CALENDAR OF EVENTS Native Here Nursery p. 5 Fridays, July 6, 13, 20, 27 and Aug 3, 10, 17, 24, 31, Native Here Nursery open 9 am -noon Saturdays, July 7, 14, 21, 28 and Aug 4, 11, 18, 25, nursery open 10 am - 1 pm Tuesdays, July 3, 10, 17, 24, 31 and Aug 7, 14, 21, 28, seed collection mornings Field Trips p. 2 Saturday, July 7, 2007, all day trip to Calaveras Big Trees State Park, meet at 11 am. Sunday, July 22, 2 pm. Bird Trail (Chabot Regional Park) Board Meeting Wednesday, August 1, 7:30 pm (see President's message below) Chapter picnic p. 6 Native Here Nursery clean-up party and annual potluck picnic for the East Bay Chapter of CNPS, Sunday, September 16, 2007, 10 am-3 pm. Native Here Nursery, 101 Golf Course Road (across from the Golf Course entrance) in Tilden Park, Berkeley PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE Summer is vacation for some CNPS activities, no July board meeting, no monthly membership meetings until fall, but it is a very active time for us in other ways. Field trips are planned throughout the summer. Committees will be meet- ing. E-mails will be circulating. Plant Fair planning has begun and lots of help will be needed. To volunteer, contact nativehere@ebcnps.org. A picnic is being planned for Sep- tember 16th, so mark your calendars and look for details in the September issue. The August meeting of the Chapter Board will be at 7:30 pm on August 1st at the Danielsens 1 , 10 Kerr Avenue, Kens- ington. The plant science programs will be featured with a presentation about the Priority Protection Areas that Heath and Lech have been working on. Members are welcome to attend this meeting. It's half way through the year, so time to start thinking about both chapter and statewide officer nominations. CNPS by-laws were recently revised to require that nomination petitions for statewide board members be endorsed by a chapter board or five members of CNPS. Some qualities that are sought to round out the state CNPS Board of Directors are experience in publishing, and in fund-raising. Chapter offices of President, Vice President, Treasurer, Correspond- ing Secretary and Recording Secretary are elected positions. A nominating committee will be named by September. Any member wishing to serve on that committee is urged to contact me through nativehere@cnps.org. Suggestions of people to nominate are also welcome. Committee chairs are still sought for Membership, Publicity, and Hospitality, positions currently open and appointed by the President. Contact me to find out more. Charli Danielsen, President Canyon gooseberry ( Ribes menziesii) fruit. Photo by Gregg Weber FIELD TRIPS IN JULY Saturday, July 7, 2007, 11 am: all day trip to Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Along with the big trees, there are lilies, orchids, harlequin lupines, and many other forest plants. Directions: get on Highway 4 east, either off 1-680 in Con- cord, or off 1-5 at Stockton. Take 4 to Angels Camp (it joins with 49 near Angels Camp) and then, in the center of Angels Camp, take a left staying on 4 (and leaving 49). Calaveras Big Trees State Park is about 20 miles from Angels Camp. Enter the park and park at the main lot near the North Trail (close to the entrance station). We will hike the North Trail, and then the South Trail (if it is open) and visit some other locations in the area. It takes about 3 hours to drive to the park from San Francisco. Please contact David Margolies (510-654-0283 (home), 510-393-1858 (cell), divaricatum@comcast.net) for more information. Sunday, July 22, 2 pm. Bird Trail (Chabot Regional Park) This short (about 1/2 mile, with insignificant elevation gain) trail is a botanically interesting transition zone between red- wood forest and mixed evergreen forest (mostly oak/bay). In summer, we should find scarlet monkey flower and vari- HUMBOLDT REDWOODS STATE PARK Most East Bay CNPS field trips are in the Bay Area, but sometimes we go father afield. On May 26, we had an all day trip to Humboldt Redwoods State Park and the Men- docino coast. Our main objective was the redwood lily, Lilium rubescens, which grows in great numbers along the Avenue of the Gi- ants in Humboldt Redwoods Park. It usually starts blooming around Memorial Day weekend. The trip was announced in the usual way, on our website and in the Bay Leaf, but we also got unexpected extra publicity: the San Francisco Chronicle has a what-to-do-this-weekend section called 96 Hours, included with the Thursday paper. Redwood lily ( Lilium rubescens), Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Photo by Will Chatfield-Taylor ous composites, while baneberry and other fruiting plants should be in