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How Well do you know your plants?

"The ability to identify a plant in the cotyledon stage is the highest level of stewardship"

Copy of IMG_5344(1)_edited.jpg

Copy of IMG_5344(1)_edited.jpg

Illustrations and information from the Helen Crocker Russell Horticultural Library in San Francisco's Botanical Gardens

Horticulture Library in the San Francisco Botanical Gardens

"A stitch in time saves nine"

"Buy cheap & buy twice!"

"The Devil is in the Details"

"Not all mulch is created Equal"

"Working with the elements"

"Challenges and Opportunities"

Resilience versus Resistance

JOSIAH CLARK

California Contractors License # 20170118285

Founder & Consulting Ecologist of

HABITAT POTENTIAL

Josiah Clark pic(1)_edited_edited.png

Josiah studied Restoration Ecology at University of California Santa Cruz, where he earned his degree in Environmental Studies. Soon after graduating he and fellow comrade started a native nursery called Nature’s Acres Nursery. The idea for a native plant nursery came to him with the realization that native plants must ultimately do the majority of the work to heal damaged land.

As a consulting ecologist, Josiah cut cut his teeth on many large scale infrastructure preservation projects that deal with educating and demonstrating sound, land stewardship, management and and maintenance practices. In 2002 he founded Habitat Potential. Since the start of Potential of Habit he has done work for a wide range of clients including the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, San Francisco Significant Natural Areas Program, San Francisco Recreation and Park Department, Golden Gate Audubon Society, and dozens of private property owners in California.

He has written for many online publications including: Bay Nature Institute, The Clapper Rail a Marin Audubon Society Newsletter, The Golden Gate & The Sequoia Audubon Societies, and has been featured in articles in the Golden Gate Audubon Society, SFGATE, SFWEELKY, VICE & The NEW YORK TIMES.

Bay Nature Institute Articles By Josiah Clark:

Spring Brings Peak Bird Biodiversity

Ask the Naturalist: Where Do Birds Go When it Rains?

A Helping Hand for the Hairstreak

The Art of Flight

Featured in the following publications:

NEW YORK TIMES: Clinging to the Forest Despite the Chaos

SAN FRANCISCO GATE PUBLICATION: GREEN Nature in the City / San Francisco's naturalist underground works to bring it back,

Why ravens, crows are more common now in Bay Area

SFWEEKLY:Spotting Birds at a Record Pace, with a Camera and a Bike

VICE Magazine: Our House

CONNECT WITH ME ON SOCIAL!

Josiah Clark Ecologist

Townsend's Warblers (Dendroica townsendi) forage on grape hulls - West Marin

Townsend's Warblers (Dendroica townsendi) forage on grape hulls - West Marin

No less than ten Townsend's Warblers came into this pile of grape hulls at a farm in West Marin during the 2012 South Marin Christmas Bird Count. I suspect they were hunting flies and insects attracted to the rotting fruit. This species is usually found in trees and is rarely seen on the ground in numbers like this. Shortly after this video a Sharp-shinned Hawk streaked in catching one right in front of us. https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

Birding in San Francisco's Urban Wild Spaces

Birding in San Francisco's Urban Wild Spaces

Today, Dominik Mosur and Josiah Clark, along with birding companion Brian Turner, hope to break the record of 149 bird species seen or heard in a single day within San Francisco city limits. From the SF Weekly story at: http://bit.ly/SF-Birding

Red-breasted Sapsucker at San Francisco Botanical Garden - Josiah Clark Naturalist

Red-breasted Sapsucker at San Francisco Botanical Garden - Josiah Clark Naturalist

One of the local Red-breasted Sapsuckers (Subspecies dagetti) works the historic drillings of the Crytocheria rubra tree. https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

Nuttall's White-crowned Sparrow at Crissy Field Dunes, Presidio San Francisco

Nuttall's White-crowned Sparrow at Crissy Field Dunes, Presidio San Francisco

An adult White-crowned Sparrow of the sedentary and nesting "Nutall's" subspecies forages in the restored dunes at Crissy Field. It appears to be eating seeds of Beach Evening Primrose (Chamisonnia cheiranthifolia). Sparrows nearby sing the local dialect while Elegant Terns and Killdeer call in the background. https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

Long Eared Owl - West Marin, CA 2012 Christmas Bird Count - Josiah Clark Naturalist

Long Eared Owl - West Marin, CA 2012 Christmas Bird Count - Josiah Clark Naturalist

Long Eared Roost https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

Great Blue Heron Lobos Creek San Francisco

Great Blue Heron Lobos Creek San Francisco

One of the Presidio's Great Blue's stalks stickleback among the watercress in one of SF's last free flowing creeks. Note the healing injury on its throat, apparently a dried up tendon or part of the tongue. This species is known to live over 40 years in the wild. https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) at Heron's Head San Francisco

Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) at Heron's Head San Francisco

Lesser Yellowlegs (Tringa flavipes) in San Francisco's Heron's Head Park. Though more common in the fall in wetlands further from the coast, this species is notably rare in the city. I forgot who found this, but nice find! I believe September 2012. This bird was about the size of a Killdeer, notably smaller than the more more common Greater Yellowlegs. It also has a straighter, thinner bill than a Greater Yellowlegs. I love how it perks up when the first siren blips. https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

Lucy's Warbler in Pt. Reyes, California Dec 2012

Lucy's Warbler in Pt. Reyes, California Dec 2012

We found this bird at the headwater's of Walker Creek during the Pt Reyes Christmas bird count. This species breeds in southwestern riparian habitats and winters in Mexico. It was one of the rarest species on the entire count that year.

