Flying over San Diego, you can see them: Fingers of green extending through neighborhoods all across the city. 

San Diego’s urban canyon’s serve as refuges for people and wildlife alike, but they’re also often isolated islands of habitat. This can keep animals from accessing the resources they need to survive. And human neighbors aren’t always able to access these spaces, either. 

In this episode, join me and Michelle Thompson as we search for reptiles in one of San Diego’s urban canyons, discuss what makes canyons special, and explore how the San Diego Natural History Museum is setting the foundation for the long-term health of these spaces. 

Links:

Healthy Canyons Initiative

Go on a FREE hike with the Canyoneers 

Want to help SD canyons? Email Michelle Thompson at: [email protected] 

1988 Michael Soulé Study 

Support Golden State Naturalist on ⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month. 

Follow me on ⁠Instagram⁠. 

My website is ⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠. 

Get podcast Merch. 

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found ⁠here⁠.

Episode cover photo provided by The San Diego Natural History Museum. 

What do oak trees, goldenrod, willows, and ceanothus all have in common? They all belong to the group of roughly 14% of plants supporting 90% of caterpillar species. 

In other words, they’re all keystone plants. 

Join me and Doug Tallamy as we discuss the vital role these plants play in their native ecosystems and how we can bring them home to welcome hundreds of species into our own yards. 

Helpful Links:

Doug’s books 

Calscape by The California Native Plant Society

Keystone Plants in Mediterranean California (National Wildlife Federation Resource) 

Homegrown National Park Map

Article: “The Illusion of a Trillion Trees”

Support Golden State Naturalist on ⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month. 

Follow me on ⁠Instagram⁠. 

My website is ⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠. 

Get podcast Merch. 

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found ⁠here⁠.
Episode cover photo by Parker Sturdivant.

What do fake rattlesnakes, California ground squirrels, odd eye bones, bubonic plague, bizarre choices in home decor, and regurgitated mouse bones have to do with burrowing owls? 

Join me and Phil Unitt as we venture into an urban canyon in San Diego to find out. 

Helpful links:

Phil Unitt’s page

Rattlesnake owl noise

Urban Burrowing Owls piece by Clinton Abbott

Fish and Wildlife page on burrowing owls

Secretary Bird video

Support Golden State Naturalist on ⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month. 

Follow me on ⁠Instagram⁠. 

My website is ⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠. 

Get podcast Merch. 

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found ⁠here⁠.

Episode cover photo by Ray Hennessy

The sea is rising, and I have a lot of questions.

Questions about sand movement, seawalls, nature-based climate solutions, ecosystem engineer plants, sand dunes, climate literature, and how we can harness the power of our collective imaginations to adapt to a changing world together.

Join me and environmental reporter Rosanna Xia at Point Dume in Malibu as we discuss my many questions and explore a beach that's been reimagined with the future in mind.

Links:

⁠Become a Heyday Member⁠ and receive a free copy of Rosanna’s book, California Against the Sea, when you add the code GOLDEN to the “How did you find us” section. 

⁠Grist’s climate fiction reading list⁠. 

Learn more about the Embarcadero from this ⁠Exploratorium walking tour⁠. 

Read more about ⁠Seattle’s living seawall⁠. 

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠ ⁠Patreon⁠⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month. 

Follow me on⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠⁠. 

My website is⁠ ⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠⁠. 

Get podcast ⁠Merch⁠. 

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠ ⁠here⁠⁠.Photo Credit ⁠Nikoloz Gachechiladze⁠

It's fall!

And all around the country, tidy piles of raked leaves rest on the corners of lawns, ready to be bagged up and thrown away.

But throwing away leaves means throwing away free mulch and fertilizer.

It also means throwing away habitat and belching methane into the atmosphere.

Join me and National Wildlife Federation naturalist David Mizejewski as we discuss the benefits of leaving the leaves, the harms of removing them, and the kind of abundance we can buoy right outside our doors by embracing the natural habitat building opportunities all around us.

Learn more about leaving the leaves.

