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June 25, 2011
A groundbreaking art exhibit is opening at the Marine Mammal Center in the Marin Headlands. Entitled Washed Ashore, it features 16 massive sculptures crafted out of plastic garbage that has washed ashore on our beaches. Artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi, based in Bandon, Oregon, has created the sculptures with the help of 500 volunteers, who have picked up 7,000 pounds of garbage along a stretch of southern Oregon beaches. The vast majority of the trash is plastic, and the sculptures are intended to convey the message that wasteful use of plastic is killing our oceans and marine life. The message fits in well with the mission of the Marine Mammal Center, which is to rescue, rehabilitate, and release marine mammals back into their natural environment. Washed Ashore is a great way to pass that message on the general public and educate people about changes we can make in our daily lives that will positively impact the marine environment.

The first sculpture that visitors to the Marine Mammal Center see is Henry the Fish, a gigantic fish made out of bits and pieces of plastic. Inside the courtyard of the building there are more sculptures, including a life size ribcage of a whale, a giant sea jelly, and a sea star fashioned out of glass and plastic bottles. The sea star doubles as a musical instrument, and was tuned up and played last night by a percussionist from the San Francisco Symphony. Some of the glass bottles have varying amounts of water in them, creating low moaning sounds when the wind blows through the courtyard. Many of the plastic bottles have the distinctive imprint of athlete figures that were used in the Beijing Olympics. These bottles managed to make their way across the Pacific to the coast of Oregon.

In the center of the courtyard is a large sculpture of a harbor seal, which was designed by Angela specifically for the Marine Mammal Center. It will eventually be a traveling exhibit, placed on a truck that makes its way through the streets of San Francisco. A wall display shows a series of masks, crafted out of tiny bits of plastic. One of the most intractible problems with plastic in the ocean is that most of it is small pieces that are difficult to see or scoop up. Fish and marine mammals see this plastic and think it is food, and in the process endanger their health and disrupt the food chain. Distressed whales that have died and washed up on beaches have been examined after their deaths, and the contents of their stomachs often include hundreds of pounds of plastic bags, fishing net, rope, and other debris. Sea turtles often mistake plastic jugs for sea jellies, a staple of their diets. The Sea Turtle is a sculpture that represents their plight, built out of plastic lids and miscellaneous trash. Another sculpture is the Flip Flop Fish, made out of flip flows and the foam material that is cut out from them in the manufacturing process. Fish Bites is a sculpture made out of pieces of plastic that have been bitten by fish and crabs, in the mistaken belief that they were finding food.

The Washed Ashore exhibit opens today at the Marine Mammal Center, which is located at 2000 Bunker Road at Fort Cronkhite in the Marin Headlands. The exhibit will run through October 15 and is open daily from 10AM to 5PM. Admission is free, and docent-led tours are available for a small fee.

Angela Haseltine Pozzi Explains her Art,
with the Giant Sea Jelly as Backdrop

The Washed Ashore Exhibit

Assemblyman Jared Huffman Speaks at the State Parks Rally & Expo in Sacramento

The Governor's Mansion State Historic Park in Sacramento

Sutter's Fort State Historic Park

June 22, 2011
It was 102 degrees in Sacramento yesterday, a great day to rally to save our state parks. The California State Parks Foundation set up a State Parks Expo to feature the 70 state parks that are slated for permanent closure and give people an idea of what is at stake. The big white tent provided some shade from the heat, and a series of tables were laid out to provide information about each of the parks. A rally was held nearby on the north steps of the Capitol Building, with a number of speakers talking about the need to preserve our natural, cultural, and historic heritage. State Parks Foundation President Elizabeth Goldstein, Assemblyman Jared Huffman, State Senator Lois Wolk, and the great-grandson of John Muir were among the speakers who braved the heat and rallied the crowd. Alden Olmsted was particularly inspirational, talking about his campaign to raise money for the state parks by asking every Californian to donate one dollar. The campaign, dedicated to his father John Olmsted, has raised more than $15,000 so far. Donation jars are being placed at each of the 70 state parks on the closure list and people can also donate online at JohnOlmsted.net. One dollar from every Californian would bring in more than $38 million, far exceeding the $22 million cut being proposed for the state parks budget.

