Searching for tadpoles in Arroyo Viejo Creek at the Oakland Zoo.

It Day #2 of Nature Play, a new Oakland Zoo ZooCamp program that I have been assigned to teach. I know all about “Nature Deficit Disorder” and “No Child Left Inside”. I have read “Last Child in the Woods” and even blogged about the issues, but now I find myself out in nature with 12 curious and excited children, and I have no idea what will happen.

Nature Play was created in response to childrens’ desire to experience true nature – to look up at trees, observe tadpoles and connect with wildlife in their own backyard. The idea behind Nature Play is to offer the campers supervised and loosely facilitated exploration outdoors that is self directed.

Parents were so game to give these simple pleasures to their children, this program sold out.

Now, here we are. Our afternoon agenda is creek time and fort building. It is a beautiful afternoon at Arroyo Viejo Creek, a small tributary that runs through the zoo grounds. Though there are tigers, lions and elephants close by, this is where the campers are most excited to be. I have given minimal direction: look, listen, smell and feel, and record something in your nature journal. They have nets, jars, binoculars and wildlife guides, and one hour.

Immediately the group swarms to their favorite spot that they discovered yesterday. It is near one of the outdoor classrooms and features a giant, ground-leaning willow tree to crawl under, two logs that rest across the creek to climb over and water loaded with tadpoles and water gliders. I watch and listen myself.

“There are 1000 water striders here! They are riding on top of each other.” “No, that is a shadow”. “I am crossing the log by scootching” “I will help you”. “I found a secret trail!” “I am putting this leaf in my journal”. “I can write with a rock.” “I heard a frog!” I am a frog!” “The sun makes me silly and happy.” “I see tadpoles!” “Let’s call this place Willow Cove.” “I don’t want to go home.”

A few things amazed me about this hour. One, they were never bored. They went on and on with their play and exploration in this small area with gusto the entire time. They were imaginative, inventive and stimulated. Two, they learned. They learned that frogs are quiet when they are noisy. They learned that they could balance better holding their arms out. They did not need my fascinating animal facts to gain knowledge. Three, they truly and intuitively cared about the habitat. They picked up a couple of pieces of garbage, told each other not to handle amphibians and put rocks back where they found them without being told. Four, and most interestingly, they got along fantastically. Earlier in the day there were a few squabbles over this or that, but out here, they helped each other, supported each other and shared the nets like pros. They seemed to be at peace.

A little later at Fort Building, the group divided into two as they followed two natural leaders and their fort visions. As we debriefed about the two forts, they came to the conclusion (themselves) that tomorrow they should build one fort with all the materials, then sit in it and tell stories about animals.

I saw it all with my own eyes. This nature stuff works. Now this explorer is going to sleep. I am exhausted!

The Truckee River Canyon. Credit: Michael Conner.

Natural capital isn't something we hear about very often, and it certainly isn't a new idea. Aldo Leopold and other conservationists recognized the role that natural ecosystems play in our lives as early as the 1940's. But understanding and measuring that role hasn't been easy. That's where the Natural Capital Project comes in.

The project focuses on ecosystem services – the natural processes that ecosystems provide and humans benefit from. Those include how forests filter our drinking water, how wetlands provide protection from storm surges, and how bees and other pollinators support our agricultural industry. While these services may not be the first thing you think of when it comes to nature, researchers are discovering that they're vital to human health and decision makers are starting to factor that it.

A few examples:

In the 1990's, New York City's water quality dropped below EPA standards. The obvious option was to built a new water filtration plant – with a hefty price tag: $6-8 billion for construction and $300 million in yearly operating expenses. Instead, the city decided to invest in the natural processes that help keep water clean. That meant looking upstream to the Catskills watershed where intact ecosystems could help filter the water. The city bought land upstream and improved sewer treatment plants – all at a much lower price: $1-1.5 billion.

In China, the Yangtze River Basin experienced devastating floods in 1998. Many believed the vast deforestation of the surrounding area had been the major cause, since it had eliminated the natural buffer that existed. Since then, the Chinese Government has adopted a system of ecosystem payments – giving subsidies to farmers to plant trees and preserve forested areas.  All in all, their program in budgeted in the billions.

