October 2011 r *\ The Bay Leaf California Native Plant Society • East Bay Chapter Alameda & Contra Costa Counties ^ www.ebcnps.org www.groups.google.com/group/ebcnps MEMBERSHIP MEETING J Beverly Ortiz and Josephine Peters. Photo by Nancy Cussary. After the First Full Moon in April: The Plant Knowledge of Josephine Peters Speaker: Beverly Ortiz Wednesday, October 26, 7:30 pm Location: Garden Room, Orinda Public Library (directions below) Beverly R. Ortiz will describe the history, culture, and plant knowledge of Karuk elder and herbalist Josephine Grant Peters, with whom she co-authored After the First Full Moon in April: A Sourcebook of Herbal Medicine from a California Indian Elder. Beverly's presentation will begin with a brief overview of Josephine's personal and tribal history and plant gathering ethics. She will provide a summary of Josephine's vast knowledge and use of more than 160 plants for a wide variety of foods and medicines. And she'll finish by detailing several examples of how Josephine harvests, processes, and uses native plants that also grow in the East Bay. After her presentation, Beverly will stay to answer questions as well as sell and sign copies of her book. Beverly Ortiz, a Naturalist for the East Bay Regional Park District since 1980, is also a Lecturer at CSU East Bay, Contributing Editor for News from Native California , and an ethnographic consultant who has been conducting field research with California Indians across the state for more than 30 years. East Bay CNPS membership meetings are free of charge and open to everyone. This month's meeting takes place in the Garden Room of the Orinda Public Library at 24 Orinda Way (in Orinda Village). The Garden Room is on the second floor of the building, accessible by stairs or an elevator. The Garden Room opens at 7 pm; the meeting begins at 7:30 pm. Please contact Sue Rosenthal, 510-496-6016 or rosacalifornica@ earthlink.net, if you have questions. Directions to Orinda Public Library at 24 Orinda Way From the west, take Hwy 24 to the Orinda/ Moraga exit. At the end of the off ramp, turn left on Camino Pablo (toward Orinda Village), right on Santa Maria Way (the signal after the BART station and freeway entrance), and left on Orinda Way. From the east, take Hwy 24 to the Orinda exit. Follow the ramp to Orinda Village. Turn right on Santa Maria way (the first signal) and left on Orinda Way. Once on Orinda Way, go 1 short block to the parking lot on the southeast side of the two-story building on your right. There is additional free parking beneath the building as well as on the street. From BART (4 blocks): Exit the Orinda station, turn right and cross a pedestrian bridge, then cross a second pedestrian bridge on the left. Go 1 short block on the sidewalk to the third pedestrian bridge. Go 2 blocks on Orinda Way to the Orinda Library. Upcoming Programs November 16: Bob and Martha Sikora — The Pacific Crest Trail December: No meeting January 25: Bruce Baldwin— What Does the New Jepson Manual Mean for California Floristics? PLANT FAIR The Plant Fair is at Native Here Nursery from 10 am to 3 pm on Saturday, October 1 and from noon to 3 pm on Sunday, October 2. Help is welcome on Monday, October 3, and Tuesday after- noon, October 4 getting the Fair equipment inventoried and stowed away until next year. Sometime in October there will be a meeting of the Plant Fair Committee from 2011 and anyone interested in helping plan the 2012 Plant Fair and Native Here participation in 2012 Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour. Watch the Native Here Nursery Facebook page, e-mail nativehere@ebcnps. org or check the Plant Fair page on the chapter website for details. The nursery remains open for business throughout the year — Tuesday afternoons from noon to 3 pm, Friday mornings from 9 am to noon, and Saturdays from 10 am to 2 pm. Because the Fair was so early this year, volunteers will be able to divide iris and to start a variety of cuttings through the month of October. We will also sow seeds on the 4 th and 7 th . Late fall and winter remain great times to plant most na- tives, and there are seedlings that were not large enough to be sold at the Fair that will be ready later in the fall and into the winter. Clmrli Danielsen CONSERVATION ANALYST’S REPORT It has been over two months since my last report and the summer season has been a busy one for the