Since the plan for our West Coast expedition involves starting in San Francisco and ending in the Puget Sound Watershed, there obviously has to be a lot of traveling involved. Unfortunately, one of the Suburbans decided to die in the middle of nowhere on a two-lane highway in the desert. Fortunately it came back to life, but replacing it at Reno delayed the departure of our crossing of the third largest state in the U.S. But before we headed north, we explored some of the intricacies of water rights in the arid West. Based on an archaic system, water appropriation […]

San Francisco! To be more precise, the San Francisco Bay. On Thursday, November 11, BotS took two very packed Suburbans across the Bay Bridge and into the city. First on our agenda was to visit with Dr. John Callaway (Environmental Science, University of San Francisco) at Chrissy Field, a restoration project within sight of the iconic Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Island. Originally a salt marsh rich in biodiversity, the site has seen a wide range of uses in the past century, but only now is it being restored to its natural condition. Western humans seem to have always taken […]

Day three on the West Coast was spent in 2 places, Rush Ranch and Napa. We all loved the “late” departure from the hotel, 8 a.m., a luxury for BotS-ers. After piling into the 3 Suburbans we headed off to Rush Ranch so we could see Suisun Marsh. At the Ranch we met with Dr. Josh Collins from the San Francisco Estuary Institute. He talked us through the in and outs of a Tidal Marsh, including how it is formed, what lives there and how it is dynamically changing. It was a great experience because he was able to build […]