Pacifica police are warning the public about a great white shark seen attacking a sea lion near Linda Mar Beach in Pacifica, reports the AP. The shark was spotted about 200 yards offshore about 1pm on Monday.

[Pacifica police Capt. Fernando] Realyvasquez said a surfer in the water at the time saw a large amount of blood in the water as the shark thrashed about with the sea lion in its mouth.

Witnesses estimated the shark was anywhere from 18 to 25 feet long. After the sighting, two men in a small boat drove up and down the beach warning swimmers to get out of the water.

Sunday, August 29, 2010, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m. — Join Brent Plater of the Wild Equity Institute to search for two of the most imperiled vertebrate species on the San Francisco peninsula: the California red-legged frog and the San Francisco garter snake. This will be a leisurely walk to enjoy the restoration work being conducted at Mori Point and to learn about the bold steps being taken to save both species from the brink of extinction.

RSVP Required: please use this website to RSVP: http://wildequity.org/events/3118. Rain or Shine. Meet at the Mori Point Trailhead, Pacifica, CA, 94044. Take the Sharp Park exit off Hwy. 1 and continue south on Bradford Way about 0.5 mile to the gate/trailhead at Mori Point Rd. Roadside parking is limited; carpooling is encouraged. Samtrans buses #110 and #112 stop nearby.

Bring your friends and neighbors, gloves and sun cream for a day of trash cleanup and non-native plant removal near Pilarcitos Creek. We’ll talk about our local flora and fauna and how we can continue to ensure the protection of open space in Half Moon Bay. We’ll trade restoration stories and share the fun of keeping the sensitive habitat areas of our town clean.
Meet at 10 am in the parking lot of the Stone Pine office park, 120 Stone Pine Rd, Half Moon Bay
We’ll provide the gloves and trash bags. Wear layers and sturdy shoes

We have very competitive races for both the Cabrillo Unified School District (five candidates for three positions) and Harbor District (five candidates for two positions) boards this year. Also, only one incumbent is running in each race. There is an genuine opportunity to make a real difference in the makeup of each board.

We’re taking reader recommendations for questions they want Coastsider to ask the candidates.

What questions do you want to see the candidates answer?

Coming at the end of the summer beach season and right near the start of the school year,Coastal Cleanup Day takes place every year on the third Saturday of September, from 9 a.m. to Noon. The 2010 Cleanup will take place on the fourth Saturday of September so as not to conflict with Yom Kippur.

The need for a special meeting is to review, revise, and approve or deny a proposed draft Midcoast Community Council’s letter in response to the Negative Declaration public comment period which runs through 5:00 p.m. that same day.

The public is encouraged to attend the meeting to provide comments and input on the letter.

The meeting details are as follows:

Monday Aug 16, 2010 from 12 noon to 1pm
San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office
Sheriff’s North Coast Substation
Conference Room
500 California Ave
Moss Beach, CA 94038
650-573-2801 (Office)

The draft of that letter to be discussed is provided after the jump. Here’s the conclusion:

Although the proposed negative declaration has not found significant public support, the process itself has been illuminating and some excellent ideas were put forth in terms of compromise solutions involving alternative, permeable trail surfaces, different replacement footbridge configurations, and changes to the ramp down to the tidepools that likely could garner broad public support.

By including the public in the process, we believe that there is a win-win situation here that will allow a narrower trail with permeable surfacing and more narrow footbridge in line with the current configuration that would be welcomed by the majority of residents and still provide the much needed accessibility and usability improvements sought by the County and consistent with Fitzgerald Marine Reserve’s master plan.

For these reasons, we take our position against the current Negative Declaration for PLN 2010-00093 but look forward to being involved in helping to revise and build support for a revised set of plans for this area.

The Fitzgerald Marine Reserve is one of the richest, most biodiverse environments in California.

The County of San Mateo is planning to pave a 14’ foot wide asphalt road through the FMR. The plans include building a massive 12’ wide x 60’ foot long bridge over a small creek.

Help convince the County of San Mateo not to bulldoze and pave the Dardenelle Trail.

Please SIGN THE PETITION: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/save-the-FMR/

If approved this project would have negative impacts on wildlife, plants, trees and a Native American Archeological site near San Vicente Creek.

Thank you,
AREA29
http://www.thepelicaneye.com

Golden Gate National Recreation Area is experimenting with controlled burning at Milagra Ridge near Pacifica to restore habitat for endangered mission blue butterflies. GGNRA expects to do this one day in mid to late August.

The burning will be confined to metal boxes which are 2.5 meters by 2.5 meters in area and 1 meter in height, and rotated to treat 300 square meters total.

The burning will be conducted if weather conditions allow. Smoke from this project will be very minimal, but traces of smoke may be seen or smelled from a distance.Fire management personnel and equipment will be present during all phases of burn operations.

GGNRA managers will compare the effects of fire with vegetation removal and soil scraping to determine if either treatment is more effective at stimulating lupine germination. Lupine plants are critical to mission blue butterflies because they are the sole food source for developing larvae.

This project was originally scheduled for fall 2009, but was cancelled last year due to early heavy rainfall. Sections of the Milagra Ridge Trail may be closed while burning is in progress.

This story is based on a press release from GGNRA.

Worried about coastal erosion, flooding and sea level rise?

Come hear local coastal engineer, Bob Battalio, present an assessment of our challenges and opportunities in an age of climate change. Learn how Pacificans can adapt while maintaining our coastal community, save our natural shores and enjoy the ride.

August 16th 6:30pm to 8:00pm @ Sharp Park Library Community Room, 104 Hilton Way, 
Pacifica.

This post has been updated with details on a second walk and more information about the planning process.

This Sunday, August 8, 2010 at 10:00am and 2:00pm, the board of Midcoast Park Lands is conducting a walk from the parking lot of the Moss Beach Distillery to the Montara Light House.  The primary purpose is to walk the trails in the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve where proposed trail improvements are under review (PLN2010-00183).   

This is an opportunity to view story stakes of the proposed trail location, trail width (14’ wide), bridge location and scale of the proposed bridge (12’ wide x 60’ long).

The public comment period has been extended to August 16, 2010 by 5:00pm.
 
A Negative Declaration has been published for the projects.  Comments should be sent to Mike Schaller (San Mateo County Planning – 650-363-1823 – .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)). Information on the plans and the Negative Declaration document are available at the Fitzgerald Marine Reserve page of the San Mateo County Parks Web Site/.

The Negative Declaration comments will be an agenda topic at next week’s MCC meeting [MCC].

The optional full walk goes from the north end of de-commissioned Ocean Blvd. to the Montara Light House.  This path affords an opportunity to view potential routes, views and issues involved with completing a route for the California Coastal Trail and a Bicycle Route from Pillar Point to the Montara Light House.  The walks will be led by Len and Gael Erickson and will leave the Distillery Parking Lot at 10:15am and 2:15pm.