This is the Pepperwood Podcast, a production
of Pepperwood, a nonprofit conservation organization
based at a 3 ,200 -acre nature reserve near Santa
Rosa, California, in the heart of the traditional
homeland of the Wappo people. At Pepperwood,
we aim to inspire conservation through science.
And on this show, we talk to scientists, stewards,
and environmental educators about what they do
and how they do it. We hope to give you a glimpse
into the real experiences of folks who devote
their lives to taking care of local ecosystems
and sharing them with others. Welcome to Season
2 of the Pepperwood Podcast and our 7th episode
overall. It is 2025 and that makes this the 20
-year anniversary of Pepperwood as an organization.
We're in conversation with a pair of folks who
have been a part of Pepperwood since its inception,
Steve Barnhart, our original Director of Education,
and Linda Barnhart, a member of our first class
of Pepperwood stewards. They are both honored
members of this community, and their contributions
have been formally recognized most recently at
the Sunset Celebration in June of 2025. We'll
hear from Steve and Linda about their respective
and ongoing two decade long journeys with pepperwood.
This conversation took place in late 2024, and
Steve describes how he was first introduced to
pepperwood and its founder, Herb Dwight, and
some of his research on oak species that connected
pepperwood to researchers in other Californian
climate zones in other parts of the world. Linda
tells the story of the original naturalist training
class for the Pepperwood Stewards Program and
the diverse ways in which she has contributed
to Pepperwood's mission over the years. Let's
dive into my conversation with Steve and Linda
Barnhart, beginning with Steve's story of how
he first came to be introduced to Pepperwood.
I used to come up here with classes quite often
when the Cal Academy had the property. And then
later when... Pepperwood became, about the same
time Pepperwood became the Pepperwood Foundation,
that's when I retired from the junior college
and came up here to work. So I would say probably
from the mid to late 70s until I retired in 2006,
not every year, but there were years when I would
bring various classes up here. Great. And I got
to know Greg DeNevers, who was the, original
caretaker of the preserve for the Cal Academy
and he developed a very nice herbarium which
I often used to see what was here and then a
fellow by the name of David Cavagnaro who has
since moved to Iowa years ago but he owned property
out where in Garrison Canyon where we have a
little cabin and he lived there and he was a
photographer and he had a studio art studio out
there as well So from those two guys, I got to
know the preserve pretty well when I was young
enough to be able to hike like they do or did.
So that really, you predate Michael and his time
here at the property. That's so incredible. But
Michael, of course, came as an employee. I didn't
come here until much later than he. Right, in
terms of being on the site. And, of course, I
met Michael later in my career at the junior
college when he was taking Greg's place. If you
haven't yet heard the story of how Michael Gologly
first came on board as a Pepperwood staff member
and eventually stepped up into the role of preserve
manager, you can catch that back in episode five
of our podcast. Steve goes on to describe the
process of joining Pepperwood staff as our first
director of education. Well, Herb Dwight came
to the college and had an appointment with our
president, this is Santa Rosa Junior College,
in 1998, 1999, somewhere there. That was when
the Cal Academy first put the property up for
sale. And he was very interested, and he was
very interested in converting it into an outdoor
classroom, preserve, research area. Very similar,
they hope, to the Jasper Ridge Preserve that
is run by Stanford University. Both he and Jane
are very connected to Stanford. Or Jane was,
of course. And our president said, I don't know
anything about Pepperwood. Does anybody here
on campus know? Well, one of the vice presidents
knew I did. So I got to come to the next meeting.
And so I met him probably right at the end of
the 1990s. We began thinking about what we could
do out here, but then Cal Academy took the property
off the market. Then they put it back on the
market in about 2004. Herb and Jane had decided
that if it came back on the market, they would
purchase it through the Pepperwood Foundation.
When I retired in 2006... Herb asked me if I
would be interested in working with them to develop
the education side of the preserve. And I said
I'd love to. It would be a good segue into retirement.
