27.5.2023, Stinson Beach (Marin County)

Stinson Beach, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stinson_Beach,_California: … 4 km … east-southeast of Bolinas … the cold water produces fog throughout the year … The beach is … sandy, unlike the rockier neighboring beach in Bolinas … The surf off Stinson Beach is within an area known as the Red Triangle, where there have been an unusually high number of shark attacks … Notable people … Klaus Kinski …

All One Ocean, www.alloneocean.org/ourfocus-397685-763912.html: Healthy water for all is our end goal. We rely on it for drinking water, food, agriculture, and recreational activities. Animals rely on it for survival. Human pollution is capable of harming all of us, while also contributing to climate change. Through education and simple daily acts of environmental consciousness, we can get closer to our goal … One Ocean’s Beach Cleanup Stations  (BCUS) are permanent, community-generated, and individually managed.  They’re great for an individual, family, or small or large group to adopt … Mounted at the entrances to beaches and watersheds, BCUS hold visitor-provided bags that beachgoers use to collect trash … feature clear signage, instructing beachgoers how to use the stations and educating them about the dangers of marine litter …

Farallon Islands, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farallon_Islands: … from the Spanish farallón meaning “pillar” or “sea cliff” … 30 miles (48 km) outside the Golden Gate … closed to the public … In 1974, the Farallon Wilderness was established … From 1946 to 1970, the sea around the Farallones was used as a dump site for radioactive waste under the authority of the Atomic Energy Commission …

26.5.2023, Muir Woods (Marin County), incl. “History under construction”

Muir Woods National Monument, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muir_Woods_National_Monument: … managed by the National Park Service, named after naturalist John Muir … located on Mount Tamalpais near the Pacific coast … part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area … an old-growth coastal redwood forest … regularly shrouded in a coastal marine layer fog, contributing to a wet environment that encourages vigorous plant growth … Today, the Sequoia sempervirens can be found only in a narrow … coastal belt from Monterey County, California, in the south to Oregon in the north … Muir Woods became a national monument in 1908 before the National Park Service existed … Jack Kerouac discusses hiking through Muir Woods in his 1958 novel The Dharma Bums …

24.5.2023, Wildcat Canyon (Regional Park, Contra Costa County)

Wildcat Canyon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_Canyon (17.3.2023): … a narrow linear valley just east of the Berkeley Hills … The canyon is bounded on its east side by the San Pablo Ridge, and is drained by Wildcat Creek which runs northwest to its outlet in San Pablo Bay. Two minor lakes … along the creek: Jewel Lake and Lake Anza … An active tectonic fault, the Wildcat Fault, runs the length of the canyon. Wildcat Canyon was named for the mountain lions which used to be fairly common in the area …

Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wildcat_Canyon_Regional_Park (17.3.2023): … bordering the city of Richmond in Contra Costa County … includes a portion of Wildcat Canyon as well as a portion of the adjoining San Pablo Ridge … The area was inhabited by Native Americans until 1772 when a group of “Catalan volunteers” … came across the settlement … Wildcat has an abundance of wildlife both flora and fauna … there are coyotes, foxes, raccoons, skunks, opossums, deer, California ground squirrels … Reptilian life includes gopher snakes, king snakes, western racers, garter snakes, rubber boas, ringneck snakes … Wildcat Creek Trail – Runs along Wildcat Creek from the Alvarado Park staging area in Richmond into Tilden Park’s Nature Area … The trail’s midpoint can be accessed via Rifle Range Road Trail … Nimitz Way – Starting at Tilden Park’s Inspiration Point … a mostly paved trail … with views of the San Francisco Bay to the west and EBMUD’s San Pablo & Briones Reservoirs and Mt. Diablo. Belgum Trail … ruins of the Belgum Sanitarium and the palm trees planted by its founder, Hendrick Belgum, are visible from the trail … San Pablo Ridge Trail … Alvarado Park, a National Historic Place is the northernmost portion of Wildcat Canyon … was a Nike missile base … decommissioned in the 1970s …

[Belgum Sanitarium, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgum_Sanitarium (18.3.2023): … also called the Grande Vista Sanitarium … health resort established by Hendrick Nelsen Belgum in 1914 to treat “nervous disorders” at 7010 Park Avenue in the East Richmond foothills … A brochure for the institution read: “To insure our guests an abundance of fresh, wholesome, nourishing food, so essential to the restoration of health, a select purebred dairy is maintained, also a poultry plan, an apiary, a fruit orchard, vegetable gardens, conservatories, private spring water system, etc.” … the facility … closing … in the mid-1960’s … The building was … destroyed by arson in 1965 … Today the land is part of the Wildcat Canyon Regional Park … the Belgum trail … the foundation, stubs of former stone walls, and a few fruit trees and palm trees are all that remain …]

East Bay Regional Park District („Healthy Parks Healthy people“): Wildcat Canyon Regional Park, www.ebparks.org/parks/wildcat-canyon (18.3.2023): … along the Wildcat Creek watershed and the surrounding hills and ridges … extends from the Tilden Nature Area above the Berkeley hills in the south to historic Alvarado Park at the north end in Richmond … Large coast live oaks [Virginia-Eiche], bay laurels [Echter Lorbeer], and a scattering of bigleaf maples [Großblättriger Ahorn] and madrones [Amerikanischer Erdbeerbaum] grow on the park’s east-facing slopes. North-facing hillsides support … stands of bay laurel, fringed with coast live oak. Moist chaparral of coyote brush [Baccharus pillularis], poison oak [Gifteiche], elderberry [Holunder], snowberry [Knackbeere], bracken fern [Adlerfarn], and blackberry [Brombeere] grow in thickets high on the north-facing slopes. In the gorge of bedrock-cutting Wildcat Creek grows a riparian forest of alder [Erle], willow, creek dogwood [Hartriegel], and bay laurel … The west- and south-facing canyon slopes are covered with introduced annual grasses (oat, rye, barley, etc.). A few stands of native bunch grasses persist … many native wildflower species … Coyotes are a commonly seen throughout the Park with potential to see the … elusive mountain lion and bobcat as well … great horned owl …

Ressources:

• District Wildflower Photoguide (2007): Wildcat Canyon Wildflowers. A photographic guide to showy wildflowers of Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. Sorted by Flower Color. Photographs by Wilde Legard, Botanist, East Bay Regional Park District. Revision: February 23, 2007, www.ebparks.org/sites/default/files/ebrpd_wildcat_canyon_wildflowers.pdf
• District Wild Plants Photoguide: Wild Plants of Wildcat Canyon Regional Park. Common Name Version. A Photographic Guide. Sorted by Form, Color and Family with Habitat Descriptions and Identification Notes. Photographs and text by Wilde Legard, District Botanist, East Bay Regional Park District. Revision: 2014, www.ebparks.org/sites/default/files/ebrpd_wildcat_canyon_plants.pdf
• Wildcat Canyon – Calflora Plant List: „What grows here?“ www.calflora.org/entry/wgh.html#srch=t&nplace=Wildcat+Canyon+Regional+Park&group=none&fmt=photo&inbp=t&bgid=psd22337&y=37.9338&x=-122.282&z=12&lpom=d
• Wildcat Canyon – PlantID.net ID Guide: Plant list (469 plants), http://plantid.net/PlantList.aspx?PlantList=Wildcat+Canyon+Regional+Park&AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1