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This Is Our Story

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Welcome to Spark in Nature
How did this name come about?
Back when i was in my 20's I worked as a naturalist on whale watching cruises in the San Francisco Bay Area. We took boats from San Francisco and out 30 miles offshore to visit the remote Southeast Farallon Islands in search of whales, of course, but we also saw thousands of seabird, seals, and sealions, dolphins, fish and marine invertebrates.
During those cruises, I facilitated nature history information, interpreted the wildlife sightings, and interacted with the passengers throughout out day-long trips. On many trips, passengers would see things they never have seen before- something brand new or upclose and they smiled big with astonishment --a spark of excitement..
This spark that lit in their hearts, also sparked in me. I loved the way it made me feel to share that experience with them, bathed in joy even for a few moments. It was euphoric.
I became hooked on this feeling. It became my mission to facilitate experiences where people would be introduced to nature to find their spark and develop a personal connection.
While working as a professional naturalist, I was also worked at the Marine Mammal Center in Sausalito rehabilitating seals, sealions, otters, and dolphins.
While working o my BS in Marine Biology at UCSC, I got an opportunity to live and work on SEFI in 2003- it was such a dream! I was on an island with over half a millions seabirds breeding on this colony. 13 species of marine birds used the island to raise their chicks. Some were underground, on the ground, in nest boxes, in natural rock crevices, and rocky ledges and talus slopes. It was heavenly for me to be there. Fro most, it would have been a nightmare of screaming birds day and night, and dodging daily attacks guano and peckings by protective angry gulls. but most of the time I walked around the island feeling like I was 'at home'.
I spend two seasons there as an intern. It changed me. I discovered who I truly wanted to spend my time studying- marine birds.
I went on to do gradate work at MLML on sooty shearwaters.
Fast forward to more recent years, I was working multiple jobs in 2019- with preschool aged kids and their parents teaching them how to play together in nature, with elementary and middle school students with nature and environmental studies, teaching birding to senior adults through Osher lifelong learning, and nature connection with an outdoor nature school., and privately with home schooled students. Phew! it makes me exhausted thinking back to everything I was doing!
Having kept a nature journal for the past 25+ years and mostly for myself, I attend a nature journaling conference in 2019 and was surprised to find others who had this hobby. It was cool to see others journal in different ways and it inspired me to create the Monterey Bay Nature Journal Club,and facilitated gatherings with others in nature twice a month.
In early 2020, all my work shifted. It was a good time to evaluate what was important and reflect on what really brought me joy, and created new sources of income. I began offering donation-based weekly nature journaling workshops, and assisted John Muir Laws in his weekly classes for a couple years. I connected with other nature journalers and offered more courses and events online. After the first year I taught over 300 hours of sessions, developing my style and focus.
Each year that passed I reached out to more local museums, libraries, and other institutions and grew my collaborations and offerings.
Today I have regular online and in-person offering to help people connect with nature through creative expressions and nature journaling. We have an online member learning collaborative where we share our experiences
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