Issue 300 A Publication of the Docent Council, Martin Griffin Preserve of © August 2016 Life Underfoot By Gwen Heistand The soil is the great connector of our lives, the source and destination of all. Wendell Berry

I spent much of my youth in woods and fields, creeks and ponds, salt marshes and coastal strands of the northeast. There were times, especially in the spring, when I was so overcome by sunlight on dappled leaves and the smell of wet, fertile earth that I would throw myself into the leaf litter with wild abandon. I would dig down so my eyes were at the level of wild lily-of-the-valleys pushing up through the earth. I would burrow into moist patches of skunk cabbage, feeling mud ooze between my toes. I would insinuate myself among the roots of pale touch-me-nots, and spend hours popping seed pods – my own private firework display. I was part of everything and everything was new and old at the same time. And of course the longer I spent wrapped in moist leaves and soil, the more I saw. Eventually I would turn over and the view of upwardly mobile plants shifted to earthworms and pillbugs, spiders and beetles, tiny hoppers and bright red mites going about their business. An old magnifying glass opened up an even smaller world … life teeming underfoot.

Even the name given to the soil and leaf litter environment is laced with the promise of discovery – the cryptoshpere – the hidden world. Some folks have called it the poor man’s rainforest, indicating the magnitude of species diversity and all we don’t know. Leonardo DaVinci said back in the early 1500’s, We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than about the soil underfoot.

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A Look at What’s Inside Fall

The Co-Presidents’ Ranch Guides Have Special Needs Kids Fall Kit & Trail Days More Dispatches from A Refresher on the Page News! Visit MGP Are Coming the Road Newest MGP Docents Otherwise known as Not only news, but Pamela Gach saw a And to whet your Aimez-vous les Before a new class Diary of Docent new officers! Read need and dove in to appetite, a very choses francaise? takes shape, we bring Recruitment! all about the season fill it. Now kids with detailed schedule is Don’t miss Lydia you the last bios from that just ended. special needs have a provided. Mendoza’s photo the Class of 2015. Page 2 program, too. essay. Page 3 Page 6 Pages 16, 17 Page 4 Page 11

1 THE HERON Co-Presidents’\ Report: Docent Recruitment Class of 2017 - Diary and Update By Mary Lee Bronzo and Karla Kelly

By the time you read this article our recruiting efforts will have ended with the start of training on September 7th. It’s been a long journey, a type of treasure hunt as it were, and one that involved most of docent community and many ACR staff members.

Let’s take a deep breath and look back over the last several months. Ten months ago we (Karla Kelly and Mary Lee Bronzo) met with Maureen Lynch and Pattie Litton, the team that recruited the wonderful Docent Class of 2015. Maureen and Pattie generously provided us with their materials, methods and advice to help prepare for the efforts ahead. Further meetings with Wendy Coy (ACR Communications Manager), Gwen Heistand and Yvonne Pierce helped develop an early plan and things were put into motion.

October – December Several meetings and emails during these months resulted in the development of recruiting materials that would feature ACR’s new logo and relect our new mission. We collaborated with Wendy Coy, who designed and wrote the text for web site pages, business cards, lyers, and a brochure. We created a new application for docent training that Yvonne posted on ACR’s website.

January – March Wendy and Gwen introduced us to Ron Berchin from the Bouverie Preserve and we planned “The Day in a Life of a Docent” video. Several times Ron came to MGP to ilm docents and school groups. We distributed our new recruiting materials at meetings and mailed a set of brochures, lyers, and business cards to all active docents. Eileen and Gwen designed a Power Point slide show to use for recruiting that told the history of ACR and explained docent training. We decided to follow Bouverie’s model of having several Recruitment/Information Days throughout the Spring and Summer. Dates were chosen and published in all of the new recruiting materials. The Training Committee, headed by Paul Koski, Erica Posner, and Lydia Mendoza, provided “Point People” who took responsibility for recruiting in different areas around the Bay and helping with recruitment hikes. MGP Public season began and the Ranch Guides passed out recruiting materials and talked to visitors about volunteer opportunities.

April – August We received many names of potential trainees from docents, other friends of ACR, online registration and guests to MGP. MGP hosted 8 Docent Recruitment/Information Days. Some days were well attended, some were not. Gayle Cahill created a reminder post card for us to use before recruiting hikes. Jeanette Carr, Joyce Grifin and Beverlee Johnson made several presentations in Marin. In June, we were interviewed on Peter Asmus’s KWMR radio show. We said many positive things about MGP and what it’s like to be a docent. In July, Michael Ellis mentioned our school program and docent training on Michael Krasny’s Forum program.

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2 AUDUBON CANYON RANCH Ranch Guide News by Cheryl Dajczak, Ranch Guide President