While in Sacramento, I continued my quest to visit every state park in California, especially the 70 parks that are on the closure list. Two of these parks are in Sacramento, both within easy walking distance of the Capitol. After the rally, I walked over to the Leland Stanford Mansion State Historic Park, where I took a guided tour of the elaborate and ornate mansion. Built in 1856, this house was the official governor's mansion from 1862-1871. After the tour, I walked across town, enjoying the shade of Capitol Park, and went to the Governor's Mansion State Historic Park, where I took another guided tour. This stately Victorian mansion was the the governor's mansion from 1903 until 1967. The decor was not as grandiose as the Stanford Mansion, and had some amusing cultural artifacts from the 60s, such as black and white television sets on shag carpeting. Both mansions were impressive though, and taking the tours helped me learn more about the art of being a docent. The next time I give a tour on Angel Island, I'll have a deeper understanding of how to interpret history and culture for visitors. The job is complicated these days with the threat of closure looming over our heads, and there is a delicate balancing act of explaining the situation to visitors without imposing a political agenda onto them.

I finished off the day with a trip out to Sutter's Fort, a few blocks east of downtown Sacramento. I remembered all the characters portrayed in Mariano Vallejo's biography, many of whom passed through this fort. John Sutter, Mariano Vallejo and his brother José, John C. Frémont, William B. Ide, John Bidwell, and many other early California pioneers had a connection to this strategic outpost. I tried to imagine what it was like when it was surrounded by wilderness, instead of the highrises of a large city. I stood in the cool dark room where Vallejo and his brother were imprisoned for several weeks after the Bear Flag Revolt in 1846, imagining their ordeal in a time of great uncertainty. A place like this really stokes the imagination, bringing to life a time that seems to have faded into the distant past.

Like the Stanford Mansion and the Governor's Mansion, Sutter's Fort is also a state historic park, although it is not on the closure list. Like so many other parks, though, it is suffering the effects of budget cutbacks in the form of limited hours, reduced services, and deferred maintenance. The whitewashed walls were blindingly bright in the afternoon sun as I wandered around the fort, starting to feel the exhaustion of the long hot day coming over me. I got back on the freeway and headed back to the Bay Area and the cool breezes of the coast. As I crossed the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge, I could see the fog billowing in over the Marin Headlands and knew that the natural air conditioning was going to be on that night.

June 20, 2011
A new guidebook from Way Out There Press was published today. A Visitor's Guide to China Camp State Park is a FREE download intended to make more people aware of this unique place. China Camp State Park is slated for permanent closure by July 2012, along with 69 other California state parks. This will not happen, however, if more people become involved, visit the park, write their legislators, and donate to help the state parks. We can save all of our state parks with the right amount of action. Use this guidebook to explore China Camp and tell your friends. China Camp Village is the last vestige of the many Chinese shrimp fishing camps that used to line the shores of San Francisco and San Pablo Bays. The 15 miles of trails are great for hiking or mountain biking, and are lined with one of the best wildflower shows in California. The tidal salt marshes along the bayshore are the most pristine and the best preserved in the Bay Area. The campground at Back Ranch Meadows is still open and a makes a great base for exploration of the park. This downloadable guidebook will show you around a little-known gem of the California State Park system.

An Archaeological Dig at El Polín

Construction at El Polín

June 18, 2011
I took part in an archaeological dig at El Polín in the Presidio this morning. This area has incredible historical significance, especially in relation to the early Spanish history of San Francisco. We were excavating an old Depression-era cobblestone water channel, right next to the site of the old Briones/Miramontes home. Juana Briones is probably the best know of early San Francisco settlers and her family made the first settlement outside of the old adobe Presidio, sometime in the decade between 1810 and 1820. Her sister Guadalupe was married to a soldier named Candelario Miramontes and they came to the area of El Polín Spring to settle after Candelario had served his tour of duty at the Presidio. Juana and her husband Apolinario, also a soldier at the Presidio, came to join them sometime in the 1820s. Their house was a small and simple adobe structure that sat near the spring, one of the main sources of fresh water for the Presidio. Juana later became an influential businesswoman, a curandera who was familiar with the medicinal qualities of many of the native plants, and one of the early pioneers of the pueblo of Yerba Buena, which would grow into the city of San Francisco.

The area where we were digging today was across the street from the site of Juana Briones' home. It was a cobblestone water channel from the 1930s that had gradually filled up with dirt, sand, and other sediment other sediment. Before we got started, Kari Jones from the Presidio Trust told us about the history of the place and filled us in on some of the basics of archaelogical methods. We were each issued a tool bag with gloves, a trowel, a scoop, measuring sticks, and other implements for conducting our work. Within minutes of digging, I found an old Spanish colonial roofing tile, from the early 1800s. Over the course of the next hour, we found bits of broken glass, pieces of coal, and small shards of roofing tile. We gradually cleared away the built up sediment and began to reveal the old cobblestones that lined the water course.

