Saturday evening in Sebastopol provided a lively experience at the Veterans’ Auditorium.  The 34th Annual Environmental Awards dinner and event of the Sonoma County Conservation Council included a delicious vegetarian buffet dinner, silent auction, and conversation and outreach by a multitude of environmental organizations. Petaluma and South Sonoma County were well represented - About 20  folks from Petaluma were there and four South Sonoma County-connected conservation organizations had outreach tables.  About 200 people total attended the event.  … Read More »

Back up to the recent Arctic Badger post and photograph.  Thanks to 2 blog readers, the mammal in question has been identified as a Hoary Marmot.  The Hoary Marmot is an alpine mammal.  It can be found in Alaska, British Columbia, Washington State, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.  (Our featured photograph was taken in Alaska in Summer 2009.) Scientific classifications are: Phylum: Chordata.  Class:  Mammalia.  Order:  Rodentia.  Family:  Sciuridae.  Genus:  Marmota. The Marmot’s body shape, silvery fur … Read More »

The environmental award nominations are in for Sonoma County Conservation Council’s 34th Annual Environmental Awards and Dinner event.  The event will be held on Saturday, March 6th, at the Sebastopol Veterans Building. For Environmentalist of the Year, a person who has worked very hard for the environmental community, especially over the last year: Anthony Hanrahan, Founder, GreenFutureNow.net, Sonoma Mary T. Crowley, Founder, Project Kaisei of Ocean Voyages Institute Tanya Narath, Director, Leadership Institute for Ecology … Read More »

Petaluma Wetlands, encompassing Shollenberger Park, Alman Marsh and Ellis Creek, next to the Petaluma River, are now featured on National Geographic’s web site. Petaluma Wetlands – California’s Redwood Coast:  Paradise Untamed. That’s the title - descriptive and appropriate. To access the site and lovely photographs:  www.visitredwoodcoast.com Type “petaluma wetlands” in the Explore Themes box – click on the map site to access Petaluma Wetlands. The attention given on a national level will enhance Southern Sonoma County’s economic development … Read More »

On a recent Summer trip to Mt. Denali in Alaska, Gary Hundt (Calif. Native Plant Society, Sonoma County Conservation Council) was graced with viewing an Arctic Badger, vigorously digging, within view of Gary’s lens.  He took several photos and shared them. An Arctic Badger photo may be featured in the Silent Auction for the upcoming March 6th Annual Environmental Awards dinner and evening in Sebastopol.  Check out www.envirocentersoco.org, top right corner, for … Read More »

Often overlooked, the African-American contribution to the history of experience and protection of our National Parks has come front and center. This is thanks to both Shelton Johnson, a National Parks Ranger and interpretive specialist at our beautiful Yosemite in California and the recent Ken Burns documentary series, The National Parks, America’s Best Idea. If you missed this series on PBS, it’s available on DVD.  Recommended is a many-hours sitting, watching the series as a whole.  … Read More »

Two awards ceremonies Saturday evening, November 7th, highlight  substantive and dedicated lives of conservationists and innovators… In Martinez in the East Bay, the 32nd Annual John Muir Conservation Awards were presented to: Conservationist of the Year:  Jeff Alvarez, Wildlife Biologist Environmental Education Conservation:  David Loeb, Publisher of Bay Nature Magzine, Bay Nature Institute Nonprofit or Public Agency Conservation:  East Bay Regional Park District (The nonprofit Worth A Dam, protecting the Martinez Beavers and Alhambra Creek … Read More »

Saturday, October 24th, International Climate Action Day, continues to be an inspiration locally.  My favorite memories of the City Hall transformational eco-landscaping day: Seeing Frank Simpson on and off for the entire day, while he watched for and captured spontaneous moments in photography.  Check out the Petaluma Spectator blog for these  – especially the children. Two students from Santa Rosa JC arrived at the event, having heard about it at the college, to sign up and help for … Read More »

“We all need to spend time in Nature to become full human beings.” This was a comment by a single mother with one daughter during KQED Radio’s Forum program today – about State Parks and a possible upcoming ballot initiative to charge a fee to all of us – to help keep the parks open.  The basic proposal is to charge around $18 annually to all licensed drivers in the State of … Read More »

Before the Bioneers Conference in San Rafael last weekend, a pre-conference intensive was hosted by the Center for Ecoliteracy (it’s in Berkeley). The intensive was “Smart by Nature – Schooling for Sustainability – Systems Change and Leadership.”  That’s a lot to take in for a title.  In essence, educators and environmental leaders gathered to listen to many approaches to and experiences of incorporating environmental awareness, climate change and the systems in … Read More »