Los Padres ForestWatch's Forest Academy presents:

Native Plant Walk with 

Patrick Tumamait and

Lanny Kaufer

LPFW's Forest Academy is a four-part, interactive learning series led by ForestWatch and local experts that unfolds annually, with each year exploring a different theme of Los Padres National Forest. In 2026, the focus is Flora & Fauna – inviting participants to deepen their understanding of the plants, wildlife, and ecosystems that shape this landscape. Through guided field experiences, you’ll learn to observe, identify, and better understand the natural world we share.

 

The first class on March 7 about native plants will be co-led by me and Chumash elder and culturalist, Patrick Tumamait. You will learn to identify local species as we explore Indigenous uses and cultural relationships with native plants.

I’m honored to share that I am officially entering my 50th year of leading Herb Walks in Ojai, Santa Barbara, and the surrounding areas! 🌿

 

To celebrate this anniversary, I’m returning to where it all began. On Saturday, March 14, I’ll be leading a walk on the San Antonio Creek Trail – the very same trail where I attended my first plant walk in the early ’70s with the legendary Chumash expert, the late Juanita Centeno.

 

During this walk, I’ll be focusing on Juanita’s teachings regarding the Chumash ways of respecting nature’s gifts. We’ll look for Black Sage, Hummingbird Sage, Wild Rose, and more. It’s a chance to slow down, identify the food and medicine growing around us, and honor the lineage of this knowledge.

 

Trailside discussion will include sustainable foraging, edible and medicinal plant uses, native plant gardens, and other topics generated by the participants. This slow-paced walk is suitable for all hikers able to walk less than 2 miles round-trip on a level trail and stand for periods of time. Participants will receive an email afterwards with a plant list (including common and scientific names) and other useful notes. No dogs or smoking, please.

 

Walk with me on the first Santa Barbara area walk of 2026 as I celebrate 50 years of leading herb walks! To learn more and sign up, please click here or on the image above.

Please join me for a Spring Equinox Walkabout at Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve on Saturday, March 21, from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. “Walkabout” is an Australian term for a temporary return to traditional Aboriginal life, taken especially between periods of work or residence in modern society and usually involving a period of travel through the bush. That is what I have planned for us in observance of the Spring Equinox, although for a much shorter time than the traditional Australian journey and as a group instead of solo.

 

Long before St. Patrick and Christianity arrived in Ireland, the ancient Celts celebrated the Spring Equinox with a festival known as Ostara. This festival was a celebration of the end of winter and the start of the spring season. We will honor that “pagan” tradition as well. 

 

Our walkabout will begin in the Australian section of the Gardens and make its way through the wild plant communities in the Nature Preserve to the Four Directions Circle, a replica of a Native American medicine wheel on a mesa with a 360 degree view. There we will interact with the stone compass as we connect with the annual solar cycle and our own ancestral origins somewhere on Planet Earth.

 

As we do on all my monthly Natural History walks at the Taft Ranch, we will identify and discuss useful plants and observe birds and animal signs in the context of the local ecology. My intention is to create a space for people to connect and interact with the natural world by learning the language of nature.

 

This event is presented by the Conservation Endowment Fund (CEF), stewards of Taft Gardens & Nature Preserve. They are handling all registrations. Please visit this page to register. You can email taftgardensvisitors@gmail.com with any questions. Admission to the walkabout is $45/person which includes a $10 donation to CEF.

 

Please join me on Sunday, March 29, from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. (including 20 minutes drive time each way) for a plant identification hike on the Wheeler Gorge Nature Trail, a special place just 9 miles up scenic Highway 33 from Ojai. The trail loop is less than 1 mile long but features two distinct plant communities.

 

Starting in the riparian habitat along a rushing mountain stream under a canopy of shade trees, we’ll climb over the saddle into the sunny chaparral with long views of the surrounding mountains. There is a diversity of native plants to identify while demonstrating and discussing their many uses by foragers, herbalists, and naturalists for food, herbal medicine, first aid, home remedies, survival, crafts, ceremony and more.

 

This time of year we can expect to find Coast Live Oak, White Alder, Mugwort, California Blackberry, Chamise, Black Sage, Woolly Blue Curls, Yerba Santa, and Chaparral Currant, among many others. Poison Oak will also be identified (and avoided). Participants will receive an email afterwards with a plant list (including common and scientific names) and other useful notes.

 

Read more and register at this link or by clicking on the photo above.

Full Pink Moon Nature Hike

On Wednesday evening, April 1, from 5:30 to 8:00 p.m., Rondia and I will lead a Full Pink Moon Nature Hike to a vista point above the Ojai Valley where we can watch the nearly simultaneous sunset and moonrise. Both will happen around 7:20 p.m. The April full moon is the closest to the Spring Equinox (March 20) so the moonrise and sunset will appear opposite each other at about the same time.

 

SPOILER: The moon will not actually appear pink as pictured in the fanciful image above. The name comes from the bright pink wildflowers of the Phlox family, like our local Prickly Phlox ( Linanthus californicus), that are native to North America and bloom around the time of April’s full moon.

You can order my book by visiting the Herb Walks bookshop or by clicking on the book cover image above.
 
To request a simple autograph or have the book signed to your name, when you reach "checkout"  use the “Order notes (optional)” field. This personal touch is something not available when purchasing on Amazon or other vendors. 
 
If you already own my book or you're considering buying it, be sure to click on the following link to check out the free hyperlinked bibliography I created to save you the hassle of copying long URLs from the printed page to your browser, enabling you to easily visit any of the web sources linked to the 350 citations in the book.