When Tides Turn: Embracing Change in California’s Wetlands - an Interview with Julie Gonzalez, Ph.D

By Maddie Leung, Redwood High School

California boasts 2.9 million acres of wetlands, with 90% of the remaining tidal wetlands in the San Francisco Bay¹. Wetlands are some of the most dynamic and essential ecosystems on the planet, supporting biodiversity, filtering water, and helping combat climate change by acting as powerful carbon sinks. But as sea levels rise and invasive species spread, these habitats face mounting pressure. Dr. Julie Gonzalez, who earned a Ph.D. from UC Davis in Ecology, is researching how these ecosystems adapt to climate change and how we can protect them. In this interview, she shares what makes wetlands so fascinating, the biggest challenges they face in Marin, and how we can all play a role in their preservation.

Dr. Julie Gonzalez

1. Wetlands play a crucial role in supporting biodiversity and protecting our environment. What aspects of these ecosystems do you find the most fascinating?

I’m amazed by how everything in a wetland is connected. Each part of the system, from the plants and animals to the water and soil, works together and responds differently to environmental changes. My work focuses on figuring out how these systems react to different challenges. By understanding this, we can figure out the best ways to maintain and improve wetland health now and in the future.

 

2. What are some of the biggest challenges estuaries and wetlands in Marin currently face?

Two big challenges are invasive species and sea-level rise. Invasive species are plants and animals that move into wetlands and can sometimes harm local ecosystem functioning by outcompeting native species. On top of that, sea-level rise is a challenge we have to plan for. Wetlands are amazing at adapting, but these two issues create a lot of pressure. My goal is to study how they affect wetlands to plan for a future where these ecosystems are better protected.

 

3. Have you observed any changes in the health or size of Marin’s wetlands over the past few years?

Suisin Marsh (Image by Steve Martarano)

Yes! Being part of the wetland science community in San Francisco Bay is exciting because we’ve seen a lot of positive changes recently. Many restoration projects have helped improve the health of wetlands around the Bay. While things like sea-level rise and invasive species can feel overwhelming, it’s inspiring to see how much progress is being made through the hard work of scientists and land managers.

4. You mentioned that the National Estuarine Research Reserve System (NERR) collects data from estuaries and wetlands around the U.S. How is this information utilized to benefit our local wetlands?

The NERR system is a network of wetland scientists and managers all over the country. We share ideas and learn from each other. For example, if a reserve on the East Coast finds a creative way to deal with an invasive species, we can see if that approach would work here in the Bay Area. Similarly, we share our successes so other reserves can learn from what’s working in California.

 

5. How can the local community get involved in wetland preservation?

There are so many ways for people to help! Organizations like Save the Bay host community events where you can help plant native wetland species or remove invasive plants. These hands-on activities are a great way to connect with nature and make a real difference in protecting our local ecosystems.

You can watch Julie Gonzalez and Becca Moris' seminar here: https://vimeo.com/1022368761

Interested in protecting the wetlands? To get involved with your community and conserve your local ecosystem, visit https://savesfbay.org/. 

Photo of Dr. Julie Gonzalez from LinkedIn. "Suisin Marsh Overlook" by Steve Martarano is licensed under CC BY 2.0. 

¹ GREENING THE BAY FINANCING WETLAND RESTORATION IN SAN FRANCISCO BAY. (2019). Save the Bay.

An Interview with Eric Rubenstahl about "Marin Agricultural Land Trust: Stewarding Marin’s Working Lands”

By Maddie Leung, Redwood High School

What if the key to our future lies in the very land we stand on? Eric Rubenstahl, the Associate Director of Stewardship at the Marin Agricultural Land Trust (MALT), has turned his love for the outdoors into a career focused on land preservation. Land conservation includes various practices aimed at protecting our natural resources, promoting biodiversity, and ensuring that land is used sustainably for future generations. This work involves collaborating with family-owned farms to create conservation easements, encouraging responsible land management, and restoring habitats that support local wildlife. As he addresses the challenges of climate change and urban development, Eric is dedicated to finding creative solutions that balance environmental health with community needs. In this interview, he shares his journey into conservation, the important work MALT is doing to adapt to our changing climate, and how we can all help preserve the landscapes we cherish while supporting thriving communities. Let’s explore what it really takes to protect our land for future generations!

