Speaker Series
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Protecting Biodiversity and Facilitating Landscape-scale Tidal Marsh Restoration: Management of Invasive Spartina in the San Francisco Estuary
Thursday, December 14, 2023, 7:00 pm - 9 pm
Speaker: Jen McBroom, California Invasive Plant Council
Register HERE for this Speaker Series Program
Topic:
San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary on the west coast of North America and a critical stopover along the Pacific Flyway migration route for millions of shorebirds and waterfowl. Rimming the Bay between freeways, airports, and landfills remain precious tidal wetlands and opportunities to return salt evaporator ponds to functioning ecosystems. Since 2005, the Coastal Conservancy’s Invasive Spartina Project has used airboats, genetic testing, sophisticated GIS, and a lot of hard, muddy work to push back the invasive plants that threaten habitat for shorebirds, waterfowl, and the endangered salt marsh harvest mouse. Learn about how hometown heroes are doing their part to address the global biodiversity crisis.
Speaker Bio:
Jen McBroom is a biologist at Olofson Environmental Inc. and has been counting Ridgway’s rails for the Invasive Spartina Project since 2005. She got her start in the tidal wetlands of the San Francisco Bay studying song sparrows and marsh wrens after finishing her degree at UC Davis. Since then, she has logged many hours in muddy boots mapping invasive plants and observing the wildlife at the edge of the Bay.
Photo: Marsh along San Leandro Bay
Photo by: Simon Gunner
Next Speaker - Thursday, January 11, 2024
Northern Spotted Owls, by Taylor Ellis, National Park Service

Pileated Woodpeckers – By Sylvia Hunt
Speaker Series Archived Recordings
2023
November – “My Favorite Birds of the Sierra Nevada Mountains” – by Rich Cimino
October – “Unique and Rare Birds of Sub-Saharan Africa” – by John Sterling
September – “The Marvelous Hummingbird – From Sea to Summit” – by Benny Jacobs-Schwartz
June – “Tour of Marin Audubon Tidelands” – by Jude Stalker
May – “The Importance to Islands and Avian Evolution” – by Bob Lewis
April – “California Condor – Forever Free” – by Kurt Leuschner
March – “Bay Area Mountain Lions” – by Winston Vickers
2022
December – “Domestic Cat Management in Marin County” – by Grant Sizemore
November – “Anacapa Island Seabird Restoration” – by Annie Little
October – “Hummingbirds of California and Beyond” – by Bob Lewis
September – “Beauty and the Beast – California Wildflowers and Climate Change” – by Rob Badger and Peter H. Raven
June – “Conservation of the Tri-colored Blackbird and its Habitat in the Sierra Foothills and Central Valley” – by Daniel Airola
May – “Northern Spotted Owl Monitoring in Marin County” – by Renee Cormier
April – “Hansen’s Field Guide to the Birds of the Sierra Nevadas” – by Keith Hansen
March – “Turkey Vultures, California Condors and the Migration of Raptors Across the Desert” – by Kurt Leuschner
February – Minnesota’s Sax-Zim Bog & the “Invasion of the Vole Snatchers” – by Sparky Stensass
January – “Birding in New Mexico” – by Rich Cimino
2021
December – “Monarchs in Marin. How Much Trouble Are They In?” – by Mia Monroe and Ed Nute
November – “Birding Adventures in Morocco” – by Stirling Bird Tours
October – Amigos Alados “Feathered Friends” – by Alison Quoyeser
September – Birds and Mammals of Tanzania – by Wendy Dreskin
June – For the Love of Hummingbirds – by John Shewey
May – A Worldwide Collaboration to Track Bird Migration – by Amie MacDonald
April – Discovering Wood Warblers in Marin County – by Daniel Edelstein M.S.
March – Birding by Kayak on the Russian River – by Theresa & Miles Tuffli
February – Marin’s Booming Bird Population – by Roger D Harris
January – Change in Bird Status in the Central Valley – by John Sterling
2020
December – When Waterbirds are in Crisis – by JD Bergerson
November – Habitat Potential – by M.T. Clark
October – Birds of the Sierra – by Bob Lewis
September – Natural History of the Gulf of the Farallon Marine Sanctuary – by David Wimpfheimer
June – Habitat Potential – by Josiah Clark