Support Local Restoration Efforts this Giving Season
This year Grassroots Ecology brings news of three local species' fight for survival and a glimpse of the impact we can make—but how great the impact depends on how many of us contribute.
Can you help us reach our $150,000 goal?
A Lifeline for Wildlife,
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The Bay Area is home to numerous preserves and natural spaces, but even here, biodiversity is in crisis. From birds to insects to amphibians, too many species are fighting for survival due to a lack of healthy habitat. Your support helps protect fragile ecosystems while fostering a community that cares for each other as we care for the land. It feels good to make a difference together!
Read about how our work is impacting local wildlife below—these field notes are the living proof of what your donations make possible.
To receive a sticker of one of the three species featured, make a one-time donation of $100 and higher. Artwork provided by Coyote Brush Studios.
Filling the Bellies of Burrowing Owls
Some of the last breeding populations of burrowing owls in the Bay Area live right here along our local shoreline. But being a burrowing owl in the Bay Area is tough. The lands they need have been swallowed up by development and climate change, leaving the burrowing owl—quite literally—hungry for habitat.
By reintroducing the plants that these owls and their prey rely on, Grassroots Ecology is creating more safe spaces for burrowing owls to find food, shelter, and refuge during high tides. We’ve already made significant progress in Alviso, transforming weedy land into a living buffet of native plants that attract insects and small mammals—protein-rich meals for hungry owls. And it’s working! Just check out this wildlife cam photo of burrowing owlets spotted near one of our restoration plots.
Wildlife cam shows burrowing owlets near our Alviso restoration area. Don't worry little ones, we’ll keep the meals coming!
Reuniting Monarchs with Milkweed
Monarchs' delicate wings can navigate vast distances on their epic migration journeys and their bright orange color—so beautiful to the likes of us humans—warns predators of the poison they carry. Monarchs get their poison from their one true love of the plant world, milkweed. Not only is milkweed a vital source of food and chemical defense for monarch butterflies, it’s the only plant monarch caterpillars can eat. But this crucial lifeline has vanished throughout their range.
Grassroots Ecology is helping to support monarch recovery, using an approach that is refreshingly simple and effective. We plant milkweed—native narrowleaf milkweed, the kind our Western population of monarchs need—wherever we can, from grasslands to creek sides to urban parks. Just a few connected patches of milkweed can mean the difference between life and death for a new generation of monarchs. But we don’t just plant milkweed and move on; we maintain it and watch it. And can you guess what we are finding? These monarch caterpillars prove that even on lands long barren of biodiversity, life can still sprout—munching its way slowly forward and upward if given the chance.
A monarch caterpillar feasts on milkweed in our Alviso restoration area, a place where milkweed and other biodiversity didn't grow before we came on the scene.
Newts are Spreading the News
Though quiet and shy, newts always have news to share with us. That is, if we know how to listen. These little amphibians are bioindicators, which means their presence (or absence) reveals secrets about the health of the surrounding ecosystem. Their moist, permeable skin makes them highly vulnerable to pollution—and since they spend part of their lives in the water and part on land, toxins in the soil or water can be fatal to them.
That’s why spotting this California newt, a Species of Special Concern, is so exciting! This little newt was found at Foothills Nature Preserve right next to our creekside lawn replacement project, where—yard by yard and year by year—we’ve been converting recreational turf along the creek back into native meadow. The plants and mulch we’ve brought to this area are creating ripe conditions—moist, healthy soil and vegetative cover—for newts and countless other organisms.
A messenger from the mulch, this newt shows us that our hard work is paying off for wildlife.