Ear to the Ground October-December 2003

News from the Community and the Natural World

by Leah Messinger

Photo by John Malpas.

When John Malpas inherited a small piece of land in Mendocino County, he discovered an overgrown tangle of exotic English ivy and blue gum eucalyptus obscuring an underlayer of dead native trees and shrubs. As Malpas began the challenging task of ascertaining which plants were native to his part of Northern California and then locating suppliers, he realized he wasn't the only Californian struggling to find the tools to help restore his land. Thus was born the California Native Plant Link Exchange website. At www.cnplx.info you can search for plants by species or geographic region and find the California nurseries that stock them. Says Malpas, "I wanted software that would allow me to make a shopping list, showing all of the nurseries where each species was available." The Native Nursery Neighborhood currently links to 44 nurseries and allows you to create—and save—personalized checklists.

Steve Bernstein, another ambitious California nature enthusiast, has also created a useful website—this one for Bay Area hikers, cyclists, and equestrians. Tired of purchasing trail books that contained few routes of interest, Bernstein created a resource with seemingly infinite opportunities for exploring the natural world. At www.switchbackmaps.com you'll find an astounding 1.6 million possible routes to traverse in more than 20 county, regional, and state parks. To tailor your search, choose trails by length, difficulty, or route, and enter preferences such as kid-friendly locations, hikes that allow dogs, areas that are shadier, wheelchair accessibility, and so on. For a fee, the site also offers "NavKits" colored, shaded relief maps with information on site amenities and Global Positioning System (GPS) coordinates for every twist and turn along the trail.

Photo by Peter LaTourrette.

Fall marks the height of bird migrations along the Pacific Flyway. And while the Bay Area has plenty of birds to see, you'll have to head a bit farther east to see the spectacular sandhill cranes that winter in the Central Valley. After the long journey from Canada, Alaska, and Siberia, greater and lesser sandhill cranes settle in the area around Lodi to rest through the winter and feed on leftover rice and corn (and small animals) in the fields. Their autumnal return is heralded by the Lodi Sandhill Crane Festival from November 7th to 9th. Sponsored by the Lodi Chamber of Commerce, the festival educates visitors about protection and preservation of this impressive bird's native habitat. Crane-viewing tours are offered by the California Department of Fish and Game beginning in early October and continuing through Feb-ruary. Contact the Lodi Chamber of Commerce at (209)367-7840.

To see slightly more diminutive returning migrants, head south on Sunday, October 12, for Welcome Back Monarchs Day at Natural Bridges State Beach in Santa Cruz. By mid-October, the butterflies have begun to arrive from as far away as 2,000 miles, to winter at the beach's National Butterfly Reserve. There, as many as 150,000 monarchs find protection from the ocean wind in groves of eucalyptus trees, clustering together for warmth on cold days. The event kicks off several months of tours (11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays through mid-February). Call (831)423-4609 for more details.

As thousands of monarchs return to the protection of the California State Park system, a coalition of marine conservation organizations wants to remind Americans that less than one percent of the world's ocean waters benefit from such government-administered refuges. The Less Than One media campaign is a joint effort of the conservation organization SeaWeb and the Ocean Wilderness Network, an alliance seeking to raise awareness of how human economic and recreational activities are affecting the world's oceans. The campaign promotes the creation of protected marine reserves along the Pacific Coast, as well as enhancement of existing ones. Recent studies indicate that numerous, small, interconnected reserves benefit ocean ecosystems more effectively than larger, isolated ones. In California's 62 state-managed marine reserves the capture, or "taking," of fish and other wildlife is forbidden, giving these organisms an opportunity to regenerate depleted populations. Local species likely to benefit from marine reserves include harbor and elephant seals, stellar sea lions, rockfish, abalone, gray and humpback whales, Dall's porpoises, leatherback turtles, and brown pelicans. Groups such as Environmental Defense are simultaneously pushing to strengthen the national marine sanctuary program, which protects against oil and gas exploration but not commercial and recreational activities. To take part in the campaign, visit www.lessthanone.org and click "Help Now."

Photo by Dan Shapiro, courtesy of NOAA.

Marine reserves would probably not protect whales and other ocean mammals from the severe acoustic trauma of submarine-detecting Low-Frequency Active (LFA) sonar—which transmits sounds of up to 215 decibels. The good news on this front is the recent decision by Judge Elizabeth Laporte of the Northern District Court of California barring the Navy from greatly expanding its current sonar deployment area in the western Pacific. Laporte held that permits issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service for the deployment violated provisions of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, the Endangered Species Act, and the National Environmental Policy Act. The bad news is that this decision may be negated by the Defense Authorization bill currently being considered by a Senate-House conference committee. The House version of the bill contains language exempting the military from the Endangered Species and Marine Mammal Protection Acts. The International Marine Mammal Program of the Earth Island Institute is urging citizens to immediately contact Senators John McCain (R-Ariz) and John Warner (R-Va) and their own congressional representatives to express their opinions on this matter.

Photo courtesy S.F. Public Utilities Commission.

The Bay Area Ridge Trail Council and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) are encouraging the public to get involved with the newly opened Fifield-Cahill Trail in San Mateo County. After more than 30 years of community pressure to allow public access to the open space above the Crystal Springs reservoir, the SFPUC has opened the 10-mile trail to hikers, equestrians, and mountain bikers who make reservations for docent-led tours. The SFPUC had kept the area closed due to concerns that recreational users would impact sensitive habitat and cause erosion around the reservoir, which supplies water to parts of San Francisco. However, environmental reviews and a special task force organized by S.F. Supervisor Tom Ammiano convinced SFPUC to open the trail to guided tours. Now visitors will have access to habitat that contains the largest concentration of endangered species in the Bay Area, as well as spectacular Bay views and old-growth Douglas-fir forests. To ensure the trail remains open three days a week—as currently scheduled—more volunteer guides are needed. If you're interested in becoming a docent, visit volunteer.sfwater.org.

The past two decades have witnessed an explosion of scientific studies of the San Francisco Bay estuary, vastly improving our understanding of its natural history and ecology. Every two years the San Francisco Estuary Project brings together researchers, government officials, advocates, and the general public to share the results of the groundbreaking work being done and to address future issues of concern. The Sixth Biennial State of the Estuary Conference will run October 21-23 at the Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center in Oakland. Presentations will address the health of the estuary and its fisheries, how West Nile virus might affect people living around the estuary, and other timely topics. To register and find out more, visit www.abag.ca.gov/events/estuary_state, or call (510) 622-2465.

Photo by David Cardinal.

While you're exploring the Bay Area this fall, keep your eyes open for the new bird on the Bay. Ten years after Jim Rosso's initial sighting, San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory Intern Biologist Robin Dakin and photographer David Cardinal recently spotted what appears to be a hybrid of the American avocet and the black-necked stilt. Observatory biologists believe that this bird—jokingly referred to as the avostilt or the stavocet—isn't the product of a genetic mutation, but rather represents a previously unclassified species. Dakin will continue studying the new bird, which has been identified at Moss Landing and on private East Bay bay lands. Visit the avostilt at www.sfbbo.org/stavocet.htm.

Please send your news items for Ear to the Ground to david@baynature.com or fax to (510) 528-8117.

You will find this article and additional features in the October-December 2003 issue of Bay Nature, available through our online store or by calling
(888)4-BAYNAT or (888)422-9628. You may also purchase the current issue at bookstores and other retailers in the San Francisco Bay Area.