It’s hard to believe, but we came to the end of our microscope hooked up to a computer screen. We first Public Season at Martin Griffin Preserve since had a very successful series of special programs 2013. Our Ranch Guides, and other wonderful designed to bring in the local community, including volunteer Hosts, provided a warm welcome and nature yoga and a Little Folkies musical program for educational guidance to our public visitors on every families with small children. Conservation Science weekend from April 2 through July 31. Although we talks on a variety of interesting topics, given by local didn’t have the numbers that we were used to when experts, also drew new people to the preserve, some the nesting egrets were the draw, we still had of whom then lingered to talk to Ranch Guides or enough visitors to make it fun and worthwhile. take a walk on one of the trails. Some Ranch Guides Here’s a little recap of what we were up to on those offered guided hikes and one Ranch Guide offered Public Season weekend. nature sketching instruction out in the field. I think we worked out some good ideas to carry forward to We had a Ranch Guide station at the Clem Miller next year. Overlook – a place where almost all of our visitors stop to spend some time looking through the Speaking of next year, we need to increase our spotting scopes and talking about the birds and Ranch Guide numbers so that we can better cover other fauna that they see. We had a station at the weekend shifts for our next public season. To Monday/Tuesday ponds for most of the season, that end, there will be a Ranch Guide training where we shared our observations of some very program starting in early 2017. So, spread the word unusual newt shedding and discoloration. (If to all of those nature-loving people out there that you’ve been reading Gwen’s preambles, you know may be itching to get involved! all about this. If you haven’t been reading them, you As you may know, this is the last Heron article I’ll be might want to!) And we had a Ranch Guide in our writing as the President of the Ranch Guide Council. wonderful Curiosity Room in the Bourne House, I’m very happy to report that we voted in a new where we introduced ourselves and our visitors to President and Vice-President of the Council at our the wonderful world of tiny pond life, which we end-of-season Ranch Guide meeting on July 30th. could view much bigger than life, thanks to a Ellen Thomas is our new President and Allison Huey has accepted the role of Vice-President. I think they will both be great in their roles and I look forward to helping them in any way I can, as they offer their considerable enthusiasm for ACR and their creative energy to the Ranch Guide program. Send them a note to congratulate them, if you get a chance!

Image from cliparts.co

3 THE HERON MGP Inaugurates Hikes for Students With Special Needs

By Pamela Gach

MGP is now offering hikes to 4th and 5th graders with special needs. As a special education teacher for 15 yrs. I have adapted many of our MPG materials for use by this population. Last May a class of eight students from Santa Venetia Valley school in San Rafael inaugurated our new specialized school program.

During our school visit, docent Doug Cook and I showed the students an adapted and abbreviated slideshow. I am happy to report they wanted to see more! For the classroom activity, we did “Create a Creature” as a whole classroom activity. Each child made a unique, sparkling, feathered and bejeweled creation that they were proud of. The teacher then displayed them in the classroom.

The following week the class came to ACR for a day at the preserve. We started the day with the song” Going on a Bird Hunt” and then went to the Bird Hide. JeanAn Sprague was the second docent that day, and took a group of four students plus four adults to the Monday/Tuesday ponds and then to Clem Miller outlook. JeanAn felt the kids even wanted to hike more! I followed with the next four students plus three adults. Of course, like all our student visitors, the kids loved the newts.

I believe that more special education classes will sign up for the fall hiking season. I welcome docents that may be interested in this population, to contact me, Pamela Gach, with questions, or come shadow either a classroom visit or hike or just join me in bringing the outdoors of the preserve to this deserving student population.

4 AUDUBON CANYON RANCH

Docent Volunteers Needed! The School Program Committee needs a person or team to take on the job of sending out the Teacher Packets before each hiking season.

What’s involved? Basically, each teacher receives a cover letter, a copy of the Teacher Planning Checklist, a Group Hike Form, a set of color-coded name labels, and a set of color-coded index cards. Teachers who are new to our program also receive an unbound copy of the Teacher Manual. The Packets are sent via US Mail to the schools and, if there are two classes coming from the school, both sets of materials are sent in one envelope.

Margie Guggenhime has done this vital job for many years and she is stepping down so Fall 2016 will be her final season. If you are interested in stepping into this position, please contact Joan Turner at [email protected] for additional information.

Highlights of the Annual Meeting Quinton Martins, ACR’s new Wildlife Ecologist, spoke about our “Mountain Lion Project” at the Annual Docent Council Meeting in June. We learned how important these top predators are to the health and conservation of our ecosystem. With this project, Quinton and his team of skilled volunteers and staff will be tracking the movement of these large cats, to understand and determine their role in the Sonoma County area. The project has already generated lots of local interest as well as financial support.

MGP’s Docent Council also celebrated several important milestones : new name tags for docents who have been active for 5 years and certificates (artfully rendered with Jane Ferguson’s calligraphy ) for folks that have been active for 15, 25, 35 and 45 years. Special recognition in the form of Poppy crowns were given to our two 45 year members : Joan Breece and Jane Ferguson. We named them our “Flower Girls” for the day.

Also notable that day was a list on the reverse side of the day’s agenda that included the names of the staff and volunteers who allow our MGP School Program to thrive - there are over 100 names! Thousands of hours have been put into this wonderful program.

Judy Allen, MGP librarian for more than 20 years, announced her retirement at the meeting. Her services have been much appreciated by generations of docents.

5 THE HERON School Program Committee News & Notes Fall 2016 Come one, come all! Fall Kit & Trail Days are scheduled for Friday, September 9 or Thursday, September 15, 2016 in Picher Canyon. The agenda below is packed with lots of important and interesting information to help you get ready for the upcoming fall season. Please call Leslie at 415-868-9244 (Ext. 110) by September 2 and let her know which day you will attend. Goodies to share are always welcome.

