From our blogs

Volunteer Opportunities: Summer 2017

U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge Volunteer Opportunities: Summer 2017 at the Environmental Education Center (Alviso, California).

If you have an interest in wildlife and their conservation, enjoy working with people, and are enthusiastic and dependable, the Environmental Education Center’s Volunteer Program is for you! As a volunteer, you’ll receive on-the-job training from staff and other volunteers in the project area you choose.

Project areas are: restoration projects, information desk on weekends, interpretive programs, school field trips, and citizen science/community service.

Prior to volunteering at the Environmental Education Center, you must attend a Volunteer Orientation. You can also attend the orientation just to see what opportunities there are, and if it is the right fit for you.

National Fishing & Boating Week • June 3 - 11, 2017

National Fishing & Boating Week - June 3 - 11, 2017

Learn how to fish on the Dumbarton Fishing Pier in Fremont!

Saturday, June 3, 2016 9:00 a.m. – noon

Have you ever wanted to try fishing but didn’t know how to begin? Learn the fundamental basics of catch-and- release fishing at the Dumbarton fishing pier! Discover the types of wildlife living in the San Francisco Bay, learn the safety and ethics of fishing, and then try your luck out on the pier with our fishing poles.

This event is free! Space is limited to 50 people. All equipment will be provided. Please come on time. Register at donedwardsfishing.eventbrite.com or call 510-792-0222 ext. 476 for reservations.

Planning a fundraising campaign for our 30th anniversary

by Ceal Craig

Thirty years ago when Refuge Naturalist John Steiner, Dr. Chris Kitting, and others organized the Society, they were focused on raising funds to save the Fremont Pumphouse and support the newly formed San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. The Society accomplished those early goals and much more over the past years.

Funded by the City of San Jose and the Santa Clara Valley Urban Runoff and Pollution Prevention Program, two Society employees were hired to staff the Environmental Education Center (EEC) in Alviso, and offer public programs and field trips for schoolchildren.

The Society has also provided funds to help kick start the Bair Island restoration project, to build the EEC boardwalk, and to support many other projects these past three decades.

National River Cleanup Day • May 20 2017, 9am – 12pm

Saturday, May 20, 2017 is National River Cleanup Day. Come help out with litter collection as we join others around the world in an effort to keep our rivers clean. Together with other concerned citizens, we’ll pick up trash and tidy up a local body of water. Come with a hat, sunscreen, and a great attitude, and we’ll provide the rest.

Bald eagle chick hatches in Milpitas

A bald eagle chick inside its nest in the tree tops above Cutner Elementary School in Milpitas. Credit Jyoti Chalpe.

A bald eagle chick inside its nest in the tree tops above Cutner Elementary School in Milpitas. Credit Jyoti Chalpe.

An American bald eagle chick hatched last Monday morning in a nest built in the trees above Cutner Elementary School in Milpitas. The hatching was confirmed by scientists at the Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group. The baby bird's debut has been much anticipated since a pair of bald eagles took up residence near the school campus in late December 2016. The adult eagles have been seen feeding on small water birds in parts of the San Jose-Santa Clara Regional Wastewater Facility and Alviso Salt Ponds that are about a mile away.

Mother's Day at the Refuge

Join us at the Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge for a free Mother's Day event!

The eggs have hatched! Let’s celebrate the new mamas! Come with your family to experience the refuge for FREE guided bird walks, a live bird show, crafts for mom, and games.

Spread your wings for bird conservation as you get up close and personal with live refuge wildlife and their habitats.

Fun for the whole family, especially mom!

Priority to those who register early: https://eecmotherscelebration.eventbrite.com. For more information call 408-262-5513 ext 102 or 104.

Environmental Education Center, Alviso
1751 Grand Blvd, Alviso CA 95002
Saturday, May 13, 2017 from 10:00 p.m. – 3:00 p.m.
http://www.fws.gov/refuge/don_edwards_san_francisco_bay/

Izembek and Monomoy NWRs under threat from legislation in Congress

by Ceal Craig

Our National Wildlife Refuges face many challenges. The Board of Directors at the San Francisco Bay Wildlife Society (SFBWS) strongly believes that standing with them and their mission is an important task. Thus the SFBWS, along with more than a hundred other refuge Friends groups nationwide, has signed a letter stating opposition to two bills, H.R. 218 and H.R. 1157. Respectively, the bills would authorize a road through the Izembek NWR in Alaska and a boundary change at the Monomoy NWR in Massachusetts effectively cutting that refuge in half. This letter was sent to the House Committee on Natural Resources to enter into the record of a legislative hearing by the Subcommittee on Federal Lands on Wednesday, April 5, 2017 at 2:00 PM EST.

Trash clean-up via Litterati an ongoing success at the refuge

San Jose Conservation Corps cleaning up various ponds and levees in the south San Francisco Bay. Credit Olivia Andrus.

San Jose Conservation Corps cleaning up various ponds and levees in the south San Francisco Bay. Credit Olivia Andrus.

by Mary Deschene

The Litterati app-based pollution prevention and trash clean-up, sponsored by the Santa Clara Valley Water District, is an ongoing success at the refuge. With the help of the San Jose Conservation Corps and volunteer groups, we have cleaned up nearly two tons of trash, keeping plastics and small pieces of trash often mistaken for food by wildlife and plastics out of the bay and ocean systems.

Explore the Coast Outreach and Field Trip Interns

by Mary Deschene

Hundreds of low-income school children now have the opportunity to “Explore the Coast” of the Don Edwards Refuge by attending field trips enabled by the California State Coastal Conservancy’s Explore the Coast program.

By funding interns to assist with refuge programs, we are providing environmental education for diverse audiences that open up a world of environmental appreciation and stewardship for future generations and their families.

The Conservancy’s Explore the Coast Grant program encourages all Californian’s to explore and experience our spectacular coast.

There is no minimum grant size but the maximum grant award is $50,000. If funding is available, the Conservancy will offer these grants every year. Since 2013, the Conservancy has awarded over $2.9 million to 109 projects.

Explore the Coast grants fund a wide range of programs that bring people to the coast, increase stewardship of coastal resources, and provide educational opportunities. The grant program prioritizes projects that achieve one or more of these objectives:
* Provide coastal experiences to lower-income or other underserved populations;
* Increase the number of people visiting the coast;
* Improve barrier-free access for persons with disabilities; and/or
* Provide a valuable recreational, environmental, cultural or historic learning experience;
* Increase stewardship of coastal resources; or
* Enhance the public’s coastal experience in a way that does not currently exist.

Vernal Pool Tours at Warm Springs Unit on Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge

Sign up to receive notification of when Vernal Pool Tours are available. These popular tours to view wildflowers and endangered plants occur in an area normally closed to the public due to the sensitivity of the habitat. Tours are free of charge.

You will learn about the unique features of a vernal pool grassland, and hopefully observe the pools in what will likely be a good rain year! Participants will see endangered Contra Costa goldfields (Lasthenia conjugens), Downingia pulchella, several Plagiobothrys, and other native vernal pool and upland species.

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