A recent fire damaging Lake Merritt’s legendary educational institution is only the latest setback.
Category: Nature and the City
Posted inHealth & Environment
El Niño winter weather is here: What should Oakland residents know?
Scientists are predicting this year could see more rain than the last.
Posted inNosh
Oakland’s proposed reusable foodware ordinance could help keep our streets clean
The law would forbid food vendors from providing single-use plastic items to guests dining in, and ban packaged water at city events and facilities.
Posted inHealth & Environment
For 3 decades, kids at this Oakland school have been studying Lake Merritt’s birds
From brown pelicans to bufflehead ducks, third-graders at St. Paul’s Episcopal School are tracking them all.
Posted inHealth & Environment
How should Oakland tend its urban forest?
The city is looking for feedback on its plan to equitably plant and manage trees across the city.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Meet the ‘carbonator,’ a machine helping reduce fire hazards in Anthony Chabot Regional Park
The East Bay Regional Park District is turning excess and dead vegetation into ‘biochar’ that builds healthier soil.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Friends of Sausal Creek’s annual native plant sale marks a recovery
The environmental restoration group invites the public to celebrate its resilience in the wake of vandalism that damaged thousands of plants earlier this year.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Controversial rule could make installing solar panels costlier
Oakland Unified is opposing a policy change before the California Public Utilities Commission, saying it could disincentivize green energy projects.
Posted inNature and the City
The beautiful and fraught lives of California’s mountain lions are depicted in a new graphic novel
Local conservation biologist Tiffany Yap’s book, ‘Tales of the Urban Wild: A Puma’s Journey,’ explores the interface between humans and the wild.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Fall environmental events in Oakland and the East Bay
Help clean up your favorite park. Learn more about cool critters. Hike a new trail.
Posted inHealth & Environment
3 rare raccoon babies were spotted at Lake Merritt
For years, locals have delighted in spotting ‘albino’ raccoons around the lake. This year, one mother is raising three leucistic kits.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Native plant gardens are reinvigorating Oakland wildlife—and residents
In backyards and along sidewalk strips locals are tending plants that boost ecosystems, save water, and green communities.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Oakland is getting $8M to plant trees across the city
The federal grant will allow the city and local nonprofits to green neighborhoods, clean air, combat heat, and build community.
Posted inNature and the City
E-bikes now allowed on 850 miles of East Bay park trails
E-bikes could provide greater access and are already in use in many places. But some are worried about their impact on other trail users.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Oakland is seeking volunteers for Creek to Bay Day
The 28th annual event includes numerous opportunities for locals to volunteer, build community, and restore the environment.
Posted inNature and the City
Worried about the fish-killing red tide returning to Lake Merritt? Here’s a way to help
State wildlife officials want the public’s observations of marine creatures during the harmful algae bloom.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Lake Merritt’s cherry trees are about to erupt in blossoms
Seventy years ago, civic boosters like Frank Ogawa gifted hundreds of the cotton-candy flowered trees to Oakland. Today, just a few remain.
Posted inHealth & Environment
Can Lake Merritt be saved from another fish kill?
Stewards of Oakland’s wildlife refuge are fundraising to create oxygenated refuges where fish can escape harmful algae blooms.
Posted inNature and the City
You can now watch Oakland’s favorite red-tailed hawks on a live cam
Highland Hospital staff and wildlife ecologists are hoping Stormy and Sunny will raise chicks again this spring.
Posted inHealth & Environment
After ‘heartbreaking’ vandalism, Sausal Creek plant nursery volunteers pick up the pieces
The group lost 600 native seedlings when vandals caused $8,000 in damages. But volunteers say they will replant and rebuild.
