100% Humboldt
Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.
We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.
We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing Northcoast of California 100%!
Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt
Learn More at https://100humboldt.com/
100% Humboldt
#85. Jim Campbell-Spickler: Climbing Trees, Studying Wildlife, and Leading the Sequoia Park Zoo
From climbing rocks in the Mojave Desert to studying salamanders 300 feet up in redwood canopies, Jim Campbell-Spickler's journey as a wildlife biologist reads like an adventure novel come to life.
After moving from Barstow to Humboldt in 1994 to pursue his wildlife degree, he found himself captivated by the rainforest environment that contrasted sharply with his desert upbringing. "In the first 45 days I lived here, I experienced more rain than I had in my entire life," he laughs. Yet this dramatic environmental shift sparked a lifelong passion for Humboldt's ecosystems.
His research on the wandering salamander - a tiny amphibian that lives high in redwood canopies without needing standing water to reproduce - established him as a canopy ecology specialist. This expertise led him to measure Hyperion, the world's tallest tree at over 380 feet, and to document wildlife worldwide as a scientific consultant for BBC and National Geographic productions. His climbing skills opened doors to remote locations few people ever access.
Perhaps most fascinating is his work with raptors, particularly bald eagles. "We take the young eaglets down when they're six to eight weeks old, put bands on their legs, collect samples, and get them back in the nest before mom or dad returns," he explains. Some species prove more challenging than others - peregrine falcons are known to "stoop" researchers, dive-bombing them when least expected.
Today, Campbell-Spickler serves as Director of Sequoia Park Zoo, where the innovative Skywalk attraction has transformed visitor numbers from 40,000 to 180,000 annually. This ADA-accessible walkway, suspended 100 feet above the ground among redwood canopies, offers experiences found nowhere else. "During windy days, some tree tops will arc in a three-meter radius," he shares, highlighting the dynamic nature of this unique installation.
Ready for an extraordinary adventure? Visit redwoodzoo.org to discover upcoming events, meet new animals including a young bear and spider monkeys, and experience the magic of Humboldt's redwoods from a whole new perspective.
About 100% Humboldt with Scott Hammond
Humboldt County CA USA is the home of some of the most iconoclastic, genuine, and interesting folks in the world.
We are getting curious about the movers, shakers, and difference makers in Humboldt County CA-Home of the giant redwoods, 6 Rivers, and the vast Pacific Ocean.
We will discover what makes people live/evolve in the beautiful, diverse, isolated, and ever-changing North Coast of California 100%!
Listen in and learn what it is to be 100% Humboldt!
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Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, it's Scott Hammond with 100% Humble Podcast with my new best friend, jim Spickler Campbell. How's it going Good? It's Campbell Spickler, campbell Spickler. Oh, now that's where AI screwed up, did it really? And then I did.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, campbell Spickler, I'm really concerned about what AI has to say about me actually, let's not get in a hurry, get in a hurry.
Speaker 1:That's my new section. I don't want to give that away, gotcha, gotcha. So we have the quiz portion. Okay, it's your background portion. We want your legacy portion at the end Legacy. But the AI section, well, it doesn't know your name, hmm, but hey, you'll tell us your story, jim. What's your story? What's my?
Speaker 2:story. Well, I came up to live in Humboldt in 94 to go to HSU. I guess I call it Cal Poly now. I'm going to have to get used to that. It's a big theme here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, got to get it right. Yeah, where'd you?
Speaker 2:come from Barstow, California.
Speaker 1:I know it well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, do you really A little bit Middle of the Mojave Desert Beautiful area.
Speaker 1:That's where I grew up. How far is Joshua Tree from there?
Speaker 2:It's about two and a half hours, so it's a little drive. Yeah, and I spent a lot of time growing up in Joshua Tree.
Speaker 1:Oh, I bet.
Speaker 2:Climbing rocks and stuff. Climbing rocks, that was my thing. That's cool Motorcycles and rocks Nice.
Speaker 1:And catching lizards and snakes and turtles and yeah. So, speaking of Cal Poly, when it was a no-grades hippy-dippy, get your units for free and you went to a three-week field trip to the desert southwest and outside of Barstow, it felt like Hotel California. There was this place, it was this commune compound and it was on the way from Death Valley to Barstow and you might know it. But if I had to envision Hotel California, Was it?
Speaker 2:Zyzex. It could have been. Zyzex can't spell it past Afton Canyon. Know that place well. What is it?
Speaker 1:Was it a retreat?
Speaker 2:or a hotel. It has a history. I don't know that history, but yeah, it's kind of what you described. There was some hippie era like stuff going on out there and I think there's still activity out there, but I'm not so tile work old hispanic everything.
Speaker 2:I bet, that was it I think that area is right on the edge of the what they call the devil's punch bowl. Yeah, so it's just this vast, expansive desert. Yeah, I love that area. Just it's cool. Something about the mojave desert just you get on these, you just get on those those roads out there and you look out and there's miles, you just see miles, 30 miles across the desert, nothing to obstruct your view and no light pollution, right.
Speaker 1:No light pollution. There's the show at night. Oh, I know what's going on. Well, take a look. Yeah, that's right. Oh, I love that. Yeah, we used to live Boy California's got a bunch of amazing places and hotter than you know what?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, cool.
Speaker 1:So tell us about your school and your experience there and what got you to Humboldt.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I grew up in the Mojave, Came there when I moved there with my parents when I was four years old, so pretty much I mean I spent my whole life there, Always wanted to be a wildlife biologist and Humboldt was the only school I wanted to go to. Of course I applied for a bunch of other schools, but when I got accepted it was a happy day and came up in 94 to start that wildlife degree and it was a different program back then. It was just, it was fun. So came up here and the crazy thing, in the first 45 days that I lived here I experienced more rain than I had in my entire life.
Speaker 1:It rains in Humboldt. Yeah, don't come here, it rains a lot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I had an adjustment period, but man, I just love it. This is my favorite place in the world. And I traveled quite a bit. Yeah, and I come back and I'm like you know what, I could just stay here and I don't need to travel anymore.
Speaker 1:What do you like about Humboldt? Why would you call it? Why would you consider it your best?
Speaker 2:I like well, first of all, the environment, the natural people, the open spaces, the forests, the wildlife. I like the people too. There's not too many of them. You know, our population is not really growing that fast. Have you noticed that it may be retracting? But yeah, well, yeah, I think county-wise it's retracting a little bit, it has. But what is Eureka Like 25K? It's not that big.