1. What inspired you to pursue a career in land preservation, and what advice would you offer to someone interested in this field based on your previous experiences?

From a young age, the forests and open space that surrounded where I grew up in Connecticut provided strong foundational memories. The trail systems and forested hills served as a place of adventure, learning, and connection to people and place. I wanted to turn my connection with the outdoor world into a career path, so I concentrated my studies during college on environmental science and geography. After graduation, I had several jobs in Utah and Colorado focused on conservation work. After about six years of working, I enrolled in the Conservation Leadership program at Colorado State University. This graduate program was more of a professional track vs. a more traditional research track and helped narrow my career focus to the human dimensions of natural resource management. I would encourage students to enroll in college programs that help develop technical skills for working in conservation and the crucial soft skills of collaborating with people and teams. Programs that train students to work at the nexus of people and the natural environment are becoming more prevalent. Having an internship or finding an entry-level position early in one’s career can be informative and provide insight and context to the world of working in conservation.

2. From MALT's founding in 1980 to today, our understanding of climate change has significantly expanded. Has climate change shaped MALT's work and focus over the last 20 years, and how?

Yes, MALT has a heightened awareness of the shifting climate and threats that result from recent climate trends. For example, increased temperatures and longer periods of drought are events that the community has observed. MALT is working within five pillars that guide our work: 

1) Preserve Agriculture

 2) Protect Biodiversity 

3) Build Climate Resilience 

4) Connect our Community and 

5) Strengthen the Organization. 

These five pillars are all interconnected, but the “Build Climate Resilience” pillar most

Marin County (Image by Mike McBey)

squarely addresses the shifting climate. Some of our work within this pillar includes providing )technical assistance and funding to farmers and ranchers to plan, design, and implement climate-smart solutions into their ranch operations. MALT supports and encourages durable solutions to help reduce economic barriers while increasing climate and operational resilience.

3. With MALT's vision of improving both the well-being of the ecosystems in Marin and the financial security of farm operations, are there any instances where these two priorities come into conflict with each other? If so, how have you approached them?

As part of the process of acquiring a conservation easement, MALT creates an Agricultural Management Plan to help understand the carrying capacity of the land. MALT works closely with the landowner and a certified rangeland manager to discuss the agricultural capacity of the landscape. We also discuss what other opportunities exist to help diversify income streams for the ranch. Our goal is to outline a guiding document that harmonizes the ecological, agricultural, and economic goals of the ranch. We promote healthy and diverse ecosystems with thriving wildlife habitats while the producer works the land creating nutrient-rich wholesome food for the region.

4. What does success look like for MALT in ten years? How do you measure success in your field of work?

There are many ways to measure success at MALT. If the community is thriving, growing, innovating and ranches are maintaining healthy agricultural production rates, then MALT is successful. From a programmatic standpoint, if MALT is closing one to three conservation easements per year, we consider that successful land protection. MALT also has a tangible impact through our stewardship grant work. Success can be measured by the amount of dollars invested into ongoing conservation projects or the impact of those projects. For example, how many miles of riparian fence or how many livestock water systems were installed could be two impact-based metrics to measure success. Other forms of success come in softer forms such as the strength of our relationships with the agricultural community, our donors, and the public. Success is measured in how people receive our message and the interaction we have with the broader regional community and beyond. Success is when the public receives a clear, accurate message of our conservation work and when we are fully supporting a thriving and economically stable working landscape in West Marin.

5. How do you think communities should balance the growing need for affordable housing and land preservation? Are there certain areas that are more appropriate for building?

