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 friends

When: Saturday, April 19, 9am to approx. noon

Where: 19th St/Oakland Station

Click here to RSVP on Eventbrite – This event is free to attend. Just pay your BART fare!

Meet Bay Area Wildlife author Jeff Miller as he and his conservationist pals take us on a four-mile guided nature walk around Lake Merritt that will begin and end at 19th St. Station in Oakland.

Lake Merritt is a natural jewel woven into the urban fabric of Oakland, and Jeff will tell us all about the flora and fauna that call the lake home. We’ll likely see herons, egrets, coast live oaks, lady beetles, free-floating phytoplankton, and so much more, on this leisurely paced walk on the paved section of the lake path.

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 his books.

We will gather in the non-paid area of the 19th St. Station concourse near exit A2 by the station agent booth (Broadway/Thomas L. Berkeley Way). Look for BART staff holding One Book One BART signage. Find a map of the station here.

Bike Ride and Birdwatching

When: Saturday, April 26, 10am to approx. 1pm

Where: North Berkeley Station

Click here to RSVP on Eventbrite – This event is free to attend. Just pay your BART fare!

Heath Maddox, BART Manager of Bicycle and Micromobility Access Programs, and local birdwatchers will host a ~15-mile roundtrip bike ride with birdwatching stops along the way. This is an easy bike ride on mostly paved surfaces that is suitable for all skill levels. Find the route – which is subject to change – here.

We’ll meet at North Berkeley Station and bike to the Aquatic Park North Trailhead. Birdwatching spots will include the wetlands overlook at Codornices Creek, the mudflats of Point Isabel, and additional stops along the Bay Trail toward El Cerrito. At the end of the ride, we’ll gather for an optional group lunch at Seabreeze Cafe – pack a lunch or enjoy the cafe’s food and drink offerings. After lunch, we’ll ride back to the station and say our farewells.

In addition to the expertise of local birdwatchers, we’ll have a digital guide with info on birds we might spot on the ride.

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.). This is a social pace, no-drop ride, and we can offer some assistance with trailside repair if needed, but we can’t anticipate all wheel and tire sizes.

We will gather outside the North Berkeley Station entrance near the intersection of Virginia and Sacramento streets. Look for people with bikes and BART staff holding One Book One BART signage.

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

Click here to RSVP on Eventbrite – This event is free to attend. Just pay your BART fare! Because the expedition takes place in the first car of a moving, in-service train, capacity is limited to 70 participants. You must RSVP to secure your place.

"Bay Area Wildlife" illustrator and acclaimed poet-naturalist Obi Kaufmann takes the public on a first-of-its-kind BART Train Expedition!

We’ll put on our explorer hats for a family-friendly ride on a moving, in-service passenger train as Kaufmann regales us with stories about the natural history of the East Bay’s mosaicked, ecological landscape through the windows of a Yellow Line train. The experience will take us on a journey through “deep time” as Obi teaches us about the area’s ecosystems, water, fire, infrastructure, volcanic history, trees, and more. All while on a moving train!

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.

We will gather in the unpaid concourse area of Pleasant Hill/City Centre Station near the intersection of Sunne Lane and Coggins Drive (near the Add Fare machines). Look for BART staff with One Book One BART signage.

The ride will start at Pleasant Hill/City Centre. Arrive no later than noon as the train, which is in-service, will depart at approx. 12:20pm. We will be riding in the first car. The BART ride is approximately 30 minutes. After disembarking at 12th St., Obi will lead us to City Hall Plaza, where the expedition will conclude in front of some historic trees.

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.”