Coming up in Our Apr-Jun 2012 Issue

Limekiln State Park, south of Big Sur, is on the closure list.

Cover image by Joshua Yospyn, yospyn.com.

— published March 26, 2012

Coming April 1, our spring issue brings you the latest on the movement to save state parks, asks tough questions about the growing popularity of wild food foraging movement, showcases the unusual Santa Cruz Sandhills, and more.

For our special "The People and the Parks," reporter Joan Hamilton, former editor of Sierra and High Country News, talked to regular people from all over the state who are mobilizing in advance of the July 2012 deadline to more than 60 state parks. From rural residents working to save Hendy Woods in Mendocino to the great-great-grandson of John Muir helping Mono Lake to all kinds of activists and local businesses fighting for McGrath State Beach in Ventura County, these stories paint a surprisingly hopeful picture. Out of the ongoing crisis facing our parks, we might be seeing the birth of a much broader base of citizen support. But that silver lining also brings tough questions: Can citizen support be sustained over time? And will some communities be left out?

Sonoma State University professor and author Jonah Raskin headed out into the field with local foragers to ponder the ethics of wild food foraging. More and more people are taking up foraging and connecting to the natural world and local foodshed, but how much can one patch of land sustain? What's the carrying capacity of our wild lands in a modern metropolis?

Journey with us to meet the rare creatures of the Santa Cruz Sandhills and learn about the unusual adaptations, and remarkable charm, of the bat rays breeding in local bays and estuaries. Or take your kids out birding and show them living, breathing dinosaurs in your own backyard!

All that and more in the April-June issue of Bay Nature magazine. Order your copy today!