BBC reports
How endangered species are smuggled out of Africa and what is being done to prevent it.
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Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 3, 2024
Traffickers’ tactics: Rare plants disguised as toys and ivory painted black
Posted in Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Rare Plant Smuggling
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 3, 2024
Bay Nature is Hiring!
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Posted in Job Openings | Tags: Bay Nature, Job Opening
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 3, 2024
World’s largest wildlife crossing on track to open by early 2026
Governor of California News Release
The Wallis Annenberg Wildlife Crossing outside Los Angeles is anticipated to open by early 2026, providing a safe and sustainable passage for mountain lions and other animals over Highway 101.
Continue at World’s largest wildlife crossing on track to open by early 2026 | Governor of California
Posted in Animals | Tags: World’s largest wildlife crossing
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 2, 2024
Fire risk closes section of Joshua Tree National Park over July 4 weekend
AOL reports
An ecologically sensitive portion of Joshua Tree National Park will be closed this week due to extreme wildfire risk as a heat wave is set to broil the region over the Fourth of July holiday.
The Covington Flats area, home to some of the park’s largest Joshua trees, junipers and pinyon pines, will be shut to the public Wednesday through Sunday, reopening Monday morning, according to the National Park Service. The remote area includes 10 miles of Park Service-maintained roads and access points to backcountry trailheads, officials said.
Read on www.aol.com/news/fire-risk-closes-section-joshua-211322542.html
Posted in Desert, Park | Tags: Joshua Tree Area closure
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 2, 2024
Speak Up to Save 1,000-Year-Old Redwoods
Speak Up to Save 1,000-Year-Old Redwoods at Richardson Grove State Park
— Read on act.biologicaldiversity.org/prmc41JgYESRRb3rAWNZ0w2
Posted in Park | Tags: Richardson Grove State Park
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 2, 2024
Belonging in Nature: Queer and Trans Community Day San Francisco | July 5
Belonging in Nature: Queer and Trans Community Day San Francisco | July 5
Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy is holding a bonus queer & trans community day this month. Join near Lands End for an afternoon of seed collecting, meditation, nature journaling, and queer & trans community.
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Queer and Trans Community Day
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 2, 2024
Antarctica Unpinned
Earth Observatory reports
For many ice shelves around Antarctica, the 1970s was a bumpy decade. Fast forward, and satellite images show that many of the bumps once prominently visible on the surface of ice shelves have smoothed—implying that the shelves have become thinner and less stable.
An ice shelf is the extension of land-based ice—a tongue of a glacier that has stretched out from the coast and onto the surface of the ocean. Most of the planet’s ice shelves fringe Antarctica, where they play an important role in holding back, or buttressing, the flow of ice from inland and upstream. Such buttressing can slow the discharge of ice into the ocean and limit sea level rise. Thick, stable ice shelves perform this buttressing role most effectively.
Read more Antarctica Unpinned
Posted in Environment | Tags: Antarctica Unpinned, Ice Shelf
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 2, 2024
Goldenrod – not causing allergies but killing European Butterflies
The Revelator reports
Goldenrod Isn’t Causing Your Spring Allergies — But It Is Killing Europe’s Ants and Butterflies
The North American plants look pretty, but they also causes havoc in places where humans have allowed them to spread.
Read story at Goldenrod Isn’t Causing Your Spring Allergies — But It Is Killing Europe’s Ants and Butterflies • The Revelator
Posted in Butterflies, Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: allergies, Goldenrod, Threats to European Butterflies
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 1, 2024
East Bay parks closed this week due to heat
(KRON) — With a heat wave set to hit the Bay Area this week, the East Bay Regional Park District closed several local parks. The National Weather Service has issued excessive heat warnings, heat advisories and a Red Flag Warning in preparation for the upcoming weather. Much of the inland Bay Area will be under […]
Read on to see which parks are closed around www.kron4.com/news/bay-area/several-east-bay-parks-closed-this-week-due-to-heat/
Posted in Park | Tags: East Bay Regional Parks Closures
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 1, 2024
Insect Population Collapse
from Alt National Park Service
Thirty years ago, car windshields would be covered with insects after long drives. While it might seem like a relief for those who dislike cleaning, the alarming decline in insect populations tells a different story. Scientists attribute this 50% drop since 1970 to industrial agriculture, habitat destruction, and pesticide use, all of which lead to ecosystem collapses. Younger generations might not notice, but if you ask someone older, they can confirm this drastic change.
