6/10 Nature Club: Moore Creek Preserve and Summer Startup

Kick off the beginning of summer with an awesome visit to the Moore Creek Preserve, exploring different communities found in one of our best local habitats. Birds, deer, coyotes, rabbits, and much more call this place home and we will learn all about the adaptations that they need to survive in this environment.

Saturday, June 10th | 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Moore Creek Preserve
Ages: 6th-8th grade
$10 |$5 Museum Members | Register

What is Nature Club?

Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th Grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Programs are led by Museum staff with kids dropped off at rotating locations, including local parks, open spaces, and of course at the Museum! Exploration and activities help kids learn more about nature through observation and experience while developing a deeper connection to nature and making new friends.

What to Expect

Programs run from 10:00 a.m -12:30 p.m. and occur on the first Saturday of the month. The Museum does not provide transportation to offsite meeting spots, and participants should be dropped off and picked up by parents/guardians. Some programs may be physically rigorous so please email chris.soriano@santacruzmuseum.org if you have questions about trail accessibility. Programs occur rain or shine, barring extreme weather.

Safety

Nature Club will run in compliance with state and county guidance for health and safety. Participants should not attend if they have been coughing, have a fever, or had recent contact with someone with a positive test.

Scholarships available!

5/6 Nature Club: Neary Lagoon – A Living Nursery

Springtime at Neary Lagoon means one thing – baby waterbirds! Neary Lagoon is home to lots of newly hatched bird life, and we can observe hatchling ducks, grebes, coots, and more as they paddle around and swim. The Museum will provide binoculars for each participant.

Saturday, May 6th | 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Neary Lagoon
Ages: 6th-8th grade
$10 |$5 Museum Members | Register

What is Nature Club?

Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th Grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Programs are led by Museum staff with kids dropped off at rotating locations, including local parks, open spaces, and of course at the Museum! Exploration and activities help kids learn more about nature through observation and experience while developing a deeper connection to nature and making new friends.

What to Expect

Programs run from 10:00 a.m -12:30 p.m. and occur on the first Saturday of the month. The Museum does not provide transportation to offsite meeting spots, and participants should be dropped off and picked up by parents/guardians. Some programs may be physically rigorous so please email chris.soriano@santacruzmuseum.org if you have questions about trail accessibility. Programs occur rain or shine, barring extreme weather.

Safety

Nature Club will run in compliance with state and county guidance for health and safety. Participants should not attend if they have been coughing, have a fever, or had recent contact with someone with a positive test.

Scholarships available!

3/4 Nature Club: Exploring the Tide Pools at Natural Bridges

The tide pools at Natural Bridges are some of the best in Santa Cruz and they are teeming with living creatures. Explore tide pools and nearby coastal prairie habitat and learn about the amazing plants and animals that live there.

Saturday, March 4th | 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Natural Bridges State Park
Ages: 6th-8th grade
$10 |$5 Museum Members | Register

What is Nature Club?

Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th Grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Programs are led by Museum staff with kids dropped off at rotating locations, including local parks, open spaces, and of course at the Museum! Exploration and activities help kids learn more about nature through observation and experience while developing a deeper connection to nature and making new friends.

What to Expect

Programs run from 10:00 a.m -12:30 p.m. and occur on the first Saturday of the month. The Museum does not provide transportation to offsite meeting spots, and participants should be dropped off and picked up by parents/guardians. Some programs may be physically rigorous so please email chris.soriano@santacruzmuseum.org if you have questions about trail accessibility. Programs occur rain or shine, barring extreme weather.

Safety

Nature Club will run in compliance with state and county guidance for health and safety. Participants should not attend if they have been coughing, have a fever, or had recent contact with someone with a positive test.

Scholarships available!

2/4 Nature Club: Finding Fungus at DeLaveaga Park

We will explore the forests and trails of DeLaveaga Park, traversing about 3 miles of trails. The great variety of trees in these forests supports a huge amount of fungal life. Learn more about these amazing decomposers and how they support their ecosystems!

Saturday, February 4th | 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: DeLaveaga Park
Ages: 6th-8th grade
$10 |$5 Museum Members | Register

What is Nature Club?

Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th Grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Programs are led by Museum staff with kids dropped off at rotating locations, including local parks, open spaces, and of course at the Museum! Exploration and activities help kids learn more about nature through observation and experience while developing a deeper connection to nature and making new friends.

What to Expect

Programs run from 10:00 a.m -12:30 p.m. and occur on the first Saturday of the month. The Museum does not provide transportation to offsite meeting spots, and participants should be dropped off and picked up by parents/guardians. Some programs may be physically rigorous so please email chris.soriano@santacruzmuseum.org if you have questions about trail accessibility. Programs occur rain or shine, barring extreme weather.

Safety

Nature Club will run in compliance with state and county guidance for health and safety. Participants should not attend if they have been coughing, have a fever, or had recent contact with someone with a positive test.