fruit. We may see the rare (in the East Bay) Piperia elongata. Directions: in the East Bay, from the north, take 24 to 13 south. From the south, take 580 north to 13. From San Fran- cisco, take the Bay Bridge, staying to the right (but do not go to San Jose), and take 580 East, and then 24 East (towards Walnut Creek) and then 13 South. Once on 13, take the Redwood Road exit. On Redwood Road, go east (uphill). At the top of the hill you will cross Skyline Boulevard and then pass various equestrian facilities. Go down into the valley. About two miles from Skyline Boulevard, turn right into the MacDonald Staging Area parking lot. (It is a large lot and you cross a bridge over a creek; there is a small lot about 1/4 mile to the north which is not the correct place; if coming from the north you reach the entrance to Redwood Regional Park on the left, you have gone about 1/4 mile too far.) Please contact David Margolies (510-654-0283 or 510-393-1858 (cell), divaricatum@comcast.net) if you need further information. Janet Gawthrop TRIP REPORT On May 24, they featured our trip as the lead suggestion in the Outdoors section. This attracted several people not previously familiar with the CNPS or its programs. All in all, there were 14 people on the trip. We started at the Frank Lane Grove at the south end of the park. This was really a convenient meeting place rather than a floral hotspot. Most of the flowers present were early bloomers that had already gone to fruit, such as fairybells and trillium. There were stream violets (Viola glabella) in bloom and numerous ferns. Once everyone was assembled, we started up the avenue. The lilies had just started to bloom, so it took a while to find a Yellow globe lily ( Calochortus amabilis), Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Photo by Will Chatfield-Taylor 2 THE BAY LEAF July-August 2007 Woodland madia (Anisocarpus madioides), Humboldt Redwoods State Park. Photo by Will Chatfield-Taylor Cream cup ( Platystemon californica), MacKerricher State Park. Photo by Will Chatfield-Taylor good patch, but when we did, they were mixed with numer- ous other flowers which had recently come out. The lily is typically 3 to 6 feet tall, with whirled leaves and horizontal flowers which start our white and turn pink to red as they age. The illustration shows a single flower. Along with the lilies, we saw the local globe lily ( Calochortus amabilis, illus- trated), Indian pink (Silene californica), bead lily (Clintonia andrewsiana), milkwort ( Polygala , probably californica), and woodland tarweed (Anisocarpus madioides, formerly Madia madioides, illustrated), among others. We then went further up the avenue for lunch in the Federa- tion Grove. This grove, purchased with donations collected by women's clubs throughout California (the formal name is the California Federation of Women's Clubs Grove) has a beautiful picnic area with the fireplace designed by Julia Morgan. In the area is a particularly fine albino redwood sprout. Redwoods are unusual among conifers in that they stump sprout: shoots separate from the main trunk spring up from the root crown. Occasionally, the shoot has a mu- tation that prevents it from producing chlorophyll. These shoots have pure white needles. The shoot could not live independently, of course, because it is unable to produce food, but they survive connected to the parent tree. Most albino shoots are just a foot or two tall. The one we saw was unusually large, about 15 feet tall. (It is no good taking a sprig of needles home to show off. They dry brown just like green needles.) Our last stop in Humboldt Park was in the Rockefeller for- est, at about 10,000 acres, one of the largest virgin stands of redwoods remaining. We were looking for phantom orchids (Cephalanthera austiniae). We did find two, but unfortunately still in bud. We then drove to the Mendocino coast, to MacKerricher State Park. This park, just north of Fort Bragg, has lovely coastal bluffs and beaches. It was high tide, so we could not do much tidepooling, but the flowers on the bluff were out in force. There were baby blue eyes (Nemophila menziesii), California buttercups ( Ranunculus califomicus), cream cups (Platystemon califomicus, illustrated), sea thrift (Armeria maritima), dwarf brodiaea (Brodiaea terrestris, illustrated), and the very striking bicolored lotus (Lotus formosissimus). Our final stop was the pygmy forest in Van Damme State Park, just south of the village of Little River. Because of the odd soil configuration (with impervious hardpan just a few feet below ground), the soil at ground level is almost utterly devoid of nutrients. Plants, mostly rhododendron (Rhododen- dron