intelligent’: the insect IQ tests causing a buzz among scientists
We all know these busy insects are good for crops and biodiversity, but proof is emerging that they are also clever, sentient and unique beings
Read story at ‘Bees are really highly intelligent’: the insect IQ tests causing a buzz among scientists | Bees | The Guardian
Posted in Animals
Berkeleyside reports
A new rock garden inspired by natural rock outcrops in the high eastern Sierras and crevice gardens in Colorado opened Saturday in Tilden Regional Parks Botanic Garden.The Crevice Garden, measuring just 50 feet by 40 feet, is the newest addition to the 82-year-old, 10-acre botanic garden, which prides itself on maintaining an extensive collection of rare, threatened and endangered California native plants. The new rock garden highlights native alpine plants from the high Sierra Nevada region of California.
Read more and see photos at New rock garden opens in Tilden Regional Parks Botanic Garden
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted in Park | Tags: Women's Equality Day
from Los Padres ForestWatch
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Posted in Environment, Park | Tags: Logging, Los Padres National Forest
The San Francisco Chronicle reports
California’s forests are in rapid retreat, which bodes ill for the future.
Using satellite data, researchers from the University of California, Irvine found that trees in the state’s mountainous regions declined 6.7 percent between 1985 and 2021 thanks to wildfires, drought and other climate-related sources of stress.
The drop was even steeper in the Sierra Nevada, which suffered 8.8% tree cover loss during that time period.
Read more at These maps show how alarmingly fast California is losing trees as climate warms
Posted in Environment | Tags: California Tree Loss
from the National Park Service
Posted in Park | Tags: National Park Service
from Theodore Payne Foundation
Landscaping Career Free WebinarAre you a professional or aspiring landscaper? Join TPF Executive Director Evan Meyer and Board Member Max Kanter (Co-Founder of Saturate) for a special career webinar on August 27th at 11 am. Register here. |
Posted in Talks | Tags: Landscaping Career Free Webinar
The New York Times reports
In a world where water is increasingly scarce, these rock gardens are not only pretty, but surprisingly resilient.
What’s a crevice garden? It’s a rock garden taken right to the edge — an extreme design inspired by dramatic, impossible places like alpine ridges, windswept seacoasts and sun-baked deserts.
Read article at Why You Should Try Crevice Gardening: ‘This Is the Future’ – The New York Times
Posted in Garden | Tags: Crevice Gardens
from Theodore Payne Foundation
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Posted in Job Openings | Tags: Job Opening, Theodore Payne Foundation
NationalDay.com reports
An observance to throw light on these nocturnal creatures that have often been misunderstood.
International Bat Night is observed on the last full weekend of August every year. This event is observed in the United States of America and Europe mainly. However, 30 countries have come together to spread awareness on bats and their habitat, and bust some myths. Several nature conservation agencies and NGOs, especially in Europe, work towards imparting knowledge to the public on the lifestyle and habits of bats via different mediums such as presentations, exhibitions, and bat walks.
Read more INTERNATIONAL BAT NIGHT – August 27-28, 2022 – National Today
Posted in Animals | Tags: bats, INTERNATIONAL BAT NIGHT
The Santa Barbara Independent reports
Rescue organization inundated with hundreds of reports of marine mammals in distress.
Domoic acid is thought to be the culprit in numerous reports of sea lions in distress on Santa Barbara and Ventura beaches. The marine mammal rescue group Channel Islands Marine & Wildlife Institute (CIMWI) has received more than a hundred calls since an uptick in sightings on Monday, according to the group’s Instagram. Beachgoers are advised to keep at least 50 feet away from the animals, as they may respond aggressively if approached.
Read more at Sick Sea Lions Showing up on Santa Barbara and Ventura Beaches – The Santa Barbara Independent
Posted in Animals | Tags: Sick Sea Lions
Natural History Wanderings 