- Author: Gregory C Ira
I recently came across a national forum thread on iNaturalist where someone was curious to know more about the value of becoming a “certified” naturalist. Not surprisingly, there was a wide range of opinions. These ranged from supportive to skeptical to cynical. Because many of the responses came from people who have not taken a course themselves, I thought it might be valuable to share some data from people who actually completed a course – in this case, the UC California Naturalist course offered by over 60 different organizations around the state.
To summarize the forum discussion, the believers - commonly people who actually have taken a course – found that taking a course was useful for people who were new to an area, had no previous science background, or were looking for ways to connect and engage in volunteer service locally. The skeptics often cited the improbability of becoming a “master” or expert in anything after just taking a short course or the fact that a degree in many science fields would render certification unnecessary. Finally, the more cynical views suggested that certification was just another ploy to separate people from their money.
In California, our End-of-Course Evaluation provides useful insight into why people pursue naturalist certification, as well as their level of satisfaction with the course. The five most commonly cited reasons for pursuing naturalist certification from over 1,000 respondents were: 1) to learn more about the local environment, 2) learn about conservation issues, 3) spend time outside, 4) career development, and 5) meet people with similar interests. Securing the certification ranks sixth out of ten choices and is rarely the driving factor for taking the course.
Regardless of their rationale for taking the course, 72% of those who completed the course were very satisfied with their experience, and 93% were either very or somewhat satisfied. Regarding putting their experience to use, 95% of the respondents indicated that participation in the course improved their capacity to do their volunteer service, and the majority indicated they plan to do more in the coming year. Increasingly, more course participants are looking at the course as a form of professional development, and about 93% indicated that participation in the course improved their capacity to do their work or the work they would like to do in the future. Anecdotally, we find the social learning component of our program and our efforts to create an inclusive community of naturalists to be essential to the high levels of satisfaction and an important factor in sustained engagement.
It's also important to address the skeptical views and challenge the more cynical views of certification. First, no reputable naturalist certification program claims to make expert naturalists in a matter of a dozen weeks. The use of the term “master” naturalist is problematic for that and other reasons, which is why it's not used in our California program. We all agree that expertise is gained over time - often a lifetime - and our program is happy to simply inspire, support, or reinforce that pursuit.
Finally, while we live in a time full of scams, cons, and frauds the suggestion that certification is just a way to separate you from your money really reinforces my view of the debilitating nature of cynicism. Most naturalist certification programs are run on a shoestring budget. Statewide program costs are often supported by land grant universities, non-profits, or state agencies. The registration fees of a typical course are barely enough to cover the costs of the educators who deliver them. State and local programs regularly pursue grants, constantly writing proposals to ensure that cost isn't a barrier to participation. Having worked in this field for several decades now, I can safely say that the course instructors are driven not by profits but by their values and deep sense of purpose.
So, next time someone asks you about that California Naturalist or Climate Stewards pin you have on your hat/backpack/lapel, let them know what certification really means. Embrace their interest, address their skepticism, redirect their cynicism, and invite them to join our community and transform the way they see their environment and their role in protecting it.
- Author: Joy Shindler Rafey
The Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Programs (ANROSP) conducted the ANROSP Annual Awards Ceremony as part of the organization's 2021 Annual National Conference.
The UC California Naturalist Program was recognized with the 2021 ANROSP Outstanding Educational Materials Award for their UC Climate Stewards curriculum. This award recognizes ANROSP member programs for their development and use of educational materials including print, video, online technology, or other program materials/applications.
Shelly Johnson, ANROSP President with the Florida Master Naturalist Program, said "ANROSP provides member programs an opportunity to share their best work in the areas of Outstanding Educational Materials, Outstanding Volunteer Project, Outstanding Team, Outstanding Program Evaluation and Program of the Year. Each year ANROSP is proud to highlight programs from across the United States in each of these categories." Award applications are peer reviewed and selection is made by the ANROSP Awards Committee, chaired by an ANROSP Board Member.
The Alliance of Natural Resource Outreach and Service Programs is an international network of natural resource programs with the mission of promoting awareness and stewardship of natural resources through science-based education and service programs.
For more information on the UC California Naturalist Program's UC Climate Stewards curriculum, please contact Sarah-Mae Nelson, UC Climate Stewards Academic Coordinator, California Naturalist Program, University of California Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, at smanelson@ucanr.edu or 408-482-4633.
- Author: Adina M. Merenlender
Guest author Adina Merenlender is the founding Director of the UC California Naturalist program, and writes about the North Coast Biogregion for California Biodiversity Week 2021.
California's Northern Coastline is a refugia where the local climate is relatively stable compared to rates of climate change in other parts of California. This is particularly true if we continue to experience a drier future under climate change. The resilience to immediate rapid change is due to the influence of the Pacific Ocean and the topographic diversity of the coastal mountain ranges.