Speaker 1:It does this. It kind of just yeah, it does. I think there's a secret population moving in. A lot of folks just met a lady that we insure from San Diego. Her and her husband came up, lived in Cardiff and downtown and loved it and came up here and fell in love and up on Hunt's Drive and Arcata and McKinleyville and loves it. So I think it's a lot of secret seniors. Secret seniors, yeah, Advanced maturity people are taking over the area. There you go.
Speaker 2:I know. But what a great place to live in anywhere else. Just come up here and retire. I don't blame folks, but I say no, you don't want to. It's cold, it's wet. You don't want to come up here, yeah.
Speaker 1:No, yeah, actually it was like hallelujah drought time. It was so nice. You're absolutely right, january's were magic.
Speaker 2:Yeah, then the rain totals again picked back up for several years and then we had that next dry period. That was around 2016, 2015.
Speaker 1:So when I came up back in the 1800s it was actually 1978 from San Diego, which was really dry, humboldt rained like hell. It just was like one February. It rained one February, nick, the whole month. Oh, I know it actually had measurable rain every day of the month. Yeah, and it's like what did I pick here?
Speaker 2:I know we had a terrific rain year this year.
Speaker 1:This past season.
Speaker 2:Pretty well. Yeah, it was about what was it? 15% above average, and I know because last year it was 15% below average right around there.
Speaker 1:So yeah, what did you like?
Speaker 2:about Humboldt State. Well, I just love the programming. Yeah, I just love the people, a bunch of other folks into wildlife, the professors. It was at that time, you know, a little bit smaller and yeah, coursework was fun. Got to go and explore, just having courses. You know, even the forest behind the university was a great place to explore. Oh, that's great. Yeah, that's great Nice. We're still like oh, yeah, we want to hire them because we know HSU puts out great field scientists and that's what I wanted to be For years, for decades, right I?
Speaker 2:wanted to be a field scientist.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you remember the cabin they found last year up in the forest. Yes, somebody built a cabin in back of the Arcata Railroad Forest.
Speaker 2:It was like in a secret place. That was just right. Nobody yeah, nobody Right, yeah, nobody.
Speaker 1:Mystery cabin, and so Kevin from Hoover, the reporter, and Ray Olson went out and filmed the whole thing and it was very neat. It was not piles of crap or needles or anything like you'd find, and they put an abatement order. They didn't, and they came back a month later and it was swept clean. Yes, that's the weirdest part.
Speaker 2:I heard this story and you know there's old stumps, stumps from some logging event a long time ago that people have built little homes in, and some of these homes are great, Like little goose pens or whatever they're called Little goose pens but watertight tarps inside little shelves.
Speaker 2:And you know, I know students. At times they struggle with finding housing. Hey, it looked to me. I was like, wow, I could live in this. This is pretty good. I spent a lot of time up there climbing trees. You were really wet inside, right, it wasn't that bad. It was decent living. There were hobbits up there, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So where'd you go after Humboldt? Did you travel the world?
Speaker 2:Well, I've traveled the world with my work, but I actually stayed on after my wildlife degree and completed a master's in biology oh cool Really then concentrated on forest canopy ecology so started climbing a lot of big redwoods, did my master's research on a salamander called the wandering salamander. So I got to participate in a project that was a um first investigation of life history and ecology of an animal which you know a lot of scientists don't get to do this day and age an animal that's newly discovered in the top of the tree. This was your guy this was my guy?
Speaker 2:yeah, you know I'm in the trees. Is that where they live? Yeah, but you can find them on the ground. They're not uncommon, but they are the only salamander that you will find high in the canopy. How big are they? Oh, you know the size of your thumb A little bit longer with their tail. Yeah, five grams is a heavy, heavy one. That's a big one.
Speaker 2:It's a huge one, a plethlodon in salamander, so they're lungless, they don't need water to reproduce. The adults will climb into a place, find a crack or a crevice, they'll lay eggs and they'll guard those eggs until they hatch and the hatchlings are fully formed. So they are a salamander that does not have the need for water. But they are lungless, so they have to remain wet. But yeah, I was just figuring out that they were up there trying to get an estimation of the numbers, how they were living, what they were doing, but what we know about them, since my research is so much more and it's fascinating what's going on.
Speaker 1:So that means you're a climber.
Speaker 2:I'm a climber. Yeah, that's what I did in the desert when I was a kid. I was a rock climber. Yeah, that's what I did in the desert when I was a kid I was a rock climber. So transferable skill. Transferable skill, exactly. Yeah, no fear of heights. That's a big bonus when you're going to be climbing tall redwoods that commonly exceed 300 feet. So strawberry rock is nothing Forget it.
Speaker 1:I've been there before. Do that for breakfast? Yeah, wow, so have you climbed like is it cool? Do that for breakfast? Yeah, wow, so have you climbed like is it Hyperion?
Speaker 2:Is that the name of the tree? Yeah, been up, hyperion. I was part of the original research team that initially climbed to do the physical tape drop. It was discovered by a couple tree hunters it was Michael Taylor and Chris Atkins and they used, used I think they were using ground survey laser stuff. Wow, and so steve sillett and I where's it at located?
Speaker 2:it's uh well, ish, ish. Let's say east of orc, so it's redwood national park. Yeah, yeah, up the up the some some valley. Honestly it's, it's an amazing tree in that it's super tall, but compared to other trees in the area, it's. It's not anything that I would call spectacular.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:It's just a really tall tree, but the base isn't that big and it would you would you'd be hard to pick it out from other trees. How tall is it? Just remeasured, it is finally made over 380 feet Dang yeah. So it's a monster. How tall is it? So this is the monster tree.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so back in the day it took the big tree hunters going out scouring the woods using lasers and prisms to do these. You know somewhat accurate measurements on the top, but as time went by, started using LIDAR scan, and trees can't hide from LIDAR. What is LIDAR scan? Lidar, it's like a satellite or a plane. It's lasers that are shot to the ground and there's reflected, but they can build models of the topography. Oh, they're super accurate. Yeah, so if those data are processed in a certain way, you can compare the ground level, because the lasers will shoot and hit the ground, pick up ground and then they always hit the top of the tree. So now all the major remaining old forest have been scanned, so we can say with some certainty that Hyperion is the tallest currently.