The Natural Capital project has created an online tool known as InVEST that's freely available to the public. It allows users to map ecosystem services in any landscape. The project's co-found Gretchen Daily is hopeful that the tool will make it much easier for natural capital to be part of land use decision-making – especially in countries where development pressures are strong. "It's stunning to see how rapidly things are changing globally. We're losing trillions of dollars of value in natural capital in the form of rain forests and other key natural assets" Daily said. The project is already working with the government of Colombia to use InVEST and to improve their resource permitting process. You can read more about where else they're working here.

Listen to the Putting a Price on Nature radio report online.

Ball Python (Python regius)The majority of staff were "all hands on deck" this past Saturday and Sunday at the California Academy of Sciences. Yet, we were vastly outnumbered. Fifteen thousand people perused the new building while thousands more enjoyed the festivities in the park.

Two of us, with animal handling experience, were rotating handling of a a four foot Ball Python and a six and half foot Red tailed Boa Constrictor to give guests a chance to get up close and personal with nature.

However, not everyone loves snakes. I had stickers in my pocket for those kids who were too shy or scared to come and see the snake I had in my hands. But the majority of kids would approach unabashed and when I was on the floor with the Ball Python, I was often surrounded by "shorter" guests. As I was going through the Piazza, I was approached by a woman, her daughter, and with trepidation her husband. They were visiting from England and the woman and her daughter were enjoying petting the snake and were asking questions about it. The woman asked her husband to join in and I looked up to see the fear palatable on his face.

My mom, who was bitten as a child has a large fear of snakes, so I could read the fear easily on the man's face. I asked him about it and he said one of the reasons he loved England was its lack of snakes. Talking to him, I explained my mom's fear and why the snake I was holding was a great snake for him to pet if he would like to. At full growth, the Ball Python only reaches four feet. The Ball Python gets its name for hiding it head into the ball of its body when threatened, so a chance of being bitten by a Ball Python that is used to being handled is slight. This particular snake, was incredibly docile and had been handled for over ten years. He approached visibly shaking to pet the snake's body. Tears were rolling down his face, it was apparent that he was facing a life long fear. His daughter and wife were beaming at the exchange. It felt wonderful allowing someone to face a fear in such a safe and positive way.

Stories of moments have been shared amongst staff since opening weekend. All of these stories relate small moments exchanged between staff and guests. Some are funny, some touching. This is just my own story. The majority of Academy staff volunteered to work a ten- to fifteen-hour day each day in order to be part of the opening weekend. Staff coped with long days, tired feet, and answers repeated over a hundred times with a smile. They continue to replay opening with stories like this with each other. It is great to be open and I am looking forward to many more stories and shared moments.

Do you love photographing Science, Environment and Nature in Northern California? Would you like to collaborate on a 2-minute QUEST TV short about your photography for an audience of over 100,000 viewers?

We're launching our 3rd call for submissions for our new series of TV shorts, "YPOQ: Your Photos on QUEST." These are broadcast alongside our feature stories.

Previous and upcoming winners:

• Russ Morris
• Erin Malone
• Cris Benton (coming soon)

Could you be next?

We're looking for more than stunning nature photography. We seek to collaborate with a local photographer from our QUEST flickr groups who is inspired by science, environment and nature in Northern California, and uses innovative approaches to express their unique vision of our region.

Key Dates for YPOQ #3

Submissions due: August 21st, 2008
Selection annoucenment: August 26th, 2008
TV Broadcast : November 11, 2008

Although we can only broadcast one photographer's work on the air on November 11, we also plan to feature selected submissions on the KQED QUEST Community Science Blog.

