Josh Jackson & Obi Kaufmann: Chronicling California’s Public Lands

Adventurers Josh Jackson and Obi Kaufmann have each charted comprehensive inventories of California’s abundant natural beauty and bounty, mapping the state from top to tail in their own distinctive styles. In this expansive conversation, photographer and conservationist Josh Jackson and naturalist and poet-painter Obi Kaufmann share what makes the Golden State a superlative site of ecological grandeur and significance. They explore the present threats that imperil California’s vast wilderness—over 15 million acres of which is held in common by the people of California but steered by a federal agency. What does a changing of the guard in Washington foretell for the West Coast’s collectively owned, untrammeled landscapes? In this Heyday Presents event, Jackson and Kaufmann explore themes of resiliency, activism, and art as an entry point to stewardship. Join us.

Josh Jackson is a writer, photographer, and leading voice for public lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management. Through this evocative Forgotten Lands Project, Josh employs immersive storytelling and striking visual narratives to inspire appreciation and engagement with our least understood, least protected, and largely unknown landscapes. His advocacy work has been featured by the Los Angeles Times, SFGate, and the Nature’s Archive podcast. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and three children. The Enduring Wild: A Journey into California’s Public Lands is his first book. Find more of his work at forgottenlandsproject.com.

Obi Kaufmann is the author of the #1 San Francisco Chronicle bestseller The California Field Atlas,** the first of a series of ambitious volumes that interpret California’s natural world through poetic prose, natural history, and Kaufmann’s signature watercolor paintings. He is the author of the California Lands Trilogy—The Forests of California, The Coasts of California, and *The Deserts of California—*and two volumes meditating on the state’s natural resources, *The State of Water*and most recently The State of Fire, a Los Angeles Times bestseller. Find more of his work at coyotethunder.com.

Heyday is an independent nonprofit publisher specializing in publications that explore California’s natural history, art and culture, Indigenous perspectives, and social justice. This series is part of our Heyday Presents program. Heyday Presents features Heyday authors in conversation with notable luminaries and thought leaders. Heyday Members receive free VIP access to Heyday Presents program and a curation of our top new releases, among a host of other perks. Learn more about Heyday’s Membership.