Ranchers criticize park's plan for ag, urge changes

According to the ranchers in the Point Reyes National Seashore, the park service is poorly-versed in the sustainable management of agricultural lands—and that is both a serious threat to their operations and a missed opportunity. Detailed in a batch of letters submitted this fall to seashore superintendent Cicely Muldoon, the...

Marshall Tavern gets permit, neighbors worry

The use permit for the Marshall Tavern’s conversion into a bed-and-breakfast was approved by Marin County last week, but not without objections from neighbors over a pier and boat launch mandated by the California Coastal Commission. The tavern, built in the early 1900s, has sat vacant for the last 37...

Study highlights problem for visiting sea otters

Southern sea otters, the species that has historically inhabited California waters, have been protected under the Endangered Species Act since the ‘70s but have yet to re-establish an enduring population in the waters off Marin County. A new study published in August by scientists primarily from the University of California,...

A vivifying compendium on wind

Wind is a life-giver, a fire-bringer, an unseen force that shapes the earth by moving soil and by lofting insects, seeds and pollen, sometimes great distances. It wears away mountains, shapes landscapes and carries death in the folds of its invisible cloak. It is a fact of life in West Marin, where for most of the year it is a benign neighbor, capturing moisture as it crosses the immense Pacific and bringing cool, onshore, fog-rich breezes, a vital component of our ecosystem...