Event

WEATHER CANCELLATION: Fall 2024 Mud Stomp II - Help Create Habitat for Threatened Birds

Event flyer
Event flyer

You can join us to help improve the nesting success of threatened western snowy plovers at the Ravenswood Ponds! 

Partner San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory (SFBBO) will host a volunteer and scientist event to stomp nesting holes in the mud and scatter oyster shells for camouflage at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge in Menlo Park. These activities increase ground and pond texture and habitat complexity, helping the birds camouflage their nests so they can better evade predators.

Plover and Tern 2024 Fall Mud Stomp at Ravenswood!

Event flyer
Event flyer

Help create habitat for threatened birds! You can join the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory at the Ravenswood Ponds in Menlo Park to stomp in the mud and thereby improve nesting habitat for threatened western snowy plovers.

To help improve the nesting success of these threatened species, SFBBO and volunteers will increase ground and pond texture and habitat complexity to help camouflage nests from predators. The event is at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge near the Dumbarton Bridge. 

Discover the Flyway Trail at the Ravenswood Ponds!

Visitors at the Flyway Trail
Visitors at the Flyway Trail

You can discover wildlife from a 360 degree view at the shore-side new Flyway Trail in Menlo Park! 

Join Park Rangers for a walk of less than 2 miles along the new trail, which travels along bird ponds and newly restoring tidal marsh, connecting Bayfront Highway and the Meta Bridge with Menlo Park's Bedwell Bayfront Park. The trail, newly built by the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, is in the Ravenswood Unit of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Don Edwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge.

Brown Bag Science: Breach it and they will come: Protecting SBSP restoration marshes from invasive plants, the uninvited guests to the party – Drew Kerr, Invasive Spartina Project

Drew Kerr on the Bay
Drew Kerr on the Bay

Drew Kerr of the Invasive Spartina Project discussed how managing invasive plants as tidal marshes develop and mature provides a critical foundation for successfully establishing diverse Restoration Project marsh plant communities.

Ravenswood Trail Opening Celebration

Event flyer
Event flyer

You can join a day of fun, wildlife viewing, and outdoor adventures at the opening celebration of the new Flyway Trail and Viewing Area at the Ravenswood Ponds! 

The free event will feature guided bird-viewing, games, hands-on demonstrations, educational booths, and food. 

The event will kick off with a brief presentation and dedication ceremony on the new viewing areas, interpretive signs, and Flyway Trail, followed by games and other activities.

Brown Bag Science: Bringing Upland Soil to the Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge for Wetland Habitat Restoration

Gavin Archbald
Gavin Archbald

Learn how restoration ecologists have helped Don Edwards Refuge maximize the amount of soil it obtains to build habitat and levees while ensuring that soil has low contaminant levels so wildlife and wetlands are protected. Gavin Archbald of H. T. Harvey & Associates discusses his work implementing and refining the regulator-required Refuge plan for sampling soil pollutants and managing which soils are clean enough to place onsite.