Explore the role of fire on our landscape through a series of programs that invite our community to reflect on the CZU Lightning Complex fires of August 2020, while learning about proactive steps being taken throughout the County to manage the landscape both for and with fire. Explore fire resources from past events here.
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park has implemented a new prescribed burn program that allows community members to actively participate in forest management … Read more
San Vicente Redwoods is the largest privately-held redwood forest in the Santa Cruz mountains, protected by an unprecedented coalition of land trust … Read more
Join the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for a guided walk of the Fall Creek Unit of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in partnership with … Read more
Join the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for an interactive program focused on Fire as Friend. We’ll explore how fire can be helpful to humans, plants, and animals through guided activities and traditional practices of Santa Cruz’s Indigenous people. We’ll also share fire safety tips. Kids will leave understanding that fire is a powerful and natural part of our environment.
Location: Outside the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History
Ages 5-8 | Saturday, August 28 | 10-11 a.m. Parent/guardian must accompany child FULL
Ages 9-12 | Saturday, August 28 | 12:30-2 p.m. Parent/guardian must accompany child FULL
*Please indicate how many adults and children will be attending upon registering. If you want your kiddos to attend together, but they are of different ages, you are welcome to sign them up for the same session. If your kiddo falls out of these age groups, they are still welcome to attend.
COVID PROTOCOL
Since this program is for youth, we are requiring masks be worn at all times
If you feel sick, stay home
Maintain at least six feet of distance from others when possible
The Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve is an example of the unique Santa Cruz sandhills habitat and home to many of our local rare plants. It has also experienced multiple fire events since 2008, including last year’s CZU Lightning Complex.
During this Exploring the Burn Zone Walk, Marisa Gomez, Public Programs Manager at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, will help you hunt for rare plants, explore the impacts of fire on the landscape, and gather safely with your community in nature. We’ll also collect data as part of the CZU Lightning Complex and Community Science Project.
Saturday, August 28 | 10 a.m. to noon
This program has reached capacity. Email events@santacruzmuseum.org to be added to the waitlist or join us for one of our other upcoming events.
CZU AND YOU: Exploring the Burn Zone Walks
Witness the impacts of the CZU Lightning Complex fires with your own eyes through this series of walks exploring different habitats that burned last August. Throughout the series, naturalists from the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, California Native Plant Society, and California State Parks will guide you through your explorations and provide resources to help you contribute data through the Museum’s CZU Lightning Complex and Community Science Project.
Many of our native plants in the Santa Cruz Mountains are fire adapted, from the familiar coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) to the extremely rare Santa Cruz cypress (Hesperocyparis abramsiana) and Santa Cruz wallflower (Erysimum teretifolium). However, decades of fire suppression have greatly reduced the frequency of fires in our region. The Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve is a rare example of a location that has burned multiple times in just over a decade: in 2008 during the Martin Fire and again in 2020 during the CZU Lightning Complex fires.
Join Dr. Jodi McGraw for an exploration of this unique Santa Cruz sandhills habitat, which is home to the Santa Cruz cypress and Santa Cruz wallflower, and what we’ve learned since the 2008 Martin Fire.
Resources
THE SANDHILLS CONSERVATION AND MANAGEMENT PLAN A: Strategy for Preserving Native Biodiversity in the Santa Cruz Sandhills. Prepared by Jodi M. McGraw with Contributions from Matt Freeman, Richard Arnold, and Caitlin Bean. Prepared for The Land Trust of Santa Cruz County June 2004.
Dr. Jodi McGraw is an ecologist who works on conservation projects throughout central coastal California. For the past 28 years, she has been studying the Santa Cruz Sandhills—a unique ecosystem found only in central Santa Cruz County, which supports numerous endangered plants and animals. Her research and conservation management work has addressed how fire can be both a tool and a threat to persistence of the endangered plants, including Santa Cruz cypress and Santa Cruz wallflower, and the native biodiversity in the sandhills.
Santa Cruz Wallflower (Erysimum teretifolium)
Santa Cruz Cypress (Hesperocyparis abramsiana) Photo by Amy Patten
The Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve is an example of the unique Santa Cruz sandhills habitat and home to many of our local rare plants. It has also experienced multiple fire events since 2008, including last year’s CZU Lightning Complex.
During this Exploring the Burn Zone Walk, Marisa Gomez, Public Programs Manager at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, will help you hunt for rare plants, explore the impacts of fire on the landscape, and gather safely with your community in nature. We’ll also collect data as part of the CZU Lightning Complex and Community Science Project.
Saturday, August 21 | 10 a.m. to noon THIS PROGRAM HAS REACHED CAPACITY
Email events@santacruzmuseum.org to be added to a waitlist for this event or join us for one of our other upcoming events.
CZU AND YOU: Exploring the Burn Zone Walks
Witness the impacts of the CZU Lightning Complex fires with your own eyes through this series of walks exploring different habitats that burned last August. Throughout the series, naturalists from the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, California Native Plant Society, and California State Parks will guide you through your explorations and provide resources to help you contribute data through the Museum’s CZU Lightning Complex and Community Science Project.
In August 2020, Northern California was ignited by a series of 650 wildfires spurred by dry lightning from rare, massive summer thunderstorms. Today, all of California is experiencing drought conditions and fire season is well underway.
On the one year anniversary of the lightning storms wildfire researcher and lightning scientist Chris Giesige presented on the weather and climate conditions that made the August 2020 lightning events possible and shared a peek at what the future may hold for wildfires in California. Explore how we classify the weather and atmospheric conditions that create fire weather and behavior, why those conditions aided the events of last August, and explore wildfire in California more generally.
Chris Giesige has studied fire science and conducted lightning research for over a decade. His research is focused on wildfires and seasonal and short term lightning development during the summer through fall months. Through the WestCats Group, he and his team are currently working on developing a new sensor network for better lightning forecasting for wildfire events.
While the majority of Big Basin State Park remains closed to the public after intense impacts suffered from the CZU Lightning Complex fires of August 2020, its coastal portion, Rancho Del Oso, has reopened.
Explore the edges of Big Basin’s burn zone with State Park Interpreter Richard Fletcher, learn about the massive efforts underwent to restore Rancho Del Oso and its Nature Center, and contribute to the CZU Lightning Complex and Community Science Project by uploading your observations to iNaturalist.
Saturday, August 14 | 10 a.m. to noon
THIS PROGRAM HAS REACHED CAPACITY | Email events@santacruzmuseum.org to be added to a waitlist or join us for one of our other upcoming events.
CZU AND YOU: Exploring the Burn Zone Walks
Witness the impacts of the CZU Lightning Complex fires with your own eyes through this series of walks exploring different habitats that burned last August. Throughout the series, naturalists from the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, California Native Plant Society, and California State Parks will guide you through your explorations and provide resources to help you contribute data through the Museum’s CZU Lightning Complex and Community Science Project.
Many had to evacuate the Santa Cruz Mountains during the CZU Lightning Complex fires of August, 2020, including museums, visitor centers, and cultural heritage sites managed by California State Parks. Jenny Daly, museum curator for the Santa Cruz District of California State Parks, was part of a team that worked quickly to save artifacts from threatened State Parks, including Big Basin, Año Nuevo, and Wilder Ranch.
During this online event, learn about the immediate steps taken by State Parks to save our cultural history and the ongoing process of caring for objects impacted by the fires. Kathleen Aston, Collections Manager at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, will also share how the Museum approaches natural disasters and collections, from Loma Prieta to ongoing efforts with the CZU Lightning Complex.
Photo of Mark Hylkema by Aric Crabb/Bay Area News Group.
About the Speaker
Jenny Daly, Museum Curator I for the California State Parks in the Santa Cruz District, grew up in Santa Cruz and is fortunate to live and work in her hometown. After transferring to UC Berkeley from Cabrillo College, Jenny received a double BA in Near Eastern Studies and Theater, Performance, and Dance Studies. The most valuable part of her time at Berkeley was the internship she had working with the Registrar at the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology where she became hooked on the idea of a career working in museums. Jenny then received a Master’s in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy University and has worked in collections management at various institutions since then, including at the California Academy of Sciences, the Cantor Arts Center, and the Getty Center. Jenny was very excited to start working for the State Parks as a curator because it meant she could combine her love of Parks with her expertise in museum collections management.
The Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve is an example of the unique Santa Cruz sandhills habitat and home to many of our local rare plants. It has also experienced multiple fire events since 2008, including last year’s CZU Lightning Complex.
During this Exploring the Burn Zone Walk, Marisa Gomez, Public Programs Manager at the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, will help you hunt for rare plants, explore the impacts of fire on the landscape, and gather safely with your community in nature. We’ll also collect data as part of the CZU Lightning Complex and Community Science Project.
Saturday, August 7 | 10 a.m. to noon THIS PROGRAM HAS REACHED CAPACITY
Email events@santacruzmuseum.org to be added to a waitlist for this event or join us for one of our other upcoming events.
CZU AND YOU: Exploring the Burn Zone Walks
Witness the impacts of the CZU Lightning Complex fires with your own eyes through this series of walks exploring different habitats that burned last August. Throughout the series, naturalists from the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History, California Native Plant Society, and California State Parks will guide you through your explorations and provide resources to help you contribute data through the Museum’s CZU Lightning Complex and Community Science Project.
Fire is many things to the Amah Mutsun and other California Indian Tribes — it is sacred, it is a tool gifted by Creator, and it is a way to restore balance to Mother Earth. This presentation will share more about how the Amah Mutsun are using fire to restore landscapes and relationships in the Santa Cruz mountains and beyond.
About the Speakers
Lawrence Atencio is the Native Stewardship Corps Field Manager for the Amah Mutsun Land Trust.
Marcella Luna is an Amah Mutsun Tribal Member, Native Stewardship Corps member, and sits on the Amah Mutsun Tribal Council.
The Amah Mutsun Land Trust is an initiative of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, which is the vehicle by which the Amah Mutsun access, protect, and steward lands that are integral to their identity and culture. The AMLT returns the tribe to their ancestral lands and restores their role as environmental stewards.
The Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History is located in the unceded territory of the Awaswas-speaking Uypi Tribe. The Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, comprised of the descendants of Indigenous people taken to missions Santa Cruz and San Juan Bautista during Spanish colonization of the Central Coast, is today working hard to restore traditional stewardship practices on these lands and heal from historical trauma.
Get to know Santa Cruz’s WILD SIDE at the Museum of Natural History. Nerd out on your night out during monthly after hours events, … Read more
Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park has implemented a new prescribed burn program that allows community members to actively participate in forest management … Read more
Fire is a natural part of the California landscape and plays an integral role in our local ecology. For millennia, Indigenous communities … Read more
Join State Park Interpreter Susan Blake for a guided experience in Big Basin Redwoods State Park. Established in 1902, Big Basin Redwoods … Read more
San Vicente Redwoods is the largest privately-held redwood forest in the Santa Cruz mountains, protected by an unprecedented coalition of land trust … Read more
Join the Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History for a guided walk of the Fall Creek Unit of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in partnership with … Read more