9:00 - 9:30 Coffee, tea and goodies 9:30 - 9:35 Welcome and Review of the Day Jeanette Carr (September 9) Joan Turner (September 15) 9:35 - 10:00 First Aid Updates Eileen Shanahan 10:00 - 10:20 Fall Classroom Slide Show Susan Moritz (September 9) Patty Blanton or Ann Howard September 15) 10:20 - 10:30 Update on Trail Bins Mary Lee Bronzo (September 9) Susie Nelsen (September 15)

10:30 - 10:45 Break 10:45 - 11:00 Water Quality Testing Trail Activity Overview Eileen Shanahan

11:00 - 11:15 What About Those Yellow Newts? Gwen Heistand 11:15 - 11:20 Morning Wrap-up Jeanette Carr (September 9) Joan Turner (September 15) 11:20 - 12:00 Rotating Sessions - 10 Minutes Each: Spiders & Insects Classroom Activity Jane Ferguson (September 9) JeanAn Sprague (September 15) Using Close Focus Binoculars on the Patti Blumin (September 9) Trail Beki Simon (September 15)

Testing the Water Eileen Shanahan

12:00 - 12:30 Lunch Break (Bring Your Own) 12:30 - 1:30 Hike the Trails On your own, or with Mary Lee (September 9) or Susie (September 15)

✤ Be sure to stop by the Horse Trough in Garden Club Canyon to learn about JeanAn’s technique for catching newts. Joan Turner will be in the Display Hall if you want to review fall kit activities for the classroom ✤ This will be our first fall season since Picher Canyon re-opened and a new experience for docents from the newest class. We’ll get the latest news about safety and first aid (tick bites, poison oak, and stinging nettle encounters), new trail activities, newts, and the state of Monday/Tuesday Ponds. Remember that the School Program Committee is there for you. Please let me know if you have questions or suggestions. I hope that you all have a wonderful fall season in the classroom and on the trails! Joan Turner, School Program Committee Chair ([email protected]).

6 AUDUBON CANYON RANCH Joyce’s Corner By Joyce Griffin Greentop — August

There is a tiny log cabin with a green top nestled in the Sierras near a lake that allows four of our family the privilege of spending a long weekend there, once every August. The first August weekend this year was that special time, away from blaring trumpets and tweety cell phones, where only song birds, chipmunks, stellar jays and osprey call to us throughout the days. Osprey circle the lake for a fishy breakfast, lunch, dinner, and then retreat toward their nest to ward off advancing vultures, ravens. Songbirds chirp from aspen; the sun rises through the trees across the water.

An early swim in the lake and a long hike to the ridge tops keeps us excited and moving. After a leisurely morning meal on the deck overlooking the lake, Marty and Carol walk among the wild giant hyssop (four ridges), corn lily, sulphur flower patch, angelica clusters, san boca, pennyroyal mountain mint, red-twig dogwood — stolonifera, mountain spiraea, alpine willow, Sierra laceflower, abies magnifier or red fir, cottonwood, lodgepole pine, mountain white pine, a larger variety of silver pine, incense cedar, jeffrey pines with fragrant vanilla bark— we wander in a jeffrey belt. The soil dry and blossoms gone, their evidence still a pleasure. We dampen the fact there are few insects.

Joanie and I fill our thermal cups with strong fresh coffee, her backpack with apple, orange, grapes and nuts and set out for the longer hike to the upper lakes. Little shih tzu Sophie has to stay behind this time. We reference our familiar Mt Tam as we climb, sort the names of plants along the trail—spent Solidago californica— goldenrod, light veined shin leaf, ferns along the creeks. Lobb's buckwheat’s pink puff surprises us with its bright flower popping out between the rocks; we found it to be the only blossoming plant we saw at altitude, so we stop for our morning snack. Solace reminds us the joy of hiking remains ubiquitous, yet the fresh experience of a Sierra hike mocks the heart unique.

Greentop shrinks as the weekend whizzes and we leave our repast to a memory until next year; however, the connections to a long ago childhood pop up and hang like fresh blossoming buckwheat throughout the year to come. I’ll share some of those memories next time.

Everyone, we hope, knows by now that honeybees are in swift danger of being gone forever, unless we change our ways. The major danger is glyphosate — systemic herbicides and pesticides. Glyphosate comes as Roundup and gobs of new names each season on the grocery and pharmacy shelves. Clever new names hide the fact they are killers of everything, a great danger to all— people, children, insects, especially honeybees, which we depend on for pollinating our foods. Most of us no longer use such toxic methods to control our household gardens, as we have learned that death to honeybee pollinators states that we humans will follow.

One of the ways to encourage the return of bees is to have a hive or two in our own yard. If half the homeowners had their own hives, we could not only educate our friends and neighbors to stop the use of glyphosate and Roundup, but conquer the problem of honeybee and other pollinator loss.

Did you know that in the early days of ACR (1970’s) we had honeybee hives in Volunteer Canyon monitored by our resident naturalist and eager docents, who cared also for their own hives at home? Perhaps their days could come again?

7 THE HERON MGP Docent Training Begins in September By Paul Koski

Training new MGP docents requires a lot of preplanning and work prior to the beginning of the first class. For the past 10 months the MGP Docent Training Committee has met together and in smaller groups getting ready for the 2016-17 docent training class. The job could not be done without dedicated experienced docents volunteering time and effort to accomplish the myriad tasks needed to launch a successful training program. The Docent Training Committee is composed of more than 20 such inspired docents. The committee kept communications open with ACR staff, the Docent Council, the Recruitment Committee and the School Program Committee to insure we all were aware of important developments and scheduling.