Okay. Just this mini baby little project of developing
a whole program. Exactly. I thought that would
be pretty challenging and interesting. And so
we agreed on. It would be half time and a salary
and so forth. And Herb is a very, as a man and
always will be, a very generous man. But it turned
out the first few years to be pretty much full
time. And so my expertise, of course, was with
adult or, at best, teenage folks. And I knew
I needed somebody to help me, and that's when
I hired Margaret in about 2007. That's right,
because she was previously working for Cal Academy.
She had worked for Cal Academy, and on occasion,
Michael had asked her to come up and do special
things here. So she was aware of what was here.
So she was a natural partner for you. Yeah, and
she had... I think, you'd have to ask her, but
I think that she was not working for Cal Academy
at the time, but she was looking to do something.
Great. And so, yeah. That worked. So, yeah, that
was the first dream team in our education program
there. Margaret and me. Margaret and Steve. Steve's
story has a familiar ring to me. I also loved
Pepperwood and was a satellite member of the
community long before I became a staff member.
I had even heard the name Steve Barnhart spoken
often at Pepperwood long before I was lucky enough
to meet him, and almost always in conjunction
with oaks. I just had to hear about the details
of his research on Pepperwood's oak species.
I had become interested when I was teaching at
the JC and doing a little research with students.
And I selected, I went to the very first California
oak symposium in the late 70s. And it was very
obvious to me that the knowledge about California
oaks was pretty paltry at best. And virtually
nothing was known about an oak that finds its
southernmost distribution here in the North Bay,
commonly called Oregon oak. So I selected that
as kind of my research topic. And then, of course,
I'm looking for places to study it. And I had
plots in Annadel. I had plots in Sugarloaf. And
I also, because I had become familiar with a
lot of pepperwood, wanted to find similar kinds
of places here. And we found some really nice,
relatively homogeneous stands of Oregon oak on
Horse Hill on the North Slope from Garrison Canyon
up toward... the old Goodman Preserve. And Mike
Barber, who was an ecologist at UC Davis, and
I were good friends. And he was also doing something
similar with a sierran oak with a guy named Danny
Sanchez Mate, who is an ecologist in Madrid at
the University Autumonia de Madrid or something
like that. That was where Linda and I spent my
last sabbatical, was in Madrid working with Danny.
Incredible. And there we were looking at Quercus
pyraniaca, the Pyrenees oak, that comes down
much like organ oak is from northern, wetter
climates. In Spain, it comes down into the southern,
more the Castile region, where there's more California
-type climate. Right. And so we were comparing
the two. And out of that came two or three publications.
I'm listed, but I'm clearly the junior author.
But Danny and I and Mike all remain good friends
for that time. Mike, unfortunately, has passed
away due to Parkinson's. And Danny, we still
exchange Christmas cards, but he's in Madrid
and I'm here. That's a bit of a commute there.
But anyway, that's what came of that. And then
Joe McBride. who has also retired but was a forestry
professor at Berkeley that I knew, he and I did
some consulting work with Oregon oak primarily
throughout the North Bay because it's the habitat
in which we find most commonly the Douglas fir
coming in. Ah, the encroachment. The encroachment
of Douglas fir. And so by our studies, and we
had an article in 1996 in Madronio that talked
about what we were finding. in the North Bay,
and that coincided with some work that was being
done up in Redwood National Park in their Oregon
oak stands with Douglas fir encroachment. Oh,
I couldn't hear Steve make reference to the idea
of Douglas fir encroachment without asking him
to dive a little deeper on that topic. Now, I
did not predict, although I wasn't surprised,
to hear him describe how this phenomenon has
its roots in the disruption of traditional fire
regimes, as we discussed back in Episode 2 with
Devin Friedfell. Here is some of Steve's research
-based perspective on the relationship between
oaks and Douglas fir trees. Well, Douglas fir
is a native species, and so unlike a lot of species
that... encroach that are non -native. Try to
dominate out other species, right? Douglas fir
is, our studies and many other people's have
found that the primary reason Douglas fir has
expanded its boundaries is because of the lack
of burning or fire. Particularly the fact that
the Native Americans, the indigenous people,
use fire. They did that for many reasons, but
one was to keep their oak woodlands open and
productive for acorns and also the bulbous herbs
that grew under them that they would harvest.
