Last week Michael Konrad of South 40 Pier provided a primer on eel grass, a key component of the ecology of Richardson’s Bay. This week he examines threats to eel grass and what is being done about them. The damage that anchored boats can inflict on eelgrass is often mentioned...
Biochemist and marine biologist Michael Konrad of South 40 Pier sends along the following natural history of one of our most important neighbors, eelgrass: Life began in the ocean. Then continents generated by tectonic plate movements gradually became hospitable to life, and some living organisms migrated onto this new dry...
Living on the water means having animal neighbors that land residents infrequently see. The terns, gulls, egrets, herons, pelicans, and cormorants are familiar to us all, and if you live near deeper water, you may see seals. Schools of small fish swim in both shallow and deep water around our...
Drivers on Gate 5 Road splashed their wheels through salt water and people on the Mill Valley path were calf-deep during the high tides experienced around January’s and February’s full moons. Nuisance or sunny day flooding is routine, now. For the second year, the FHA environmental committee and a group of...
TO KEEP EVERYONE UP TO DATE ON WHAT THE FHA BOARD IS DOING, HERE ARE SOME OF THE ITEMS THAT WERE DISCUSSED OR DECIDED AT THE November BOARD MEETING: President Michael Labate said that he will attend the City of Sausalito meeting about the Marinship Vision Statement and report back....
When a TV camera crew shows up, it attracts attention. What’s going on, we wondered, when we saw the press and Wilford Welch on the gangway to his 1 East Pier home last month. It turns out, he was being interviewed by a German TV station about solutions to global...
The California Academy of Sciences is sponsoring a statewide effort to discover, record, and share observations of plants, seaweeds, and animals found along the California coast, and no prior experience is needed to participate. Just head out to the shoreline between now and June 16 to participate in the annual...
Resilient Neighborhoods makes climate change actions: Concrete and easy to understand Enjoyable Motivating, and A Team Thing with your neighbors They’ve had great success for the last 9 years all over Marin. Here’s a link to a 1-minute video for more information. The FHA Board has agreed to create a...
Last week, king tides reached seven feet and more, as predicted. The volunteer citizen scientists from Gate 6 ½ to South 40 were ready, and at about 11 a.m. on Monday, Jan. 21, everyone snapped photos of their yardsticks. The results below are fairly similar to what we found in...
At about 11:20 a.m. on Sunday, Dec. 23, volunteers from nine docks checked yardsticks to see the height of the king tide. Tracking the rising water is a project of the FHA Environmental Committee, and we mounted yardsticks on 4x4s, just below the top decking, to measure distance down to...