The planning for the training program began with reviewing best practices and feedback from the previous training class, revising classes or speakers where needed, seeking suggestions from Bouverie training and discussing and implementing new ideas. The schedule of training classes follows topics as in previous classes with minor adjustments to dates and some speakers. The first of the 23 class sessions will be on Wednesday September 7, 2016 and continue on Wednesdays through February 2017 with breaks for holidays. The training is comprehensive and designed to provide new docents with information and skills needed to become successful docents. The program covers a broad spectrum of topics and activities including natural and cultural history focused on , practical training in working with students and other docents at MGP. Trainees become familiar with MGP staff and ACR organization and how they fit into the bigger picture while having a great time along the way. New docents will find that they have great opportunities to participate not only as docents for students visiting MGP but also to participate and contribute in ways they find rewarding and valuable to others.

The upcoming class will emphasize mentoring new docents throughout the training program. As in previous years, the class participants will be paired with experienced docents who will communicate individually to help discuss concerns, guide participation and provide support during the training process. In addition a group of mentors will be available after some class sessions to aid new trainees in demonstrating how information presented in the class session can be used on the trail with students. The mentoring will also include shadowing current docents in school visits and trail hikes to ensure trainees are prepared and confident to begin their volunteer work as MGP docents in the spring of 2017. Gwen and Eileen along with Julia Clothier are planning a special mentor training day scheduled for August 25, 2016 to better prepare current docents to serve as individual and trailside mentors.

The docent recruitment committee led by Karla Kelly and Mary Lee Bronzo has done a great job in identifying prospective docents. Thanks to everyone who has done their part to get the word out about the training. The majority of new MGP docents are friends, acquaintances or otherwise recruited by current docents. If you know of someone who you believe would make a good docent, please forward their contact information to Karla or Mary Lee.

The docent training committee is ready, the presenters are ready and the docent binders are ready. Committee co-chairs Lydia Mendoza, Erica Posner and Paul Koski are looking forward to kicking off the training program in September. The next class of docents will receive the information and support needed to become successful MGP docents.

8 AUDUBON CANYON RANCH Teacher Feedback Results for Spring 2016 By Mary Lee Bronzo We wouldn’t get them without you!

As class chair you know the drill on hiking day. Sign the white board, set up the equipment, go to the preamble, get the feedback form and fill in the names of the docents at the top. Clutching your backpack, water bottle, bandana flag and the feedback form, you hope the bus won’t be late. Finally, the bus comes and you climb on to welcome the kids and teachers to the preserve. As for the feedback form, you give it to the teacher and whisper in her ear,(over the noise of the excited kids) “Please fill this in and mail it back, it really helps us improve our program.”

And this year spring 54 classes visited MGP and 33 teacher mailed in their feedback forms, a 61% return rate. Thank you! This is one of the best return rates that we’ve ever had.

Reviewing the forms and tallying the information gives the preserve staff the statistics they need for grant writing and the Docent School Program committee the information needed for program evaluation.

The bus scholarship, quality of our program and benefits for the students inspire teachers to apply for this field trip over and over again. They love our program and docents! Here are a few of the feedback form questions followed by teacher responses.

In what ways did your students benefit from their visit? They learned respect for their natural environment. The hands-on experiential learning was awesome! Exposure to the outdoors was wonderful, many of my students don’t have this. They had the opportunity to see land conservation. Engaging real life observations of animals in different food chains. Being with knowledgeable, enthusiastic docents.

What was the most memorable part of the trip? Many students said, “the alone walk.” Catching, holding and observing the newts! The kids asking questions. Seeing students thrive and immerse themselves in the natural environment. Seeing their science lessons in action. So much of what these students know of the outside world they see only in books, movies, and video games.

All the feedback forms and the report of the Feedback form results can be found in the OVC workroom filing cabinet. You’ll find the teachers’ comments very interesting.

9 THE HERON \ Someone told the wild geese It was time to go Though the fields lay golden Something whispered- “Snow’ Leaves were green and stirring Berries, luster-glossed, But beneath warm feathers Something cautioned-“Frost”. All the sagging orchards Steamed with amber spice But each wild breast stiffened At remembered ice. Something told the wild geese It was time to fly Summer sun was on their wings, Winter in their cry.

Rachel Field

For more than 20 years, Audubon Canyon Ranch has been organizing an annual trip to the Central Valley of California to witness the majesty and the mystery of the migration of millions of waterfowl from their breeding grounds in the far north to the winter places they have visited for millennium. Since 1994, the trip has been lead by the father and daughter team of John and Sara Klobas. John is a natural teacher, a wonderful storyteller, and an incredible birder. Sara, a graduate of the UC Davis Environmental biology program, has the most acute eye for birds, and can identify both males and females on the wing at twilight! The trip, offered the first weekend in December, is historically called the Grey Lodge trip, although Grey Lodge is not always among the destinations. The trip goes where the action is, from the Consumnes River reserve in the south to LLano Seco unit of the Sacramento National Wildlife preserve in the north, from a Winters cemetery to the Nimbus fish hatchery, from the Davis sewage treatment ponds to the Eisenberg Crane reserve. In the past, the trip was both Saturday and Sunday, with an overnight stop at the Golden Pheasant Inn, or Granzella’s, and a festive Saturday night group dinner. For the past several years, the trip has been Saturday only, which permits Sara, who is now the mother of two, to attend. Last year she brought her adorable 4 year old son Evan, who was the among the highlights of the trip. We are planning this year for the weekend of December 3 and 4. John and Sara will scout the route, and we will hope to see wood ducks, Phainopepla, Otters, Bald Eagles, burrowing owls, Eurasian Wigeon, blue winged teal, and an infinite variety of other surprises. When we meet on the first morning, John always asks the group what they would like to see; and often he can produce it for us! I always ask to see a Partridge in a Pear Tree, because this weekend starts the festive season for me, full of joy and wonder! If you are interested in joining us for the 22nd offering of the Grey Lodge trip, please call me at 510 547-2153, or e mail me at lizsterns @yahoo.com.