We took a break and walked up toward the construction area, where much of Tennessee Hollow is being restored. The street that used to loop around the valley has been taken out and is being replaced with a boardwalk. Native plants have been planted throughout the watershed, and non-native weeds have been cleared. Eventually there will be interpretive signage about the history of El Polín, Juana Briones, and the archaeological work that has been done in the area. The site of the Briones home has been excavated already, and the perimeter of the building is marked off with tape to show the outline of the house and the three foot thick adobe walls. This area is undergoing a dramatic transformation that is going to highlight it as one of the most truly important areas of the Presidio.

June 14, 2011
I took a road trip yesterday, to check out a few state parks in Sonoma, Napa, and Lake Counties. Three of them were state parks that I have never been to, and two of them are among the 70 state parks that are slated for permanent closure in the coming year. I started off early in the morning, leaving home while it was still dark and hoping to hit the trail shortly after sunrise. The first stop was Robert Louis Stevenson State Park, north of Calistoga and dominated by Mount Saint Helena, the highest mountain in the Bay Area. This was the one state park that I have visited before, having hiked to the top of Mount Saint Helena a few years ago. This time I set out on a different trail, going into a wilder part of the park, to Table Rock. The trail starts out in a quiet forest with lots of wildflowers along the route, including Canyon Delphinium, Elegant Clarkia, Goldwire, Golden Fairy Lantern, and Seep-Spring Monkey Flower. Out of the forest, the trail opens up into an area of spectacular volcanic rock formations with views looking out over Calistoga and the Napa Valley. A mile into the wilderness, I came upon an exquisitely designed neo-pagan rock maze, which resembled something from a much earlier era. Once at Table Rock, I found a nice shady place to rest and have breakfast, while a curious Anna's Hummingbird appeared and hovered in front of me, inches from my face, looking me right in the eye.

The next park I visited was Anderson Marsh State Historic Park, down on the other side of Mount Saint Helena and on the shores of Clear Lake. When I got to the park, the gate was closed and everything was deserted. There weren't any signs that said I couldn't enter, so I parked the car outside the gate and walked in. This got me to thinking about the proposal to shut down 70 state parks and how such a ludicrous idea could be enforced. So many parks on the list have major highways going through them (Samuel P. Taylor, Garrapata) or are right next to heavily developed areas (China Camp, Annadel, Candlestick Point). As I walked into the park, the old ranch buildings sat empty and unused. The Visitor Center was closed. Such a waste of educational opportunities. Anderson Marsh is a state historic park, partly because of its ranch history, and also because of its significant Pomo heritage, with grinding stones and petroglyphs. I did a loop hike around the park, taking in the boardwalk nature trail along Cache Creek, the oak woodlands going out to Ridge Point, and the beautiful open meadows in between. Mount Konocti rises up above the park like a guardian spirit. This park is another great place to see wildflowers, with lots of Brodiaea alongside the trails. I even saw a few Mariposa Lilies, an exotic looking white flower with blood red, yellow and orange streaks on the inside.

California Poppies at Austin Creek State Recreation Area

California Poppies at Austin Creek State Recreation Area

The heat of the afternoon was a good time to get in the car and drive on to the next parks, which were more than two hours away. The drive took me over some mountainous country roads, some serene and bucolic, while others were choked with traffic and construction sites. Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve and Austin Creek State Recreation Area are right next to each other, forming a natural area that encompasses redwood groves and extensive wilderness. I drove through Armstrong Redwoods first, and then up a three-mile narrow winding road into Austin Creek, which was wild and deserted. Armstrong Redwoods is not on the closure list, but Austin Creek is. To complicate matters, there is an extensive trail network that links both parks, making it difficult to effectively close one of them. Again, I came upon closed gates and a campground that has been shut down at the peak time of year for camping. I hiked up into a forest, with occasional clearings looking out over a landscape of endless mountains. This seems like a good park for a long wilderness backpacking trip. I'd like to go back there if we can stop this crazy idea of shutting it down.

I spent the last hour of light wandering through the serene redwoods of Armstrong Redwoods State Reserve. I love the overpowering silence of a redwood grove, and it was a great way to end the day. I was tired and sore, so I walked slowly and took in the big trees, regarding their majesty and breathing in the sweet rich air. The forest floor was carpeted with deep green mats of redwood sorrel, with some of the biggest leaves I've ever seen on this plant. The tiny delicate pink flowers were beautiful nestled among the clover-like sorrel. I felt at peace, but wondering what is going to happen to these amazing places. I find it hard to believe that we as a people no longer value our history, our heritage, our education, or our wild open spaces. California has the largest and most diverse state park system in the country and we are on the verge of permanently shutting down more than one fourth of these great parks. Today's trip gave me extra motivation and inspiration for next week's rally in Sacramento.

