One Book One BART returns with a natural history-themed book and three outdoorsy events

Last Updated On Mar. 04, 2025

Welcome to the One Book One BART Spring 2025 homepage

Download the One Book One BART flyer to print and post here [pdf]

This year, the BART book club returns with a natural history-themed group read and three events (RSVP here) for nature lovers of all ages and interests.

The official selection is "Bay Area Wildlife: An Irreverent Guide” (Heyday Books), a humorous, informative guide to local fauna by naturalist and conservationist Jeff Miller. Miller wrote the book to connect readers with regional fauna and inspire people to witness the Bay Area’s magnificent natural phenomena for themselves.

Bay Area Wildlife Cover

BART will host three free events to inspire and encourage people to take BART to get outdoors: a guided nature walk from 19th St. Station to Lake Merritt with author Jeff Miller and friends (April 19); a bike and birdwatching ride with BART’s bike program access manager and local birdwatchers (April 26); and a first-of-its-kind BART Train Expedition (May 3) on an in-service BART train with Obi Kaufmann, who illustrated "Bay Area Wildlife."

Kaufmann also created three original paintings that feature wildlife found near BART. The works will soon be displayed in ad spaces across the BART system.

Events – Free and Open to the Public

Guided Nature Walk with Author Jeff Miller and Pals

When: Saturday, April 19

The first walk will leave the station at 9am. The walk from 19th to the Rotary Center will take approx. 45 - 60 minutes. RSVP for the first walk (9am) on Eventbrite here - Sold out. Waitlist only.
The second walk will leave the station at 11am. The walk from 19th St. to the Rotary Center will take approx. 45 - 60 minutes. RSVP for the second walk (11am) on Eventbrite here - Sold out. Waitlist only.

Where: 19th St/Oakland Station to the Rotary Nature Center

Itinerary subject to change.

Meet Bay Area Wildlife author Jeff Miller as he and some conservationist colleagues and local naturalists take us on a ~1.4-mile guided nature walk of Lake Merritt that will begin at 19th St. Station in Downtown Oakland.

Expect to see lots of water birds and an assortment of herons and egrets, maybe even some fish! The walk will end in front of the Rotary Nature Center on the lake, where participants will have the opportunity to rendezvous with and learn from local environmental organizations.

Wear comfy walking shoes, fill up your water bottle, and bring whatever else you may need for the walk. And don’t forget your copy of Bay Area Wildlife – Jeff will be signing books.

Bike Ride and Birdwatching

When: Saturday, April 26

Early short ride - Departs North Berkeley Station at 7:45am. The ride is approx. 8 miles roundtrip and will end at North Berkeley Station at approx. 9:45am. RSVP for the 7:45am short ride on Eventbrite.
Long late ride - Departs North Berkeley Station at 10am. The ride is approx. 15 miles roundtrip and will end back at North Berkeley at approx. 1pm. RSVP for the 10am long ride on Eventbrite - Sold out. Waitlist only.

Where: North Berkeley Station

Itinerary subject to change.

Heath Maddox, BART Manager of Bicycle and Micromobility Access Programs, and local birdwatchers will host two bike rides -- a shorter one for early birds and a later one for those looking for a longer ride -- with birdwatching stops along the way. The ride will start and end at North Berkeley Station.

In addition to the expertise of local birdwatchers, we’ll have a digital guide featuring info on birds we might spot on the ride. Find the short 7:45am route here and the long 10am route here.

Bring your bike, helmet, and binoculars – we’ll have extras on hand to lend. You should also bring anything you need to be self-sufficient and keep your bike rolling (spare tube, patch kit, pump, etc.). If you do not have a bike, you can rent one from the Bay Wheels hub at North Berkeley Station.

