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A beaver at Conaway Ranch We’ve got new footage from our game cameras at Conaway Ranch! This camera site was chosen by 4 th graders from Dingle Elementary during a recent field trip to Conaway. The camera is near the otter slide we’ve previously filmed, but is a few feet away from the entrance to the slide, allowing us to film the animals as they approach. We saw beaver, otter, a fox, a raccoon, and more! Click here to watch the video . Tuleyome works with Conaway Preservation Group to offer educational programs at Conaway Ranch, including programs for K-12 groups and the general public. If you have any questions about the game camera footage or our programs at Conaway, please reach out to Education Associate Geoff Benn at gbenn@tuleyome.org.
The current administration has released its proposed budget for the 2027 fiscal year. It proposes drastic cuts to our public land management agencies. The proposed budget would significantly reduce funding for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), including a 34% cut to its total budget, a 27% staff cut, a 76% cut to the National Conservation Lands, which encompass 38 million acres of protected public lands, a 61% cut to recreation management (including campsites and trails), and total elimination of funding for cultural resources and wilderness management. It also would shift priorities towards extractive uses of public lands instead of conservation and clean energy. The administration’s budget would also drastically cut funding to the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), eliminate several offices, state and federal research stations (six in California) and transfer all fire fighting to BLM. Notably, in the face of all these cuts, the budget would increase funding for extractive industries; funding for timber sales would increase 450%. The reductions and policy changes would impair these agencies’ abilities to protect public lands, cultural resources, fresh water sources, and wildlife, while also impairing access to them and recreation on them. The President’s budget is now in Congress, where committees in both the Senate and the House of Representatives are amending and voting on the bills in preparation for full House and Senate votes. Now is the time to take action for our public lands and the environment by urging Congress to reject the proposed budget and maintain funding for BLM, USFS, and programs that protect and steward our public lands. Let your representatives know that you oppose the cuts to BLM and USFS and the rollbacks to our public land protections. And let them know why these special places are important to them. You can voice your opinions to Congress in multiple ways. You can: Call their offices Send a letter to Congress - we’ve pulled together a template for you to use, but don’t forget to let them know why public lands are important to you – download sample letter here Contact them on social media Meet with a representative in their District offices. Don’t know how to reach them, go to Congress.gov and find their phone numbers, addresses, district offices, websites and so much more if you’re interested. Now is the time to speak up for our public lands! Mary Lamborn (Communications Intern) and Sandra Schubert (Executive Director)
You betcha! Wild carrot, also known as Queen Anne’s Lace, is a common sight within the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument region. With its straight and sturdy stalk, bright green, frilly leaves and white, flat-topped flower clusters, it is identifiable even from the limited viewing scope of a traveling car. Queen Anne’s Lace ( Daucus carota ) belongs to the Apiaceae (carrot) family. All members of this family display flower clusters arranged in an upside-down umbrella shape called an umbel. It is native to Europe and is the plant that tasty cultivated carrots originated from. It was brought to North America for its medicinal purposes and has since naturalized across the continent in disturbed and natural areas in mountains, valleys and coastal areas. It can be so prolific that it outcompetes native plants and can also be mildly toxic to livestock. Queen Anne’s Lace is an herbaceous biennial (it doesn’t flower until its second year and then dies) that can reach up to four feet tall in optimum conditions. The stem of the plant is bright green, straight and sturdy and is covered in short, coarse hairs which is a very helpful identifier. I recently learned a clever and helpful quip that I will never forget: Queen Anne has hairy legs (referring to the hair along the stems of the plant)! The tiny, white flowers all originate from the same point and splay out in an airy, flat topped cluster (umbel). Another identifying feature is that oftentimes (but not always) the flower umbels often have a single dark purple flower in the center of the cluster. This purple flower is not always present but when it is it can be used to positively identify the plant as Queen Anne’s lace. The leaves are finely divided which gives them a lacy appearance and look almost identical to our cultivated carrot plants. Although wild carrots are edible, the whitish tap root isn’t as robust or flavorful as the cultivated carrots we are used to. Warning! There are plants such as poison hemlock that are incredibly similar looking so eating things in nature is never advised unless you can absolutely identify them! Poison hemlock has basically the same growth pattern as wild carrot however the stem of poison hemlock lacks the tiny hairs and mature plants have very definite purple splotches up and down the stems. All parts of poison hemlock are toxic but it is particularly potent in the seeds and roots. Poison hemlock is notoriously known as the poison that killed the Greek philosopher Socrates. Edible cousins of wild carrot include plants such as caraway, celery, parsley and parsnips. Although the root of the wild carrot plant is edible, contact with the sap may produce an allergic reaction in some individuals that are sensitive to it. Native pollinators such as butterflies and bees appreciate the abundance of flowers for their nectar. Wild carrot is currently blooming in all its glory so keep an eye out for it on your next trip to our favorite monument!