Speaker 2:What's the accuracy A couple centimeters. Oh for LIDAR, probably not that accurate, but it helps you discover where the tall trees are. And then you go out and you ground truth, so you actually drop a tape from the roof Wow.
Speaker 2:So the longest tapes that Can it go straight down? I mean you've got to have branches, you can, but you put a weighted bag on it and you have to. It's a process, man. You've got to establish the average ground height, because if a tree is on a slope it's like, okay, well, where did that stem originate? So it's not at the highest part on the hill or the lowest part. You've got to find the average of the high ground, low ground. So for repeatability we will survey in that ground height and then we'll often put a tag on the tree so that when we go back we can use that. We'll know that that tag, let's say, is two meters above ground height. So when we go back and measure we can drop the tape and get it.
Speaker 1:Wow, yeah. So if you're just joining us, this is where I do kind of a professional break, yeah, and then I'll use my prop. Watch how I do this. Okay, if you're just joining us, it's my good friend, new best friend, jim Campbell-Spickler. Thanks, ai. And, by the way, hyperion's right over here near Redwood Park in California. It's a national park and it started in 19-something and I don't have any background on that, but that's okay, yeah.
Speaker 2:There's quite the history with the parks. I can say that there was an era where, when the area where Hyperion is located, that area was coming into park period, that they could cut to. So it was like, at the stroke of midnight, whatever's on the ground you get to take. So there was this mad push to cut as many trees as they could Cut, like crazy. They cut right up to Hyperion. Shit, I mean Crazy. If they'd had another half a day, hyperion would have been taken Gone. Yeah, man, so Hyperion is pretty close to a clear cut. It yeah, man, so Hyperion is pretty close to a clear cut.
Speaker 1:It's right up in Pillage man. Let's boom and bust. That's our story at Humboldt Weed trees I don't know what's next. Well, things grow up here. So they do grow, they do grow. We have some friends up at Redwood Valley that it's pretty fascinating as you go back way up into the valley. It's just amazing and lovely. It's just amazing and lovely, and that was a main thoroughfare back in the day. So where did you travel after you went to Humboldt? You said you traveled a lot around the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I was traveling with work, so I spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest, washington, parts of Canada, oregon, oregon. But then a little bit later on, a few years after I had started my environmental consultancy that really specialized in research that was rope based, I started doing more international work, not only scientific work, but also with film and television and specifically like natural history stuff, bbc, national Geographic. I took the rope skills that I had acquired over all those years of climbing and became a rigger and as a scientist also, I'd sometimes be on camera, but that wasn't my favorite part. I like to be behind a camera or rigging for the cameraman.
Speaker 1:Gotcha, so you'd rig it up and then they would go up.
Speaker 2:Yes, and quite often I would be the second or the assistant to the camera person, just making sure that they're able to do their work, do their art, and I'd make sure that they didn't mess up and fall. Don't fall, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I can't imagine that's got to be harrowing. Have you seen some falls? Have you fell?
Speaker 2:I've taken little falls here and there, but you know, any fall from height in these trees would be fatal. Sure, I do have a sad story of a contracted employee of mine, a contractor who was a climber working on a project. He took a pretty substantial fall 100 feet. He did survive but it impacted him, I'm sure it would. Yeah, it changed his life.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that would be hard to do. Yeah, so beyond that, you came back to Humboldt.
Speaker 2:I did. I never left. It was one of those things where I was very excited at that time to find a way to travel and see the world, and it was really nice to have somebody else paying for it too. Oh yeah, the world, and it was really nice to have somebody else paying for it too. And when you're working on research permits or you're working for the BBC or National Geographic, it's so cool because you get behind the scenes access. You get to go to places where others are not normally allowed. So it was very adventurous and I loved it. It was just so fun to just the energy of sitting in an airport and being all right. Where am I going now? It's Malaysia, it's Indonesia, it's Australia or South America, and I loved it until I really got tired of it.
Speaker 2:Travel's tough. Yeah, well, it was. Every time I came back I would just think you know really what an experience, what a life-changing thing. But I was like you know what? But this is still my favorite place and it just got harder and harder to leave. I don't know how to explain that. It says a lot actually, does it? Yeah?
Speaker 1:Yeah, my dad golfed Baywood. He goes, scott, there's no place like Baywood in the world to golf. Yeah, because I love coming up here. So the uniqueness of our area. So you were a rigger, so you'd go up and rig this stuff up and these cats would do their thing, yeah, and then so talk about access. Did you guys have killer food? Did you meet you know Henry Fonda?
Speaker 2:What kind of Killer food. No, we're talking camp food. It really depends, but you had access to places that were unique.
Speaker 1:Yeah, okay.
Speaker 2:I'm not a. I gotta admit, I'm just not a foodie. So I eat to survive and so I, you know I can of sardines or something I'd be great with. And often if we're especially, let's say, on a expedition to Malaysia or we're in Borneo somewhere, you'd have a camp and the people would cook for you, and it was, it was passable food, it was good God. Those are not the things I remember, Scott. I don't know why.
Speaker 1:I go to food, you go to. Hey, we had access to this magic place that no one ever gets to go to, and you go. Oh, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:No, for me it was taking the camera out and taking pictures of animals that I had never seen before, Never thought I'd ever get to see. I remember the first time I saw an orangutan in the wild. I was just blown away. I was like, wow, this is amazing.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's cool, yeah, yeah. So Joni hikes a lot now, especially everywhere, and she has two apps that she uses. One is for flowers, so she could become this flower freak. Yes, just like little. Come here and see this. I go, I'm looking, I don't see the flower. No, it's right, oh, that's a flower, that's a flower. She's finding all these freak show plants out at Millel Dunes and up in Hope Creek and all the places. But then she got this bird app. She goes look, we're at Patrick's Point last or Sumeg last Saturday. Look, this is a blah blah warbler and a other thing. And this do you hear that? And I go hear that one that sounds like a referee whistle and I go really that's a very thrush.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So you already know, See's a very thrush. Yeah See, Jody, good call.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I bet. Do you remember what it's called Merlin? It might be Audubon's Merlin. No, I love that app. The two apps that you were talking about are my go-to apps. Yeah, the plant one is amazing. Yeah, take a picture. Did you know that now that technology, that AI, whatever they're calling it now is actually embedded in an iPhone? Yeah, you take a picture. You can hit the info button and there it is. Yeah, oh it's fascinating.
Speaker 1:Yeah, mostly accurate. So let's talk eagles Well before we do that. So AI claims Okay.