Robert Louis Stevenson State Park

Anderson Marsh State Historic Park

Armstrong redwoods State Reserve

Austin Creek State Recreation Area

Stewball, a California Sea Lion

June 11, 2011
This little beauty is Stewball, a subadult California sea lion. She was found at Moss Landing State Beach, entangled in fishing gear. We are nursing her back to health at the Marine Mammal Center and will soon release her back to the wild. Sea lion season is in full swing now and we are seeing more patients come in to the Center every week. Unlike elephant seals and harbor seals, which are mostly pups when they come into the Center, the sea lions are a wide variety of ages and sizes. They also have a variety of ailments, ranging from entanglement to shark bites, oil and tar contamination, leptospirosis and domoic acid toxicity. The sea lions are quite challenging to work with, because they are very fast, wily, and sometimes aggressive. They are very good at identifying someone who is not paying attention, or someone who is afraid or unsure of what they are doing.

Last night we had to give some medicine to a sea lion, which was sharing a pen with two other sea lions. The medicine is tucked into the gills of a fish, called a medfish. This is thrown into the pool so the animal will chase it, but first the two roommates have to be separated from the sea lion who is getting the medicine. To do this, we blocked off an outside corridor, then opened the pen gate so the animals could come out into the corridor. Luckily, the animal that needed the medfish was quite content to stay in the pool, but it was still a challenge to get the other two animals to come out. We crouched behind our boards, which we use as shields, peering through a small eyehole. The sea lions are naturally curious, so eventually they made their way out into the corridor, although they tricked us a couple of times and ran back into the pen. When we finally got them separated, we made sure the sea lion in the pool ate her medfish, and then herded the others back into the pool so they could get their evening meal. It was a bit of an ordeal, but a lot of fun at the same time.

June 7, 2011
What a difference a day makes. After the bizarre pouring rain from yesterday finally ended, today turned out to be warm and sunny. I went for a hike in the Marin Headlands, climbing up from Rodeo Beach to the top of Hill 88. The Headlands are spectacular at this time of year, with entire hillsides exploding with colorful wildflowers. As I made my way up the Coastal Trail, I passed large swaths of lupine, seaside daisy, sticky monkey flower, cow parsnip, Indian paintbrush, and Ithuriel's spear. Together they create a palette of color that is dramatic. Beyond Battery Townsley, the trail becomes steep and rocky, going up slopes that are bright yellow with the flowers of Lizard Tail (Eriophyllum staechadifolium). This is one of my favorite plants, with each leaf resembling a small lizard.

Probably the most prevalent plant on these coastal hills is Artemisia, or California sagebrush (Artemisia californica). I run my hands along the leaves of the Artemisia and breathe in the heavenly aroma of this beautiful bush. Not only does it smell good, but it also has medicinal qualities and can be made into a tea. Another plant that is scattered throughout the coastal scrub is the Dudleya, and this succulent always gives an exotic look to the landscape. I found another plant that looked like Dudleya, although the flowers were much different. I had to look it up in my wildflower book and found that it was Pacific Sedum (Sedum spathulifolium). The delicate star-shaped yellow flowers are at the end of a stem that rises up out of the center of a rosette of succulent leaves. This is one way to tell a Sedum from a Dudleya, because the latter have stems that rise up from the side of the leaves. Sedums, also known as stonecrops, are edible and can be used in salads or as an herb.

As I got further up into the Headlands, the view began to open up more and more. The sheltered cove of Rodeo Beach curves out to Point Bonita, where the lighthouse can be seen at the tip of the peninsula. The western neighborhoods of San Francisco can be seen in the distance, with the towers of downtown and the Golden Gate Bridge peeking up above the hills. The air is clear and the breezes feel great, with a refreshing hint of the salty sea.

At the top of Wolf Ridge, I came to the eerie Cold War relic of Hill 88, 833 feet (254 meters) above sea level. This former Nike missile radar station was the control center for the launch site located down the hill at Fort Barry. It was built in 1954-1955 and included missile tracking radar and target ranging radar, as well as a massive geodesic dome that contained HIPAR (High power Alternate battery Acquisition Radar). Hill 88 is now in a state of abandon, although the crumbling graffiti-covered buildings have been given a fresh coat of paint by the National Park Service. The imagination runs wild as I walk through this reminder of the not so distant past, when this radar station sought out the incoming nuclear missiles that could have triggered a nuclear war. Today the windswept hill is no longer part of our defense strategy. It has become an educational site that inspires quiet contemplation while looking out across the dramatic landscapes of the Bay Area.

