Mimulus MEMO California Native Plant Society Kern County Chapter spring 2005 President 's Message Other than the jungle of meeds that are thriving after the rain and finally sun, there are suresignsthat spring is coming ‘The most obvious sign of eoming spring is the jungle of meeds in my yard that seems to have exploded in size and numbers overnight. Other, more meleome signs are visible in the buds, leaves and even early flomers. ‘Probably the most mondrous sign is a Cjulf Kritillary caterpillar. Last fall the passion vine, nonnative host plant of the Cjulf ‘fritillary, zvas as usual totally denuded of leaves after several generations of caterpillars had lived on it. ‘The caterpillars that mere large enough to pupate did so mhen all of the vegetation mas consumed. In ‘December I noticed one that zvas less than 2 cm long and the thickness of a toothpidjstill attached to a dormant stem. I assumed that it mas dead, but left it in place. Do my amazement as soon as the passion vine 's leaves began sprouting, it came to life and began eating. It had survived the freezing temperatures and all of the other zvinter conditions. It is nom 4 cm long! Often it seems that the challenges of conserving our native plants, plant communities and habitats are increasingly uphill battles that jemer andfemer volunteers are committed to undertaking. ‘Then, one realizes that the plants, the communities and animals, like the Cjulf pritillary caterpillar, are resilient. ‘This does not diminish our need for continued dedication to preserving zvild species and places, but the resiliency is a source of continued hope. I recently submitted a brief article on our ‘Kern County Chapter for the 40 th Anniversary Issue o f ‘Tremontia . During the process, I realized that I had also submitted the Chapter's article for the 25 th Anniversary Issue. It mas a time again to reflect on our challenges and accomplishments since the founding of our Chapter in 1982. It has been both inspiring and pleasurable to have marked mith such dedicated native plant enthusiasts and prof essionals over the years. ‘The 2005 Kern Chapter leadership team mill include: Lucy Claris ‘Ellen Cypher, Deb by Kroeger, Eve Laeger, Kgndi ‘McCormiclj and Diary barters mho have been committed for a number of years to making the Kern Chapter activities and efforts successful. In addition, me meleome tmo longtime CKjPS members mho are relatively nezv to our Chapter leadership team. ‘We appreciate the zvillingness of Steve Thompson and UTarriet ‘Morris to offer their considerable skills and dedication to our Chapter. -Laura Calendar of Field Trips March 26, Sat Sand Ridge Preserve April 6, l Ned Wind Wolves Preserve April 9, Sat Maturango Museum Wild flower Show & walk April 17, Sun Hungry Valley Rec Area April 24, Sun Mill Creek Mosey April 30 & May 1 Kern River Valley Bioregions Festival May 14, Sat Walker Pass Walk June 1 1, Sat Somewhere in the Sierra July 30 & 31 Kern River Valley Hummingbird Celebration Mark your calendars! Read all the details inside. Field Trip Details: It should be a great year for wildflowers and, so, also a great year for those of us who love to get out to see the annual blooms. We have planned a large number of trips this year, with some knowledgeable professionals as our leaders along with some trips where we’ll all take our field guides and work together to identify the plants we find. Please join us in learning about and enjoying our California native plants! Always bring water, snacks, a hat, sunscreen, and layers of clothing for variable weather. March 26, Sunday Sand Ridge Preserve with Ellen Cypher 8:30am The plant we hope to see is the Bakersfield Cactus, Opuntia basilaris var treleasei, among the blooming annuals. Meet at the Taco Bell at the SE comer of Hwys 58 and 184 (Weedpatch Hwy) at 8:30am. If you know the Preserve, you may meet us at the entrance at 9:00am. If you get lost, call Ellen that day at 805-841-4361 . Ellen plans a 3 hour, plus or minus visit, although if you want to stay longer, bring a lunch. There are no restrooms. The trail is gradual, and appropriate for children or seniors, and short enough that you could leave early if you want. April 3, Sunday Carrizo Plains National Monument with Denis Kearns 9:00am Denis, a BLM botanist, has a long list of possible sites to share with us. Exact sites will depend upon road conditions, plants in bloom, weather, etc. Some possible plants are the desert candle and sage thistle. Meet at 9:00am at the Bakersfield BLM Office, 3801 Pegasus. (Pegasus is one block east of the intersection of Hwy 65 and 7 th Standard Road.) We will park, carpool, and caravan to the Monument for a long day of seeing what grows in what habitat. Bring a lunch and lots of water. TO ATTEND, PLEASE CONTACT Denis at dkearns@blm.aov or 661 -391 -61 1 5 as he wants to prepare enough copies of the species list. April 6, Wednesday Wind Wolves Preserve 