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Home » Blog

Birds of the Klamath Mountains

March 23, 2023 by Bella Fratkin 1 Comment

Bella Fratkin
GUEST POST

Bella Fratkin

Bella’s second post! Read her first HERE. She is an amazing work-study student from Arcata High School that helps us out with everything from packaging books to post office runs to watching our kids… to using her exceptional writing skills!


White-Headed Woodpecker- Leuconotopicus Albolarvatus    By Dan Barton
White-Headed Woodpecker- Leuconotopicus Albolarvatus By Dan Barton

The Klamath Mountains are home to vast populations of bird species. This is due to diverse habitats including riparian corridors, coniferous forests, oak woodlands, chaparral, meadows, and rocky cliffs. Over 350 bird species call the Klamath Mountains home for some portion of their life. Many of the bird species found in the Klamath Mountains are also found in other locations across the western United States but it is rare to find as many species residing in such close proximity to each other. 

The unique climate of the Klamath Mountains provides a rare opportunity for birds of different habitat types to cross paths. This is observed with Steller’s jays (Cyanocitta stelleria ontalis), a subspecies that prefers a humid coastal forest habitat, and the white-headed woodpecker (Leuconotopicus albolarvatus), a species that requires higher elevation and drier pine forests. They are both found in the Klamath Mountains. 

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Webcast: The Natural History of the Klamath Mountains

February 15, 2023 by Backcountry Press 2 Comments

Take a journey through the biotic and abiotic wonders that define the Klamath Mountains and one of the most unique mountain ranges in North America.

Ecologist and author Michael Kauffmann takes us on across the range based on his new book about the range that spans northwest California and southwest Oregon. We explore a variety of features that make the Klamath Mountains unique including climate, geology, water, fire, plants, and animals — all of which, when taken together, define one of the most biodiverse temperate mountain ranges on Earth.

Michael Kauffmann is a kindergarten through college educator in Humboldt County where he lives with his wife and two boys. He has also served as an ecologist mapping rare conifers across California and is the author of Conifer County and Conifers of the Pacific Slope and co-author of Field Guide to Manzanitas, California Desert Plants, and The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History.

Recorded January 28th, 2023

Greed and Destruction: Klamath Mountains Mining History

February 10, 2023 by Bella Fratkin 7 Comments

Bella Fratkin
GUEST POST

Bella Fratkin

Is our first employee here at Backcountry Press. She is an amazing work-study student from Arcata High School that helps us out with everything from packaging books to post office runs to watching our kids… to using her exceptional writing skills!


Hydraulic Mines at Trinity River

The Klamath Mountains are second to the Sierra Nevada in gold abundance in California. This abundance was, unfortunately, met by the festering greed of gold miners who lacked respect for the land and the First Peoples who resided there at the time of first contact. While there were laws for mining, the miners often disregarded them. These miners looked at these beautiful mountains, with their unique features and vast landscape, and simply saw monetary value.

It’s important to recognize that the wealth that came from the gold mines of the Klamath Mountain region came at the expense of the health of the land and the well-being of the First Peoples. Though the greed of the miners was, and still is, harmful to Indigenous Tribes, they have persisted and still continue their cultural practices in the Klamath Mountains today. Klamath Mountains mining history is a complicated story.

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Cultivating Place

January 28, 2023 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

Cultivating Place

A Podcast Interview with Jennifer Jewell

This week Jennifer Jewell, with the Cultivating Place Podcast, interviewed Michael Kauffmann and Justin Garwood. Michael and Justin have spent the better part of the last decade curating and editing a cohort of 32 additional expert contributors to a new, and really the first, comprehensive natural history of the Klamath Mountains, one of the most biodiverse temperate mountain ranges on Earth. This distinct North American region, protected by its rough topography for millennia is inclusive of the traditional homelands of more than 14 Native American Tribes, close to 10 separate mountain ranges, and more than 3000 plant taxa, as just a few measures of biodiversity.

The evolving story and natural history of this place has lessons for us all in to best care for, live with, and know our own places.

Listen in!

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Headline Humboldt

January 7, 2023 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History

Season 3 Episode 14 | 28m 29s

This week on Headline Humboldt, the North Coast is pummeled by a massive storm after another strong aftershock throws a wrench in earthquake recovery efforts. Also, author Michael Kauffmann is in the studio to discuss his new natural history book of the Klamath Mountains, an exhaustively researched and beautifully written book published by Back Country Press.

Aired: 01/06/23

Rating: NR

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SF Chronicle: Best Books of 2022

December 9, 2022 by Backcountry Press 6 Comments

We are proud to say that the San Francisco Chronicle has selected The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History as one of the best nonfiction books of 2022!

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California’s Deserts

November 15, 2022 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

California Desert Plants
California Desert Plants

Desert environments have always held a fascination for many, their stark landscapes notwithstanding. At first glance these seemingly-lifeless landscapes are actually home to hardy woody shrubs and succulents with amazing adaptations to survive in harsh desert conditions. In California’s deserts, all this changes when the onset of winter rains bring carpets of brightly colored annuals and flowering shrubs. California Desert Plants celebrates how elevation, climate, and vegetation define the Great Basin, Mojave, and Sonoran deserts in California. What follows is an excerpt from that book.

