This is the Pepperwood Podcast, a production
of Pepperwood, a non -profit 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 back to
the Pepperwood Podcast. I am your host, environmental
educator Julianne Bradbury, and sharp -eared
listeners may hear in my voice that, like many
educators who meet with hundreds of students
every season, I am currently recovering from
a cold. I hope the bullfrog -like undertones
are less apparent to you than they are to me.
But regardless, you won't have to listen to very
much of my croaking because this episode features
the much healthier sounding voices of Teen Nat
participants. Today we're taking a second look
at our Teen Nat program. Pepperwood Summer Science
Institute for high school students. Last season,
we were joined by three TNAT alums who attended
last year's Winter TNAT, our annual reconvening
of TNAT participants. And today we're going to
hear the voices of seven more TNATers, all with
their own unique experiences and takeaways from
their time at Pepperwood. If you heard that previous
episode, you might remember that TNAT has been
running every summer since 2013. It's a free
multi -week program during which high school
students come to Pepperwood during the day to
explore, study, and help steward our 3 ,200 -acre
reserve. Our guests today range from current
high school students who just participated in
the 2025 Teen Nat program to returning alums
who participated in the program as far back as
2016 and maybe in college or in some cases may
already hold university degrees and are working
as conservation professionals. Winter Teen Nat
is an incredible time when this mix of past participants
all come back together and share their memories
and continuing opportunities with one another.
This fine set of folks is also going to share
some of that with you. First, I will let our
group of guests introduce themselves. Hi, my
name is Merlin. My name is Emily Ann. My name
is Nadia. I'm Ellie. Hi, my name is Elijah. My
name is Elvia. Hello, my name is Nikoya. I asked
all of our alums to think back and remember who
they got to spend time with during their time
at TeenNet. During the TeenNet program, I got
to meet so many different people. Being with
those people almost every single day for those
six weeks, like in that space and that shared
experience, you really do form those strong connections
and you have like a special bond with all of
those people and going through that specific
experience. I met a lot of new people with different
lived experiences from mine and kind of just
seeing a whole lot of diversity. So I think that
in itself really shaped me to kind of look for
other communities as well. And then also just
as a woman of color, it really helped me to kind
of encourage me to know that I can fill space.
in this kind of kind of sector getting to come
together with people on that like being outside
um connecting with people talking being in a
new environment you like probably haven't been
on a mountain before like that so um just getting
to have that connection in a summer you probably
won't forget even like the alumni here they still
remember probably majority of what they did during
Teen Nat because it's just an unforgettable experience.
A lot of the time when you go out of your comfort
zone, it's always an experience you won't forget.
There were a few groups that I kind of just connected
with and I had a really fun time finding my people
that were like -minded and also had similar experiences
that I did. We had a great time just like getting
to be out in nature together and it was like
really fun just being able to hang out with those
people. and get to know them more, especially
through some hiking and also not in a school
environment. That was the best part. Human friends
are a big part of the TNAT experience, but so
are the non -human friends that we go out and
meet in the various habitats of Pepperwood. I
got to spend time with all the plants and the
trees. It was really interesting to see how many
different oak trees are in Pepperwood. to spend
time with the bugs. And the frogs and also the
birds and the baby coyotes. I almost forgot about
those. That's right. Tell us about the baby coyotes.
Yeah, like, so I was driving up to the Dwight
Center in the morning to go to Teen Nat. And
I think the person in front of us was like, oh,
my God, baby coyotes. And I'm like, what? And
sure enough, there's some baby coyotes just hanging
out right next to the road. I guess, like, they
had a den. They're just like. Hanging out in
the bushes and, like, I think they were running
around. But I got some pictures of them. That's
awesome. The spiders were nice to see. Was that
already a favorite animal of yours? Yes. Oh,
okay. I love arachnids in general, but spiders,
I mean, scorpions are cool, too, but they're
a lot less common. True. Did you get to see any?
I saw one on the very second to last day, maybe
last day. I think I remember this. We were looking
for them under logs, right? It was in that little
stump circle. Yeah. The golden orb weaver was
really cute to see because it was like, I want
to do my project on spiders. And the second time
we went to Turtle Pond, I was like, holy crap,
there's a bunch of spiders everywhere. Yeah.
And that was nice to see because they were so
beautiful looking. I mean, it was also nice to
see all those cute little frogs. Frogs! On Turtle
Pond. Yes. Those tiny little frogs. Every time
we would go to Turtle Pond or there would be
like a little puddle in the grass, like there
would... always be so many of those baby frogs.
And it was so funny watching like all of the
people I was with try and catch those little
frogs and just have so much fun with that. It
was very fun watching people catch and try to
catch the butterflies and chase after them. Try
to catch the butterflies. It was very fun. I
myself tried to catch several butterflies and
failed. But it was so funny just seeing. People
like wander off the trail, like chasing after
a little like white butterfly. I spent pretty
much all of teen that catching butterflies. You
are our butterfly whisperer for sure. Yeah. I
mean, I had a great time. I never really thought
I would be into the catching butterflies and
the butterfly net sort of thing. But after catching
my first one and getting to take a picture of
it up close like that, I was I was hooked. And
so. It was a really great experience in that
sense of being able to connect with nature on
such an intimate level, like being able to observe
something that you normally can't see up close
like that. Maybe it was like a sort of like water
snake at one point near Turtle Pond that we saw.