Birds & Wildlife

Birds and Wildlife

Monterey Cypress in Lobos Creek - Presidio of San Francisco

03:32

Monterey Cypress in Lobos Creek - Presidio of San Francisco

Josiah Clark walks you through a Monterey Cypress forest in Lobos Creek and discusses the environment biodiversity.

Lobos Creek - Coast Live Oak

06:05

Lobos Creek - Coast Live Oak

Josiah Clark takes you to a Coast Live Oak and shows the proper way to build a bird box. https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

Lobos Creek - Dunes

02:30

Lobos Creek - Dunes

Josiah Clark continues his tour through Lobos Creek Dunes in the scrub brush exploring San Francisco's native plant communities in the Presidio of San Francisco. https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

Lobos Creek - Riparian Forest

04:53

Lobos Creek - Riparian Forest

Josiah Clark continues his tour of Lobos Creek in the Presidio. Crawling around in the riparian forest we find a California wax myrtle, myoporum plants, felt grass, and stinging nettle. http://www.facebook.com/josiahclarknaturalist

Red Alder - Lobos Creek

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Red Alder - Lobos Creek

Here is the last stop on my native plant and bird tour of Lobos Creek. I do some detective work when I find some bird feathers and then show you one of the largest Red Alders in San Francisco.

Naturalist Tour of Lobos Creek

Tour of Lobos Creek

Ocean kayak fishing in San Francisco: Crissy Field to Baker Beach

04:04

Ocean kayak fishing in San Francisco: Crissy Field to Baker Beach

Josiah Clark and Isao Kaji show us how to fish for Lingcod and Rock Fish from a kayak underneath the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco Bay. Stay tuned for the 3rd Annual Baker Beach Crab Derby video. Produced by Fish Hawk Films -https://www.facebook.com/FishHawkFilms Shot by: Halsey Fulton Edited by: Chris Gallagher Josiah Clark - Naturalist - https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

White Seabass by kayak at Half Moon Bay

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White Seabass by kayak at Half Moon Bay

Sept 2012 - Solo launch at 4am to the squid spawning grounds at Half Moon Bay. Out with the gorging birds at daybreak. Caught this 30+lb beast about 9:30am at the top of the tide. 30+ minute battle, was not well hooked. Prepared and eaten with great care, absolutely excellent. Close encounter with a surfacing Minke Whale that day and a few Buller's among thousands of Sooty Shearwaters. https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

How to catch Herring with cast net at China Basin San Francisco - Jan 2013

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How to catch Herring with cast net at China Basin San Francisco - Jan 2013

Taking part in the abundant yet ephemeral herring run along the bayshore during the winter of 2013 after being told by local herring master Kirk Lombard. Here I am using a 6' cast net, which is good size to start with. Herring are great pickled and BBQ'd. They are also prized bait among my fishing friends. I often refer to it as the base of the fishermen's food chain. Smaller ones are best for salmon and halibut while bigger ones can help select for the bigger Lingcod and bottomfish. They are also great for crab. In the garden I use a digging bar to punch deep holes, then drop in a fish deep (to prevent pest) to the base of each plant and cave in the hole. They are great fertilizer! Herring are an amazing gift from the bay that appear to remain as resilient as they are abundant. Read more in Bay Nature: http://baynature.org/articles/san-francisco-bay-herring-running-at-mission-bay/ https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

River Otter - Sutro Baths San Francisco

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River Otter - Sutro Baths San Francisco

This individual was the first recorded in San Francisco in recent history and was found by birders who alerted me to its presence in the winter of 2013. Populations of this adaptable species have increased in the region and this was probably a dispersing young male that braved the ocean in search of new territory. It did well for itself at the Sutro Baths, catching crayfish and crabs and using the the jumbled rocks along the shoreline to hide away for long periods. This otter stayed for at least 6 months but eventually disappeared, likely it left in search of a mate and hopefully it found one. Its fun to think they might colonize SF parks, lakes and shoreline in time. https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

Sea Otter in Morro Bay - San Luis Obispo County, California

01:43

Sea Otter in Morro Bay - San Luis Obispo County, California

A sea otter hangs out in the bullwhip kelp between feedings. This one seems to have a very red nose and may have some sort of skin irritation. The entire population of this species came from a tiny relict population rediscovered near Carmel after it was thought extinct due to over hunting. Sea Otters are the smallest marine mammal, a member of the weasel family and are a commonly used textbook example of a true "keystone species". https://www.facebook.com/JosiahClarkNaturalist

First herring run in San Francisco Bay - January 2012

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First herring run in San Francisco Bay - January 2012

Audubon California's Anna Weinstein visits the first big herring run of the season in San Francisco Bay, and talks about its importance to birds and other wildlife.

Herring runs are a great time to watch gulls

04:12

Herring runs are a great time to watch gulls

San Francisco birder and "gull guy" Josiah Clark talk about how to check out the various kinds of gulls who descend on the bay during herring runs. Really cool information.

Marine Life

Marine Life

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Habitat Potential Newsletter gives you monthly news & expert advise:

TIPS AND TRICKS OF SUCCESSFUL LAND STEWARDSHIP
EFFECTIVE GREEN MULCHING
INVASIVE SPECIE IDENTIFICATION
PLANT IDENTIFICATION & KNOWLEDGE QUIZES
PRINCIPLES OF ECOLOGY IN FUN CONVERSATIONS WITH JOSIAH!
QUESTION AND ANSWER

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