Short biography

Naturalist, educator and artist John (Jack) Muir Laws delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with others.  Laws has worked as an environmental educator for over 25 years in California, Wyoming, and Alaska.  He teaches classes on natural history, conservation biology, scientific illustration, and field sketching. He is trained as a wildlife biologist and is an associate of the California Academy of Sciences. In 2009, he received the Terwilliger Environmental Award for outstanding  service in Environmental Education.
Laws has written and il lusted books about the natural history of California including Sierra Birds: a Hiker's Guide (2004), The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada (2007), and The Laws Pocket Guide Set to the San Francisco Bay Area (2009). He is a regular contributor to Bay Nature magazine with his "Naturalists Notebook" column. His illustrations are informed by extensive field experience and capture the feeling of the living plant or animal, while also including details critical for identification.
Laws is deeply committed to stewardship of nature and collaborates with organizations throughout the state. He initiated Following Muir's Footsteps, an educational program to engender passionate love of nature, personal understanding of natural history and commitment to stewardship. This program gets students out in the field, learning from their own observations and using field guides and nature journals as the basis for discovering nature around them. As a part of this project, he is working secure funding to donate sets of field guides to every middle and high school in the Sierra Nevada.

Program descriptions for public lectures

Finding Connection in Nature: The Coast Range of California

John Muir said “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe”. Join us for an exciting evening of appreciation of some of the most astounding and unappreciated species of the Coast Range. In this illustrated lecture, John (Jack) Muir Laws (no relation to the other John Muir) will help us follow a series of astounding relationships between plants and animals from coastal California. You will be delighted and amazed by the subtle and essential threads that connect species. You can find many of these species on a hike with your friends or family and share the stories with them. Jack will also discuss some of the conservation challenges in the region and what stewards of nature are doing to confront them. Whether you’re a botanist, birder or hiker, don’t miss this great opportunity to enrich your next exploration along the coast!

Jack delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with others.  Laws has worked as an environmental educator for over 25 years in California, Wyoming, and Alaska.  He teaches classes on natural history, conservation biology, scientific illustration, and field sketching. He is trained as a wildlife biologist and is an associate of the California Academy of Sciences. In 2009, he received the Terwilliger Environmental Award for outstanding  service in Environmental Education. He has written and illustrated books about the natural history of California including Sierra Birds: a Hiker's Guide (2004), The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada (2007), and The Laws Pocket Guide Set to the San Francisco Bay Area (2009). He is a regular contributor to Bay Nature magazine with his "Naturalists Notebook" column. His illustrations are informed by extensive field experience and capture the feeling of the living plant or animal, while also including details critical for identification. Jack is deeply committed to stewardship of nature and collaborates with organizations throughout the state. He initiated Following Muir's Footsteps, an educational program to engender passionate love of nature, personal understanding of natural history and commitment to stewardship. This program gets students out in the field, learning from their own observations and using field guides and nature journals as the basis for discovering nature around them. As a part of this project, he is working secure funding to donate sets of field guides to every middle and high school in the Sierra Nevada.

Finding Connection in Nature: Sierra

John Muir said “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe”. Join us for an exciting evening of appreciation of some of the most astounding and unappreciated species in the Sierra Nevada. In this illustrated lecture, John (Jack) Muir Laws (no relation to the other John Muir) will help us follow a series of astounding relationships between plants and animals in the Sierra Nevada. You will be delighted and amazed by the subtle and essential threads that connect species. You can find many of these species on a mountain hike with your friends or family and share the stories with them. Jack will also discuss some of the conservation challenges in the Sierra Nevada and what stewards of nature are doing to confront them. Whether you’re a botanist, birder or backpacker, don’t miss this great opportunity to enrich your next exploration of the Range of Light!

Jack delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with others.  Laws has worked as an environmental educator for over 25 years in California, Wyoming, and Alaska.  He teaches classes on natural history, conservation biology, scientific illustration, and field sketching. He is trained as a wildlife biologist and is an associate of the California Academy of Sciences. In 2009, he received the Terwilliger Environmental Award for outstanding  service in Environmental Education. He has written and illustrated books about the natural history of California including Sierra Birds: a Hiker's Guide (2004), The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada (2007), and The Laws Pocket Guide Set to the San Francisco Bay Area (2009). He is a regular contributor to Bay Nature magazine with his "Naturalists Notebook" column. His illustrations are informed by extensive field experience and capture the feeling of the living plant or animal, while also including details critical for identification. Jack is deeply committed to stewardship of nature and collaborates with organizations throughout the state. He initiated Following Muir's Footsteps, an educational program to engender passionate love of nature, personal understanding of natural history and commitment to stewardship. This program gets students out in the field, learning from their own observations and using field guides and nature journals as the basis for discovering nature around them. As a part of this project, he is working secure funding to donate sets of field guides to every middle and high school in the Sierra Nevada.