10 AUDUBON CANYON RANCH Dispatches From the Road By Lydia Mendoza

While hiking one day in late 2015 with ACR docent Eric Watterud, I was intrigued by his recounting of a wonderful inn-to-inn trip he and his wife Lisa had taken in Provence earlier that fall. Eric painted images of vineyard-studded countrysides, of perched stone villages, of poppy- Approaching Gordes adorned fields, of delicious lunches and dinners in open-air cafes, of comfortable rural inns...in short, of Peter Mayle’s A Year In Provence. My husband Henry and I followed in Eric and Lisa’s footsteps this past May, venturing to Provence’s Luberon Valley east of Avignon. From there, armed with maps, field notes, sun hats, and daypacks, we headed out on our six-day, village-to-village hiking adventure. We hiked Lydia amidst the roughly 8 to 10 miles a day. poppies of Provence near Lacoste As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. The photos included portray the trip that Henry and I took in May of 2016. If you would like more information regarding our “Walk in Provence”, please email me at [email protected] or Eric Watterud at [email protected].

Abbeye de Senanque near Gordes

Dining at Chez Dominique in Fontaine de Vacluse

The streets and structures of Lacoste 11 THE HERON

Library Notes By Anne Montgomery

At the Docent Council Annual Meeting on June 14, Judy Allen announced her retirement as the MGP Librarian and turned over the keys to the library to me. Judy was the librarian for 22 years and did a stellar job of building and maintaining our excellent library collection. She has been “showing me the ropes” at the library for the past several years and she will be missed!

Here are some new acquisitions at the library:

New DVDs :

Symphony of the Soil, A Documentary is an artistic exploration of the complex and dynamic nature of soil. Filmed on 4 continents, it features scientists, farmers and ranchers and highlights possibilities of healthy soil creating healthy plants creating health humans living on a healthy planet.

Becoming California: Environmental Change on America’s Western Edge is a powerful exploration of our past, present and future relationship with California’s changing environment.

Books:

“One Wild Bird At A Time: Portraits of Individual Lives” by Bernd Heinrich. Acclaimed scientist and naturalist Heinrich details his close, day-by-day observations of individual wild birds.

When Mountain Lions are Neighbors: People and Wildlife Working It Out in California by Beth Pratt-Bergstrom. Explores the evolving dynamic between humans and animals including inspiring stories.

Coyote America: a Natural and Supernatural History by Dan Flores. Both an environmental and a deep natural history of the coyote, tracing the five- million-year-long biological story of an animal that has become the wolf in our backyards, as well as its cultural evolution from a preeminent deity in Native American religions to the hapless foil of the Road Runner.

Patterns in Nature: Why the World Looks the Way It Does by Philip Ball. Explores not only the math and science but also the beauty and artistry behind nature’s awe-inspiring designs.

Foraging California: Finding, Identifying, and Preparing Edible Wild Foods in California by Christopher Nyerges. Organized by plant families, this book is an authoritative guide for nature lovers, outdoors enthusiasts, and gastronomes.

What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of Our Underwater Cousins by Jonathan Balcombe. Examines the fascinating means by which fishes gain knowledge of the places they inhabit. An eye-opening tour of the social, mental, and emotional lives of fishes.

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? by Frans De Waal. Reviews the rise and fall of the mechanistic view of animals and opens our minds to the idea that animal minds are far more intricate and complex than we have assumed.

Enjoy!

12 AUDUBON CANYON RANCH Hiking Group Plans Two Hikes This Fall by Lydia Mendoza

The monthly hiking group composed of docents (Bouverie and MGP), family and friends will resume this Fall. September 26th and October 24th are the hiking dates! If you would like to join the hikers, please let Lydia know at [email protected]. Below is a photo of last May's hike in Tilden Park.

Seeking A New Sequoia Chair Barbara Winter is longer able to serve as Sequoia Chair, so the Docent Council is seeking a new volunteer for the job. It is a fun job and Barbara reports that she enjoyed doing it for the past 2 years. The purpose of the Sequoia activities is to foster docents’ relationships to each other and to ACR. The job involves the following: • arranging for speakers for both the Semi-annual andAnnual Meetings • arranging enrichment events for docents such as museum visits, trip to Angel Island, special gardens, Alcatraz, and the like. It is your choice, but typically the focus is Art or Natural Science. • All docents are encouraged to suggest possible speakers and programs to the Sequoia Chair Please contact Barbara Winter at 415-435-8039 if you are interested.

13 THE HERON Co-President’s Report continued from Page 2 Wendy Coy arranged for many outreach announcements in a variety of media: ACR signed up for a regular spot in Bay Nature and docent training was highlighted in the spot. A print ad ran in the Light the week before August 20th. In August, a United Market Testimonial with a photo of docents and training information was printed in the Marin Independent Journal. A 15- second KQED spot aired multiple times during the weekend and week prior to the last Docent Recruitment hike on August 20th. ACR joined the Marin Convention and Visitors Bureau. This allowed us to post our events on their online calendar and share information about our public events and docent training.

