![Academy Adventures wordmark in black against white background](https://calacademy.org/sites/default/files/styles/manual_crop_square_460px/public/assets/images/development/dev_900x900_academy-adventures-wordmark-black-mid_230803.jpg?itok=jBmWAqMH&c=c417e56e8cd7aed777dc01e7ee821ee4)
Please register by emailing adventures@calacademy.org, or calling (415) 379-5415.
Enjoy the magic and beauty of the world-famous Central Sierra and South Lake Tahoe region while learning more about how the Academy is taking a deeper look at forest resilience in the face of fires and other threats. In collaboration with the U.S. Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Research Station, the Academy is studying the Caples Creek watershed—and its birds—to determine how prescribed fires affect forest ecosystems and reduce the risk of high-intensity wildfires by capturing a multi-year picture of what these ecosystems look like before and after various types of fires. We will hike through areas that have burned at different levels, see the rebounding beauty of these forests, and visit the wonders of Caples Creek, such as the abundant mountain meadows and amazing birds and wildlife.
Explore the Academy's multi-year collaboration with the US Forest Service on the Caples Creek watershed's response to both prescribed burns and wildfires.
Curator of Ornithology and Mammalogy
Dumbacher is a molecular ecologist focused on the taxonomy and conservation genetics of birds and mammals, with recent work on African elephant shrews, birds of the Galapagos, and owls in the western USA. He is also interested in developing ways to use biodiversity data to measure the health and resilience of natural ecosystems and to use those tools to measure how forests in the Central Sierra Nevada respond to disturbance. The Caples Creek Project is a multi-institutional project where those tools are being field-tested to monitor the resilience of forests to disturbances such as prescribed fire and wildlife.
Senior Research Fellow, Entomology and Center for Comparative Genomics
Kapan is a biodiversity scientist studying the evolutionary ecology of insects and vertebrates. His lab focuses on collaborative community-driven projects including conservation genomics and historical ecology of extinct Xerces blue butterflies and their closest relatives in collaboration with academy genomics and collection staff, local NGOs, and the Presidio Trust. Kapan also works on the resilience of forest birds and wildlife communities, a collaboration between Ornithology, Mammalogy & Paleontology, and the U.S. Forest Service with support from the California Wildlife Conservation Board.
The price of this trip includes:
The price of this trip does not include: