Chapter Events

Watch Rob Hansen’s talk on YouTube.

Tulare Lake – how one naturalist “fell in love” with his favorite part of the world

This speaker series is a “welcome home” for Rob Hansen, former COS Biology and Ecology professor for 35 years.  After 55 years spent studying the natural history (the ecosystems and the biota) of Central California, Rob enjoys every opportunity to share his passion about Tulare Lake and the Tulare Lake Basin when he leads field trips, teaches classes, writes articles, and makes presentations about his favorite part of the world (what Rob likes to refer to by its historical name, the “Tulare Valley”).  Before his COS career, Rob served for 9 years as biologist and wildlife preserve manager with The Nature Conservancy of California.  During that time, he was land steward for 7 major habitat types on nearly 5,000 acres of wildlife habitat at 6 wildlife preserves in the Tulare Lake Basin.

Intro will be given by Barbara Brydolf

Watch Robert Jeff’s talk on YouTube.

From the Eyes of a Young Tachi Warrior

Robert Jeff is a tribal member/leader of the Santa Rosa Rancheria, Tachi Yokuts Tribe located in Lemoore, California. Currently, Robert is seated as the tribe’s Vice Chairman and serving his third two-year term for his people.

Since he was a young boy, Robert yearned for our environment to be as good as it was when his people managed and protected all its relations to live one with each other. Today, Robert wants nothing more than to live in harmony with our neighbors and again, live one with the earth.

WATCH THE MARK ARAX TALK ON YOUTUBE

Intro will be given by Dezaraye Bagalayos

How They Drained a Lake and Planted a Plantation

Mark Arax has been called a “21 st Century John Steinbeck” for his books that pry open the soul of California. A writer of essays, history, biography and journalism, he is a two-time winner of the California Book Award and a recipient of Stanford University’s William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. His most recent work, “The Dreamt Land: Chasing Water and Dust Across California”, a national bestseller, has been hailed by critics as one of the most important books ever written about the West. The New York Times has named “The Dreamt Land” and one of Mark’s previous books, “The King of California: J.G. Boswell and the Making of a Secret American Empire,” to a short list of California’s best literature over the past 150 years.

WATCH VIVIAN UNDERHILL’S TALK ON YOUTUBE

When is a flood not a flood? Colonial unknowing and the return of Pa’ashi

Underhill’s scholarship bridges feminist and critical race science studies, anthropology, and groundwater hydrology toward community-engaged research on oil, water, and the environmental justice issues surrounding their extraction. She holds a Ph.D. in Feminist Studies from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Watch Julie’s talk on Vimeo.

Envisioning New Life for Tulare Lake – How can we bring life back to our Pa’ashi considering California’s water and climate future?

Julie Rentner is honored to serve as the President of River Partners, a 501c3 nonprofit dedicated to the creation of wildlife habitat that benefits people and the environment. In over 26 years, River Partners has given new life to 20,000 acres of formerly lost river forests and floodplains in the Central Valley from Redding to Bakersfield. In so doing, Julie has led the development of regional flood management plans, large-scale restoration projects, California’s first new state park in over a decade, conservation farming and ranching projects, conservation funding programs, communications campaigns, and action-oriented collaboratives that do the hard work of finding consensus, completing diligence and compliance processes, implementing and monitoring conservation programs, and cleaning up our rivers and streams. Trained in Forestry and Soil Science, Julie is a third-generation Californian who lives in Yuba City with her husband and three small children in the shadow of the Sutter Buttes.