#85. Jim Campbell-Spickler: Climbing Trees, Studying Wildlife, and Leading the Sequoia Park Zoo

Scott Hammond: Ladies and gentlemen, friends and neighbors, it's Scott Hammond with the 100% Humboldt podcast, with my new best friend, Jim Spickler-Campbell. How's it going?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Good. It's Campbell-Spickler.

Scott Hammond: Campbell-Spickler.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Like that.

Scott Hammond: Oh, now that's where AI screwed up.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Did it really?

Scott Hammond: And then I did.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay, well-

Scott Hammond: Campbell Spickler

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … I'm really concerned about what AI has to say about me, actually.

Scott Hammond: Well, don't- let's not get in a hurry. That's my new section. I don't wanna, I don't wanna give that away.

Scott Hammond: The-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Gotcha. Gotcha

Scott Hammond: … the a- So we have the quiz portion-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay

Scott Hammond: … we got your background portion, we want your legacy portion at the end.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Legacy

Scott Hammond: But the AI section, well, it, it doesn't know your name.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Hmm.

Scott Hammond: But, but hey, you'll tell us your story. Jim, what's your, what's your story?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: What's my story? Well, I came up to live in Humboldt

Jim Campbell-Spickler: in '94-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … to go to HSU. I guess they call it Cal Poly now. I'm gonna have to-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … get used to that.

Scott Hammond: It's a big theme here.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Gotta get it right.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Where'd you come from?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Barstow, California.

Scott Hammond: I know it well.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Do you really?

Scott Hammond: Little bit.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Middle of the Mojave Desert.

Scott Hammond: Beautiful area.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That's where I grew up.

Scott Hammond: How far is Joshua Tree from there?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Uh, it's about two and a half hours.

Scott Hammond: So it's a little drive.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, and I spent a lot of time growing up in Joshua Tree.

Scott Hammond: Oh, I bet.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Climbing rocks and stuff?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Climbing rocks. That was my thing.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Motorcycles and rocks.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And catching lizards and snakes and turtles and yeah.

Scott Hammond: So speaking of Cal Poly-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … when, when it was Humboldt State, I, we did a field trip. It was a group called Cluster, and it was a, a no grades, hippy-dippy, um, get your units for free, and you went to a three-week field trip to the dather- desert Southwest.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Really?

Scott Hammond: And outside of Barstow, it felt like Hotel California. There was this place, it was this commune compound, and it was on the way from Death Valley to Barstow, and you might know it, but it, it, it, it had… If I had to envision Hotel California-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Was it Zzyzx?

Scott Hammond: It could've been.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Zzyzx, can't spell it, past Afton Canyon.

Scott Hammond: Might be.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Know that place well.

Scott Hammond: What is it? Is it, was it a retreat or a-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It has, it has-

Scott Hammond: … hotel

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … a history. I don't know that history, but yeah, it's kind of what you described. There was some hippy era, like, stuff going on out there, and I think there is still activity out there, but I'm not-

Scott Hammond: So tile work, old-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … Hispanic.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Everything.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I bet that was it.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I think that area is right on the edge of the, what they call the Devil's Punchbowl.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So it's just this vast, expansive desert. Yeah, I love that area. Just-

Scott Hammond: It's cool

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … something about the Mojave Desert-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … just, you get on these, you just get on those, those roads out there and you look out, and there's miles. You just see miles.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: 30 miles across the desert, nothing to obstruct your view.

Scott Hammond: And no light pollution or anything out.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No light pollution.

Scott Hammond: There's the show at night. It's-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, I know

Scott Hammond: … "What's going on?" And, "Well, take a look."

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, that's right.

Scott Hammond: Oh, I love that. Yeah, we used to, we lived in San Diego, so we'd go to, uh, Anza-Borrego-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … Desert. It's near-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Another amazing place. Boy-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … California's got a bunch of amazing places.

Scott Hammond: And hotter than you know what.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Cool. So tell us about your school and your experience there and what, what got you to Humboldt?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. So I grew up in the Mojave, came there when I, I moved there with my parents when I was four years old. So pretty much, I mean, I spent my whole life there. Always wanted to be a wildlife biologist, and-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … Humboldt was the only school I wanted to go to.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Of course, I applied for a bunch of other schools, but when I got accepted, it was a happy day. And came up in '94 to start that wildlife degree, and it was a different program back then.

Scott Hammond: I bet.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It was, yeah, it was just, it was fun. So came up here, and I, it, the crazy thing, in the first 45 days that I lived here, I experienced more rain- … than I had in my entire life.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So-

Scott Hammond: It rains in Humboldt. Yeah, don't come here. It rains a lot.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, but it's-

Scott Hammond: Come in the summer.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It, it, I had an adjustment period, but man, it, I just love it. This is my favorite place in the world.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And I've traveled quite a bit.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And I come back, and I'm like, "You know what? I, I could just stay here, and I don't need to travel anymore."

Scott Hammond: What do you like a- what do you like about Humboldt? Why, why would you call it, why would you consider it your best-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I like, I like, well, first of all, the, the environment, the natural people, the open spaces, the forests, the wildlife. I like the people, too.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: There's not too many of them.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You know, our population is not really growing that fast.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Have you-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … noticed that? It's-

Scott Hammond: It, it may be retracting, but yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Well, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It has retract-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I think county-wise, it's-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … it's retracting a little bit.

Scott Hammond: It has.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But what is Eureka, like 25K? It's not that big.

Scott Hammond: It still s- it, it does this. It kinda just ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, it does.

Scott Hammond: I think there's a secret population moving in. A lot of, lot of folks… Just met a lady that we insure from San

Scott Hammond: Diego.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Her and her husband came up, lived, you know, in Cardiff and downtown, and loved it, and came up here and fell in love, and up on Hunts Drive in Arcata and McKinleyville and loves it. You know, just, so I think it's a lot of secret seniors.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Secret seniors, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Advanced maturity people are taking over the area.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: There you go.

Scott Hammond: Shh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I know, but what a great place to live in anywhere else, just come up here and

Jim Campbell-Spickler: retire.

Scott Hammond: Oh, dude.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I don't blame folks, but I say, "Nah, you don't wanna. It's cold. It's wet. You don't wanna come up here.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Nah."

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Actually, it was. When you, you know, the period you're talking about-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … was pretty wet.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It was.

Scott Hammond: And I think toward the early 2000s, uh, it was like hallelujah drought time. It was so nice.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No, you're absolutely right.

Scott Hammond: Summers were-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … January's were magic and…

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Then it, the rain totals again picked back up for several years, and then we had that o- that next dry period that was-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … around 2016, 2015, so that second time.

Scott Hammond: So when I came up back in the 1800s-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: … it was, uh, actually 1978 from San Diego, which was really dry. Um, Humboldt rained like, rained like hell. It just was like one February it r- it rained one February, Nick. The whole month.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, I know.

Scott Hammond: It never s- it actually had measurable rain every day of the month.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And it's like, what did I, what did I pick here?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I know. We had a terrific rain year this year, this past season.

Scott Hammond: It was good, right? Pretty wet.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. It was about, what was it? 15% above average, and I know because last year it was 15% below average, so right around there.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So yeah.

Scott Hammond: What'd you like about Humboldt State?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Well, I just loved the programming. Yeah, I just loved the people, bunch of other- Folks into wildlife, the professors. It was, at that time, you know, a little bit smaller. And, um, yeah, coursework was fun.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Got to go and explore in the… It, it… Just having courses, you know, even the, the forest behind the university was a great place to explore.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's great. Back there.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, that's where I learned about salamanders and all the other-

Scott Hammond: Fris-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … reptiles that live in our area.

Scott Hammond: Frisbee golf.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Frisbee golf, lots of bike riding. But then, you know, just when it came time for summer and you gotta go get that seasonal job, get that experience, just being able to say, "Yeah, I'm a gradu- or I'm a, a student at HSU."

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Prof's are like, "Oh yeah, we wanna hire them because we know HSU puts out great field scientists." And that's what I wanted to be.