Conservation Committee. We have taken our battle with the Oakland Zoo to court, and we are continuing work on several ongoing projects, including Alameda County's policy for solar devel- opment in the County's rural areas. Several projects of interest are detailed below for your information. Richmond General Plan In a major step for both EBCNPS and the City of Richmond, the City of Richmond recently released the final draft of its new General Plan Update, including their responses to public comments received during the scoping and planning phases of the plan. In response to EBCNPS's comments, Richmond added EBCNPS listed locally rare plant species as well as sensitive natural communities into their General Plan to be considered as priorities for future protection. These changes to the general plan represent a great step for the City that will allow both the City and conservation interests to strengthen their efforts to preserve unique native plant resources in the area. This step is especially important considering the poten- tial conservation challenges at Pt. Mo late and UC Berkeley's Richmond Field Station in the near future. I hope that this general plan will serve as an example, encouraging other cities and counties of the East Bay to prioritize protection of their native plant resources. The Conservation Committee will use lessons learned during this process in similar planning processes such as the possible revision of the East County Area Plan that may come up in the context of Alameda County's solar policy discussion. East County Solar As I reported in my update in the July-August edition of the Bay Leaf, Alameda County has been working on a plan to create a set of policies governing construction and use of solar energy facilities in rural areas of the county. This policy discussion comes in response to an increasing number of applications and interest in large-scale solar development in the county's eastern sections. EBCNPS has been closely following this process and has submitted a letter comment- ing on the County's recently released "Proposed Policies for Solar Energy Facilities in Rural Alameda County" document. This document was to be considered by the County's Board of Supervisors on September 13th, but the item has been postponed. Among our main concerns with the policy plan as it is currently laid out are: 1) that the plan is too general to describe effectively what would actually be involved in the review and permitting process of different Solar Energy Facilities in the County, 2) that the plan fails to note and pro- tect areas of valuable biological resources in areas that have potential for solar infrastructure development and 3) that the plan is inconsistent with existing policies regulating zoning and development in rural areas of the County. I will make certain to keep you up do date on any new developments. In the mean-time, please feel free to review the County's docu- ment and our response to it, both of which can be viewed on our blog at: http://ebcnps.wordpress.com/. Oakland Zoo Since my last update, our ongoing battle with the Oakland Zoo has entered the courtroom. On July 21st, EBCNPS along with the Friends of Knowland Park filed a lawsuit against the Oakland Zoo and the City of Oakland. The suit raised concerns about the flawed environmental review process of the Zoo's planned theme park. The planned expansion is to be sited on the rich, undeveloped lands of Knowland Park. We are arguing that the City violated the California Environ- mental Quality Act and State Planning and Zoning Law in its June 2011 approval of the Zoo's amended development plan. We are currently attempting mediation with the Zoo, and I will be sure to keep you updated as new developments hap- pen. This battle has been a long fought and expensive one, and it is not over yet. Please consider donating to our legal defense fund. You may do this by clicking the donate button on our homepage at www.ebcnps.org or by sending a check with "Knowland Park Defense Fund" as the subject line to CNPS, East Bay Chapter, PO Box 5597, Elmwood Station, Berkeley, CA 94705. 