Speaker 2:Oh, this is going to be fun.
Speaker 1:And you can just claim this. Okay, degrees in zoology, ornithology and forestry you have three degrees. No, oh, those are just specialties.
Speaker 2:No, where did AI come from? I don't have a degree, I don't have a degree. Okay, so wildlife it is a zoology degree.
Speaker 1:Wait, do you have a degree?
Speaker 2:Yes, A couple Wildlife and biology but I worked under Steve Sillett, who is in forestry, okay, but he just during my time as a grad student he actually went to forestry from biology. So after my graduate program I worked with Steve for like 25 years and for a time about 10 years I was a researcher in forestry. So maybe that's where the confusion is. Is Steve kind of a legend? I think I've heard his name. Oh, he's pretty legendary. Yeah, he's the guy that. He's Mr Redwood for sure. Yeah, amazing, amazing scientist, good guy. Who's our guy from?
Speaker 1:church that leads worship and he's a great guy and he teaches forestry and his wife owns Pivotal Connections. She's a PT on the Plaza in Arcata. I don't know them and your name is. Ah, I'll tell you in a minute. You'll probably know who he is A forestry professor. Yeah, great guy. Ah, I'll think of him in a minute. Okay, I think he's from Brazil. I think he's Portuguese.
Speaker 1:Oh, newer professor, then yeah, must have been, maybe after your time. Now that I think about it, we're in 2025 and yeah, so it's been a minute. It's been a minute.
Speaker 2:My, I can't believe it's been 20 years since I finished my master's degree. Wow, I just realized that. Wow, I'm getting old.
Speaker 1:Join the club of advanced maturity. There you go, so you. So you're the director of the zoo. Now I am Sequoia Zoo. Is that what it's referred?
Speaker 2:to Sequoia Park.
Speaker 1:Zoo. Okay, but before that and maybe concurrent, you did the Eagle Eagle Project stuff. Want to talk about that? Tell that story.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm also still the chief biologist for a consultancy called Ecoascension, which used to be an LLC but it's basically a DBA now. So under wearing that hat, I still do a lot of contract work with Bald Eagle, with all different hawks and eagles, the big birds, the big birds, yeah. So, yeah, I still do that. That's something I've been doing for 25 years now and each year in the spring I'm still going out accessing nest, working up chicks. We take the young eaglets down, usually when they're six to eight weeks old. We take feather samples. We put sometimes spetagial tags, so that's the big tags on the wings, but often we'll put on the, the bands on the legs, collect blood samples, um, measure up, get them ready, put right back in the nest. So we're collecting data before mom or dad comes back.
Speaker 2:Yeah, eagles are pretty easy. Some of the other birds uh, falcons and hawks, not, not so much. They'll come at you, they'll come at you, yeah, especially peregrine. They're pretty feisty, pretty feisty. Oh yeah, I've been tagged by peregrine quite a bit. Just like, well, they come and just bite it, peregrine. Well, they'll stoop you so they'll dive and they'll hit you. Wow, so they don't come in with their talons flaring, they knuckle and they punch.
Speaker 1:So they just come like an airplane.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they try to get you when you're not looking.
Speaker 1:Well, that's the whole thing.
Speaker 2:They're going to hit you in the back of the head or right in the ear, oh, or sometimes their iris. Their nests are in cliffs and they're set back in. So I'll have to belly crawl into a hole and my foot sticking out and they will punish my feet. Oh yeah, it's a hammer, just a hammer. They're a hammer, but you know it's better than getting getting raked with a helix claw, and that's what a red tail hawk will do they're more, just rake.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they try to get you. Bald eagles tend to not come in aggressively like that, but there are some nests that we've accessed on the Channel Islands where the adults are aggressive and they drag and helix too and try to get you. So that's stitches maybe Sometimes more puncture wounds, yeah, and probably hurts, like you know what. Yeah, you just just part of the game, man. You're bleeding, you're covered in bird poop and feather lice. It's just one of the yeah Part of my job, yeah, one of the joys of being a field scientist.
Speaker 1:That's so nerded up. I love it.
Speaker 2:It's like yeah, this is what we do we get pooped on.
Speaker 1:No, it's awesome.
Speaker 2:I mean sometimes there's a couple species you got to really watch out for. Common raven are one of them. So if I'm going into a raven nest, sometimes you'll see the little chicks looking down at you. They'll see you climbing up and then you'll see their little heads pull back. You're like, oh no. Then you see their little butts come over and they just Really oh, yeah, they go for it.
Speaker 2:Take a dump. Yeah, I've peeked my head into a nest and just square in the face, mouth open, like, oh, that didn't Gross, that tastes as bad as it smells. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Don't do this kids. Yeah, yeah, and they're pretty smart birds, right yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, ravens for sure. I mean, they're all clever birds for sure.
Speaker 1:They communicate, don't they? Well, I think so. I think they read my AI in my email, Did they? Really? They're pretty smart. Up in McKinleyville we got some smart ravens man.
Speaker 2:Well, I've seen. I did quite a bit of work in the mid nineties, early nineties with raven in the Mojave desert. I was working on a desert tortoise project. Some of my first climbing for wildlife was climbing into nest ravens, climbing on power poles, doing things I should not have done In the desert. In the desert, yeah, I was a tortoise biologist initially, but there was a component of the research that was looking at a raven interaction with tortoise, because they figured out that raven like to eat little baby tortoise, to the point where there are no little baby tortoise that are coming up because they're all getting eaten. Wow, so raven studies.
Speaker 2:After that I was an access person and and uh, yeah, I've seen them do things that just blow your mind. Um, go to a dump site. This is back when they did not cover dumps, so the ravens would congregate there, but they needed water. Get three of them together and they would just just tag team, peck at at the handle and turn on the water Nice, so they can get a drink. That's pretty good, yeah, and we all know how they can get into a trash, can? They can open lids. It's crazy. They are crazy smart.
Speaker 1:The other yeah, I was thinking of the bear up at Tahoe a few weeks ago. He just shredded the trash, oh, he just shredded the trash, oh yeah. Or gotten my brother-in-law's van, he just shredded the upholstery. Just because, yeah, just because Because they're like rodents, they're everywhere. Yes, in fact, joni saw it when hiking up on DL Williams up whatever creek it was, I don't know. So you're a zoo guy. Tell us about that adventure.
Speaker 2:A zoo guy. Yeah, never thought I'd be a zoo guy.