Scott Hammond: For years.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: For decades, right?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I wanna be a field scientist.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, you remember the cabin they found last year up in-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yes

Scott Hammond: … the forest?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yes.

Scott Hammond: Somebody built a cabin in, in back of the Arcata Redwood Forest.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's like a, it was, like, in a secret place that was just right.

Scott Hammond: Nobody.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Nobody, uh, these, they-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Mystery cabin

Scott Hammond: … and so Kev- Kevin from Hoover, the reporter, and, um, Ray Olson went out and filmed the whole thing, and it was very neat. It was not piles of crap or needles or anything like you'd find in… And, uh, they put a, a, an abatement order. They, some- they didn't.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: They, and they came back a month later, and it was swept

Scott Hammond: clean.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yes.

Scott Hammond: That's the wei- that's the weirdest part.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I heard this story, and you know, there's, um, old stumps, stumps from some logging event long time ago that people have built little homes in.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And some of these homes are great.

Scott Hammond: Like little goose pens or whatever they call them.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Little goose pens, but watertight, tarps inside.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Little shelves. And you know, I know students at times, they struggle with finding housing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um, hey, it looked to me, I was like, "Wow, I could, I could live in this. This is pretty good."

Scott Hammond: Just give them-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Spent a lot of time up there climbing trees

Scott Hammond: … be very wet inside, right?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It wasn't that bad.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, it wasn't. It was decent living.

Scott Hammond: There were hobbits up there.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, yeah. So where'd you go after Humboldt? Did you g- uh, travel the world and-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Well, I've traveled the world, um, the world with my work, but I actually stayed on after my wildlife degree and completed a master's in biology.

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um, really then concentrated on forest canopy ecology.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So started climbing a lot of big redwoods.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Did my master's research on a salamander called the wandering salamander.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So I got to participate in a project that was a, um, first investigation of lice h- life history and ecology of an animal, which, you know, a lot of scientists don't get to do this

Jim Campbell-Spickler: day and age.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: An animal that's newly discovered in the top of the tree.

Scott Hammond: So this was your guy.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: This was my guy.

Scott Hammond: The salamander.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Huh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You know, climbing the trees.

Scott Hammond: Is that where they live?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, but they, you can find them on the ground. They're not uncommon, but they are the only salamander that you will find high in the canopy.

Scott Hammond: How big are they?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, you know, the size of your thumb.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Little bit longer with their tail.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Five grams is a heavy, heavy one.

Scott Hammond: That's a big …

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's a huge one.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Pretty heavy, but they're a, a plethodontid salamander, so they're lungless. Uh, they don't need water to reproduce. The, the adults will climb into a place, find a, a crack or a crevice. They'll lay eggs, and they'll guard those eggs until they hatch, and the hatchlings are fully formed.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So they are a salamander that does not have the need for

Jim Campbell-Spickler: water.

Scott Hammond: Amazing.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Any, um, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But they, but they are lungless, so they have to m- remain wet.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But yeah, I was just figuring out that they were up there, trying to get a estimation of the numbers, how they were living, what they were doing. But, um, what we know about them since my research is so much more,

Jim Campbell-Spickler: and it's-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … it's fascinating what's going on up there.

Scott Hammond: Huh. So that means you're a climber.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I'm a climber, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I- that's what I did in the desert when I was a kid. I was a rock climber.

Scott Hammond: So-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And-

Scott Hammond: … transferable skill

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … transferable skill. Exactly, yeah. No fear of heights. That's, uh, a, a big bonus when you're going to be climbing tall redwoods-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … that commonly exceed 300 feet.

Scott Hammond: So Strawberry Rock is nothing.

Scott Hammond: Forget it.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That's, uh-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I've been there before. I was like, "That's cool."

Scott Hammond: Do that for breakfast.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So have you cl- climbed, like, is it Hyperion? Is that the name of the tree?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Been up Hyperion. I was part of the original research team that, uh, initially climbed to do the, the physical tape drop.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It was dis- it was discovered by a couple tree hunters. It was Michael Taylor and Chris Atkins.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And they used, I think they were using ground survey laser stuff.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And so-

Scott Hammond: Where's it-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … Steve Sillett and I-

Scott Hammond: Where's it at, located?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's, uh, well-

Scott Hammond: Ish

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … ish. Let's say east of Orick.

Scott Hammond: So it's Redwood National Park.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Up the, up the creek some.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Up some, some valley.

Scott Hammond: Some creek.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Honestly, it's, it's an amazing tree in that it's super tall, but compared to other trees in the area, it's, it's not anything that I would call spectacular.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's just a really tall tree, but the base isn't that big.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And it would, you would h- you'd be hard to pick it out from other trees.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Like-

Scott Hammond: How tall is it?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Just remeasured.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It has finally made over 380 feet.

Scott Hammond: Dang.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. So it's a monster.

Scott Hammond: Was the other monster tree in Me- Mendocino County?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Mm-hmm, Mendo Giant.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. How big is that?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, I think it was

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … We used to think it was the tallest, and it was in the high si- 360s.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So this is the monster tree.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. So back in the day, it took the big tree hunters, uh, going out, scouring the woods-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … using lasers and prisms to do these, you know, somewhat accurate measurements on the top. But as time went by, started using LiDAR scan.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And trees can't hide from LiDAR.

Scott Hammond: What is LiDAR scan?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: LiDAR, it's like a, you know, satellite or plane. It's lasers that are, um, shot to the ground, and there's reflect- but they can build models of the topography-

Scott Hammond: It's … Oh, and they're super accurate

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … of tree tops. Yeah, so if the d- da- those data are processed in a certain way-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … you can, um, compare the ground level because the lasers will shoot and hit the ground-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … pick up ground, and then they always hit the p- top of the tree.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So now all the major

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … remaining old forest have been scanned.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So we can say with some certainty that Hyperion is the tallest

Jim Campbell-Spickler: currently.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What's the accuracy, a couple centimeters?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, for LIDAR, probably not that accurate-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … but it helps you discover where the tall trees are, and then you go out and you ground truth.

Scott Hammond: So you actually drop a tape from the-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … from the roof?

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So the longest tapes though, we-

Scott Hammond: Can it go straight down? I mean, you gotta have branches.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You can, but you put a, a weighted bag on it-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … and you, you have to… It's, it's a process, man.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You gotta-

Scott Hammond: Got to never get-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … establish the average ground height, because if a tree is on a slope-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … it's like, okay, well, where did that stem originate?

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So it's not at the highest part on the hill or the lowest part. You've gotta find the average of the high ground, low ground. So for repeatability, we will survey in that ground height, and then we'll often put a tag-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … on the tree so that when we go back, we can use that. We'll know that that tag, let's say, is two meters above ground height.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So when we go back and measure, we can drop the tape and get it.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So if you're just joining us, this is where I do kind of a professional break.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then I'll use my prop. Watch how I do this.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay.

Scott Hammond: If you're just joining us, it's my good friend, new best friend, Jim Campbell-Spickler. Uh, thanks, AI. Uh- … and by the way, Hyperion's right over here near Redwood Park in California. It's a national park, and it started in 19, um, something, and I don't have any background on that, but that's okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: S- there's quite the history with the parks. I can say that there was a,

Jim Campbell-Spickler: an era where when the area where Hyperion is located, that area was coming into park, um, the park was acquiring it.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But the logging companies that owned that property, they

Jim Campbell-Spickler: had this, this period that they could cut to.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So it was like at the stroke of midnight, whatever's on the ground, you get to take. So there was this mad push to cut as many trees as they could.

Scott Hammond: Cut like crazy.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They cut right up to Hyperion.

Scott Hammond: Shit.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I mean-

Scott Hammond: Crazy

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … if they'd had another half a day, Hyperion would've been taken.

Scott Hammond: Gone.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Man.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So Hyperion is, it's adjacent, pretty close to a clearcut.

Scott Hammond: It's rape and pillage, man. Let's… Boom and bust, that's, that's our story at Humboldt. Um, weed, trees. I don't know what's next.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Well, things grow up here, so.