2 THE BAY LEAF October 2011 Any support you can provide takes us closer to a protected Knowland Park and a Zoo expansion that truly represents 21st century conservation. For more information on the above projects and updates on everything else we are working on, please visit the conser- vation blog at http://ebcnps.wordpress.com. If you need to contact me, I am available by phone at: 510-734-0335 or by email at conservation@ebcnps.org. Mack Casterman Conservation Analyst CONSERVATION ANALYST APPEAL The 2011-2012 East Bay Chapter's fundraiser for our Con- servation Analyst has now begun. Letters have been sent to over 1,000 CNPS member households in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. Our goal is to raise at least $35,000 to fund the half-time Con- servation Analyst position that has become a key element in our Chapter's conservation work. The work of the Conservation Committee requires heavy doses of reading, reflection, research, networking and public meetings. It takes a group of people to assimilate large vol- umes of information and data, draw appropriate conclusions, create summaries and proposals and follow agency decision making procedures. We need to do all those things, so that we can get on the agenda and explain to planners and the public the effect on native flora of a particular land use/ develop- ment plan and what changes in the plan are needed to make it compatible with the protection of the flora. The Conserva- tion Committee has discovered that despite the hard work Mt. Diablo sunflower ( Helianthella castanea). Photo by Kevin Hinstsa. Helianthella castanea, is a perennial herb that grows only in California. It is listed in the CNPS Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants as IB. 2 (rare, threatened, or endan- gered in CA and elsewhere. and dedication of the volunteers, the help of a professional is needed for the Committee to deal with the enormous chal- lenges it faces in carrying out its mission. The Committee was well served by the Chapter's previous Conservation Analyst, Lech Naumovich. Mack Casterman has proved to be a strong and able successor, bringing an impressive array of skills and a powerful work ethic to the job. As members of the California Native Plant Society, we have many reasons to value the often overlooked living beings that constitute our state's amazing native flora. We also have many ways we can act to preserve what we value. Important among them is to give generously to the 2011-2012 Conserva- tion Analyst Fund. Follow Mack on www.ebcnps.wordpress.com to understand the importance and complexity of his work. Carol Castro Bitterroot ( Lewisia rediviva ). Photo by Kevin Hinstsa. THE BAY LEAF October 2011 3 MEMBERSHIP REPORT Meet Brian Murphy Photo by Tom Cashion In the mid 1970' s before attending UC Berkeley in Landscape Architecture I had a couple of "bad influences" in my life, Lindsay Junior Museum Director Sam Smoker and Curator Gary Bogue who taught me this and that about local wildlife. What I wanted to learn at UC Berkeley was wildlife habitat restoration. They didn't teach that so I tended to get in trouble with the Design Professors who didn't appreciate Butterfly Gardens being included on my plans nor my arguments of the value and need for Butterfly Gardens. Sam had given me a plant list with species of butterflies using those plants for food and breeding; pointed out how important they were as the butterfly population was in decline. I believed Sam and carried his list, paying the price with lower grades for argu- ing with the professors. I tended to enjoy including wildlife amenities on my plans and defending them when questioned or laughed at by the professor. It got worse. In the required plant class in Landscape Architec- ture the professor started out with "We are not here to teach you plants, you will learn plants on your own when you go to work for an office." "We are here to teach you how to think; now here is the list of plants for the class you will learn." I didn't do well in that class as the plant list was an insipid visual nightmare, but I eventually passed the class. The Sam & Gary influence continued to show up on my site plans and planting plans. I graduated and my grades were not great but I went there to learn and in the course of that enjoyed learning from many brilliant and inspirational professors. In the 1990's I got mixed up with a group working on efforts to restore our over grazed public open space as ranchers be- gan to lose their political power and influence. I remember the looks on the faces of Walnut Creek Open Space Founda- tions board members when Bob Wisecarver wanted to spend money to fence