SF Gate reported
As the government shutdown drags on for its 24th day, hundreds of former National Park Service employees are urging the Donald Trump administration to protect parks by closing them.
Read more Former park leaders demand Trump admin close national parks
Posted in Park | Tags: Government shutdown, National Parks
Photographed in the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on October 27 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.
See all Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Upcoming Events at see all upcoming events
Posted in Park | Tags: Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy Events
from the Regional Parks Botanic Garden
Join us November through March for our popular Wayne Roderick Lecture series of free public lectures, on a broad array of topics related to plants and natural history. Named in honor of its founder, the Wayne Roderick Lecture Series takes place on Saturday mornings starting at 10:30 AM and begin at the Garden’s Visitor Center.
The First Two Lectures are:
Botanical and Horticultural Potpourri: What’s Occupied My Mind This Past Year
Bart O’Brien, Director of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden, opens the 2025-6 Wayne Roderick lecture series. View Event →
Milkweeds of the United States
— Read on nativeplants.org/events-and-classes/wayne-roderick-lectures/
Posted in Garden, Talks | Tags: Wayne Roderick Lectures
The Tico Times reported
Scientists have identified a new salamander species in the remote páramo of Chirripó National Park, highlighting our country’s rich biodiversity and the pressing challenges facing high-altitude ecosystems. Named Bolitoglossa chirripoensis, this medium-sized amphibian stands out with its dark body marked by golden spots on the back and white flecks along its sides and tail.
Read moe Scientists Identify New Salamander in Costa Rica’s Highest Peak Ecosystem
Posted in Animals | Tags: Bolitoglossa chirripoensi, New Salamander, New Species
ScienceDaily reported
Fungi may have shaped Earth’s landscapes long before plants appeared. By combining rare gene transfers with fossil evidence, researchers have traced fungal origins back nearly a billion years earlier than expected. These ancient fungi may have partnered with algae, recycling nutrients, breaking down rock, and creating primitive soils. Far from being silent background players, fungi were ecosystem engineers that prepared Earth’s surface for plants, fundamentally altering the course of life’s history.
Read on www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/10/251001092208.htm
Posted in Mushrooms | Tags: History early fungi
SF Gate reported
An unexpected number of Chinook salmon have been seen in parts of the Klamath River Basin following last year’s removal of four dams.
Read on www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/klamath-river-chinook-salmon-return-21114922.php
Posted in Animals | Tags: Dam removal, Salmon
Photographed in the East Bay Regional Parks Botanic Garden in Tilden Park in Berkeley, CA on October 26, 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.
Tom Killion Exhibition: California Treescapes Woodcut Prints
Wednesday, October 29–Sunday, November 9
(Closed Tuesday, November 4)
10:00 am–4:00 pm
Julia Morgan Hall
Posted in Garden | Tags: Tom Killion
Great short video of Bald Eagles dancing Bald Eagle Dance https://x.com/marktakesphoto/status/1427239011018551296
Posted in Birds | Tags: Bald Eagles Dancing
Discover Wildlife reported
It produces a natural sun cream to protect itself from the elements, and also walks rather than hops and has opposable thumbs
This lagoon and pond-dwelling tree frog species is known for its highly flexible limbs and opposable thumbs that it uses to smear a waxy substance that it secretes from its skin to protect it against the sun’s powerful rays.
Posted in Animals | Tags: Waxy Monkey Tree Frog
Gizmodo reported
From secret mushroom worlds to extreme close-ups of cell motion, these photographs represent how, in science, things often aren’t what they seem on the surface.
See photographs and read more The Best Microscopic Shots of 2025 Will Make You Rethink Reality
Posted in Photography | Tags: Microscopic Photography
Posted in Garden, Photos (Sandy's), Wildflowers and Other Plants | Tags: Garden Photos
Hutchins Street Square 125 S. Hutchins Street, Lodi, California
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Posted in Bird Festivals | Tags: Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival
The Guardian reported
The Trump administration has approved more oil and gas drilling across Alaska’s Arctic national wildlife refuge (ANWR), prompting widespread criticism from environmental conservation organizations.
Read on www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/23/oil-gas-drilling-alaska-national-wildlife-refuge
Posted in Environment, Park | Tags: Arctic Reserve
SF Gate reported
Drones are buzzing over national parks like Yosemite despite a federal ban — and the government shutdown is making things worse.
Read on http://www.sfgate.com/national-parks/article/yosemite-drone-pilots-in-national-parks-21114340.php
Posted in Park | Tags: Drones in National Parks
The Revelator reported
Even as scientists rush to identify the migratory paths of some endangered shark species to help better protect them, climate change and other threats shift this behavior, adding urgency to the research.
Posted in Animals | Tags: Shark Migration
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 – Upcoming Activities and Tickets | Eventbrite
Posted in Class/Workshop | Tags: Theodore Payne Foundation Upcoming Events
SF Gate reported
Hundreds of former National Park Service employees urge Trump to close parks as shutdown drags on.
Posted in Park | Tags: National Parks during government shutdown
Discover Wildlife reported
A team of international researchers has discovered that oceanic manta rays – the largest species of ray on the planet – may dive over 1,200 metres deep to find their way around the ocean, according to a new study published in Frontiers in Marine Science.
Bay Nature reported
Darwin saw them ballooning. Without any wind. Eventually some scientists figured out their electric secret.
Spiders make different silk for different jobs. Dragline silk, which they spin for the mode of transportation we call “ballooning,” is what the U.S. military considers the best kind. It is five times stronger than steel, and more flexible and resistant to extreme temperatures. This is the stuff that, over a decade ago, inspired humans to splice the gene responsible for its production into a multiplicity of fertilized goat embryos, in the hopes of birthing a goat that would allow people to milk out what spiders will not produce on command.
Read on baynature.org/2025/09/18/how-spiders-fly/
East Bay Regional Parks reported
A new population of the caper-fruited tropidocarpum (Tropidocarpum capparideum) has been discovered in Vasco Hills Regional Preserve on protected land acquired by the East Bay Regional Park District (EBRPD) in partnership with the East Contra Costa County Habitat Conservancy (Conservancy). The plant had been undocumented for 68 years until a few individuals were observed on nearby private land in 2023.
SF Gate reported
Parkgoers hoping to walk beneath the towering Bay Area redwood trees are in luck: Muir Woods National Monument reopened Thursday, thanks to a coalition of concessionaires who run businesses inside the park.
For the next nine days, through Oct. 31, visitors won’t have to pay the monument’s $15 per person entrance fee. They will, however, still need to pay for parking, which ranges from $9.50 for a standard vehicle to $45 for a large vehicle. Parking a personal vehicle or riding the Muir Woods Shuttle ($3.75 for adult round trips) requires a reservation and can’t be completed on-site, where permits aren’t sold and there isn’t any cell service.
Read more: Anonymous donors just reopened a closed national park site
Posted in Park, Uncategorized
ScienceDaily reported
Bumble bees aren’t random foragers – they’re master nutritionists. Over an eight-year field study in the Colorado Rockies, scientists uncovered that different bee species strategically balance their intake of protein, fats, and carbs by choosing pollen from specific flowers. Larger, long-tongued bees seek protein-rich pollen, while smaller, short-tongued species prefer carb- and fat-heavy sources. These dietary preferences shift with the seasons and colony life cycles, helping bees reduce competition, thrive together, and maintain strong colonies.
Read on www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/08/250827010724.htm
Posted in Animals | Tags: Bumblebees
Earth.com reported
In Siberian permafrost, scientists thawed ancient soil and saw tiny nematodes move. These animals “woke up” after an extremely long freeze and resumed life functions in the lab.
Source: Scientists revive a worm that was frozen in Siberia for 46,000 years – Earth.com
Posted in Animals | Tags: Panagrolaimus kolymaensis
ExploresWeb reported
To ask if you could live outside the International Space Station (ISS) is rhetorical at best — but could any living organism on Earth manage it?
One unassuming toughie did, and provided at least rough proof of concept that life could exist on Mars.
Lichen from Antarctica’s McMurdo Dry Valleys survived 18 months on a platform attached to the outside of the ISS’s Columbus module, Futurism reported. Though they emerged in worse shape than temperate lichens tested separately in “Mars-like conditions,” many still survived.
Read more Lichen Survives on Outside of International Space Station » Explorersweb
Posted in Uncategorized | Tags: Lichens Survive in Space
The Guardian reported
The extremely unusual phenomenon – also known as red lightning – lasts for a millisecond and is rarely visible to the naked eye
Read on www.theguardian.com/global/2025/oct/22/red-lightning-new-zealand-red-sprites
Posted in Environment | Tags: Red Lightening
The Guardian reported
Human-wildlife conflict has now overtaken poaching as a cause of fatalities – and is deadly for people too. Some villages are finding new ways to live alongside them
Natural History Wanderings 