California Naturalists Course Syllabus

TEJON RANCH CONSERVANCY CALIFORNIA NATURALISTS COURSE SYLLABUS August 15th- September 13th, 2014

Instructors Dr. Mike White, Conservation Science Director

Scot Pipkin, Public Access Coordinator 661-248-2400, ext. 5 [email protected]

Course Requirements Attendance: The California Master Naturalist curriculum is a 40-hour course. Approximately 25 hours will be in-class and the remaining 15 will be in the field. Students will be able to make up one class session, but it is required that you attend all field trips.

Participation: Tejon Ranch Conservancy recognizes that everybody learns and shows comprehension differently. However, it is important for us to observe students engaging with the course material. Asking questions, adding (reasonable) comments, active note-taking, and group participation are all ways to participate effectively.

Course Fees: There will be a $100 fee associated with this class, which will go towards supporting the statewide California Naturalist effort. Scholarships are available if this will be a significant financial burden.

Continuing Education Units: Graduates from this course can apply to receive 4 units from UC Davis for an $85 fee. Interested parties can apply for credit after completing the course.

Required Texts: The California Naturalist Handbook by Greg de Nevers, Deborah Stanger Edelman and Adina Merenlender. Available from www.Amazon.com Supplemental handouts- See weekly itinerary for schedule of supplemental handouts

Homework: A set of questions will be assigned in relation to each week’s reading. Please be prepared to discuss these topics at the beginning of each lecture period. If instructors notice that the class comes unprepared for these discussions, we will require hardcopy answers each week.

Capstone Project: To prepare Master Naturalists for service, it is required that each student complete a capstone or volunteer service project. Participants are encouraged to work in teams when appropriate, and on the final night of class will make a final presentation on their project. Presentations will be 10 minutes long per person (30 minutes for a 3 person group, time allotted may vary due to group size, number of groups, etc.) and are to summarize the work that the group has done.

Service: Graduates of this course are encouraged to complete at least 40 hours of volunteer service each year. Criteria for California Naturalist volunteer service The activity needs to: - Relate to California’s natural or environmental cultural history - Occur in California - Be sponsored by an organization - Be unpaid

Each volunteer service activity should fit under one of these categories: Stewardship, Education/Interpretation, Citizen Science and Program Support. We will log these volunteer hours on the UC Volunteer Management System (VMS), which will be covered during the first day of class. Here is the link to the VMS: https://uccn.volunteersystem.org/UniversalLogin.cfm iNaturalist/Field Notebook: During field trips, students will be required to make observations on iNaturalist and/or spend time writing and sketching in their field notebook. www.inaturalist.org

Course Calendar This course will meet on five Fridays from 6-8:30pm and five Saturdays from 9am-5pm. For the Saturday courses, we will be spending the afternoon on Tejon Ranch, so make sure to bring a lunch, comfortable clothes to hike in, sturdy shoes, water, necessary field equipment (camera, binoculars, hand lens), and field journal

Meeting # Date Course Topic Expert Reading

8/15 1 Introduction Mike/Scot Ch. 1 (Fri)

8/16 Water Resources 2 Field Trip: Western Antelope Mike/Scot Ch. 3 (Sat) Valley Interpretation, 8/22 Communication, and 3 Scot/Jim Lowery? Ch. 8 (Fri) Collaboration

8/23 Geology, Soils, and Climate Dr. Vince Devlahovich 4 Field Trip: Beale Adobe/High Ch. 2 (Sat) Desert Hunt Club Dr. Sheri Spiegal? Global and Local 8/29 Environmental Issues: 5 Tom Maloney Ch. 7 (Fri) Conservation in the 21st Century

Conservation Biology 8/30 6 And land management Mike Ch. 5 (Sat) Field Trip: Monte Field

9/5 Supplemental 7 Cultural History Dr. Dave Whitley (Fri) Readings

9/6 Wildlife 8 Field Trip: Tejon Hills/Comanche Dr. Brian Cypher Ch. 6 (Sat) Point 9/12 9 Capstone Presentations YOU!! Ch. 4 (Fri)

9/13 Plant Communities 10 Neal Kramer (Sat) Field Trip: White Wolf