off what is now Quail Gully at Borges Ranch. Everyone's mouth was hanging open in disbelief, as they could not believe what it was he wanted to do nor what he was going to accomplish doing that. What Bob wanted to do was fence off a swale with a stock pond on it to keep cattle out so plants could grow to create a wildlife corridor. Quail and wildlife had food and water so all that was missing was providing cover for small wildlife by planting native plants. As plants began to grow, small wildlife began to show up just as Bob had promised. The more the plants grew, the more wildlife showed up. Meanwhile the City of Walnut Creek was working on a Creek Restoration Plan and the first phase of the project was at Civic Park. One of the elements they wanted to include was a butterfly garden but they were not sure how to do that. They gave the project's landscape architect Sam Smoker's butterfly garden plant list (which I still treasured after all those years) and those were the plants installed in the Civic Park Butterfly Garden. Other groups wanted the list for their butterfly gardens as butterfly gardens gained acceptance and popularity. Back in the Walnut Creek open space, more seasonal wetlands were fenced to keep cattle out for wildlife corridors in North Lime Ridge. We enjoyed sticking willow and cottonwood cuttings in the mud in late January. One cottonwood stick Tim Ory stuck in 'the right place' began growing at 3 feet a year as we watched its progress in amazement. I then thought it would be a good idea to join CNPS to learn more about native plants even though we tend to be more interested in food plants for wildlife. I have found CNPS to be a great source in helping me learn more about all our native flora in the East Bay and read about who is doing what. Another successful area in the Walnut Creek Open Space is Bayberry Pond. It was excavated for restoration as it had been filled with silt from a storm drainpipe failure on Ygnacio Val- ley Road. Today the hard work and tender loving care that Lesley Hunt's group put into planting a variety of native plants has turned the pond into an amazing new world. The group thought the pond had a leak in it, as I received an alarming call from David Ogden. It turned out heavy winter rains eroded the outfall and exposed a permeable layer of soil in the natural aquifer that runs from Bayberry Pond up to the top of Ygnacio Valley Road. The "leak" is from the aquifer, which means we will be hosting a party for those who wish to join us in planting willow and cottonwood cuttings in the outfall in late January. Since there is abundant water from the aquifer, the cuttings are going to take off at an incredible rate, and that will put big smiles on everyone's faces. We needed to do something to stop erosion along the outfall and a thicket of willows and cottonwood ought to solve the problem. Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation will notify CNPS mem- bers the date this project will take place so they can join in on the fun. Knowing there is an abundance of water for the trees, it will be very enjoyable watching them grow quickly. Brian Murphy , Walnut Creek Open Space 4 THE BAY LEAF October 2011 Please join us in welcoming our new members for July, August; Sorrel Allen, Angela Evenden, Alicia Geller, David Hutton, Fred Okimoto, & Patricia Willy As always, a huge thank you to our renewing members. Announcement The Membership Chair position will soon be vacant. If you are looking for a fun, fulfilling, self-directed volunteer op- portunity, this position is for you. Email or call me for more information. FIELD TRIPS Sunday, October 9, 9:30 am. Mount Diablo, Back Canyon, Meridian Point, Meridian Ridge Road, Hetherington Trail, Tickwood Trail This is a moderate round trip of 5 miles with 900 feet eleva- tion gain on the way out. It will be mostly downhill on the return trip. The trip will take 5-6 hours. Bring lunch and at least 1 liter of water. We will take Back Canyon Trail, Merid- ian Point Trail, Meridian Ridge Road, Hetherington Trail, Tickwood Trail. We will see some late flowering species, and lots of things fruiting, like Rhus trilob ata. We should arrive back at the park- ing lot around 4 pm. RESTORATION Marsh Plant News from Pt. Isabel The Pt. Isabel team was able to closely examine the Hoffman Marsh bank after volunteers had eliminated the invasive plants and removed