Press releases were sent out to all major Bay Area outlets. An underwriter’s ad ran on KWMR (Bolinas, Stinson, Pt. Reyes, San Geronimo Valley, and streaming) 2 times a day for 4 weeks in August. Timely information was posted on the ACR web and Facebook site. Peter Young posted information to the MGP docent list serve as well as “The Day in a Life of a Docent” You Tube video link.

September At submission of this article we do not know the inal number of committed trainees that we will have at our irst training class on September 7th. Our hope is that at least 20 individuals will be treating themselves to the wonderful journey of discovery that unfolds over the next 6 months of training. We went on a glorious treasure hunt and we found some wonderful treasures! We look forward to welcoming this new group to our MGP community.

Thank you, thank you everyone for all your ideas, enthusiasm and work to help with recruiting these last several months!

Docent Dues are payable as of July 1 each year.

YOUR NAME: ______

ALL CONTRIBUTIONS ARE VOLUNTARY. Choose your MGP docent category if you’d like to contribute. Add ACR membership if you’d like to take advantage of those additional benefits.

o MGP Docent o MGP Docent o MGP Docent o ACR Member TOTAL ACTIVE ASSOCIATE SUSTAINING k ANNUAL ENCLOSED $25 $25 $25 $35 $

CLIP AND MAIL THIS FORM AND YOUR CHECK TO: GAIL BERGER, 1355 8TH AVENUE SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94122

14 AUDUBON CANYON RANCH

Save the Date!

The Annual Wreath Making Event for Docents will be on December 2 in Volunteer Canyon from 9 am until 2 p.m.

Ane Carla Rovetta teaches this Delightful Holiday Gathering! We each depart with a beautiful and unique wreath (or two) made from greens gathered the day before in the canyon. More Holiday Spirit is included as we share a delicious potluck lunch. The cost is $25.00 and the class is limited to 25. A formal announcement will be sent via the list serve with instructions as to how to sign up.

Questions? Email [email protected] or call 510-227-0833.

In the deep fall don’t you imagine the leaves think how comfortable it will be to touch the earth instead of the nothingness of air and the endless freshets of wind? —from Song for Autumn, Mary Oliver

15 THE HERON

LESLIE CURCHACK creates a calendar called In Love With Earth because she is in love with Earth. This late in life love affair started after her early upbringing in Brooklyn, NY, four years of college in Vermont, and then a year in India where she began the study of Indian classical music. An MA in English Literature for two years in Wisconsin preceded the migration to California where she attended the Ai Akbar College of Indian Classical Music for fifteen years, teaching and performing on sitar. A detour to Dallas for five years led to an MA in Counseling Psychology which she put into practical use back in Petaluma at elementary schools, at Hospice of Petaluma, and in private practice. She is still an active Marriage and Family Therapist. Along the way, she raised 2 children and had a successful divorce after sixteen years of marriage. And, finally, she began to connect with the natural world in a more intimate way through photography, as well as being inspired by teachers of ecological principles such as Thomas Berry and Joanna Macy. When a granddaughter was coming into the world five years ago, Leslie decided to put her photographic art into a calendar which would inspire with the visual beauty of Nature, and also be a vehicle for messages pointing towards a more balanced and resilient relationship with our precious home planet. The training at ACR is a perfect opportunity for her to become a more informed naturalist, learning details and facts to enhance her enthusiasm, and to have a way to extend this learning and feeling to young people who will inherit the future.

CAROL CAMPBELL spent her first 22 years of life in Berkeley, CA. After has enjoyed a whole checkerboard of professional work that has been challenging, interesting and wonderful. Some of those experiences were once in a lifetime opportunities like being the Director of International Participation for the Philadelphia Bicentennial celebration and hosting an event a million people attended. Others were varied: being corporate manager of manufacturing, public relations and events for fashion designer Oleg Cassini in New York, finding sponsorship for Rosie Casals’ Professional Tennis Circuit, editing and marketing Runners World magazine, starting her own Dance Exercise company in New York and being a board member of a professional circus school. All of these were inspiring and challenging but the most challenging was raising two daughters and helping them to learn how to navigate through their world at every age. Having been a teacher (K thru Univ. level) athletic coach (HS and Univ. level) and team member herself gave her some experience in being empathetic, resourceful and helpful, for learning to make life choices, developing a sense of self and creating a positive learning environment. She was able to use these skills within the confines of the public schools and was given many opportunities to be a part of the growing program development in Marin. She has always loved seeing the spark in the eyes of children who are excited to learn more and what better way to see this than in the world of nature. Most of her wonder about life began with the many facts of life she learned growing up on a farm in Texas. It is exciting being re-exposed to all the many aspects of nature that she has now known since graduate school ecology classes.

