San Francisco Bay used to be much larger, before dredging and infill created new real estate where marshlands were before. So what will happen to those lands when the world's sea level increases? Documentarian Claire Schoen warns that it won't be pretty.

Claire SchoenIndependent media producer Claire Schoen's 3-part radio documentary series, RISE: Climate Change and Coastal Communities, will be broadcast on KRCB-FM, beginning Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 7 pm. The second and third segments will be aired on the following two Tuesday evenings. Here, Schoen summarizes the full series.

Schoen has also produced a series of related video reports, the first of which can be seen below.

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While the most obvious and immediate dangers from sea level rise are to low-lying coastal regions, Schoen observes that living on higher ground will not insulate anyone from the wider effects of this "rising" problem.

The map at right was prepared by the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission. They have also created close-up maps that show the projected level of sea water intrusion for both the Petaluma River and Napa River, with a 16 inch rise in sea level.

Showy Indian CloverThe number of plants and animals listed as threatened or endangered is almost constantly growing. But only rarely does a species that was thought to be extinct make a come-back to join the endangered list. This is the story of just such a recovery, in the coastal hills of the North Bay.

It's now been a little more than 18 years since Connors made that first surprising discovery, but he clearly remembers the surprise and concern that accompanied that moment.

 Finding that single specimen in the first place was an enormous stroke of good fortune, Connors readily admits, and the fact that it survived to bear seeds seems nothing short of miraculous. Because even after he surrounded it with an improvised wire cage to protect the clover from hungry herbivores, it still narrowly escaped two nearly fatal encounters with inattentive humans, just in a mater of days. Connors recalls thatfortunatley it was his practice to stop by and check on the plant every other morning that late summer.

A reward is being offered for information leading to the vandals who prematurely released thousands of young, pen-raised Chinook salmon into San Francisco Bay earlier this month.

The reward fund was set up, explains Brooke Halsey, Executive Director for the Tiburon Salmon Institute, to try and develop some leads for an investigation that has hit a dead end.

Contributions to the fund can be sent to:

Tiburon Salmon Institute Reward/Donation Fund

c/o Bank of America

1601 Tiburon Blvd, Tiburon CA 94920

For most of its history since 1973, the salmon-raising partnership between the Tiburon Salmon Institute and the Tyee Foundation relied on hand feeding the fish every day, says Foundation President Chuck Breummer. In the past year, however, they converted to machines to dispense the feed, which may have created more of an opportunity for the vandals to strike. Apparently, they approached the nets from the bay side, by kayak or canoe.

For the 50 or so members of the United Angles of Casa Grande, the release of their salmon represents the loss of countless hours of effort dedicated to raising and caring for the fish. Greg Gillis, President of the student group, details what they did.

Casa Grande's salmon hatchery program is unique in this country, and perhaps the world. It's drawn considerable media coverage over the years, including a visit from a Japanses film crew a few years ago. This is a summary of the program that was produced closer to home.

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While state and federal educational standards concentrate on the basics, to the exclusion of almost everything else, proponents of Eco-literacy are finding ways to bring the outside world into the classroom. And vice versa.

The Center for Ecoliteracy's decision to concentrate on tools and frameworks, rather than developing detailed curricula, was deliberately made, explains Creative Director Karen Brown. That allows parents and teachers seeking to promote their work to approach it from a local policy-based perspective instead of getting caught up in debates over standards and details.

Eco-literacy is almost 180 degrees away from the indoor-oriented lifestyles of many students in the 21st century, observes Karen Brown, Creative Director for the Center for Eco-Literacy in Berkeley. That's a big reason why it's so important.