Golden State Naturalist

In the late 1800s, the people of New England believed there were vampires in their midst. Many had a neighbor who had gone pale, who'd felt as if someone were lying across their chest at night, who'd woken up with blood splattered across their pillow.

Neither vampires nor vampire bats had caused these symptoms, but Bram Stoker would soon tie elements of this vampire panic to bats in his classic work of Gothic horror, Dracula.

Come with me, Joey Curti, and Rachel Blakey on a misty October evening, duck beneath a lonely concrete bridge in Southern California, and find out not only what Bram Stoker knew (and didn't know) about bats, but also the true story of these oft-maligned creatures.

Note: This is part one of a two-part episode. In this portion, we get up close and personal with bats. Come back to hear a full conversation about the world's only flying mammals soon!

Links:

• Penguin Books page about Bram Stoker
• Book: Bram Stoker's Notes for Dracula (this book contains the New York World article)
• Bats really are faster than birds
• Glowing bat toes
• Mexican free-tailed bat migration

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Photo (Mexican free-tailed bat) by Charles Hood; used with permission.

In 1999, the once-healthy population of Catalina foxes plummeted suddenly and without explanation. Over the next few years, scientists worked to find out what was wrong and to bring this tiny fox, found nowhere else on earth, back from the brink.

Join me and Lauren Dennhardt as we discuss Catalina fox's story, and then come with me into the field with Katie Elder to trap foxes for their annual population count and vaccinations.

Links:

Check out this mini doc on the Catalina fox's story.

NPS page on the island fox.

Get 15% off your order of California native seeds from the California Collection by Nature’s Seed by using the code Golden15 at checkout.

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Episode cover photo by Michelle Fullner.

Humans have been fascinated by islands since the writing of the earliest works of literature, but the outsized role they play in our imaginations isn't limited to fiction. Islands make up only a tiny percentage of the land on earth, but they represent about a fifth of the planet's total biodiversity.

And things stranger than fiction happen on islands, from the evolution of miniature mammoths and enormous flightless birds with no fear of humans to the illumination of the theory of evolution itself.

Join me and two experts, Kevin Alison and John Knapp, as we trundle along island roads deep into the unique ecology of Santa Catalina Island and discuss giant buckwheats, tiny foxes, and what islands have to teach us about the living world back on the mainland.

Links:

Recommended reading:

Song of the Dodo by David Quammen

Fremontia issue on CA Islands

Ways to support the pod:

Get 15% off your order of California native seeds from the California Collection by Nature’s Seed by using the code Golden15 at checkout.

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

Sources:

Penglai: https://www.npm.gov.tw/Exhibition-Content.aspx?sno=04010138&l=2

Island landmass: https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1306309110

Island biodiversity: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8556160/

Plant endemism on islands: https://par.nsf.gov/servlets/purl/10565488

Global extinctions on islands and success of invasive species removal: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-022-14982-5

Bird extinctions: https://datazone.birdlife.org/articles/many-bird-species-have-already-gone-extinct

Island role in biological and linguistic diversity: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274380594_The_Importance_of_Islands_for_the_Protection_of_Biological_and_Linguistic_Diversity

House cat origins: https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/28/science/domestic-cats-origins-ancient-dna

Miscellany:

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Episode cover photo by Michelle Fullner

The pod is going stronger than ever, but it's also part of a larger picture than ever, which means a little shuffle is in order. Have a listen to find out the specifics. I'll see you on the next full episode soon!

Stay golden,

Michelle

The golden hills of California are hiding things.

At first glance, grasslands like these ones appear to be simple systems. And to some degree, they are simplified versions of their precolonial selves, but they’re also home to thousands of species of native plants that support an intricate ecology. Look a little closer, peer between the swishing blades, know what to look for, and you’ll see not only a mesmerizing web of life but also California’s history written in the grass.

Come with me and Dr. Justin Luong of UC Berkeley as we explore a California grassland and discuss the past, present, and future of an ecosystem vital to both biodiversity and human wellbeing.

Links:

Justin’s website

The Colonial Roots of Black Mustard

Get 15% off your order of California native seeds from the California Collection by Nature’s Seed by using the code Golden15 at checkout.

Speak up for California’s public lands with CalWild.

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Production support by Laine Kaplan Levenson.

Episode cover photo by Michelle Fullner.

Seeds are far more present in our lives than most of us realize. They compose everything from our morning coffee to our favorite chocolates and have helped shape the world as we know it.

California native seeds are just as vital, and protecting them is a way of safeguarding our very future.

Join me and Cheryl Birker at the California Botanic Garden as we explore the hidden world of seeds. In this episode, we take a deeper look into the difference between spores and seeds, seeds that require fire to germinate, seeds that survived for 2,000 years in the Judean Desert, and how safeguarding seeds is a way of safeguarding life as we know it.

Links:

Get 15% off your order of California native seeds from the California Collection by Nature’s Seed when you use the code GOLDEN15 at checkout.