Requirements

* You must be an individual over 18 (no minors or group submissions)
* You must be a current Flickr user in good standing
* You're a resident of Northern California – loosely defined as spanning the region from Mendocino to Monterey counties (N to S) and Sacramento to Santa Clara counties (E – W). This is the coverage area of our show.
* Be able to make available 20-50 images as source material (2 minutes moves fast!)
* If selected, you'll need to sign a release for materials use specifically for the QUEST TV show, web presence, blog and the promotion thereof (see fine print below)
* Available for an in-person audio interview and photo review/selection with a QUEST TV producer & audio engineer, either at the KQED studios in San Francisco, or other agreed-upon location, during business hours between August27th and September 12th.

How to Submit

* 1 entry per person
* Original photographic work only
* 1920 x 1080 minimum resolution (higher is better)
* Create a set that best represents your submission, and tag them with: YPOQ
* Add a 100-word description to your set telling us about your creative and technical process, and why you'd like us to consider your work
* Join the KQED QUEST flickr group and add all 10 photos to the pool
* Add your YPOQ set URL and a brief introduction to the YPOQ 3 Submissions discussion topic.
* If you submitted for YPOQ before, your entry is automatically eligible for consideration in YPOQ #3. You may also submit a new or updated set to the topic above.

We'd also like you to make KQED QUEST a contact, though it's not required.

Fine Print

* You will retain the rights to your original work.
* Rights clearances: in order to make the TV piece and promote it, KQED will need you to grant rights to recordings and derivative works for use in connection with QUEST. We won't do anything else without asking you first.
* This not a paid commission, but a collaboration. As a result KQED is unable to cover costs (e.g. travel & time, prints / processing, royalties)
* The choice of photographer is solely at the discretion of KQED.
* The producer's & editor's decisions are final regarding all aspects of the finished video work.

Thank you and we look forward to seeing your submissions!

KQED QUEST Team

Raise your hand if you live in a watershed! Are all of your hands up? We all live in a watershed, an area of land that all water (from rain, snow and springs) flows across, under and through on its way into a common body of water, such as a creek, river, bay or ocean. The water may travel through city streets and into storm drains, over the surface of the ground and across farm fields, or suburban lawns, or it may seep into the soil and travel as groundwater. Along the way, water picks up and carries materials.

Everything we do impacts our watershed. Use of land and water from any part of the watershed, such as polluted run-off from farms, forests, ranches, and cities, eventually affects the health of the whole watershed – as well as the plants, animals and people within it.

A healthy watershed is important to everyone! Animals find food, water and shelter near creeks and waterways. Humans enjoy clean water and places to relax, swim and appreciate nature. One of the best ways to help your local watershed is to connect with it.

So, may I suggest a visit to that creek in your neighborhood for an old-fashioned, low-tech exploration? Bring binoculars, a nature journal, a creek creature identification sheet, and empty baby food jars. Bring some kids and all your senses.

At the creek, sit quietly and listen for the sound that is the nearest or the sound that is farthest away. Can you hear the creek running or the birds calling?

Notice the variety of habitats in the creek. Look for a place in the creek where there is a riffle: a shallow area where water breaks over rocks, promoting high oxygen levels. Invertebrates and the small fish that feed on them live here, in a pool: a deeper area with slower moving water. Pools provide a spawning, feeding and resting site for fish, or a run: a straight, fast moving, section of a creek between riffles that has a diverse mixture of aquatic life. Look for tracks and scat along the creek banks. Use the baby food jars to carefully capture aquatic life. Observe, sketch and release.

Smell the variety of plants and flowers now blooming in the riparian zone. Notice that the bushes, trees and roots are all home to various wildlife. Draw a guide to the plants and trees in one small area of the creek.

Blindfold a friend or sibling and carefully lead them to a tree near the creek. Allow them to touch it, then give them a spin and lead them away. Remove the blindfold and challenge them to find their tree using their eyes.

Find edibles along the creek, like wild onion, miner's lettuce or blackberry and taste wild food right off the vine.

Once connected, it is easy to care, and help keep our watersheds clean, in simple ways such as monitoring what you allow down the storm drains, refraining from flushing cat feces, or participating in a creek clean up. Please add your own ideas!

