Chaparral Wisdom
To celebrate the magic and beauty of Nature & the chaparral
Escape Worldly Chaos – Let Nature And Knowledge Bring Joy Into Your Life
– Become a Chaparral Naturalist –
Renew Your Humanity by Exploring Nature, The Wisdom of Forgotten Philosophers,
and the Wildness Within
It is time to resist.
As most of us are well aware, news is no longer informative – it is insidious gossip designed to feed our fears. The noise from technology is severing us from one of our most basic human needs – personal connection. And the educational foundation that once provided us the opportunity to learn from the remarkable journey our species has traveled, has been replaced by specialization and parochialism, ignoring a wealth of knowledge scattered about us like golden coins on a sandy beach.
We invite you to join us for a break from the hectic world and gather some of those coins.
Over eight wonderful Saturday mornings, a full day exploring San Diego County’s priceless biodiversity, and hours of rewarding discussions celebrating not just animals, plants, and rocks, but our inspiring biological and social evolutionary development – from stone age wanderers, to cave artists, to philosophers, to lunar explorers – we ignite wonder for the natural world as well as our humanity.
As humans, life has never been better.
However, our fortune and intellectual gifts have been muddled by a deluge of distractions and irrational thinking. As Chaparral Naturalists, we turn away from the contrived chaos to create an environment that fosters the acquisition of knowledge, friendship, and awe. We create a thoughtful place where cell phones, social media, AI, and the constant chatter of “the news” do not intrude. Together, by exploring the wisdom of Nature, we discover that very little of the human drama is new, including our own conclusions here about the times in which we live.*
The questions we ask about ourselves that seem so pressing have been pondered over for thousands of years, and in most cases, have been answered in multiple ways. We explore those answers. We experience solace by understanding the concept of deep time from the rocks and fossils we study. We learn wisdom from the animals we watch, animals that do not worry about appointments, goals, or what happens in the statehouse. Although we are hoping our time together will inspire you to wake up every morning as Teddy Roosevelt once did and shout, “Bring it on!” we’re sure you’ll discover new opportunities to more fully appreciate the most valuable treasure in our lives – time.
Join us this spring to renew your humanity through Nature.
The adventure begins March 14, 2026, at the Owl’s Nest, the California Chaparral Institute’s retreat center in Escondido, California. More details and your application can be found on our education page here.
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* “The Renaissance everywhere brought about a break between people of culture and the mass of the population; but while abstracting culture from national tradition, it did at least cause it to be steeped in Greek tradition. Since then, links with the national traditions have not been renewed, but Greece has been forgotten. The result has been a culture which has developed in a very restricted medium, removed from the world, in a stove-pipe atmosphere—a culture very strongly directed towards and influenced by technical science, very strongly tinged with pragmatism, extremely broken up by specialization, entirely deprived both of contact with this world and, at the same time, of any window opening on to the world beyond.”
– Simone Weil
From The Need for Roots (1949)
Appellate Court to Cal Fire – You’re Making the Landscape More Flammable
After twenty years of fighting, Nature and Fire Safety have prevailed
The California Appellate Court ruled in the chaparral’s favor yesterday afternoon in our lawsuit against Cal Fire and their insidious plan to clear millions of acres of native habitat in California.
We won on every point.
- The Board of Forestry (Cal Fire’s boss) abused its discretion.
- The Board failed to address the impact of type conversion of chaparral and sage scrub to non-native, weedy landscapes.
- Cal Fire’s habitat clearance projects will cause type conversion.
- Cal Fire’s habitat clearance projects will increase the flammability of the landscape.
- Cal Fire habitat clearance projects relating to chaparral and sage scrub should be suspended pending further analysis.
- The court agreed our evidence was substantial.
Cal Fire will need to go back and redo their program relating to chaparral and sage scrub and address the risk of type conversion and the increased flammability it will cause. We’ll be there.
Big thanks to Dan Silver of the Endangered Habitats League for his steadfast support throughout it all. When things became bleak, Endangered Habitats League stayed with us on the front lines.
And a thousand Chaparralian hugs to our attorney, Todd Cardiff. His legal talents were obvious from the beginning, but equally important was his belief in the value of Nature.
Here’s the music from the Court of Appeal’s decision
“We conclude the Board’s findings are not supported by substantial evidence, and it was required under CEQA to consider the adverse environmental effects of type conversion most specifically, the increased wildfire danger… By doing so, the Board prejudicially abused its discretion in certifying the Report, requiring reversal of the judgment…
In failing to fully analyze type conversion and to make such written findings, the Board abused its discretion…
To the extent the Board otherwise implies Plaintiffs provided a one-sided recitation of the facts, we disagree…
Plaintiffs argue the lack of a findings leave the public with no understanding of how type conversion will actually be evaluated, mitigated, avoided, or monitored. We agree this error is significant given that it could leave decision makers and residents alike unaware that measures they believe are being taken to reduce fire risk are actually increasing the threat that wildfires will ignite and spread…
We end by noting the irony of the Board’s argument that type conversion, which results in a more flammable landscape, is not a significant impact of prescribed burns when the express goals of the Program are to (1) “treat vegetation that could become fire fuel,” (2) “reduc[e] the likelihood of a ground fire increasing in intensity and helping suppression forces more easily 30 contain a fire,”13 and (3) “reduce risks to life, property, and natural resources by managing the amount and continuity of hazardous vegetative fuels that promote wildland fire.
And finally,
The judgment is reversed. The matter is remanded to the superior court with directions to vacate its denial of the petition for writ of mandate and to enter a new order granting the petition for writ of mandate consistent with the views expressed in this opinion. Such order shall include only those mandates necessary to achieve compliance with CEQA in accord with this opinion. (§ 21168.9, subd. (b).) The court shall further consider whether any specific project should be suspended until the Board takes action to comply with the court’s mandate.“
The entire decision is available here on the court’s website.
Please consider supporting our work so we can continue to be the voice of the chaparral and keep an eye on those who see Nature only as the enemy.
