The California Naturalist Handbook

The California Naturalist Handbook provides a fun, science-based introduction to California's natural history with an emphasis on observation, discovery, communication, stewardship and conservation. It is a hands-on guide to learning about the natural environment of California. Subjects covered include California natural history and geology, native plants and animals, California's freshwater resources and ecosystems, forest and rangeland resources, conservation biology, and the effects of global warming on California's natural communities. The Handbook also discusses how to create and use a field notebook, natural resource interpretation, citizen science, and collaborative conservation and serves as the primary text for the California Naturalist Program.

Greg de Nevers is a botanist and naturalist with years of experience observing nature and sharing it with others through writing and teaching. Currently, he is a high school science teacher.

Deborah Stanger Edelman co-founded the California Naturalist Program and has over 20 years experience developing resource conservation and education programs for organizations including the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, the Mendocino County Resource Conservation District and the University of California Cooperative Extension. She has an M.S. in Ecology from the University of California at Davis.

Adina Merenlender is a Cooperative Extension Specialist at University of California, Berkeley and is an internationally recognized conservation biologist working on environmental problem-solving at the landscape-scale. She has published over 75 scientific research articles focused on relationships between land use and biodiversity and is the Director of the UC California Naturalist program. More information at http://ucanr.org/sites/merenlender