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Climate Change Education and Parks

Adult Red-tailed Hawk
Raptors and Smoke

After a 2018 season of smoke and haze, GGRO Director Allen Fish explored impacts of air pollution on birds in his 2019 article for Pacific Raptor 40. As first responders battle wildfires across the state each year, we again wonder what effect these extreme climate phenomenon will have on raptor health and movement. 

Uniformed firefighters gesture to each other as a prescribed fire burns on the grassy landscape.
Protecting communities in the age of wildfire

As autumn nears, park managers are shifting priorities towards wildfire resilience and protecting communities along the wildland-urban interface: the high-risk zone where human development meets flammable vegetation.

View of wind turbines and solar panels from atop an Alcatraz cruises boat.
Golden Gate National Recreation Area is now carbon neutral. Here’s what that means.

Golden Gate National Recreation Area has achieved carbon-neutral park operations. But what does that really mean? Let's break down what goes in to our park's carbon footprint, take stock of what we've accomplished so far, and think about where to go from here in our continuing effort towards sustainability.

Youth in the Urban Trailblazers program on a hike through the Presidio.
Listen to the sounds of environmental justice in San Francisco

Youth at the Crissy Field Center have become podcasting pros, and you can hear their work on your way to work!

A black and yellow Anise Swallotwail butterfly sits on a plant with its wings open
The Bay Area’s smallest and cutest park volunteer

The San Francisco Bay Area is a biodiversity hotspot for flora and fauna—there are around 144 species of butterflies that call the region home! But factors such as urbanization, invasive plants, and climate change have made the lives of our four-winged friends in the Bay Area quite difficult.

Redwood Fog Globe
Award-Winning Redwood Fog Globe Raises Climate Change Awareness

Celebrate California's redwood forests with our new fog globe, winner of the 2019 Public Lands Alliance Innovative Product of the Year Award.

Oak forests on Mount Tamalpais.
Building resilient forests to face climate change, sudden oak death, and wildfire

How can we brace forest ecosystems against rising temperatures, deadly pathogens, and voracious wildfires? At One Tam’s latest Science Summit, scientists and community members gathered to exchange knowledge and brainstorm solutions.

Chopped vegetables provide a colorful aesthetic
Food in the Parks

The Institute at the Golden Gate’s Food for the Parks initiative aims to expand the availability of nutritious, local, and sustainable fresh food to park visitors nationwide.

Climate Change Education and Parks

The Institute at the Golden Gate’s Climate Change Education & Parks program supports and accelerates the role parks and protected areas play as resources and venues for climate change education.

California Lilac, Ceanothus thyrsiflorus
Little Changes, Big Problems? Why Phenology Matters

Repeated over time, warm and dry winters alter the timing of natural events such as flower blooms, and those changes can produce a ripple effect throughout the food web. Learn more about phenology—the study of seasonal phenomena and how they’re affected by climate change.