Under the Redwoods: A Sempervirens Fund Webinar Series

Val Lopez (Chairman of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band) will be our featured guest for our 10/27 “Under the Redwoods” webinar. The ancestral traditions his tribe is rediscovering, such as ceremonial forest burns and recultivating native plants, offer unique solutions for healing land throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains today.

Speakers:

Ian Rowbotham
Land Stewardship Manager and Fire Safe Santa Cruz Board of Directors @Sempervirens Fund

Ian Rowbotham joined Sempervirens Fund in 2016 as the Land Stewardship Project Associate. He holds an M.S. in Earth Systems from Stanford University, with a focus on sustainable resource use. Before coming to Sempervirens Fund, he conducted research on the effects of climate change on forests of the Sierra Nevada and the movement and physiology of white sharks and bluefin tuna. Ian is a member of the Fire Safe Santa Cruz Board of Directors.

Emily Burns, Ph.D.
Program Director @Sky Island Alliance

Emily Burns, Ph.D., a.k.a. Doctor Fern, is the program director for the Sky Island Alliance in Tucson, Arizona and a member of the Sempervirens Fund Science Advisory Panel. Previously she was Science Director for Save the Redwoods League and started the citizen science project, Fern Watch, to track the health of a common understory plant, the Western sword fern.

Valentin Lopez
Chair @Amah Mutsun Tribal Band

Valentin Lopez has served as Chair of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band since 2003, and the President of the Amah Mutsun Land Trust since its inception. Valentin is a Native American Advisor to the University of California, Office of the President on issues related to repatriation. He is also a Native American Advisor to the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology. Valentin is actively involved in efforts to restore tribal indigenous knowledge and ensure our history is accurately told.