Right. Well, because oak stands and oak woodlands,
when they're open and able to sort of persist,
they're some of the most biodiverse and useful
species. Oh, they are, yes. In fact, if you were
to measure all the insects and... All the other
animals, including the plant life, oak woodlands
are the most biodiverse vegetation type in the
state. Right. And then as far as our sort of
human use, what we call ethnobotanical use, not
only is it diverse, but it includes a lot of
species that are important for food sovereignty
and the ability for humans to access food in
this. ecosystem right yeah well not only food
sovereignty but of course many of the plants
were used for other purposes such as basketry
and so forth as well you know so they were very
good farmers if you will right they have farmed
for oaks right and their associated species and
and so but by making fire a bad thing and of
course the longer you keep it out the badder
it gets right we found that Douglas fir would
come in. But they needed that shade because the
seedlings, particularly here in this region,
as opposed to, say, Washington, there's no summer
rain. And they need the soils to remain somewhat
moist longer into the summer, which the shade
of... these oaks or other hardwoods would provide.
Oh, so that's interesting. That brings us a little
bit circling back to that Spain connection that
you had before where if you have an oak species
that is... pushing its boundaries of its range
down into its southernmost region that also pushes
it into an area where it's going to have the
most competition that's right with its other
species and probably getting to the point where
it can only just out competed enough to survive
and persist although oh my goodness to go back
into another layer that Only that persistence
can only happen if they are getting the disturbance
that that regular fire was producing. Oh, well,
that's some three -dimensional chess that I'm
going to have to work on a little bit later.
And there's a whole other issue, too, which we
may or may not want to go into. But we've had
quite a few studies on oak hybridization. And
we find that the Oregon oak on its southernmost
distribution down here, the best stands of it
are not pure. They are hybrids with more drought
-tolerant oaks like the blue oak. And so we can
document from California history at least two
other species. Both of them live now in Southern
California, which probably evolved from hybrids.
And then as the climate changed in the past...
the original parents disappeared, at least from
that area, and left the hybrids. And, of course,
somebody comes along 500 years later and says,
hmm, this is a new species. Right, right. And
that really tells me, so that's something I've
heard a lot about oaks, which is that they are...
what's the word that people use so carefully?
Promiscuous, right? They have this tendency to
hybridize, right? They can reproduce with other
similar species of oaks. And so that's where
it becomes really important to be able to find
those hybrids because sometimes that is a sign
that you're seeing the next branch of evolution,
the next branch of adapting to maybe a changing
environment around them. That's right. So, all
right. As challenging as it is to go out there
and identify these oak species when all of this
hybridization is taking place, it's crucial to
do it because then you're starting to watch evolution
happen in real time -ish. And one of our former
stewards, Wendy Herneman, did her master's thesis
on a group of oaks and their hybrids here on
the preserve. And a former student of mine...
Perlaad Popper, who was working on his PhD at
Berkeley at the time, under David Ackerley, did
the genetic work for her, did the gels and all
that that you need to do, and was able to confirm,
which not only that they were hybrids, but were
most of the genes. from the different other oaks
had come from oh incredible so just today as
you know david ackerley is here which i didn't
know he was going to be and the last thing he
asked me before i came in here was do you have
wendy's thesis because i need to know which trees
are the markers that she used for those oh that's
so great so that really shows how oak research
keeps, like it feeds the next bout of research,
right? We have this ongoing research going with
David Ackerley's big forest plots. And as each
new study comes in, we refer back to it. We learn
from it. I love that. That really shows how the
research works and is like this ongoing process.
Why is it important to understand and support
oaks? I mean, we talked a little bit about some
of their, you know, their human uses. And we
said that They're very biodiverse. But why is
that important? How do oaks help support local
ecology? I would say, although it's, I think,
a slightly overused term, that oaks would be
a keystone species. Because a keystone species,
like a keystone in an arch, is the stone that
holds the thing together. And a keystone species
is a species that, if it was not there, the whole
nature of the... landscape would be different
and not only the landscape I mean they've contributed
to the soil development as well as the biodiversity
of organisms that live there and if it was removed
as it often is unfortunately for agriculture
and so forth then the whole biodiversity changes
one of the things that they've noticed this was
years ago in the Napa Valley which has a much
longer history of trying to do vineyards and
so forth in the midst of oaks is if they left
a few oaks in their vineyard they had a much
lower pest problem. Because the insects that
could eat the pests, if you take out the oaks,
no longer come there. Right. They need to be
sustained by these native species and therefore
do a lot of that agricultural work for the farmers.
