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Bay Nature's best stories from 2011
By Dan Rademacher — published December 30, 2011
Here at Bay Nature, every year is full of great stories, since storytelling is what we do, but 2011 seems especially rich: In print and online, we published about 185 articles this year, from a short review of Los Trancos Open Space Preserve to a number of literary essays in our January tenth anniversary issue to features on Bay Area food landscapes and the return of harbor porpoises to San Francisco Bay.
As editorial director, I have my hands on most of those stories at one time or another. And they're all our babies here, but some are just a touch more memorable than others.
Here are my five most memorable stories of 2011:
1. Bill Keener's piece on porpoises, "Safe Harbor," was perhaps the most surprising and delightful story of the year: Keener and his colleagues used the Golden Gate Bridge as a world-class observation deck to document porpoise mating and feeding behaviors no scientist had ever before recorded. An iconic bridge plus a charismatic animal -- it doesn't get much better than that!
2. In October, we published a foldout "food landscapes" map showing farm- and ranchlands through the Bay Area. The local food movement isn't news, not by a longshot, but the map did spell out just how much food producing land persists in the region: more than 40% of our land area! That made us sit up and take notice; this isn't just about arugula and fine wine. There's some major green space being preserved and cared for by local ranchers and farmers. (Not that there's anything wrong with arugula and fine wine!)
3. It was a good year for map-based stories. Another one, on the wonky side, profiled the new Conservation Lands Network that's been developed by the Bay Area
4. Back in June, volunteer reporter Juliet Grable, who happened to live on a sailboat in Sausalito, did an excellent job covering an ongoing controversy over rat poison out at the Farallones, where wildlife managers want to eradicate nonnative mice that attract burrowing owls, which end up eating seabirds when they run out of mice. Marin-based WildCare has criticized the use of poison, and the debate is ongoing. Stay tuned for more discussion in 2012!
5. Especially in the thick of debates like that, it's nice to take the long view, and we got that in spades last January from journalist Harold Gilliam, who sat down for an interview with David Kupfer and walked us through the remarkably positive history of environmental activism. But that doesn't mean it's not a lot of work to keep the progress going. His advice? "Never give up!"
What were your favorite local nature stories this year (from Bay Nature or anyone else)? We'd love to know!
As editorial director, I have my hands on most of those stories at one time or another. And they're all our babies here, but some are just a touch more memorable than others.
Here are my five most memorable stories of 2011:
1. Bill Keener's piece on porpoises, "Safe Harbor," was perhaps the most surprising and delightful story of the year: Keener and his colleagues used the Golden Gate Bridge as a world-class observation deck to document porpoise mating and feeding behaviors no scientist had ever before recorded. An iconic bridge plus a charismatic animal -- it doesn't get much better than that!
2. In October, we published a foldout "food landscapes" map showing farm- and ranchlands through the Bay Area. The local food movement isn't news, not by a longshot, but the map did spell out just how much food producing land persists in the region: more than 40% of our land area! That made us sit up and take notice; this isn't just about arugula and fine wine. There's some major green space being preserved and cared for by local ranchers and farmers. (Not that there's anything wrong with arugula and fine wine!)
3. It was a good year for map-based stories. Another one, on the wonky side, profiled the new Conservation Lands Network that's been developed by the Bay Area
-
Photo by Charles Kennard.
4. Back in June, volunteer reporter Juliet Grable, who happened to live on a sailboat in Sausalito, did an excellent job covering an ongoing controversy over rat poison out at the Farallones, where wildlife managers want to eradicate nonnative mice that attract burrowing owls, which end up eating seabirds when they run out of mice. Marin-based WildCare has criticized the use of poison, and the debate is ongoing. Stay tuned for more discussion in 2012!
5. Especially in the thick of debates like that, it's nice to take the long view, and we got that in spades last January from journalist Harold Gilliam, who sat down for an interview with David Kupfer and walked us through the remarkably positive history of environmental activism. But that doesn't mean it's not a lot of work to keep the progress going. His advice? "Never give up!"
What were your favorite local nature stories this year (from Bay Nature or anyone else)? We'd love to know!
Dan Rademacher is the editorial director at Bay Nature.
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