Larry L wrote:

Life is very short, and a lifetime really shouldn't be enough to see change
in the environment. But in mine I've witnessed the massive degrading of
many, too many, small habitats.

The San Francisco Bay is one of the most horrible examples of wetlands
destruction, as for that matter so is the entire California Central
Valley. I've heard, but not observed, that the reclamation of the salt
ponds in the SF Bay is going well. That at least is a ray of hope.

I used to work at NASA Ames, and my office was in the building farthest
toward the bay, right up against the wetlands. There was a pretty good
variety of wildlife: burrowing owls (right next to the building in a
pile of construction dirt that never got removed), gopher snakes,
tortoises, hares, ducks, hawks, and the occasional golden eagle.

( I used to wade around with a net and
catch crabs in the Chesapeake Bay, near Easton, too, they were thick ... is
that still possible, right coasters ? )

That a funny coincidence. I grew up in Baltimore and my grandparents had
a modest summer place on the bay, just south of Baltimore. I had a small
dory-like rowboat that I used for crabbing. I'd lay out a trot line with
floats and droppers with chicken bait (necks and backs). I'd leave the
bait for awhile and then slowly bring up the droppers. The crabs would
follow along and could easily be netted. It was usually no problem to
get a basket of crabs. I'd also catch white and yellow perch, and the
occasional small striper, eel, or the exceedingly ugly oyster fish. Once
I caught a gar.

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