Hidden Nature SF
2014 – $10,000 SFB4
2013 – $15,000 SFB4
Hidden Nature SF investigates and describes the extraordinary landscape ecology of San Francisco at the time that Gasper de Portolá’s expedition laid their eyes on the bay in 1769. Through a block-by-block understanding of past landscape conditions, one will see the “ecological fundamentals” still shaping the urban landscape. It’s goal is to suffuse the imaginations of San Franciscans with a vision of ecology so rich and compelling that it shifts perspectives for centuries to come and creates a template for sustainability suited to the particular geographic circumstances of San Francisco—using history to reveal, discover, and re-imagine.
On the project is Robin Grossinger, Senior Scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute (SFEI). He was named an Environmental Hero by Bay Nature Magazine and received the 2014 Carla Bard Bay Education Award from the Bay Institute. He has been featured nationally on NPR for his work on the historical ecology of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta and is the author of the Napa Valley Historical Ecology Atlas (University of California Press 2012).
Robin is joined by Eric Sanderson, Ph.D., a Senior Conservation Ecologist at WCS and the author of the bestselling book, Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City (Abrams, 2009). He is internationally known for his work in wildlife and landscape conservation and imagining cities in the past, present, and future. His work has been featured in National Geographic Magazine, The New Yorker, the New York Times, and elsewhere.