And I'm, I wouldn't say I'm deathly afraid, but
I will not get near one. And that was the first
time I ever held a snake. It was sort of like
black with a little bit of yellow in there. So
I can't recall the exact species, but that was
what really stuck with me. Just a small water
snake. You faced a fear there, it sounds like.
Exactly. That's cool. And no harm, no foul. You
had a good experience. No harm, no foul. Never
did it again after that. The one time was good.
That's good. I'm glad you had a good experience
with the little snake buddy. Our alums had a
lot to say about how being in TNAT impacted their
lives. It made me more connected to nature. And
I felt calm and happy. In Pepperwood. I feel
so much more comfortable out in nature now. Now
when I go on hikes, like with my friends or family,
I'll point out, I'm like, oh, that's a blue oak.
Oh, look, that's like a valley oak. And I'm like
identifying all of these different plants that
we had learned about. And it is so, so cool to
go on a hike and know what so many of the species
are around you. And I'm like, oh, I know exactly
what that is. Like, I know what that's used for.
And it's just so... fulfilling to just like know
those things I think it's definitely changed
the way that I see myself in the world I think
that a lot of the a lot of my childhood I spent
outdoors before though I feel like nature felt
like somewhere that I visited for like a summer
getaway but after Tina and being able to work
in nature like physically work I felt like I
belonged more nature and also had that sort of
sense of responsibility. Really I just got to
meet the outdoors for one of the first times
ever. Like we spent a lot of time outside when
I was growing up and we very much were an outdoor
family and I enjoyed being outdoors but it was
the first time that I had been outdoors in kind
of an educational slash professional context.
Teening out kind of was the conduit to me being
open -minded about utilizing nature in my career.
being outside in my career and it was really
scary for me in a way to realize that that the
outdoors could be part of my career trajectory
and that that meant I had to change my mind about
what I wanted to do and that was really scary
but also really worth it and so I would encourage
people I know that it's terrifying but To just
go through it because it might lead to something
in the end. That's more for your life than you
could have ever imagined. Prior to Pepperwood,
I didn't have a sort of like, oh, I want to go
outside. I want to go hiking. I want to do this
and that. Also, just given the resources that
I have in my small community, it wasn't something
that I guess was offered. Or that I didn't have
a peak interest in. So I definitely think Pepperwood
was that launching pad to the interest, to professional
careers and kind of sort of all that insight.
I would say that Pepperwood has really shaped
my love for nature and kind of getting exposed
to that and kind of protecting our environment,
being committed to strengthening resilient food
systems and all. It's just kind of like... kind
of just made me jump from here to here to here
but all with like the love of the environment
and and protecting everything that comes with
that you're really supported in the sense of
like you know that there's more to environmental
science and education than meets the eye from
just a getting a degree sort of level and then
A common thing that I hear from people in my
community is like, oh, environmental science
won't pay the bills. But that's absolutely not
true because it'll pay. It'll pay, obviously,
the bills, but also pay a bill in your heart
because it's great. If you or a high school student
you know are wondering if you should apply to
Teen Nat, our alums had some insights into why
they would recommend going for it. If you have
even the slightest interest in nature, protecting
our environment, photography, that was a big
part of the program, I think, do it. I think
what kind of held me back when I was first applying
was, oh, what if I can't? That sort of nervousness
of kind of diving into something new. But my
motto is always, you know, do it scared. do it
unprepared and kind of just just dive into it
if you don't like it of course then then you
know I think the earlier you know your interests
and kind of what you do want to do don't want
to do um I think that's that's even better no
matter like what level of like oh I want to be
a scientist or no I don't I think if you have
some interest I definitely encourage just trying
it and then also being able to build community
in that as well you know it's it's great to dive
into the environment and science and all that.
But I think also just if you want to build a
community of people that might have the same
interests, then I think that's even better also.
And meeting new people is always great and kind
of helping you develop and gain new experiences.