all the trash in the area. The inspection turned up four marsh plants (one of which we suspected was invasive) that we had not previously seen. CNPS Field Trips Chair Janet Gawthrop reviewed our initial photos confirm- ing the find of alkali heath (Frankenia salina) in bloom and advising us how to key out the other 3 plants. Janet cautioned us to carefully ID the yellow flowering plant which at first glance we thought might be marsh jaumea ( Jaumea camosa) but which could also be exotic ice plant (Carpobrotus edulis). Janet suggested we contact Heath Bartosh, our Chapter's Rare Plants Chair, to confirm the identification especially because jaumea camosa has few occurrences in the East Bay, though it is more widespread on the Pacific coast. Heath met us early Saturday morning, September 10, at Pt. Isabel and confirmed all four identifications: Frankenia salina, Jaumea camosa, A triplex triangularis (fat hen, aka arrowleaf saltbush, aka spearscale), and the invasive Salsola soda (alkali Russian thistle). Heath pointed out that in addition to the two large clumps of Salsola soda we had spotted, there were sprouts of the plant coming up among the pickleweed. He showed us the mature Salsola soda with alternate leaves vs. the younger plants that start out with opposite leaves. We set to work and removed all visible Reminders • Still looking for join dates prior to 1986 • Outreach Coordinator position still vacant • Restoration Chair, vacant • Be sure and visit our updated membership page at http://ebcnps.org/ index.php/ membership/ Elaine Jackson elainejx@att.net, 925-372-0687 The trip leader is Gregg Weber. Call him at 510-223-3310 if you have questions. Directions: Take 24 or 680 to the Ignacio Valley Road exit. Go east on Ignacio Valley Road into the City of Clayton and turn right on Clayton Road. Take Clayton Road past the first inter- section with Marsh Creek Road. In about a mile, it becomes Marsh Creek Road. Continue straight on Marsh Creek Road. Turn right on Regency Drive. Go to the end of Regency. Do not turn onto Rialto drive, that is for a different trail. traces of it. We'H inspect the rest of the marsh area soon to determine if there are any other infestations. We held an extra work party on August 20 and filled a 20-foot green waste dumpster with piles of weeds removed earlier in the month. Eight volunteers came out on September 3rd and removed masses of oat grass that were going to seed. They also removed all the remaining bindweed from the planted area. All in all, our re-vegetated area is looking pretty good and is drawing a lot of attention from park users. Jane and Tom Kelly continued on page 6 THE BAY LEAF October 2011 5 RESTORATION CONTINUED FROM PAGE 5 Fat hen aka arrowleaf aka saltbush aka spearscale ( Atriplex triangularis ) Photo by Jane Kelly. Saturday, October 1, 9 am. Redwood Regional Park. Meet the regular monthly crew to pull French broom at the Skyline Gate of Redwood Regional Park. Red- wood Park staff can lend you gloves or tools as needed. Sturday, October 8, 9:30 am. Huckleberry Regional Park. We will meet at the main parking lot off Skyline, but we may return to the worksite on the Huckleberry-to- Sibley trail. If you have questions or need loaner gloves or tools, e-mail janetgawthrop47@gmail.com. Final deci- sions on the worksite depend on the weather on October 8, but we will definitely start from the main parking lot. Sunday, October 16, 9 am, Sibley Regional Park. This month we move our starting point to the parking lot off Skyline in Oakland, about 1/2 mile north of the Huckleberry parking lot. We will fan out from the entrance to clean up French broom and poison hemlock along the Sibley-to-Tilden trail, as there will be new sprouts from the seed bank where we pulled weeds last winter. Sibley restoration volunteers will meet at the parking lot off of Skyline (about 1/2 mile north of the Huckleberry lot), instead of the summer site at the Old Tunnel Road staging area. If you are coming from Orinda, exit 24 on the west side of Cal- decott Tunnel and go south on 13 to Moraga/ Thornhill exit. For all drivers, the exit ramp from 13 merges with Moraga Ave as it goes under 13. At the traffic light, proceed straight on Moraga as it changes its name to Mountain. At the traffic light for Mountain and Snake, turn left/ uphill onto Snake and follow it to its other end at Skyline. You will need to make a 2nd