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THE KLAMATH MOUNTAINS: A NATURAL HISTORY

August 31, 2022 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

ISBN: 978-1-941624-09-8

Filled with mystery conjured by unparalleled biodiversity, the Klamath Mountains tell numerous stories of evolution and resilience shaped over long periods of time. Geology is the defining character of this range, with numerous smaller mountain ranges forming a jigsaw puzzle of big-shouldered river canyons and sharp ridgelines. Within the Klamath Knot, the geology also shapes the climate with wet coastal rainforests in the west and dry semi-deserts in the east.  

Michael Kauffmann and Justin Garwood co-edited a new work titled The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History with the help of 32 other authors. Experts in all aspects of the region’s natural history came together and are the first to tell the entire story.

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Plant Life in California’s Deserts

May 14, 2022 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

California Desert Plants
California Desert Plants

For the past 15 years, Philip Rundel, has been developing this book through his long-term relationship and travels in deserts of the Southwestern United States, northern Chile, and Southern Africa. His vision is now a reality. California Desert Plants: Ecology and Diversity is a new book written by Philip Rundel, Robert Gustafson, and Michael Kauffmann that explores plant life in California’s deserts. Published Backcountry Press, it describes traits and strategies that allow plants to survive in some of world’s harshest environments. In addition to describing major desert habitats, the book includes over 400 photographs to complement the text.

Philip Rundel, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Los Angeles is a desert ecologist with extensive experience in arid and semi-arid landscapes all around the world. He would be the first to admit that California’s deserts are his favorite—and his new book goes a long way to showing why.

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MarineBio.Life Features Allison Poklemba

April 27, 2022 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

marinebio.life

In this podcast Kara Muzia, an ocean enthusiast and marine biologist interviews Allison Poklemba. They dive into the wonderful world of seaweeds! Allison shares how plants have fascinated her from a young age, why her move across the country for university was the financially responsible choice, and how she incorporated both botany and herbalism into her career. Allison puts a few different species of kelp on highlight including bull kelp and wakame. She shares how kelp can actually devour cancer tumors, how a walk on the beach can also be a walk in a medicine cabinet, and some fun ways to cook with sea vegetables.

Listen to the Podcast
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Nature’s Archive features Michael Kauffmann

April 26, 2022 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

Nature's Archive

Michael Hawk, the creator of Nature’s Archive, featured Michael Kauffmann a few weeks back. They discussed the many things that make conifers such an amazing group of plants including their evolutionary history, what makes them different from other trees, and gives us a special look at the amazing diversity of conifers in his area – the Klamath region of far northern California. This deep dive reveals many interesting ecological processes that likely can be generalized to other regions and other plants. It’s truly fascinating.

Listen to Michael on Nature’s Archive
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Calling All Humboldt County Photographers

April 8, 2022 by Backcountry Press 7 Comments

We are working with First 5 Humboldt to develop a hiking guide for kids and families. We would love to feature your photos of these landscapes and people visiting these places!

We want your photos!

Both with and without people (kids and families).

Submit Photos Here With Your Google Account

Don’t have a google account? email mk@backcountrypress.com

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Nature Nerd Protip: Cactus Compass

January 9, 2022 by Allison Poklemba 1 Comment

Never get turned around in the Mojave Desert again. As long as you can find this plant, it will point you south!

Directionality is seen in many cactus species, with our barrel cactus (Ferocactus cylindraceus) serving as a good example.

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Magnificent Five-needle Pines of Western North America

December 5, 2021 by Backcountry Press 2 Comments

How well do you know them? Take a “quiz” to test your knowledge about this amazing group of pines!

Our upcoming 2-part webinar will explore the natural history of six closely related five-needle pines of western North America, and dive into the amazing factoids mentioned below in the “quiz.” Here’s what we have in store for you:

  • Part 1 on 12/9: Intro to conifers, intro to pines, sugar pine, and whitebark pine
  • Part 2 on 12/16: Limber pine, bristlecone pine, foxtail pines, and 5-needle pine conservation

Giving Back: 50% of your $15 class registration fee is being donated to the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation, a science-based non-profit dedicated to counteracting the widespread decline of all 5-needle pines throughout the Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest, and Northern Sierra Nevada.

Are you ready? Here’s your quiz…

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Forest Mushroom Class Pairings

October 17, 2021 by Backcountry Press 2 Comments

Part 1: Kombucha In The Mist

We’re kicking it off by pairing Part 1 with a beverage that you can watch develop with a culture of your very own — or just pick up a bottle from your neighborhood market: Kombucha! For best effect, pour yourself a sparkling glass and sit outside on a misty autumnal evening listening to the trees drip, the moss plump, and the fungi fruit.

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Events

  • 8:00 am – 3:00 pm, April 16, 2023 – Conifers & Birds of Horse Mountain
  • July 14, 2023 – July 16, 2023 – Celebrating the Siskiyou Crest: A Festival of Arts, Culture & Science

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Trivia Challenge: Wildflowers of the Klamath Mountains

https://backcountrypress.com/podcast-player/21109/trivia-challenge-wildflowers-of-the-klamath-mountains.mp3

Download file | Play in new window | Duration: 19:11 | Recorded on July 8, 2022

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