Environmental FM

Why has the Park Service not posted visible warnings at E. coli polluted beaches?

According to the NPS, half a million tule elk once ranged across California, from the Bay Area to the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. But as the state’s human population boomed in the wake of the 1849 gold rush, cattle spread across the elk’s native pasturelands and hunters fanned out through the hills, shooting every elk in sight. By the 1860s, the herds had vanished. Game conservationists assumed the elk had gone extinct.

This week we're sharing resources related to our latest EFM notebook, all about citizen scientists. (https://marinefm.org/EFM-Notebook/10177985) How can you become a citizen scientist in Marin? There are lots of opportunities in Marin to become a citizen scientist!... Have you heard of the Marin Wildlife Picture Index Project, a One Tam long-term monitoring program of mammals on Mt Tam? Millions of images have been collected through a network of motion-activated cameras on the mountain, and hundreds of volunteers have helped to identify the species captured on film. As the pandemic subsides the opportunities for citizen science will flourish, so keep an eye on their website. https://www.onetam.org/our-work/wildlife-picture-index

Tule elk at Point Reyes National Seashore in California struggled with poor forage conditions during 2020, with two of the three herds declining in number, the National Park Service confirmed. In releasing the year-end population counts on Wednesday, the Park Service stated that "there is no evidence that the population decline is due to dehydration and a lack of water" and that the declines "are within normal and predicted population fluctuations." The news comes in the wake of the Park Service's adoption last September of an elk management plan that would allow for the killing of elk near livestock operations that operate in the seashore.

The Cherry Trees are blooming.

Celebrate planting season

Reminder! Event today! It’s not too late to register for: Full Life, Empty Trash Bin. 4-5:30pm Marinfm.org