Who’s Among the Oaks? with Kate Marianchild and CNPS East Bay
January 27, 2021 @ 7:30 pm
Streaming live: Register here
Have you ever wondered what kinds of oaks dot California’s hills and line our fertile valleys, providing our state’s most wildlife-rich habitats? Well, help is at hand! In a talk filled with humor and fun memory aids, author and naturalist Kate Marianchild will teach us to identify northern California’s oaks by their acorns, caps, leaves, and galls. With acorns in hand, you will learn how to distinguish a valley oak from an Oregon oak and a canyon live oak from a coast live oak. Kate will also share cool facts about oaks, including their co-evolutionary relationships with California scrub-jays and caterpillars. This one-hour talk will be followed by time for questions and answers.
Kate asks that you go out and collect a few acorns with caps as soon as possible. Bring them to the talk, along with a few pieces of paper and a writing implement.
Kate is a naturalist, speaker, and the author of Secrets of the Oak Woodlands: Plants and Animals among California’s Oaks. She is also the author of Identifying the Common Oaks of Northern and Central California, a two-sided, full-color laminated oak identification field guide available for purchase on her website. Kate currently leads walks, gives talks, teaches classes, and advocates for oak woodland conservation.
About the Speaker
Kate Marianchild
When Kate Marianchild migrated to the oak woodlands of inland Mendocino County in 2001, she promptly fell in love with an ecosystem. After writing for Audubon and other nature-oriented nonprofits for several years, she began the research that led to the writing of this book. Marianchild studied Chinese language and literature at UC Berkeley and New Asia College in Hong Kong, graduating Phi Beta Kappa from Berkeley with a degree in comparative literature. Following years of grassroots political activism, she moved to Mendocino County in 1980 and supported herself as a carpenter while founding and running Rising Tide Sea Vegetables, a company that is still thriving today under new ownership. For the past thirteen years she has lived in a cozy twenty-five-foot-diameter yurt with no indoor plumbing except a sink and a two-gallon hot water heater. In addition to watching wildlife, leading nature walks, and giving slide presentations, Marianchild sings with two community choirs, kayaks, swims, and participates in the events of her beloved community. (Kate Marianchild was known as Kathy Roberts before she changed her name to honor her deceased mother.)