macrophyllum), pygmy cypress (Cupressus goveniana ssp. pigmaea) , and Bolander pine (Pinus contorta ssp. b olanderi) are all stunted, with 100-year old specimens often being just three or four feet high with trunks you can easily grasp with your hand. There are not many flowers in that environment, but we did see a special one: the rare coast lily (Lilium mari- timum). It was a fine ending for a successful trip. The pictures were all taken by Will Chatfield-Taylor, who is a biology and mathematics student at the University of Kansas. You may see many of his nature photographs (of birds, animals, and insects as well as plants) on his website at www.livingworldphotography.net. David Margolies Dwarf brodiaea (Brodieae terrestris), MacKerricher State Park. Photo by Will Chatfield-Taylor THE BAY LEAF July-August 2007 3 CHAPTER COUNCIL MEETING As your delegate to the chapter council I am learning how CNPS governs itself, about current projects and future plans. Here is what I found notable: CNPS will co-host a scientific conference with the Wildlife Society in Sacramento in spring 2009— a major undertak- ing that will take a lot of work. It will be part of the CNPS education program, and will be semi-annual or perhaps every 3 years. The cnps.org website has been improved, now you can join or donate with a click. There are hundreds of environmental bills being processed in the State legislature. Summer is the time when a few survive, with heavy lobbying by all concerned. To find out where CNPS stands on a few, go to CNPS.org and click “Conservation" on the top bar. Then click on "Legislative Activities" on the quick link. Of major concern is The Off-Road Vehicle Bill SB 742. The en- vironmental groups are opposed as there is no obligation to restore damaged areas. Our state office now has four full time staff members, includ- ing a new development director— Melissa Cirone (mcirone@ cnps.org. should you want to contribute). Our executive director, Amanda Jorgensen, announced a generous bequest of $80,000 from the trust of Jeffrey Burley of the Santa Monica chapter. The training workshops have been a huge success, and more are planned. The CNPS Policies for herbicide use and integrated weed management are being worked out— check out the cnps. org website, click conservation, then a quick link to CNPS Policies and Guidelines for standing policies. Charli Danielsen is the Chapter Council representative to the CNPS Board of Directors, so if you would like bring an item to the attention of the state BoD, please contact Charli or me. Delia Taylor, East Bay Chapter Council representative. GRANT AWARDED FOR EBCNPS VEGETATION SCIENCE EBCNPS is honored to have been awarded a $4,000 grant by the Rose Foundation to aid the chapter in its conservation activity. The newly formed, extremely energetic fundraising committee put together an outstanding application for a grant that will offset expenses for printing, distribution, and completion of the project described below. In the last two months the fundraising committee has raised about $30,000 for conservation related chapter activity. Our goal is to produce a set of science-based maps that de- lineate soil, geological, and habitat areas which are known to give rise to rare, endangered, and otherwise unique plants and communities in the two county area. The project has been initiated to identify, map and prioritize the rare plant com- munities and significant habitats that are most threatened in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. These maps and report will be used as an educational tool to inform the planners and decision makers about conservation priorities. We are looking for a volunteer who may be interested in help- ing with some editorial aspects of the project deliverables. If interested, please contact Lech Naumovich at conservation© ebcnps.org. Please visit our grantors and see the wonderful work they're supporting at: www.rosefdn.org. Lech Naumovich Chapter Conservation Analyst REQUEST FOR PHOTOS OF PLANTS IN Over the next few months I want to develop a cooperative online photo gallery documenting plants found in the Clare- mont Canyon watershed on the Oakland/ Berkeley border. The gallery will be a companion piece to the wildlife gallery I started a few months ago, and which you can see at: http: / / www.geocities.com/ kayloughman/ album/ index.html. My experience with the wildlife gallery is that several folks were willing to send pictures, and some of them knew the identification of what they were sending, but I could identify most that needed it. As I am not plant expert, I will depend on contributions and identifications from others. CLAREMONT CANYON 1. 