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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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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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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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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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Guatemala bearberry

February 16, 2019 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

(Arctostaphylos uva-ursi subsp. cratericola)

Jeff Bisbee

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi is a variable taxa because of the wide range of latitudes it explores across the northern hemisphere. Guatemala bearberry (Arctostaphylos uva-ursi subsp. cratericola) is a subspecies because of its disjunction distribution in Guatemala. It is also the only taxon not included in Field Guide to Manzanitas. Fernando Tobar recently took a trip to the Sierra Cuchumatanes, in Guatemala and observed these plants in their native habitat. That trip inspired this post.

Arctostaphylos uva-ursi
Arctostaphylos uva-ursi treatment from Field Guide to Manzanitas.
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Our most recent Podcast

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

Subscribe: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify

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🎉 New Book Day! 🎉 Our first bilingual book c 🎉 New Book Day! 🎉 Our first bilingual book created in partnership with @first5california Humboldt!

And for the extra amazing bit: First 5 Humboldt will be handing these out FOR FREE to families at their playgroups and library events. Three cheers for accessibility!

Humboldt folks will be able to pick this up at their favorite local bookstore over the next few days.

And our pre-sale is up at our L I N K for a few more days: your paperback comes with a free eBook!

#hikinghumboldt

#takeahike #humboldt #humboldtcounty #goplayoutside #naturehike #hikingwithkids @sequoiaparkzoo @cityofarcata @cityofeureka @cityoffortuna @benselman

https://backcountrypress.com/book/hiking-humboldt-kids/
Journey to the spectacular tide pools of the Lost Journey to the spectacular tide pools of the Lost Coast of Northern California!

>> Only 4 spots left! <<

You’ll bring the intertidal “seaweed blur” into focus by learning to identify and ethically harvest the bountiful sea vegetables that grow along their rocky shores: Nori, Kombu, Wakame, Sea lettuce, Bladderwrack, Sea cabbage, and many more. 

We'll camp along the gorgeous & serene Mattole River and create a dinner feast (including dessert!) with our foraged sea vegetables.

Campground class time includes hands on lessons on how to use common seaweeds for food, medicine, first aid, self care, and fun!

Class meets: 6pm Friday May 19 to noon on Sunday May 21 in Petrolia, CA for one of the best low tides of the year (a -1.4' at 6:40am Saturday)

$300 Tuition includes camping, product samples, and several meals

Find all the details and save your spot at our L I N K

#seaweed #seavegetables #lostcoast #wildfoods #humboldt #humboldtcounty

https://dandelionherb.com/product/seaweed-adventure/
Banana Slug party in the redwood forest today!
🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌🍌

🎤 Sing it with me now…

You know I love my baby (love my baby)
I love the way that she hugs (way that she hugs)
Some people don’t understand it (don’t understand it)
She’s a banana slug (banana slug)

BA-NA-NA SLUG!

He’s got just one foot
He ain’t got no toes
He hangs out in the forest
And helps it decompose.

#bananaslug #redwoodforest #humboldtcounty
Southern Oregon friends: we're coming to see you! Southern Oregon friends: we're coming to see you!

The Siskiyou Chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon is sponsoring a FREE presentation (in person and via Zoom) with @michael.kauffmann on the Plant Communities of the Klamath Mountains.

Thurs., April 20, 7pm PT
Southern Oregon Research and Extension Center, 569 Hanley Road, Central Point, OR

Tap our L I N K to register fo the Zoom

The Klamath Mountains contain some of the most exceptional temperate plant communities in the world. Within its geographic boundaries, over 3,500 taxa (species, subspecies, and varieties) of vascular plants occur, including 35 conifer species and 20 species of oak.

Michael will provide an overview of the Klamath Mountains, highlighting the plant communities across the region, and share photos of the rare and unusual plants that call the Klamath Mountains home.

Michael Kauffmann is an educator, author, publisher, and ecologist in Humboldt County who loves the Klamath Mountains and their native flora and fauna, including his favorite group of plants—conifers! He is the co-editor of a new book entitled The Klamath Mountains: A Natural History. 

#southernoregon #nativeplants #klamathmountains #oregonnativeplants #sou #osu #ecology #botany #medford #ashland #jacksonvilleoregon #exploregon

https://backcountrypress.com/calendar/?mc_id=20
We’re so pleased to announce our new book create We’re so pleased to announce our new book created in partnership with @first5california Humboldt!

🙌 en Español y Ingles 🙌

“Hiking Humboldt KIDS” by Rees Hughes

(and many book parents including Jennifer Gonzales, @benselman, @michael.kauffmann, @earth2allison, and talented local photographers)

Built for use with kids, this book will inspire family adventures with authentic experiences in nature that develop wonder in children and adults alike.

Research shows us that these shared experiences in early childhood have valuable and long-lasting positive effects on our health and wellbeing.

25 Hikes are grouped into four geographic regions of Humboldt County, CA. Each hike includes:

✅ Descriptions, driving and walking directions, and a custom map

✅ An activity for kids that highlights various flora, fauna, historical, or cultural aspects related to the hike

📗Paperbacks are coming to you in hand in early May! Preorder and eBooks are available now at our L I N K — and the eBook is FREE with your paperback preorder!

#hikinghumboldt #hikingwithkids #familyhike #goplayoutside #humboldt #humboldtcounty #redwoods #redwoodforest #takeahike #optoutside 

https://backcountrypress.com/book/hiking-humboldt-kids/?mc_cid=6f5a4ea575&mc_eid=UNIQID
❄️ Happiness is snowline at @backcountrypress ❄️ Happiness is snowline at @backcountrypress HQ ❄️

#humboldtcounty #redwoodforest
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Recent Posts

  • California Book Award Gold Medal May 20, 2023
  • Hiking Humboldt KIDS Released May 5, 2023
  • Birds of the Klamath Mountains March 23, 2023
  • Webcast: The Natural History of the Klamath Mountains February 15, 2023
  • Greed and Destruction: Klamath Mountains Mining History February 10, 2023

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