FIELD INSTITUTE

The Field Institute of Pinnacles Partnership was born with the hatching of a California Condor chick on a remote cliffside cavern high on a ranch east of Pinnacles Naitonal Monument in April 2009.

Partners in the condor recovery effort, the operators of RS-Bar Guest Ranch, the Native American Community and Pinnacles Partnership created a collaborative effort to conduct carefully monitored trips allowing visitors to view the nest site, the first documented in San Benito County in more than a century.  The well-being of the chick and its parents is the collaborative's first priority, but the location of the nest, high on a vertical cliff and across a deep ravine from a sheltered, ridgetop viewing site, creates a unique opportunity to get to know these rare, magnificent birds.

From that birth, the Field Institute is growing to offer a yearlong roster of events and workshops intended to give visitors to the Pinnacles region a deeper undertanding of, and appreciation for, this unique landscape.  Planned events include native plant and birding weekends, slow food workshops, photography and painting workshops, geology seminars and more.

For further information, contact the Pinnacles Partnership at (831) 389-4486, ext. 239, or email info@pinnaclespartnership.org.