Exploring the Sierra Nevada: nature, art, and stewardship

For six years, John (Jack) Muir Laws backpacked the Sierra Nevada to research and illustrate The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada, a pocket size field guide to over 1,700 species found in the Sierra Nevada. The guide includes 2,710 original watercolor paintings was reviewed by educators, naturalists, and scientists throughout the country, and was intensively field tested by adults and youth. This guide helps visitors or residents of the Sierra understand and appreciate the biodiversity of the region. This comprehensive and easy to use guide allows botanists to identify the insects that come to their flowers, birders to identify the trees in which the birds perch, or hikers to identify the stars overhead at night.
Jack will present an illustrated lecture about the natural history of the Sierra Nevada, and the process of creating a field guide including the logistics and techniques for painting in the field, identification tips, and wonderful natural history stories. He will also discuss some of the conservation challenges in the Sierra Nevada and what stewards of nature are doing to confront them. Whether you’re a botanist, birder or backpacker, don’t miss this great opportunity to enrich your next exploration of the Range of Light!

Jack delights in exploring the natural world and sharing this love with others.  Laws has worked as an environmental educator for over 25 years in California, Wyoming, and Alaska.  He teaches classes on natural history, conservation biology, scientific illustration, and field sketching. He is trained as a wildlife biologist and is an associate of the California Academy of Sciences. In 2009, he received the Terwilliger Environmental Award for outstanding  service in Environmental Education. He has written and il lusted books about the natural history of California including Sierra Birds: a Hiker's Guide (2004), The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada (2007), and The Laws Pocket Guide Set to the San Francisco Bay Area (2009). He is a regular contributor to Bay Nature magazine with his "Naturalists Notebook" column. His illustrations are informed by extensive field experience and capture the feeling of the living plant or animal, while also including details critical for identification. Jack is deeply committed to stewardship of nature and collaborates with organizations throughout the state. He initiated Following Muir's Footsteps, an educational program to engender passionate love of nature, personal understanding of natural history and commitment to stewardship. This program gets students out in the field, learning from their own observations and using field guides and nature journals as the basis for discovering nature around them. As a part of this project, he is working secure funding to donate sets of field guides to every middle and high school in the Sierra Nevada.

Extended Biography

Naturalist, educator, artist, and author John (Jack) Muir Laws delights in exploring the natural word and sharing this love with others.  He has worked as an environmental educator for over 25 years in California, Wyoming, and Alaska. He has written and illustrated field guides on the natural history of California and teaches classes on natural history, conservation biology, scientific illustration, and field sketching.
Jack Laws interest in natural history and art developed as he started birding and keeping detailed illustrated journals. He began working in environmental education while in high school and college. While earning his B.S. at UC Berkeley in Conservation and Resource Studies, he worked as an interpretive aid at a regional park in Berkeley, worked summers at the Teton Science School and started leading adult education classes at the California Academy of Sciences.  He then served as a naturalist at Walker Creek environmental education center, where he refined techniques for incorporating field journaling into the science curriculum. After getting his Masters in Wildlife Biology at University of Montana, he returned to California Academy of Sciences as the senior environmental educator, then manager of field studies.   Most recently, he completed a degree in Scientific Illustration at the University of California at Santa Cruz and is now an Associate in the Research Division of the California Academy of Sciences. In 2009, he received the Terwilliger Environmental Award for outstanding  service in Environmental Education.
In the summer of 2004, Laws published Sierra Birds: a Hiker's Guide. His most recent book, The Laws Guide to the Sierra Nevada, is an illustrated field guide to more than 1,700 species of plants and animals and is beautifully illustrated with 2,710 original watercolor paintings. This comprehensive and easy to use guide allows botanists to identify the insects that come to their flowers, birders to identify the trees in which the birds perch, or hikers to identify the stars overhead at night. He has also published Sierra Birds: a Hiker's Guide (2004), and The Laws Pocket Guide Set to the San Francisco Bay Area (2009). He is a regular contributor to Bay Nature magazine with his "Naturalists Notebook" column. His illustrations are informed by extensive field experience and capture the feeling of the living plant or animal, while also including details critical for identification.
Laws is deeply committed to stewardship of nature and collaborates with organizations throughout the state. He initiated Following Muir's Footsteps, an educational program to engender passionate love of nature, personal understanding of natural history and commitment to stewardship. This program gets students out in the field, learning from their own observations and using field guides and nature journals as the basis for discovering nature around them. As a part of this project, he is working secure funding to donate sets of field guides to every middle and high school in the Sierra Nevada.