1 would like pictures of plants growing in the wild. 2. The pictures must be taken in the Claremont Canyon wa- tershed. 3. I want to emphasize California natives; but also include a section on invasive exotics, so people can see what not to plant. 4. For each picture submitted, I will need the following infor- mation: identification of content, date and place the picture was taken, name and contact information for photographer. I am happy to scan slides and prints. 4 THE BAY LEAF July-August 2007 5. Pictures of whole plants, branches, leaves, flowers, acorns, galls, etc. are welcome. I prefer that the pictures be sent to me as they come out of the camera. Do you have or can you take pictures to submit? Or do you know others who might have or who might like to take, pictures of plants in Claremont Canyon, and who would be willing to have them included in the gallery? Kay Loughman 393 Gravatt Drive Berkeley, CA 94705 510-841-7428 kayloughman@earthlink.net NATIVE HERE NURSERY We've started planning for our second annual Native Plant Fair October 21-22, with a rain date of October 27-28. It will take place at the nursery, and we'll need people to help get the nursery and plants ready for sale as well as help the days of the fair. This summer we'll need volunteers to help at the nursery with plant propagation, watering, transplanting, weeding, as well as recruitment of speakers for both days of the fair. Closer to the event we'll need volunteers to help with publicity, plant transportation and parking lay-out, hold- ing area setup, and more. On the day of the fair we'll need volunteers to help with sales and sales write up, cashiering, traffic control, hospitality, vendor care, plant holding and transportation, and more. To help out email nativehere@ ebcnps.org or leave a message at 510-549-0211. We've put the Douglas iris in storage, so it won't be available again until the Native Plant Fair. Now is not a good time to plant, but you can see what we will have available in the fall. Gregg Weber has been making many cuttings of shrubs and trees for us, so we'll have a better selection of those in large pots in the coming months. Tuesday mornings we go on seed collecting walks to gather seed for propagation at the nursery. If you would like to join us, meet at the bottom gate of the nursery at 9 am. To get on the e-mail reminder list, contact nativehere@ebcnps.org. Native Here Nursery is located in Tilden Park at 101 Golf Course Drive, across the street from the entrance to the Tilden Golf Course. Contact info: 510-549-0211, nativehere@ebcnps. org, www.ebcnps.org, click on Native Here link. Margot Cunningham The plant fair planning meeting at the Native Here Nursery. The fair is scheduled for October 20 and 21 . Even if youy did not attend the plan- ning meeting you can help with the fair. E-mail nativehere@ebcnps.org and let us know what your interests are. Photo by Janice Bray THE BAY LEAF July-August 2007 5 Save' the/ Vote/ NATIVE HERE NURSERY CLEAN-UP PARTY AND ANNUAL POTLUCK PICNIC for the EAST BAY CHAPTER of CNPS Sunday, September 16, 2007 10 am-3 pm AT NATIVE HERE NURSERY 101 Golf Course Road (across from the Golf Course entrance) in Tilden Park, Berkeley Bring gardening tools (gloves, pruners, rakes, hoes) and a dish to share (appetizer, main dish, side dish, or dessert). We’ll supply wine and beer, soft drinks, and all the tools for eating. We’ll spend a couple of hours in the morning preparing the nursery for our October Native Plant Fair and then shift into picnic mode. Along with great food and drink, enjoy the company of fellow native plant enthusiasts and our traditional, everyone-wins native plant raffle. All are welcome — invite your family and friends! For more information: 510-496-6016, rosacalifornica@earthlink.net, or nativehere@ebcnps.org 6 THE BAY LEAF July-August 2007 CONSERVATION ANALYST FUND Our CNPS chapter, our Conservation Committee, and our Conservation Analyst thank all of our members who have so generously donated to the 2007-2008 Conservation Analyst Fund so far. The response to our letter of appeal has been wonderful in the first few weeks and we hope donations will continue to come in. At the time of this writing (checks processed by our Treasurer as of June 15), we have received $20,630 in donations, but we need an additional $9189 to sustain the Conservation Analyst program through the end of the fiscal year (March, 2008). There is still time to make a donation. To do so, make your check payable to CNPS, indicate in the memo line that it is for the Conservation Analyst Fund, and mail it to: CNPS, East Bay Chapter PO. Box 5597, Elmwood Station Berkeley, CA 