Article

By Bridget Lyons

Feb. 20, 2025—Not only is Santa Cruz home to some truly amazing natural history, it’s also home to a number of fantastic natural history organizations. One of these may not yet be on your radar—but it should be.

The Kenneth C. Norris Center for Natural History is “a resource center for anyone interested in doing anything relating to the natural world,” Chris Lay, the center’s Administrative Director told me. The center is part of UC Santa Cruz, and one of its main directives involves supporting education and research by students and staff. However, building community around natural history is another aspect of the center’s mission, and that community includes all members of the Santa Cruz public.

The way the Norris Center builds community is through events, and it just so happens that biggest event of the year—the Norris Center Annual Symposium—is happening this Saturday, February 22.

Earlier this week, I had the chance to talk to Chris about the speakers and events planned for this year’s gathering, entitled “Radical Then, Critical Now.”

“This one is especially big,” Chris said. “The Norris Center and the Friends of the Norris Center partnered with the UCSC Environmental Studies department and took on a broad topic that involves celebrating and preparing for the future of conservation work.”

The “celebration” element is focused on the founding of the Environmental Studies department and its founding chair, Dick Cooley, a well-established conservation leader and activist. Cooley was instrumental in the establishment of land-use strategies and ownership patterns in Alaska when the state was still young.

Cooley and Ken Norris, the well-known UCSC professor after whom the Norris Center is named, worked together to ensure that environmental studies would be a broad and interdisciplinary field at the university. This a mantle that the Norris Center also wears proudly; it currently supports a variety of programs and student internships at the intersection of science and art in addition to maintaining extensive natural history collections and offering a yearly natural history Field Quarter course.

To explore the conservation work element of the program, the center has gathered four speakers to address the past, present, and future of the protection and preservation of wild lands.

Dr. Gary Griggs, Distinguished Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at UCSC and author/coauthor of 15 books, will be sharing his experiences at the helm of student-led conservation efforts that deeply affected Santa Cruz beginning in 1970.

“The north coast of Santa Cruz was not originally envisioned as protected habitat and park land,” Chris said. “The students in that first environmental studies class were the ones who changed that direction. Thanks to Gary and his students, Wilder Ranch is public land and not 10,000 houses. Not that many people know that, so I’m excited to have Gary sharing that history with the public through this event.”

“The next speaker, Karen Holl, definitely has the hardest topic of the day,” Chris continued. Dr. Holl, who is the longest-serving Environmental Studies faculty member at UCSC, will be talking about how to approach conservation in the current political climate. “She is both a professor and an activist; I expect her to offer some very practical advice for us.”

Finally, the podium will go to two current students, representing the future of conservation. Natalie Twilegar is an undergraduate who has been heavily involved in campus-specific conservation issues and will speak about her experience working in this area. Jonas Banta is a graduate student in UCSC’s new Master of Fine Arts program, Environment and Social Practice. He’s an Alaskan native who has worked both in his home state and in the California’s Klamath River area, and he’ll be talking about restoration of salmon watersheds in both states.

“Then, at 3:30, we’ll take up the chairs and put some tables out so folks can do some art,” Chris said with enthusiasm. Materials (and guidance) will be available for people to create block prints on blank postcards. “They can write them to anyone in the community, but we’re really encouraging folks to write them to their political leaders. We’ll even mail them.”

While this is going on, there will be music by two Norris Center alumni, Darrow Feldstein and Jack Mazza, as well as a giant salmon sculpture and other participatory art events.

Perhaps most important, though, there will be space and time for members of the community who care deeply about natural history—both students and individuals unaffiliated with the university—to mingle.

“I love it when our students engage with the public,” Chris said. “It’s a great chance for them to get out of the ivory tower, if you will, to do hands-on work and meet people who manage land, or educate others, or are involved in law and government—all ways in which they might take natural history out into the broader world. And it’s a two-way street. The students can give community members perspective on what the younger generation is looking at and challenged by. I like this synergy that happens at our events.”

If it sounds like you are one of these community members, then make sure to be at the UCSC Hay Barn this Saturday. Doors open to the public at 1:30pm, and speakers begin at 2:15pm. There is a suggested donation of $10, though no one will be turned away for lack of funds, Chris was quick to point out. And, if your interest in the center is piqued, there will be Friends of the Norris Center members there to talk to you more about how you can further support the organization and what benefits membership offers.

Follow this link for more information about the symposium. Follow this link for more information about Friends of the Norris Center.

Bridget Lyons is a writer, editor, and explorer living with gratitude in Santa Cruz, CA. You can learn more about her work and find a link to her blog at bridgetalyons.com.

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