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Beloved Bay Area naturalist and California Academy scientist Nature in the City NEWS
Earth Month
Nature in the City's Earth Month Extravaganza started in March, but there are still plenty of opportunities for you to join in!!!
Our first two 2010 SPRING TREKS SOLD OUT - RSVP NOW to reserve your spot! Stay tuned to our Earth Month page for up to date info!
Special Events & Benefits |
April 24 |
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Earth Day in the Twin Peaks Bioregion & Eco-Corridor Have you ever imagined hiking through the heart of the city for 2 or 3 hours only having to cross 2 major busy streets? Join Nature in the City's Founding Director, Peter Brastow, for this extra special 2010 Spring TREK and inaugural community exploration through the Twin Peaks Bioregion & Eco-Corridor! Starting in Golden Gate Park's Oak Woodlands, through the HANC native plant nursery, to the Mt. Sutro forest, over the restored Mission Blue habitat at Twin Peaks, and down to visit one of the last free flowing streams in Glen Canyon! |
April 18 |
April 25 |
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Henry George Historical Society Walk to Benefit Nature in the City Come along on this walking survey of a land use policy that would relieve sprawl dramatically, fund public transportation, vigorously reduce housing shortfalls and, simultaneously, facilitate the acquisition of urban open space! $15/person (all proceeds go to NTC!) RSVP TODAY to Ellie Billings or call (415) 564-4107 - spaces are limited! |
Beauty for a Cause at Moxi Salon Moxi Salon will be offering $25 haircuts and $35 mini-facials (big discount!!) all day - and all proceeds go to Nature in the City! 3 prints will be donated by esteemed photographer, Anna Hogan, to be auctioned off for NTC as well! Stop on by & pamper yourself, all while donating to a wonderful cause!!! For more information, take a look at the Benefits tab on our Earth Month page, call (415) 564-4107 or email Ellie Billings. |
1 - 4 pm |
1 - 5 pm |
Treks |
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April 10 |
April 17 |
April 24 |
April 25 |
 Fairy Bells - Craig Dawson |
 Twin Peaks - Naz Hamid |
 GH at Presidio - Matt Zlatunich |
 Wilson's Warbler - Will Elder |
10 am - 12 pm |
1 - 3 pm |
11 am - 1 pm |
8:30 - 11 am |
NTC TV!
Nature in the City now has its own television channel on Vimeo! Click here to view videos about our current projects and programs!!!
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Photo by Iris Clearwater |
At the Bison Paddock
From Volunteer Coordinator, Iris Clearwater
"We had an exciting workday on March 20th, at the Bison Paddock, helping to nurture habitat for our local Nuttall's white crowned sparrow - AND we also put up a dozen bird boxes for swallows, blue birds, and one for an American Kestrel. See how by watching this 2 minute video!
Come and join our next workday at the Bison Paddock on April 17th, 9am - noon (3rd Saturdays), starting off with a bird walk in the park, looking for spring activity & possible migrants, at 8:00am! Bring your binocs. All ages welcome, and come at any time!"
Frogs in the City
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Frog in stasis Photos by Jim McKissock |
This year is the fifth year of the San Francisco Pacific Chorus frog project giving a helping hand to the last indigenous breeding site at the base of Potrero Hill. The frogs have been reintroduced around SF successfully in small populations. However, three late breeding seasons in a row (with this being the fourth) have made sustaining these populations difficult or impossible without extra help ensuring the production of baby frogs that replace lost adults.
A new liner was installed in February at the Trayer site, who have a tank that has provided extra breeding habitat and room for hundreds of tadpoles and froglets over the years. At least a couple of hundred eggs were found in the tank at the beginning of March, giving hope for a successful year!
Click here to listen to the frogs!
Manzanita Translocation Video!
