SF Gate reports
As visitation numbers continue to reach new heights, national parks are having trouble staffing enough rangers to keep up with demand, according to the nonprofit organization Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility.
Read more Park Service staff numbers fall as Calif. park’s popularity soars
Posted in Park | Tags: National Park Ranger Shortage
The San Francisco Chronicle reports
A piece of Tiburon Ridge, known locally as the Martha Property, is seen with the Golden Gate Bridge behind it on Tuesday. The land in Marin County was recently purchased to preserve as open space.
Read more Bay Area getting new park with great views of the Golden Gate Bridge
Posted in Park | Tags: Martha Property, Tiburon Ridge
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Posted in Garden | Tags: Theodore Payne
Travel and Lesiure Magazine reports
Over the summer, Titan Travel, a worldwide tour company, dug deep into the data to uncover the world’s most beautiful gardens. To find out which ones rank at the top, the team looked at Tripadvisor data to see which gardens are worthy of your time. After looking at all the reviews and rankings, it named the Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California, the best spot.
Read more This Tiny California Garden Was Named the Most Beautiful in the World
Posted in Garden | Tags: Ruth Bancroft Garden
from Alt National Park Service
Posted in Uncategorized
Celebrate California Biodiversity Day 2024 with us! The Park District’s Biodiversity Week programs kick off on Saturday, Sept. 7 at locations across the Park District. Guided programs run through Sunday, Sept. 15 and will include bioblitzes, nature and culture walks, activities, and more. Observe the many plants and animals that call East Bay parklands home and learn to use tools that help scientists record biodiversity. #CABiodiversityDay #LoveEBRPD
Posted in Park, Walks & Hikes | Tags: Bioblitzes, East Bay Regional Parks
With their heads buried in a carcass, vultures may seem like gross, unwanted creatures. But we have to disagree! Vultures are essential parts of a healthy ecosystem. John Kinghorn from BirdLife South Africa joins The Warblers Podcast to share his unabashed love for vultures, help us understand why their populations are plummeting, and teach us what we can do to help.
Learn about how the Los Padres National Forest has played an outsized role in the natural history and ongoing recovery of the famous California condor. This presentation will go over some of the fascinating and lesser-known history of condors in the region, how they were saved from the brink, and how their current local populations are faring. You’ll also get to see never-before-seen maps showing how and where condors have been spending their time over the last decade in the Los Padres National Forest and surrounding areas.
— Read on us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_p0Dtz1O6R6ukWg5A9jbJWA
Posted in Birds | Tags: Condors, Los Padres National Forest
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Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Iceland: Land of Fire and Ice
The Guardian reported
Scientists believe artificial light may be affecting natural ecology of plant life by creating extended photosynthesis
Read article at : All-night streetlights make leaves inedible to insects, study finds | Trees and forests | The Guardian
Posted in Animals | Tags: All-night streetlights make leaves inedible to insects
See the Sept. and Oct. East Bay Regional Parks Guide at
www.ebparks.org/sites/default/files/RIN-Sep-Oct-2024-Web.pdf
Posted in Park | Tags: East Bay Regional Parks
The Guardian reports
James Gaddis tanked Florida governor’s secretive scheme to build hotels and golf courses over acres of preserved land
Read on http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/sep/03/florida-park-whistleblower-fired
Posted in Park | Tags: Florida plan to pave over parks
Audubon Magazine reports
Migrants face myriad challenges. That’s why certain songbird species choose to travel (and possibly even work) together, according to research drawing on a trove of bird banding records.
Read on http://www.audubon.org/magazine/new-study-reveals-migration-isnt-solo-affair-its-social-event-season
Posted in Birds | Tags: Bird migration
Phys.org writes about a study examing how Turkey Vultures remain aloft in thin air at How large turkey vultures remain aloft in thin air
Posted in Birds | Tags: Turkey Vultures
from Wild Birds Unlimited
hurs, 9/5: Las Gallinas Ponds, San Rafael, Marin Audubon
Sat, 9/7: Outer Point Reyes, Marin Audubon
Sun, 9/8: Family Spider Walk, Lake Lagunitas, Marin Parks
Tues, 9/10: Spider Walk, Lake Lagunitas, Marin Parks
Weds, 9/11: Rodeo Lagoon, Marin Headlands, Marin Audubon
Fri, 9/13: Swifts at McNear Brickyard, San Rafael, Marin Audubon
Tues, 9/17: Audubon Canyon Ranch Cypress Grove, Marshall, Marin Audubon
Weds, 9/18: Black Mountain Ranch, Point Reyes, Marin Audubon
Tues, 9/24: Senior Stroll at Loch Lomond Marina, San Rafael, Marin Parks
Sat, 9/28: WildCare Family Nature Day, Tiburon, WildCare/Marin Parks
Sat, 9/28: Outer Point Reyes, Golden Gate Bird Alliance
Sun, 9/29: Muddy Hollow to the Beach, Point Reyes, Marin Parks
Posted in Uncategorized
Theodore Payne Foundation Nursery and HQ will be closed Tuesday, September 3rd and Wednesday, September 4th. We will be re-opening for regular hours, 8:30 AM–4:30 PM, Thursday, September 5th. Please make sure to plan your visits out to us accordingly!