16 AUDUBON CANYON RANCH

KATHLEEN FLETCHER

has been involved in education for many years. After graduating from UCLA with a major in American History, she took a "fifth year" to get her teaching credential from UCLA and then taught fourth and fifth grades in Southern California for six years. After leaving Southern California and moving to Marin County, she furthered her education, by pursuing a Masters degree in nonprofit administration (MNA) at the University of San Francisco. She became involved with the Institute for Nonprofit Organization Management (INOM) at USF and worked there on various projects. Still desiring further education, she pursued a doctoral degree (EdD) from USF's School of Education, completing that degree in 2002. At USF she taught classes as an adjunct faculty member to graduate students in the Master of Nonprofit Administration program for many years. Her major areas of expertise were board development, strategic planning, and program evaluation. She developed a consulting practice with nonprofits in the Bay Area, primarily in Marin County. Afrer retiring from USF in 2003 Kathleen has been pursuing new directions, including consulting with Marin County nonprofits in her areas of expertise. Taking part in the docent training program at ACR has put her back in touch with her elementary school teaching. She is looking forward to sharing the knowledge she is gaining with the fourth and fifth graders who come to ACR--it's a great age. She very much appreciates the knowledge she is gaining and the involvement with her fellow trainees and the current docents. Thank you for this opportunity and for this incredible program.

JOCELYN KNIGHT

was born in San Francisco and moved to Marin with her family, living in Tiburon when the trains still ran and Blackie the horse was still standing in his pasture at Trestle Glen. As a child she went on nature walks with beloved Mrs. Terwilliger. Growing up in Tiburon with a horse to ride the (then) open hills kept her in the wild places every day. With a love of all creatures, open spaces and wilderness, she spent her youth going to Stinson Beach, camping, riding and hiking all over California. Photography became an obsession at 19, that inspired a BA in Journalism with emphasis in Photography and she started her free-lance business, Jocelyn Knight Photography in 1981.Jocelyn married her college sweetheart and fellow photographer James Cacciatore in 1984, raised two great nature-loving kids now in their twenties, a menagerie of pets, same wonderful home in Marin for 30 years. Jocelyn has earned a Certificate in Early Childhood Education and taught in an Art and Music program at Hawthorne Preschool, and spent 8 years assistant teaching tap and ballet to preschoolers at Happy Feet Dance School, as well as being staff photographer. As a graduate of Environmental Forum of Marin in 2009, she met Dr. Martin Griffin, her hero, started volunteering photo services for EFM, and became even more dedicated to finding a way to get actively involved with ACR. When family friend Biologist Phyllis Ellman’s (she was instrumental in saving Ring Mountain in Tiburon) memorial was held at Bouverie Preserve in Sonoma, she started volunteering photography services for ACR. Going on the Juniper hikes at Bouverie Preserve to photograph the kids for the program, covering events for ACR, including the amazing overnight program at Martin Griffin Preserve, exposed her to the fantastic community of docents, and students filled with awe and wonder.

17 THE HERON Life Underfoot continued from Page 1 And this might still be true. The sheer numbers are mind-blowing, the diversity and habits of creatures are fascinating, and the potential for discovery may be unrivaled by any other habitat on earth. And yet it might be argued that we’ve spend more time and money studying small patches of the moon and Mars than exploring the subterranean habitat of our own planet.

So … get the kids to start … Have them mark out a square meter with their bodies (a kid on each corner works). As they observe the space they’ve marked off – let them know their one square meter, just a few centimeters deep, can contain more organisms than all the humans that have ever lived. There can be up to 1 trillion (1,000,000,000,000) bacteria; 1 trillion protozoa; 10 million nematodes springtails & mites; 10 million insects; 12 thousand miles of fungal mycelia (half the circumference of the earth). And we’re not even talking about plant roots. (Of course the kids will probably want to know how many humans have ever lived. There are many ways to come up with a number, all of which depend on when we decide humans appeared on earth, average population at benchmark times, and birthrate between benchmarks. A number guestimated in 2002 with reasonable assumptions: 106,456,367,669.)

Aside: In talking about really big numbers with kids – it’s helpful to have some examples. If you count

backward: 1 million seconds = 12 days ago; 1 billion seconds = 31 years ago; 1 trillion seconds = 30,000 B.C. (or 32,000 years ago give or take a few decades). If you stack a trillion dollars worth of $1000 bills together, then: 1 million dollars = 4 inches high; 1 billion dollars = 364 feet high; 1 trillion dollars = 63 miles high. (Mount Everest, earth’s tallest mountain is 5 ½ miles high.) This is hard for kids to imagine. Heck, it’s hard for adults to imagine. Suffice it to say – there are a lot of organisms in the soil!

So … all this life and what’s going on? Decomposition, nutrient recycling, water retention, soil formation, life, death, birth, nitrogen fixation. Some organisms are shredders, some are predators or herbivores or fungivores or detritivores. Whatever they are, these small things living on the surface and just below the surface have co-evolved an amazingly efficient recycling system … One that has sustained life on Earth for over 3 billion years. And some of them are amazingly resilient. When the space shuttle Columbia broke up, canisters of nematodes (up there to study the effect of spaceflight on muscular atrophy) fell 25 miles at 650 mph and hit the ground with an impact 2,295 times the force of Earth's gravity. The worms survived.

And just think of those 12,000 miles of fungal mycelia in your square meter of soil. Paul Stamets, mycologist extraordinaire, has said, I believe that mycelium is the neurological network of nature. Interlacing mosaics of mycelium infuse habitats with information-sharing membranes. These membranes are aware, react to change, and collectively have the long-term health of the host environment in mind. The mycelium stays in constant molecular communication with its environment, devising diverse enzymatic and chemical responses to complex challenges. Stamets also promotes fungi as pollution remediation wizards that we have yet to utilize.

