This program has two components – a lecture on Friday night and a field trip on Saturday morning. You can choose to sign up for just the lecture or both the lecture and field trip. More information about each follows below.

LECTURE

Date: Friday, March 31st, 2023

Time:  7:00 PM – 8:30 PM

Location:  Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center (401 Tilting T Dr, Borrego Springs, CA 92004)

Cost: $10 (For lecture only. If you opt for the field interactive, the lecture is included in that cost). Students are free.

Join us for our lecture and field trip series, Anza-Borrego: In Focus. Our presenter, Dr. Andrew Gottcho, will talk about his research on the San Andreas Fault system, infamous in California, as well as many of the fauna found along the fault. Known especially for the 1906 and 1989 earthquakes, this fault keeps California poised on edge. But the San Andreas fault is actually part of a bigger plate boundary that extends from the Mendocino Triple Junction off of Humboldt County, California to the Rivera Triple Junction, south of Baja California, Mexico, and includes the Gulf of California. During the lecture, Dr. Gottcho will visit many of these side faults, including: Hayward, Calaveras, Santa Cruz Island, Garlock, San Jacinto, and beyond in Baja California. Additionally, how has plate tectonic activity over the past several million years influenced the distributions of organisms and ecosystems along the fault system? We will voyage together north to south, and experience Anza-Borrego in a broader context.

Please register in advance. Register here.

FIELD INTERACTIVE 

Date: Saturday, April 1st, 2023

Time: 8:30 AM – 1:00 PM (end time is approximate)

Location: Meet at the ABF office: 587 Palm Canyon Dr. #122, Borrego Springs, CA, 92004

(different from the State Park store, but in the same shopping center!)  We’ll carpool and/or caravan to our field site: Old Springs County Preserve. Exact location will be sent out shortly before the event. Please inform Samantha if you are not meeting at the office.  

Cost: (If you sign up for the field interactive, the lecture is included in this cost).

Student – $25.00

ABF Member – $50.00

Non-member – $60.00

This field trip will be an extension of the previous night’s lecture (though it’s not required that you attend both), held as an interactive and hands on excursion to visit important elements of the fault system within the Colorado Desert. While we won’t be able to visit the San Andreas Fault on this field trip, the Elsinore and San Jacinto Fault Zones do run through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park and surrounding wildlife areas.

Due to this dynamic fault system, the Park and neighboring areas within the Colorado Desert region, are a diversity hotspot for reptiles. Dr. Gottcho will take us on a nature walk and discuss the natural history of reptiles only found in this region, with evolutionary histories closely tied to the development of the basin along these multiple parallel faults. We’ll search for lizards and snakes, especially fringe-toed lizards, desert iguanas, and if we’re lucky, flat-tailed horned lizards and sidewinders. Andy will discuss the flora and fauna in context to the geology of the larger fault system.

We’ll meet at the ABF office, then caravan to our field location: Old Springs County Preserve. Exact location will be sent out shortly before the event.

Limited to 20 people.

Please register in advance. Register here.

About The Presenter: 

Andy is an evolutionary biologist currently working in the genomics industry and teaching part-time at Merritt College, Oakland. He obtained his bachelor’s degree in marine biology at UC Santa Cruz in 2006, and then went on to San Diego State University for a PhD in Evolutionary Biology in 2015. While at SDSU, he studied the biogeography and evolution of lizards in the southwest desert, including Anza-Borrego and surrounding regions and Baja California, Mexico. During this time he became deeply interested in the biogeography of the San Andreas Fault system. Andy currently lives in Oakland and visits Anza-Borrego as often as possible. 

Cancellation Policy
Notification must be received at least 7 days before the first day of the event if you need to cancel and wish to receive a refund. A $10 cancellation fee will be retained for each registration. For cancellations made after the 7-day deadline, we cannot issue refunds for any reason. We understand that unforeseen or emergency circumstances may arise, but our nonprofit organization operates on a limited budget and, while inconvenient, this policy enables us to sustain our programs even with last-minute cancellations. If ABF cancels a program, we will issue a full refund or credit.