Affordable housing and land conservation are both important for our survival and lifestyle. There are existing systems and policies at the county level that help guide a lot of this work. If those systems and policies are not balanced, or they are not accomplishing the goals, then they should be reevaluated. Zoning is another key factor that can help shape the land use. Historically in Marin County, the area straddling the Highway 101 corridor is flatter and has high-density residential zoning. The steep, hilly topography of the central part of the county serves as a challenge for building affordable housing. In addition, a lot of the land is owned by public agencies such as Marin Municipal Water District and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. At MALT we promote safe agricultural worker housing in good condition to sustain the ranch operation. We also value when structures and homes are clustered. This philosophy could be effective in a broader sense too, where housing is clustered and built in areas that have been identified by the county as smart growth zones.

You can watch Eric Rubenstahl's Marin Science Seminar presentation here: https://vimeo.com/1014183576  

To learn more about the fascinating topic of Marin County's land preservation and the Marin Agricultural Land Trust, visit their website at malt.org 

Visit marinscienceseminar.com to view upcoming seminars and Eric Rubenstahl's event summary. 

Photo of Eric Rubenstahl from malt.org. "Marin County" by Mike McBey is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

"Archeology and Ecological Crisis: Lessons in Sustainability from the Past" – An Interview with Elic Weitzel of University of Connecticut

Nola Palestrant, Tamalpais High School

    Elic Weitzel is a human ecologist and archeologist at the University of Connecticut. He presented at Terra Linda’s Innovation Hub on October 25, 2023, to discuss his research with pre- and post-colonial White-Tailed Deer herds, and what their fluctuating populations can tell us about how the humans living in New England interacted with the environment. Following the arrival of Europeans, White-Tailed Deer populations decreased from 30 million to 300,000. This decline was largely a result of a decreased Native American population - which had previously performed control burns that optimized the environment for deer - and an increase in commodification. Mr. Weitzel’s research can be used as a foundation for us to reconsider our interactions with the natural world, with the ultimate goal of promoting sustainability.

Elic Weitzel

1. How did you become interested in Archeology? 
I've wanted to be an archaeologist since at least the age of 13. History and nature were always my two main interests, and I think a lot of that came from watching documentaries on TV as a kid. I loved the exotic locations that Steve Irwin and the Kratt Brothers would explore to find interesting animals, and I also loved History Channel programs about what life was like in ancient Egypt and Greece. So I think that combination of interests led me to archaeology at a young age. I'm not sure how I first learned what archaeology was (perhaps it was Indiana Jones?), but I quickly realized it was a career path where I could learn about history first-hand and also experience the thrill of exploring the natural world. I think the fact that I chose to specialize in the study of animal bones from archaeological sites also reflects these early influences.

2. What are some things that people can notice about the world around them that provide clues into the past? 
Most material clues into the past are invisible, as they're often buried in the ground, but we definitely take for granted all the ways in which the past can still be visible to us today, in one form or another. The names of the roads that we drive on are my favorite example of this. These often offer clues into what the landscape used to be like, recorded in names such as Indian Village Road, Old Mine Road, etc. Most people don't think twice about these sorts of things, but these place names are often a clue that there used to be a Native village or historical gold mine in the area. Some other clues require a closer look to interpret. For example, archaeologists have found that the plant species that grow around ancient archaeological sites are often different from the species which grow elsewhere. This is because people long ago modified the landscape around where they lived, either deliberately or inadvertently, and that legacy continues to shape today's ecosystems. Finally, you can sometimes find archaeological artifacts like arrowheads or pottery if you know what you're looking for. They often turn up in many different places since people have lived on the land for so many thousands of years. It's never good to take an artifact if you do find one, as removing artifacts from their context prevents archaeologists from learning anything about the past through them. But they do exist out there and many people accidentally encounter them.