Maxwell Elementary School 5 th graders work on assembling a coyote skeleton We wrapped up our 2025-2026 field trip season with two great trips this month. The first was a program at Ralph Harris Park for two 5 th grade classes from Rhoda Maxwell Elementary in Woodland. The program began with interactive show-and-tell stations, where students learned about animal tracking, assembled a coyote skeleton, and examined a range of plant and animal specimens. Then the students completed the Adaptations Trail, where they explored sensory adaptations through interactive activities.
Funny little thing about me; I honestly find the aromatic bouquet of skunks rather enjoyable. In my mind (and I’m told this is only in my mind and that nobody else agrees with me) their signature scent is an olfactory reminder of being in nature and the outdoors. Skunks play a vital role in a healthy ecosystem and they’re pretty dang adorable while they’re doing it. I always feel horribly sorry when a skunk loses its life in an unfortunate encounter with a vehicle and although it doesn’t make it any less sad, I do hope that appreciating their essence and participation in the environment somehow makes things slightly less woeful. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae. The family has three genera containing a total of ten species. The most common skunk here in our region is the striped skunk, Mephitis mephitis . It was originally believed that skunks were relatives of weasels but after genetic research they are now classified as their own family. All species of skunks display defensive coloration, most are black and white but some are brown, cream or reddish. If their striking colors don't ward off danger, their next defensive tactic is one we probably all learned from Pepè Le Pew. All skunks produce a yellow, oily compound that contains sulfuric acid. This gross substance is stored in two sacs under their tail. It turns out that skunks can hit targets as far as ten feet away with surprising accuracy - especially for shooting backwards! This acrid substance not only stinks to high heaven but it can also cause severe burning, nausea, and even temporary blindness if it gets in the eyes of a nosey predator. Skunks are optimistic omnivores and find pleasure in eating about anything they can catch or find. Their diet is split between plant and animal matter and alters with the season. Choice vegetarian options include berries and fruit, grasses, nuts and roots while carnivorous favorites include insects such as beetles and grubs, grasshoppers, crickets, wasps and larger prey such as frogs, mice, snakes, voles and sometimes bird eggs. Skunks are extremely helpful and fill an important environmental niche by removing unwanted insects and pests and by cleaning up fallen fruit and nuts from our local environment. They also help disperse seeds and aerate the soil through their foraging and digestion habits. Skunks may also rummage through trash cans, eat fallen birdseed and pet food left outdoors. Skunks do not hibernate but enter a dormant state called torpor where they sleep and rarely eat. They are crepuscular, meaning they are active mainly during dawn and dusk and usually remain solitary when not actively breeding. Breeding season is from about February through March and four to seven blind and deaf kits are born in around May. They remain with the mother for about two months and after that are on their own. In general skunks have excellent hearing and sense of smell, however have very poor eyesight and can not see more than about ten feet in front of them which helps to explain why you see so many along the edges of roads. Those that avoid collisions with vehicles can live up to six years in the wild. My first upclose experience with a skunk was while camping. We were snoozing in low to the ground beach chairs when a momma skunk walked her three little toddlers through our campsite in the evening. Everyone was too scared to move so we just sat there while she paraded herself and her babies not amongst but directly under our chairs. Because they were low to the ground, we all felt her back side and tail brushing and bumping our bums as she and her babies rambled through. There was no drama, no one got peppered with stink, it was just an enchanting wildlife encounter that made me realize how incredibly cute they are. My second intimate encounter was a little less endearing and it will probably affect my affinity for skunk musk. The encounter in question happened at 3:00 in the morning, well before the sun appears and clear thinking emerges. We have a small dog that declared his need to go outside during the dark of early morning. In his urgent request to void his bladder, he failed to see the skunk enjoying an early breakfast of cat food near the front door. The two surprised each other and the result was less than optimal. He sprinted back into the house at lightning speed. Even if he wasn’t all greased up with skunk juice we wouldn’t have been able to grab him because he was moving so fast. Not only did he leave a trail of odoriferousness through the living room so thick that you can almost see it but he went directly to his favorite hideout - under the bed. So now we have a terrified, drooling, snarling little snapping turtle who desperately needs to hit the showers taking indefinite refuge under the bed and a stench that is stinging my olfactory bulb just by recollection of the entire event. After some sweet talk we finally got him out from behind the comforter and into a tub of tomato juice. After a few rounds with that and some deodorizing shampoo he smells a lot better but the scent in the rest of the abode lingers on (and on, and on and on…). Although I don’t hate the smell from a distance, I will admit it’s quite gamey when you’re marinating in it. It is, however, a very effective defensive mechanism; I think we need a new house.
