This week brings two opportunities to enjoy nature at the Pearson Arastradero Preserve in programs presented by the environmental group Acterra.
Astronomer Joe Jordan will explain why this month’s full moon is really a blue moon on a hike on Thursday, May 31, from 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Participants will start with a light vegetarian dinner prepared by local chef Laura Stec, and then break into smaller groups for the hike. The fee is $25 per person.
Kids and their parents can learn to track wildlife and enter their findings into a hand-held “wildlife GPS” unit on Sunday, June 2, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., also at the Arastradero Preeserve.
The $10 fee includes a light lunch and drinks. The event, co-sponsored by the Reikes Center in Redwood City, is free to children under 5.
Participants will meet at the new solar-powered Gateway Stewardship Facility, adjacent to the Preserve parking lot on Arastradero Road.
For information or reservations call Sheri Lubin at 962-9876, ext. 347; or visit www.acterra.org.
USGS lecture on deep-sea minerals
“Alchemy in the Abyss: Probing the mysteries of deep-ocean minerals” is the title of the free monthly lecture at the U.S. Geological Survey on Thursday, May 31, at 7 p.m., in Building 3 at 345 Middlefield Road in Menlo Park.Marine geologist James R. Hein will talk about the potential for mining deep-sea resources such as sulfides from “black smokers” or “white smokers,” manganese nodules scattered around on the ocean floor, or cobalt-rich crusts on top of extinct sunken volcanoes.
For information, call 329-5000.
