MongaBay reported
A study in the United States found a dramatic 22% decline in butterfly populations between 2000 and 2020.
Previous research has focused on a specific butterfly species or regions of the country. For this study, researchers wanted to understand overall butterfly population trends across the U.S.
They gathered records of 12.6 million individual butterflies across 554 species, from more than 76,000 surveys, many conducted by citizen science groups in nearly 2,500 locations.
Posted in Butterflies | Tags: Butterfly Population Decline
SF Gate reported
A federal judge in San Francisco has ordered the National Park Service and five other federal agencies to immediately reinstate probationary employees who were fired en masse last month, ruling that the Office of Personnel Management had no legal authority to mandate their terminations.
Read more at Judge says National Park Service must reinstate all fired employees
Posted in Park | Tags: Fired National Park Employees
See upcoming events calendar for the East Bay Regional Parks at https://www.ebparks.org/calendar
Posted in Park, Walks & Hikes | Tags: East Bay Regional Parks
Posted in Photos (Sandy's) | Tags: Garden Photos
UC Berkeley reported
Tropical forests that are logged should not be immediately “written off” for conversion to palm oil plantations, according to a new study led by the University of Oxford.
Published on January 10 in Science, the study examined over 80 metrics related to the structure, biodiversity, and functioning of undisturbed, logged, and converted tropical forest ecosystems in Borneo. The authors, who include Environmental Science, Policy, and Management professor Benjamin Blonder, say the findings could better inform whether a logged forest should be protected, restored, or converted into a plantation.
Tropical forests that are logged should not be immediately “written off” for conversion to palm oil plantations, according to a new study led by the University of Oxford.
Published on January 10 in Science, the study examined over 80 metrics related to the structure, biodiversity, and functioning of undisturbed, logged, and converted tropical forest ecosystems in Borneo. The authors, who include Environmental Science, Policy, and Management professor Benjamin Blonder, say the findings could better inform whether a logged forest should be protected, restored, or converted into a plantation.
Read more Logged tropical forests are still valuable for biodiversity | Our Environment at Berkeley
Posted in Environment | Tags: Logged tropical forests
See the upcoming events for the Eastern Sierra Land Trust at https://eslt.org/events
Posted in Class/Workshop, Garden
Posted in Job Openings | Tags: Eastern Sierra Land Trust, Job Opening
SF Gate reported on Congressman McClintock’s dismissive attitude about cuts to Yosemite National Park
Read full article at Calif. congressman infuriates locals with response to Yosemite cutsOver the last several weeks, as Yosemite National Park fell into chaos due to the Trump administration’s whiplash-inducing executive orders and indiscriminate layoffs, people began asking what Rep. Tom McClintock was going to do about it. McClintock, a Republican, represents the 5th Congressional District, a sprawling Central California territory that contains Yosemite. He’s been conspicuously absent from town hall meetings in gateway towns and hasn’t been making public statements.
But on Thursday McClintock broke his silence and published an op-ed that infuriated park employees and gateway residents. Here’s his gist: The federal workforce is bloated. Only a few Yosemite employees got fired. The protesters are out of line. The park will be fine.
Posted in Park | Tags: Yosemite layoffs and budget cuts
The Revelator reported
If you’ve ever walked down a city street on a sweltering summer day, you know what a welcome relief it is when you reach a tree’s canopy. Both physically and mentally, that shade is a natural resource.
Like so many other resources, though, shade often goes to the privileged. The richer the community, many studies show, the more likely they are to have trees that provide a cooling respite.
Read more at As Heat Deaths Rise, Planting Trees Is Part of the Solution • The Revelator
Posted in Environment | Tags: Shade Equity
Begin or continue replacing ornamental lawns with native, drought-tolerant landscaping
Learn about regional efforts at watershed management, habitat restoration, and land conservation and what we can do to support them
Explore the impacts of climate change on ecosystems and communities throughout CaliforniaPosted in Garden | Tags: Native Plant Festival
See the schedule of upcoming Bay Nature Events mailchi.mp/baynature/march-11
Posted in Talks, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Bay Nature Events
NPR reported
New research from the University of Oxford has provided fresh insights into how bird songs evolve over time. The analysis is based on over 100,000 songs.
Read more or listen at Birds can change their tunes as their populations evolve, researchers find : NPR
The Guardian reports on the2025 Underwater Photographer of the Year
The annual competition draws thousands of entries from across the world and brings together images from below the water’s surface that show the diversity and challenges of subaquatic life
Read more and see photos at : Seals, sharks and spiny squat lobsters: Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025 – in pictures | Environment | The Guardian
Posted in Photography | Tags: Underwater Photographer of the Year 2025
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Posted in Class/Workshop | Tags: Sierra Nevada Field Campus
Sonoma Land Trust reported
We are thrilled to announce a partnership with Save the Redwoods League to protect 1,517 acres in the Monte Rio Redwoods, linking over 22,000 acres of conserved land. This will secure Sonoma County’s largest unprotected redwood forest south of the Russian River and expand a regional park.