Speaker 1:Before we do that, you put cameras in. So Joni reminds me that the camera that was on the Eagle's Nest, maybe over at Indianola yeah, that was kind of famous a few years ago, the original Humboldt Bay Eagles camera.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was one that I installed. Did you know that we have another one that we just put up this year? I think I heard rumor. Yeah, so that one is in a different location, same territory for the Eagles. Okay, it's been over 10 years ago that we had the Humboldt Bay Eagle camera.
Speaker 1:Been a while, right yeah.
Speaker 2:So we know it's a new pair. We put this camera up at Faisaloo. Do you know where Faisaloo is? You know where the? Is it McRae, the car dealership that's over by Chef Store?
Speaker 1:Mid -City, mid-city, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's the one that's in between Eureka Arcata right.
Speaker 1:Mid-City and Harper Motors.
Speaker 2:Right, so there is a nest. That's there. We put a camera on it oh cool. And we watched a oh, that's cool. Yeah, that one's very, very popular At any time. They'll have 60,000 people watching it. That's pretty cool. Yeah, and those chicks just fledged.
Speaker 1:Which means for those of us that don't know what that is, they came of age and they left the nest.
Speaker 2:The parents have an empty nest.
Speaker 1:Please, children out there continue to fledge.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but they do it like 11 weeks, not 19 or 32, sometimes whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have a son fledging on Saturday Nice, pretty excited for him. Yeah, yep, where's he going? Mckinleyville to another home, nice. So Fred's had a setup and see you later. Have a good one, it's been fun. I was going to say, I was going to tell you it's been a fun 24 years, yeah.
Speaker 2:But not all fun. That's how it goes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I cracked the joke today that parenting is a lifetime sentence. And my friend goes that's not very nice.
Speaker 2:Well, it's funny you say that because the eagle adults, when these chicks get to that age where they're just about to leave the nest, the adults have to pretty much stay away from the area where the young are, because the young are so demanding, they're hungry and they want to be fed, so they're mobbing the adults. Adults are just like you know what. I'm going to sit out here on this branch. Got that feeling, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:We're going to go to Blue Lake tonight, kids. Yep, good luck on that dinner. That's right, you're a grown man, go for it. You can cook something. Yeah, that's good. So Sequoia Park Zoo yeah, what a great thing.
Speaker 2:Man Arklay's A few years ago, yeah, well, it was in 2004 when they put a substantial amount of money in to build that main pavilion, and that was really second step on a major evolution to the zoo, for sure.
Speaker 1:And there's not that many zoos in the I was going to say in the state. How many city zoos are there? There can't be a whole lot right.
Speaker 2:City zoos boy, I don't even know ownership of the other big zoos, but we are one of the smallest accredited zoos. So our Sequoia Park Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and this is the same accrediting body that all the big zoos that you know and love are accredited by, like San Diego.
Speaker 1:Sacramento.
Speaker 2:Portland. So we're a little fish in a bigger pond. For sure. There's the closest zoo to us, like six hours probably, wow, san.
Speaker 1:Francisco, then Portland, sacramento has a zoo. Yeah Well, folsom has a little zoo. I think it's not accredited, is it? I don't think it would be. It's got weird wildlife stuff, yeah but we're so.
Speaker 2:I mean, think about having an accredited zoo in the city of Eureka, I mean surrounding area, maybe add it all up 75,000 people, but we have this amazing, just beautiful little gym wow.
Speaker 1:so how long have you been on at your post? Um Going on four years, and what do you do?
Speaker 2:I am the director, so I mean you know every day like it's the everyday task of managing a zoo. It's managing staff, making sure animal care is top shelf. Donations yeah, donations too. I'm also the chair for our zoo advisory group, gotcha Jeff Lamerie.
Speaker 1:Yeah, hey, what's up, jeff?
Speaker 2:Yeah, he was a former president to our former foundation, our former partners. Yeah, is there still a foundation? Yes, so we are working now with the Humboldt Area Foundation.
Speaker 1:Oh great.
Speaker 2:They are our fiscal partner.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's great.
Speaker 2:So they hold all of our funds. We have nine funds and we advise spending through our advisory group at the zoo.
Speaker 1:That's really cool to be in association with those guys yeah they're amazing.
Speaker 2:They have a lot of skill and money they do a lot of expertise and um it's. It's a really good situation for us. It's about a. We're going on roughly a year now under this new relationship and it's going really well it's really cool yeah yeah, and the zoo is gosh.
Speaker 2:It's evolving. The three years I've you know three, three and a half, four years I've been there. It's just amazing the changes we're seeing and just how the community is supporting us. And it's an exciting time to be a director. I mean, I feel blessed to pinch myself every day as I go to work.
Speaker 1:It's really amazing because I imagine zoos as a whole are not like prospering, growing and hitting records, but it seems like this was Skywalk and everything. The Skywalk was the game changer. Ah, tell us about Skywalk.
Speaker 2:It's right over here, skywalk, yes.
Speaker 1:It's here in Eureka.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so our little zoo was popular in our community, but I wouldn't say it was an international destination. Before the Skywalk, you know, we'd get on average like 40,000 people would come and visit us annually, mostly local. Okay, yeah, that number's up to 180. Get out of here. No-transcript. Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so are they pretty limbed in terms of safety? I imagine Am I asking the right question?
Speaker 2:No, you're absolutely asking the right question, you set up all the rigging for those trees.
Speaker 2:probably Did you personally oversee a bunch of that I did, and so I would say a lot of those. They are in a natural condition but they are inspected daily. So when hazards are are identified, they are are taken care of. Gotcha, but we didn't go up there and do a lot of preemptive branch removal things that we thought might be right, um, dangerous. Instead, what we do is a technique called boot pruning, so you go and you just kick the crap out of stuff that you think might fall, and that was before we even put the platforms up.
