Carl Dennis Buell is an illustrator and naturalist whose work has been featured in museums and zoos throughout the country, as well as in numerous national magazines. He has been clawed, pecked, or bitten by most of the species of wildlife featured in John Muir’s Stickeen.

Kathleen Smith (Bodega Miwuk/Dry Creek Pomo, a member of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria) grew up in the Healdsburg area. An artist from early childhood, she graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1977. Over the years she has held such diverse jobs as park naturalist, art instructor, archaeology field technician, and foods columnist for the magazine News from Native California.

Betty Goerke has been teaching anthropology and archaeology at the College of Marin for over thirty years. She has conducted archaeological fieldwork in California, Colorado, Greece, Holland, Kenya, and India, and has authored books and articles and produced several videotapes, including Archaeology: Questioning the Past.

Jean François de la Pérouse (1741–1788?) was a French Naval officer and the author of Life in a California Mission.

Mark Twain (1835–1910) is widely acknowledged as one of the greatest writers in American history. Two books featuring his work, Mark Twain’s San Francisco and Mark Twain’s Civil War, are available from Heyday.

The Chia Café Collective is a grassroots group dedicated to honoring all the indigenous peoples of Southern California and their connection to the land and native plants. Working with various agencies, organizations, schools, and tribal communities, the Collective offers Native food workshops and classes; gathers, processes, and distributes plants to elders and others; and transplants native plants in areas slated for development, cultivating them in gardens in order to share seeds and cuttings.

Susie Swatt is a member of the National Advisory Council of the Institute of Governmental Studies at UC Berkeley. She spent nearly forty years as a key staff member in the California Legislature. As a special assistant for the Fair Political Practices Commission, she researched and authored a study that won a national award for “investigative work in the public interest.”