Support Golden State Naturalist on ⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month. 

Follow me on ⁠Instagram⁠. 

My website is ⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠. 

Golden State Naturalist Merch

How is the story of tule elk tied to the story of California? What’s the difference between a grazer and a browser? Why do tule elk have such big feet? How much grazing is the right amount of grazing? Why do elk bugles sound like something straight out of a horror movie?  

Come with me and Orlando Rocha as we strike out in search of tule elk in the Grizzly Island Wildlife Area, and then join me and Tom Batter as we discuss the ecological importance of tule elk along with the ties between their story and the story of California. 

Historic range of California elk subspecies

Current (2017) range of California elk subspecies

Read more about Henry Miller, “the cattle king of California”

Thank you so much to Steve Shepard of The Natural Curiosity Project podcast for sharing the elk bugle audio. 

Tule Elk photo by Katie Booth / National Park Service

Support Golden State Naturalist on ⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month. 

Follow me on ⁠Instagram⁠. 

My website is ⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠. 

Merch 

Listen next: ⁠Central Valley Water and Wetlands with Ellen Wehr⁠ 

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. 

Some animals plod across roads without hesitation. Others dart across quickly, while still more freeze at the sight of an oncoming car. A final group avoids roads altogether. Four distinct approaches, yet roads can have devastating impacts on animals regardless of their type of response. 

Thankfully, wildlife crossings can help. 

Join me and award-winning author Ben Goldfarb as we explore a fragment of old growth oak woodland, discussing how roads impact the environment and imagining a future that’s safer and more connected for humans and wildlife alike. 

Make sure to check out Ben’s book, Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of Our Planet, available just about everywhere books are sold.

If you’d like to buy Crossings from The Bookery in Placerville, you can reach out to Heather and Darin via DM on Instagram @bookeryplacerville or give them a call at (530) 626-6454. If you’re quick, you may even get a signed copy! They also carry Ben’s first book, Eager: The Surprising, Secret Life of Beavers and Why they Matter. 

Helpful Links: 

Ben’s Website

California Crossings Map by the Wildlands Network 

Report roadkill hotspots with CROS (California Roadkill Observation System) 

Support Golden State Naturalist on Patreon and get perks starting at $4/month. 

Follow me on Instagram. 

My website is goldenstatenaturalist.com. 

Bird song recordings are from Xeno-Canto. The western bluebird recording, XC237281, is by Denise Wright, and the Creative Commons license can be found here. The wrentit recording, XC408459, is by Frank Lambert, and the Creative Commons license can be found here. 

by John Carrel License.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found here.

What are your top ten favorite California native species? 

Join me, Griff Griffith, and Michael Hawk as we joyously compile our collective top ten list (a veritable menagerie meets botanical garden) and discuss how we can help each species. 

Don’t forget to follow Nature’s Archive and Jumpstart Nature wherever you’re listening now.  

Learn more about the great work Jumpstart Nature is doing on their website. 

The cover photo is by Charles Hood, who is generously allowing me to use it for this episode.

Support Golden State Naturalist on Patreon and get perks starting at $4/month. 

Follow me on Instagram. 

My website is goldenstatenaturalist.com. 

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found here. 

Are coastal wetlands the same thing as estuaries? What about salt marshes? How can some plants grow in saltwater? Can I use them to salt my french fries? What’s an endangered river? Why do some birds build floating nests? Why should I visit nature that’s close to home? 

Join me and Empress Holliday as we explore the Tijuana Estuary to admire plants, gush over birds, and discuss everything from blue carbon to baby halibut.

Helpful Links:

⁠Divided Together Podcast⁠

⁠Tijuana Estuary (TRNERR) ⁠

⁠Endangered River⁠

⁠San Diego Coastkeeper⁠

You can find me on Instagram ⁠@goldenstatenaturalist⁠

My website is ⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠

Support GSN on ⁠Patreon⁠ (and be first to know about Cafe Ohlone tickets!)

The song is called "i dunno" by grapes and can be found ⁠here⁠.