That's right. That's incredible. All right. That's
a wonderful example of how that's important.
And maybe a show of how sometimes terms like
keystone species that we do, we throw out real,
real easily. And we hear a lot. But there's a
reason why these things... remain in our understanding
right it's like it we have to talk about keystone
species because it's so significant um who are
some of the other oaks that are found here at
pepperwood well we have uh you can divide oaks
into three categories here in the united states
if you go around the world there are actually
five what we technically call sub genera of the
genus quercus and we have three represented here
and throughout california the red oaks the white
oaks and what we call, for lack of a better term,
intermediate oaks. Fair enough. And we have one
intermediate oak, the canyon oak, Quercus chrysolopus.
We have several white oaks. We have valley oak,
Oregon oak, blue oak, and then two shrubs, leather
oak and... California holly oak or California
scrub oak. And then among the red oaks, we have
the California black oak, which I know the coloration
gets weird. California black oak and the two
live oaks, the coast live oak and the interior
live oak. Right. And they're all here. Okay.
Some are not real common, like interior live
oak. There are just two or three places where
I know where you'll find them. Is that another
situation where we're kind of close to the edge
of their range? Yes, yes. It's a little too wet.
Ah, okay. But a few of them managed to persist.
The interior is the live oak that kind of forms
a bathtub ring around the Central Valley along
with blue oak. Interesting. It's the live oak
over there. But here, of course, our dominant
one is the coast live oak. Gotcha. Okay. That's
an interesting sort of overlap of a lot of different
ranges of oaks. So that makes this a really interesting
little postage stamp of all of these different
oaks coming from different places. Because of
the size of the preserve, the eastern preserve.
has got blue oak. Right. The western part of
the preserve doesn't. Right. That's where the
nice Oregon oak stands are. So we're like on
the border of where blue oaks are. That's so
interesting. Well, what a fun... It makes sense
to me now why Pepperwood itself is such a great
living laboratory because we're right here on
all these changes. Among the many benefits of
having Steve as a key member of the Pepperwood
staff and community is that he introduced his
wife and partner Linda to Pepperwood. The fact
that she fell in love with Pepperwood and went
on to contribute her skills and passion to the
Landon community here is an incredible blessing
that keeps on giving. met Pepperwood through
my husband around 2005. And I would hear him
come home and talk about this place called Pepperwood.
And then he became more involved in it. And then
we would drive up and I would see the excavation
of all sorts of things going on. So that's when
I was introduced to this place called Pepperwood.
One of the coolest things about Linda is that
she was among the first class of Pepperwood stewards.
Back in our very first episode, we talked to
Gary Morgritt about his experiences as a Pepperwood
steward, including the naturalist classes that
he took as a part of joining the stewards community.
When Gary went through the process around 2014,
it was a two -class series taught as a partnership
between Pepperwood and the Santa Rosa Junior
College. But years before that, Linda experienced
the first incarnation of Pepperwood's steward
training program. And she and Steve can give
us firsthand accounts of how it began and how
it became what it is today. I heard about a stewardship
program that was going to start. And it was started
by Steve and Sean Brumbaugh and Nick Annis. And
they met every Saturday at Pepperwood. And I
wanted to be involved in that. And it was such
a wonderful outdoor learning experience. And
so I participated in that. And at the end of
that year, from 2006 to 2007, we received a lovely
little cup, yes, and a T -shirt. And I just thought
that was the greatest thing in the whole world.
I think the Pepperwood swag as part of the reward
for joining our steward program is like obviously
a longstanding tradition. Now it's the best we
ever made. But that T -shirt and mug, that was
where it started. That was where it started.
