Signs of spring on the West Marin coast are evident and stirring excitement at ACR’s Martin Griffin Preserve. On this thousand acres of wildlands and watershed overlooking the Bolinas Lagoon, new growth is budding, wildflowers are blooming, and pollinators are buzzing. New buckeye leaves are unfurling and fern fiddleheads abound. Indian paintbrush, milkmaids, suncups, hound’s tongue, Douglas iris, woodland strawberries, Fremont star lilies, and Calypso orchids can been seen and smelled in all their splendor. These flowers attract butterflies, bumble bees, and hummingbirds, as they busily fly about.

The four canyons of the Preserve feature mixed evergreen forests and freshwater habitat for hundreds of species of mammals, land birds, reptiles, and amphibians. The ponds are full...

Michelle Cooper has joined our team to manage ACR's largest preserve, the 3,000-acre Modini Mayacamas Preserves, located northeast of Healdsburg. Michelle takes the baton from Sherry Adams, who during her 10-year tenure on the preserves was the trusted link in the transition from Jim and Shirley Modini's dedicated stewardship to ACR's professional management. Sherry's success was built on the trust that the Modinis held, and her warm and open demeanor served to bring the neighbors in as advocates and supporters of our work. Under her lead the preserves developed a science-based management plan that will direct future stewardship, an education program of high standard, and a wealth of research and restoration projects to keep us busy for a very long time. Our team wishes Sherry the best...

Hello Docents and Stewards of Bouverie!

I have missed seeing all of your faces around the preserve these last few months. The land at Bouverie has changed. (Thanks, Captain Obvious.) No, I’m not referring to the ecological landscape. It has changed because our great community of nature lovers, teachers, and learners, has temporarily lost its home. The Bouverie community has been a treasured part of my life since I was a wee lad becoming a Juniper. While the shoes I walk in now at 26 are different from the shoes I walked in when I was 10, this community I have grown to love is still a constant.

There are so many exciting things happening up at Bouverie right now, but I must admit it has been lonely without you. I can’t tell you how many times my mom and grandma (who you...

Sonoma State University student Justin Brown (pictured above with Resource Ecologist Julianne Bradbury) and Modini Mayacamas Preserves biologist Sherry Adams chatted recently about our Ferguson Spring restoration project.

Justin:
I loved being in a foothill wetland environment promoting the growth of native plants. I was changing the landscape, including propagation and transplanting into the wetland. I loved working with the camera trap to capture wildlife in an area that I was restoring. Through creating the Plant Guide I really got to know the plants' global history, cultural uses, and removal methods. I will continue writing this guide, it's the coolest thing I've done, it's moved plants to the forefront of my life.

I came to ACR and let you...