Speaker 2:But I commonly will fly a drone and do inspections, especially after big wind events. But really every morning before we open, there's a visual inspection. It takes about on a good day you're doing it fast 20 minutes if you feel the need to be very, very thorough, can take over an hour just to inspect. Yeah, and we do this for the safety of the people that are joining us and just enjoying this. But at the end of the day, same thing walk through, look up, make sure there's no vandalism that's a thing we have to deal with graffiti and just check in the structure. The skywalk is amazingly durable.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it looks like it's below in my mind actually Every time we go up it's just fun and it's longer and bigger and funner than I thought I know and it moves a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's always dynamic. Have you been up there during the winds? Not yet? Okay, just bit. Yeah, it's which is dynamic. Have you been up there during the winds? Not yet? Okay, just go up there, look at your forecast. Like, look for a day where it's 30 miles an hour. Go at a time when we put it under what's called a weather watch. Okay, so weather watch is conditions that are kind of a little bit sketchy. We may need to close it if the forecast is, if it's a little. Yeah, it's a little bit more windy than we thought, but you get up there and you'll really like feel just how dynamic the thing is. It is arcing. Yeah, there are a couple trees that are platform trees that the tops will arc like a three meter radius, whoa. So they're just whipping around, they're whipping how many skywalks are there?
Speaker 1:I?
Speaker 2:In the world.
Speaker 1:I mean there must be several, but is there any infamous ones that are?
Speaker 2:Boy. That's a great question. We do have another, somewhat local one, that's up in Del Norte County. It's at Trees and Mystery Sure and I recommend people check that one out. Of course I'm partial to ours. Ours is ADA accessible Right, which is amazing. Yeah, there's more of a Swiss family Robinson feel. They're not comparable experiences, but they're both really fun. So I definitely say, go check it out.
Speaker 1:Other parts of the world, nothing is tall 100 feet off the ground it's pretty tall, so this is iconic it's standalone the ground it's pretty tall, so this is iconic. It's standalone in many ways. I think so.
Speaker 2:And to say it is an international destination is true. We have roughly a third of the people who visit us each year are from outside the area, and I don't recall the exact percentage of those folks that are international, but it's at least 10%.
Speaker 1:Love it. Who'd have thunk it, you know?
Speaker 2:just a great, great idea. It was a dream of gretchen ziegler, the former director. Okay, and uh, yeah, I talked to her about it in like 2016. I know that name, gretchen ziegler. Yeah, she was the former director. Who's she married to? She, uh, not married, not married. She was married to oh gosh, I can't remember his name, Nice guy, but yeah no longer married.
Speaker 1:Yeah, no, it's iconic and fun. And then you do all the Star Wars stuff. Luke, I am, your father, I am your father.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the Forest Fest, that's one of our new events. It's a pretty big deal right. Yeah, like three years now, but still people like Star Wars. That's cool. I love it yeah there is a group that comes out and it is. Our. Events are always fun, there's always a good energy, but there is an energy at a Star Wars event where these people just they take themselves very seriously, but then not really yeah, they're there to have fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you ever been to a Trekker convention? I have not Super nerdy man so much fun. Yeah, no, I have friends that have been that and you know I just I'm so resisting right now saying you know, jim, I am your father. I'll try not to say that. So, yeah, I really like that. And you've had some actors from Star Wars, some of the Ewok folks, kevin Thompson, so he was Nice guy right, yeah, original he was the Ewok.
Speaker 2:I think he played 20 roles in Return of the Jedi, super nice guy. I had a magical like 15 minute conversation with him about some of the rigging Wow, with him about some of the rigging that he was involved in and some of the stunt work that he did. And he was telling me how they were swinging him on this rope and I said, you know, that was really well done and that was a while ago, he's like, and he told me how they did it and I was like, oh, that's amazing, was that up at Smith River?
Speaker 1:where they did the Ewok Village. Well, probably some of it was stage stuff, but you know you had Cassandra on.
Speaker 2:She'll know, hasseltine, yeah, she would know, and I think that the Grove where that all happened was one that was slated to be clear cut right after that. Interesting, but Cheatham Grove is where they did the speeder bike stuff, right. Yeah, and I two years ago I shot a BBC thing in there.
Speaker 1:It was fun there it was fun.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was neat like doing drone. I was a drone cinematographer so I was flying through there. I'm like boy, this is an iconic place. Is that Jed Smith? No, it's down south. Oh it's south.
Speaker 1:Yeah, cheatham Grove, like Humboldt, redwoods or I don't know In that area, in that area? Yeah, I figured it all Smith River.
Speaker 2:I think it's boy I could be wrong on this Like sort of out on the 36th, just very early on on the 36th. I could be wrong on that, but it's in that area.
Speaker 1:So you do this again on May the 4th. Be with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we don't Next year we don't do the event on May the 4th because and as Cassandra explained, it's like, well then, we'd get none of the costumers here, so we pick a date later that's positioned perfectly like before the holiday. Yeah, gives them another chance to show up. Yeah, costume, yeah, and they really, the costumers, really love it.
Speaker 2:Oh, the Boba Fett guy is great oh yeah, and they get to be on the skywalk and so after the event we do a little after hours, a little party for them spend 45 minutes up on the skywalk as the movie's playing in the park, that's pretty cool and they just are up there and they just love it, just digging it.
Speaker 2:Oh, just digging it. Yeah, in their element, totally in their element. I like my favorite. I don't recall the gentleman's name, but he's the Wookiee and he's the Darth Vader guy. He is this very tall man and um, and then when he puts on the Wookiee costume, I think he puts on six inch heels.
Speaker 1:Wow, such a nicest guy, though, but the guy that actually played it in the movie. No, oh, this is a local that.
Speaker 2:So my understanding is these these costumers are. They are not hired by Lucas, but they are somehow their. Their activities are sanctioned by Lucas because they're part of an official club, so they operate under very strict intellectual property rules, but he is one of the guys that's permitted to do this, to be this character. Is he a?
Speaker 1:local resident. No, no, no, but he goes on tour. Yeah, oh, that's pretty cool yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they're part of. I can't remember the name.
Speaker 1:Does he make wookie sounds? Do the whole?
Speaker 2:Oh yeah yeah, he's good at it too. Yeah, he's going to do that. It's very light wookie.
Speaker 1:Yeah that, nick, I love it man. So, yeah, way to take the zoo to the next level. Thank you, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, We've got so many cool things going on. Like, yeah, I came to you a little bit dirty today because I was you know, yeah, a project manager and playing with new goats. And yeah, up in trees and stuff.
Speaker 1:So, if you're just joining us, it's my new friend, jim Campbell-Spickler, and he's the director of the zoo and he does a thousand things. Hey, for the portion of the show, lucky for you, I brought my cowbell, all right? Well, it's a hotel cowbell and this is the part where you can actually win a fabulous prize. And today, oh yes, probably a tree climber likes coffee, right? Oh, I love coffee. A little bit of Dutch Bros. Don't get carried away. You haven't won it yet. Okay, well, I'm going to win. You got to earn this, man, I'm a competitor. All right, all right. Question number one, jim, for 10 points where do you go for a hike? And you can stay in Humboldt County. It's a day hike, it's a day hike, it's within four hours, give or take. And where would you go? What would you do and who would you go with?
