Why ‪#‎CalNat‬? Director Merenlender, a UC Agriculture & Natural Resources and Environmental Science, Policy, & Management (ESPM) - UC Berkeley Cooperative Extension specialist and conservation biologist talks to California Agriculture Journal about the program's success, conservation, and biodiversity in California. 

When UC ANR conservation biologist Adina Merenlender launched the California Naturalist program in 2012, she was looking to do more than just educate people. She wanted to build a community — inspired to be stewards of the natural world and to push for the resources and policies needed to defend the state's threatened biodiversity.

“Success to me,” Merenlender said on an afternoon walk through the oak woodlands of the Hopland Research and Extension Center (REC), “is when the public connects directly with what UC has to offer and will go to bat for UC gardens, reserves and presses, and call for more faculty to study and teach natural history.” Read more here: http://bit.ly/CalAGCalNat. 

Have you BioBlitzed this spring? Check out our partner SPAWN, Salmon Protection And Watershed Network's June 4

80 Percent of Young Environmental Scientists Could Use More Natural History Training. Article in the Scientific American's Artful Ameoba blog. "Natural history is vanishing from the academic ecosystem, and it may be harming our ability to make big theoretical advances"  Read more here. 

We just sent out notifications to our first round of ‪#‎CalNat2016‬ Statewide Conference Scholarship recipients. That feels GREAT! Can't wait to see you, Naturalists! Thanks to our sponsors who help make this conference possible! Save the Redwoods League, U.S. Forest Service, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, The Nature Conservancy, Acorn Naturalists, Heyday Books, University of California Press, Timothy Rodrigues in support of diverse people and perspectives, and in memory of Ruth Esther Durham. Our sponsor page is here on the conference website. 

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. 

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/

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We're so excited that Woman in Green, Alina Bokde, will be one of our plenary speakers at ‪#‎CalNat2016‬! Visithttp://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/.

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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!

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Last week CalNat hosted a productive new partner/instructor workshop in

First, a reminder to get your scholarship applications in for #CalNat2016 by Sunday, Naturalists! 

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?
SamDiaz 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 SamDiaz at 916.651.5610 or email at Sam.Diaz@Resources.ca.gov.

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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!http://calnat.ucanr.edu/Take_a_class/Sagehen_Creek_Truckee/

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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! 

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Congratulations to the inaugural graduating class of Acterra Stewardship California Naturalists! Naturalists spent time in the San Francisco Peninsula's San Francisco Bay NWR Complex, and Acterra's ongoing restoration sites at Acterra - Arastradero Preserve, and McClellan Ranch Preserve, focusing on the organization's overarching mission to bring people together to create local solutions for a healthy planet. Notably, Sagehen Creek Field Station CalNat grad, Lynn Hori helped organize the program and the course participants included many of Acterra's own staff.

 

Hello to those that follow us out there in the blogosphere! We're going to post regular weekly or biweekly CalNat program and partner/Naturalist highlights here. Let us know in the comments or at canaturalist@ucanr.edu if you have suggestions or updates/pics to share about your course, capstone project, partner organization etc! A lot of the content will look familiar if you're already following us on Facebook or Twitter, but we realize no one communication type fits all and some folks miss those updates. To see new posts you can log into the volunteer portal, or look at the bottom right of the page here to find the buttons to subscribe for e-mail updates or add to your RSS feed. Following is a summary of the last few weeks. Enjoy! 

Join us in congratulating our second graduating class of University of California, Merced Vernal Pools Reserve California Naturalists! This spring the vernal pools received more rain than they have in 5 years, creating a breathtaking outdoor classroom that was teeming with life. Capstone projects included developing naturalist and citizen science curriculum for Merced public schools, creating several local interpretive trail guides, implementing a bullfrog eradication project, and participating in citizen science projects including raptor surveys with Audubon California, the Lost Ladybug Project, and water quality monitoring.

CalNat has a lot of teachers to appreciate on National Teacher Appreciation Week! From our 35+ course instructors (pic from the inaugural 2014 CalNat conference) and guest experts, to all the dedicated classroom teachers and interpreters that attend and enrich our classes, we salute you and your important work! Don't forget to‪#‎ThankATeacher‬ this week!

CalNat was well represented at the California Association for Environmental & Outdoor Education - AEOE 2016 Statewide Conference this past weekend in Malibu! CalNat Instructor Chris Cameron from Camp Ocean Pines, and CalNat staff, Shayna, teamed up on a joint presentation, and we ran into a few Certified California Naturalists also enjoying the conference. Outdoor educators and CalNat certification--what a perfect match! Hope to see CAEOE at our CalNat Conference ‪#‎CalNat2016‬!

 

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Have you checked out the program lately? We have added some amazing speakers! ‪#‎CalNat2016‬ http://calnat.ucanr.edu/2016conference/2016program/