The News Blog is a place where updates to the guidebooks are posted. It is also a repository for news and information related to the state and national parks of the Bay Area, including upcoming events, benefits, and rallies to support our parks.
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June 17, 2010
After an absence of several weeks due to a bad cold, I've made it back to my volunteer job at the Presidio Native Plant Nursery for the past couple of weeks. The nursery has undergone a major transformation in the time I was gone and the results are very visible. The old greenhouse, a former Army building, was torn down last year to make way for a new Seed and Plant Lab, as well as a new greenhouse. We had been working in a very small space over the past several months, next to a large construction site, in preparation for these two new buildings.
Now the new buildings are in place and preparations are underway to move into them. The Seed and Plant Lab, which will open next week, is a prefabricated building that is designed to conserve energy and make efficient use of integrated photovoltaic systems.
The Presidio Native Plant Nursery is also the site of some of the exhibits in the Presidio Habitats art installation, which focus on the natural world of the Presidio environment. These innovative exhibits are scattered throughout the Presidio, and the one in the nursery features giant balls of wax that represent the tiny pollen globules carried by bees to propagate plants throughout the world. The wax balls are inscribed with poetry and observations on the natural world. We've been seeing a lot more visitors wandering through the nursery lately, so this is a great way for people to come and see the amazing work that is taking place here.
Look for Way Out There Press on Facebook:
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Way Out There Press Newsletter
The current newsletter can now be viewed in the Newsletter Archive. The next newsletter will be sent out June 30, 2010. Sign up now to have the newsletter emailed directly to your inbox.
Current News Blog page:
September 2010
News Blog Archive:
2010: August | July | June | May | April | March | February | January
2009: December | November | October
June 17, 2010After an absence of several weeks due to a bad cold, I've made it back to my volunteer job at the Presidio Native Plant Nursery for the past couple of weeks. The nursery has undergone a major transformation in the time I was gone and the results are very visible. The old greenhouse, a former Army building, was torn down last year to make way for a new Seed and Plant Lab, as well as a new greenhouse. We had been working in a very small space over the past several months, next to a large construction site, in preparation for these two new buildings.
Now the new buildings are in place and preparations are underway to move into them. The Seed and Plant Lab, which will open next week, is a prefabricated building that is designed to conserve energy and make efficient use of integrated photovoltaic systems.
The Presidio Native Plant Nursery is also the site of some of the exhibits in the Presidio Habitats art installation, which focus on the natural world of the Presidio environment. These innovative exhibits are scattered throughout the Presidio, and the one in the nursery features giant balls of wax that represent the tiny pollen globules carried by bees to propagate plants throughout the world. The wax balls are inscribed with poetry and observations on the natural world. We've been seeing a lot more visitors wandering through the nursery lately, so this is a great way for people to come and see the amazing work that is taking place here.
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June 9, 2010 The Marine Mammal Center has just rescued two baby sea lions, which will soon be transferred to the Navy in San Diego, where they will be trained to find underwater mines or seek out would-be terrorists who are trying to swim into unauthorized areas. This may sound like something out of a science fiction novel or the latest Hollywood blockbuster, but sea lions are incredibly intelligent and can be trained to carry out a number of complex tasks. Now the Navy SEALS will be joined by Navy Sea Lions in their duties. Harbor Seal Hospital Director Pat Holt is seen in this video, bottle feeding one of the sea lions, which was seven days old at the time. The bottle is filled with a mixture of fish mash (herring and salmon oil blended into a rich smoothie), along with rich whipping cream to simulate the mother's milk. The sea lions are usually kept in a separate area from the harbor seals, but these babies are so young (the other one was only four days old), that they are located in the quieter and less public part of the Marine Mammal Center. |