The June 2007 issue of Smithsonian magazine features an article by Tony Perrottet called “Jewel of the Tetons,” which describes the secretive mission of John D. Rockefeller, Jr. to purchase private properties at the base of the Tetons with the intent of donating the land to the government for permanent protection.

Despite philanthropic intentions, the campaign to purchase over 35,000 acres was mired in 20 years of anti-park controversy, distrust, and debate. It was not until 1950 when Rockefeller successfully donated 33,562 acres to the National Park Service, enlarging the Grand Teton National Park and protecting important wildlife corridors and the mountain grandeur from unsightly commercial development. The family retained the final 3,300 acres, the JY Ranch, as a Rockefeller family retreat until John D. Rockefeller Jr.’s son Laurance began gifting it to the park over several years. On May 26, 2001, Laurance S. Rockefeller donated the remaining 1,106-acre land (also known as the Laurance Spelman Rockefeller Preserve). The park service expects the formal transfer to be complete by later this summer and open to the public in September 2007. With this gift, “the entire JY property becomes part of America’s conservation heritage and marks another milestone in the Rockefeller legacy of stewardship and philanthropy,” writes the park service.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, the Haases are another one of the nation’s most philanthropic families. Julian Guthrie published an excellent article called “The Haas Legacy - How one family’s generosity and commitment to civic life are transforming the Bay Area.”

The descendants of Levi Strauss (Elise Haas was a great niece of Levi Strauss) and branches of the Haas family operate five independent foundations. The Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, established in 1953, has the largest annual giving and was key to the restoration of the former military airfield Crissy Field, along San Francisco’s north shore (completed in 2001). Recently, I visited the tidal marsh and was in awe of the native coastal dune plants flourishing there and the numerous waterfowl and other marsh birds. I remember when the silver dune lupine, sand verbena, and coastal sagewort were new plantings. It was hard to envision the reemergence of the native coastal dune community that once thrived here in the time of the Ohlone. The scene there now is a drastic transformation from the toxic wasteland it once was.

In April, the Haas Jr. Fund made another major philanthropic gift to the Presidio in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA) to support the “Post to Park”conversion. This project involves the implementation of a comprehensive 24-mile pedestrian, hiking, and bicycle trail network at the Presidio and the revitalization of the Presidio’s Rob Hill Campground.

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Recently, KQED in San Francisco aired a show on Bay Area science cafe’s as a part of the Quest series. The June 26 show featured Ask a Scientist events in San Francisco, hosted by Juliana Gallin. In places like San Francisco’s Axis Cafe, each month a local scientist speaks on a current topic, makes a presentation, and holds a Q&A. This month on July 10, Fred Wilt, Professor of Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley will talk about sea urchins - the spiny marine animal with no eyes, nose, or centralized brain. The purple ones pictured above live in the tide pools of Fitzgerald Marine Reserve near Montara, California. Some species can live more than 200 years with little sign of aging.

Coffee and Pi: Bay Area Science Cafe’s - TV Story

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The Sundance Channel, founded by Robert Redford, recently launched the first prime time programming block dedicated to social responsibility and environmental sustainability. Hosted by Simran Sethi, an environmental journalist and writer and host of Ethical Markets, and MacArthur fellow Majora Carter, founder and executive director of Sustainable South Bronx, “The Green” airs Tuesdays at 6:00 p.m. West Coast time. The channel also features a discussion board and video segments online.

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Last week, California Academy of Sciences contractors began planting native California plants and wildflowers on a 2.5-acre undulating rooftop in Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The living roof will adorn the newly renovated museum, which is also seeking LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification. Designed by Renzo Piano, construction of the new facility began in September of 2005, and the museum expects to move exhibits and animals back to Golden Gate Park from its temporary location to reopen in October of 2008. According to the Academy, the new living roof will reduce storm water runoff by up to 2 million gallons of water per year and produce over 5 percent of the museum’s annual energy needs using rooftop solar cells.

While garden-covered rooftops possibly date back to the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, maximizing a rooftop’s potential for capturing solar energy and rainwater and cooling buildings is gaining popularity as a high-potential solution for addressing global warming and preventing runoff pollution. It has been widely demonstrated that green roofs, also called living roofs, improve air quality, conserve energy, reduce stormwater runoff, cool buildings, and lessen the urban heat island effect. For over a hundred years, sod and plant covered roofs have been popular in Europe, especially in Scandinavian countries. The city of Chicago is one of the country’s leaders in green roof projects.

For the San Francisco Bay Area, the Bay Localize web site is a good hub for information on green roof resources. The Oakland-based nonprofit is studying ways to create living roofs on a variety of building types by assessing the feasibility, including load-bearing capacity, and benefits of rooftops replete with food gardens, solar panels, and rainwater catchment systems.

And on Saturday, June 23 from 10:00am to 1:00pm, the San Francisco Botanical Garden Society is hosting a “Living Roof Demonstration and Workshop” taught by Brent Bucknam of Rana Creek, a living roof ecological design firm for the California Academy of Sciences.

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