Updates

See below for updates on our various projects.

Harvest Windows

August 2026: Jude presented their work during the Cal Academy SSI Final Symposium with a talk entitled: Now, Then, and Again: Phenological Analysis of Cultural Keystone Species Nicotiana attenuata and Corylus cornuta. He did a great job explaining the intricacies of phenology and showing the amazing connections between plants and people! Congratulations Jude! Stay tuned to see Jude's work appearing as part of a phenology craft co-created with the education department for use on the academy's public floor.

Shannon, Sarah, Jude, Mindy, Shelly, and Becky attended the Shannon attended the California Indian Basket Weevers Association's annual gathering at Graton Rancheria (June 2026).

From left to right: Shannon, Shelly, Mindy, Jude, Becky and Sarah at CIBA.

Shannon attended the Society for American Archaeology meeting in San Francisco and presented as part of an invited session on Contemporary Issues in California Archaeology (May 2026). The talk was entitled: "Illuminating Biocultural Legacies: A Braided Approach to Cultural Nice Construction in Contemporary California Archaeology"

Tule Project

August 2026:

The Tule Boat was featured in a Phenomena blog post, "Recent Research from A(nthropology) to Z(oology)". Click here to read the post.
Mindy presented their work during the Cal Academy SSI Final Symposium with a talk entitled: Tule Through Time: Exploring the Intersection of Ecology and Culture Through Two Tule Species. She did an amazing job introducing everyone to the complexity of tule, and the status and issues surrounding tule in San Francisco and beyond. Congratulations Mindy! Stay tuned to see a tule infographic designed by Mindy in collaboration with the team, Gregg, and Sara (ARO).

June-July: The team used herbarium and community records to guide tule surveys in San Francisco. While on surveys our goals where to:

Confirm the presence of tule and confirm/identify the species (round stem vs triangular stem)
Conduct a visual habitat assessment
Work together to build questions relevant to tule ecology and gathering. For example: water quality and access.

From left to right: Becky, Molly, Sarah, Gregg, Shannon, Mindy and Jude conduct tule surveys across San Francsico.

Triangular tule (Schoenoplectus californicus) was commonly found at our survey locations.

The historic 2019 tule boat will be on display on at the Cal Academy until the end of July! Come visit to see the boat!

On June 18th we hosted a "Tule Boat Public Welcoming & Stewardship Celebration" at CAS. At the event we formally celbrated the ground breaking donation of an Ohlone/Bay Miwok tule boat from NaCRI and honored the ongoing partnership between NaCRI, ARO and CAS. The event featured remarks from Gregg, Bev, Laurie, Shannon and other staff at CAS who have helped to display the boat at Cal Academy.

Shannon presenting at the event.

Archaeobotany

Lucy Katzman-Tranah received the Society for California Archaeology's Shannon Mahoney Memorial Scholarship (March 2026), congratulations Lucy!