left turn to stay on Snake one short block after the traf- fic light, and then go about 21/2 miles to Skyline. Turn left onto Skyline, pass the Huckleberry parking lot on the right and proceed to the Sibley parking lot. Late arrivals, look for volunteers just north of the parking lot on the Tilden-to-Sibley trail; we won't have gone far. Directions to all of the worksites are in the February and March editions of the Bay Leaf. Janet Gawthrop 6 THE BAY LEAF October 2011 Chapter Directory Officers President David Bigham david@hjuliendesigns. com, 1 544 La Loma, Berkeley, CA 94708, 510-843-4247 Vice President and Chap- ter Council Delegate Bill Hunt wjhunt@astound.net Recording Secretary Tina Wistrom cmwistrom@yahoo.com, 510- 207-0370 Corresponding Secretary Christine Pyers idoradesign@gmail.com Treasurer David Margolies 510-654-0283 dm@franz.com Committees Bayleaf Newsletter Bay Leaf Editor and Web- master Chair Joe Willingham 510-788-4177 pepel 066@comcast.net Bay Leaf Assistant Editor David Margolies 510-654-0283 dm@franz.com Bayleaf Mailing Holly Forbes hforbes@berkeley.edu h 510-234-2913 w 510-643-8040 Conservation Laura Baker, Chair 510-849-1409 Lbake66@aol.com Conservation Analyst Mack Casterman conservation@ebcnps. org 510-734-0335 Funds Development Carol Castro, Chair carolbcastro@hotmail. com Grant Management Sally de Becker 510-841-6613 sallydebecker@comcast. net Field Trips Janet Gawthrop, Chair janetgawthrop47@gmail. com Hospitality Howard Julien Arendt- son, Chair 510-548-7400 howard@hjuliendesigns. com Information Infrastruc- ture Peter Rauch, Chair peterar@berkeley.edu Membership Co-Chairs Elaine Jackson elainejx@att.net Carol Castro 510-352-2382 carolbcastro@hotmail. com Volunteer coordinator Delia Taylor volunteer@ebcnps.org Programs Sue Rosenthal, Chair rosacalifornica@earth- link.net Publicity (vacant) Rare Plants Heath Bartosh, Chair 925-957-0069 hbartosh@nomadecol- ogy.com Bryophytes John Game, Chair 510-527-7855 jcgame@stanford.edu Unusual Plants Dianne Lake, Chair 510-741-8066 diannelake@yahoo.com EBCNPS Sponsored Activities Native Here Nursery 510-549-0211 Manager — Charli Dan- ielsen nativehere@ebcnps.org Sales — Margot Cunning- ham bunchgrassmarg@gmail. com Plant Fair Charli Danielsen, Chair 510-549-0211 nativehere@ebcnps.org Lesley Hunt, Native Here/ Plant Fair-East Bay Chapter Board liaison 925-937-6791 ldhunt@astound.net Restoration Projects Leaders: Huckleberry — Janet Gawthrop Point Isabel — Tom and Jane Kelly 510-704-8628 (w) 510-684-6484 c) kyotousa@sbcglobal.net Strawberry Creek — Tom and Jane Kelly Officers and Commit- tee Chairs serve on the Board. In Sibley Regional Park Janet Gawthrop (I.) and Shelagh Broderson drag a Genista plant to the trail for removal. Photo by Wendy Tokuda. THE BAY LEAF October 2011 7 California Native Plant Society East Bay Chapter P.O. Box 5597, Elmwood Station Berkeley CA 94705 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage Paid Oakland, CA Permit No. 2018 Time Value October 201 1 issue CALENDAR OF EVENTS Plant Fair, see page 2 The Plant Fair is at Native Here Nursery from 10 am to 3 pm on Saturday, October 1 and from noon to 3 pm on Sunday, October 2 Restoration, see page 5 Saturday, October 1, 9 am. Redwood Regional Park Saturday, October 8, 9:30 am. Huckleberry Regional Park Sunday, October 16, 9 am, Sibley Regional Park Field Trip, see page 5 Sunday, October 9, 9:30 am. Mount Diablo, Back Canyon, Meridian Point, Meridian Ridge Road, Hetherington Trail, Tickwood Trail Membership meeting, see page 1 Wednesday, October 26, 7:30 pm. Garden Room, Orinda Public Library After the First Full Moon in April: The Plant Knowledge of Josephine Peters Speaker: Beverly Ortiz Membership Application and Renewal Form Name Address Zip Telephone Email I wish to affiliate with: East Bay Chapter (Alameda and Contra Costa Counties) Other Membership category: Individual, $45 Family, Library, Group or International, $75 Plant lover, $100 Patron, $300 Benefactor, $600 Mariposa Lily, $1500 Limited Income or student, $25.00 Other Mail application and check to: California Native Plant Society, 2707 K Street, Suite 1, Sacramento CA 95816 California Native Plant .Society East Bay Chapter I I NATIVE PLANT FAIR Saturday October 1,10 am-3 pm Sunday October 2, noon-3 pm/J Native Here Nursery 101 Golf CoursF Drive, Tilden Park, Berkeley (Across the street from the Tilden Golf Course Entrance)