I love this idea! It can take some of the mystery out of getting started. Not that mystery is a bad thing, but…
I live in the San Francisco Bay Area bioregion in California. Here is my approved list, with my notes, now that I’ve finished reading them all.
Book 1:
California’s Salmon and Steelhead
Alan Lufkin (Ed.)
University of California Press, 1991
This is an old book, but still relevant. It’s sad that the salmon situation is still dire after years of work. There are signs of hope, but the increasing pressure of climate change and ongoing drought keeps the politics of water resources management front and center, thirty years after this book was published. To compensate for the age of this book, the most recent I could find on the topic, I have subscribed to regular emails from the California Water Commission. One of the creeks mentioned in the book is Wildcat Creek, and this is one I walk by on a regular basis. It was a mistake to tackle this book first. It was a slog at times, and contributed to my lack of focus in the beginning of the candidate “year.”
Book 2: Bay Area Forager - Your Guide to Edible Wild Plants of the San Francisco Bay Area This was the last one in my candidate level reading list, and, as of 1-16-2024, I’ve completed it! This one was fun, with a friendly tone. Its two authors describe each edible plant in enough detail to help you decide whether it’s one you want to make friends with and incorporate into your wild grazing habits. They even include a few plants to avoid. And they constantly talk about the ethics of foraging, i.e. leave plenty for the wildlife, etc. With some of the plants mentioned, you are better off introducing them to your own garden. Excellent book, and while I’m not interested in foraging for many of these plants, I’ve bookmarked about a dozen that I am either already gathering or am interested in adding to my practice.
Book 3: Introduction to Trees of the San Francisco Bay Region (completed early 2023) Encyclopedic, it describes trees you are likely to encounter here, not just natives. Interesting, in small bites, like a lot of my selections, this was tough to read cover to cover, without a specimen in front of me to prompt my curiousity. Still, it was useful. But I am more likely to rely on the Seek app if I want an ID in the wild.
Book 4: Natural History of San Francisco Bay (completed 8-7-23)
Penultimate book for my candidate year is now complete! This is a little dated, copyrighted in 2011, but it includes much discussion of climate change. The Bay Area has long been interested in “Saving the Bay.” The book describes the different approaches we try to use, and learn from. It also talks about the politics involved-- even when there is broad consensus on the overarching goals, the devil, as they say, is in the details.
Book 5: San Francisco Birds (Pocket Guide)
Small, but highly informative. I also added the Nature of San Francisco & the Bay Area pocket naturalist guides. These get pulled out as needed, for reference, but I have already memorized a fair number of the birds in my neighborhood
Book 6: Weather of the San Francisco Bay Region by Harrold Gilliam. 2nd Edition. University of California Press, 2002
Interesting, although I still have questions… Like how to read the cold/front warm front maps. Why don’t they all show cold on one side and warm on the other? Why do the lines representing fronts just end sometimes? This book is great in some respects, but isn’t really a substitute for a good introduction to meteorology
Book 7: Tilden Regional Park - A History
Lots of socialite-page stuff about the bigwigs who first conceived and funded the parks, but the last several chapters have a lot of good stuff about the features of the park, the various zones within the park and how they are managed vis-à-vis non-native species, fire risk mitigation, etc. This park is where I spend a lot of my “time in nature.”
Book 8: Hike the East Bay by John McKinney
I’m mostly interested in places that I can hike together with my dog, preferably areas that allow him to be off-leash. This book mentions dogs at times, but not methodically. I had to look up each park on the internet to see the details. I scared up a few new possibilities with this book. The book has a few flaws—the maps don’t have scales and sometimes there are no maps, only a photo or two. I give it 3 out of five sprigs of mistletoe. A better resource is The Bay Area Dog Lover’s Companion.
Book 9: Mushrooms of the Redwood Coast by Noah Siegel This is basically a reference work. It’s fascinating, has great photos, and I have consulted it widely, but honestly have not read it cover-to-cover. I’ve learned enough from it to know that I don’t really want to take on foraging for edible mushrooms. I enjoy attempts at identification, but as entertainment only. I’m not interested in risking my health when I have so many good sources for mushrooms in my local stores, including https://farwestfungi.com/, https://www.montereymarket.com/philosophy.html, and https://www.berkeleybowl.com/. I am also participating in a couple of online mushroom forums that have a local focus.