Scott Hammond: They, they do grow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Man.

Scott Hammond: They do grow. We have some friends up Redwood Valley that it's pretty fascinating as you go back way up into-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … the valley. It's, it's, it's, it's just amazing and lovely, and that was a, a main thoroughfare back in the day. So where did you travel after you went to Humboldt? Did you, you said you traveled a lot around the world.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, so starting at, so I, I was traveling with work. So I spent a lot of time in the Pacific Northwest, Washington, parts of Canada-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … Oregon. But then a little bit later on, a few years after I'd started my environmental consultancy that really specialized in research that was rope-based, I started doing more international work.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Not only, um, scientific work, but also with film and television, specifically, like, um, natural history stuff, BBC, National Geographic.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I took, uh, the rope skills that I had acquired over all those years of climbing and became a rigger.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And as a scientist also, I'd sometimes be on camera-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … but that wasn't my favorite part. I liked to, to be behind a camera or rigging for the cameraman.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And-

Scott Hammond: So you'd rig it up so, and then they would go up?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yes. And quite often I would be the, the second or the assistant, assistant to the camera person, just making sure that they're able to do their work, do their art.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And I'd make sure that they didn't mess up and fall.

Scott Hammond: Don't fall.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Phew.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I can't imagine. That's gotta be harrowing. Have you s- have you seen some falls? Have you fell?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um, I've taken little falls here and there, but-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … you know, any fall from height in these trees would be fatal.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I do, I do have a sad story of a, an, uh, a contracted employee of mine, a contractor who was-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … a climber working on a project. He took a pretty substantial fall, 100 feet.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: He did survive, but it, um, impacted him.

Scott Hammond: I'm sure it would.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, it's, yeah, it changed his life.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um.

Scott Hammond: That would be hard, hard to do.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, so beyond that, you came back to Humboldt.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I did. I never left. I would… It was one of those things where I was very excited at that time to find a way to travel and see the world, and it was really nice to have somebody else paying for it too.

Scott Hammond: Oh, yes.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And when you're working in, uh, on research permits, or you're working for the BBC or National Geographic, it's so cool 'cause you get, you get behind-the-scenes access.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You get to go to places where others are not normally allowed. So it was, it was very adventurous, and I loved it. It was just so fun to, just the energy of sitting in an airport and being, "All right, where am I going now?" It's Malaysia, it's Indonesia, it's Australia or South America, and I, I loved it until I really got tired of it.

Scott Hammond: So travel's tough.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Well, it was every time I came back, I'd, I would just think, you know, really what an experience, what a life, life-changing thing. But I was like, "You know what? But this is still my favorite place."

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And it just got harder and harder to leave. I don't know how to explain that.

Scott Hammond: It says a lot actually.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Does it?

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, my dad golfed Baywood. He goes, "Scott, there's no place like Baywood in the world to golf."

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He goes, "I, I love coming up here." So the, the uniqueness of, uh, of our area. So, so you were a rigger. So you'd go up and rig this stuff up, and these cats would do their thing.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And then, so, uh, talk about access. What, did you guys have killer food? Did you meet, h- you know, Henry Fonda? Uh, do, uh, did, what, what kind of,

Scott Hammond: um-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Killer food, no. We're talking camp food. It, it really depends on-

Scott Hammond: But you had access to places that were unique.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But I'm not a, I gotta admit, I'm just not a foodie.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So I eat to survive. And so I, you know- Can of sardines or something I'd be great with

Scott Hammond: Sure. Or bread

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And, and often i- if we're, especially, let's say, on a, a expedition to Malaysia or we're in Borneo somewhere, you'd have a camp, and the people would cook for you, and it was, it was passable food.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It was good.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But God, those are not the things I remember, Scott. I don't know why.

Scott Hammond: It's funny. I go to, I go to food. You go to, "Hey, we had access to this-"

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … magic place that no one ever gets to go to," and you go, "Oh, that's pretty

Scott Hammond: cool."

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No, for me it was taking the camera out and taking pictures of animals that I had never seen before, never thought I'd ever get to see.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I remember the first time I saw an orangutan in the wild. I was just blown away.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I was like, "Wow, this is amazing."

Scott Hammond: Wow, that's-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So, so Joni hikes a lot now, especially, uh, everywhere, and she has two apps that she uses. One is for flowers.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Ah.

Scott Hammond: So she became this flower freak.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yes.

Scott Hammond: And it's just, like, little… "Come here and see this." I go, I'm looking. I don't, I don't see the flower. "No, it's right…" "Oh, that, that's a flower?"

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That's a flower.

Scott Hammond: She's finding all these freak show plants out at Milele Dunes and-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … and up in, uh, Hope Creek and, and all the places. But then she got this bird app.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh.

Scott Hammond: She goes, "Look." We're, we're at Patrick's Point last, or Sumeg Last Saturday. "Look, this, this is a blah, blah warbler, and a other thing. A- and this, do you hear that?" And I go, "Hear that one that sounds like a, like a referee whistle?" And I go, "Really?"

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That's a fairy thrush.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So you-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: She already know. See, Joni, good call.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. No, I bet. Does she u- do you remember what it's called, Merlin?

Scott Hammond: It might be.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Audubon's Merlin. No, that, I love that app. The, the two apps that you were talking about are my go-to apps.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, the plant one is amazing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Take a picture. Did you know that now, though, that technology, that AI, whatever they're calling it now, is actually embedded in an

Jim Campbell-Spickler: iPhone?

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Yeah, I've-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You take a picture. You can hit the info button, and-

Scott Hammond: I've used it

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … there it is.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, it's, it's fascinating, yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Mostly accurate.

Scott Hammond: S- so let's talk eagles for… Well, let's, before we do that, it's, so AI claims-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay.

Scott Hammond: And-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, this is gonna be fun

Scott Hammond: … a- and you can disclaim this.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay

Scott Hammond: … uh, degrees in zoology, ornithology, and forestry. Is that, you have three degrees?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No.

Scott Hammond: Oh. Those are just specialties?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No.

Scott Hammond: Where did it… AI, come on now.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I don't have, I don't have a deg- I don't have e- any of those degree… Okay, so wildlife, that is a t- it is a zoology degree.

Scott Hammond: Wait, do you have a degree?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yes.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Couple. Uh, wildlife and biology, but I worked, I worked under Steve Sillett, who is in forestry.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But he just, during my time as a grad student, he actually went to forestry from bi- from biology.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So after my graduate program, I worked with Steve for, like,

Jim Campbell-Spickler: 25 years, and for a time, about 10 years, I was a researcher in forestry. So maybe that's where the, the confusion is.

Scott Hammond: It fits, yeah. Is Steve kind of a legend? I think I've heard his name.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, he's pretty legendary, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: He's, he's the guy that, he's Mr. Redwood. For sure. Yeah. Amazing, amazing scientist. Good guy.

Scott Hammond: Who's our guy from church that leads worship, and he's, he's a great guy, and he teaches forestry, and his wife owns, um, Pivotal Connections. The, she's a PT on the plaza in Arcata.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I don't know them.

Scott Hammond: And your name is, ah, I'll tell you in a minute. You'll probably know who he is.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: A, a forestry professor?

Scott Hammond: Yeah, great guy. Um, ah, I'll think of him in a minute.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay.

Scott Hammond: I think he's from Brazil. I think he's Portuguese.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, newer, newer professor then.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Must've been maybe after your time. Now that I think about it, we're in 2025, and yeah, so it's been a minute.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's been a minute. My, uh, g- oh, I can't believe it's been 20 years since I finished my master's degree.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: God, just realized that. Wow, I'm getting old.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Are we?

Scott Hammond: Join the club-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … of advanced maturity.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: There you go.

Scott Hammond: So you, so you're the director of the zoo now.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I am.

Scott Hammond: Sequo- Sequoia Zoo, is that what it's referred-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Sequoia Park Zoo.