Scholarships available!

1/7 Nature Club: Museum Deep Dive

Shell fishing hooks

Explore collections and specimens from the Museum that do not always get to be seen by the public. The Museum’s extensive collection of fossils, shells, animal specimens, and more allow us to investigate nature up close and personal.

Saturday, January 7th | 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Santa Cruz Museum of Natural History
Ages: 6th-8th grade
$10 |$5 Museum Members | Register

What is Nature Club?

Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th Grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Programs are led by Museum staff with kids dropped off at rotating locations, including local parks, open spaces, and of course at the Museum! Exploration and activities help kids learn more about nature through observation and experience while developing a deeper connection to nature and making new friends.

What to Expect

Programs run from 10:00 a.m -12:30 p.m. and occur on the first Saturday of the month. The Museum does not provide transportation to offsite meeting spots, and participants should be dropped off and picked up by parents/guardians. Some programs may be physically rigorous so please email chris.soriano@santacruzmuseum.org if you have questions about trail accessibility. Programs occur rain or shine, barring extreme weather.

Safety

Nature Club will run in compliance with state and county guidance for health and safety. Participants should not attend if they have been coughing, have a fever, or had recent contact with someone with a positive test.

Scholarships available!

12/3 Nature Club: Wild at the Ranch (Wilder Ranch)

We will explore the coastal prairie and cliff terraces habitats that support tons of wildlife. Seabirds, harbor seals, hawks, and so much more wildlife can be seen as we walk along the bluff trails, with beautiful views of the ocean the whole way! Maybe we could even see a gray whale!

Saturday, December 3rd | 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Wilder Ranch
Ages: 6th-8th grade
$10 |$5 Museum Members | Register

What is Nature Club?

Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th Grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Programs are led by Museum staff with kids dropped off at rotating locations, including local parks, open spaces, and of course at the Museum! Exploration and activities help kids learn more about nature through observation and experience while developing a deeper connection to nature and making new friends.

What to Expect

Programs run from 10:00 a.m -12:30 p.m. and occur on the first Saturday of the month. The Museum does not provide transportation to offsite meeting spots, and participants should be dropped off and picked up by parents/guardians. Some programs may be physically rigorous so please email chris.soriano@santacruzmuseum.org if you have questions about trail accessibility. Programs occur rain or shine, barring extreme weather.

Safety

Nature Club will run in compliance with state and county guidance for health and safety. Participants should not attend if they have been coughing, have a fever, or had recent contact with someone with a positive test.

Scholarships available!

11/11 Nature Club: Neary Lagoon and Migratory Madness

Neary Lagoon in the autumn is full of life! Migratory birds seek food and shelter in large numbers and provide excellent opportunities to study them up close. The Museum will provide binoculars for each participant.

Saturday, November 11th | 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Neary Lagoon
Ages: 6th-8th grade

$10 General |$ 5 Members

Register

If you are not a Member yet, explore Museum Membership here

What is Nature Club?

Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th Grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Programs are led by Museum staff with kids dropped off at rotating locations, including local parks, open spaces, and of course at the Museum! Exploration and activities help kids learn more about nature through observation and experience while developing a deeper connection to nature and making new friends.

What to Expect

Programs run from 10:00 a.m -12:30 p.m. The Museum does not provide transportation to offsite meeting spots, and participants should be dropped off and picked up by parents/guardians. Some programs may be physically rigorous. Please email chris.soriano@santacruzmuseum.org if you have questions about trail accessibility. Programs occur rain or shine, barring extreme weather.

Safety

Nature Club will run in compliance with state and county guidance for health and safety. Participants should not attend if they have been coughing, have a fever, or had recent contact with someone with a positive COVID-19 test.

Scholarships available!

Guide to Foraging

People have lived along the central coast of present-day California for millennia, surviving and thriving off of the resources that continue to surround us. Today, many of our region’s greatest naturalists are fishers, gardeners, and artists who connect with the natural world through their hobbies, work, or craft. Foraging is for many an entryway into a deeper connection with nature.

Negative Impacts of Foraging

Habitat degradation, increased frequency and intensity of fires, development, and climate change are all stressors that impact native species and reduce vital resources. Foraging has become a popular movement in recent years, often to the extreme detriment of widely sought-after plants like ginseng and white sage.

If you choose to forage, you can ensure that you are doing so in an ethical manner that supports the future health and sustainability  of our environment.

Foraging Ethics 101

1. Protect threatened species

When identifying plants to forage, confirm that population numbers are healthy  to avoid causing additional challenges for organisms already under stress. While many local native species have ethnobotanical qualities, there are also many non-native and invasive species that do, too. By selecting non-native species for forage, you are protecting local natives.

Resources: California Native Plant Society’s Rare Plant Inventory and Calscape.