Posted in Park | Tags: Monte Rio Redwoods Expansion
Patch reports
Many years, the famed nest cam eagles, don’t see their eggs hatch or eaglets survive. All three eaglets hatching is cause for conservationist celebration, especially if the eaglets survive the coming week’s late season snow storm.
Click here for the article and Live Cam.
Posted in Birds | Tags: Bear Bear Eagles and eaglets
The BBC reported
From Scotland to California, golf courses are being rewilded – with lofty aims to benefit both people and nature.
Read article at The rewilded golf courses teeming with life
Posted in Environment | Tags: Rewildling Golf Courses
Photographed in the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on March 8, 2025.
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.
The Miami Herald reported
Near a campsite in southeastern Africa, a “golden”-eyed creature sat in the sand and called out with “high-pitched notes.” Its “cryptic” looks and “poorly studied” home helped it go largely overlooked.
But it turned out to be a new species.
Read more at New species of sand-dwelling frog discovered in Mozambique | Miami Herald
Posted in Animals | Tags: Mozambique sand frog., Tomopterna banhinensis
National Park Traveler reported
National park headquarters facilities, visitor centers, archaeological centers, and even storage facilities for historic artifacts are among the National Park Service facilities targeted for closure by the Trump administration, according to a list provided by U.S. Rep. Jared Huffman.
Among the facilities on the list [attached below] are:
Read more at National Park Facilities From Alaska To Florida Targeted For Closure
Posted in Park | Tags: National Park Facilities Targeted for Closure
Posted in Park | Tags: Reduction in National Park Services
SF Gate reported
In the latest instance of tourists misbehaving at national parks, a Redditor’s post was a hot topic of discussion, as it showed a group of tourists appearing reckless at Sequoia National Park.
In the national parks subreddit, user zackk3030 posted a video at the start of February of several tourists bypassing the safety rails at the Moro Rock trail to get a better view. The post said the tourists not only went past the guardrail but did so in unsafe “rather windy” conditions.
Read more and see video at Hikers bypass safety rail on Sierra peak where 23 people have fallen
Posted in Park | Tags: Bad Behavior in the National Parks
SciencDaily reported
The world’s botanic gardens must pull together to protect global plant biodiversity in the face of the extinction crisis, amid restrictions on wild-collecting, say researchers.
Read more: Botanic Gardens must team up to save wild plants from extinction | ScienceDaily
Posted in Environment, Garden | Tags: Biodiversity, Botanic Gardens, Plant Extinction
SF Gate reported
The National Park Service recorded the highest number of visitors across the national park system ever in 2024 — a staggering 331.9 million visits, representing an increase of 2% over 2023. But you won’t hear park employees discussing those figures publicly.
Read more at National Park Service staff told to downplay record-breaking visitor stats
Posted in Park | Tags: National Parks
Signs from today’s Stand UP for Science Protest at UC-Berkeley
Posted in Environment | Tags: Stand Up for Science
EcoWatch reported
In a new program launched on Friday, England will soon release beavers into its waterways. The return of the “ecosystem engineers” to the wild signals a renewed respect for an animal that was once hunted to extinction.
Eurasian beavers have been extinct in Britain since the 16th century, when they were killed for their meat, fur and castor sacs — glands that secrete castoreum, an oily, strong-smelling substance that was widely used in the making of perfumes, reported AFP.
Read more at In Milestone for Nature Recovery, England to Reintroduce Beavers to the Wild – EcoWatch
Theodore Payne Foundation inspires and educates Southern Californians about the beauty and ecological benefits of California native plant landscapes.We are located on 22 acres of canyon land in the northeast corner of the San Fernando Valley. Our full-service native plant nursery, seed room, book store, art gallery, demonstration gardens, and hiking trails are open to the public year round. We offer garden tours and classes for adults and families, as well as field trips to TPF and in-classroom programs for children. Friendly on-leash dogs are welcome and there is no admission charge!
See upcoming events at Theodore Payne Foundation Events – 20 Upcoming Activities and Tickets | Eventbrite
Posted in Class/Workshop | Tags: Theodore Payne Foundation Upcoming Events
Wired reported
Monitoring the noises within ecosystems reveals their health—allowing researchers to monitor changes in biodiversity, detect threats, and measure the effectiveness of conservation strategies.
In nature, living things use sound for almost everything. They make calls to attract mates, communicate identities, warn of dangers, guide the way, and help in hunting or defense. For decades, researchers have tracked species with recorders in hand, and still do, though increasingly are using remote recording devices too. The study of the sounds organisms make is known as bioacoustics.
Read more Costa Rica Is Saving Forest Ecosystems by Listening to Them | WIRED
Posted in Animals | Tags: Animal sounds
The New York Times reported
Populations are falling in the United States, a new study has found. Look up what’s happening in your area.
Read story and see how butterflies are doing in your area at See How Butterflies Are Surviving, or Not, Near You
Posted in Butterflies | Tags: Butterfly Population Decline
Photos from my neighbor’s and my gardens
Posted in Garden, Photos (Sandy's) | Tags: Garden Photos
Natural History Wanderings 