Audible Mount Diablo

When you spot a raptor flying high in the Bay Area sky--dark, perhaps wobbling a little—chances are good that it's a turkey vulture. In this short video, learn about some of the species' special skills, underestimated grace, and (ugh) disgusting habits.   A MOUNT DIABLO INTERPRETIVE ASSOCIATION video featuring KEN LAVIN. Videography by Kendall Oei, still photos by Wally De Young, Kendall Oei, Joan...

Take a peek at Bay Area wildlife when they think no one is watching, as they share one of the few seasonal watering holes remaining in the area. Production, images, writing and narration by Wally De Young. Music by Chris Haugen. Sponsored by Mount Diablo Interpretive Association in partnership with Save Mount Diablo. Special thanks to the Wild Mount Diablo team, Joan Hamilton, Staci Hobbet and Ken...

Learn all about Mount Diablo's often-breezed-by tall plants: its pines and its chaparral. The latter covers only 3 percent of the earth's land mass and yet holds 20 percent of its biodiversity. This is episode seven in "Falls Trail," a 13-part series featuring Ken Lavin, Burt Bogardus, Paul Cardinet, and Jenn Roe. Presented by Mount Diablo Interpretive Association in partnership with Save Mount Di...

In this final episode, Save Mount Diablo unfolds an audacious plan for winning broader protection for the Diablo Range in an era of climate change. The "Fire, Drought, Rain, and Hope" series explores life in California's inland Coast Range after the huge fires of 2020. It ventures into places off the beaten track for most Bay Area residents, yet deeply connected to places they already love. Presen...

CONDOR COUNTRY  In Pinnacles National Park, author and conservation biologist Joseph Belli "babysits" condors as a volunteer for the National Park Service. In this episode he teams up with soulmate Seth Adams of Save Mount Diablo to survey wildlife in the park and beyond.   The "Fire, Drought, Rain and Hope" series explores life in California's inland Coast Range after the huge fires of 2020. It v...

HENRY W. COE STATE PARK: How fire made a big wilderness better.  The sixth in a series of Save Mount Diablo's videos about the  mysterious, little-known 200-mile long Diablo Range.  Viewers venture into places off the beaten track for most Bay Area residents, yet deeply connected to places they already love—and vital as refuges for plants, animals, and people in a time of climate change.  Photos b...

COYOTE CONNECTIONS  Keeping cities safe and wildlife healthy. The fifth in Save Mount Diablo 's series, "Fire, Drought, Rain, and Hope," about the mysterious, little-known, 200-mile long Diablo Range. The series  takes viewers into places off the beaten track for most Bay Area residents, yet deeply connected to places they already love and vital refuges in a time of climate change. Photos by Scott...

OHLONE WILDERNESS How Wildlife Fared After the 2020 Fire  The fourth in a series of Save Mount Diablo's videos about the  mysterious, little-known, 200-mile long Diablo Range.  Viewers venture into places off the beaten track for most Bay Area residents, yet deeply connected to places they already love.  Photos by Scott Hein and others. Music by Phil Heywood. Writing, production, and narration by...

CORRAL HOLLOW How a ranching family helped build a park.  The third in Save Mount Diablo's series, "Fire, Drought, Rain, and Hope," about the mysterious, little-known, 200-mile long Diablo Range. The series takes viewers into places off the beaten track for most Bay Area residents, yet deeply connected to places they already love and vitally important in a time of climate change. Photos by Scott H...

Three Wild Years in the Diablo Range With the help of ranchers, naturalists, scientists, and land managers, this 9-part series showcases the mysterious, little-known 200-mile long Diablo Range after the massive fires of 2020. It ventures into places off the beaten track for most Bay Area residents, yet deeply connected to places they already love, vital to providing a refuge for plants, animals, a...

MORGAN TERRITORY, where the SCU fire hit home. The second in a series of films about the  mysterious, little-known 200-mile long Diablo Range.  The films take viewers into places off the beaten track for most Bay Area residents, yet deeply connected to places they already love, vital to providing a refuge for plants, animals, and people in a time of climate change.  Photos by Scott Hein and others...

Early-blooming flowers bring beauty to the forested understory of Mount Diablo State Park. Here are a few that pop up January through March. A Mount Diablo Interpretive Association film by Kendall Oei, produced in partnership with Save Mount Diablo. Part of the Wild Mount Diablo series. 

Join Wild Mount Diablo as we look back at some of our favorite photos from 2023. It's exciting to imagine what our intrepid photographers, Wally De Young and Kendall Oei, will come across this year!!   A Mount Diablo Interpretive Association film produced in partnership with Save Mount Diablo.

