Northern California Botanists Botanical Leaflets Issue 3 spring 2009 President’s Message It’s springtime and with that there is a feeling for renewal and a new field season. Our winter was busy attending the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) Conference and again soliciting students to apply for our student scholarships. We are now busy developing our symposium for January 2010. Many of us lived through the lightning fires of last summer and are eager to see how the areas that were hit by the fire respond this spring and sum- mer. I learned new skills last summer as the Acting District Ranger for a couple of months helping with those fires that I hope I don’t have to use again. But if asked I will have one sea- son of experience and will be better prepared. Events are being planned for National Botanist Day on the Plumas National Forest on May 2 1 , 2009 and on the Shasta- Trinity National Forest with CNPS on May 23, 2009 and June 4, 2009. See Page 3 for details on these events. Northern California Botanists had a booth showing Tools of the Trade at the CNPS Confer- ence last January. We were able to let others know we exist and to also meet the botanists from Southern Cali- fornia Botanists. We devel- oped bandanas with our spice bush logo that we sold at the conference and are also avail- able. Josie Crawford from CNPS has contacted organiza- tions that have conferences and symposiums to have a confer- ence call in August to coordi- nate dates of future confer- ences. That is encouraging that they may be planning another conference in the future. The late Jim Jokerst and I thought we should have a botany con- ference in the mid 1 980’ s, and Jim Nelson took the initiative and organized that first CNPS Conference in 1986. I was on the coordinating committee but my involvement was lim- ited since I was pregnant with my second son at the time. I attended the conference with him as an infant and my Mom helped with his care. He will graduate from college this spring. I hope CNPS has their next conference before the babies at this last one in Janu- ary are ready to graduate from college! We again have solicited stu- dents to apply for our student scholarships and are busy re- viewing the applications. We were able to give out 7 student scholarships last year for $ 1 ,000.00 each. Hopefully a new batch of botanists doing vital work in Northern Califor- nia will develop from those scholarships. And finally we are busy start- ing to plan for our 2010 sym- posium which will be Janu- ary 1 1 and 12, 2010 at Cali- fornia State University, Chico. We plan to have workshops on January 13, 2010. I recently attended a meeting in which one botanist talked about the next Northern California Botanists sympo- sium who is not on the board. That was encouraging. I felt we had arrived as an entity. Have a wonderful spring and summer pursuing your many vast botanical adventures. Linnea Hanson Can you identify this ANNUAL PLANT (2-30 CM) FOUND IN MOIST, GRASSY ROADSIDES, LAKES AND POND EDGES AT ELEVATIONS 1500-3 100m in the Cascade and Sierra Nevada Range; also in the Great Basin to Wyoming and Arizona (answer on Page 3) OFFICERS President: Finnea Hanson Vice President: Samantha Hillaire Secretary: Jenny Marr Treasurer: Gail Kuenster Members-at-large Barbara Castro Robin Fallscheer Christine Hantelman Chris Ivey Fawrence Jane way Robert Schlising Joe Silveira Karen Wiese Mike Williams Inside this issue: President’s message i Can you identify this PLANT i NCB Facebook group 2 Name that wildflower WORKSHOP 2 Friends of the herbar- ium WORKSHOPS 2 Botanist day outings 3 NCB ‘Tools of the trade” Display 3 Welcome new members 4 Botanical Leaflets Page 2 Northern California botanists facebook group If you noticed that you hadn't gotten an email notification from our ListServ in a while, it’s because that service has been discontinued. In this era of social net- working sites, we are experimenting with replacing the ListServ service with a group on the website "Facebook." Currently, the Northern California Botanists group has a section on "Recent news," a "wall" in which to write gen- eral comments and announcements, a "photos" section where members can add relevant photos, and a list of "links" to other botanical groups and websites. Another section tracks our upcoming events. In addition, there is a "discussion board" section in which members can converse about chosen topics, or add one of their own. Two of the current discussion topics are "job postings" in botany (which member can view or post to), and a topic "Flowering Times for Rare Plants" in which to notify others of the timing of rare plants seen at reference sites in Northern Califor- nia. The more members who regularly con- tribute and participate with the group, the more useful it is likely to be. The advantage of this group is that if you already have a Facebook account, all you have to do is join the group "Northern California Botanists." The disadvantage is you do have to have a Facebook account in order to join this group. If you are interested in join- ing, you will have to join Facebook first; start an account through the Face- book.com website. You may also get an email in the next few weeks inviting you to the group. Please note, we do not have control over the Facebook website, or content other than our own group. If you are already a member of another social or professional networking site, and would like to see the Northern California Botanists represented on that network, please contact Samantha Hillaire tablemountaingirl@yahoo . com . ‘NAME THAT WILDFLOWER” WORKSHOPS Held at Chico State Herbarium and in Nevada City Jenny Marr and Linnea Hanson taught two well attended “Name That Wildflower” workshops this spring. The focus of the one-day workshop is on learning the major vascular plant fami- lies using the Peterson’s Field Guide to the Pacific States Wildflowers and learn- ing how to use a hand lens. Mornings are spent in the classroom using live plant material and afternoons are held outside identifying plants. It was the sixth year that this class has been held at the Chico State Herbarium. A total of 27 students attended. Gail Kuenster, Jana Lathrop and Elena Gregg helped with the class. It was the first