Meet Our Community: John Kehoe

Paige Combs - KCCB
4 hours ago
3 min read

As part of our seasonal spotlight series, we’re celebrating our incredible employees, partners, and volunteers who help make the work of Keep Coyote Creek Beautiful (KCCB) possible. In our Earth Day Blog, we talk about the ‘Ripple Effect’ and how all it takes is one person to inspire many to make a change in their community. Today we’re excited to introduce John, our BioBlitz volunteer who has a love for the diversity of life, the outdoors, and macro photography.

Role: Volunteer BioBlitz Docent

With KCCB: Several years!

Partner: Grassroots Ecology

Fun Facts 🌟

Happy place: All natural areas 🏞️
Unusual creek sightings: Aphids being parasitized 🦗
Favorite hobbies: Macro-photography 📸
Favorite place to eat: Vegan Foods, Vietnamese, Chinese 😋
Favorite color: Complementary Colors 🌈

When asked about his favorite happy place, John expressed, “Any of our natural areas where we can see critters and plant communities and where people can dive in. For example, my wife and I went to Henry Coe, Henry Cowell, and just yesterday we were up at Windy Hill Trail up in Portola Valley. That’s three very distinctive ecosystems that have very different plants and critters, and we love them all.”

How it All Started 🌱

John was interested in BioBlitzes and iNaturalist and became heavily involved in looking for local critters and plants. While he was attending these fun events, he noticed some names kept popping up: Michael Hawk and Merav Vonshak. He said, “I knew they were my kindred spirits.” At first he was participating, and next thing he knew, Deb was encouraging him to be a docent. In that experience, he engaged with other learners at these events and shared what he knew.

When asked about his favorite memory at an event, he shared, “At the Coyote Creek Visitor Center, there was a woman who wanted me to meet her son…he was a high school junior. John talked to the student about ecosystem health and restoration work…not long after, the student had a restoration project where he planted several live oaks. "I was just in awe…it wasn’t me by myself…it was the whole collaborative effort of KCCB,” John said.

Impact on the Community 🌎

Something that John reminisced about in his memories about this student was the impact these conversations, emotions, and events have on people as a collective. Through collective learning in these spaces, we leave impressions on each other and inspire people's journeys. Although these might appear to be singular events, they truly do create ripples throughout the universal community.

John said, “Even if he [the student] left the United States, I bet those oak trees are still doing great.”

As John identified, “there are so many distractions, it’s just too easy to sit at home,” so having people who have gifts of connecting others is essential.

The experience of going outside and volunteering at these events creates a neutral and organic space where people can learn more about the world and build a network of people with a variety of backgrounds.

Looking Ahead: The Future of KCCB ☀️🌳

John shared much of his own exciting work in environmental studies. He also discussed his role partnering with Grassroots Ecology. In his own work, he was able to catalyze the first natural restoration plot within the city of Sunnyvale. He had work session days where four high school students showed up because of a bulletin board post at the school.

He discussed the challenges of getting people involved, and how using the schools can sometimes be an opportunity to get young people involved. But participation in events can definitely pose a barrier, especially for youth.

John spoke of Deb, Merav, and Michael in admiration, reflecting on their abilities to grab the attention of communities and pull people together. Bringing individuals together, building community, and making a difference are important gifts that need to be shared.

Though there have been successes in bringing youth out through the schools, identifying a variety of spaces that can unlock doors to inspire people is important.

Final Thoughts ✨

The world is such a complex and vibrant place; there may be no perfect answer to all of the world’s problems, but finding ways to connect us within this web offers an array of opportunities.

John said, “I think we covered a lot of areas on many points, and each one of these points could be an individual deep dive which, I mean, that’s the beauty of nature. The more we look, the more we find. And when we add the mysteries of, say, looking at this little insect, now you have the complexities of the human perspective… we would be here all day.”