2. Identification is Key

Never forage something unless you are certain of its ID. Even if you do not plan on consuming the item, if you get the ID wrong you could risk removing something that is rare or threatened. Use three or more points of identification, rather than one characteristic. Some things to consider include: bloom, stem, bark, color, smell, habitat, soil conditions, life cycle, and, in the case of mushrooms, spore prints.

Resources: Jepson eFlora identification key for California native plants, iNaturalist community science database and identification tool, Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast by Noah Siegel and Christian Schwarz, and Fungus Federation of Santa Cruz.

3. Only Take What You Need, and Never Too Much

When foraging for a particular use, only take what you need. More importantly, never take more than what the environment can afford to give. Generally, only take one-tenth from any patch you see, and never from the only patch you find.

It’s a reciprocal relationship. We have a responsibility to take care of this plant—to be responsible for them. So it’s not about going out and just randomly taking. That’s really disrespectful, and it should never be done that way.

Chairman Valentin Lopez, Amah Mutsun Tribal Band
As quoted in How Foragers Reconnect with the Land by Erin Malsbury

4. Know Before You Go

Many parks and open spaces have regulations about or against foraging. It is important to know what the rules are for a given space before foraging.

5. Be Safe

Avoid harvesting near busy roads or hazardous sites and be mindful of any potential pollutants or contaminants that the organisms you’re harvesting might have been exposed to, such as pesticides and heavy metals.

Note About Mushrooms

Mushrooms are the fruiting bodies of a fungal organism. There are different schools of opinion about whether it is better to cut a mushrooms above the soil, or pluck it entirely. If you are picking the mushroom to identify it, it is best to try to remove it in its entirety with as little damage to the surrounding area as possible. Always leave the area where you have picked from tidy. Picking older mushrooms and leaving younger ones is a good way of allowing the most amount of fruiting bodies to go through their full life cycle. Carry your mushrooms in a woven basket to let them continue to drop spores as you walk (this is also better than using plastic bins or bags for the shelf life of your mushrooms).

10/1 Nature Club: Pogonip – A Trip Through History

Picture of a historic stone lime kiln surrounded by ferns

Join us to explore approximately 4 miles of trail in Pogonip, the largest open natural space in Santa Cruz. Enjoy beautiful views of Santa Cruz and the Monterey Bay and learn about our local history by visiting the historic limekilns and examining redwood trees through the lens of time.

Saturday, October 1 | 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
Location: Pogonip
Ages: 6th-8th grade
$10 |$5 Museum Members | Register

What is Nature Club?

Nature Club takes young explorers (6th-8th Grade) into local habitats to learn about the amazing living world around us while making discoveries along the way. Programs are led by Museum staff with kids dropped off at rotating locations, including local parks, open spaces, and of course at the Museum! Exploration and activities help kids learn more about nature through observation and experience while developing a deeper connection to nature and making new friends.

What to Expect

Programs run from 10:00 a.m -12:30 p.m. and occur on the first Saturday of the month. The Museum does not provide transportation to offsite meeting spots, and participants should be dropped off and picked up by parents/guardians. Some programs may be physically rigorous so please email chris.soriano@santacruzmuseum.org if you have questions about trail accessibility. Programs occur rain or shine, barring extreme weather.

Safety

Nature Club will run in compliance with state and county guidance for health and safety. Masks are strongly recommended for all participants, regardless of vaccination status. Participants should not attend if they have been coughing, have a fever, or had recent contact with someone with a positive test.

Scholarships available!

Santa Cruz Sea Monsters with Geoffrey Dunn (recording)

Santa Cruz has a long history of fishing lore, including the legend of the “Old Man of the Monterey Bay.” Geoffrey Dunn is a fourth-generation member of the Santa Cruz Italian fishing colony who grew up with stories about the “Old Man” and sea monsters as a boy, which has influenced his work as journalist, filmmaker, and historian. Join us for the online talk exploring local myths and legends in honor of the exhibit, Maritime Mysteries and Monsters.

About the Speaker

Geoffrey Dunn, Ph. D., is an award-winning journalist, filmmaker and historian and has written extensively about California culture and history. He is the author of several books, including Santa Cruz Is in the Heart (Volumes I and II); The Santa Cruz Wharf: Images of America; Chinatown Dreams: The Life and Photography of George Lee;  and The Lies of Sarah Palin. His films include Dollar a Day, 10¢ a Dance: A Historic Portrait of Filipino Farm Workers in America; Chinese Gold: The Chinese of the Monterey Bay Region;, Calypso Dreams, and The Glamour Boyz Again. He also served as the on-screen narrator of A Day on the Bay: Portrait of a Ligurian Fishing Colony. Dunn has been writing about Monterey Bay’s maritime history for more than four decades.

Cartoon by Thommy Thompson, San Francisco Call-Bulletin, 1942.