year that the Osher Lifelong Learn- ing Institute (OLLI) participated in the Chico workshop. The OLLI has a chapter at Cali- fornia State University, Chico and is open to anyone who is age 60 or retired. People pay a fee and can take classes in the fall and spring, plus they have monthly general meetings with a speaker. It was the third year that Sandy Kewman hosted the workshop in her home in Nevada City home . Seventeen students attended with Cyndi Brinkhurst assisting. One student came from Fallon, NV. Several women from Sacramento are planning a California Botani- cal Garden in Sacramento that will have rep- resentation from every bioregion in the state. What an ambitious project! Upcoming Friends of the hebarium workshops at csu chico Learn and have fun this year with diverse and stimulating courses offered at CSUC. For more information about these Friends of the Herbarium workshops please go to www . csuchico . edu/biol / Herb / Events .html . May 16, Botanical Illustration September 12, Asteraceae May 30, Plant Photography October 10, Oak Woodland Ecology and Management June 13, Introduction to the Willows of California (Salicaceae) November 21, Basics of Native Grass Seed Collection and Storage June 22-28, Flora of the Western Great Basin August 15, Ethnoecology of California Wetland Plants Issue 3 Page 3 Botanists day outings Northern California Botanists members will be leading three events in Northern California to honor Botanists Day. The events are free and hike leaders request that you RSVP. May 21, 2009 Chris Christofferson, botanist on the Plumas National Forest, Feather River Ranger District will be leading a moderately arduous 3.0 round-trip hike through mixed conifer forest and a serpentine outcrop near Concow, CA. The area experienced a high inten- sity crown fire in the summer of 2008. Chris will discuss his experiences as a resource advisor on the fires of 2008 and challenges that exist for resource managers when integrating with fire suppression actions. Participants will observe plant community responses to fire and ex- amine a newly discovered occurrence of the rare McNab cypress. The cypress burned in a mosaic and it will be interesting to see how it is regenerating. Hike will be on a dozer line that was constructed during fire suppression activities. DATE : May 2 1 TIME :9:00AM MEETING LOCATION: Feather River RD Office 875 Mitchell Ave. Oroville CA WHAT TO BRING: a bag lunch, water, a sun hat, sunscreen. Please RSVP to Chris @ cchristoffer son@fs . fed . us May 23, 2009 ]im Nelson and Julie Nelson will lead a CNPS field trip to Waters Gulch to see Neviusia cliftonii (Shasta snow-wreath) etc. on May 23. We will meet at 900 at the Shasta Lake visitor center, just off 1-5 at the Mountain Gate exit. From there, it's about 20 min. to the Waters Gulch trailhead. The guided part of the hike will be from 930 to noon, from the trailhead down to the creek and back up; others may complete the several-mile loop on their own if they wish to. The trail descends down a shady canyon with a diverse fern flora and many flowering herbs and shrubs. DATE : May 2 3 TIME :9:00AM MEETING LOCATION: Shasta Lake Visitor Center, just off 1-5 at the Mountain Gate exit WHAT TO BRING: Water and a snack; wear long sleeves and long pants if you are sensitive to poison oak. Please RSVP to Jim or Julie Nelson at (530) 275-1590 June 4, 2009 Susan Erwin will lead a field trip to Saddle Gulch fen near Wildwood, California. The fen is an excellent example of a serpentine wetland situated within a large undisturbed serpentine woodland. Participants will see classic examples of high quality serpentine habitats and several rare serpentine species endemic to the Rattlesnake Creek Terrane, including Minuaitia rosei, Helianthus exilis, Ericameria ophitidis, Epilobium oreganum, and Cypripedium californicum. It will take 20-30 minutes of walking on a gently inclined trail to get to the fen, or longer depending on how often we stop to look at plants. DATE : June 4 TIME : 1 0 : 00 AM MEETING LOCATION: Wildwood Store on Hwy 36, ~ 4 miles west of Platine and 55 miles west of Red Bluff WHAT TO BRING: Water and a snack; wear sturdy boots or shoes Please RSVP to Susan Erwin at (530) 778-9884 to sign up Asclepias solanoana NCB Display “Tools of the trade” Northern California Botanists brought the “Tools of the Trade” display to the CNPS Conference in January 2009 and to the Mt. Lassen Chapter Wildflower Show on April 19, 2009. Christine Hantleman organized our booth both times with Tools of the Trade items donated by board members. It was well received. Information about Northern Cali- fornia Botanists will also be available at the Wildflower Show in Yreka on Mother’s Day, May 10, 2009. For more information about the Wildflower show in Yreka contact Marla Knight, Klamath National Forest botanist at (530) 468-1238 or maknight@fs.fed. us . Answer to “CAN YOU IDENTIFY THIS PLANT”: Porterella carnosula in the Campanulaceae Northern California Botanists c/o Chico State Herbarium California State University Chico Chico, CA 95929-0545 **SAVE THE DATE** NCB 2010 SYMPOSIUM @ CSU CHICO JANUARY 11-12, 2010 T Cease 'Renew for 2009! Membership application Name: Affiliation: Address: City: State: Zip: Email: Phone (optional) MEMBERSHIP DUES: Individual $25.00 Student $15.00 Organization $40.00 In addition, I would like to donate $ to Northern California Botanists to help fund NCB programs and student research scholarships. Make checks payable to “Northern California Botanists” and mail to: Welcome NEW MEMBERS! Amanda Breen, Los Gatos Tamara Camper, McKinley ville Diane Cornwall, Cool Matt Guilliams, Berkeley Paul Hankamp, San Francisco Shauna Hee, Weaverville Martha Lowe, Oakland Christina Lund, Sacramento Halkard Mackey, ]r., Chico Meghan Skaer, Berkeley Caroline Warren, Chico Stephen Weston, Chico SPECIAL THANKS to Karen Wiese for volunteering to be Co -Editor of our Newsletter with Gail Kuenster Northern California Botanists / p t t i • E-mail: ncbotan i sts(2Wnail . com c/o Chico State Herbarium ® California State University, Chico Chico, CA 95929-0545 Check out our webpage! NCB is a federally recognized 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization. www.csuchico.edu/biol/ Herb /norcalbot/ index.htm