Have you ever turned over a piece of wood or picked up a flower pot to find the tiniest little pink snake flipping and twisting in protest to the unexpected blaze of blinding sunlight? At first glance it may look like an earthworm but with a couple more rolls and twitches, you will probably see that its belly has horizontal dark and light stripes. Chances are that little guy was a sharp-tail snake! Known for being docile and even gentle, these little friends prefer to stay hidden beneath undisturbed rocks and debris and are rarely ever seen strutting about exposed on the surface like other commonly observed snake species. These little guys are aptly named for the sharp spine that extends from the tip of their tails. The spine does not contain venom and isn’t sturdy enough to poke our skin but it is really helpful for stabilizing slippery slugs - ambrosia for a hungry sharp-tail snake! Their dorsal sides usually range from brick red (think of the color or iron-rich soil), to a lighter gray-ish, brown-ish, bubble-gum-ish pink with two, vibrant to faint red vertical stripes. Some individuals are even orangey but they all have horizontal black and creamy white striped belly scales that it will eagerly display during its dramatic “I’ve-been-mortally-wounded-please-leave-me-alone” fake-out defensive display. Once the threat has been neutralized, the snake will stop trying to turn itself inside out and with much less fanfare, will quietly go back to hiding under the rock or log from which it came. Sharp-tail snakes ( Contia tenuis ) belong to Colubridae, the largest and most diverse family of snakes with over 300 genera. Sharp-tail snakes are also known as Pacific brown snakes, Pacific ground snakes and Oregon worm snakes and are endemic to California, Oregon and Washington as well as British Columbia. Although they can be found in a variety of habitats, they prefer moist soils beneath debris in woodlands, forests and grasslands. Males and females look similar and breeding occurs from June to July. Three to eight eggs are laid about six inches under soil, grass, roots or in rocky areas and will hatch around mid-October. At about 12 inches maximum in length, you might not even notice them but if you do, give them a wink and a nod for helping rid your garden of slugs.
Max Stevenson with a frog Our May Nature and You lecture was presented by Dr. Max Stevenson from the Solano County Water Agency. He presented on “Salmon in the Putah Creek Watershed” and discussed the ins and outs of salmon conservation in California, the ecological and human history of Putah Creek, ongoing work to improve salmon habitat in Putah Creek, and questions around what restoration means in a watershed that’s been as highly modified as Putah Creek. If you missed Max’s excellent talk, you can watch the recording here .
At Tuleyome, we support Public Lands Advocacy, Conservation, Stewardship and Education. Our commitment to these three pillars of action means that we must encourage our supporters to vote and to invest the time to learn how candidates for public office view public lands and public access to those lands. Public lands are a central part of our national heritage and have been so since the very founding of the Republic. The first shots of the American Revolution were fired on public land (the Lexington Common) in 1775. The practice of managing lands for the common welfare is itself tens of thousands of years old and is central to the traditions of indigenous people across all of the Americas. The relatively novel notion of private ownership of land has become prevalent in our society, but that in no way should blind us to the centrality of public land to the health and welfare of all. And yet there are those who would turn every scrap of public land over to private ownership for exploitation if they could. Efforts to privatize public lands or give Federal lands to states, where political pressure to privatize is stronger, have taken on a new urgency. They represent a significant threat to the public’s right to enjoy public lands. These efforts represent an existential threat to nature, wildlife and the land itself, as exploitation of the national legacy for private gain becomes the dominant ideology of certain elements in our society. Fortunately, as citizens, we have the opportunity to educate ourselves about who supports public lands and the public’s right to benefit from public lands. If you want to be a public lands voter, here are the three questions you need to ask everyone who is asking you for your vote: Do you support keeping public lands in federal public ownership, and will you oppose efforts to transfer them to state or private control? What specific actions will you take to improve public access for hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation? What is your plan to ensure that public lands are managed for a balance of conservation, restoration, recreation and responsible energy development? Public lands, which include our national forests, lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management and Bureau of Reclamation, as well as the national park system, are managed for all Americans. Proposals to sell or transfer these reduce public access and jeopardize wildlife habitat. Ask for a clear commitment to keeping land access public rather than transferring it to state-level management. Ask what your representatives will do to eliminate private land bottlenecks. Ask for concrete plans to improve trails, access points, and habitat connectivity. Public lands are at the center of the climate crisis debate and many voters prefer conservation and renewable energy over increased oil and gas drilling. We support a balanced approach that prioritizes habitat protection and sustainable use, rather than maximizing extraction. This is the kind of long-term legacy that we owe to the people whose land we appropriated. It’s a legacy we owe to the generations of Americans before us who fought to establish the rule of law and the values of republican government. Public lands are the embodiment of the notion that we are a nation of equal citizens, indivisible, and not servants to the economic interests that extract private profit from public resources while socializing private losses on public accounts. If you want to be a public lands voter, take the time to educate yourself by visiting https://www.tuleyome.org/ and then ask those who want your vote the hard questions about where they stand on public lands. Then, Vote! Register to Vote here: https://registertovote.ca.gov/ The last day to register to vote for the June 2, 2026, Primary Election is May 18, 2026. Find your district and voters guide here: https://www.sos.ca.gov/elections Voting by mail in California is safe and secure and really easy to do. You can track the status of your ballot here: https://california.ballottrax.net/voter/ Craig Perrin Tuleyome Volunteer Board Member
