Most people don’t know that presently, the sixth mass extinction, sometimes called the Holocene, is taking place globally. “What if one of the world’s biggest global risks isn’t financial collapse or geopolitical conflict—but the quiet breakdown of the ecosystems that make modern life possible?” (by Suzanne Asha Stone Jan 28, 2026)  According to the World Wildlife Fund, “Current extinction rates are estimated between 1,000 and 10,000 times higher than natural background rates. According to Wikipedia, “Wildlife populations have declined dramatically — vertebrate wildlife populations have plummeted by an average of almost 70% since 1970.” This is not happening in some distant place. It is happening right here along the San Francisco Bay, at the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve where I study the behavior of the gray fox, and in your backyard wherever you might live. 

Let’s take a closer look at this tragedy unfolding all around us. The greater baylands from Moffett Field to the headquarters of Facebook, is a stretch of some 6.10 miles “as-the-crow-flies,” and from the San Francisco Bay to Highway 101, a distance of 1.14 miles, results in a narrow strip of highly fragmented landscape  where wildlife live. Within that strip of land, sometimes referred to as an island for wildlife, we find a disconnected patchwork of habitat that consists of small clusters of wooded areas, where foxes, raccoons, opossums, skunks, and other wild creatures live. All of these are bordered in the east by the bay and to the west by Highway 101 essentially trapping them. Additionally, corporations like Google, Intel, and golf courses, etc. have removed huge regions where wildlife once roamed; regions that do not have enough cover for the animals. 

Without the needed territory for all this wildlife to live, the biodiversity of the region is in a constant state of decline. (Biodiversity is defined as “the diversity, number and variety of species of plant, insect, and animal life within a region.” – from Google). As biodiversity declines, it brings with it habitat failure, i.e. a decrease in the number and kind of vegetation; trees, shrubs, vines, and other such that all creatures need for protection and an adequate living space. Because of this, we have seen an increase in inbreeding, in the number of diseases and viruses such as canine distemper that begin to spread into an ever-increasing range throughout the landscape. 

“Biodiversity does not disappear quietly. It unravels in lived landscapes: grazing lands, agricultural frontiers, forest edges, and working coastlines. As habitats shrink and ecosystems degrade, wildlife is pushed into closer contact with people. Crop loss, livestock depredation, safety risks, and disease transmission follow. Also, it brings with it political backlash and calls for lethal control. These are not side effects. They are pressure points—the places where biodiversity loss translates directly into economic instability, social conflict, and governance breakdown.”

From: Biodiversity Loss Is a Global Threat — and Coexistence Is the Infrastructure We’re Missing — Suzanne Asha Stone Jan 28, 2026.

And so, no longer is the problem out there somewhere, but it comes right back into our homes as well as impacting the wildlife everywhere and including the Palo Alto Baylands Nature Preserve. From my point of view, we must work to bring this extinction under control and the best place to start is right in one’s backyard. 

Part II – Continuing from that last sentence we will take a close look at what happens when we add sea level rise into the system? More about this in our next edition. 

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We need to know so that we can improve.