The branches of this irritating plant are bare right now, but wise park visitors know to be wary. Learn of its infamous debut in London in the early 1800s—and how it's related to plants in many kitchens today.   Part of Mount Diablo Interpretive Association's WILD MOUNT DIABLO series on the plants and animals of Mount Diablo State Park.  

Mount Diablo's distinctive "pillow basalt" erupted from submarine volcanoes hundreds of millions of years ago. Learn how it made its way to the top of a mountain, in the fifth episode of the TRAIL THROUGH TIME, a series of geology videos featuring naturalist Ken Lavin. Sponsored by the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association in partnership with Save Mount Diablo. Videography by Macha Rose. Animation...

SAND DOLLAR SECRETS   The Pacific Ocean once lapped against the Sierra Nevada foothills. Here's the story of how the Bay Area eventually became dry land with two bedrocks.  Join us on the TRAIL THROUGH TIME, a series of geology videos featuring naturalist Ken Lavin. Sponsored by the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association in partnership with Save Mount Diablo. Videography by Macha Rose. Animations b...

Meet the wild babies of Mount Diablo and learn what superpowers they are developing as they grow from babes in the woods to full grown predators—or prey! Whether sharp-toothed and venomous, or soft and fluffy, these wild babies are sure to surprise you with their innate gifts.   Are baby rattlesnakes really more dangerous than adults? How big are great horned owls' eyes? Which mom carries over 100...

CLASHING PLATES   The story of the Bay Area landscape begins 190 million years ago, 3,000 miles out in the Pacific Ocean under 10,000 feet of water. Join us on the TRAIL THROUGH TIME, a series of geology videos featuring naturalist Ken Lavin. Sponsored by the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association in partnership with Save Mount Diablo. Videography by Macha Rose. Animations by Tanya Atwater, UC Sant...

FRANCISCAN ROCKS  The first person to study Mount Diablo geology in depth was a quirky UC Berkeley professor named Andrew Lawson. He found rocks that had emerged from volcanoes in the mid-Pacific. But how did they get on top of a 3,849-foot mountain? Join us on the TRAIL THROUGH TIME, a series of geology videos presented by the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association in partnership with Save Mount D...

TRAIL THROUGH TIME   A 6.3-mile hike from the top to the bottom of Mount Diablo travels through the Bay Area's entire geologic history. Presented by Mount Diablo Interpretive Association, featuring Ken Lavin. Videography by Macha Rose. Animations by Tanya Atwater, UC Santa Barbara. Music by Phil Heywood. Produced by Joan Hamilton. Audible Mount Diablo is a joint project of the MOUNT DIABLO INTERPR...

Spring has come and gone, but the wildflower bloom is not done. Mount Diablo has its own superblooms, and some of them are long lasting.  A Mount Diablo Interpretive Association film featuring Kendall Paul Oei. Episode 12 in the Wild Mount Diablo series. 

This just in: The ladybugs have returned to Mount Diablo!  Learn all about their meanderings in this Mount Diablo Interpretive Association video featuring naturalist Ken Lavin. Images by Arnold Joe, Scott Hein, and Kendall Oei. Music by Daniel Kaede. Produced by Joan Hamilton. Adapted from "Mitchell Canyon" Audible Mount Diablo, 2017.

CONNECTIONS  As botanist Heath Bartosh explains in this final episode of "A Hiker's Guide to Mount Diablo Plants," Bay Area biodiversity hot spots are connected to places much farther south.  Presented by Save Mount Diablo in partnership with Mount Diablo Interpretive Association Featuring  Heath Bartosh with Seth Adams, Robert Doyle, Lindsey Hendricks-Franco, Brian Peterson, Cyndy Shafer Music  ...

LAND OF DISCOVERY  Mount Diablo has attracted some famous botanists over the years, including David Douglas, Alice Eastwood, and John Howell. Learn their stories—and those of the modern-day explorers following in their footsteps. Presented by SAVE MOUNT DIABLO in partnership with the Mount Diablo Interpretive Association.  Featuring Heath Bartosh Photographs: Scott Hein, Stephen Joseph, Troy Monte...

SHRUBS  Dive into the mysteries of chaparral, a plant community that covers 3 percent of Earth's surface and nurtures 20 percent of its biodiversity.  Presented by Save Mount Diablo, in partnership with Mount Diablo Interpretive Association.  Featuring Heath Bartosh, Seth Adams, Robert Doyle, Lindsey Hendricks, Brian Peterson, Cyndy Shafer. Photographs: Scott Hein, Stephen Joseph, Troy Montemayor...