It's CAMP season in California once again.

As of this summer, CAMP, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting, has been underway for 25 years. They have charted the operation's annual impacts on charts on the state's CAMP website.

The Marijuana Policy Program argues that CAMP is not only ineffective but harmful to the community. They advocate the decriminalization of marijuana as a first step toward theregulation and control of its cultivation and use. You can read more about MPP here .

To view the website that contains this map of the Bay Area Ridge Trail as well other useful information, click here.

There's a second trail project around San Francisco Bay, but running as close to the water as possible. Learn about the San Francisco Bay Trail here.

This unusual view of the Golden Gate Bridge can be seen as the Bay Trail crosses under the northern approach. There are sectional maps of this trail here.

For a list of upcomiong hikes on trails within the Sonoma County Open Space District, go here.

The driving of the Golden Spike, uniting the first trqnscontinental railroad (below), was a pivotal moment in the history of the American west.

The North Bay Report with co-authors Jane Neilson and Howard Wilshire continues here:

The American West at Risk summarizes the dominant human-generated environmental challenges in the 11 contiguous arid western United States - America's legendary, even mythical, frontier. When discovered by European explorers and later settlers, the west boasted rich soils, bountiful fisheries, immense, dense forests, sparkling streams, untapped ore deposits, and oil bonanzas. It now faces depletion of many of these resources, and potentially serious threats to its few "renewable" resources. (more)

To read more about the book and its authors, click here.

For information about an upcoming book discussion with two of the authors at Four-Eyed Frog Books in Gualala, click here.

 Gertting people out of their cars altogether is a long-term endeavor, so in the short term, the sebastopol-based Post Carbon Institute is preparing to model an alternate way to reduce fossil fuel consumption through their Solar Car Share program.

Visit the  Post-Carbon Institute to see  what other projects they have going.

 For details about the Solar Car Share project, click here .