On March 13th, ACR’s Fire Ecology Program successfully conducted its planned pile burns for the year. The burns significantly reduced hazardous fuel loads near our southern property boundary, reducing wildfire risk, improving public safety, and preparing for a successful, low-intensity controlled burn in the future. During pre-burn preparation of the area, 30 young oak saplings were found within a patch of decadent coyote brush. In order to protect these saplings, the coyote brush was removed from the immediate vicinity of the saplings, and the decadent brush patch was burned amidst the piles. 

ACR's Mountain Lion Project welcomed Alex Hettena to the team this month. Alex, a master's candidate in Environmental Science, will focus mostly on investigating the multitude of GPS "cluster" activity from our two collared mountain lions. Clusters are defined when a mountain lion spends 4 hours or more at any two locations less than 100m apart, possibly indicating a kill/feeding site. These kill sites not only offer tons of insight into mountain lion diet and behavior but also allow us to connect with landowners in order to gain access to the sites. Since our tracking activities began, 41 GPS location clusters over a 3 month period were identified for P1 in 2016. Of those, 12 were investigated and 10 found remains of feeding activity. All of the kill sites were deer of different ages...

ACR staff and volunteers conducted the second of four annual waterbird counts on Tomales Bay in mid-January. The team of 17, including 11 volunteers, launched from the Marshall Boat Works in three boats and made a complete sweep of the bay over the course of the chilly but clear morning.

Approximately 19,400 waterbirds were counted, which is low relative to past seasons when as many as 35,000 birds could be seen. Highlights included the sighting of three Caspian Terns, a common sight on Tomales Bay in summer, but rarely seen in winter, and at least one Black Scoter, a lovely bird that is thought to be in decline. Bufflehead and Greater Scaup were most numerous (counted about 6,300 Bufflehead and 6,400 Scaup), and although gulls are counted during the Christmas Bird Count, they...

Visitors to Martin Griffin Preserve in Stinson Beach and Bouverie Preserve in Glen Ellen this month were greeted with friendly waves from the Pure Power Solutions team installing our new solar panels.

Roof-mounted system at Martin Griffin Preserve, Stinson Beach 

ACR's Board of Directors in November unanimously backed an innovative approach to a major...