Celebrating Our 2026 Docent Graduation and Honoring Two Jasper Ridge and Conservation Giants

The Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve ('Ootchamin 'Ooyakma) community gathered for this year's annual graduation and summer celebration. After more than seven years of working here at Jasper Ridge, I have watched this event grow in enthusiasm and celebration! This year we combined welcoming new docents with recognizing two scientists whose work made this preserve possible: Professor Paul Ehrlich and Professor Hal Mooney. 

Professor Rodolfo Dirzo, who has taught the docent course for 19 years and shares a deep connection to Jasper Ridge and to both Paul Ehrlich and Hal Mooney, organized and led the program. 

The evening opened with Julie Dominguez, Muwekma Ohlone Ambassador, offering a land acknowledgment in Chochenyo that connected us to the history and ongoing presence of the Muwekma Ohlone people on this land. This moment reflects Jasper Ridge's growing and meaningful partnerships with Native American communities.

Welcoming our Newest Docents

The traditional graduation march brought our new docents through the crowd, kazoos playing, to receive their official t-shirts and certificates. These students successfully completed the year-long Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge course, spending two quarters learning the preserve's 1,193 acres. The 2026 graduating class includes: Abby Costello,  Ray Curiel, Kenna Rose De La Rosa, March Delgado, Will Dwyer, Haoning Gong, Karen Hurst, Pyn Snidvongs Kruesopon, Axayacatzi Kuauhtzin, Sophia Lande, Catherine Lee Hing, Rogers Mathai Mathews, Hannah Melville-Rea, Jaejun Noh, Helen Nuckolls, Alice Rowe, Eric Xia, Catherine Xun

Honoring the Legacies of Paul and Hal, Giants of Jasper Ridge and Conservation Science

This year's celebration included recognition of Professor Paul Ehrlich, who passed away on March 13, 2026. The program featured a moment of silence and testimonials about Paul's research on the Bay checkerspot butterfly and his 1964 paper with Peter Raven on coevolution that shifted understanding of plant-animal relationships.

We also recognized Professor Hal Mooney, whose research in plant physiological ecology has contributed to how we understand plant-environment interactions. Together, Paul and Hal, along with many other Stanford colleagues, worked to convince Stanford University to designate Jasper Ridge as a protected biological preserve in 1973. 

Anne Ehrlich and Professor Mooney attended the celebration, and several speakers shared reflections on the preserve's history and impact.

Bill Gomez, a long-time docent, reviewed the history and development of the docent program. He shared that the first docent class was taught by Herb Dengler in 1975, shortly after the preserve closed to the public, as a way to maintain access for visitors and students. Monika Bjorkman then took over and established the two-quarter format with classroom lectures and field time that has remained for over 40 years. When Monika retired after 18 years, Cindy Wilber took over and brought Rodolfo into close collaboration, increasing the academic content and transforming it into an upper division course. After Cindy, I served in this position, and now Katie Glover is serving in this position. Bill noted that since its inception, approximately 250 community members and 750 students have been trained, with their combined knowledge reaching an estimated 100,000 people. 

Richard Nevle, lecturer and co-director of the Earth Systems program, shared reflections on the 50th anniversary of the Ecology and Natural History of Jasper Ridge course. Richard described how the class provides a portal for students to encounter this place through many different fields of study. He shared his own journey from hearing about the course as a graduate student in the 1990s to finally taking it in 2015 when Cindy Wilber invited him to join as both a student and the geology instructor. Richard noted that learning about the natural history of a place is essential to finding our home in it, and highlighted a remarkable fact: of the approximately 180 plant families found in the California floristic province, nearly half occur within Jasper Ridge's 1,200 acres. As director of the honors and master's thesis program for Earth Systems, he shared that between a quarter and a third of his students each year conduct research projects at Jasper Ridge, demonstrating how the course inspires deep intellectual curiosity that fuels scientific research. 