Scott Hammond: Okay. But before that, and maybe concurrent, you did the eagle, Eagle Project stuff. You wanna talk about that? Tell that story.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. So I'm also still the chief biologist for a consultancy called Eco Ascension, which used to be an LLC, but i- it's basically a DBA now.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So under, wearing that hat, I still do a lot of contract work.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: With bald eagle, with, um, all different hawks and eagles.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: The big birds. Yeah, so yeah, still do that. That's something I've been doing for 25 years now, and each year in the spring, I'm still going out, accessing nest, working up chicks. Uh, we take the young eaglets down, usually when they're six to eight weeks old. We take feather samples. We put-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … um, sometimes spatagial tags. So that's the big tags on the wings, but often we'll put on the, the bands on the legs. Collect blood samples, um, measure up, get them ready, put p- right back in the nest. So we're collecting data.

Scott Hammond: Before mom or dad comes back?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Eagles are pretty easy. Some of the other birds, uh, falcons and hawks, not so much.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They'll, uh-

Scott Hammond: Come at you?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They'll come at you, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Especially peregrine. They're-

Scott Hammond: Really?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … they're pretty feisty.

Scott Hammond: Pretty feisty.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah. I've, I've been tagged by peregrine quite a bit.

Scott Hammond: Just like, will they come and just bite it?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Uh, peregrine will, they'll n- they'll stoop you, so they'll dive-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … and they'll hit you.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So they don't come in with their talons flaring. They knuckle, and they punch.

Scott Hammond: So they just come like a, like an airplane.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Yeah, and they try to get you when you're not looking.

Scott Hammond: Well, that's the whole-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So they're gonna, they're gonna hit you in the back of the head or right in the ear.

Scott Hammond: Ow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Or, or sometimes their, their iries, their nests are in cliffs, and they're set back in, so I'll have to belly crawl into a hole and my foot's sticking out, and they will punish my feet.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Just a hammer.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Just a hammer.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They're a hammer. But you know, that's better than getting, getting raked with a helix claw, and that's what a red-tailed hawk will do. It's a more-

Scott Hammond: They'll come in and just rake?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. They try to get you. Bald eagles tend to not come in aggressively like that, but there are some nests that we've accessed on the Channel Islands where the adults are, are aggressive.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And they, they drag and helix, too, and try to get you.

Scott Hammond: So that's stitches maybe.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Sometimes more puncture wounds.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And probably hurts like you know what.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, you just-

Scott Hammond: Part-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Just part of the game, man.

Scott Hammond: Part of-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You're bleeding, you're covered in, in bird poop and, and feather lice.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's just-

Scott Hammond: Whatever

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … one of the… Yeah, the-

Scott Hammond: Part of my job.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, one of the joys of being a field scientist.

Scott Hammond: That's, that's so nerded up, man.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's my best days.

Scott Hammond: I love it.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's like, yeah, this is what we do. We get pooped on.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No, it's awesome.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I mean, sometimes there's a couple species you gotta really watch out for. Uh, common raven are one of them. So if I'm going into a raven nest, you sometimes you'll see the little chicks looking down at you. They'll see you climbing up, and then you'll see their little heads pull back, and you're like, "Oh, no." Then you see their little butts come over and they just poof.

Scott Hammond: Really?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: So-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They go for it

Scott Hammond: … take it to him.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I've co- I've d- I've peeked my head into a nest and just square in the face.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Mouth open like, ugh.

Scott Hammond: Gross.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That, that tastes as bad as it smells.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Don't do this, kids.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: And they're pretty smart birds, right?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Yeah, ravens for sure.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I mean, they're all clever birds, for sure.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Survivors.

Scott Hammond: They communicate, don't they?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Well, I think so.

Scott Hammond: They read, I think they read my AI and my email.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Did they really?

Scott Hammond: They're pretty smart. Up in McKinleyville-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … we got some smart ravens. Man.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Well, I've seen… I, I did quite a bit of work in the mid-'90s, early '90s with, um, raven in the Mojave Desert. I was working on a desert tortoise project. Some of my first climbing for wildlife was climbing into nest, ravens, climbing on power poles, doing things I should not have done.

Scott Hammond: In the desert?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: In the desert, yeah. I was a, a tortoise biologist-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … initially, but there was a component of the research that w- was looking at raven interaction with tortoise because they figured out that raven like to eat t- little baby tortoise.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: To the point where there are no little baby tortoise that are coming up because they're all getting eaten.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So raven studies. After that, I was an access person.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And, and, uh, yeah, I've seen them do things that just blow your mind. Um, go to a dump site. This is back when they did not cover dumps.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So the ravens would congregate there, but they needed water. Get three of them together, and they would just, just tag team peck at the, the handle and turn on the water-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … so they can get a drink.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty good.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. And we all know how they can get into a trash can.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They can open lids. It's crazy. They are crazy smart.

Scott Hammond: The other… Yeah. I was thinking of the bear up at, uh, Tahoe a few weeks

Scott Hammond: ago.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Just shredded the trash-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's everywhere.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Or got, got into my, uh, brother-in-law's van. It just shredded-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah

Scott Hammond: … the upholstery just 'cause.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Just because

Scott Hammond: … those are like rats. They're everywhere.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yes.

Scott Hammond: In fact, Joni saw one hiking up on, uh, DL Williams up whatever creek it was. I don't know.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Nice.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, you're a zoo guy. Tell us about y- that adventure.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: A zoo guy. Yeah, never thought I'd be a zoo guy.

Scott Hammond: Before we do that, you put cameras in.

Scott Hammond: So Joni reminds me that the camera that was on the, uh, eagle's

Scott Hammond: nest, uh, maybe over at Indianola.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: That was kind of famous-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … a few years ago.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: The original Humboldt Bay Eagles camera. Yeah, that was-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … one that I installed. W- did you know w- that we have another one that we just put up this year?

Scott Hammond: I think I heard rumor.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. So that one is in a different location, same territory for the

Jim Campbell-Spickler: eagles.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um, it's been over 10 years ago that we had the Humboldt Bay Eagle camera.

Scott Hammond: It's been a while, right?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So, uh, we know it's a new pair. We put this camera up on at Face Lou. Do you know where Face Lou is? You know where the, is it McCray, the, the car dealership that's over by Chef Store?

Scott Hammond: MidCity?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: MidCity.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's… That's the one that's in between Eureka Arcata, right?

Scott Hammond: MidCity and Harper Motors.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Right. So there is a nest that's there. We put a camera on it.

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And we watched a lot of cool behavior, but it is a new male this year for the pair, and they decided not to nest, which was heartbreaking.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But that's okay. Another camera that I, I had put up, the initial camera, there's another one up, another generation of camera up there now. But the, the Big Bear Lake camera, and that's a very popular one.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That one-

Scott Hammond: Big Bear like San Bernardino Big Bear?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yes. Yes.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. That one's very, very popular.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: At any-

Scott Hammond: So

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … time they'll have 60,000 people watching it.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. And they, those chicks just fledged.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Which means, for those of us that don't know what that is.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They came of age, and they left the nest.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: The parents have a d- empty nest.

Scott Hammond: Please, children out there, continue to fledge.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. But they do it at like 11 weeks, not-

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … by 19 or 32 sometimes, whatever.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We have a son fledging on Saturday.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Nice.

Scott Hammond: Pretty excited for him.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah?

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Where's he going?

Scott Hammond: Uh, McKinleyville to-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: McKinleyville

Scott Hammond: … to another home.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Nice.

Scott Hammond: So Fred's, uh, had a r- had a, uh, uh, setup, and, and, uh, see you later. Have a good one.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Nice.

Scott Hammond: It's been fun.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's…

Scott Hammond: I was gonna say, it's been a f- I was gonna tell you, it's, it's been a fun 24

Scott Hammond: years.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, but not all fun.

Scott Hammond: So-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That's how it goes. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. I, I cracked the joke today that parenting is a lifetime sentence, and my-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Lifetime sentence

Scott Hammond: … my friend goes, "That's not very nice." He goes, "Don't say that."

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh. Well, it's funny you say that because, uh, the eagle adults, when these chicks get to that age where they're just about to leave the nest, the adults have to pretty much stay away from the area where the young are, 'cause the young are so demanding. They're hungry, and they wanna be fed. So they're mobbing the adults. Adults are just like, "You know what?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I'm-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … I'm gonna sit out here on this branch."

Scott Hammond: Got that feeling.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yep.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We're gonna go to Blue Lake tonight, kids.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yep.

Scott Hammond: Good luck on that, uh, dinner.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That's right.

Scott Hammond: You're a grown man. Go for it. You can cook something. Yeah. No, that's good. So, uh, Sequoia Park Zoo.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: What a great thing, man. Uh, Arcata's put a lot of money in that a few years ago.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It did. Yeah. Well, it was in 2004 when they put a substantial amount of money in to build that, that main pavilion,

Jim Campbell-Spickler: and that's- That was really second step on a major evolution to the zoo, for sure

Scott Hammond: And how many, there's not that many zoos in the, in the I was gonna say in the state, how many city zoos are there? There's, there can't be a whole lot, right?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: City zoos. Boy, I don't even know ownership of the other big zoos, but our, we are one of the smallest accredited zoos. So we're, our, uh, Sequoia Park Zoo is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, and this is the same accrediting body that all the big zoos that you know and love-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … are accredited by, like San Diego-

Scott Hammond: San Diego Zoo

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … Sacramento, Portland. So we're a little fish in a, a bigger pond, for sure.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um, there's, the closest zoo to us is, like, six hours

Jim Campbell-Spickler: probably-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … San Francisco, then Portland.

Scott Hammond: Sac- Sacramento has a zoo?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Whoa. Folsom has a little zoo, I think.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It, it's not accredited, is it?

Scott Hammond: It's-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Maybe

Scott Hammond: … I don't think it would be.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's got weird wildlife stuff.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, but-

Scott Hammond: It's small

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … but we're so, I mean, think about having an accredited zoo in the city of Eureka.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I mean, surrounding area maybe, add it all up, 75,000 people. But we have this amazing, just beautiful little gem.

Scott Hammond: Wow. So how long have you been on, at your post?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um, going on four years.

Scott Hammond: And what, what are the, what do you do?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I am the director, so I mean, you know-

Scott Hammond: Do you-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Every day, like, it's, it's, it's the everyday task of managing a zoo.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's, it's, uh, managing staff, making sure animal care is top shelf. Um-

Scott Hammond: Donations.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, donations too. I'm also the chair for our zoo advisory group.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha. Jeff Lamery.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. He was-

Scott Hammond: Hey, what's up, Jeff?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. He was a, a former president to our former foundation.

Scott Hammond: Uh-huh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Our former partners, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Is there still a foundation?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Uh, yes. So we are working now with the Humboldt Area

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Foundation.

Scott Hammond: Oh, great.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They are our fiscal partner.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's great.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So they, they hold all of our funds. We have nine funds, and we advise spending through our advisory group at the zoo.

Scott Hammond: That's really cool to be association with those guys.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, they're amazing.

Scott Hammond: They have a lot, they have a lot of skill and money and-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They do. A lot of expertise and, um, it's, it's a really good situation for us. It's about a, we're going on roughly a year now-

Scott Hammond: Mm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … under this new relationship, and it's going really well.

Scott Hammond: That's really cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And the zoo is, gosh, it's evolving. The three years-

Scott Hammond: Yeah

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … I've, you know, three, three and a half, four years I've been there, it's just amazing the changes we're seeing and-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … just how the community is supporting us. And, uh, it's an exciting time to be director. I mean, I feel-

Scott Hammond: It's so cool

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … I'm blessed to pinch myself every day as I go to work.

Scott Hammond: It's, uh, really amazing 'cause I imagine zoos as a whole are not, like, prospering, growing and, and hitting records. But it seems like this, with Skywalk and everything-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: The Skywalk was the game changer.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Tell us about Skywalk. It's right over here.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: The Skywalk, yes.

Scott Hammond: It's here in Eureka.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. So our little zoo was popular in our community, but I wouldn't say it was an international destination s- before the Skywalk. You know, we'd get on average, like, 40,000 people would come and visit us annually, mostly local.

Scott Hammond: Okay. Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That number's up to 180.

Scott Hammond: Get outta here.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Wow. That's-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So numbers are down a little bit this year, not because of less demand. It's because we've had a pretty wet year, so we had several closure days, but we're just right at that level.

Scott Hammond: So it could be so wet you'll shut her down.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. And it's wind.

Scott Hammond: Just 'cause it's, 'cause it's sl- slick up there, or just the wind?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's, we're not so worried about slick. It is the wind and the, and the inherent danger of just having anything that's under big redwood trees.

Scott Hammond: It's gonna fall.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So are they pretty limbed in terms of safety? I, I imagine, I, I … Am I asking the right question ?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No, you're a- you're absolutely asking the right questions.

Scott Hammond: I mean, you set up all the rigging for those trees probably. Did you personally oversee a bunch of that?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I did. And so a, I would say a lot of those, they are in a natural condition, but they are inspected daily. So when hazards are, are identified, they are, are taken

Jim Campbell-Spickler: care of.

Scott Hammond: Gotcha.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But we didn't go up there and do a lot of preemptive branch removal, things that we thought might be-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … um, dangerous. Instead, what we do is a technique called boot pruning.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So you go and you just kick the crap out of stuff that you think might fall, and that was before we even put the platforms up. But the, uh, I, I commonly will fly a drone and do inspections, especially after big wind events.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But really, every morning before we open, there's a visual inspection. It takes about, mm, if you, on a good day, you're doing it fast, 20 minutes. If you feel the need to be very, very thorough, it can take over an hour just to

Jim Campbell-Spickler: inspect.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And we do this for the safety of the people that are, that are joining us and just enjoying this. But at the end of the day, same thing. Walk through, look up, make sure there's, you know, no vandalism. That's a thing we have to deal with, uh, graffiti, and just checking the structure. The Skywalk is amazingly durable.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It looks like it is.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Blowing my mind actually.

Scott Hammond: Every time we go up, it's just fun. And it's, it's longer and bigger and funner than I thought.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I know.

Scott Hammond: And it moves a little bit.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. It's oh-

Scott Hammond: Which is-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … dynamic. Have you been up there during the winds?

Scott Hammond: Not yet.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay. Just go up there. Look at your forecast. Look, look for a day where it's 30 miles an hour. Go at a time when we put it under what's called a weather watch.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So a weather watch is conditions that are, uh, kind of a little bit sketchy. We may need to close it if the forecast is, if it's a lit- yeah, if it's a little bit more windy than we thought. But you get up there and you'll really, like, feel just how dynamic the thing is. It, it is-

Scott Hammond: How close

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … arcing. Yeah. There are a couple trees that are, uh, platform trees that the tops will arc, like, a three-meter, a- radius.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So they're just whipping around.

Scott Hammond: They're whipping.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Whipping.

Scott Hammond: How many, how many Skywalks are there?

Scott Hammond: I mean, is-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: In the world?

Scott Hammond: I mean, there must be several, but is there any infamous ones that are-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Boy, that's a great question. I, we do have another somewhat local one that's up in Del Norte County. It's, uh, Trees of Mystery.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And I recommend people check that one out. Of course, I'm partial to ours. Ours, uh, ours is ADA accessible.

Scott Hammond: Right, which is amazing.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Theirs is more of a Swiss Family Robinson feel. They're not, um, comparable experiences, but they're both really fun. So I, I definitely say go check it out. Other parts of the world, nothing is tall.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: 100 feet off the ground-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … is, is pretty tall.

Scott Hammond: So this is iconic. It's, it's standalone in many ways.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I think so. And to say-

Scott Hammond: Good

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … it is an international destination is, is true. We have roughly a third of the people who visit us each year are from outside the area, and I, I don't recall the exact percentage of those folks that are international, but it's at least

Jim Campbell-Spickler: 10%.

