San Francisco Bay Area: An Environmental History with David D. Schmidt

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Saturday, January 10, 2026
3:00-4:00pm
San Francisco Botanical Garden — Helen Crocker Russell Library

Join us in the Library when we welcome David D. Schmidt to celebrate his book, San Francisco Bay Area: An Environmental History.

About the Program

Author and environmental historian David D. Schmidt will share a presentation of historic photos, recent photos, and other art work that illustrates the Bay Area’s environmental history. Q+A and book signing to follow. Presented in partnership with Green Apple Books on the Park.

About the Book

The San Francisco Bay Area is one of the most ecologically diverse—and most transformed—regions on Earth. In this sweeping and beautifully detailed book, David D. Schmidt traces how natural forces and human choices have shaped the landscape over thousands of years.

Inside, you’ll discover:

• Ancient roots of stewardship: How Native Tribes cared for the land through fire, harvest, and ceremony for millennia.
• Colonization and upheaval: The arrival of European settlers, the loss of Indigenous lifeways, and the ecological consequences of agriculture, mining, and logging.
• The making of a metropolis: How dams, filled wetlands, and sprawling urban growth reshaped the Bay’s natural systems.
• Cycles of change: Fire and flood, boom and bust, extinction and renewal—all part of the region’s ongoing evolution.
• Twenty thematic chapters: Exploring invasive species, transportation networks, waste disposal, and the rise of Silicon Valley.
• Stories of resilience: Victories like the Save the Bay movement, wetland restoration projects, and the revival of Indigenous stewardship practices.
• A hopeful path forward: How understanding the past can guide a more sustainable and equitable future for the Bay Area.

Grounded in meticulous research and accessible storytelling, San Francisco Bay Area: An Environmental History is an essential resource for anyone who loves, studies, or calls this region home.

About the Author

David D. Schmidt is a lifelong San Francisco Bay Area resident, naturalist and environmental historian. He worked as a writer in the public affairs office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in San Francisco from 1991 to 2021. An avid hiker and backpacker, he has led dozens of hikes for the Greenbelt Alliance, the Bay Area’s leading land conservation organization (www.greenbelt.org), in the region’s extensive public parklands.

David has volunteered on habitat restoration projects for the Golden Gate National Parks and the California Native Plant Society in Marin, San Francisco, and San Mateo Counties from 1991 to the present. He is also the author of Citizen Lawmakers: The Ballot Initiative Revolution (Temple University Press, 1989). He has a bachelor’s degree in history from Santa Clara University. Born in Mountain View, he lived in San Francisco for more than 50 years, and now lives in Santa Rosa.

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Admission to the Library is free for all. Garden admission is free for San Francisco residents, veterans, Museums for All/EBT participants, and Gardens members.