Steep coastal watersheds provide an escape route for species to move up to higher elevation or down to cool air drainages to escape the heat. Summer fog buffers terrestrial plant communities from extreme heat and freezing temperatures and frost is rare close to the ocean, making for more mild winter temperatures. The mild temperatures and higher humidity year-round are ideal conditions for plant growth and the Northcoast harbors very diverse plant communities.
For many, redwoods, the charismatic mega-flora, that create unparalleled cathedrals filled with majestic qualities may come to mind. But those towering trees leave little sun or nutrients for the plants below. The real biodiversity hotspots are coastal prairie and scrub communities where rare flowering plants can still be enjoyed. Whereas interior woodland wildflowers come and go over a short Spring season, coastal prairies offer a seemingly ever-changing wildflower show from January through September. The show starts with manzanita and Lupin and ending with pearly everlastings and Dudleyas.
These coastal refugia might provide endemic plant communities time as temperatures rise, but we need to act now to curb greenhouse gas emissions so that these cooler moist areas can persist over a longer time horizon.
September 4-12, 2021 is California Biodiversity Week. Join us in celebrating the unique biodiversity and renewing our commitment to stewarding the state's incredible natural heritage! During the Week, CalNat is posting blogs authored by members of our community, ending in our September 14th CONES event from noon-1:00 PM. Be sure to also check out a list of activities and resources online from the CA Natural Resources Agency!
Guest author Blanca Villalobos is a certified UC Riverside Palm Desert Center California Naturalist, and writes about the South Coast Biogregion for California Biodiversity Week 2021. You can follow more of Blanca's work at www.blancasvillalobos.com or on Instagram at @blanca.s.villalobos.
Tecolotlán & El Totole, nahuatl names given to the lands from which my parents were raised in: their origin meaning place of owls and turkey hen, respectively. My parents are therefore birds, who eventually migrated north in the 1970s across colonial borders until settling as guests on Cahuilla & Yuhaviatam/Maarenga'yam ancestral lands to raise their family. I grew up in the San Gorgonio Pass in Southern California surrounded by the Peninsular & Transverse Mountain Ranges, craving stories about my ancestors, cultural practices and post Mexican revolution folk tales. Lucky for me I was blessed with amazing storytellers for parents who compliment oneanother's approach to storytelling through performance & wit.
In 2018 I landed my first environmental job working at a local nature preserve after years of social work & organizing. Due to this new field of work, I quickly learned to drive slowly through the desert canyon out of concern for wildlife like bighorn sheep, rattlesnakes and the usual gambel's quail. Never did I expect to spot & identify a bird unknown to me except from the stories I had heard over the years from my dad.
On my way out of the canyon one evening, I spotted something drab & not much larger than a robin in the middle of the road. Red glowing eyes fixated on my car, I approached the relative slowly until it haphazardly took flight only to quickly rest their body on the asphalt once again. I smiled upon realizing who they were: un tapacaminos, one who covers roads. I grew up hearing my dad tell animated stories about this nightjar, how he'd be traveling in Jalisco and how he'd come across them on his path “¡No se mueven! They don't move!” he would say grinning.
Still in my car, I noticed that the illumination from my headlights helped this nocturnal bird locate their dinner: a plethora of insects under a crepuscular desert sky. Once they had their fill they eventually flew out of my path, allowing me to reflect on the metaphor of their Spanish common name while I made my way out to the Coachella Valley.
It is critical to understand the connection between the migratory paths of these birds across North America with those of my parents and other migrants. Every year I look forward to seeing the monarch butterflies journey between Canada & Mexico and just recently I became aware of the black bear in my neighborhood that travels up and down the Sand to Snow National Monument for water & refuge. What I would like folks to consider during this year's California Biodiversity Day is a compassionate & intersectional reflection on the absurdity that is a border for all living beings.
With love & in solidarity,
Blanca S. Villalobos, they/she
September 4-12, 2021 is California Biodiversity Week. Join us in celebrating the unique biodiversity and renewing our commitment to stewarding the state's incredible natural heritage! During the Week, CalNat is posting blogs authored by members of our community, ending in our September 14th CONES event from noon-1:00 PM. Be sure to also check out a list of activities and resources online from the CA Natural Resources Agency!
Guest author Chloe Van Loon is a certified Grassroots Ecology California Naturalist, and writes about the Mojave Desert Biogregion for California Biodiversity Week 2021. You can follow more of Chloe's writings posted on Chloe Van Loon's Nature Blog.
For most of the past year and half I have nomadically roamed around California, chasing nature's “blooms”. That meant spending the winter in Mendocino County finding fungi, and springtime in the Bay Area wandering around for wildflower displays. Between these two Northern California spots, Joshua Tree was my home. For two months my husband and I searched for flowering annuals, prickly cacti, quick-footed reptiles, jumping rodents, and magnificent nocturnal moths.
Many California Naturalists may already know the desert ecosystems of California are incredibly diverse. I was well aware of this myself before spending time in the Sonoran and Mojave deserts. But a weekend trip really isn't enough, a week isn't enough, and two months isn't enough to fully grasp the ecology of desert ecosystems! I think it takes multiple years of visiting at different times. I think it's equally important to visit during a super bloom year as it is to visit in a non-super bloom year to see the diversity of species that have adapted to the extreme temperature fluctuations, long dry spells and the winter rain deluges.