Scott Hammond: Love it. Who'da thunk it? You know, just-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I know

Scott Hammond: … a great, great idea.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It was a dream of Gretchen Ziegler-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … the former director.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And, uh, yeah, I talked to her about it in like

Jim Campbell-Spickler: 2016.

Scott Hammond: Gretchen Ziegler. I know that name.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Gretchen Ziegler. Yeah, she was the former director.

Scott Hammond: Who's she married to?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: She, uh, not married.

Scott Hammond: Not married?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: She, yeah. She was married-

Scott Hammond: Is it Gretchen Ziegler?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … to, oh gosh, I can't remember his name. Um, nice guy, but yeah, no longer married.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. No, it's, it's, it's i- iconic and fun. Um, and then you do all the Star Wars stuff. "Luke, I am your father."

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah.

Scott Hammond: "I am your father."

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, the Forest Fest. That's one of our new events.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: We've-

Scott Hammond: It's a pretty big deal, right?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … that's like, yeah, like three years now.

Scott Hammond: Everybody is still, people like Star Wars.

Scott Hammond: That's cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: They love it. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Of course.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: There is a group that comes out, and it, it is… We, our events are always fun. There's always a good energy, but there is an energy at a Star Wars event where these people just, they, they take themselves very

Jim Campbell-Spickler: seriously-

Scott Hammond: It's-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … but they're not really.

Scott Hammond: It's, it's fun.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You know, they're there to have fun.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You ever been to a Trek- Trekker convention?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I have not.

Scott Hammond: Super nerdy, man. So much fun. Yeah, no, the, the, I have friends that, um, that have been that, and um, you know, I just, I'm so resisting right now saying L- you know, "Jim, I am your father." I, I'll try not to say that.

Scott Hammond: Um, so yeah, I really like that, and you've had some actors from Star Wars.

Scott Hammond: Some of the-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … some of the Ewok folks.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Kevin Thompson.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So he was one of the-

Scott Hammond: Nice guy, right?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … yeah, original, he was the Ewok. I think he played 20 roles-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … in, yeah, Return of the Jedi. Super nice guy. I had a magical like 15-minute conversation with him-

Scott Hammond: Hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … about some of the rigging-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … that he, he was involved in and some of the stunt work that he did, and he was telling me how they were swinging him on this rope. And I said, "You know, that was really well done," and that was a while ago.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: He's like, and he told me how they did it, and I was like, "Oh, that's amazing."

Scott Hammond: Was that up at Smith River where they, they did-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, I don't

Scott Hammond: … the Ewok village?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Well-

Scott Hammond: Probably some of it was stage, stage stuff, but-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You know, you had Cassandra-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … on. Uh-

Scott Hammond: She'll know

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … Hasseltine. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: She would know, and uh, I think that the grove where that all happened was one that was slated to be clear-cut-

Scott Hammond: Huh

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … right after that.

Scott Hammond: Interesting.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But Cheatham Grove is where they did the speeder bike stuff.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, and I, two years ago, I, I shot a, a, a BBC thing in there.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It was fun. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I bet.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It, it was neat, like doing drone. I was a, a drone cinematographer, so I was flying through there, and I'm like, "Boy, this is a iconic place."

Scott Hammond: Is that Jed Smith?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No. It's down south.

Scott Hammond: Oh, it's south?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Cheatham Grove. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Like, like Humboldt Redwoods or-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … why didn't that-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: In that area. Yep.

Scott Hammond: Oh, I figured it all Smith River.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I think it's, boy, I could be wrong on this. Uh, out on, like sort of out on the 36, just very early-

Scott Hammond: Oh, okay

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … on the 36. I, I could be wrong on that, but it's in that area.

Scott Hammond: So you do this again on May, May the Fourth Be With You in-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … next year?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: We don't, we don't do the event on May the 4th because, and as Cassandra explained, it's like, well, then we'd get none of the costumers

Jim Campbell-Spickler: here.

Scott Hammond: Right.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So we pick a date later that's, uh, uh, positioned-

Scott Hammond: Right

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … perfectly, like before the holiday.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, so.

Scott Hammond: Gives them another chance to show up-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … in costume.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. And they really, the costumers really love it.

Scott Hammond: Oh, the Boba-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Because-

Scott Hammond: Boba Fett guy's great.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh yeah. And they get to keep, be on the skywalk. And so after the event, we do a little after-hours little party for them, spend 45 minutes up on the skywalk as the movie's playing in the park.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And they just are up there, and they just love it, so.

Scott Hammond: Just digging it.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, just digging it, yeah.

Scott Hammond: In their element.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Totally in their element. I like, my favor- I don't recall the gentleman's name, but he's, he's the Wookiee, and he's the Darth Vader guy.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: He is this very tall man. And um, and then when he puts on the Wookiee costume, I think he puts on six-inch

Jim Campbell-Spickler: heels.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Such the nicest guy though, but he-

Scott Hammond: The guy that actually played it in the movie?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No.

Scott Hammond: Oh, this is-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No

Scott Hammond: … a local that-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So my understanding is these, these costumers are, they are not hired-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … by Lucas, but they are somehow, their, their activities are sanctioned by Lucas because they're part of an official club.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So they operate-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … under very strict, um, intellectual property rules.

Scott Hammond: Sure.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But he is one of the guys that's permitted to, to do this, to be this character.

Scott Hammond: Is, is a local, local resident?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No, no.

Scott Hammond: But he goes on tour.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's pretty cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Yeah, they're part of… I can't remember the,

Jim Campbell-Spickler: the name.

Scott Hammond: Does he make Wookiee sounds? Do the whole, "Er"!

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh yeah, yeah. He's good at it, too.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: So I did that just very light Wookiee.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: "Er, er." Hear that, Nick?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I love it, man. So yeah, way to take the zoo to the next level.

Scott Hammond: Thank you.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Yeah, we've got so many cool things going on. Like, yeah, I came, came to you a little bit dirty today just 'cause I was-

Scott Hammond: No, it feels great

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … you know? Yeah. Project manager and playing with new goats and

Jim Campbell-Spickler: yeah.

Scott Hammond: Up in trees and stuff.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Uh, so if you're just joining us, it's my new friend, Jim Campbell-Spickler. And, uh, he's, uh, the director of the zoo, and he does 1,000 things. Hey, the portion of the show. Lucky for you, I brought my cowbell.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: All right.

Scott Hammond: Well, it's a hotel cowbell. And, uh, this is the part where you can actually win a fabulous prize.

Scott Hammond: And today-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yes

Scott Hammond: Probably a tree climber likes coffee, right?

Scott Hammond: So-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, I love coffee

Scott Hammond: … little bit of Dutch Bros.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Don't get carried away. You haven't won it yet.

Scott Hammond: You gotta-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay. Well, I'm gonna win

Scott Hammond: … you gotta earn the- I'm gonna win. You gotta earn this, man.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I'm a competitor. All right.

Scott Hammond: All right, question number one.

Scott Hammond: Jim, for 10 points, where do you go for a hike? And you can stay in Humboldt County. It's a day hike. It's within four hours, give or take, and where would you, where would you go, what would you do, and who would you go with?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Where do I go, or where would I recommend somebody to go?

Scott Hammond: Uh, let's do both.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay. Where do I go? I go into the Redwood Experimental Forest.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It is a f- a grove that is not accessible to the public in general.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But it happens to be my backyard.

Scott Hammond: Ah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I have a, a small ranch up in Klamath.

Scott Hammond: Very nice.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That's my, my paradise. So I like-

Scott Hammond: Like up, up the river somewhere?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, it's, uh, in the Redwood, um, it's Redwood Drive, that area, so by Hunter Creek, that area.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. So that's-

Scott Hammond: We-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … my favorite place to go

Scott Hammond: … can be there every day?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No. We also have a house in McKinleyville, but this is a, a property that my wife and I bought 10 years ago. It's our retirement property.

