Health Warnings for County Recreational Waters

Prepare for your park visit by knowing about bacteria warnings in county recreational waters, provided San Mateo County Environmental Health.

Reseeding a Natural Preserve with Native Grass

Our task was to level and install seed beds for the Green Grass Project at Edgewood Farms —an amazing project spearheaded by the Friends of Edgewood group, which has been helping steward the park and its incredible diversity of plant life for over 25 years.

San Bruno Mountain Elfin Monitoring

Every other year the Natural Resource Management team does a survey of San Bruno Elfin, an endangered species on San Bruno Mountain. Their larva, or caterpillars, feed an attractive native succulent that grows on rocky outcrops.

Free OuterSpatial App Helps Navigate Park Trails, Facilities

San Mateo County Parks is happy to announce that our parks and trails are now featured on the free OuterSpatial app.

Quarry Park Master Plan Update

Learn what board presentations and public workshops are planned for the Draft Quarry Park Master Plan. Also, participate in the pump track design.

"Oh No! I Think It's Dead, It Has No Tail!"

It is quite common to mistake a lizard that has just lost its tail for dead! While unfortunately the lizard is now tail-less, it isn't dying, far from it actually. It is very much still alive. Lizards utilize caudal autotomy (tail dropping) as a survival strategy for predatory response! When being chased or spotted by a predator a lizard may drop his or her tail and speed away while the piece of tail continues to wriggle and squirm, mimicking another lizard. If a lizard is bit by a venomous snake it may drop its tail as well, to ensure that the toxin does not reach the rest of the lizard’s body. In some cases, the tail will even grow back, however the regenerated tail does have less function.

Meet the Pacific Purple Sea Urchin

As a Natural Resource Management Intern I visit many of the parks to analyze different habitats and support vegetation management activities.

Stalking the California Golden Violet

A few feet farther up the slope I saw the telltale yellow flowers, looking like a garden “pansy,” peaking out of the mass of green. It was California Golden Violet, Viola pedunculata

Meet Our New NRM Interns

In January of 2020 San Mateo County Parks Natural Resource Management was excited to welcome our first intern team. Meet Alex Wilbanks, Johanna Harrison, and Olivia Kurz.

iNaturalist & BioBlitz: Be a Citizen Scientist

Discover nature all around you and contribute to an important scientific resource with iNaturalist and the San Mateo County Parks BioBlitz.

Charting the Course for Tunitas Creek Beach

The community meeting scheduled for Saturday, March 14 has been canceled.

Edgewood Park Safety and Parking Tips

Make your trip to Edgewood Park safe and enjoyable by being cautious of fast-moving cars on Edgewood Road and avoiding parking difficulties.