Three Wild Years in the Diablo Range
With the help of ranchers, scientists, and land managers, "Fire, Drought, Rain and Hope" explores life in California’s inland Coast Range after the huge fires of 2020. It ventures into places off the beaten track for most Bay Area residents, yet deeply connected to places they already love.
• Morgan Territory, where the fire hit closest to home—and rare plants bounced back by the millions on incinerated slopes.
• Corral Hollow, where a fifth-generation ranching family survived the fire and helped establish a new state-park unit.
• Ohlone Wilderness, where wildlife biologist Amanda Murphy studies rattlesnakes, Alameda whipsnakes, and whiptail lizards living in a vast open space on the urban edge.
• Máyyan ‘Ooyákma—Coyote Ridge Open Space Preserve, where activist-ecologist Stuart Weiss and the Santa Clara Valley Open Space Authority have helped make the city of San Jose safer.
• Henry W. Coe State Park, where the fire made resource managers’ jobs easier in an expanse of wild country four times the size of Mount Diablo State Park.
• Pinnacles National Park and beyond, where author and conservation biologist Joseph Belli “babysits” condors as a volunteer for the National Park Service and teams up with soulmate Seth Adams of Save Mount Diablo to survey wildlife in the range.
• Del Puerto Canyon and Mount Hamilton, where experts in insects, eagles, and other wildlife cross the Diablo Range together on a soggy spring day in 2023.
The last part of the film, “Hope: and Audacious Plans,” maps out Save Mount Diablo’s strategies for winning broader protection for the range in this era of climate change. The 83-minute film is the brainchild of longtime Save Mount Diablo staffer Seth Adams, and includes interviews with Doug Bell, Joseph Belli, Sean Burke, Ted Clement, Mark Connolly, Celeste Garamendi, Scott Hein, Andrea Mackenzie, and Kip Will. It showcases the photography of Scott Hein, Cooper Ogden, and others. Music by Phil Heywood. Writing, production, and narration are by Joan Hamilton.
Photo by Scott Hein