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Ear to the Ground

Containing an Invasive Weed at Thornewood Preserve

Photo by Ellen Gartside, MROSD.

Ear to the Ground

Containing an Invasive Weed at Thornewood Preserve
Project Aims to Eliminate Only Site for False Brome in California

by Aleta George

Thornewood Open Space Preserve above the town of Woodside isn't easy to find--unless you're a weed. This area is the only site in California where the plant has been found, but this invasive perennial bunchgrass native to Eurasia and North Africa has infested 10,000 acres in Oregon. A project from the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District aims to make sure that doesn’t happen here.

From the Jan-Mar 2012 issue
 Published January 01, 2012
Length: moderately-short

Taking Care of Baby Salmon

Creative commons photo by Eileen McFall.

Ear to the Ground

Taking Care of Baby Salmon
New Project Tests Fallow Fields as Salmon Nurseries

by Aleta George

Proponents of the Yolo Bypass Floodplain Fishery Enhancement Project are starting small but thinking big. During the first year of the pilot project, scientists will test whether raising juvenile chinook salmon on flooded rice fields in the Yolo Bypass will help the fish get stronger and bigger before being flushed down to San Francisco Bay and out to the Pacific.

From the Jan-Mar 2012 issue
 Published January 23, 2012
Length: moderately-short

Deadline Looms for Solano’s Rockville Trails

Photo by Jorg Fleige.

Ear to the Ground

Deadline Looms for Solano’s Rockville Trails

by Aleta George

With the clock ticking toward a February deadline, the nonprofit Solano Land Trust is working to purchase 1,500 acres of land known as Rockville Trails in Solano County. Recently, a lawsuit put a stop to development plans and allowed the land trust to buy 330 acres of the property, with an option to purchase the remaining 1,170 acres for $15.5 million by February 28, 2012.

From the Jan-Mar 2012 issue
 Published January 10, 2012
Length: moderately-short

Bay Area Conservancy Turns 15, but Running Out of Funds

Creative Commons photo by Debra Roby.

Ear to the Ground

Bay Area Conservancy Turns 15, but Running Out of Funds

by Aleta George

The Bay Area program of the California Coastal Conservancy has been protecting critical open space landscapes and wetlands around the region for 15 years now. However, the program's anniversary is bittersweet: The sense of accomplishment from having played a central role in conserving 80,500 acres of valuable habitats and recreational open space is tempered by the knowledge that the program could soon run out of money.

From the Jan-Mar 2012 issue
 Published January 01, 2012
Length: moderately-short

Killer Algae on Sonoma Coast

Photo by Alba Medrano Cuevas.

Ear to the Ground

Killer Algae on Sonoma Coast

by Aleta George

In late August, environmental scientist Laura Rogers-Bennett was driving back to Bodega Bay after conducting ocean surveys in Mendocino when she saw "dark-coffee-colored water" north of Salt Point State Park. Within days, dead sea stars, abalones, urchins, and chitons were piling up on area beaches.

From the Jan-Mar 2012 issue
 Published January 01, 2012
Length: moderately-short

Remembering David Yearsley, Champion of the Petaluma River

Photo by Scott Hess.

Ear to the Ground

Remembering David Yearsley, Champion of the Petaluma River

by Aleta George

Bay Nature mourns the untimely passing of David Yearsley, the founder and executive director of the Friends of the Petaluma River, in September 2011.

From the Jan-Mar 2012 issue
 Published January 01, 2012
Length: moderately-short

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