​

Growing up in the East Bay as the son of an astrophysicist and a psychologist, Obi Kaufmann spent most of high school practicing calculus and breaking away in the evenings to scramble around Mount Diablo and map its creeks, oak forests, and sage mazes. Into adulthood, he would continue to regularly journey into the mountains, spending more summer nights without a roof than under one. For poet, painter and naturalist Obi Kaufmann, California is a magic network of living systems that connect in a grand, quilted array of ecology and beauty that holds enough science, mythology and language for a hundred field atlases to come.

 In Kaufmann’s first book, the lavishly illustrated, 550-page California Field Atlas , readers are taken off the beaten path and outside normal conceptions of California. Myriad ecologies, topographies, and histories are revealed along with hundreds of exquisite hand-painted maps and trail paintings. Obi Kaufmann blends science and art to illuminate the multifaceted array of the natural world, forming a uniquely elemental narrative based on the shaping forces of earth, air, fire, and water, connecting systems like no other book has done before.

 For his second book, The State of Water, Understanding California’s Most Precious Resource, Kaufmann turns his artful yet analytical attention to the Golden State’s single most complex and controversial resource: water. Full-color maps unravel the braided knot of California’s water infrastructure and ecosystems, exposing a history of unlimited growth in spite of natural resources — a history that has led to its current precarious circumstances.

 An avid conservationist, Obi Kaufmann regularly travels around the state, presenting his work and vision of ecological restoration and preservation. A life-long resident of California, Obi Kaufmann makes his home base in Oakland and is currently working on Field Atlases to come.

Jason Caldwell is a world record holding athlete, a professional adventurer, and founder of Latitude 35 leadership, an organization that engages in leadership development for the world’s top business schools and private organizations.

​Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Jason was introduced to the sport of rowing while attending Sonoma State University. His success in rowing at the collegiate level earned him an invitation to row for Vesper Boat Club’s prestigious Elite team in Philadelphia, upon graduation. During his three years at Vesper, Jason won two gold medals, one silver, and one bronze at US Nationals, amongst others. At Moonlight on the Mountain, he will be discussing the critical link between public health and public lands.

World Record 2017 - Fastest four-person team to ever row across the Atlantic Ocean 35 days, 14 hours, 3 min (Induction into the 2018 Guinness Book of World Records)

Dawn Lezak has been teaching in the Moraga School District since 1991. She earned her B.A. at Mills College in Economics and German Studies, her Teaching Credential and Masters in Teacher Leadership at Saint Mary's College. She began her career teaching elementary school at Rheem, then moved to Joaquin Moraga to teach 6th grade Core and 6th grade Science. She currently is teaching 6th grade Science and the EARTH class. Her hobbies include gardening, hiking, swimming, skiing, traveling, and most of all learning from each day.

Dawn has worked with Save Mount Diablo for the last three years on our successful Conservation Collaboration Agreement Program and will be speaking about the critical link between public education and public lands.