Category: Uncategorized

 Save The Bay may have canceled our programs, but our teams are hard at work – advancing our capabilities and preparing for the day we can get back to the shorelines. We want to take you behind-the-scenes today with Jessie Olson, Associate Director of Native Plant Nurseries, who is sheltered at home, cleaning seeds for our large projects at Ravenswood and Bel Marin Keys. Watch and learn more about the steps required to take our seeds from harvest to planting. Enjoy and stay safe! Save The Bay’s mission remains vital and our Bay-Saving team is committed to moving that …

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In a major milestone in the fight for clean parks and water in Oakland, Measure Q is on the March ballot.  For years, Oakland residents have had to deal with a lack of investment in the City’s parks which has led to inadequate landscaping, facility maintenance, and litter cleanup.  In fact, parks all over the city have creeks running through them, and all of Oakland’s parks are connected to storm drains that carry trash and other pollution into local creeks and the Bay. This water pollution not only trashes our parks and prevents residents from enjoying the creeks, but also …

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Last February, we celebrated a significant victory in the battle against trash pollution when the San Francisco Regional Water Quality Control Board (Regional Board) took a rare enforcement action by issuing a Cease and Desist Order against another state agency – Caltrans – requiring it to speed up efforts to remove trash from highways and state-owned roads and stop polluting local creeks and the Bay. Trash that builds up along roadways doesn’t stay there. When it rains, runoff carries the trash into the storm drains, through the storm sewers and ultimately into our waterways. In every city in our region …

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Save The Bay was hosted by Communities for a Better Environment (CBE) who led a tour of the city of Richmond about the deep and fruitful history of the city and its environment. Founded in 1978, CBE is regarded as one of the distinguished environmental justice organizations in the US. CBE states its mission is to, “build people’s power in California’s communities of color and low-income communities to achieve environmental health and justice by preventing and reducing pollution and building green, healthy and sustainable communities and environments.” Andrés Soto, the Richmond Community Organizer for CBE, led the tour and gave …

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If you’ve been watching the news, you’ve probably heard some mention of King Tides in places like Sausalito, Mill Valley, San Francisco, and Alameda. A King Tide is a natural phenomenon that occurs near the Summer and Winter solstices, during the new and full moon phases, when the moon, sun, and Earth are aligned. This alignment causes the strongest biannual gravitational force on Earth’s oceans, resulting in these dramatic tidal fluctuations. King Tides help us to see today what will be the average daily high tides in 2050 due to climate change and show us now where flooding will occur …

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Last week saw the return of rain to the Bay Area for the first time in months, kicking off the winter season and initiating a little-known but incredibly damaging event for the Bay – First Flush.  We recently wrote about how this event impacts the Bay with trash pollution, and how an overwhelming amount of this trash pollution is the responsibility of a single state agency – Caltrans. This year Save The Bay used the “first flush” as an opportunity to call out Caltrans for its failure to eliminate roadway trash from our communities by using our social media platforms …

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No matter where you live in the Bay Area, trash is one of our most persistent and visible pollution problems.  It litters our roads and blights our cities, and much of the trash that you see on the street eventually washes down into storm drains and through a system of pipes that flow directly out to the Bay. In fact, this week’s rain is acting as the “first flush” of the season, when the first large storm flushes out all of the trash that has built up around the region into the Bay.  A huge portion of this trash is …

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Our  Giving Tuesday story continues as we as we travel to the high-marsh where a popular garden favorite grows alongside its low and mid marsh neighbors. Meet Common Yarrow, a versatile, widespread plant of the sunflower family, that grows in nearly every habitat across California and has a variety of uses, for both people and wildlife. Its nectar and pollen provide food for numerous insect pollinators, and birds will often use its leaves to line their nests to take advantage of its antimicrobial properties. Personality: Generous, beautiful, soothing Special Talents: Medicinal Friends: Insect pollinators and birds Foes: Fennel and Stinkwort …

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Our wetlands journey continues as we move up the shoreline to the mid-marsh region. Here, Creeping Wild Rye holds the job of a wetland engineer. It grows rapidly and sends green shoots away from the mother plant to create a strong foundation of roots. Personality: Graceful, communal and tenacious Special Talents: Can live for long periods without water (drought tolerant) Friends: Butterflies, moths and nesting birds Foes: Wild Mustard and Radish Creeping wild rye provides vital habitat across the many ecosystems. It creates lush, dense patches of grass by reproducing through rhizomes, which are thick, modified stems that creep underground …

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Today, our wetlands journey begins closest to the shoreline where low marsh plants meet the water’s edge. These are the first defenders of high tides, storm surges and rising sea levels and offer habitat for many species of wildlife, threatened and endangered. There are many low marsh species, but we want to introduce you to one of the tallest and shrubbiest plants around, Marsh Gumplant. Personality: Sweet, Nurturing and Protective Special Talents: Elicits the aroma of juicy fruit gum Friends: Ridgway’s Rail, Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse and Spittlebugs (aka Froghoppers) Foes: Pepperweed, Russian Thistle, Rising Sea Levels Gumplant is a …

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