Author: David Schmidt, San Francisco Bay Area

Author David D. Schmidt will lead a visual tour through San Francisco's environmental history.  He'll discuss Native Americans tending the land, the Gold Rush, earthquakes, explosive urban growth, and the rise of the environmental movement. The presentation is a brief overview of his award-winning new book, San Francisco Bay Area: An Environmental History. The book focuses on the impacts of people and industry throughout the region, including agriculture, fishing, hunting, mining, logging, electric power, wildfires, invasive species, transportation, water supply and pollution, as well as remarkable environmental victories, from Saving the Bay to recent ecological restoration efforts.  

David D. Schmidt is a lifelong Bay Area resident, naturalist and environmental historian.  He was a writer in the public affairs office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco from 1991 to 2021, has led dozens of hikes for the Greenbelt Alliance, and has volunteered on habitat restoration projects in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties. He is also author of Citizen Lawmakers: The Ballot Initiative Revolution (Temple University Press, 1989). David has a bachelor's degree in history from Santa Clara University.  Born in Mountain View, he lived in San Francisco for more than 50 years, and now lives in Santa Rosa. 

You can purchase a copy of his new book at this program, at a special discount for attendees. Program goes from 1-2, booksales and signing from 2-2:30.