SF Natural History Series

Twain’s Frog & the Beautiful Serpent
Guest Speakers: Brent Plater, Executive Director of the Wild Equity Institute
7:30pm, THURSDAY, JULY 15th, 2010

Come here the hopeful story about building a new unit of the GGNRA at Sharp Park, which is currently a SF-owned, money losing, endangered species-killing golf course in Pacifica.

You’ll learn how this exciting vision will save endangered species and build a better public park everyone can enjoy.

Restore Sharp Park.

Brent Plater is a Fulbright Scholar, environmental law professor, and executive director of the Wild Equity Institute.

The Wild Equity Institute (WEI) is a team of experts in law, management, design, and education. WEI is working to accelerate the transition to a more equitable world through innovative education programs, nature-inspired design, science-based petitions, and vigorous enforcement of environmental laws.

Learn more about the Wild Equity Institute.

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Historic Watercourses of SF ~ Focus on the Wiggle & the Panhandle
Guest Speakers: Joel Pomerantz
7:30pm, Thursday, June 24th, 2010

Guest Speaker Joel Pomerantz gives us a tour of the the geology that shaped our city (and our bike rides!).

The Lower Haight once had lakes and streams. The valley had been the site of Spanish Mission trails and Ohlone trails before. Its zigzag of streets is known as the Wiggle by today’s bicyclists avoiding hills. Come glimpse the past and future of this fascinating urban valley with Joel Pomerantz, local geography researcher, founder of Thinkwalks.org and co-founder of the SF bicycle Coalition.

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Restoring the Wild Heart of the South Bay – the South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project
Guest Speakers: John Bourgeois
7:30pm, Thursday, May 20th, 2010

John Bourgeois, the Executive Project Manager for South Bay Salt Pond Restoration Project, will share with us their exciting restoration work. John Bourgeois has 15 years of experience working on large-scale wetland restoration projects. For 11 years he was a restoration ecologist with the Los Gatos-based ecological consulting firm H.T. Harvey and Associates.

You can learn more about the project here.

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The Natural and Unnatural History of Yerba Buena Island and What Might Be Next
Guest Speakers: Peter Brastow, Liam O’Brien, Mike Lynes, Jake Sigg and Ruth Gravanis.
7:30pm, Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

A panel of experts will present an illustrated overview of YBI’s history, ecological treasures, threats and what the future might hold. Our fabulous panel of speakers will include:
Peter Brastow (Nature in the City founder),
Liam O’Brien (lepidopterist),
Mike Lynes (Golden Gate Audubon Society Conservation Director),
Jake Sigg (CA Native Plant Society) and
Ruth Gravanis.

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Are We in the Midst of the Sixth Mass Extinction? A view from the world of amphibians
Guest Speaker: Vance Vrendenburg
Thursday February 18th, 7:30pm

Many scientists argue that we are either entering or in the midst of the sixth great mass extinction. Intense human pressure, both direct and indirect, is having profound effects on natural environments. SF State Professor, Vance Vrendenburg presents a view from the world of amphibians.

The amphibians—frogs, salamanders, and caecilians—may be the only major group currently at risk globally. A detailed worldwide assessment and subsequent updates show that one third or more of the 6,300 species are threatened with extinction.

This trend is likely to accelerate because most amphibians occur in the tropics and have small geographic ranges that make them susceptible to extinction. The increasing pressure from habitat destruction and climate change is likely to have major impacts on narrowly adapted and distributed species. Dalamanders on tropical mountains are particularly at risk.

A new and significant threat to amphibians is a virulent, emerging infectious disease, chytridiomycosis, which appears to be globally distributed, and its effects may be exacerbated by global warming. This disease, which is caused by a fungal pathogen and implicated in serious declines and extinctions of >200 species of amphibians, poses the greatest threat to biodiversity of any known disease.

Our data for frogs in the Sierra Nevada of California show that the fungus is having a devastating impact on native species, already weakened by the effects of pollution and introduced predators.

Vance Vrendenburg, SF State Professor, presents a general message from amphibians is that we may have little time to stave off a potential mass extinction. Learn more about his work at his website: http://web.me.com/vancevredenburg/Vances_site/Home.html

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Coyotes in Our Midst ~ Learning  to Live with America’s Wild “Song Dog”
Guest speaker Camilla Fox
7:30pm, Thursday January 28th, 2010

Founding director of  Project  Coyote,  Camilla Fox, covers  coyote ecology and biology,  coyote-human coexistence,  conflict management,  and the  value of community-based conservation approaches.

Camilla H. Fox is the Founding Director of Project Coyote, a national non-profit organization that promotes educated coexistence between people and coyotes and advocates on behalf of all native carnivores. Her presentation will cover coyote ecology and biology in urban and rural ecosystems, coyote-human coexistence, coyote conflict management and the value of community-based conservation approaches.

Ms. Fox will also show Project Coyote’s (in partnership with Living World Films) new documentary American Coyote ~ Still Wild at Heart.

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Looking forward to our 2010 schedule so far, and to our first lecture next week.

January 28, 2010:
Coyotes in Our Midst ~ Learning  to Live with America’s Wild “Song Dog”  Founding director of  Project  Coyote,  Camilla Fox, covers  coyote ecology and biology,  coyote-human coexistence,  conflict management,  and the  value of community-based conservation approaches.

February 18, 2010:
Are We in the Midst of the Sixth Mass Extinction? – A view from the world of amphibians  – Vance Vrendenburg, SF State Professor, will tell us about his research into the infectious disease that has globally been killing  amphibians  and possible ways  to save  them from extinction

March 26: Cancelled

April 22:
Yerba Buena Island – Ruth Gravanis

May 27:
Salt Pond Restoration – Mendel Stewart

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If You Knew Newts Like I Know Newts
Guest speaker: Karen Goetz
7:30pm, Thursday, October 22nd

Karen Goetz introduces the natural history of the California Newt (Taricha torosa) from their egg laying in local streams to larval hatches and metamorphosis.

Karen studied the California Newts as part of her thesis work for an M.S. in Conservation Biology in 2005. She studied egg deposit site selection preferences at the microhabitat level in creeks in the Berkeley Hills.

Join us to learn what she knows!

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The Green Hairstreak Project
Guest speaker: Liam O’Brien
7:30pm, Thursday, September 24th

The Green Hairstreak Project is a conservation effort of the Nature in the City organization and Liam O’Brien to connect two of the last remaining populations of a rapidly disappearing butterfly from San Francisco – the Coastal Green Hairstreak.

You can read more about the project, on the Nature in the City website, at www.natureinthecity.org/gh.php.

Please join us at the talk!

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Historical Ecologist Maps a Changing Landscape
Guest speaker Robin Grossinger
7:30pm, Thursday August 20, 2009

Drawing upon recent studies throughout the region, Robin Grossinger will illustrate the regional diversity and common themes of historical Bay Area landscapes, and potential restoration strategies they reveal.

Robin Grossinger is a scientist at the San Francisco Estuary Institute, where he directs the Historical Ecology Program. For the past 15 years, he has studied how landscapes of the Bay Area and California coast have changed since European contact.

More information about the Historical Ecology Program: www.sfei.org/HEP

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