This year, 2021 wasn't a super bloom year as the winter rainfall was pretty poor for much of the state. So we had to get smart about where and how to search for angiosperms and accompanying insect visitors. One resource that was super valuable was Tom Chester's Bloom Reports (tchester.org) for the Anza-borrego Desert, located about an hour and half south of Palm Springs. Unlike the alpine meadows of the Sierra mountains where at peak bloom my senses are overwhelmed with color, textures, and scents, iNat-ing the California deserts is a treasure hunt: it takes time for the human eye to hone in on the often cryptic and small plants amongst the desert floor. Having a general sense of the area's plants before heading out for a hike really helped in order to spot the common plants, rarities and lifers. Fellow California Naturalist, Colin Barrows' iNaturalist observations were also very helpful study tools. His Coachella Valley Wildflower iNaturalist Project was a great photo reference source. Projects like these are a fantastic resource and fortunately exist in similar forms all across California. Doing your homework by brushing up on what's been recently observed before heading out is totally worth it. You might be surprised how diverse the desert is.
Depending on the time of year - really even the week! - will dictate what might be blooming. Will the common Brittlebush (Encelia farinosa) still be producing its wonderful yellow compound flowers? Will my personal favorite the Desert Globemallow (Sphaeralcea ambigua) finally produce its glorious apricot orange petals? Will the gorgeous Sand Blazingstar (Mentzelia involucrata) have Sweat Bees visiting? But how will these plants, associated insects, and wildlife that use them for food or shelter cope with rising temperatures, altered rain regimes, and all the other compounding effects of climate change? A recently published study by Hantson et al. (2021) from UC Irvine suggests climate change is to blame for recent “strong” declines in vegetation cover, and these hardy dryland ecosystems are more at risk than previously thought to the effects of climate change. Oh no.
The Western Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia), the charismatic, long-limbed Dr. Suess-like trees of the Mojave desert, are the first plant species reviewed by California's Endangered Species Act to attribute climate change as a primary threat. Among other reasons like habitat loss, developments, and invasive species, the Western Joshua Tree's habitat may be almost totally gone by 2100. What other vulnerable species should be citing their primary threat to existence as climate change? For myself it's hard to imagine that any native California species escapes the negative effects of human induced climate change. Throughout my time in the desert I saw a Ladder-backed Woodpecker checking out the flowers of the Joshua Tree, Northern Mockingbird and Loggerhead Shrikes perched up high while LeConte's Thrasher and Gambel's Quails run between its shadows. Turn over a fallen branch and you might find beetles or weevils scurrying on the ground, or Giant Water Bugs crawling around if the branch had fallen in a creek. How will all these species fare with altered or absent Joshua Tree populations?
How will the biodiversity of California's desert's change in the near to distant future? Is the future only one round of Ocotillo's flowering? Will the Desert Bighorn sheep at lower elevations become locally extinct like Eeps et al. (2004) predicted? Both these species along with the other incredible flora and fauna of California's deserts evolved over time to produce the mosaic of biodiversity we see there today. How climate change is going to change this assemblage is perhaps predictable for some species, but I'm sure surprising for others. So I encourage everyone to visit, learn and appreciate how the species you see while visiting the deserts of California, and to ponder what adaptations they evolved over time to flourish there, and most importantly what you can do to keep it thriving in perpetuity.
September 4-12, 2021 is California Biodiversity Week. Join us in celebrating the unique biodiversity and renewing our commitment to stewarding the state's incredible natural heritage! During the Week, CalNat is posting blogs authored by members of our community, ending in our September 14th CONES event from noon-1:00 PM. Be sure to also check out a list of activities and resources online from the CA Natural Resources Agency!
Resources:
Hantson, Stijn, et al. "Warming as a driver of vegetation loss in the Sonoran Desert of California." Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences 126.6 (2021): e2020JG005942.
EPPS, C. W., McCULLOUGH, D. R., WEHAUSEN, J. D., BLEICH, V. C., & L. RECHEL, J. (2004). Effects of Climate Change on Population Persistence of Desert-Dwelling Mountain Sheep in California. Conservation Biology, 18(1), 102–113. doi:10.1111/j.1523-1739.2004.00023.x
Center for Biological Diversity. “Court Upholds Protection for California's Western Joshua Trees.” Center for Biological Diversity, Center for Biological Diversity, 22 Feb. 2021, biologicaldiversity.org/w/news/press-releases/court-upholds-protection-for-californias-western-joshua-trees-2021-02-22/.
Olalde, Mark. “Joshua Trees Can Be Legally Protected in California, Court Rules.” The Desert Sun, Palm Springs Desert Sun, 25 Feb. 2021, www.desertsun.com/story/news/environment/2021/02/24/joshua-trees-can-legally-protected-court-rules/4552210001/.
