San Francisco Baykeeper
Encyclopedia
San Francisco Baykeeper is a nonprofit environmental
advocacy organization that works to protect, preserve, and enhance the health of the ecosystems and communities that depend upon the San Francisco Bay
. For seventeen years, Baykeeper has stood guard over the waters of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary
and its watershed
. These waters, in addition to their recreational value and biological productivity, also provide drinking water for more than 23 million people and serve as the cornerstone of California
's $7 billion economy. Beginning in the high reaches of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains, the Bay-Delta watershed encompasses the entire Bay Area
and the Great Central Valley of California. This vast watershed includes virtually all of the state's remaining coastal wetlands and provides rare and fragile habitat for marine mammals, migrating birds, and California's few remaining endangered salmon
runs.
Baykeeper was founded in 1989 by Michael Herz on the principle that California's waterways are common property, owned by all who use and enjoy them. Baykeeper works to rehabilitate natural environments and promote new strategies and policies to protect the water quality of the Bay-Delta Estuary.
Baykeeper currently operates local chapters for the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. It was founded in 1989 as the fourth "waterkeeper" organization in the nation and the first on the West Coast of the United States
. Baykeeper is part of the Waterkeeper Alliance
, the national and international network of "keeper" organizations.
Environmentalism
Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology and social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks to incorporate the concerns of non-human elements...
advocacy organization that works to protect, preserve, and enhance the health of the ecosystems and communities that depend upon the San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
. For seventeen years, Baykeeper has stood guard over the waters of the San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary
Estuary
An estuary is a partly enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers or streams flowing into it, and with a free connection to the open sea....
and its watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
. These waters, in addition to their recreational value and biological productivity, also provide drinking water for more than 23 million people and serve as the cornerstone of California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
's $7 billion economy. Beginning in the high reaches of the Sierra Nevada and Cascade Mountains, the Bay-Delta watershed encompasses the entire Bay Area
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
and the Great Central Valley of California. This vast watershed includes virtually all of the state's remaining coastal wetlands and provides rare and fragile habitat for marine mammals, migrating birds, and California's few remaining endangered salmon
Salmon
Salmon is the common name for several species of fish in the family Salmonidae. Several other fish in the same family are called trout; the difference is often said to be that salmon migrate and trout are resident, but this distinction does not strictly hold true...
runs.
Baykeeper was founded in 1989 by Michael Herz on the principle that California's waterways are common property, owned by all who use and enjoy them. Baykeeper works to rehabilitate natural environments and promote new strategies and policies to protect the water quality of the Bay-Delta Estuary.
Baykeeper currently operates local chapters for the San Francisco Bay and the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. It was founded in 1989 as the fourth "waterkeeper" organization in the nation and the first on the West Coast of the United States
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
. Baykeeper is part of the Waterkeeper Alliance
Waterkeeper Alliance
Waterkeeper Alliance is an environmental organization founded in 1999, responding to a growing movement of organizations with the name Riverkeeper, Baykeeper, Soundkeeper, and other related "keeper" names, of which there are over 150 around the globe...
, the national and international network of "keeper" organizations.
External links
- San Francisco Baykeeper
- Baykeeper in the news
-