Did you know that California's Central Valley once contained a vast inland sea and was home to camels,  400 lb. saber-toothed salmon, and tiny four-tusked mastodons? Or that, just a couple of hundred years ago, it was a network of wetlands, peat bogs, riparian forests, and shallow lakes? So how did this place that was once so defined by an abundance of water become somewhere marked by water-related controversy? 

Come along with me and Ellen Wehr as we discuss the history of this remarkable Valley, the wetlands that remain, and what we can do to both protect and coexist with the many species that still call the Central Valley home today. 

Links: 

Fossils! 

NatGeo on Estuaries 

NOAA Life in an Estuary 

Native Tules 

Nisenan Tribe 

Sinking Central Valley 

Wetlands of California's Central Valley (cool interactive map) 

You can find me on Instagram and Tiktok @goldenstatenaturalist

My website is www.goldenstatenaturalist.com

MERCH 

The theme song is called "i dunno" by grapes, and you can find it and the Creative Commons License here.