Speak up for California’s public lands with CalWild.

Cacao Seeds as Currency

California Plant Rescue

Seed Germination Data

Seed photos by John Macdonald

Seed Savers Exchange (the catalogue mentioned at the end of the episode)

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Photo: Prickly poppy seeds by Michelle Fullner, taken at the California Botanic Garden.

California is home to 15 million acres of a kind of land most people have never heard of. These lands span deserts, grasslands, oak woodlands, and coastal rainforests. They’re free or very inexpensive to visit, and they’re almost never crowded. But what are these mythical wonderlands?

These are the largely overlooked lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management, or BLM, and you can go and see them.

Josh Jackson, author of The Enduring Wild: A Journey Into California’s Public Lands, took me to see one of these places he refers to as Forgotten Lands. While we were there, we discussed the history of BLM lands, nature behind a velvet rope and not behind a velvet rope, current threats to the land, how we can find and access BLM lands, and how connecting with these places can change not only how we look at nature far from home, but also how we see the living world in our own backyards.

Links:

Get Josh’s book, The Enduring Wild.

Speak up for California’s public lands with CalWild.

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Tidy tips photo by Josh Jackson

What do California lizards and tiny foxes have in common? Check out this special announcement episode to find out.

More soon, friends!

Michelle

Kayleigh Shawn McCollum

Are you making New Year's resolutions this year? Mine are a little unconventional. Find out what they are and get to know two incredible advocates for public land, Anders Reynolds and Bill Hodge of The Wild Idea Podcast, on this special bonus episode.

And of course remember to check out The Wild Idea Podcast as soon as you're done listening here.

Happy New Year, friends!

We need every single species of native tree here in California, but our 20+ varieties of native oaks are the most crucial of all. In this episode, join me and my guest, Zarah Wyly, on a walk through a relatively new oak woodland in Folsom dotted with two ancient, magnificent oak trees. Learn the story of how this unusual woodland came to be, find out why oaks are my all-time favorite trees, and explore such questions as: What kinds of life are supported by oak trees? If I plant one, will it wreck my house? What do you have to do to acorns to make them edible? Why does it look like some oak trees are growing apples? How do oaks spread such heavy seeds? What kinds of variety is there among different oak species? What does any of this have to do with the Declaration of Independence?

And here's a handy list of the other podcasts participating in Critical Mast!

• Future Ecologies
• Jumpstart Nature
• Nature's Archive
• Learning from Nature: The Biomimicry Podcast
• Outside/In

Ok, get ready for a lot of links. Here you goooooo!

The Declaration of Independence and the Hand of Time

The Nature of Oaks, by Douglas Tallamy

National Resources Conservation Service Resource on Grazing

Secrets of the Oak Woodlands, by Kate Marianchild

Braiding Sweetgrass, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

City Nature Challenge

Sacramento Tree Foundation

Calscape (to help with planting natives!)

Daniel Airola's research on bird diversity in urban forests

The theme song is called "i dunno" by grapes, and it can be found here.

Follow me on Instagram @goldenstatenaturalist

My website is https://www.goldenstatenaturalist.com/

You can find me on Patreon here.

Episode photo by Bendp

Can cities be good for wildlife? Or at least not so bad? What changes would we need to make to welcome more life into our cities? How would those changes impact humans? What are other cities already trying?

Come with me and Kat Superfisky to the largest city in California, where we discuss all of this and so much more.

Note: This interview was recorded in September of 2024, so any references to the Federal government are references to the government during the Biden Administration.

Helpful Links:

Kat’s website

Content Creation for Nature

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.
The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

California is one of only 36 Global Biodiversity Hotspots. This means that we have incredible species richness with at least 1,500 endemic vascular plant species. But here's the bummer. In order to be considered a Global Biodiversity hotspot, a place must also be threatened. So threatened, in fact, that it must have only 30% or less of its original natural vegetation remaining.
Oof.
Thankfully, Californians are not sitting idly by waiting for the rest of our biodiversity to disappear. Across the state, conservation leaders, on both small and large scales, are pulling together and protecting the places that matter to us most.
In this special episode, come with me behind the scenes of this year's 30x30 Partnership Summit to talk with those leaders, hear about some of today's most inspiring conservation success stories, and discover how you can be part of the movement to protect California for generations to come.

Helpful Links:
30x30 Official Website
Valérie Courtois's TED Talk
Carr Lake in Salinas
Support Golden State Naturalist on ⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.
Follow me on ⁠Instagram⁠.
My website is ⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.
Get podcast Merch.
The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found ⁠here⁠.
Otter photo by Kedar Gadge on Unsplash.

Descend with me and LA's first ever urban ecologist into the concrete channel of the Los Angeles River as we discuss novel ecosystems, eminent domain, Greased Lightnin', flood prevention, Ice Cube, soft bottoms, emerald necklaces, and why the LA River is the perfect microcosm of everything LA was, is, and one day could be.