Posted in Garden | Tags: Theodore Payne
| “Navigating Nature: Design and Natural Process in Small Gardens”
Monday, September 9 @ 7:30 pm As we work with native plants towards establishing healthy ecosystems, we necessarily learn more about those systems – as well as our culture and ourselves. Using examples from gardens and wilderness areas, art and urban design, this presentation will explore some of the sources of design in relation to ideas of nature. The focus will be on the intimate rewards and challenges of small private gardens. |
Posted in Garden, Talks | Tags: Urban Garden Design
NPR reports
In the early season, when the rivers are still running high and cool from snowmelt, KynsLee Scott loves trout fishing. As a fishing guide and conservationist, her life revolves around it, she says, standing in the shade of tall pines on the banks of the Blackfoot River.
Lately though, she says with a pause, “It’s been harder to love, simply because of the changed environment.”
Scott is an angler — one of many in the western U.S. — snagged in an ethical dilemma brought on by the “absolutely alarming” shifts she’s seen with a warming climate: When the trout you’re fishing need cold water, and cold water is increasingly scarce, how and when should you fish?
Read more : Why some anglers are rethinking their approach to fly fishing : NPR
Posted in Environment | Tags: Climate change, Fly Fishing
Travel and Leisure Magazine reported
Ruth Bancroft Garden in Walnut Creek, California, ranked No. 1 in a Tripadvisor analysis.
These are the most beautiful flower gardens in the world, according to Tripadvisor reviewers.
Read more This Tiny California Garden Was Named the Most Beautiful in the World
Posted in Garden | Tags: Ruth Bancroft Garden
Alaska Sealife Center reports
Five organizations from around the United States have come together to provide care to an orphaned Pacific walrus calf receiving rehabilitative care at the Alaska SeaLife Center (ASLC) in Seward, Alaska, in hopes of giving her a second chance at life.
Read more at United Efforts Bring Hope to Orphaned Pacific Walrus Calf in Alaska – Alaska Sealife Center
Posted in Animals | Tags: Walrus Calf
Read about where to watch birds this fall in this Bay Nature Article by longtime Marin based birder and teacher David Wimpfheimer.Source: Where to Watch Birds in the North Bay This Fall – Bay Nature
Posted in Birds, Butterflies | Tags: Where to Watch Birds in the North Bay
NPR reports
Every year for two weeks between mid-May and mid-June, Congaree National Park in South Carolina is home to a fairy-tale-like display of flashing lights. These rhythmic performances happen all because of thousands of fireflies, flashing their belly lanterns at exactly the same time. According to the National Park Service, there are just three types of these synchronous fireflies in North America, making the experience all the more magical for the lucky visitors who get the chance to see them. Firefly scientists and enthusiasts hope these displays in places like Congaree will inspire people to care about other kinds of fireflies, also known as lightning bugs, in the U.S., which are not as well-studied – or well-protected – as synchronous ones. Some community scientists are already taking on this mission with projects like the Firefly Atlas, where volunteers can help survey for fireflies and report sightings.
Read or listen to the full story at The magic — and science — of synchronous firefly displays : Short Wave : NPR
Posted in Animals | Tags: Fireflies, Lightning Bugs
The Guardian reports
Tribes fought for decades to restore the Klamath to its natural state and protect the salmon that spawn there
Salmon will swim freely through a major watershed near the California-Oregon border for the first time in more than a century, as the largest dam-removal project in US history nears completion this week.Workers breached the final dams on a key section of the Klamath River on Wednesday, clearing the way for the river to run unobstructed.
Read more at ‘The river is free’: historic US dam removal nears completion | California | The Guardian
Posted in Environment | Tags: Dam removal
Posted in Park | Tags: Sequoia National Park
Photos taken in the Regional Park Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on August 24, 2024.
The Regional Parks Botanic Garden is a botanic garden of California native plants. The Garden is open Monday through Sunday from 8:30AM to 5:30PM. It is located within Tilden Park in the hills above Berkeley, California. It is a 10-acre garden for 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. To learn more about the garden visit the website at www.nativeplants.org .
The New York Times reports
It’s not easy being green, golden and male, according to a researcher’s observation of attempted frog cannibalism in Australia.
Read more at She Didn’t Like His Song, So She Tried to Eat Him
Posted in Animals | Tags: frog cannibalism
MSN reports
The killing of a large bear known to raid campsites near the Sierra tourist town of Mammoth Lakes has sparked an outcry that many hope will change how state and federal officials manage California’s growing population of habituated black bears and also deal with people who encounter them.
Read more at A California town’s beloved 400-pound bear attacked a woman. Now he’s dead, and locals want justice
Posted in Animals | Tags: Bad Human Behavior towards Bears, Bears
Posted in Park | Tags: Grand Canyon Closures
Natural History Wanderings 