BART Train Expedition with Obi Kaufmann

When: Saturday, May 3, noon to approx. 1pm

Where: Pleasant Hill/City Centre Station to 12th St/Oakland Station

RSVP on Eventbrite

"Bay Area Wildlife" illustrator and acclaimed poet-naturalist Obi Kaufmann takes the public on a first-of-its-kind BART Train Expedition! The free, family-friendly ride on an in-service passenger train will take us on a journey through the East Bay’s mosaicked, ecological landscape – all through the windows of a Yellow Line train. During the ride, Kaufmann will transport us through “deep time” as he tells stories about the area’s ecosystems, water, fire, infrastructure, volcanic history, trees, and more.

At the end of the approx. 30-minute ride, we’ll disembark at 12th St./Oakland Station and walk with Obi to Frank Ogawa Plaza, where we’ll pay homage to the Town’s most famous oak tree.

Where to find the book

"Bay Area Wildlife" is available for purchase at many local bookstores, including our One Book One BART independent bookstore partners, who are offering 20% off the title when customers show their Clipper cards. All of our partners are within a mile of a BART station:

Banter Bookshop - Fremont Station

Bird and Beckett – Glen Park Station

Books on B - Hayward Station

Mrs. Dalloway’s - Rockridge Station

Orinda Books - Orinda Station

Spectator Books - MacArthur Station

Tally Ho! Books – MacArthur Station

You can also check the title out from local libraries – find BARTable’s roundup of libraries accessible by BART here – and on the digital app Hoopla.

Win a copy of "Bay Area Wildlife" + BART swag

BARTable will be running a sweepstakes for free copies of "Bay Area Wildlife" and other One Book One BART prizes on the BARTable Contests and Deals page. The sweepstakes will run from March 24 to March 30.

We'll also be running social media contests on BARTable’s Instagram.

Keep up with One Book One BART contest announcements by signing up for the book club mailing list (instructions at the top of this page) and the BARTable This Week newsletter.

A note from author Jeff Miller

"How cool that "Bay Area Wildlife" is the selection for this year’s BART book club, connecting Bay Area residents with our open spaces and wildlife neighbors. When you get outdoors to explore, definitely ditch the car and use public transit for your "Bay Area Wildlife" safaris. Our car-centric culture results in a disturbing toll of road-killed animals, fragmentation of wildlife habitat, and spewed emissions that are altering the climate to the point of impending species extinctions. How we move through the world also affects us and how we perceive our surroundings. Riding BART is a great way to do yourself and the planet a favor while connecting with our amazing bioregion."

- Jeff Miller, author of "Bay Area Wildlife"

Jeff Miller is an amateur naturalist, professional conservationist, and passionate advocate for wildlife. Jeff is the founder of the nonprofit Alameda Creek Alliance and has served as its executive director since 1997, working to restore steelhead trout and salmon to Alameda Creek and protect the Bay Area’s largest local watershed. He’s a senior conservation advocate with the Center for Biological Diversity, spearheading biodiversity protection campaigns throughout the Bay Area and California, preparing endangered species listing petitions, writing press releases, and doing public outreach and organizing around wildlife protection issues. Over the last quarter century, he has been involved in conservation efforts for dozens of the most iconic imperiled wildlife species in the Bay Area, the most recent being securing state protections for burrowing owls. Jeff says that loving nature is as important as fighting for it and grieving ecological destruction. People tend to care more about animals and places that they have a direct experience with, so he wrote “"Bay Area Wildlife": An Irreverent Guide” to try to connect readers with our regional fauna and inspire them to make a pilgrimage to witness the Bay Area’s spectacular natural phenomena.

Why does BART have a book club?

Reading while you ride has long been one of the great benefits of taking BART, and the Bay Area is home to an amazing legion of readers, writers, libraries, independent bookstores and publishers. With One Book One BART, we want to celebrate this region’s vibrant literary culture and encourage our reading riders to get on BART and get to know the region and the wealth of experiences accessible by transit.

As BART faces a significant financial crisis, we are experimenting with new and creative ways to engage community members and get people riding – and excited about – BART. Learn more about BART’s rider engagement efforts at bart.gov/fun.

BART launched One Book One BART in Spring 2022 with Hua Hsu’s Pulitzer-winning “Stay True.” In fall 2023, the book club read Oakland author Margaret Wilkerson Sexton’s “On the Rooftop.”