Bay Nature: Robin Grossinger Environmental Educator of the year

Robin Grossinger: A Bay Nature Local Environmental Hero

by Beth Slatkin — published

Robin Grossinger

Each year, Bay Nature Institute honors several individuals who are making outstanding contributions to the understanding and stewardship of the natural world of the Bay Area.

This year's winner in our Environmental Educator category is Robin Grossinger, Senior Scientist and Director at the Historical Ecology Project of the San Francisco Estuary Institute.

Robin is being honored for his work unearthing and deciphering the historical landscapes and watersheds of the Bay Area. Grossinger has pioneered the use of archival materials, such as old maps and photos, to read beneath the surface of today’s transformed and urbanized topography and foster an understanding of how our landscapes have changed since European contact. For the past 18 years, he has tirelessly communicated the results of this research to audiences around the Bay Area, including open space agencies and conservation organizations, to help them determine what kinds of habitat restoration efforts are most likely to succeed. His recent work on the Napa Valley, Napa Valley Historical Ecology Atlas, will be published as a book by University of California Press later this year.

According to Bay Nature publisher David Loeb:

“Robin creates compelling and revealing portraits of how the Bay Area has changed over the past two and a half centuries and his work has had a profound impact on how we perceive, and interact with, our present-day landscapes .”

Born in Michigan, Robin moved to Berkeley when he was eight, and lives there still with his wife Erica and their two sons.

Robin and our two other awardees will receive recognition for their commitment to conserving Bay Area wildlife and ecosystems at Bay Nature Institute’s annual awards dinner, “A Celebration of Local Nature and Local Heroes,” on February 9, 2012, 6:30 – 9:30 p.m., at the Brazilian Room in Tilden Regional Park. The event will also feature “An Expedition Along the California Coast” with award-winning Bay Area wildlife photographer Suzi Eszterhas.

>> For more information about this event, go to http://baynature.org/bnevents
>> Tickets can be purchased at http://baynature.eventbrite.com