And we just so appreciated these men. And not
only that, but we had those special speakers
to come, all sorts of people to teach us. about
various things in nature. Yeah, so you started,
the Stewards Program started with sort of its
own dedicated class. That's right. And it has
sort of transitioned over the years. It was a
JC class for a period of time. Well, it became
a JC class shortly thereafter. And then Adina
Marenlender with UC Extension was putting together
plans to develop a California naturalist program.
And she came to us because we were already doing
something similar to what she had in mind. And
so the actual piloting of that, what is now a
statewide program, started here. And the first
Cal Naturalist class, which Linda was a part
of, graduated in the spring of 2010. Yes. Would
you say, and Linda, you can probably speak to
this better than anyone other than Steve here.
How similar was that first pilot program of Cal
Naturalist to the class that you had taken that
was just developed as part of the Stewards Program?
Did they borrow from each other, or was there
a big change there? There was a big change. We
went to the college and listened to special speakers.
Then we would come out here. On Saturdays. On
Saturdays for another type of class and learning
experience. It was different in its own way.
The first one from 06 -07 was just kind of roughing
it out from 2009 to 2010. That was the real deal.
I mean, we just really got a good immersion into
nature. And so it was wonderful. Great. So that
originally, that original class was more like
get to know the property and like sort of learn
by doing and walking around. But then the Cal
Naturalist program really kicked it up a notch,
it sounds like. Although Sean and Nick Annis
and Steve, they brought very interesting things.
And they even brought up... interesting people
to talk with us and take us out on the preserve
to the pond and what have you to learn various
things. Great. And we had developed the Pepperwood
class at the junior college, which was eight
weeks in the fall on the physical sciences and
eight weeks in the spring on the biological sciences.
Wow. So it was a 16 -week course over a full
year. And of course, that's not what Cal Naturalist
turned out to be, but for the first few years
that Cal Naturalist was offered, they let us
use that format. And there was one other college
in the state that eventually developed that,
and that was Pasadena City College. But other
than that, they all went to the 40 -hour. however
you want to put it together format. Right, right.
And that's how they do it here now, of course,
too. Absolutely, absolutely. And we have not
only the Cal Naturalist, but we also have that
Climate Stewards, similar program in terms of
its formatting, but the content's very different.
But both of those certification programs through
the UC are just so great. They are. Yes. Wonderful.
There are a few of the original Pepperwood stewards,
Linda's compatriots from that original class,
who are still active at Pepperwood and who I
hope to feature on future episodes. And Steve
was kind enough to mention one of them while
we were on the subject. There's a fellow that
I would like to acknowledge, and that's Nelson
Weller. Nelson Weller was in that first Cal Naturalist
class. He's an older gentleman. But he has always
had a real love for learning. And he loved the
class. And he loved the class so much that he's
the one that put up the matching funds. Back
in the beginning, you could have a part of this
Dwight Center named for you for a certain amount.
Like the Conte Court is named because Conte gave
a million bucks. There you go. So Nelson said,
I want to name the herbarium after Steve Barnhart.
Aw. But beyond that, I mean, he did, and we got
matching funds, and it happened. But he has just
been so interested in the other part that came
with the funding, and that is we have what is
called a Barnhart internship. through the junior
college. And he is always asking about how the
interns are doing and do they like what they're
doing? And are they learning to be good biologists?
From what I've heard, yes, yes, yes. That's what
I tell him. But I just want everybody to know
who hears this, that he is very much, even though
he's probably in his 90s now, very engaged with
what goes on up here. Well, we should all live
that path if we can. That sounds incredible.
I love hearing about the many different paths
that folks take as Pepperwood stewards. And Linda
was kind enough to share about some of the multitude
of projects that she has contributed to over
these past two decades. Being a steward, it affords
you many opportunities, and I'm thinking in terms
of one of the very first things, along with my
learning experiences, was with Juliette, and
she and I cleaned the Bechtel house. I mean,
we just cleaned and cleaned and cleaned. Oh,
it was awful. It was awful. Wow. Well, I mean,
that house has been there for... many decades.