3. What materials have been commodified by past societies that could increase our sustainability if we lessen their values? 
Most past societies never commodified anything. The process of taking something and exchanging it in a market economy to make money is a very recent development in human history. One can make an argument that certain societies in the past like the Romans may have engaged in a form of this activity, but the way that commodities are produced and exchanged in our world today only dates back around 500 years to the birth of capitalism in northwestern Europe. As such, most societies throughout time would likely have found such a behavior to be quite strange, and would be especially shocked at how such an economy functions. I certainly think the evidence suggests that commodification of natural resources and people's labor has led to a wide variety of problems in the world today, so I too find such a behavior to be quite strange. But regardless of what is being commodified and when, the key to promoting sustainability is to focus on meeting people's needs, not on making money. That's the trick to reducing the value of a commodity back to a more reasonable level: strip away the extra value it has to those despotic individuals in society engaged in exploitation and profiteering and get back to the basics of helping all people survive and thrive. For example, water has very high value to everyone since it's necessary for survival. But certain individuals and corporations often try to control water, prevent others from accessing it, and then charge high prices for access: essentially selling the water back to the people who live on top of it. Nestle has recently done this in California, sucking up all the groundwater reserves in certain areas to make money from bottled water sales. Archaeologists have found that in the past, many societies had very elaborate systems of managing water at the local community level. A lot of this research even comes from the southwestern United States. These systems of water management ensured that everyone could access water and that it remained sustainably available into the future. So the way to prevent despotic individuals and groups from artificially inflating the value of commodified resources is to prevent them from gaining control in the first place. I think the archaeological evidence suggests that the best way to do that is through strong, local democratic control of resources by relevant stakeholders.

4. What practices from pre-colonial Native Americans can we replicate today to create a more sustainable society?
In general, I wouldn't argue that we need to adopt practices from any past societies to promote sustainability in the present. I think the social, economic, and political contexts in which people used to live are not analogous to those we find ourselves in today, so many specific practices likely wouldn't transfer well. Sometimes something specific could be adopted, such as controlled burning of the landscape to promote ecosystem health. But I think more generally, we can be inspired to develop new sustainable practices by studying old ones. There is abundant evidence, for example, that sustainability in the past often occurred when groups of people managed natural resources and economic systems themselves on a local level. Outcomes were often unsustainable when outside groups of despotic individuals sought to control the resources, labor, and bodies of others for their own benefit. So based on that, I think the biggest thing that we can do today to promote sustainability is to implement stronger democratic control of the economy on a local level. Keeping things local means that people have a vested interest in sustainability since it directly impacts them, and keeping things democratic ensures that those stakeholders can govern their own lives and their own communities and prevent any selfish individuals from exploiting the group for personal gain. I don't think that we need to directly adopt a way of doing this from a thousand years ago, but the general principle remains the same: local democracy by stakeholders leads to far better outcomes for people and nature. As such, if we really want a sustainable society today, I think we need to take that lesson and implement it however we can in our own historical context. So, inspired by my research and that of others, I think worker co-ops, land trusts, and other forms of community governance are our best options to promote a sustainable future. These aren't things that past societies did specifically, but the general principles behind such practices were implemented to great success in the past and would likely be successful in the present as well.

5. What other peoples or practices from the past would you like to research that could provide insight to aid our efforts to live more sustainably?
The big question for me is how sustainability follows from economic governance and control. I want to keep investigating all the different ways that local democracy by the relevant stakeholders contributes to a sustainable economy. I think unsustainability often results from self-interested individuals in society attempting to become despots and control the economy for their own benefit. This then leads to overuse of resources and exploitation of other people. So I'd really like to keep exploring how these processes worked in the past in the hopes that I can learn more about sustainability and implement helpful policies in the present. For example, some societies in the past were remarkably egalitarian for their size and complexity, like the ancient Bronze Age state that existed in present-day India and Pakistan called the Harappan or Indus Valley civilization. It would be fascinating to study such a context to see whether a less hierarchical and potentially more democratic society was indeed more sustainable. I also think that many smaller-scale societies are useful to study, especially tribal societies like the Amazigh of northern Africa or pre-20th century Albanian tribes, as these groups often had sophisticated ways of governing resource use and economics on a local level. While restructuring 21st century America into a tribal society would not be useful or viable, that doesn't mean that tribal groups don't have lessons to teach us in how a community can sustainably exist in their environment for millennia.

