Welcome.  From an early age, my parents instilled in me a deep love of nature and an insatiable curiosity.  I have recorded many years of observations in illustrated field journals. In 2001 I began an ambitious project to create a new and fully illustrated guide to the natural history of the Sierra Nevada.  After six years of research, 2,710 original watercolor illustrations and over 1,700 species, the book is complete and The Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada is available either through contacting me (signed copy) or in bookstores near you.  I am now working to create a series of innovative field guides and to develop original programs and curricula  which explore,  explain, and advance the public understanding of biodiversity and its related science.  

I am currently coordinating the Sierra Nevada Classroom Project, using the field guide as the basis for writing biodiversity curricula that link to California’s science, math, language, and social studies standards.  I am also working to secure funding to donate sets of field guides to schools throughout the Sierra Nevada.  Please consider becoming a sponsor of this education project through the non-profit Heyday Institute. 

I also lecture and teach field sketching and illustration classes throughout the state.  You are invited to join me in any of these. I hope to see you in the field.

Read the January 13, 2008 review of the Laws Field Guide to the Sierra Nevada in the Washington Post (also syndicated in the Los Angles Times).

A virtual exhibit of my work is now on line at the Sierra Nevada Virtual Museum. Enter the site, click on “Galleries”, click on “Natural History”, scroll down to “Plants” and there it is.

Breaking News: A wolverine was photographed at the Sagehen Field Station on the morning of February 28, 2008. I can not tell you how thrilled I am that this heart of wildness stirs in the Sierra. To learn more, read the article on the Sacramento Bee. On March 13, 2008 the wolverine was photographed again!

 

Thank you,