The Oakland Zoo has restored a section of the Arroyo Viejo Creek on the zoo grounds with support from City of Oakland, the California Coastal Conservancy, the California Department of Parks and Recreation, Alameda County Flood Control and Water Conservation District, and the City of Oakland Measure DD Bond. With six outdoor classrooms featuring educational signage and seating on logs, the creek will offer an exploration experience for all. Help us celebrate with a ribbon cutting ceremony at noon on Saturday, April 12, as part of the Oakland Zoo's Earth Day celebration.

See you down at the creek!

Amy Gotliffe is Conservation Manager at The Oakland Zoo.

We want to hear from you if you have a great idea for a QUEST story. Review the submission guidelines and fill out this form. If we use your story idea in whole or in part, we would be glad to recognize you in the credits of the piece as a Contributor. Thanks in advance for helping QUEST cover science, environment, and nature in our community.

Please visit our QUEST story Submission Form to participate!

If you have any questions, please email us at quest@kqed.org.

Craig Rosa is the Interactive Producer for QUEST.

Congratulations to Flickr community member Erin Malone (erin_designr) of San Francisco, CA!

Windy Grass – by Erin MaloneErin will be collaborating with KQED staff on our 2 minute Your Photos on QUEST segment for broadcast and web distribution.

Her stunning set of Alviso Slough pinhole images wowed our KQED QUEST editorial staff. Her winning submission did a wonderful job of expressing a sense of locale, with a passion for nature, via a process that captures something unexpected and essential.

In her own words:

"…My process is primarily to make long exposures with pinhole and zoneplate rather than a glass lens. These long exposures made on Polaroid material force me to slow down and to appreciate the beauty around me. I make beautiful, impressionistic images in a place that many see as ugly. My hope is that these images change their mind about the hidden beauty here."

This was a very difficult decision to make for us – we hope to do another YPOQ call in the near future. If you wish, you may leave your submissions open and we will consider them again in the next round. Sincere thanks to all who participated.

For those of you who are interested in entering the future, sign up for our email newsletter to get an announcement for the next submission call, or head on over to our Flickr photo group for KQED QUEST.

Craig Rosa is the Interactive Producer for KQED QUEST.

Today, Quest launches a new part of our blog, "Quest Picks."

We scour the web and serve up the best of science, environment and nature content–from the Bay area and beyond–right to our readers.

Today's pick is from YouTube.

National Geographic, via YouTube, brings us the tale of Australia’s water-holding frog. This plucky amphibian rarely sees rain, so when it does, it slurps enough liquid to double its weight. Then it digs a hole and hides in a shell made of its own shed skin. It can hibernate for up to two years, until the rainy season comes 'round again and it's time to look for a mate.Supposedly aboriginals even dig up the frogs when they need a drink–just squeeze and you've got fresh water!Check out the video of this amphibious camel for more on its amazing adaptations:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tuWo_kWMihs

Amber Dance is the Quest Intern and a science communication student at UC Santa Cruz.

View our original YPOQ pilot
featuring photographer Russ MorrisDo you love photographing Science, Environment and Nature in Northern California? Would you like to collaborate on a 2-minute QUEST TV short about your photography for an audience of over 100,000 viewers?

We're launching a call for submissions for our new series of TV shorts, "YPOQ: Your Photos on QUEST." These are broadcast alongside our feature stories. Our pilot YPOQ broadcast in Season 1 featured local photographer Russ Morris.

We're looking for more than stunning nature photography. We seek to collaborate with a local photographer who is inspired by science, environment and nature in Northern California, and uses innovative approaches to express their unique vision of our region.

Key Dates

Submissions due: February 27th, 2008
Selection announcenment: March 3rd, 2008.
TV Broadcast : May 20, 2008.

Although we can only broadcast one photographer's work on the air on May 20, we also plan to feature selected submissions here on the KQED QUEST Community Science Blog.

We are running this call through Flickr, a website for sharing photos and much more. It's free to join and participate. See our discussion topic on Flickr for details!

Craig Rosa is the Interactive Producer for QUEST.