Scott Hammond: Far out.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I just got it a little early because I couldn't help myself.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I love it-

Scott Hammond: Ah

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … that much.

Scott Hammond: It's that nice.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's that nice. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Well, that's nice up there.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's the place where I, it's where I see myself retiring.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I got another good 10 years left, but-

Scott Hammond: How, how many acres do you have?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's about eight.

Scott Hammond: Cool. Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, and it's right in the corner adjacent to old growth. Uh, the whole eastern boundary is a, a creek.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's neat.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. It's really-

Scott Hammond: So hike, hike away.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Hike away.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Don't see a soul up there.

Scott Hammond: What do you recommend we go hiking?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, any-

Scott Hammond: We can't go to your house to-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I like, I like Prairie Creek. James Irvine Trail, which is the trail that will take you down to, um, Fern Canyon. That's a great forest. But really any of those trails in that area, just start out at the meadow and start walking.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, love that area.

Scott Hammond: I lived up here and worked at Cox Cable when, um, the gentleman and his wife were attacked by the mountain lion.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, I remember that.

Scott Hammond: On Discovery Channel.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh my gosh.

Scott Hammond: Mr. Hamm, H-A-M-M.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Wow.

Scott Hammond: They interviewed him, and, uh, it was heroic. It was, he was a, she was the-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: She was the one that battled the cat, right?

Scott Hammond: She was a ba- she was a badass. She-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … she grabbed a pen and stabbed the cat.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And, uh, they were a mess when they got to, uh, the Davison Road.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah. I heard he was pretty mauled, right?

Scott Hammond: Oh, I, I met him-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Got him, got him in the head

Scott Hammond: … at, at Starbucks, uh-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … a year later, and he'd, he'd been all over.

Scott Hammond: And, um, hi- his, his forehead was really peeled back. It was quite scarred all the way-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … kind of like a Darth Vader, you know, damage.

Scott Hammond: But he was, what a sweetheart.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And you know, "My wife, she saved me, man." And it was just a-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Amazing.

Scott Hammond: … cool story. And kind of one-off. It was a hungry cat-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … a, a youth and anyway, so, uh …

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I've, I've had a couple scary cat experiences, too.

Scott Hammond: Well, especially-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … where, up where you would be, right?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Well, I was up in Washington on the Olympic Peninsula.

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: A guy, a cat wouldn't come at me, and it was, it was toe-to-toe-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … from me to you, that distance.

Scott Hammond: Like a cougar?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, yeah. Young guy.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Middle of the night, was, uh, going up the Hoh Rain Valley on the Olympic Peninsula, going to climb Mount Olympus.

Scott Hammond: Hiking in the middle of the night?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Well, because we, we wanted to, wanted to get to the blue glacier and do the ascent during the, when the ice was still set up 'cause we're clo- crossing the glacier.

Scott Hammond: Oh, I see.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So, you know, you wanna make sure that it's cold.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty rad.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Well, walking down the trail, and I look over with a headlamp and I see eyes- … and my buddy's behind me.

Scott Hammond: Whoa.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And I stop, and I turn square my shoulders to the cat, and he comes straight at me and gets from me to you and, and pounces on my

Jim Campbell-Spickler: buddy. Uh, he walks up, "Hey, what's going on?" And I said, "Big cat." And then I, I walked behind him, and he saw the cat, and he goes, "Oh, I see how it is." But he had his guide axe on the back of his backpack.

Scott Hammond: Oh, good.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So I pulled off the ice axe, and I said, "Walk down the trail," and went back to back with him. And I just had that axe up, and that cat just watched me the whole way, and it, it really from me to you.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It was-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … it was, it was bizarre.

Scott Hammond: Pretty weird.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Nature gets real.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It does get real.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It's, it's about as real as it as it gets. Question number two.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Okay.

Scott Hammond: For all the beans. Um, s- so it's, this is not a sardine meal. This is wherever you wanna go with your, uh, with your better half.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Mm-hmm.

Scott Hammond: Where, where would you go, uh, out to dinner? Um, I'm, I'm writing a check.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, out to dinner? I love Tomo's.

Scott Hammond: Tomo's? Good. Arcata?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Tomo's. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I guess there's just one now, right?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I think so.

Scott Hammond: I think she had, actually, she had, Fukiko had three at one time.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Did she? Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, the one in, um, whatever it is now, Hana or whatever, the, coming into Eureka was-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: What's y- what's your favorite restaurant?

Scott Hammond: Uh, well, uh, it's 44 years tomorrow for Joni and I.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: And we'll be, uh, dining with Paul up at Laripen.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Laripen. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: With our friends, uh, Peter and Sarah Starr. Hi, Peter and Sarah. Um, I'd have to say favorite. I mean, it, it's kind of iconic. It's just never a bad meal there, but-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Mm-hmm

Scott Hammond: … um, we've had, yeah, there's a lot of good food if you'll look for it.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know, um, Los Bagels does a good job.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: You know, Remotes. I mean, I just saw Barrett today, and they're, they have iconic coffee and two doors down, uh, Brick and Fire.

Scott Hammond: I, that's-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Brick and Fire

Scott Hammond: … pretty darn good.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That's a good one. Have you had sushi on the rooftop yet, that place?

Scott Hammond: I did. Funny story. I was walking, and, um, I c- I called in, and they said, "Yeah." It was, it was, uh, like their gala night. And I, I came to the door, and they go, um, "Is your name on the list?" I go, "It, the guy, it's Hamm. Look, I, I think so." He goes, "It's not here." I go, "What are you…" Uh, and I didn't throw a fit. I wasn't that guy.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I go, "Really?" I… He goes, "Just go."

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Nice.

Scott Hammond: And so we got to go up there, and yeah, it's pretty tasty.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. I like it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. And the view is to die for.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: It's a great view up there.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: If you're gonna go outside, always have a jacket.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Well, that's the rule of Humboldt.

Scott Hammond: I mean-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, absolutely

Scott Hammond: … I got a jacket in the studio, and it's 87 degrees.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Okay, question number three.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Um, what would you do, uh, with an entire day off? Um, money's not a consideration. You got 9:00 AM to 9:00 PM, you do your thing. What, what would you do in… I guess I have to make it have context.

Scott Hammond: In Humboldt.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yes.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um, I would probably maybe go surfing or not doing as much rock climbing these days, but I really like doing yard work.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And that's kind of one of the things that's my, my therapy.

Scott Hammond: Oh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: If I'm feeling stressed, I just, I just love working in the yard, just making it pretty. I love my plants. Although I'm a wildlife biologist, I really do appreciate botany. So I don't know, that's my, my happy place is, is working up on my, my eight acres in Klamath or, or in McKinleyville.

Scott Hammond: What do you grow in, in both? Do- I mean, McKinleyville, I always think it's kinda limited, but we're in

Scott Hammond: Dowsbury-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … so.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Do you wanna grow stuff? It comes out… Tomatoes don't usually make it.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: No, no tomatoes.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: We have a special place in our front yard that's, um, adjacent to these white south-facing walls, that we can do peppers.

Scott Hammond: Oh, cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So that's a thing we're doing this year. My wife really loves edible landscapes.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So we have a bunch of different, um, weird berries, goumis. Um, I think we have eight different blueberries-

Scott Hammond: Oh, wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … and we just get a great harvest on our blueberries.

Scott Hammond: Love blueberries.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um, up in Klamath, we have a nice garden.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Uh, she has had, I think, 40 fruit trees. I think the elk have- … knocked those down to 30.

Scott Hammond: Wow. Yeah, right.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. We've never had elk problems up there, but this last year, for some reason, they just came down and just-

Scott Hammond: It seems like they're everywhere.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, but in our little valley, we just hadn't had problems, and we were yet to get our fence up. But there's three young bucks that are coming through, and they just racked the trees.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I had, um, a really… There's a couple fruit trees I like.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Loquats.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Had three of them. One I'd had grown in a pot for 20 years.

Scott Hammond: This is-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And they killed it.

