We welcome another amazing graduating class to our growing community of Certified California Naturalists, this time the inaugural program at the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy! Participants deeply explored the Ventura River Watershed and completed capstone projects in service of OVLC and other organizations, such as Friends of California Condors Wild & Free, the Ojai Valley Green Coalition, and the Ventura Hillsides Conservancy. OVLC will have an open house this fall to showcase the student projects and begin early bird registrations for next year's spring class. Congratulations on your accomplishments! More here.
Heads up: there are still a few spaces left in the Sagehen Creek Field Station CalNat immersion course in the Sierras this summer. This is the best "summer school" you can dream of sending a loved one to or participating in! June 20-26. Presentations and field sessions held in the outdoor classroom at Sagehen Creek Field Station near Truckee, as well as at the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center in Incline Village on the north shore of Lake Tahoe.This year the field station is offering a special local commuter price break to encourage participation among Tahoe and Truckee residents!
Please share your story to show Californians why climate adaptation is important to you and your community! CA Natural Resources Agency is collecting stories and to showcase in the August Sneak Peak Edition to Safeguarding California 2017. In order to inspire Californians with your work, they are asking you to email information based on the questions below to Sam.Diaz@Resources.ca.gov. PLEASE mention if you are a CA Naturalist.
1. Please share a brief description of you and your community. Please identify what issue(s) related to climate change your community perceives.
2. Do you or your community have any ideas for addressing these issues?
Here are some examples we have heard:
Plant trees to capture and clean water in urban areas!
Encourage leadership development programs to prepare the next generation for climate change!
Please provide quotes and pictures you would like to see featured with your story in the Sneak Peak Edition.
What's Next?
Sam Diaz will contact you with any follow-up questions. As we collect more projects and stories from Californians, we will draft the Sneak Peak Edition. Be on the lookout for a draft version in late July 2016. You will receive the final version in August 2016.
Please call Sam Diaz at 916.651.5610 or email at Sam.Diaz@Resources.ca.gov.
http://resources.ca.gov/climate/safeguarding/
Inspiring write up here about California Naturalist and NHFQ Alum Darrow Feldstein of The Bird School Project fame in the UC Santa Cruz Arboretum blog! Darrow's capstone project for the course morphed into what is now called The Bird School Project (BSP), which is a year-round, hands-on environmental education program! The program takes binoculars, field journals, bird specimens, and knowledgeable UCSC interns into local schools to engage kids outside with their local birds and habitats. It is a 5-week long life science curriculum and works with about 2000 students each year. BSP is an affiliate program of the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History at UC Santa Cruz. Check out The Bird School Project here:http://www.birdschoolproject.org/about-us.html.
We're so excited that Woman in Green, Alina Bokde, will be one of our plenary speakers at
?#CalNat2016?! Visit
http://calnat.ucanr.edu/2016conference/ to register at the early bird rate before June 30! And check out Alina's organization, the
Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust, at
http://lanlt.org/.
Want to immerse in nature on the beautiful CA Central Coast? Who wouldn't want to spend a week kayaking, tidepooling, hiking, hearing from local experts, and becoming a Certified California Naturalist?! Register for the
Camp Ocean Pines summer immersion CalNat course, taking place August 24-30 in Cambria, CA!
http://www.oceanpinesretreats.org/calnat.
Join us in congratulating the newly minted class of Sierra Streams Institute
Naturalists! Capstone projects ranged from engaging in citizen science projects including developing efficient monitoring protocols, foraging behavior of bees, the sightings & sounds of thebirdsofHirschman Trail, and frog monitoring, to developing interpretive/education materials on newts, mercury and fish, and beavers. Capstone projects are one way California Naturalists give back- they sew seeds for partnering organizations and community to reap. We hope to hear more details about your capstone project at the upcoming conference!
Last week CalNat hosted a productive new partner/instructor workshop in
Davis and surrounds for organizations around the state to learn how to partner with the California Naturalist Program. Day 1 was focused on nuts and bolts and we enjoyed a lovely tour of the
The UC Davis Arboretum's Mary Wattis Brown Garden of California Native Plants. Day two we had the pleasure of spending in the field at
Lake Solano Park learning about the watershed and the new
Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, and practicing skills including iNaturalist.org, macro photography, nature journaling, and more. Thanks to all the participants and a special thanks toThe UC Davis Arboretum, Tuleyome, Putah Creek Council, Mary K. "Mare" Hanson - Naturalist, and Mayor Aguiar-Curry of Winters, California for your hospitality, and sharing your time and considerable talents with us!
