Cal Naturalists Invade Yosemite

June 10, 2025 Applied Geography Biogeography Climate Environment Geology Geomorphology Physical Geography Resources Water Resources

Day Seven (Friday 4-18-2025): Sharing Our Discoveries

Our last time together is a half day, when we share our own presentations and receive our California Naturalist Certificates of Completion. Our roughly 24 student projects and volunteer efforts were far more diverse than one could imagine. Here is a quick summary list of a few presentation topics from my notes: Mt. Diablo Peregrine Team, Acorn woodpeckers and McKenzie Table Mountain Preserve, California Conservation Corps work, Eastwood Apartment Complex, Rainwater capture in Paramount, Invasive noxious locust trees in Yosemite Valley, Santa Cruz sandhills, Repair Cafes, Piedras Blancas, Homeless help and solutions, Oakhurst River Parkway Trail, CCC Citizen Science, Greenwood State Beach, meditation and the coastal sage scrub, ECCO self-guided nature trail, lichens and aerosols …         

Chris Cameron supervises as each student becomes our teacher, making their own presentations to wrap up our one-week UC Naturalist learning extravaganza.

Students who have completed this program are committed to sharing our intensive one week of accumulated natural science knowledge and experiences. They will make the ripples that can become the waves and tsunami capable of reconnecting people to their natural world and improving the quality of our living, working, and natural environments. They will help redirect our popular culture to get back on track and better understand the nature that nurtures us. Our very survival depends on such a paradigm shift.

I immediately continued my work in Yosemite by volunteering to help the Yosemite Conservancy as visiting interpreter for the weekend, sharing my career and lifetime of natural history experiences, including my California Sky Watcher project at Curry Village in Yosemite Valley. And remember that little pesky low-pressure system that threatened to dampen our spirits? It had drifted east, leaving breezy, cool, but sunny days and crisp nights for my ranger-style events. I led two evening public programs at the Curry Village Amphitheater and a Saturday hike along the trail to Happy Isles, rounding out Special Programs for Yosemite National Park during the Easter Weekend. You can bet that I am incorporating plenty of recent research and discoveries from this Yosemite program into my California Sky Watcher and other back to nature events, and into this website. A final big thanks goes to all the UC Naturalists and our fearless leader in Yosemite, Chris Cameron. Now, if you read this far, it’s your turn to spread the word.  

On our last day’s 500mb map (Friday, April 18), notice how a large ridge of high pressure is moving in from the Pacific, finally pushing that deepening low-pressure trough to the east of us. As atmospheric pressure rises over California, cool, refreshing breezes from the north blow the clouds and mist away, ushering in clear skies and fair weather. Also notice how those upper-level waves, with their troughs and ridges, are linked across the continent. Our passing trough has shifted east to bring stormy and even violent weather to the middle of the continent. In weather and in nature, all is connected.   
Just before sunset, a little raggedy fractocumulus (Cumulus fractus) cloud forms on top of Half Dome. When a cool breeze was forced to rise over the mountain, the expanding air was just moist enough to briefly cool to its dew point. The sky show enhanced what was already a perfect setting for my programs at the Curry Village Amphitheater.   
A lone local performer entertains the audience as folks trickle in to the Curry village Amphitheater for my California Sky Watcher natural history program.     
Blue dominated the sky dome above Yosemite Valley during the fair-weather weekend following our UC Naturalist week, clearing the way for my interpretive programs in the park. By now, this one final scene should inspire countless informative natural history and science stories. You take over from here.    

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William Selby

William Selby is a native Californian who has explored, researched, and worked in every corner of the Golden State. William has accumulated over 3 decades of experience teaching Geography and Earth Science at Santa Monica College. Since retiring from teaching, his lifelong love and extensive knowledge of the Golden State is reflected in the book as well as in his continued service to academia, geography and the State of California.

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