I can imagine it coming to a point where it needed
the most deep cleaning imaginable. So she and
I took on the task. But also my stewardship has
afforded me the opportunity to be proctoring
of community education classes. and that inquires
a list of things that one, as a steward, needs
to be aware of. It afforded me the opportunity
to do herbarium work, like labeling and pressing
and freezing and rotation, cataloging in the
cabinets, planting and collecting. We also developed
pitchers for the herbarium. The herbarium was
named after Steve Barnhart in honor of him. So
I had a big picture because I'd seen it one place
at a university in their herbarium. And I thought,
well, why couldn't we do it here at Pepperwood?
So I put his big picture up there and lots of
beautiful pictures. So that was a wonderful project
in itself. I've been a greeter for many public
lectures. We also created a little pamphlet.
for the herbarium that explained what an herbarium
was. Why is it important? Why collect these seeds?
Why collect these and squash these flowers and
what have you? And 2017, I just thought it important
with all the picture -taking I did of many, many
beautiful flowers that I should get these things
organized. And I had one man say to me on a walk,
he said, wouldn't it be nice to have a flower
garden? Bingo! I just said to myself, I know
what my next project's going to be. So that's
created a flower guide for beginners. That's
for beginners. But I have been told that a lot
of people like it. And it can be used any place
in Sonoma County because these flowers are just
a lot of places. That's wonderful. I use your
flower guide every year. And part of that is
because maybe I'm... Never going to stop being
a beginner. But I do think it's an incredibly
accessible guide. It's really the way you've
put it together based on the flower color. Because
as you're going out there and having these springtime
flower excursions, that might be as much as you
can tell about a flower as a first, you know,
botanist. That's right. Absolutely. So it gets
you started down that path. It gets you started.
It just gets you started, and that's wonderful.
And, you know, I just thought it would be so
wonderful for our children to come up here. our
people that attend classes, to have something
to take away with them. So I created a bookmark,
and on the back of it, it tells about our website,
where to go, a little more information that they
can take that home. It's not only for their nature
book, and I would think so many that come up
here at least have a nature book. I hope so.
If not before, then after. I hope they all go
out and get one. And so it's so fun to see adults
and children and other learning individuals to
just take one home with them. Yeah, and just
have that little reminder of, hey, Pepperwood
is here and it's a place you can come up and
visit. That's wonderful. Well, your work as a
steward, I mean, really sounds like it has run
the gamut. You are in the herbarium doing documentation
and organization of these species so the herbarium
has samples from all kinds of different plants.
And you are also using your people skills, right?
You're greeting people at events and helping
them get organized. And then you're just using
elbow grease, just getting our facilities up
to snuff, you know, cleaning that Bechtel house.
It just takes all kinds of different skills,
right? That's right. Whether you want to be with
other people or whether you just want to be with
yourself. That's right. If you have skills that
go across the board in many different directions,
all the better. But if you don't, we can use
all sorts of wonderful skills. It is just amazing
to see the talents of so many people. Just amazing.
I mean, that whole community is required to really
make Pepperwood thrive. It takes a community,
absolutely. It's so important to know that you
don't have to be an oak researcher like Steve
to contribute meaningfully to conservation and
stewardship. Almost any skill or interest you
have can strengthen the Pepperwood community
and enhance its mission to inspire conservation
through science. Linda's love for this land and
community shine through in everything she says
and does, and she is such a valuable part of
Pepperwood. Her contributions can be seen and
felt everywhere, and so could yours. The current
form of our stewards training course, the UC
Environmental Stewards Certification Programs,
run every year from January to March. At the
time this episode is released, the upcoming course
is the California Naturalist Certification, starting
in January 2026, and we alternate that every
other year with the Climate Stewards Certification.
Either of those are wonderful, interesting experiences
that will open your eyes to new ideas and function
as the perfect introduction into the Pepperwood
community. And don't forget that you can come
up and join us any month of the year at our monthly
volunteer workdays on the first Saturday of each
month. Steve and Linda have contributed so much
over the past 20 years, and it sounds like they
have received some valuable experiences back
from this community that they have helped to
form. For me, and probably for my wife as well,
we just really feel like this is our second home.
We've been here a lot. We've seen a lot of changes.