Maybe you’ve seen some roadkill while driving through the Berryessa Snow Mountain National Monument, along the freeway, or even in your neighborhood. Or maybe you’ve been hiking and caught a whiff of something really, really foul. Or maybe you’ve seen ants swarming on another dead insect or even come upon an animal skull during a day on the trail. Have you ever thought about what happens when an animal dies in nature and how does it “go away”? Enter nature’s clean up crew! Carrion eaters are organisms that eat dead and decaying animals. This can be roadkill, leftovers from other carnivores’ meals, animals that simply expire from old age or injury or those that have been hunted and unfortunately never recovered by their pursuer. It sounds pretty gross but carrion eaters play a critical role in ecosystem nutrient recycling. Sometimes they’re loosely called “scavengers” and one of our most valuable scavenger species is pretty common and can be seen almost anywhere in our region from urban to rural areas. Do you want to take a guess at what species it is? I’ll give you some clues… They have an exceptionally fine-tuned sense of smell and can detect the scent of rotting flesh from over a mile away. Are you jealous? Their stomach acid is ultra acidic and allows them to eat bacteria and virus-laden decaying flesh and still remain healthy. When they feel threatened they will vomit in self-defense. Considering what they eat, it’s pretty clever and effective. It also makes them weigh less so they can escape quicker. To cool off in hot weather they will defecate and/or urinate on their own legs. This is called urohydrosis. They lack vocal cords and cannot make vocalizations, they can produce only grunts and hiss sounds. Did you guess what species I’m talking about yet? Of course, it’s the Turkey Vulture! Their scientific name, Cathartes aura , literally means, “cleansing breeze”. It seems appropriate when you consider their role in removing carcasses that spread disease such as anthrax, botulism and cholera from the environment. Turkey Vultures do not have feathers on their heads and resemble wild turkeys which is where their common name came from. Although their bald, red heads don’t help endear them to those that like “pretty birds”, it does keep them clean while they jam their naked heads into sticky, stinky dead animal carcasses. Although Turkey Vultures are classified as a bird of prey, they do not have strong talons like other raptors and are not able to kill their own food which makes them reliant on carrion left behind by other carnivores, mother nature, or vehicles. Turkey Vultures also do not build nests like most other birds. Instead they lay their eggs on the ground in a sheltered place like a cave, hollow tree, rocky crevice or cliff or even in an abandoned building. I see a lot of Turkey Vultures so apparently that nesting strategy works well for them. California Condors are also carrion eaters and use the same nesting strategy but struggle with success in the wild. Unfortunately poor nesting success and other identified dangers continue to keep their free flying population fairly meager. Turkey Vultures are widely distributed and occur in nearly all of the Americas from southern Canada to the southern tip of South America. It is a permanent resident in the southern United States but northern birds may migrate south. It is found in a diverse range of habitats including deserts, grasslands, farm and rangeland, wetlands, foothills and mountains, as well as suburbia. They prefer open county without dense tree cover where they can easily take flight and enjoy the thermals. While soaring they resemble a dihedral (shallow V) and although they are master fliers, rarely flapping their wings, they appear unsteady by rocking and tilting in flight. Their slow, teetering flight allows them to fly low aiding them in detecting their next meal. Their body feathers are dark iridescent brown-black with highly contrasting silvery-gray flight feathers. Their short, hooked beaks are ivory-white against their bright red heads, juveniles’ heads are black. Their wing span is similar to Bald and Golden Eagles at around six feet and they can weigh over five pounds. The oldest wild Turkey Vulture was 16 while captive birds have lived to be 51 years old. Lead poisoning and outright killing of Turkey Vultures due to the false belief that they spread diseases (in reality they clean up the ecosystem!) are their main conservation concerns. Their population numbers remain strong with a global population estimated to be 18,000,000 individuals. Other interesting Turkey Vulture fun facts include: In the air a group of Turkey Vultures are called a “kettle” but on the ground they go by “committee” or a “wake”. Large groups of them roost together in trees and although I'm not sure what that’s called but that is an impressive sight! Gas and oil companies have been known to employ Turkey Vultures to detect pipeline leaks because the scent added to natural gas is similar to that of decaying flesh that they are so fond of. Next time you see a Turkey Vulture soaring over our favorite monument, on the way to our favorite monument or even on your way home from school or work, give them a nod for doing a bang-up job of waste management!