I think that's what I really loved about the
program, being able to connect and stay connected
as well. At first, when I was considering what
I wanted to do during that summer, between my
sophomore and junior year. I didn't really want
to do TNAT just because of that feeling that
whatever job I had in science was not going to
involve the outdoors at all. I decided to go
for it and I'm so glad that I did because I don't
know what my life would look like now, what my
career would look like in the future if I hadn't
gone for it. So I think being open to trying
new things even if you don't. think it exactly
aligns what you're with what you think you're
supposed to do would be a piece of advice that
I would give high school age people is something
that I've tried really hard to do in college
as well and led to a lot of great things. I think
just like giving something a try is worthwhile
like teen that was a really somewhat like eye
-opening experience for me. Because I did so
many things I've never done before. And again,
making those connections, having people around
you to help support what you're doing is really
like the best foundation you could have. It helped
me find what I want to do. And it would probably
help a lot of other people too. It's just a good
chance to get outside because a lot of teenagers
these days just spend a lot of time behind a
screen. And I'm going to admit that I am one
of those people. Fair, fair. It can be really
hard to step away from the screen, but I feel
like TeenNet did give me a good chance to be
out in nature and be outside and get some fresh
air and be active. I think it's a good way to
explore nature, pursue careers in environmental
science if you're into that sort of thing, and
get free college credit, pretty much. It's not
your normal summer camp experience. You are definitely
not separate from what's going on behind the
scenes and you're treated very much as an equal
to the whole entire like staff. And it's really
like a partnership where you're working together
to catalog nature. I think that's another great
thing is the amount of field work experience
that I got, like definitely gave me an idea of
like how I liked. being out in nature and how
i prefer field work over other things and even
though i'm not really considering going into
the environmental science field i'm i think that
it's great in like building those like those
skills up that you feel like you wouldn't be
able to translate but they're really translatable
especially like the field aspect sort of thing
and like you get really intricate in your observations
and so that is something incredible about teen
net Someone should apply to Teen Nat if they
are interested in being out in nature and spending
time with like -minded people. spending time
with wildlife, learning more skills to help better
them in their interests. And I feel like you
can really put your own spin on the experience
through the final project, through the people
you talk to, through the opportunities you take
throughout it. It's honestly just a really fun
and informational experience. And I feel like
I learned so, so much from it and met really
amazing people. And there is no pressure to...
take what you learn into your professional life,
but I think in your personal life, you learn
really important skills and it's just a really,
really enjoyable time. Thank you to all of our
TNAT alums for sharing their thoughts and experiences
with us. I hope it helped paint a picture for
you of what it is like to experience the program.
It sure brought back some wonderful memories
for me and got me excited for this upcoming summer.
If you are listening between January and March,
there may still be time for current high school
freshmen, sophomores, and juniors in Sonoma and
Napa counties to apply for this year's program.
Go to pepperwoodpreserve .org slash teen for
all of the up -to -date information, and you
can email teennat, that's T -E -E -N -N -A -T,
at pepperwoodpreserve .org if you have questions
or could use some help with the application process.
If you liked what you heard about how the TNAT
program impacts the lives of future stewards,
scientists, and community members, please consider
supporting the program with a donation to the
Pepperwood Foundation. One of our alums said
it beautifully. It's important that we have programs
like TNAT so that we're able to have knowledge
about nature so that we're able to take care
of it. and conserve it for future generations.
A crucial element of the program that we want
to maintain is that it is completely free of
charge to the participants themselves, and your
support can help keep it that way. We'll have
links to Pepperwood's donation page, as well
as all the TNAT -specific links in our show notes
for this episode. But before you switch off the
episode and run off to the website, we still
have a game to play. It's time for this episode's
installment of the Nature Sound Guess Who Game.
Each episode, we play a nature sound and challenge
you to guess which critter made that sound. Let's
listen back to last episode's mystery sound.
That sound was made by the western bluebird.
That's right. The western bluebird, Ciala mexicana.
This is the second commonly cited bird that is
blue that we have listened to on the podcast.
Last episode, we discussed the first, the California
scrub jay. The name western bluebird is exactly
why I refer to birds that are blue in that awkward
way. Because not all birds with blue colorations
are bluebirds. Western bluebirds look similar
to the lazuli bunting, a more rarely sighted
bird that is blue, that we'll talk about in more
detail in a future episode. Kauffman's field
guide helps us differentiate between western
bluebirds and lazuli buntings by the white banding
on the lazuli bunting wings that bluebirds do
not have. Like the lazuli bunting and many other
species of animals writ large, there is a distinctive
difference between the appearance of male and
female western bluebirds. That's a phenomenon
that is called sexual dimorphism. Male bluebirds
have much brighter coloration. They have the
distinctive bright blue on their heads and wings
and a reddish brown on their chests and sometimes
in the center of their backs. The Audubon Society's
field guide tells us that the blue helps to attract
females for mating, and the red is an aggression
signal to other males who might be competing
for the chance to mate with those females. Female
western bluebirds are duller and grayer overall,
all the better to camouflage into their surroundings.
Like many songbirds, western bluebirds have a
number of different vocalizations. The one we've
already heard is the call that birders mimic
as fiew, fiew, or chuck, chuck. Let's hear that
again. And they also have a song that humans
summarize as cheer, or cheerly, or chir. Here's
an example of that. Thanks as always to the Cornell
Lab Macaulay Library who granted us permission
to share all of these recordings with you. Now,
here comes a new sound for you to guess out before
next episode. Here it comes in three, two, one.
And I'll give you a second chance in three, two,
one. Do you think you know who that could be?
I'll give you a hint. Don't jump to conclusions
too quickly. If you have a guess about the identity
of the noisemaker and want to have your genius
highlighted on our next episode, submit your
guess to us at podcast at pepperwoodpreserve
.org. Thanks as always to communication coordinator
Stephanie Antonoro and the whole Pepperwood team
for supporting this podcast project. Thanks to
you for listening. And until next episode, don't
forget to keep your ears tuned into nature.