Estuary Pearls is published by the San Francisco Estuary Partnership. In this month’s edition:
- Beaver dams may offer wildfire protection to western watersheds, in addition to providing better-known benefits such as groundwater recharge, wetland and habitat creation, and riparian restoration.
- Smack in the middle of the unprecedented disruption of normal life brought on by the Covid-19 crisis comes a new report detailing the challenges sea level rise might bring to the Bay region without proactive planning.
- A new project should dramatically improve conditions for endangered steelhead trout in the lower reaches of Alameda Creek.
- A resurgence of dinoflagellates, which can cause harmful algal blooms, may be in the cards for some bays along the U.S. West Coast.
- New archaeological evidence from the South Bay strengthens the case that Chinook salmon spawned naturally in the Guadalupe River.
- A grassroots effort to move migrating newts across a Marin County road has drawn to a close, but organizers hope it leads to a more permanent solution.
- The parallels between the Covid-19 pandemic and climate change—threat, shelter, sacrifice, inequity, resource limits, and inaction despite strong science—are striking, and that may be good news.