Happy Plantsgiving
In 2020, Yerba Buena chapter initiated three horticulture programs to help solve the sourcing problem for local native plants with a goal of spreading the […]
Category Archives: Local Ecology
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The Hornwort Hike on San Bruno Mountain
The Hornwort Hike on San Bruno Mountain by David Nelson Doug Allshouse and I are writing a book, The Natural History of the San Bruno […]
On Plant Identification and CNPS-YB workshops with SFSU
Plant identification is a fundamental pursuit driven by our curiosity and fascination with the seemingly limitless variation that surrounds us all. Many of us regularly […]
WALC – Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative
A phenomenal group of teachers at Balboa and Downtown Continuation High Schools created a program called the Wilderness Arts and Literacy Collaborative (WALC). They teach […]
The Real Heart of The Mountain, 1945-2014
Take a moment and visually inhale this ‘snapshot in time’ taken by Ansel Adams from the north summit of San Bruno Mountain. A heart-shaped outline […]
Slideshow: India Basin/Hunter’s View Serpentine Habitat
As part of an ongoing effort to preserve an intact serpentine hillside habitat in eastern San Francisco, Margo Bors has created a slideshow highlighting the […]
Serpentine Grassland Restoration
The serpentine grasslands at Edgewood are widely recognized as the outstanding feature of the Park and Preserve. Unfortunately, all is not well in the serpentine […]
San Bruno Mountain Fire, June 2008
This was a generational event, a pyrotechnic three-ring circus of enormous importance and magnitude. On Sunday evening, June 22, a wildfire that eventually reached five […]
Restoring California’s Native Grasses
California’s grasslands were once vegetated by native perennial grasses. But during the last 200 years, exotic annual grasses from Europe started taking over, and now […]
Oxalis
To find an illustration of the function of natural controls on an organism, one needs look no further than yellow oxalis (aka sour grass or […]
Miner’s Lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata)
Miner’s lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) is a native annual herb that is common in disturbed, often shady areas. It is a cheerful light green, and it […]
Land Snails of San Bruno Mountain
The plant diversity on San Bruno Mountain is staggering considering the acreage: 659 species on about 3,000 acres. But in addition to these plants, we […]
Ecotherapy
We were on a broad shelf above the Pacific, mid-way down the Big Sur coast, looking for something lost … lost long ago by our […]
Children and Nature
Below is an exciting book review by William Kowinski, (author of “”The Malling of America””), from a 2002 Sunday Chronicle. The book, “Children and Nature: […]
Calochortus at Hunters Point
A large, hitherto unknown, population of yellow mariposa lilies, Calochortus luteus, was discovered in late May, 2002 at Hunters Point by CNPS Yerba Buena Chapter […]
A Chronicle of Natural History on San Bruno Mountain
It would appear that summer has inspired many things: The Boys of Summer and The Summer of Love to name two. This year is becoming […]
What is Native?
The question “What is Native?” is one I have been asked many times during my years growing California native plants. The answer I have given […]
San Bruno Mountain Fire, July 2003
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. It’s such a simple thought, yet so confounding in its implications. Mother Nature presented a scientific opportunity for […]
Community Site Stewardship
Reprinted from the August 1998 Sierra Club Yodeler, newspaper of the SF Bay Chapter with generous permission from editor Don Forman. Dr. Ertter, Curator of […]
Bee Diversity in the SF Presidio
The San Francisco Bay Area is a biodiversity hotspot, supporting an enormous number of species, including a large insect fauna with many endemic and threatened […]