6. In a few hundred years from now, what do you think Zooarchaeologists and Archeologists will be able to gather from the remains of our society?
Future archaeologists will be able to learn a lot about our society in 2023 through a variety of means. We leave a huge amount of material remains behind that archaeologists could use to better understand our diets, our jobs, our recreation, our family life, and our public life. Many objects that are made of plastic or metal will not degrade so easily, and can therefore preserve information about our lives for future study. The size of our refrigerators speaks to how large our families are and how much food we consume, the size of our houses speaks to our wealth and position in society, and the layout of our cities speaks to the broader social, economic, and political forces that shape where we choose to live. Interestingly, as more and more of daily life becomes digital instead of material, this presents new challenges for future archaeologists. Digital archaeology must therefore become a major field of study in the future, where one might not excavate through the dirt to uncover someone's home, but might instead excavate through bits of electronic data to uncover similar information.

You can watch Elic Weitzel’s Marin Science Seminar Presentation here: “Archaeology and Ecological Crisis: Lessons in Sustainability from the Past” with Elic Weitzel of University of Connecticut

You can learn more about Elic Weitzel and his work at https://elicweitzel.wixsite.com/weitzel. Photo from website.

Video: “Archaeology and Ecological Crisis: Lessons in Sustainability from the Past” with Elic Weitzel of University of Connecticut

Connor Williams, Terra Linda High School

    On Wednesday, October 25, 2023, Elic Weitzel of University of Connecticut lectured about the White Tailed Deer and their intriguing past. In the video below you can learn about how European settlers damaged White Tailed Deer's population and how we can learn from it like using it to help us understand human population and the effects humans have on the earth. You can also find this video on the Marin Science Seminar Vimeo and find out more on other presentations at marinscienceseminar.com.

 

Pollinators, Predator-Prey Relations, and Pursuing Your STEM Interests: an Interview with Biologist and MSS Speaker Amber Sciligo

by Talya Klinger, MSS Intern

Dr. Amber Sciligo, a scientist in the department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at UC Berkeley, researches the interactions between insects, plants, the environment, and human economies. Whether she directs her focus to examining self-fertilizing carnivorous plants, observing how native bee communities enhance crop pollination, or finding the optimal level of crop diversity for sustainable farming, Dr. Sciligo’s research has important implications for the wild world of botany. Attend her research presentation at Terra Linda High School, Room 207, from 7:30-8:30 pm on October 21st.

In Dr. Sciligo's words:

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1.      How did you originally get interested in ecology and evolution?

Multiple life events led me down this path. The first was in my high school biology class, when I was taught how to catch insects and curate them as if they were to be kept in a museum (arrange their body parts and pin them so that they would dry out and be preserved). I LOVED it. I thought I would become an entomology museum curator. By the time I entered college though, I had changed my interests and thought I would save the dolphins (this was back in the 90s) and signed up for the marine biology major at UCSC. Then I took a scuba class in my sophomore year and damaged my ears. I realized my place was probably not underwater, so I changed my major to Ecology and Evolution, a new major that had the same prerequisites as marine biology. That’s when I took another entomology class, curated insects again, and was reminded how much I loved them! So from then on, I took classes that allowed me to specialize in the ecology and evolution of plant-insect interactions. And the rest is history.

