By Dan Kirk ‘Tis the season to...crab! And by proxy, to eat crab too. And like always, just to look for crab. The majority of crabbers will be out on the waters for Dungeness crab, Metacarcinus magister, which are rich in flavor and robust in economic revenue. If you are a crabber, one hot tip for bait is to batter raw chicken with cherry Kool-Aid packets. I heard this from a friend of a friend and it sounds like it passed through the game of telephone, but who knows, if you try this you might hit the jackpot in your crab-pot. If you’re not crabbing and just on the shoreline, you may (if …
Ebb & Flow
The Newsletter of The Watershed Project
Thanksgiving Tuesday : ‘Tis the Season to Give Back
Thank you for being a part of this inspiring community of watershed stewards – of volunteers, students, teachers, partners and leaders. We are so grateful. Over the years, you have played a key role in building The Watershed Project into a trusted local powerhouse for environmental education, urban greening, climate resiliency, and shoreline stewardship for the San Francisco Bay Watershed. If you're a nature-lover, advocate for children, or supporter of education, please make a donation before 2019 ends or jumpstart your holiday shopping with a great gift from our silent auction. Whether it …
Daylight Savings Adored by the Great Horned Owl
By Dan Kirk You know when you’re driving with a passenger in the front seat and stop suddenly and do the “mom” thing where you instinctively slam your arm in front of their chest to “save” them from shooting out the window? Same thing happens when I see something special, say, some wildlife in an urban environment. The other night, as the sun was setting on the Napa River near the San Pablo Bay in Vallejo, I happened to do this to my friend as I saw the silhouette of a Great Horned Owl fly up from some shrubs on the ground to the top of a street lamp. I knew it was an owl by the rounded …
Coastal Cleanup Day 2019 Thank You
By Manuel Alonso Thank you for joining The Watershed Project and 59,722 volunteers statewide for a great Coastal Cleanup Day. The Watershed project had 352 Volunteers at Shimada Friendship Park in Richmond and 405 Volunteers at the Albany bulb site. The total trash collected statewide was 502,710 lb, of this 982 lb was found at Shimada Friendship Park and 1,113lb at Albany Bulb. Also special thanks to the hundreds of you that brought their own reusable water bottle, buckets and gloves, thanks to this we were able to reduce the total amount of plastic bags used considerably. If you would …
First Flush : Gearing up for 2019 and results from 2018
The first major rain event of the year is often referred to as “first flush,” because it brings with it all the pollution that has built up on roads and other surfaces over the summer. First flush is a phenomenon brought on by our Mediterranean climate with it’s warm, dry summers where it doesn’t rain for as much as six months. It’s always hard to tell when we will get that first rain of the fall, but it’s usually sometime between September and November. First flush is a great time to test for pollutants in the stormwater, or in creeks (which is where the stormwater goes), as pollutant …
Duck! Look out for Buffleheads!
By Dan Kirk In search for information on the Bufflehead duck, I came across links from the Tennessee Watchable Wildlife, Texas Parks and Wildlife, San Juan Island National Historic Park Service, Saint Louis Zoo, Outdoor Alabama, Monterey Bay Aquarium and many more from different cities and states. Just from the list of websites google search webpages, I gathered that the Bufflehead duck population spreads from coast to coast, very similar to the spread of coyotes, which I wrote about last month. Although Bufflehead ducks can be spotted across the U.S., they do not stay in the same place all …
California Coastal Cleanup Day: celebrating 35 years of volunteers cleaning our creeks and shorelines
As we were gearing up for this year’s Coastal Cleanup Day, Eben Schwartz reminded us of the huge positive impact this day has on the planet. It’s not only about all the trash that we’ve cleaned up over the years, though 25 million pounds is nothing to sneeze at. But the real story is the passion for preserving and protecting our beautiful natural resources that has galvanized over 1.5 million volunteers to pick up and tally plastic trash for over three decades. Check out the Coastal Commission’s collection of photos, stories, data, and fun facts about California Coastal Cleanup Day to …
Trees Bring out the Best in People: Planting Trees in the North Richmond Community
By Paula Urtecho There’s just something about trees. They draw people in. When staff members of The Watershed Project are out in the North Richmond community planting trees or caring for trees or even just looking at trees, invariably people come around to see what we are doing. They start to ask questions about the trees like, what kind of trees are these, why are they being planted and, more often than one would think, they ask, “Can I help?” North Richmond is a residential community surrounded by industry. The Chevron refinery looms over the western edge of the area …