By Charlotte Pitt Sprawled across the San Francisco Bay in habitats known as shellfish beds reside a multitude of species sensitive to the quality of water, such as oysters, mussels, and clams. These shellfish were once a popular food source for the residents of the San Francisco Bay area, however in modern times pollution runoff from industry and agriculture is too high to consume any shellfish from the bay. The most abundant of these species, the native Olympia oyster (Ostrea lurida), has been a primary focus of restoration efforts, as pollution and loss of habitat have caused the …
Ebb & Flow
The Newsletter of The Watershed Project
Coastal Cleanup Day: Taking the Temperature of the Planet
By Paula White Last Saturday was the 37th year of International Coastal Cleanup Day. In California over 20,000 people came out to clean up at beaches, creeks, parks, and neighborhoods. This act of love for the planet is hopeful and celebratory, but it also reveals a troubling and persistent truth: the earth is suffering from a plastic pollution crisis. Discarded plastic bags, bottle caps, straws, and hundreds of unidentifiable microplastics wind up in the digestive tracts of hundreds of marine species. Plastic microfibers from clothing have been found in wastewater across the globe, in the …
Passion and Dedication: Over a Decade of Greening Schoolyards Here in the San Francisco Bay Area
By Kat Sawyer Making room for nature in public schools has been a part of my professional work for more than a decade. I remember managing my first significant school greening project in 2008, to demolish two large sections of concrete on the playground of Daniel Webster Elementary in San Francisco and construct raised planting beds out of the broken pieces. When I look back, I realize how complex that endeavor was, and I have gratitude for the key partners who helped me achieve that vision. Stormwater management and water reclamation became the focus of my work, and I …
Sea Level Rise Adaptation for the Incoming Tide
By Juliana Gonzalez Looking at the San Francisco Bay during the last 19 months of the pandemic has been a source of inspiration. We are privileged to be surrounded by water and a green belt around the Bay, at the heart of our community. We are grateful for all the Bay has given us in terms of open space and cool air, and that is why we need to get busy protecting our home from sea level rise. In the back of my mind, I am always thinking about what the future holds for the Bay, my community and this place we call home. As I read the report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on …
Coastal Cleanup Day surges back!
By Paula White Last year when I was writing The Watershed Project’s annual Coastal Cleanup Day invitation, I thought for sure we’d be “back to normal” by now. Then the delta variant came, and well, you know the rest. Luckily, we have better tools and more information about how to protect ourselves from COVID-19 than we did last year. First and most importantly, we know that outdoor events are relatively safe, especially for vaccinated people. And that’s what has always been so great about Coastal Cleanup Day--it’s a chance to be outside, doing something good for the planet and ourselves …
Education Programs Update: Back to In-Person Teaching…But Still Flexible
By Dan Kirk We are excited to announce that our Education Department will be following along with our school district partners’ guidelines for schools re-opening, which means we will be offering in-class programming for the 2021-2022 school year! That being said, we are preparing for the potential need to shift back to hybrid or a completely virtual teaching environment, should that be the case again. Our programming for this school year will be slightly different than our previous in-school programming we have done in the past, because we’ve decided to lengthen all of our programs …
The Ugly Truth about the Trash in our Watershed
By Anne Bremer During one of our recent warm, clear, blue-skied summer days, I was walking my dog through our neighborhood park when I saw something moving from the corner of my eye. A Hot Cheetos chip bag was caught in the bushes, flapping feebly in the gentle breeze as though trying to escape. Perhaps you can relate to the series of thoughts that subsequently raced through my mind: “Who threw that there? What a litterbug! Why can’t people throw their trash where it belongs? Do people really need to buy such heavily packaged and processed snacks?” As a friend and supporter of The …
What’s in Your Watershed: Milkweed: Much More Than a Weed
By Charlotte Pitt Names are often deceiving, and that is certainly the case for the flowering plant commonly known as Milkweed. Plants are considered to be weeds when they are unwanted, but Milkweed is definitely a plant you want to keep around! There are nineteen species of Milkweed native to California, and they are both a beautiful plant that makes an eye-catching addition to any garden and an important habitat and food plant for caterpillars, particularly the caterpillars of the Monarch butterfly. Nine species of Milkweed act as the only food source for the Monarch caterpillars, so …