94705 We thank the following members for their contributions dur- ing the month of May: Linda Adams, John Alcorn, John K. Anderson, Steve Asztalos, Joe Balciunas, Philip Batchelder, Bob Battagin, Laura Beckett, David Bigham & Howard Arendtson, Peter Boffey, Aria Bon- nett, Margaret A. Bowman, Robert Case, Patricia E. Coffey, Alex Craig, Eleanor Crary, Rick Dalgetty, Charlice & John Danielsen, Judy Davis, Adrienne Debisschop, Susan Deming, O'Neil & Marcia Dillon, John T. & Lisa Doyen, Catherine C. Dunlap, Arthur K. & Norma M. Dunlop, Claire Englander, Chris Erickson, John A. Ferguson, W. B. Flick, Gerald Ford & Holly Forbes, Norman C. Frank, Dorothy Frantz, Jerry & Irene Fritzke, Sara & Jean H. Gabriel, Christa Goldblatt, Marilyn Goldhaber, Paul Grunland, Judith Ann Gurbaxani, Joan Ham- ilton, Mary Ann Hannon, Marguerite & John B. Harrell, John H. Heckman, Claudia and Scott Hein, Sarah Herman, Joseph Herr, Jo Ann Herr, Peter Hopkinson, Lesley D. Hunt, Diane Ichiyasu, Clark Jen, Robert Jolda, Larry M. Jones, Suzanne Jones & Robert Elia, Meredith Kaplan, Tim S. Kask, Bohun B. Kinloch, Jr., Arti Kirch, Marcia Kolb, Carolyn Kolka, Jill Korte, Thomas Koster, Ralph Kraetsch, W. M. Laetsch, Barbara M. & Philip Leitner, Ed Leong, R. M. Lichtenstein, David Loeb, Lois Lutz, Cinda MacKinnon, William J. McClung, William B. McCoy & Natasha Beery, Sylvia C. McLaughlin, Louise A. Miller, Lech Naumovich, Linda M. Newton, Harriet Nye, David Ogden, Mary Ann Osborne, Elizabeth O'Shea, Helen & Tom Phillips, Catherine Powers, Peter Rauch, Marcia Rautenstrauch, Marian Reeve, Tom Reid, Susan L. Rosenthal, R. Steven Ruley, Celeste Scanlon, Brenda Senturia, Sigman & Debbie Shapiro, Doris Sloan, Erin Smith, Lincoln Smith, Nicki Spillane, Alfred B. Stansbury, Ruth & Donald Stiver, Sylvia Lyn Sykora, Charles E. Violet, Joyce Walton, Shoshana Wechsler, Roy & Carolyn West, Marshall White & Jennifer Meux White, Tamara Wood, Elaine P. Worthington-Jackson, George & Carol Yokoi. Calochortus argillosus on Fairmount Ridge. Photo by Gregg Weber THE BAY LEAF July-August 2007 7 Board of Directors Elected Officers President Charli Danielsen 510-549-0211 charlid@pacbell.net Vice President Delia Taylor 510-527-3912 deliataylor@mac.com Treasurer Holly Forbes hforbes@berkeley.edu h 510-234-2913 w 510-643-8040 FAX 510-642-5045 Recording Secretary Barbara Malloch Leitner 925-253-8300 bleitner@pacbell.net Corresponding Secretary Laura Baker 510-849-1409 Lbake66@aol.com Past President Elaine Jackson 925-372-0687 Elainejx@mindspring.com Education/Outreach Bay Leaf Editor and Webmaster Joe Willingham 510-841-4681 pepel 066@comcast.net Bay Leaf Assistant Editor David Margolies 510-654-0283 divaricatum@comcast.net Bay Leaf Mailing Holly Forbes 510-234-2913 hforbes@berkeley.edu Education Linda Hill 510-849-1624 Lhilllink@aol.com Field Trips Janet Gawthrop Janetg24@excite.com Regional Parks Botanic Garden Liaison Sue Rosenthal 510-496-6016 rosacalifornica@earthlink.net Grants Sandy McCoy sandymccoy@mindspring .com Plant Sale Interim Chair Sue Rosenthal 510-496-6016 rosacalifornica@earthlink.net Programs Sue Rosenthal 510-496-6016 rosacalifornica@earthlink.net Publicity/Media open Conservation Conservation Committee Chair Laura Baker 510-849-1409 Lbake66@aol.com Conservation Analyst (Staff) Lech Naumovich 510 734-0335 conservation@ebcnps.org Stewardship Native Plant Restoration Team Greg Wolford 510-848-6489 californica@mac.com 510-549-0211 nativehere@ebcnps.org Plant Science Bryophytes John Game 510-527-7855 jcgame@lbl.gov Rare Plants Heath Bartosh 925-957-0069 hbartosh@nomadecology.com Unusual Plants Dianne Lake 510-741-8066 diannelake@yahoo.com Vegetation Erin McDermott erinmcd2004@yahoo.com (c) 510-701-2890 Members at Large Carol Castro 510-352-2382 carollbcastro@hotmail.com Gregg Weber 510-223-3310 Hospitality open Membership open Roy West rwest@monocot.com 650-906-1100 ager Janice Bray, Liaison to Board Native Here Nursery Charli Danielsen Project Manager Margot Cunningham Sales Man- Membership Application Name Address Zip Telephone I wish to affiliate with: East Bay Chapter (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) Other Membership category: Student, Limited income, $25 Individual, Library, $45 Household, Family, or Group, $75 Supporting, $75 Plant lover, $100 Patron, $300 E-mail Benefactor, $600 (optional) Mariposa Lily, $1500 Mail application and check to: California Native Plant Society, 2707 K Street, Suite 1 , Sacramento CA 95816 California Native Plant Society East Bay Chapter P.O. Box 5597, Elmwood Station Berkeley CA 94705 Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Oakland, CA Permit No. 2018 Time Value June 2007 issue