Martin Griffin Preserve Photos
Martin Griffin Preserve Videos
Modini Preserve Photos
Modini Preserve Videos
ACR’s Fire Forward program on Saturday conducted a 27-acre controlled burn of annual grassland and oak savannah at Bouverie Preserve near Glen Ellen. Ecological objectives for this event were timed to reduce non-native and invasive plants, promote native bunchgrasses and native wildflowers and to offer a ‘live fire’...
May 17, 2019
From the latest edition of Marine Ornithology: In the Bay Area, the Double-crested Cormorant population has recovered from significant declines to reach population sizes comparable to those from the late 19th century, when only one colony offshore at the Farallon Islands was known. We were especially elated to observe that on the colony at Hog Island on Tomales Bay, formed in 2001, has become the largest in the study area since 2011.
ACR was pleased to co-author this report on the changes in abundance and distribution of nesting Double-crested Cormorants in the SF Bay Area from 1975-2017. The report was spurred by severe nesting disruptions observed during the construction of the new Bay Bridge. Download the full report from...
May 13, 2019
Listen to the recent interview on VoiceAmerica's Our Wild World program as host Eli Wiess interviews Dr. Quinton Martins about his deep commitment to conservation and how iconic species can ignite the interest of local communities. Dr. Martins leads ACR's Living with Lions.
https://www.voiceamerica.com/episode/115007/living-with-lions-with-dr-quinton-martins
May 10, 2019
Over the past three decades, a great deal of research has been gathered on snags and their role in forest and wetland ecosystems. Snags, better known as dead trees or logs, play a crucial role in maintaining biodiversity in a number of habitats including oak woodlands, pine forests and riparian zones. In California alone, snags are home to over 160 different species, which is why government land managers have designated them as “special habitat elements.”
Forest ecologist Jerry Franklin states, “A dead tree is more alive than a live tree.” Dead trees are a vital part of nutrient cycling within forests. Logs, in particular, contribute to the nutrient reserves and chemical and physical characteristics of forest soils or waterways.
According to Sally Duncan of the U.S....
April 18, 2019
The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time is now. -Chinese proverb
Audubon Canyon Ranch is proud to join its five partners in the Sonoma Valley Wildlands Collaborative (SVWC) as recipients of a one million dollar grant from CAL FIRE. Together, this group of public agencies and private landowners manages property totaling over 18,000 acres in the Sonoma Valley. Funding will support partner efforts on fuels reduction and vegetation management, including the use of prescribed fire, to enhance ecological health, reduce the risk of wildfire, and protect our communities.
ACR will be a major contributor to this effort due to the strength of our Fire Forward program. Recent financial support from the Farley Family Charitable Foundation and the...
March 26, 2019
We were not 20 minutes in to this year's Great Egret tagging season when the team welcomed Egret 11, a splendid member of the ardeid family and a top predator who enjoys foraging near ACR's research center on the edge of Tomales Bay.
We will now follow GREG 11 via a small solar-powered GPS backpack. GREG 11 joins ten other birds we have tracked as far south as Mexico as part of the first study of its kind in the Western U.S. Some of the birds who traveled to the Central Valley during the winter have returned to the West Marin area. Great Egrets are at the very beginning of the nesting season right now, and are just starting to prospect nesting sites within Bay Area colonies and begin nest construction.
Follow this project as, together, we learn about how these iconic...
March 18, 2019
Audubon Canyon Ranch has joined with other conservation organizations and public land managers to form the Sonoma Valley Fire and Vegetation Management Collaborative. Here's an overview of The Collaborative and the work we will undertake.
Who are we? We manage 18,000 acres of protected Sonoma Valley lands.
We are a group of six conservation organizations and land management agencies that began working together in the wake of the devastating Nuns Fire of October 2017. Collaborative members have agreed to coordinate fire and vegetation management with each other and with CAL FIRE’s Sonoma Lake Napa Unit (LNU) in the Sonoma Valley region.
Members of the Collaborative are Audubon Canyon Ranch, California State Parks, Sonoma County Ag + Open Space,...
March 12, 2019
Our Living with Lions team this week shared the exciting news that two mountain lion kittens were born at Trione-Annadel State Park in early February to a female mountain lion being tracked by ACR’s research study.
This marks the first litter delivered by a 3.5-year-old mama cat (named P11 for the study), who in September was captured and fitted with a GPS-tracking collar just outside the park’s boundary.
“This news underscores the critical importance of Trione-Annadel State Park’s habitat for local wildlife populations. In managing our State Parks, we strive every day to balance preservation of natural resources with recreational access,” said Cyndy Shafer, Natural Resource Program Manager for the Bay Area District.
In general, mountain lion kittens have a 50%...
February 12, 2019
We greatly regret to report that mountain lion P15 (called Jupiter) was shot February 9, 2019, four days after he was collared as part of Living with Lions, a CDFW-permitted study trying to understand the movement and behavior of these top carnivores of the North Bay region.
P15 was a 13-month-old male lion recently dispersed from his mom, who is most likely P4, a female big cat also being tracked by the study. On February 4, the uncollared cat attacked an unsecured goat in the Mt. Veeder area of Napa County. After connecting with CDFW, law enforcement and wildlife rescue organizations, the landowner contacted ACR to have the cat collared for research instead of killed under a depredation permit.
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January 15, 2019
Dr. Quinton Martins and the Living with Lions team expanded the scope of our project last week with the capture and GPS-collaring of mountain lion P14 in the West County area of Sonoma County.
His capture and collaring was preceded by his predation of 2 adult llamas owned by ranch owners Paul Matthews and Maria Cardemone. Rather than seeking a depredation permit against this lion, Paul and Maria called us and agreed to allow us, as per our recent California Department of Fish and Wildlife permits, to collar this animal and learn more about its behavior.
Expressing the complex turn of events, Maria and Paul said, "So sad for us and our llamas and so exciting to be part of the ongoing exploration of the big cats and how they move thru our landscape. Always, we are on the...