2. Why did you decide to research sundew plants?

I kind of fell into the study system. Normally, one picks a study system to ask a research question. In this case I had my question in mind (is there pollinator-prey conflict in carnivorous plants in New Zealand and how do they deal with it?) without more than a vague idea of where I would conduct the work. I knew I wanted to study carnivorous plants and to ask this question. I knew that I wanted to go to graduate school in New Zealand. And when I put the two together, I landed on the system of Drosera (sundews), because it was the only feasible carnivorous plant that New Zealand had to offer. At the time, I didn’t realize that Australia, just a hop, skip and a jump away, had close to 200 species of carnivorous plants of many types, while NZ only had 12 species of two types. But I had chosen NZ, so sundews are what I got!

3. How do carnivorous plants satisfy their needs for insect pollinators and insects as food at the same time?

They do a pretty incredible job attracting different kinds of insects to their traps and to their flowers, usually by visual cues such as colors, or by emitting different smells from the traps and flowers. Often, smaller insects like ants and tiny flies will get trapped as prey, which provides the plants with the nutrients they need. Larger flies and bees will visit the flowers to provide pollination. Sometimes pollinators get trapped as prey. Maybe they were visiting the flowers and the trap was too close and the pollinators fall in or get tangled up. This can be bad for the plant if they need that pollinator to bring pollen from another flower in order to make seeds. But if the plant doesn’t need this, if it can self-fertilize without many inbreeding consequences, then catching a big juicy pollinator would provide a great feed for the plant.

4. What impact will your research on crop diversification and bee communities have on agriculture?

My current work is looking not just at how crop diversity improves native bee communities, (which is an important finding on its own as it demonstrates a way to leave land in production and support biodiversity at the same time), but also how crop diversity and other practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, mixing annual and perennial crops, and planting flower strips or hedgerows affect multiple ecosystem services at once, e.g. pollination, natural pest control, and soil and air quality. This allows us to see whether farming techniques that improve biodiversity on a farm provides benefits or tradeoffs to ecosystem services (e.g. plants that attract pollinators might also attract pests, but then they might also attract natural predators of those pests). Farmers don’t think about each of these things independently, they see their farms as a whole system with pests and pollinators, and birds and everything else all interacting at once. So it’s important that if we are going to conduct research that results in management recommendations, then we need to study the farm as a whole too. Otherwise we might make conservation recommendations that are unfeasible and won’t be adopted.

5. What’s your advice for high school students who are passionate about ecology and environmental science?

Find what aspects about these fields specifically interest you and dive in! If you have a more broad interest then seek out as many opportunities as you can to expose yourself to multiple aspects of these fields (there are many) and run with those that bring you the most curiosity and excitement. Volunteer to teach younger children or other community members. Teaching is the best way to learn about something. And look for opportunities to work in research labs at universities. There you can learn what parts of the scientific process you like the most. And maybe you’ll find a system that really fascinates you and you can end up studying that for a senior thesis project at a university, or on your own if you prefer.

I would add that while the scientific research world needs enthusiastic students like you, there are many important roles for people who love the natural world: scientific research is one way to go, teaching in schools or public forums is another, or sharing your values through writing, painting, song or other artistic avenues is also a great way to inspire others around you to pay attention.

6. One last question: do you have a favorite carnivorous plant?

Well, to be honest, I’m not really familiar with too many species. In NZ, there are only 12 species and most of them are really, really small and easy to miss. For instance, my study species ranged from only 1/2”-4” in height. I always wanted to find Drosera pygmaea, whose sticky-trap rosette is only 0.25” in diameter!! It’s no wonder I never found them though…they are so small.

I am also fascinated by the bladderworts (Utricularia spp.). They too are very small and were also at my study sites. You can only spot them when they send out a tiny flowering stalk from the body of water in which they reside. The traps are underwater and act like a vacuum to catch tiny swimming insects. I don’t know how they manage to lure the insects into their little bladders, which is why I find them so interesting. They also have very pretty flowers of bright colors, which is not characteristic of the sundews.

To find out more, come to the upcoming MSS presentation at Terra Linda High School, on Wednesday, October 21st, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at Terra Linda High School, 320 Nova Albion Way in Room 207. 
Dr. Amber Sciligo's Marin Science Seminar profile