Posted in Animals | Tags: Insect Population Collapse
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | July 1, 2024
Wild elephants may have names
NPR reports
Wild elephants seem to address each other using distinctive, rumbling sounds that could be akin to individual names.
That’s according to a provocative new study in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution, which was inspired by earlier work showing that bottlenose dolphins have signature whistles.
Read more at Wild elephants may have names : NPR
Posted in Animals | Tags: Elephants May Have Names
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 30, 2024
Save the Planet
from Alt National Park Service
Posted in Environment
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 30, 2024
Today is Asteroid Day
EarthSky reports
Asteroid Day is held each year on June 30 to mark the date of Earth’s largest asteroid impact in recorded history, the Siberian Tunguska event.
Check here for Asteroid Day events in your area.
Posted in Uncategorized
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 30, 2024
Alien-Looking Species Seen For First Time Ever in Ocean’s Darkest Depths
ScienceAlert reports
In the Clarion-Clipperton Zone of the Pacific Ocean between Mexico and Hawaii, marine scientists have discovered animals humanity has never seen before: creatures who live very different lives, in the permanent darkness of the abyssopelagic.
“These areas are the Earth’s least explored. It’s estimated that only one out of ten animal species living down here has been described by science,” says marine ecologist Thomas Dahlgren of the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.
Read more at Alien-Looking Species Seen For First Time Ever in Ocean’s Darkest Depths : ScienceAlert
Posted in Animals, Uncategorized
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 29, 2024
Job Openings
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 29, 2024
Non-stop flight: 4,200 km transatlantic flight of the Painted Lady butterfly mapped
ScienceDaily reports
In October 2013 a researcher made a surprising discovery of Painted Lady Butterflies on the Atlantic beaches of French Guiana — a species not typically found in South America. This unusual sighting prompted an international study to investigate the origin of these butterflies.
Read more at Non-stop flight: 4,200 km transatlantic flight of the Painted Lady butterfly mapped | ScienceDaily
Posted in Butterflies | Tags: 200 km transatlantic flight of the Painted Lady butterfly, 4
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 29, 2024
Fossil Captures 155-Million-Year-Old Brittle Star Mid-Regeneration
Sciencealert reports
Earth’s fossil record stretches across long passages of unfathomably deep time, but each fossil is only a brief snapshot – of the moment when some living thing was buried in a flash and then slowly petrified.
In a stunning new example, scientists working in Germany have uncovered and described a six-armed brittle star, fossilized as it was partway through regenerating one body half.
Read more at Wild Find: Fossil Captures 155-Million-Year-Old Brittle Star Mid-Regeneration : ScienceAlert
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 28, 2024
Lightning Bugs (Fire Flies)Are disappearing
from Alt National Park Service
Posted in Animals | Tags: Fire Flies, Lightning Bugs
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 28, 2024
Are animals conscious? Some scientists now think they are
The BBC reports
Charles Darwin enjoys a near god-like status among scientists for his theory of evolution. But his ideas that animals are conscious in the same way humans are have long been shunned. Until now.
Read more Are animals conscious? Some scientists now think they are
Posted in Animals
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 27, 2024
Regional Park Botanic Garden Photos 6/25/24
Photos taken in the Regional Park Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on 6/25/24.
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 .
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 27, 2024
Job Openings with Mono Lake Committee
| Now hiring: Office Manager |
| The Mono Lake Committee is currently hiring for the Office Manager position, which organizes the staff to help achieve the Mono Lake Committee’s goals for Mono Lake protection, restoration… |
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| Now hiring: Info Center & Bookstore Manager |
| The Mono Lake Committee is currently hiring for the Information Center & Bookstore Manager position, which is primarily responsible for the management of the bookstore, including… |
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Posted in Job Openings | Tags: Job Openings, Mono Lake Committee
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 27, 2024
Study Finds Small Streams, Recently Stripped of Protections, Are a Big Deal
The New York Times reports
Half of the water flowing through regional river basins starts in so-called ephemeral streams. Last year, the Supreme Court curtailed federal protections for these waterways.