Helpful Links:

Kat’s website

Jason Wise's website

Juan Crespi’s journal

CalMatters LAPD Helicopters article

Grease Filming Locations

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.
The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Chances are, you’ve never seen our state amphibian in the wild.

In this episode, find out how the California red-legged frog became so rare while also delving into international border crossings with endangered frog eggs, urban drool, The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County, things that can fit into a bullfrog’s mouth, and the essential mindset shift that might just change the world.

Join me and Brad Hollingsworth from the San Diego Natural History Museum as we discuss all of this and so much more.

Links:

Trivia Night! Join me in-person on May 12th or online on May 27th for Quiz for a Cause, a fundraiser to help rebuild the Eaton Canyon Nature Center. And check out the silent auction here!

Saving the California red-legged frog from extinction

FAUNO: Fanua del Noroeste. Learn more about the work in Mexico or sign up for a workshop.

ECOS information on red-legged frog federal listing

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Episode cover photo courtesy of the San Diego Natural History Museum.

How can listening deepen our relationship with place? What do birds think about highway noise? Is that ice bridge safe to cross at this time of year? How can I learn to listen more closely?

Join me and Fil Corbitt as we snowshoe down the Eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada Mountains in search of a handmade desk and a place to listen to flowing water, to birdsong, to each other, and to the ever-changing landscape itself.

Links:

Fil's podcast is called The Wind.

Check out their Coyote episode.

"Birdsongs alleviate anxiety and paranoia in healthy participants"

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

What do cacti and rare pines have in common? What’s a paleoendemic? Do pinecones have teeth? Why do so many different plant species live in Mediterranean climates?

Join me and Jon Rebman as we go behind the scenes of the San Diego Natural History Museum, explore the herbarium, and discuss the rarest pine species in North America.

Links:

San Diego Natural History Museum

University of California Museum of Paleontology

Cool study about redwood leaves

Info about Torrey pines and bark beetles

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Have you ever wondered what little-known and mysterious beings are living among us, just out of sight? This episode is about one such creature that most Californians have no idea even exists.

Join me, Dave Wyatt, and Kristyn Schulte as we discuss clever little foxes, oak mistletoe, the floor is lava, dissolved poop, the smallest mountain range in the world, tasty taxidermy, classroom design, convergent evolution, weasel lemurs, and a whole lot more.

Links:

The California Ringtail Project

Mistletoe toxicity

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

Subscribe to the GSN email newsletter.

Episode cover photo by Dave Wyatt.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Join me and Dr. Alexandra Syphard as we discuss what makes some neighborhoods more fire prone than others, the Santa Ana Winds, defensible space, the massive differences between fires in forested Northern California and shrubby Southern California, the pendulum swing of public opinion, ways that climate change does and doesn’t contribute to wildfires, the WUI, positive uses of abandoned Fry's electronics buildings, waxy leaves, invasive plants, and so much more.

This episode is an attempt to add context for everyone struggling to comprehend the scale of the fires in Los Angeles, especially those impacted. I hope it helps. Sending love.

Links:

California Fire Hazard Severity Zones

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Cover art by Raquel Raclette.

Flying over San Diego, you can see them: Fingers of green extending through neighborhoods all across the city.

San Diego’s urban canyon’s serve as refuges for people and wildlife alike, but they’re also often isolated islands of habitat. This can keep animals from accessing the resources they need to survive. And human neighbors aren’t always able to access these spaces, either.

In this episode, join me and Michelle Thompson as we search for reptiles in one of San Diego’s urban canyons, discuss what makes canyons special, and explore how the San Diego Natural History Museum is setting the foundation for the long-term health of these spaces.

Links:

Healthy Canyons Initiative

Go on a FREE hike with the Canyoneers

Want to help SD canyons? Email Michelle Thompson at: conbio@sdnhm.org

1988 Michael Soulé Study

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.

Episode cover photo provided by The San Diego Natural History Museum.

What do oak trees, goldenrod, willows, and ceanothus all have in common? They all belong to the group of roughly 14% of plants supporting 90% of caterpillar species.

In other words, they’re all keystone plants.

Join me and Doug Tallamy as we discuss the vital role these plants play in their native ecosystems and how we can bring them home to welcome hundreds of species into our own yards.

Helpful Links:

Doug’s books

Calscape by The California Native Plant Society

Keystone Plants in Mediterranean California (National Wildlife Federation Resource)

Homegrown National Park Map

Article: “The Illusion of a Trillion Trees”

Support Golden State Naturalist on⁠Patreon⁠ and get perks starting at $4/month.

Follow me on⁠Instagram⁠.

My website is⁠goldenstatenaturalist.com⁠.

Get podcast Merch.

The theme song is called “i dunno” by grapes and can be found⁠here⁠.
Episode cover photo by Parker Sturdivant.