Speakers

Guest Speaker Chris Calonje will also be co-leading a shorebird walk at Arrowhead Marsh on September 2nd— click on the details button for more information.

When: Thursday July 20 7pm
Where: Zoom

Description: Offshore wind is an important part of the solution to meet California’s clean renewable energy goals, reduce our carbon pollution, and mitigate the worst outcomes of climate change. But offshore wind energy infrastructure may have negative
impacts on the marine environment, including seabird collision. Seabirds already face many challenges and we have the opportunity to plan ahead for California’s first two offshore wind projects to prevent collisions and protect our incredible diversity of seabirds. We’ll look at which seabirds are most vulnerable to collisions, what the risk of collision is based on offshore wind
farms around the world, and how we can prevent the worst impacts.

About Our Speaker

Whitney Grover, Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s Deputy Director, recently earned an M.S. inEnvironmental Management from USF with a concentration in Ecology. Her final Master’s Project, Offshore Wind Energy and Seabird Collision Vulnerability in California, reviewed and synthesized the current scientific literature, applying lessons learned from U.K. projects to California.

Photo: Keith Maley…

When: Thursday, August 17 @ 7pm

Where: David Brower Center (2150 Allston Way Berkeley) and Zoom

Description: On June 6, Berkeley’s City Council approved the Bay Area’s newest and strongest bird-safe building ordinance. Find out what this new ordinance means for buildings in Berkeley and learn how to make your home safer for birds.

About Our Speaker

Glenn Phillips, Golden Gate Bird Alliance’s Executive Director holds a masters in UrbanSustainability and Science Education from the CityUniversity of New York and is a co-author of the Bird Friendly Building Guide published by the American Bird Conservancy. He has worked on Bird-safe Buildings since 2007

Zoom Link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82462896570?pwd=S3FFY1BnNmx5MTZJdC9HQS9tWWMrdz09
Passcode: 629023

 

Photo: Jeremy Huang / Unsplash…

Thursday June 15, 2023 —  7 p.m. 

Location: In-person at the Tamalpais Room, David Brower Center (2150 Allston Way Berkeley, CA) and Zoom

Grassland bird conservation is inextricably linked to management practices on millions of acres of rangelands, the vast majority of which are privately owned. Significant rangeland habitat enhancement can only be achieved through cooperative approaches that work with ranchers that live and work on these lands. Audubon’s Conservation Ranching Program uses an innovative, market-based approach to connect conservation-conscious consumers to ranchers who employ bird-friendly management practices in raising their livestock. The program addresses loss in ecosystem function and health through the conservation of focal bird species and the habitat they depend upon. It incentivizes bird-friendly livestock management practices, emphasizing regenerative grazing approaches that improve soil health, diversify habitat structure, and ensure environmental sustainability that benefits pollinators and other grassland wildlife

Here are some links to program specifics:

https://ca.audubon.org/conservation/conservation-ranching

https://www.audubon.org/news/what-world-conservation-ranching

https://www.audubon.org/magazine/spring-2017/how-cattle-ranchers-are-helping-save-western

About Our Speakers

Matt Allshouse came to Audubon California from Wyoming and has been the Conservation Ranching Program Manager for the state since September 2019. As a rangeland ecologist, he has 15 years of experience associated with land policy, management, and science. Previously, Matt served as Ranch Manager for Antelope Springs Land and Cattle in Wyoming, as a Biologist for the Peregrine Fund in Belize and Guatemala directing conservation field research, and as Ecologist with the consulting firm Trihydro Corporation focusing on restoration ecology. Matt holds a dual Bachelor’s degree in Environment and Natural Resources, and Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management from University of Wyoming.

Pelayo Alvarez works as the Director of the Conservation Ranching Program in California. Before joining Audubon Pelayo worked for the Carbon Cycle Institute where he helped establish carbon farming programs across California. Pelayo has experience working with the ranching community, government agencies, academia and other stakeholders on rangeland conservation initiatives including the development of programs to incentivize good stewardship practices on rangelands. Pelayo also worked for Defenders of Wildlife as the Conservation Program Director for the California Rangeland Conservation Coalition where he coordinated research and outreach activities. Pelayo also teaches Rangeland Ecology and Management at American River College in Sacramento. His previous work experience includes positions at UC Davis, The World Bank and The Nature Conservancy. He has a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine from Universidad de Leon (Spain), a MS degree in Animal Science from Oklahoma State University and a PhD in Ecology from UC Davis.…

San Francisco Bay is more than just the geographic feature that defines our region, it is a major global biodiversity hotspot. The largest estuary on the west coast of North America, it is a critical stopover along the Pacific Flyway migration route for millions of shorebirds and waterfowl. At a time when the world’s biodiversity is under increasing pressure, we have a golden opportunity to protect the treasure at the heart of the Bay Area. Rimming the Bay between freeways, airports, and landfills remain precious tidal wetlands and opportunities to return salt evaporator ponds to functioning ecosystems. After more than a century of destruction, restoration projects are reversing the trend. However, restoring these saltwater marshes may be for naught if we cannot stop another threat that we unleashed in the last century. Atlantic cordgrass planted to stabilize dredge spoils in the 1970s has since hybridized with Pacific cordgrass to create a highly fertile hybrid swarm that crowds out native marsh vegetation and colonizes mudflats to the detriment of foraging shorebirds. Since 2005, the Coastal Conservancy’s Invasive Spartina Project has used airboats, genetic testing, sophisticated GIS, and a lot of hard, muddy work to push back the invasive plants that threaten habitat for shorebirds, waterfowl, and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. Learn about how hometown heroes are doing their part to address the global biodiversity crisis.

About Our Speakers

Tobias Rohmer is the Monitoring Program Manager for the San Francisco Estuary Invasive Spartina Project and works for Olofson Environmental, Inc. Tobias studied at UC Davis, where he did his Master’s thesis on California Ridgway’s rails, which included substantial field work and monitoring in SF Bay marshes with USGS and other partners. Each year after field season, Tobias travels worldwide to pursue his passion for birdwatching, most recently to Belize, Ecuador, Thailand, and Madagascar.

Lindsay Faye Domecus is an Environmental Biologist at Olofson Environmental Inc. She started at OEI in 2017 after finishing her Master’s degree in Environmental Science at San Francisco State University, where she studied environmental physiology. At OEI, Lindsay works extensively in the tidal marshes of the San Francisco Estuary mapping native and invasive plants, conducting breeding season surveys for California Ridgway’s rail, planning and managing marsh revegetation projects, and overseeing treatment of invasive Spartina. Lindsay also has a flair for artistic design and has produced several excellent music videos documenting the beauty of the San Francisco Estuary as discovered through her daily field work.…