From our blogs

24 Jul 2018

Drawbridge book “Sinking Underwater” now available for purchase

Sinking Underwater: A Ghost Town's Amazing Legacy by Anita Goldwasser and Cecilia D. Craig, Ph. D.

Sinking Underwater: A Ghost Town's Amazing Legacy by Anita Goldwasser and Cecilia D. Craig, Ph. D.

A book on Drawbridge, California, Sinking Underwater: A Ghost Town's Amazing Legacy by Anita Goldwasser and Cecilia D. Craig, Ph. D. and published by the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society is now available for purchase.

Anita is a writer who explored the once-vibrant ghost town of Drawbridge in the San Francisco Bay Area and photographed its buildings more than 30 years ago—before most of them sank into the marsh or succumbed to fire.

Cecilia (Ceal) Craig is a long-time member of the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society and volunteer tour guide for Drawbridge.

You can buy the book in person at our Nature Stores at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. You can also have us mail you a copy by sending us a check or making an online payment.

All proceeds from the book sale benefit the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society.

17 Jul 2018

How Drawbridge is drowning — and what it means for our future

Aerial view of Drawbridge, California

Aerial view of Drawbridge, California. Credit video / drone footage by Jane Tyska for The Mercury News / East Bay Times

Lisa M. Krieger, a science writer covering research, scientific policy and environmental news, writes in today's Mercury News:

From birth, Drawbridge was an unlikely community on an impossible site, just feet above sea level. A century ago, the island town held 90 homes, hotels and cabins, with hunting so bountiful that dead ducks served as currency at its gambling tables. Now — in a rare act of reverse colonization — civilization is ceding to the elements in this windswept marsh. “It’s drowning… a memorial to past human aspirations and a memorial to failure,” said Glen MacDonald, a UCLA professor of geography.

Read on to find out how rising seas and sinking muds have doomed the once-vibrant ghost town of Drawbridge in the San Francisco Bay Area.

02 Jul 2018

Donate whenever you shop on Amazon

Amazon Prime Day is just around the corner! Support us by starting your shopping at smile.amazon.com/ch/94-3039253.

Amazon will donate 0.5% of the price of your eligible AmazonSmile purchases to San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society whenever you shop on AmazonSmile.

San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society Donation Form

10 Jun 2018

2018 Marsh-In Summer Day Camp • July 30 - August 3, 2018

A FREE summer camp filled with fun activities, games, crafts, and adventures.

Date and Time
  • July 30 - August 3, 2018
  • Grades 1-6: Monday - Wednesday 9:15 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
    • Monday - Bird Day
    • Tuesday - Fish Day
    • Wednesday - Mammal Day
  • Grades 4-6 only: Overnight 6:00 p.m. Thursday - 9:30 a.m. Friday
    • Overnight - Night hikes, star gazing, sleeping under the stars and ice cream making!
Location

Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge
Environmental Education Center
1751 Grand Blvd, Alviso, CA 95002

02 Jun 2018

National Fishing & Boating Week • June 2 - 10, 2018

National Fishing & Boating Week - June 2 - 10, 2018

Learn how to fish on the Dumbarton Fishing Pier in Fremont!

Saturday, June 9, 2018 9:00 a.m. – noon

Have you ever wanted to try fishing but didn’t know how to begin? Learn the fundamental basics of catch-and- release fishing at the Dumbarton fishing pier! Discover the types of wildlife living in the San Francisco Bay, learn the safety and ethics of fishing, and then try your luck out on the pier with our fishing poles.

This event is free! Space is limited to 50 people. All equipment will be provided. Please come on time. Register at donedwardsfishing.eventbrite.com or call 510-792-0222 ext. 476 for reservations.

30 May 2018

Volunteer Opportunities: Summer 2018

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Volunteer Opportunities: Summer 2018 at the Environmental Education Center (Alviso, California).

If you have an interest in wildlife and their conservation, enjoy working with people, and are enthusiastic and dependable, the Environmental Education Center’s Volunteer Program is for you! As a volunteer, you’ll receive on-the-job training from staff and other volunteers in the project area you choose.

Project areas are: restoration projects, information desk on weekends, interpretive programs, school field trips, and citizen science/community service.

Prior to volunteering at the Environmental Education Center, you must attend a Volunteer Orientation. You can also attend the orientation just to see what opportunities there are, and if it is the right fit for you.

29 May 2018

Much of paper and plastic meant for recycling is ending up in landfills

A recycling facility in Seattle, Washington fills up as waste managers are struggling to find plants to process their recyclables. Credit Wiqan Ang/New York Times.

A recycling facility in Seattle, Washington fills up as waste managers are struggling to find plants to process their recyclables. Credit Wiqan Ang/New York Times.

Livia Albeck-Ripka, a freelance journalist covering the environment, writes in today's New York Times Business section:

Plastics and papers from dozens of American cities and towns are being dumped in landfills after China stopped recycling most “foreign garbage.”

Read on to find out more about how, because of a far-reaching rule change in China, some of the recyclables are ending up in the local dump anyway.

27 May 2018

Rachel Carson’s 111th birth anniversary

Rachel Carson, marine biologist and writer.

Today, May 27, 2018, marks the 111th birth anniversary of Rachel Carson, a writer-biologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, whose writing on pesticides in 1962 inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and banned the use of DDT in the United States.

In 1969, the Coastal Maine National Wildlife Refuge was renamed the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge. In 1980, President Jimmy Carter posthumously awarded Carson the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Read more about this remarkable marine biologist in the 2012 Fall issue of Fish & Wildlife News that celebrates the 50th anniversary of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking book, Silent Spring.

26 May 2018

Feral cats pose threat to burrowing owls at Shoreline Park

A feral cat at Shoreline Park, home to about 50 burrowing owls that nest in the ground. Credit Jason Henry/New York Times.

A feral cat at Shoreline Park, home to about 50 burrowing owls that nest in the ground. Credit Jason Henry/New York Times.

David Streitfeld writes in today's New York Times Technology section:

Cats have stalked birds forever, but in Shoreline Park a final victory is at hand. The number of cat sightings there last year was 318, according to the City of Mountain View’s official count. And 2017 was the first time in 20 years of record-keeping that no owl fledglings were observed in the park.

22 May 2018

Interpretive Associate for the Watershed Watchers Program

POSITION DESCRIPTION

Part-time, 8-16 hours/week
July 2018 - June 30, 2019

GENERAL DESCRIPTION

Associate needed to assist San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society (SFBWS) at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge from July 2018 – June 2019, working 1 day (Saturday) with the possibility of an additional day (Thursday). Associate will work at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Environmental Education Center in Alviso. (http://www.fws.gov/desfbay). The associate will be working under the Watershed Watchers Program Coordinator, promoting the Watershed Watchers mission, (http://www.mywatershedwatch.org/), funded by Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff Pollution Prevention Program (SCVURPPP).

The Associate will be a part-time employee for the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society (SFBWS), a not-for-profit friends group to the San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Complex. The primary mission of SFBWS is to promote public awareness and appreciation of the San Francisco Bay and its natural history, and to conserve and preserve the remaining Bay lands as essential wildlife habitat.

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