We've gotten to know the people. We really love
the folks who are here. They're just wonderful
folks, including you. Oh, gee, I'm blushing over
here. We are very, very fortunate to have such
a wonderful staff. And when I think back to the
fact there was Michael and I, and then there
was Michael and I and Margaret, and then there
was Michael and I and Margaret, and who was the
next one? Well, it wasn't long before we had
Lisa. Oh, right, yeah. The executive director.
We finally realized we were getting too busy
to not have an executive director. Somebody's
got to drive this train. That's right. And then
Sandy Funke came along, and she took over the
ed job, and then I went to what is called an
academic director. And that gave me more time
to work with the local colleges, particularly
Davis and Sonoma State and the JC. But we just
love it here. We just really feel every time
we drive up that road that this is, This is our
second home. And we feel volunteerism is very
important. We're not ready to sit on the couch
the rest of our days. We want to be out there
sharing information. And especially my dear husband
can give a world of information. I can be the
cheerleader. I can say, yes, let's learn this.
You're being very humble, Linda. She has a lot
of information. Absolutely. So that sharing and
really leading by example so that your grandchildren
and the other people in the community see that
it's so important to do that and to share your
talents, whatever they are. That's right. Well,
we have 10 grandchildren, and we have pictures
of Grandma sitting on the ground with the grandchildren
around with their books, because I got them books
too, and looking at certain things, whether it
be a... A pine tree, an oak tree, or what kind
of whatever. Mushroom. A mushroom, whatever it
might be. One of our grandsons decided that after
he was sitting in the circle with Grandma, and
they were looking at this mushroom and trying
to identify it. He got so frustrated, he stepped
on it. Oh, no. You know what? We've all felt
that way from time to time. I'm sure the mushroom
was fine in the end, but yeah. Yeah, so we've
had fun sharing nature with our grandchildren,
every one of them. Oh, that's beautiful. Well,
thank you for sharing it with me. Thank you for
sharing it with us. Thank you for joining me
today. This has been really fun to hear more
about your journeys. Well, thank you for having
us. Thanks again to Steve and Linda Barnhart
for this conversation and for everything that
they have done and continue to do for Pepperwood.
But don't switch off yet. It's time for this
episode's installment of The Nature Sound Guess
Who Game. If you're listening along close to
the time of release, you may have been waiting
for months to discover the ID of the mystery
nature sound maker from episode six. So here
we go. In the Nature Sound Guess Who game, we
play a nature sound at the end of each episode.
You have the time in between episodes to guess
or apply your knowledge or research which animal,
vegetable, or mineral made the sound in question.
You can email your guesses to podcast at pepperwoodpreserve
.org or you can comment on the corresponding
posts on our social media, whether that be our
Facebook, where we are simply Pepperwood, our
Instagram, where we are Pepperwood Preserve CA,
or Blue Sky, Pepperwood Preserve. Let's listen
back to the sound from last episode. Okay, folks,
that sound was made by the turkey vulture. Specifically,
that was the sound of a pair of juvenile turkey
vultures, scientific name Cathartes aura, performing
some of the only vocalizations that turkey vultures
are known to make. The Audubon Society's Pocket
Guide to Familiar Birds of North America, West
Edition, tells us that this species is generally
silent, but will utter soft hisses or groans
at nest or when disturbed, and that is just what
we are hearing. Expert sound recordist Andrew
Spencer captured this sound recording and submitted
it to the Cornell Lab Macaulay Library with a
note that these were calls from a pair of older
chicks at a nest in an old barn calling an alarm
at our presence. The characteristic silence of
this bird species means that, unlike many other
birds, researchers and bird enthusiasts are not
likely to observe turkey vultures using their
ears. Fortunately, they are easy and common to
spot using your eyes as they tilt and glide through
the sky, searching for carrion to clean up, using
their powerful sense of smell to find food. Thanks
again to Andrew Spencer and the Cornell Lab Macaulay
Library for this rare chance to hear the sounds
that our avian cleanup crew can make. Now, here
comes a new sound for you to guess between now
and next episode. Here it comes in three, two,
one. And here's your second chance in three,
two, one. another curious challenge to think
about, and submit your answers to us via social
media or via email at podcast at pepperwoodpreserve
.org. Until next episode, thank you for listening,
and don't forget to keep your ears tuned into
nature.