Eco News

Retracing the Portolá Expedition's 'Discovery' of SF Bay

View of San Andreas Lake and San Francisco Bay from the Portolá "Discovery" site on Sweeney Ridge, GGNRA. Credit: Samuel Herzberg

The Ohlone-Portolá Heritage Trail will run the length of San Mateo County and include Indigenous representation, which some tribal leaders feel is an afterthought.

Chinese Pioneers and the Santa Cruz Mountains Industrial Past

One of two photographs of Chinese railroad workers in the Santa Cruz Mountains. Credit: California Historical Society

Next time you go on a hike in the Santa Cruz Mountains, look for remnants of its industrial past and Chinese pioneers from over a century ago.

Why isn’t Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument Open Yet?

While the park is not open to the public yet, visitors can take part in guided hikes. Credit: Zachary Ormsby, Bureau of Land Management

By Naomi Friedland

Oct. 11 2023— Local residents have been anticipating the opening of Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument, the largest onshore piece of the California Coastal National Monument, which was established by Pres. Barack Obama in 2017.

Jewish New Year Outside: Nature as a Vessel for Spirituality

Volunteers prepare The Greenhouse Project space for the Jewish New Year. Photo credit: Chel Mandell

Tzimtzum Collective, an innovative Santa Cruz Jewish organization collaborates with The Greenhouse Project to bring Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, outdoors.

Castle Rock State Park Expands Thanks to Major Purchase from Sempervirens Fund

Celebrating the breathtaking view at Castle Rock State Park. Photo copyright Mike Kahn.

By Naomi Friedland

Get to Know the Amah Mutsun Land Trust

Amah Mutsun native plants nursery at Cascade Ranch, photo copyright Mike Kahn.

The Amah Mutsun Land Trust (AMLT) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to restoring and stewarding the ancestral lands of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band and adjacent Awaswas language cultural areas that span from Año Nuevo to the larger Monterey Bay area. 

Trails Damaged in CZU Fire Reopen at Big Basin

Two children and a giant redwood tree

From Friends of Santa Cruz State Parks

For the first time in three years, visitors can enjoy springtime at Big Basin Redwoods State Park by exploring miles of recently reopened trails and fire roads.

Science Spotlight: Santa Cruz Sandhills

Zayante sand soil from the Santa Margarita sandstone formation covers some trails near Henry Cowell State Park. Photo by Emma Hiolski.

The Santa Cruz sandhills, a unique, fragmented habitat within the Santa Cruz Mountains, hosts seven kinds of plants, animals and insects found nowhere else in the world.

Science Spotlight: Beach Erosion

During the 1983 El Niño winter, Twin Lakes State Beach lost over 10 feet of sand, as shown above. Gary Griggs photo.

Beaches initially form where waves and currents move sand deposited by coastal streams. The shape of a shoreline and human structures like harbors and jetties influence where sand piles up.

Science Spotlight: Schooling & Flocking

A beautiful display of schooling behavior in sardines. Klaus Steifel photo CC BY-SA 2.0

Schooling fish, such as the tight bunches of anchovies and sardines found in Monterey Bay, uniformly dart away from predators, make hairpin turns, and accelerate or stop without colliding.

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