Question: My Boy Scout troop was recently hiking at Pirate’s Cove in the Marin Headlands, and we found this tag washed ashore. We packed it out, but we’re still wondering what it is. Do we need to return it to the department, or report that we found it? (Hunter Pinkstaff, Boy Scout Troop 227) Answer: What you’ve found is a buoy tag issued...
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AFTER CHASING SALMON along the southern Oregon coast for 48 years, commercial fisher Duncan MacLean has developed a strong sense of who’s who at the end of his hook. This year, he says, most of the Chinook salmon he’s catching are likely from the Rogue River, where the state of Oregon and conservation groups have worked for years on one of...
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His car was only about one year old and he inquired about repainting it. I had never seen a vehicle so dull.  The paint had absolutely no gloss, in fact it was uniformly flat over the entire vehicle.  I asked the usual questions. Do you wash it regularly?  Yes. Have you ever waxed it?  Yes, seven times since I got it, he...
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San Francisco Bay is considered the most invaded estuary in the world, in part due to its heavy ship traffic that transports species from other places. One unassuming but costly invader that has hitchhiked into San Francisco Bay is the European green crab (Carcinus maenas). Considered one of the world’s worst invasive species, these crabs feed voraciously on native invertebrates such as young...
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I had fished the same stretch of beach twice already over the past six days and yet I return a third time.  I’m not at Ocean Beach, my usual haunt, but 5-10 miles south, somewhere along the San Mateo County coastline. Dozens of boats are being regularly seen offshore around here--most, if not all, are trying to catch salmon (zoom...
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This spring, the National Park Service welcomed two former BLMers to its Yosemite National Park law enforcement team – a pair of geldings known as Sandman and Drifter. Just a few years ago, they were two of the more than 70,000 wild horses on America’s public lands.  Their story began in June 2014 during another California drought. A herd of wild...
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