Golden Gate Audubon Society

Golden Gate Audubon’s monthly Speaker Series in San Francisco and Berkeley features renowned naturalists, photographers, ornithologists, authors, international travelers, and other fascinating speakers. To cover event costs, we ask non-members for a voluntary donation of $5. Non-members may attend for free if they join that evening. As always, GGAS members are welcome to attend free of charge. Locations are listed on the right side of this page.

Please note the new, EARLIER start time for our speaker programs in 2017! Doors open for refreshments at 6:30 p.m. and the speaker will start promptly at 7 p.m.

 

 

 

California Condor Recovery – A Personal Perspective

Richard Neidhardt
San Francisco: Thursday, August 17
6:30 p.m. refreshments, 7 p.m. program

NOTE UPDATED PROGRAM TOPIC!

The recovery of California Condors from near-extinction is one of the inspiring stories of American conservation. Richard Neidhardt will describe the California Condor Recovery Project’s past and present work restoring populations of this iconic raptor. He’ll also share his personal experiences working as a volunteer with the condor program at Pinnacles National Park.

Richard Neidhardt was born and raised in South Carolina. He grew up on a lake, obsessed with everything that crawled, hopped, slithered, swam or flew. This obsession has stayed with him throughout his life. After a 40-year career as a construction manager/estimator, Richard retired in 2009 and began volunteering with the Pinnacles condor program in 2010. Richard is a board member of the Pinnacles National Park Foundation, and serves as the chair of the Pinnacles Condor Fund. He is also a board member of the Morro Bay Winter Bird Festival, one of the largest bird festivals in the nation.

 

Unlikely Urban Environments

Ann Riley
Berkeley: Thursday, September 21
6:30 p.m. refreshments, 7 p.m. program

Over the past 30 years, the East Bay has pioneered a growing movement to restore very degraded riparian corridors, including digging up streams buried underground in culverts. These neighborhood-scale projects have produced unlikely wild areas with remarkable bird and wildlife use in the midst of densely populated cities.

Dr. Ann Riley is the author of Restoring Neighborhood Streams and was recently featured in the PBS show Urban Nature. She has worked as a river scientist for state agencies for over 25 years and was a cofounder of the Urban Creeks Council and California Urban Streams Partnership.