Researchers and community scientists in the U.S. and Mexico are calling attention to the rich diversity of life found in a uniquely threatened habitat: the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. The Border BioBlitz is a community science effort to record as many species as possible 15 kilometers north or south of the international border.

Our scientists are always working hard behind the scenes at the Museum, but another important aspect of The Nat’s scientific efforts involves studying wildlife in the natural environment—this is called fieldwork. Fieldwork can look very different for scientists depending on their discipline, but the main idea is to observe and study wildlife and plants out in nature.

Nature is all around us in San Diego County: from coastal wetlands and canyon trails to neighborhood parks and open spaces. But access to nature and the healing benefits it can provide are not experienced equally across our region. We gathered feedback from over 500 people throughout San Diego County and the message was resoundingly clear: nature plays a vital role in our wellbeing. 

 Anything short of full repeal sends a clear and damaging message. It tells our community that the City’s revenue needs matter more than the long-term financial health and sustainability of the arts and cultural organizations that define Balboa Park. It tells families that their access to culture is negotiable. It tells the nonprofit sector that we are expected to absorb the consequences of municipal budget decisions.  

It’s been an exciting year—we brought you a new exhibition, and now, a new roof! We appreciate your patience during our partial closure, and with the new year we’re excited to bring back the activities you’ve been missing. To keep you on track with what’s going on in the next six months, we made this guide so you know what to look forward to.

We’re thrilled to announce our very first cohort of Climate Resilience Fellows in collaboration with San Diego Canyonlands. Ten fellows have been selected to help advance climate solutions in San Diego through training and skills development related to climate resilience, nature-based solutions, community outreach, habitat restoration, and more.

Scientific expeditions can be thought of as the first step in conservation—they are a way to gather baseline data on the plants and wildlife that exist in a specific area, which can then inform actions to protect it. Sierra de las Cacachilas is an extremely biodiverse and perhaps equally understudied area at the tip of the Baja California Peninsula, and our scientists visited this amazing place to learn all about it.

Most organizations in the Park are nonprofits struggling to balance their own budgets amid rising costs. We know and understand the City is struggling, but why make the nonprofits and local families struggle too? 

Recent studies have revealed that spiders are capturing wildlife DNA, which can be used to identify the kinds of animals living or visiting the place where those spiders exist. It is often sampled from water and soil, but scientists have recently turned their eyes to an often-overlooked sticky surface in nature: spiderwebs. In them, they're finding evidence of foxes and birds of prey.

The Nat is proud to work alongside many amazing LGBTQIA+ scientists, volunteers, staff, and community members, and we’re celebrating their contributions to science. November 18 is LGBTQIA+ in STEM day, which uplifts the work of LGBTQIA+ people in science, technology, engineering, and math, and highlights some of the barriers they may face in these fields.