The trail up to Hill 88 is described in A Visitor's Guide to the Marin Headlands. One dollar from every sale is donated to the Marine Mammal Center to help care for and protect our wildlife.

The Hills of the Marin Headlands are Exploding with Color: Lizard Tail in Bloom

Pacific Sedum

The View from Hill 88

Hill 88: Cold War Relic

Steep Ravine on Mount Tamalpais

June 6, 2011
Steep Ravine on Mount Tamalpais is always a beautiful ethereal place to go hiking on a rainy day, with hillsides full of ferns, a canyon lined with redwoods, and all the majesty of a stream rushing over mossy rocks and fallen logs. I've never been there in June though; how strange that we are still getting rain this late in the season. Webb Creek was raging down the mountain as if it were January, with lots of small cascades and waterfalls. This is always a great trail for wildflowers, although the beautiful trillium for which this trail is famous have all lost their springtime blooms now. I did see Andrew's Clintonia (Clintonia andrewsiana), California Honeysuckle (Lonicera hispidula), and Western Columbine (Aquilegia formosa), the latter of which has spectacular reddish orange flowers shaped like delicate hanging lanterns. From Pantoll, the trail descends down into a lush canyon, through a forest that starts off with mostly Douglas fir nestled among the ferns, giving way to Redwood groves alongside Webb Creek. It follows the creek for more than a mile, crossing numerous small footbridges, and at one point going down a steep ladder that drops down over a large boulder. At the bottom of the canyon, I turned onto the Dipsea Trail and started to make my way back uphill, coming out of the forest and into the foggy open meadows on the western side of Mount Tam. The Dipsea Trail meets up with the Coastal Fire Road and the Old Mine Trail, making a nice four-mile loop hike.

The trail through Steep Ravine is described in A Visitor's Guide to Mount Tamalpais and Muir Woods. One dollar from every sale is donated to the California State Parks Foundation to help support our beleaguered state parks.

June 5, 2011
There are a couple of encouraging articles in this morning's San Francisco Chronicle about the misguided plan to close 70 California state parks. One of them is a profile of Alden Olmsted, filmmaker and son of legendary naturalist John Olmsted. He has undertaken a campaign to raise money for the state parks by asking every Californian to donate one dollar. He is placing donation jars at each of the 70 state parks that are slated for permanent closure and is also taking donations through a website that honors the memory of his father, JohnOlmsted.net. In the process, Olmsted is visiting each of the 70 parks and spreading the word about how urgent this is.

The other story is Tom Stienstra's column, in which he lists some of his readers' ideas about ways to save the parks. Many good ideas, including asking state university students to contribute a day of service per year to the state parks, charging a nominal one dollar tax on out of state tourists, and working more closely with non-profit organizations. The best part of Stienstra's article, however, is his analysis of the tiny percentage of the state budget that goes to state parks and the gigantic detriment that closing the parks would be to Californians.

Snowy Egret at China Camp State Park

Sea Lion Climbing the Wall at the Marine Mammal Center

Bottle Feeding Blackwolf

June 4, 2011
Sea lion season at the Marine Mammal Center is here. After a big release of elephant seals yesterday, we now have more sea lions than elephant seals. The eerie cackling and clucking of the elephant seals is giving way to the barking of sea lions. Each type of animal presents its own special challenges, and sea lions are probably the most challenging of all. Some of them are aggressive and territorial, while others are very quick to habituate to humans. They are curious animals and love to climb the walls around their pens, checking out their neighbors and their new surroundings. The one in this photo, a young male pup, is undeterred by the Caution - Slippery When Wet sign. Sea lion patients are coming into the Center with leptospirosis, a bacterial infection, and domoic acid, a toxin produced by algae blooms that are caused by agricultural runoff. We have to be extra careful and hygenic around the sea lions, because leptospirosis can be passed on to humans. We still have 11 elephant seals remaining and they are almost ready to be released back to the wild. We have 12 sea lions, as well as two Guadalupe fur seals. The fur seals are somewhat rare and we only get a few of them each year. They are native to Guadalupe Island, off the coast of Baja California.

On a sad note, we also got word last night that Blackwolf passed away. She was a young sea lion pup that we cared for last winter when she was brought in for malnutrition. She was so young that it was decided that she would not be released to the wild, since she never had a chance to learn basic survival skills. Normally we do not interact with the animals because we do not want them to become habituated to humans, but with Blackwolf, we were instructed to socialize her. This meant we were allowed to interact with her, play with her, talk to her, and even hold her in our laps. Eventually a home was found for her at the Miller Park Zoo in Bloomington, Illinois, where she was renamed Cali. It is not yet known what she died of, but many of us at the Marine Mammal Center remember her fondly.