San Francisco Natural History Series

Monthly illustrated lectures by expert naturalists.
Presentations begin promptly at 7:30 p.m. in the Randall Museum Theater.

Admission is free; donations are always appreciated.
For more information, call 415 641-7457 or email Philip Gerrie at glassgerrie@earthlink.net.

Please visit our blog for past speakers and lectures notes.

June 24, 2010

Historic Watercourses of SF ~ Focus on the Wiggle & the Panhandle

The Lower Haight once had lakes and streams. The valley had been the site of Spanish Mission trails and Ohlone trails before. Its zigzag of streets is known as the Wiggle by today's bicyclists avoiding hills. Come glimpse the past and future of this fascinating urban valley with Joel Pomerantz, local geography researcher, founder of Thinkwalks.org and co-founder of the SF bicycle Coalition.

July 15

Twain’s Frog & the Beautiful Serpent – Brent Plater, Executive Director of Wild Equity Institute. Come hear the hopeful story about building a new unit of the GGNRA at Sharp Park, which is a controversial golf course in Pacifica. You’ll learn how this exciting vision will save endangered species and build a better public park everyone can enjoy.  

August  19

The History and Prospects  for the Western Pond Turtle – Our only Native  Freshwater Turtle Wildlife biologist and natural historian Matthew Bettelheim takes us on a trip through time as seen from our struggling terrapin and the future of turtle conservation.

September 16

Helping our Most famous Butterfly: the Mission Blue on Twin Peaks In 2009, the Natural Areas Program of SF Recreation & Park Department collaborated with US Fish and Wildlife to fulfill part of the 1976 recovery plan for the endangered Mission Blue butterfly. Leading SF lepidopterist, Liam O'Brien, was invited to be part of the team to relocate and monitor 22 females from San Bruno Mountain. Since butterfly relocation is a recent science this evening promises glorious photography and stimulating conversation. 

October 21

The Country in the
City: The Greening of the San Francisco Bay Area Professor Richard Walker of UC Berkeley, narrates the many stories of land preservation, saving the bay, and fighting toxics that have made this a global bastion of environmentalism.

November 18

What Are We Managing For? Restoration Strategies – Hear case studies in wildlife and habitat restoration by Consulting Ecologist, Josiah Clark, restoring ecosystem function and preserving native biodiversity. The last of the least and the best of the rest.

 

Randall Museum 199 Museum Way, San Francisco, CA 94114 Phone: (415) 554-9600 Fax: (415) 554-9609 info@randallmuseum.org