OpenRoad With Doug McConnell

We’ll explore a world-class trail rising high on ridge lines all around the Bay Area. Begun as an audacious dream in 1989, the Bay Area Ridge Trail is reaching its 400th mile in 2021 with new and awe-inspiring miles being added every year. We’ll ascend recently completed trail segments and some soon to be opened on wild lands from Napa…...

As California’s climate warms, dries and changes rapidly and huge and historic fires scorch vast portions of the state with catastrophic consequences, those responsible for managing large landscapes and fighting fires are collaborating with fire ecologists and local communities to reduce risks in part by deploying carefully controlled and pre...

We’ll explore the Santa Cruz Mountains in the wake of the enormous CZU fire of 2020 with people from public and non-profit organizations collaborating closely to make the beloved forests, streams and communities in this rugged landscape more resilient to fire, drought and the many challenges of climate change in the years ahead, and we’ll get a gli...

We’ll celebrate the successful growth of the San Francisco Bay Trail as it increasingly circumnavigates the Bay’s shoreline and provides a vast array of recreational opportunities and non-polluting transportation options for millions of us. We’ll imagine the completion of the 500-mile long trail and find out how public agencies are planning to make...

We’ll explore two big and beautiful landscapes in Sonoma County from shorelines to skylines with sensational views in all directions soon to become new public parks for the people.  We’ll meet a team of dedicated young scientists discovering how a much-beloved State Park is recovering and flourishing after two major fires in the past three years wh...

Discover surprising wonders of California’s ancient wildlife heritage living near our biggest and most modern cities.  We’ll go in search of some of California’s rare and elusive native animals in the tops of our tallest trees and deep underground with dedicated people who are recording the animals’ behaviors  and seeking to make sure these treasur...

Explore the nearly century-old Oakland Zoo celebrating not only its past but its future focused on the continuing care of its animals, the education of the public and the conservation of nature. Take a journey along the Zoo’s new “California Trail” to uncover the ecological history of California and see some of our state’s most iconic native...

Explore the densely populated urban shoreline of the East Bay from the southern reaches of Oakland to the northernmost edge of Richmond. Discover how abandoned industrial sites and old debris dumps have been restored and reborn as a series of gorgeous public parks linked by the San Francisco Bay Trail.

Celebrate the expansion of the John Muir National Historic Site all around Muir’s historic home in Martinez. Walk in Muir’s footsteps over large swaths of protected lands, some of which Muir once owned and which today looks much as it did more than a century ago when Muir was alive and working to preserve nature and create National Parks.......

We’ll follow the saga of the East Bay Regional Park District as it sought to remain as open and accessible to the public as possible during the pandemic.

We’ll discover the beauty and importance to nature and us of lush meadows in the Sierra Nevada and southern Cascade mountains of California. These precious meadows, the richest and most vulnerable biological gems in our scenic high country, have been seriously degraded since the Gold Rush. But now many are now being restored in a race aga...

We’ll discover mysterious and majestic volcanic spires riding a famous fault north from southern California towards the Bay Area now serving as a sanctuary for ancient and long-endangered birds with the widest wingspans in North America.

In this latest edition of OpenRoad, we’ll explore new and ecologically rich and beautiful lands being added to the northern slopes of legendary Mt. Diablo in Contra Costa County.