All of this, and we walk on it every day. And it’s really hard to study. Ask the kids how they would study it. It’s a conundrum. In order to see what’s there, we extract the life and once we’ve done that we’re really performing an autopsy on a small sample of soil and trying to gain a glimpse of what it might have looked like when it was functioning and connected. And then there’s the whole microbial loop. And what about the soil itself? Soil is a complex mixture of clay, silt, pebbles, and sand. If you have a minute or sixty, spend continues on next page

18 AUDUBON CANYON RANCH

Calendar of Events

September 2016

Date Day Time Event For Info/to sign up

7 Wed 9:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Training begins

9 Fri 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Autumn Training

13 Tues 9:30 a.m. - Noon MGP Docent Council Meeting

13 Tues 12:30 p.m. MGP School Program Committee Meeting

14 Wed 9:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Training

15 Thur 9:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Autumn Training

21 Wed 9:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Training

28 Wed 9:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Training

October 2016

5 Wed 9:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Training

11 Tues 9:30 a.m. - Noon MGP Docent Council Meeting

12 Wed 9:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Training

18 Tues MGP Docent Training Overnight begins

19 Wed 9:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Training

25 Wed 9:30 a.m.-2:00 p.m. MGP Docent Training

Life Underfoot continued from previous page some time looking into clay. Clay particles are structurally amazing. Think about this … A pinch of clay may have the same surface area as a baseball field. When dropped in water, a particle of sand falls about 1 inch per second. A particle of fine clay may take 200 years to fall the same distance! There is even the hypothesis that electrostatically charged surfaces of clay minerals served as primitive enzymes and provided the catalytic sites of Earth’s first biosynthesis. While we don’t have time dig ourselves and the kids into the forest floor and spend a couple hours just watching things crawl and grow, we can still give the kids a glimpse of some of the larger organisms by sifting through leaf litter and turning over logs (using proper log-turning etiquette of course!) Just getting them to think about all that’s going on in the hidden world of plant roots and feather-winged beetles and potato bugs and earthworms and decomposing leaves is important and really cool. They are walking (when it’s not on asphalt) on an incredible amount of life that is communicating, recycling, living, and dying, as well as supporting the rest of us while we do the same.

19 THE HERON MGP Docent Council Committees 2016-2017 Officers Advanced Docent Training: Jeanette Carr, Jan Co-Presidents: Mary Lee Bronzo, Karla Kelly Moffett Secretary: Beki Simon Docent Continuing Education: School Program Treasurer: Ann Howard Committee, Gwen Heistand, Eileen Shanahan Long Range Planning: Joan Turner Sequoia Docent Enrichment: Barbara Winter School Program (Chairs Only Noted At Press Time) Membership: Gail Berger Heron Newsletter: Mary Lee Bronzo, Gayle Cahill, Program Development and Evaluation: Karla Kelly, Beki Simon Joan Turner Nominating Committee: Beverlee Johnson Overnight Program: Patti Blumin, Sharon Dado Osher Volunteer Center: Leslie Doughty, Mary Scheduling: Susan Moritz Bicknell Kit and Trail: Patty Blanton, Linda Cantel (Kit); Outreach and Recruitment: TBD Susie Nelson (Trail); Anna-Marie Bratton (Curiosity Library: Anne Montgomery Room) Publicity & Webmaster: Peter Young New Class Representative: Beki Simon Docent Education and Activities Heron Mailing: Lois Patton New Docent Training: Paul Koski, Erica Posner, Lydia Mendoza

Next Heron Deadline: ☞ October 14, 2016

20 Remove peel and white pith from oranges. Working over a medium bowl to catch juices, use a sharp Black Rice knife to cut between membranes Salad With and release orange segments Mango & Peanuts into bowl. Squeeze membranes over bowl to release any juices. Strain juice through a fine-mesh sieve Black Rice into a small bowl reserve orange segments. Add 1/4 cup lime juice, oil, and fish sauce (if using) to Salad With bowl with orange juice; whisk to blend. Set dressing Mango & aside. 2 oranges Peanuts Bring rice and 2 3/4 cups water to a boil in a large 1 ¼ cup (or more) fresh saucepan. Season lightly with salt. Cover reduce lime juice heat to low and simmer until all liquid is absorbed and 2 T vegetable oil rice is tinder, about 25 minutes. Remove pan from 1 T fish sauce (optional) heat and let stand, covered, for 15 minutes. Spread 2 cups black (or forbidden) rice out rice on a rimmed baking sheet, drizzle with Kosher salt dressing, and season lightly with salt. Let cool. 2 just-ripe mangoes, peeled, pitted & cut in ½” dice

Ingredients 1 cup fresh cilantro leaves Place mangoes and remaining ingredients in a large 1 cup finely chopped red onion bowl. Add rice and toss gently to combine. Season ½ cup unsalted, ry-roasted peanuts lightly with salt and more lime juice, if desired. 6 scallions, thinly sliced from the kitchen of Diana Jorgensen

2 jalapeños, seeded & minced Directions

Corn Bread Pudding

Preheat over to 350 degrees.

Grease 9 x 13 baking dish. Corn Bread Beat eggs and then add sour cream, butter, Pudding corn and cornbread mix. Mix well and then pour into greased baking dish. Sprinkle grated cheese on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

2 packages Jiffy Cornbread mix Enjoy!! 1 14-oz can creamed corn 1 14 oz can corn From the kitchen of Marcia Phipps 2 cubes butter, melted 1 pint sour cream 2 eggs Ingredients 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated Directions