Ep. 102 The Legacy of California Waterfowling: A talk with Conservationist Yancey Forest-Knowles Pt.6

Waterfowl historian Yancey Forest-Knowles closes the series with a tour of California’s fog belt and beyond—Humboldt Bay, the lagoons north and south of Crescent City, Laguna de Santa Rosa, and the Central Coast from Elkhorn Slough to Morro Bay. We trace how tides, eelgrass, railroads, and reclamation shaped these marshes—and what that means for today’s hunters.

Episode highlights

• North Coast primer: why this stretch is a critical coastal link in the Pacific Flyway and how fog, rain, and working pasturelands still hold birds.
• Humboldt Bay traditions: public-forward Brant hunting, the roots of sculling, and the gear and etiquette that make it work.
• Access that remains: boat-in opportunities on flood years, small state parcels, and farm-pond possibilities when conditions line up.
• Club lore & culture: from early island and bay clubs to the stories of trains stopping at clubhouses—what’s gone, what survived, and why.
• Central Coast check-in: how most wetlands were converted a century ago, and where hunters still find openings around Elkhorn Slough, Salinas, and Morro Bay.

If you’re curious where coastal waterfowling came from—and how to approach it with respect today—this finale ties the history, access, and conservation ethic together.

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