Cooley Landing’s location on the bay shore makes this open space a great place to see changing tides. On December 4th of last year, we were able to see an even more staggering difference in tide levels at our King Tide Naturalist Walk.

La ubicación de Cooley Landing en la orilla de la bahía hace que este espacio abierto sea un gran lugar para ver las mareas cambiantes. El 4 de diciembre del año pasado, pudimos ver una diferencia aún más asombrosa en los niveles de las mareas en nuestra caminata naturalista Mareas Reales.

We are proud to announce our 3-year Action Plan for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), which will guide us as we work to engage and sustain a more socially diverse stewardship community. This plan is a reflection of the contributions and support of every staff and board member at Grassroots Ecology, many of whom devoted countless hours to this effort.

The October atmospheric river that combined with a “Bomb Cyclone” caused flooding throughout our urban and suburban infrastructure, increasing the severity of the flood event.

If you are looking to help mitigate flooding in your local neighborhood and/or creeks here are three GSI solutions that you can implement at home or share with your local city council:

It’s an exciting time at our Native Plant Nursery as we prepare to send off thousands of our young plants to more solid ground.

Since reopening our community workdays this fall, we have hosted more than a dozen volunteer events that turned out over 500 people!

One of the joys of interning at Grassroots Ecology is chasing butterflies through fields!

Do you know where you can find over 100 native animal species in downtown Redwood City? Believe it or not, the answer is right downtown!

Down by the creek below Westwind Barn in Los Altos Hills, habitat is flourishing again. In just three years, our staff and volunteers have transformed a creekside area below Westwind’s horse paddocks and stables into a thriving mosaic of native vegetation.

Our Youth Stewards program gives local students the opportunity to safely connect with one another, learn about nature, and make a positive impact in their community. Over the last 14 months, our Youth Stewards had the opportunity to experience and learn about nature in person at a time when most school and summer programs were online.

Meet our three Climate Fellows making a difference this summer

We are excited to announce that in the past few months two new Board members have joined our team: Michael Wu and Casey Mullins.

It’s officially fire pre-season in California. With our minds on both fire safety and ecosystem health, our staff are working with local parks and open space departments to help them plan their mowing schedules to achieve fuel load reduction goals.

Sea levels are on the rise all over the globe, including on our local shorelines. Learn about what sea level rise looks like at Cooley Landing and what we are doing to adapt.

Have you been to Byrne Preserve lately? If you have, you may have noticed the many butterflies at the preserve. John Metcalfe, a recent graduate of our California Naturalist program, has created a guide for identifying these important pollinators in a very localized and easy to use way.

Cheyenne is a recent Grassroots Ecology college intern who worked at our Redwood City and East Palo Alto habitat restoration sites. Read her top plants to remove from your yard, as well as her favorite California native plants to include.

We need marshes now more than ever as we face a changing climate. Marshes provide a buffer between open water and the shore by dissipating wave energy, thus reducing flood risk. They sequester carbon, thus doing their part to reduce the greenhouse effect. And not least of all they provide shelter, forage, and nesting and breeding grounds for birds, mammals, fish and other aquatic life, including many rare and endangered species.

One of the bright spots of 2020 for us was the historic opening of Foothills Nature Preserve to the public (previously called Foothills Park). Since the 1,400 acre preserve’s initial opening in 1965, access was restricted to residents of Palo Alto—until now. As of December 17, this restriction was lifted and the preserve is now open for all to enjoy.

Since Grassroots Ecology has gotten to know the preserve over the past seven years through our habitat restoration efforts, we are excited to share with you our Top 7 List of what makes Foothills Nature Preserve so special— helping you all get ready to enjoy and be stewards of this amazing community space.

The racial justice movement––especially its newly annexed crowd of White folks––will have a lot to navigate in the coming months and years. What does it mean to be an ally? To recognize your privilege? What does it look like to take part in building a more just society?

By regularly walking around our restoration sites at McClellan Ranch Preserve and San Francisquito Creek, I noticed subtle changes of plants as they responded to the dynamic environment that might otherwise go unobserved.

By Claire Elliott, Senior Ecologist

You may know that Grassroots Ecology’s team has worked for many years to restore habitat in our local parks and preserves. But, did you know we also have projects designed to support nature in our cities? Invasive ornamentals and edibles are a big problem. Three that I am on constant vigil for are Mexican feather grass, Algerian ivy and glossy privet.