20070923 A Greener Part of California

20070923 A Greener Part of California

The bumper stickers tell me I am no longer in generally-conservative Alaska, and not either in also generally-conservative southern California. I am in one of the greener parts of the state, the San Francisco Bay Area. Some of the areas more ecologically-minded citizens, none of whom arrived in an SUV, along with representatives of involved organizations gathered today for a couple of walks to watch birds and to examine ongoing restoration projects along the northern part of San Francisco Bay. I guess to be more precise I should say San Pablo Bay. You can learn more about what is going on by visiting this overview:
http://www.baynature.com/v07n03/v07n03s_flywayhighway.html

or by visiting the websites of some of the partners in the projects:

Bay Nature http://www.baynature.com/home.html
Point Reyes Bird Observatory http://www.prbo.org/
Save the Bay http://www.savesfbay.org/site/pp.asp?c=dgKLLSOwEnH&b=474297
Sonoma Land Trust http://www.sonomalandtrust.org/
U. S. Fish & Wildlife Service http://www.fws.gov/sfbayrefuges/
Your Wetlands http://www.yourwetlands.org/

My friend Tia signed us up for this walk, where I believe I was the only non-local participant. We learned a lot about marsh ecology from Dr. Peter Baye and about birds from Melissa and Missy of the Point Reyes Bird Observatory. On the subject of birds, we watched a peregrine falcon swoop in on shorebirds only to be driven away by a pair of northern harriers! Quite amazing.

Just as amazing is the amount of effort being made to preserve/restore wetlands around the gigantic San Francisco Bay. As I mentioned in an earlier post, this is an area with skyrocketing land values that could be developed for beaucoup bucks. Yet people are organizing to save parts of it from death by bulldozer and bring back to life other parts killed by valves and levees. Essentially, they work to trade one green for another. There is hope.