John Farnsworth conducts field research for book on ecological field stations from Washington to California.
Dr. John Farnsworth spent the summer observing those that observe nature at several field stations. He returned with copious notes and ideas for a new book he hopes to write on long-term ecological projects. As part of this project, he spent two weeks at the Hastings Natural History Reservation in Carmel Valley, working with a team of researchers from the Cornell Ornithology Lab that has been investigating the cooperative breeding behaviors of acorn woodpeckers for 45 years at that site. He then spent a couple weeks at the UC field station on Santa Cruz Island, monitoring ecologists working on restoration of the island fox, which has just been delisted as an endangered species.
John will continue his investigations through his fall sabbatical, working with a long-term citizen science project with the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory. He has also been awarded two writer’s residencies this fall, the first with the Spring Creek Project in Oregon, which will take him to the Andrews Experimental Forest for two weeks, and then with the North Cascades Institute in Washington State, where he will enjoy a month-long creative residency.
Santa Cruz Island Fox basking in morning sunlight. (Photo by J. S. Farnsworth)