Bill Lane Center Walk the Farm Event

Event Overview

“Walking the Farm” is a venerable Midwestern tradition rooted in the desire to stay in close touch with one’s land—and one’s neighbors’—by surveying one’s property. Walking the Stanford Farm calls positive attention, in a scholarly context, to the fascinating history, compelling and productive diversity, and careful ongoing stewardship of Stanford’s resources.

Co-Directors of The Bill Lane for the American West David Kennedy and Richard White led an intrepid group of 30 students and faculty more than twenty miles across Stanford lands in one day, to explore the biological, agricultural and natural wonders of The Farm’s diverse environment.

The Walk was followed by a celebratory barbecue at the Stanford Horse Barn for both participants and guests.

2009 Biodiversity at Stanford and in the West

The Walk the Farm event focuses on Stanford's extensive lands as a microcosm in which to showcase and study issues that concern the entire western region of the United States.

Because Stanford's holdings are so large and so variegated in their uses—including education and research, of course, but also cattle-ranching, a substantial biological preserve, recreation, truck-farming, horse-training, relations with two counties and several municipalities, a linear collider, a complex water system, and even a shopping center—the campus lends itself to understanding numerous aspects of life in the West.

This third annual walkl highlighted questions of bio-diversity. The group examined several species (some of them officially endangered) that inhabit Stanford lands, how the University works to accommodate them, and how these local matters are illustrative of region-wide issues concerning sustainable habitat.

Top of page

Presenters

Dr. Don Kennedy Conservation target: Avifauna in urbanized landscapes
Dr. Alan Launer Conservation target: Burn zone at the Stanford Foothills (Dish property)
Conservation target: California Red-Legged Frog (Rana aurora draytonii)
Ryan Navratil Conservation target: Steelhead Trout Dr. Peter Alagona Conservation target:  Habitat Conservation Planning
Jon Christensen Conservation target: Serpentine Grassland / Bay Checkerspot Butterfly
Tim Bonebrake Conservation target: Serpentine Grassland Habitat in the Peninsula Dr. Philippe Cohen Conservation target: Serpentine Grassland
Conservation target: Chaparral vs. Grassland habitat
Bill Anderegg Conservation target: Neotropical migratory birds
Dr. Scott Loarie Conservation target: Whole ecosystems endemic to California
Heather Tallis Lead Scientist, Conservation target: Natural Capital Project

Top of page