Speaker 2:Where do I go, or where would I recommend somebody to go? Let's do both, okay, where do I go? I go into the Redwood Experimental Forest. Ah, it is a grove that is not accessible to the public in general, but it happens to be my backyard. Ah, I have a small ranch up in Klamath. That's my paradise Up the river somewhere. Yeah, it's Redwood Drive, that area, so by Hunter Creek, that area.
Speaker 1:Oh, wow, yeah, so that's my favorite place to go. You commute every day.
Speaker 2:No, no, we also have a house in McKinleyville, but this is a property that my wife and I bought 10 years ago. It's a retirement property. Wow, I just got it a little early because I couldn't help myself. I love it that much. It's that nice. It's that nice. Yeah, it's a place where I see myself retiring. Wow, I got another good 10 years left. How many acres do you have? It's about eight Cool, have. It's about eight cool. And it's right in the corner, adjacent to old growth, the whole eastern boundary is a creek.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's neat. Yeah, I can hike, hike away, hike away. Don't see a soul up there. What do you recommend we go?
Speaker 2:hiking, oh, and you can't go to your house. I like, I like prairie creek, james irvine trail, which is the trail that will take you down to, uh, fern canyon that's a great forest, but really any of those trails and that area, just to start out at the meadow and start walking. Wow, yeah, love that area.
Speaker 1:I lived up here and worked at Cox Cable when the gentleman and his wife were attacked by the mountain lion. Oh, I remember that. On Discovery Channel, oh my gosh, mr Ham H-A-M-M. Wow, they interviewed him and it was heroic. It was, he was, she was the, she was the one that battled the cat.
Speaker 2:She was a badass yeah.
Speaker 1:She grabbed a pen and stabbed the cat.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And they were a mess when they got to the Davison Road.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I heard he was pretty malt, right.
Speaker 1:Oh, I met him at Starbucks a year later and he'd been all over and his forehead was really peeled back. It was quite scarred all the way, kind of like a Darth Vader, you know damage. But he was what a sweetheart. And you know my wife, she saved me man, and it was just an amazing cool story. I kind of won off. It was a hungry cat, a youth and anyway.
Speaker 2:So I've had a youth and anyway, so I've had a couple scary cat experiences too, especially up where you would be right. Well, I was up in Washington on the Olympic Peninsula. Oh wow, a cat wouldn't come at me and it was toe to toe from me to you that distance Like a cougar. Oh yeah, young guy, wow, middle of the night was going up the Ho Rain Valley on the Olympic Peninsula, going to climb Mount Olympus.
Speaker 1:Hiking in the middle of the night?
Speaker 2:Well, because we wanted to get to the Blue Glacier and do the ascent when the ice was still set up, because we're crossing the glacier oh, I see you want to make sure that it's cold. That's pretty rad, yeah Well, walking down the trail and I look over with a headlamp on to see eyes and my buddy's behind me, whoa, and I stop and I turn, square my shoulders to the cat and he comes straight at me and gets from me to you and pounces on my buddy. He walks up hey, what's going on? And I said big cat. And then I walked behind him and he saw the cat and he goes. Oh, I see how it is, but he had his guide ax on the back of his backpack, oh good. So I pulled off the ice ax and I said walk down the trail and went back to back with him. And I just had that ax up and that cat just watched me the whole way and really for me to you, it was bizarre.
Speaker 1:Pretty weird. Yeah, yeah, nature gets real. It does get real. It's about as real as it gets. Question number two Okay, for all the beans. So this is not a sardine meal. This is wherever you want to go with your better half. Where would you go to dinner? I'm writing a check. Oh, out to dinner. I love Tomo's. Tomo's good Arcata. Yeah, I guess there's just one now, right, I think so. I think she had. Actually she had Fukiko had three at one time, did she? Yeah, yeah, the one in whatever it is now Hana or whatever, coming into Eureka was.
Speaker 2:What's your favorite restaurant?
Speaker 1:Well, it's 44 years tomorrow for Joni and I, yeah, and we'll be dining with Paul up at Larapin. Larapin, yeah, with our friends Peter and Sarah Starr. Hi, peter and Sarah, I'd have to say favorite. I mean it's kind of iconic. There's never a bad meal there but there's a lot of good food if you'll look for it. Absolutely, yeah, you know Las Bagels does a good job. You know, ramones, I mean I just saw Barrett today and they have iconic coffee and two doors down Brick and Fire, brick and Fire.
Speaker 2:Pretty darn good. That's a good one. Have you had sushi on the rooftop yet? That place?
Speaker 1:I did Funny story. I was walking and I called in and they said, yeah, it was like their gala night. And I came to the door and they go, is your name on the list? I go, it's Hammond, Look, I think so he goes. It's not here. I go. What are you? And I didn't throw a fit, I wasn't.
Speaker 2:I go, really he.
Speaker 1:I go, what are you? And I didn't throw a fit, I wasn't acting, I go, really, he goes, just go. And so we got to go up there and yeah, it's pretty tasty, yeah, I like it, yeah, and the view is to die for.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's a great view up there. If you're going to go outside, always have a jacket.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, that's the rule of Humboldt degrees. Yeah, okay, question number three yeah, um, what would you do, uh, with an entire day off? Um, money's not a consideration. You got 9 am to 9 pm, you do your thing. What. What would you do?
Speaker 2:and I guess I have to make it have context in humboldt yes, um, yes, I would probably maybe go surfing or not doing as much rock climbing these days, but I really like doing yard work and that's kind of one of the things. That's my therapy. I'm feeling stressed. I just love working in the yard, just making it pretty. I love my plants. Although I'm a wildlife biologist, I really do appreciate botany. So I don't know, that's. My happy place is working up on my eight acres in Klamath or in McKinleyville.
Speaker 1:What do you grow? In both I mean McKinleyville I always think it's kind of limited, but we're in Dowsbury so Johnny grows stuff. It comes out out.