Scott Loarie, executive director of iNaturalist, spoke about the personal impact Jasper Ridge has had on his career. Scott took the docent class as a Stanford student and spent 14 years at the preserve, working with Paul Ehrlich's Center for Conservation Biology as a "Creek Monkey" studying fish, experiencing the Great Mitten Crab invasion of 1998, and collecting tule plants for activities with the local indigenous tribe. He worked with Hal Mooney and Chris Field on the Jasper Ridge Global Change Experiment, studying how climate change impacts species and ecosystems. Scott shared that the early days of iNaturalist took root right here at Jasper Ridge, where he demonstrated the first iPhone app to a KQED reporter in 2011. He credited the preserve's community of docents and staff, including Carol Zabel, Rich Moy, Tony Carelli, Nona Chiariello, Bob Dodge, and Cindy Wilber, for teaching him that observations have stories and that every species has an amazing story to tell. Scott mentioned that he now brings his iNaturalist team to Jasper Ridge annually since 2023, and he thanked me for welcoming them back each year.

Chris Field, former faculty director of the preserve, placed Jasper Ridge in the context of three great waves of interdisciplinary research. The first wave occurred in the early 19th century with von Humboldt's commitment to understanding how earth works as an integrated system of geology, atmospheric physics, biology, and humans, though the tools for comprehensive understanding didn't yet exist. The second wave came in the 1960s and 70s with the advent of digital computers, when Hal and Paul began thinking about making Jasper Ridge an experimental centerpiece to unravel complicated relationships. Hal and Paul played a major role in leading the grand synthesis efforts of the International Geosphere Biosphere Program, and when Chris and Nona first came to Jasper Ridge in the mid-1970s, the preserve was a center for international meetings for topics such as fire, all drawn by the gravitational force that Hal and Paul created. Chris explained that we are now in the third wave, using tools like iNaturalist and artificial intelligence. Included in this wave, Jasper Ridge is discovering how humans are part of ecosystems and the consequences of humans interacting with ecosystems, for example, Indigenous communities. Chris expressed excitement about the new program that integrates biology, geology, hydrology, atmospheric physics, and the social sciences, including the social dimensions of who is here and governance. He emphasized the philosophy of creating a future of ecosystems that are vibrant and healthy and meet the needs of sustainability because they are managed in a way that includes people. 

Kelly Benitez, a co-term master's student who now serves as president of the SEEDS program of the Ecological Society of America, shared that Jasper Ridge was the first place she felt welcome at Stanford. As a first-generation college student from Miami, Kelly took the docent course as a freshman and met Rodolfo, who became her mentor and thesis advisor. She mentioned how I welcomed her as well to continue working with the SEEDS chapter at Stanford. Kelly spoke about how spending two quarters at the preserve taught her the meaning of place-based learning. She shared that she has never known a place as well as she knows this preserve, and that not a week goes by without mentioning something learned from the class. As a docent, she takes people out on the ridge to share special places like the dam and the ring of redwoods. 

Chinmay Sonawane, a PhD candidate in ecology and conservation science, shared that he took the course four years ago to learn about the ecology of the place he would call home. The class was both professionally impactful and personally profound. Chinmay explained that the course provided a way to appreciate California's natural beauty in a deeper way, enabling him to explain ecological phenomena throughout the state, from fairy circles around redwood trees to oak regeneration patterns in the Sierras. He emphasized that the course teaches not just ecology, but also the natural history of the land, the history of Native American peoples, and how Professors Ehrlich and Mooney fought for this land. Chinmay noted the continuing contributions of those who steward the preserve today: the staff, the docent community, the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, and the many teachers of the course.

2026 Student and Postdoc Awards

Katie Glover announced this year's Environmental Scholar Award recipients, Maya Xu and Katie Huy, while Professor Tad Fukami presented the inaugural Morgenthaler-Chiariello Grants for Research to Bertie Ansell and Deborah Narh.

Performances

Rodolfo then introduced the next phase of the program. Axayacatzi Kuauhtzin led a traditional Aztec Dance (Danza Azteca) with dancers Nayeli Martinez and drummer Malinalli Diaz, performing two pieces honoring the deer and Mother Earth. Maya Xu and Uwade performed an acoustic set, with the audience joining in on the final song, "What a Wonderful World."  

This celebration continues to recognize the contributions of students, faculty, and docents across our community. Thank you all for another productive academic year. We look forward to next year's programs and activities. 

Nos vemos pronto!

Jorge Ramos, Ph.D., Executive Director of Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve