Golden Gate Audubon’s monthly Speaker Series features renowned naturalists, photographers, ornithologists, and other fascinating speakers. Due to the impact of COVID-19, GGAS will be bringing our Speaker Series online! Expect our Speaker Series email alerts approximately one week before our scheduled online events. Our emails will have important details including our Zoom link and passcode. Our online Speaker Series has a first come, first serve sign in basis with a limit of 100 participants.
If you’d like to sign up for our monthly emails, including our Speaker Series email alerts, please email our Communications Manager, Melissa, at mramos@goldengateaudubon.org
Each of our online Speaker Series’ will begin at 7 pm. There is no cost to sign in to our online series, however, if you would like to make a donation to Golden Gate Audubon Society, please click here.
SFBBO Waterbird Research
Dr. Max Tarjan
Online: Thursday, July 16, 2020 at 7 pm
Learn about four decades of waterbird research and conservation in the San Francisco Bay Area! The San Francisco Bay Area offers important habitat for nesting and migratory birds at the center of the Pacific Flyway. This region also supports a large human population, and has lost an estimated 90% of historic tidal marsh habitat to urban development, industry, and agriculture. For four decades, the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory has worked with Bay Area citizens to study and protect the area’s remaining waterbirds and their habitats. These projects rely on rigorous data collection, citizen science, and local partnerships to understand bird habitat use and inform conservation actions.
Dr. Max Tarjan is the Waterbird Program Director at the San Francisco Bay Bird Observatory. Dr. Tarjan has over a decade of experience tracking the spatial movements and populations of birds and mammals in central California.
Human Populations and Birds
Hannah Evans
Online: Thursday, August 20, 2020 at 7 pm
Bird health and human health are deeply linked. As are the links between the impacts of climate change, poverty, marginalization, and population growth. In this talk, learn how population growth, the rise in carbon emissions and the impacts of U.S. foreign assistance policies have on global health. Hannah Evans will outline some of the ways that human growth and habitat destruction contribute to climate change, and how all three factors are affecting bird populations throughout California and in other regions.
Hannah Evans is interested in working with students, professors, and activists to promote positive social and environmental change. Hannah works with college-level students and professors to integrate population studies back into the mainstream, with a particular focus on human rights and social justice. She develops and gives comprehensive, solution-oriented presentations focused on the connections between global population growth, access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare, and environmental sustainability. Through an examination of some of the root causes of population growth, her work seeks to highlight the interconnections between poverty, marginalization, women’s rights, and environmental pressures made worse by climate change.
Wildlife and Wildfire: Animal Adaptations for a Dynamic Ecosystem
Lynn Schofield
Online: Thursday, September 17, 2020 at 7 pm
Wildfires are an important part of many ecosystems around the world. Fires provide an opportunity for new growth, to return nutrients to the soil, and to create a wholly unique type of habitat. Many species are adapted for these ever-changing systems, and they have developed a wide variety of strategies for making the best of the post-fire habitat. However, these systems exist in a delicate balance. Recently, forest fires have been increasing in size, intensity, and frequency due to human activities, and even fire-adapted species are struggling to keep up. In this talk we discuss how animals survive and thrive in a system defined by fire and what we can do to help protect the balance of these special ecosystems.
Lynn Schofield is a biologist for the Institute for Bird Populations. Her research covers a diversity of topics including bird migration, forest fire ecology, and wetland conservation. In addition to using her research to help inform effective conservation strategies, Lynn also works to help make connections with nature accessible to all. She is one of the core members of the Cal Falcons social media project, a frequent trip leader for the Bay Area chapter of the Feminist Bird Club and a long-time volunteer for the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory.
Audubon California - Tricolored Blackbird
Samantha Arthur
Berkeley
Thursday, January 17
6:30 p.m. refreshments,
7p.m. program
The Tricolored Blackbird is a colonial breeder that is nearly endemic to California. Historically, these birds bred on wetlands in the Central Valley. As a result of the loss of 90 percent of the wetlands, Tricolors increasingly nest in agricultural fields. When nesting and farmers’ harvest schedules conflict high proportions of the Tricolor population are put at risk. Tricolored Blackbirds were listed as a threatened species under the California Endangered Species Act in April 2018 due to sharp, ongoing population declines. In this presentation Conservation Project Director, Samantha Arthur, will discuss Audubon California’s multi-pronged approach to save the Tricolored Blackbird. This approach includes creating new wetland habitat, working with dairy farmers to delay harvest until after chicks have fledged from nests, and advocating for protections under the state and federal Endangered Species Acts.
Samantha Arthur is a Conservation Project Director for Audubon California, focusing on improving wetlands management for the benefit of bird species in the Central Valley. She also manages Audubon California’s campaign to save the Tricolored Blackbird.
Innovative Habitat Enhancement for Birds
Since 1997 Golden Gate Audubon has partnered with the Port of San Francisco to enhance shoreline wildlife habitat at Pier 94, located along the south eastern bay shoreline, on property owned and operated by the Port of San Francisco. After completing successful wetland and beach enhancement projects, in 2013 Golden Gate Audubon initiated habitat enhancements in the adjacent upland areas of Pier 94. Through creative partnerships and modest funding, Golden Gate Audubon mobilized materials, equipment, and people to transform a mostly barren area of shoreline rubble and road into a viable place for native plants and wildlife. This project is a model for beneficial sediment reuse – using clean local “waste” sediment from mining, dredging, and excavation projects for habitat enhancement rather than disposal
Mike Perlmutter is the Environmental Stewardship Team Supervisor for the City of Oakland Public Works Environmental Services Division. The Environmental Stewardship Team supports volunteer cleaning, greening, and beautification projects throughout City of Oakland public spaces such as parks, creeks, and rights of way. Mike holds a Bachelor’s of Science from Tufts University, and a Master’s of Environmental Management from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. Mike has worked in San Francisco Bay Area environmental conservation since 1998. His experience includes native plant and wildlife habitat restoration with the National Park Service, wildlife advocacy with the National Audubon Society, regional invasive plant management with the Bay Area Early Detection Network, and urban environmental stewardship with the City of Oakland.