Speaker 2:tomatoes don't usually make no, no tomatoes. Yeah, we have a special place in our front yard that's um adjacent to these white south facing walls that we can do peppers, oh cool. So that's the thing we're doing this year. My wife really loves edible landscapes so we have a bunch of different um, weird berries, gummies, I think. We have eight different blueberries and we just get a great harvest on our blueberries. Up in Klamath we have a nice garden. She has had, I think, 40 fruit trees. I think the elk have knocked those down to 30. We've never had elk problems up there, but this last year for some reason they just came down, it seems like they're everywhere, yeah, but in our little valley we just hadn't had problems.
Speaker 2:We were yet to get our fence up but there's three young bucks that are coming through and they just racked the trees. I had a. Really there's a couple fruit trees. I like loquats had three of them, one. I really there's a couple fruit trees. I like loquats had three of them, one.
Speaker 1:I had grown in a pot for 20 years and they killed it. This is had, past tense had.
Speaker 2:I had a loquat. It's this the variety was Big Jim. It was a beautiful loquat. They killed it. Wow, it's gone, gone. Oh, those elk. Yeah, those elk are tasty. I'm just saying.
Speaker 1:So your day would at least start with gardening.
Speaker 2:I think so, or would it be all gardening? Yeah, it starts with coffee. Does your day start with coffee?
Speaker 1:Usually does, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so definitely going to start with coffees. Maybe on the weekends I might even have a little bit of Bailey's in that coffee.
Speaker 1:Oh, that's right, there you go A little bit yeah. Yeah, it tastes good.
Speaker 2:Bailey's is delicious. Maybe take my dog for a walk, my wonderful dog, sarah. What kind of dog you got. She's a dachshund. Ah cool, yeah, spirited little monster, smart.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we have a Welsh Corgi. Yeah, cardigan Corgi with a big tail Ooh, I love it. Corgis are cool. 15 years old. Yeah, I could stand right behind that. Look at, she can't hear a darn thing. You know we Deaf is a bag of nails.
Speaker 2:Just last week we lost our. We had another doxy. She was going on 17. Just lost her. That's pretty old. Yeah, what, like you said, couldn't hear a thing. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Lost her hearing. Yeah, good dog Raised our family. Yeah, better job than me Just kidding Love. No, she's part of the dog. Yeah, part of the family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, anything else in that day off that you want to? Well, I try not to work, but I always seem to find a way to get on the phone. Even some days on my days off, I like to go by the zoo and just be a visitor. Nice, still love that place. That's really cool. See, that's a good job, a job where you Just want to show up, yeah, when you're. It's not a. It's not a a hardship to get up and make it there every day. Every day is just so fun. Staff is so amazing there and our, our animal family is just I don't know, I like it.
Speaker 2:There's just a good energy there. It's cool man, yeah, so I. But yeah, I haven't been surfing as much I bring it up. I was like man, this is the time of year, I'd like to go surf. I might do that.
Speaker 1:There's a little surf out there.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you used to surf in San Diego. Yeah, oh, the quote find a job you love and you'll never have to wait another day. Love it. Yeah, where do you surf?
Speaker 2:Well, one of my favorite breaks is actually up in Klamath, just north of Trees of Mystery. It's False Klamath they call it, or Wilson Creek. You have to go over the hill to get there. No, oh, it's right at the bottom of the hill.
Speaker 1:Oh, where the pond is. Yeah, right there.
Speaker 2:It doesn't always work, but when it does there's hardly anybody. That's ever there and it's a really fun little pseudo-point, little beach break, little sandbar, Love that spot or anywhere. Moonstone, Fifth Ave, those places yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, our date night has become a scenic drive. Yeah, I love that we break up the van and the goodies and just watch people surf. And one day there was a guy with a. He was a paraglider or whatever that is. Yeah, he ran and he jumped off a perfectly good cliff and would float down to camel.
Speaker 2:Right off there.
Speaker 1:He jumped off there and then go back up the steps and he did like four times. I'm going, I'm filming this guy, this guy's crazy, totally crazy. But he would get this long run and just like go for it and it's like, oh you know, he's going to die.
Speaker 2:And he didn't die.
Speaker 1:That's good. Yeah, that was good. We're glad that he didn't die, by the way. Well, hey, great having you. Yeah, thanks for having me. Oh, let's get a hold of you and sponsor and pay money and donate. How do we get a hold of y'all and make sure that if we want to participate joyfully with our resources, we could do that with the zoo or Check out our brand new website.
Speaker 2:So we are the Sequoia Park Zoo, but our web address is redwoodzooorg. Oh good one. Yeah, it's a little bit easier to spell than Sequoia. It turns out that that matters so check out our new website.
Speaker 2:You can sign up for our newsletter. We've also got a donate tab on there and you can see the different funds that we have at the Humboldt Area Foundation. You can give directly through that portal. Love it and come by and visit. That'd be the big thing. Yeah, just come by and check it out. Yeah. Yeah, we got a couple cool things coming up. We're just finishing the remodel on our red panda habitat, right, right about that, yeah. And you may have heard about our new bear, yisheng. She's very popular right now. A little secret I'll tell you is we have another bear. Oh sweet, but he's a little one-year-old. He's about 16 months now.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:He's a little blonde bear. He's handsome, but he's brand new. We just got two new goats so we can go see those guys tomorrow yeah, not tomorrow. Some of the animals I'm telling you about are very new additions to our family. We also now have six spider monkeys Cool, so we've welcomed back Sprite. We also now have six spider monkeys Cool, so we've welcomed back Sprite, who is the daughter to our old gal monkey. Her name is Candy Wow, she, I think, is 57 now Crazy. And her 30-year-old daughter returns to us Wow, from another zoo, so she's made her way back here. But it's just a fun time at the zoo right now and we've got a lot of other projects that are coming up and we're just we're stoked. It's a fun time.
Speaker 1:It sounds like it is time. Hey, all right, winter, winter chicken dinner Right on or right on.
Speaker 2:So we didn't get to play our AI game. Maybe that was well, yeah that was enough.
Speaker 1:I think I just flunked on that today.
Speaker 2:So thanks for being here. Yeah, well, thanks for having me. We've been trying to do this a while. Yeah, thanks for being had.
Speaker 1:So, hey, if you're wanting to donate to our cause, you can do that now. We have a little button on our Buzzsprout site and if you want to review or say something nice, you're welcome to. We put everybody in the hat for a drawing. So I want to thank Dick Taylor, Chocolates and, of course, Dutch Bros and my main man, Nick Growing Pains. He's amazing and if you want to join us next time, we'd love that. Scott Hammond, 100% Humboldt Make it a great day.