Last year, the Supreme Court sharply restricted the federal government’s ability to limit pollution in small streams that sit dry for much of the year and fill up only after rainfall or snowmelt.
Now, a new study finds that those bodies, so-called ephemeral streams, are significantly more important to the nation’s waterways than often appreciated.
Read more at Study Finds Small Streams, Recently Stripped of Protections, Are a Big Deal
Posted in Environment | Tags: Importance of ephemeral streams
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 27, 2024
Butterflies Are in Decline. New Research Points to Insecticides
The New York Times reports
Agricultural insecticides were a key factor, according to a study focused on the Midwest, though researchers emphasized the importance of climate change and habitat loss
Read more at New ‘Detective Work’ on Butterfly Declines Reveals a Prime Suspect
Posted in Butterflies | Tags: Butterfly Population Decline, Insecticides
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 26, 2024
Calflora Photo Contest Winners
See the winners fo Calflora’s 10th Annual Photo Contest at Calflora Photo Contest Winners
Posted in Photography, Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Calflora Photo Contest Winners
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 26, 2024
A rapid shift in ocean currents could imperil the world’s largest ice shelf
ScienceNews reports
Antarctica’s largest ice shelf, buttressing a dozen major glaciers and slowing their flow into the ocean, may be surprisingly sensitive to warming.
Several thousand years ago, the Ross Ice Shelf and the glaciers feeding it thinned dramatically, causing sea level to rise. A new study, published April 23 in Nature Communications, suggests this was triggered by a rearrangement of ocean currents set off by a minor amount of ocean warming — just half a degree Celsius.
Read more at A rapid shift in ocean currents could imperil the world’s largest ice shelf
Posted in Environment | Tags: Climate Chante, Glacial Melt
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 25, 2024
Carson Pass Hikes
Interpretive Hikes/Walks from Carson Pass. All hikes are limited to 12 people (including the leader) except the Devil’s Ladder, which is outside of the “wilderness” therefore is not limited in size. FREE
ENFIA 2024 Interpretive. Walks/Hikes at Carson Pass
June 28 Friday @ 10 am Laurel Gromer Family Scavenger Hike (1.5 hours)
July 4 Thursday @ 10 am Lu Belancio Wildflower Hike (2+ hours)
July 5 Friday @ 10:30 am Carl Gwyn Geology Hike to Frog Lake (1-2 hours)
July 6 Saturday @ 10:30 am Carl Gwyn Devil’s Ladder Historical Hike (45-60 mi
July 7 Sunday at @ 10:30 am Carl Gwyn Devil’s Ladder Historical Hike (45-60 min.)
Posted in Walks & Hikes | Tags: Carson Pass Hikes
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 25, 2024
Following Advocacy Effort by California State Parks Foundation, Funding for State Library Parks Pass Program is Restored
Following Advocacy Effort by California State Parks Foundation, Funding for State Library Parks Pass Program is Restored | Cal Parks
— Read on www.calparks.org/press/following-advocacy-effort-california-state-parks-foundation-funding-state-library-parks-pass
Posted in Park | Tags: California State Library Parks Pass Program
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 25, 2024
Watch Birds in the Wild on Bird Cams
from National Audubon
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Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 25, 2024
Troubled California lake turns so green it’s visible from space
SF Gate reports
California’s Clear Lake has been taken over by so much algae that its emerald waters are now visible from space, photos.
The satellite images, taken by NASA in mid-May, indicate that the eutrophic lake may be infested with blue-green algae, or cyanobacteria — single-celled organisms that can become potent enough to poison humans and animals, according to the United States Geological Survey.
Read more and see photos at: Troubled California lake turns so green it’s visible from space
Posted in Environment | Tags: Clear Lake
Posted by: Sandy Steinman | June 24, 2024
Insect photo competition won by image of resting cuckoo bees
The BBC reports
The winning images from this year’s Royal Entomological Society Insect Week photography competition.
— Read on and see photo at www.bbc.com/news/articles/czddd407eezo
Natural History Wanderings 