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Franciscan Manzanita |
Our own Peter Brastow used to manage the habitat for the Raven's manzanita on the Presidio and now is the Presidio Chair and the Rare Plants Co-Chair for the local Yerba Buena Chapter of the California Native Plant Society. So we are thrilled with this discovery and successful relocation of the Franciscan manzanita within the Presidio of San Francisco by the Federal and State agencies. On March 20 we collaborated with the National Park Service to initiate what we hope will be an annual Rare Plant Treasure Hunt for our precious globally rare plant species that are endemic to the Franciscan Bioregion.
We now have one individual wild specimen each of two distinct, endemic manzanitas! And they are well protected. Kudos to the agencies for their rapid response to the urgent need to translocate the Franciscan manzanita from a construction site to a natural area. Props also to the Wild Equity Institute for petitioning the US Fish and Wildlife Service to list and provide resources for management and monitoring of the Franciscan manzanita.
The locations of the manzanitas are secret, but you can be rest assured that the National Park Service, the Presidio Trust and the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy take great care of these iconic San Francisco shrubs.
Check out Bay Nature magazine's article on moving the manzanita!
IUCN Puts Endangered Species Big Year in the Mix for Best Conservation Idea of the Year!
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The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed the Golden Gate National Parks Endangered Species Big Year as one of the best conservation ideas of the year! Now you can vote online to make the GGNP Endangered Species Big Year the number one international conservation project of 2010!
Big Year also has some upcoming trips scheduled in April that you won't want to miss! Check out their calendar and RSVP today!
McLaren Parks Needs Assessment
The San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department is hosting three workshops at McLaren Park, which are all opportunities to express your vision, thoughts and concerns about the state of the City's second largest park. Nature in the City hosted McLaren Park Earth Days, in part, to draw attention to McLaren Park, both to point out the park's wonderful natural resources and community stewardship opportunities, but also to suggest that McLaren Park needs a lot of work and TLC to fix some very serious problems.
You might be concerned about the effects of off-leash dogs, particularly the commercial dogwalking free-for-all that exploits McLaren Park at the expense of native grassland and potential California quail habitat. Or you might be wondering about how much mountain biking or frisbee golf the park can withstand, given the impacts it's already sustained. Regarding biking, we're hopeful that the proposed new bike skills course on a derelict piece of pavement on Geneva Avenue, will go some distance in taking pressure off of McLaren Park from illegal mountain biking.
You might have a vision for McLaren Park as an urban ecological wonderland where indigenous wildlife, plant and wetland habitats are actually afforded protection and serious restoration in the face of the multiplicity of human uses. Go down to McLaren Park and check it out, if you haven't. It's a gem that deserves your attention.
If you can't make it to the next meeting on May 19th, follow this link to a survey about McLaren Park. The survey is very limited, actually, so figure out a way to express your thoughts, regardless, either by emailing or calling Tina Kim at (415) 831-2787 for the workshops and the survey.
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California native irises by Saxon Holt |
The Natives Erupt!
From SF Botanical Garden
"The Native Plant Garden at the San Francisco Botanical Garden will be at the height of its spectacular bloom in April and May. Predictions are that this will be a great year for California wildflowers. Come by and catch the breathtaking wildflower meadow in full glory. With hundreds of plants flowering, you won't want to miss the show."
Our good friends at URBIA recently had a plant-finding scavenger hunt at the Botanical Garden and now have another event coming up on April 10 in the Green Hairstreak Corridor! If you have little ones (or are still a little-one at heart), be sure to check it out!
Call for Beautification Award Nominees!
San Francisco Beautiful's Annual Beautification Awards highlight and celebrate exceptional projects, efforts and outcomes by individuals, organizations, businesses and coalitions which create, protect, enhance or affirm the livability and beauty of San Francisco. This year's theme, "Celebrating Our Urban Villages" will focus on efforts which reflect a commitment to the value of our distinct neighborhoods and districts.
Nominations are due by April 12 at noon! Click here for a nomination entry form.
Field Poll & State Parks
From the California State Parks Foundation
"You may have seen that the Field Poll released a new statewide survey today [March 24] that gave voters the unenviable task of picking state services and programs they would cut, in order to address the current budget deficit. This most recent poll concluded a majority of Californians would be willing to make cuts to state parks and recreation services."