Scott Hammond: This is had, past tense.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Had. I had a loquat. It's this b- the, uh, variety was Big Jim. It was a beautiful loquat. They killed it.

Scott Hammond: Wow. It's gone.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Gone. Oh, those elk.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Those elk are tasty, I'm just saying.

Scott Hammond: So your s- your day would at least start with gardening, or-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I think so. Yeah

Scott Hammond: Would it be all gardening?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It starts with coffee. Does your day start with coffee?

Scott Hammond: Usually does, yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yes, sir.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So definitely gonna start with coffees. Maybe on the weekends I might even have a little bit of Bailey's in that coffee.

Scott Hammond: Oh, that's… There you go. Give it a little flavor.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: A little bit. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. It tastes good.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Bailey's is d- delicious.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Maybe take the, my dog for a walk.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: My wonderful dog, Sarah.

Scott Hammond: What kind of dog you got?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: She's a dachshund.

Scott Hammond: Ah, cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: S-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Spirited little monster

Scott Hammond: … smart.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: We have a, a Welsh corgi.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Cardigan corgi with a big tail.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Ooh, I love it. Corgis are cool.

Scott Hammond: 15 years old.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: I could stand right behind that dog and she can't hear a darn thing.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: You know, we, um-

Scott Hammond: Deaf as a bag of nails

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … just last week we lost our, uh, we had another doxie.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: She was going on 17.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Just lost her.

Scott Hammond: That's pretty old.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But like you said, couldn't hear a thing.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Lost her hearing.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Good dog. Raised our family.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Better job than me. Just kidding.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Love the dog.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no, she's part of the dog.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Part of the family.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Anything else in that day off that you wanna…

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Well, I try not to work, but I always seem to find a way to get on the phone. Um, even some days, on my days off, I like to go by the zoo and just, just be a visitor.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Still love that place.

Scott Hammond: That's really cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: See, that's a good job, a job where you-

Scott Hammond: Just wanna show up

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … when y- yeah, when you're, it's-

Scott Hammond: Nice

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … it's not a, it's not a, a hardship to get up and make it there every day. Every day is just so fun. The staff is so amazing there.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And our, our animal family is just… I don't know, I like it. There's just a good energy there.

Scott Hammond: That's cool, man.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. So-

Scott Hammond: Well, there's-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: I try not to work, but, uh, yeah, I might. I, I haven't been surfing as much. I, you bring it up, I was like, "Man, this is the time of year I'd, I'd like to go surf. I might do that."

Scott Hammond: There's a little surf out there.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: At least there's surf in San Diego.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Oh, the quote, "Find a, find a job you love and you'll never have to work another

Scott Hammond: day."

Jim Campbell-Spickler: That's right. Love it.

Scott Hammond: Yeah. Where do you surf?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Um, well, one of my favorite breaks is actually right up in Klamath-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … just north of Trees and Mystery. It's, uh, False Klamath they call it.

Scott Hammond: Hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Or Wilson Creek.

Scott Hammond: You have to go over the, over the hill to get there?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Nope.

Scott Hammond: Oh, it's-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It's right at the bottom of the hill.

Scott Hammond: Oh, where the pond is?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: By rocks. Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Right there. Yeah, it doesn't always work, but when it does, there's hardly anybody that's ever there, and it's, it's a really fun little, like, pseudo point, little beach break, little, uh, sandbar.

Scott Hammond: Nice.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Love that spot. Or, um, anywhere. Moonstone, Fifth Avenue, those places.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Our date night has become, uh, scenic drive.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, I love that. That drive.

Scott Hammond: We break open the van and, and the goodies and just watch people surf. And one day there was a guy with a, um, he was a paraglider, or whatever that is.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: He ran, and he jumped off a perfectly good cliff, and would float down to Moonst- to, to, uh, Camel.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Right off there? He jumped off there? That's crazy.

Scott Hammond: And then go back up the steps. And he did it, like, four times. And I'm going, I'm filming this guy. I go, "This guy's

Scott Hammond: crazy."

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Totally crazy.

Scott Hammond: It's like… But he would get this long run and just, like, go for it, and it's like, oh, he's g- oh, you know he's gonna die. And he didn't die.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Oh, that's good.

Scott Hammond: Yeah, that was… We're glad that he didn't die, by the way. Well, hey, uh, great having you.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah.

Scott Hammond: Any-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Thanks for having me.

Scott Hammond: Oh, let's, let's get a hold of you and, and sponsor and pay money and donate. How do we get a hold of y'all and make sure that, uh, if we wanna participate-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … joyfully with our, um, our resources, we could do that with the zoo, or?

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Check out our brand-new website.

Scott Hammond: Okay.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So we are the Sequoia Park Zoo, but our web address is redwoodzoo.org.

Scott Hammond: Oh, good one.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. It's a little bit easier to spell than Sequoia.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And it turns out that that matters.

Scott Hammond: It…

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So-

Scott Hammond: It really does

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … check out our new website. You can, um, sign up for our newsletter. We've also got a Donate tab on there, and you can see the different funds that we have at the Humboldt Area Foundation. You can give directly through that portal.

Scott Hammond: Love it.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And, um, come by and visit.

Scott Hammond: That'd be the big-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah

Scott Hammond: … big thing.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Just come by and check it out.

Scott Hammond: Yeah.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. We're- We got a couple cool things coming up. We're just finishing, uh, the, the remodel on our red panda habitat.

Scott Hammond: Right, read about that.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. And you may have heard about our new bear, Yi Shang. She's very popular right now.

Scott Hammond: Mm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But little secret I'll tell you is we have another bear.

Scott Hammond: Oh, sweet.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. He has- doesn't have a name yet, but he's a little, uh, one-year-old. He's about a, mmm, 16 months now.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: He's a, a little blonde bear. He's, he's handsome, but he's brand new.

Scott Hammond: Huh.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: We just got two new goats.

Scott Hammond: So we could go see those guys tom-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah, not, not tomorrow. Um, some of the animals I'm telling you about are

Jim Campbell-Spickler: very new-

Scott Hammond: Oh

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … additions to our family. We also now, um, have six spider monkeys.

Scott Hammond: Cool.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: So we've welcomed back, um, Sprite-

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … who is the daughter to our old gal monkey. Her name is Candy.

Scott Hammond: Wow.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: She, I think, is 57 now.

Scott Hammond: Crazy.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: And her 30-year-old daughter returns to us-

Scott Hammond: Wow

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … from another zoo, so she's made her way back here.

Scott Hammond: Mm-hmm.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: But, um, it's, so it's, it's just a fun time at the zoo right now, and we've got a lot of other projects that are coming up, and we're just, we're stoked. It's a fun time.

Scott Hammond: It sounds like it, it is time.

Scott Hammond: Hey.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: All right.

Scott Hammond: Winner, winner, chicken dinner.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Right on.

Scott Hammond: Enjoy that coffee.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: All right on.

Scott Hammond: So, and, uh-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: We didn't get to play our AI game. Maybe that was-

Scott Hammond: Well, AI-

Jim Campbell-Spickler: It got my name wrong

Scott Hammond: … AI, yeah, that was enough. AI, I think AI just flunked on that today.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Right.

Scott Hammond: So, uh, thanks for being here.

Jim Campbell-Spickler: Yeah. Well, thanks for-

Scott Hammond: Appreciate it. Yeah

Jim Campbell-Spickler: … thanks for having me. We've been trying to do this a while, so, uh-

Scott Hammond: Yeah, no. Thanks, thanks for, for being had.

Scott Hammond: Um, so, hey, if you're, uh, wanting to donate to our cause, you can do that now. We have a little, uh, button on our Buzzsprout site. And, uh, if you wanna review or say something nice, uh, you're welcome to. Uh, we, uh, we put everybody in the hat for a drawing. So, um, wanna thank Dick Taylor Chocolates and of course Dutch Bros, and, uh, my main man Nick, uh, Growing Pains. He's amazing. And, uh, if you, uh, wanna join us next time, we'd love that. Scott Hammond, 100% Humboldt. Make it a great day.