9:00am Meet in the Valley Plaza parking lot next to Wible Rd., west of the movie theater at 9:00am. Plan to carpool to the beautiful Wind Wolves Preserve, and join David Clendenen for our visit to various locations where blooms are occurring. If you are coming from the east side, join us at the entrance to the Preserve at 9:40ish. It is located 9.5 miles west of 1-5 on Hwy 1 66. TO ATTEND, PLEASE CONTACT Steve Hampson at 661-366-6357 or hampson@ics.uci.edu April 9, Saturday Ridgecrest’s Maturango Museum Wildflower Show and desert walk with Steve Hampson Meet at the Taco Bell at the SE corner of Hwys 58 and 184 (Weedpatch Hwy) at 9:00am, if you want to carpool and save the air! Bring a lunch, or eat in town. CONTACT Lucy at LucyG391@aol.com if you plan on joining the carpool. April 17, Sunday Hungry Valley State Vehicle Rec. Area with Kathy Sanders 10:00am Meet in the Valley Plaza parking lot next to Wible Rd., west of the movie theater, at 10:00am. We will carpool to the Gorman area. For those coming from other areas, go to the Visitors Center at the Gorman Entrance. We will join the regular trip at 1 1 :00am, for a $4.00 fee per CAR (another reason to car pool). The trip lasts about 3 hours, so bring a lunch. We will visit the grasslands area at about 4,000’ by car. If there are no flowers, a Resource Specialist will take us to the Oak Woodland Natural Preserve at a lower elevation. http://www.ics.uci.edu/~hampson/cnps/PlantLists/hungry.html This visit would require a short hike of 20 minutes. TO ATTEND, PLEASE CONTACT Steve Hampson at 661 -366-6357 or hampson@ics.uci.edu April 24, SUN. Mill Creek Mosey with Lucy Clark Meet at Tuesday Morning’s parking lot at the corner of Auburn and Fairfax at 1 1 :00am to carpool to the trailhead on Old Kern Canyon Road. OR meet us at the trailhead at 1 1 :30am. We will leisurely walk through the flowers down to Mill Creek to eat a late lunch (bring one), and to search for the reddish California Newt in its most southern habitat. Bring your wildflower field guide and water. CONTACT Lucy at LucyG391@aol.com if you plan on meeting to carpool. April 30 to May 1, SAT.-SUN. 11 th Annual Kern River Valley Bioregions Festival Find the events list as of today at http://kern.audubon.org/bioreaionactivities.htm Recommended on Saturday are : Habitat enhancements and stewardship at the Kern River Preserve, donation An introduction to Global Positional Systems (GPS), donation The evening presentation by Fletcher Linton, USFS Botanist Recommended on Sunday are: Nature Tour of the Bioregions, $25.00(all day) Hillsides in Bloom, $15 Traditional Uses of Native Plants, donation Check out these and all other trips and activities provided by our Audubon Preserve, and register, NOW as these trips have limits on the number of participants. May 14, SAT. Walker Pass 10:00am Join us, with your wildflower field guide, at the Walker Pass Historical Monument at 10:00am. We’ll wander, looking for flowers to identify and photograph. Bring a lunch. TO ATTEND, PLEASE CONTACT Lucy Clark at LucyG391 @aol.com or 661 -391 -9302 June 11, SAT. Somewhere in the Sierra! with Eve Laeger 10:30am Meeting places for both carpooling and the trip location will be posted on our new link to the CNPS web site, as the date nears, to ensure seeing plants in bloom. Or contact Steve or Lucy as above. July 30-31, SAT.-SUN. 7 th Annual Kern Valley Hummingbird Celebration Highly recommended for the opportunity to hold a tiny bird in your hand for its release, and the trip to a Penstemon Meadow high above the Kern River Preserve. For info go to http://kern.audubon.org or call 760-378-3044. Well, this is what we have planned for now if you have any ideas for other trips, please let Steve or I know, and we’ll try to get everyone informed. This looks like the year to see wonderful blooms. Death Valley is already spectacular! I look forward to seeing you on one of these trips. -Lucy r^j r*+j r**j Our annual plant sale last October was another success. The club made over $700.00 and gained half dozen members. THANKS to those of you who helped set-up, sell and clean- up. There is no way this sale could take place without your efforts. Thanks, too, to Lucy for making all those phone calls. A list of “leftover” plants was sent out in November many of the plants are still available. If you are just now getting into gardening mode , call Debby at 872-2256 xl2 to see about making a purchase. Most plants are in 1 gallon pots. There are a few trees and flannelbush in 5 gallon pots. All are getting new growth and would like to be freed from their pots. rv rv Dear Desert Wildflower Enthusiasts. This year has already started for wildflowers in the California Desert. Don't take my word. ..look at the photos at http://www.desertusa.com/wildflo/ca.html . Two field trips have been scheduled for this year. The first is a serious botanical expedition March 20-25 at the Sweeney Granite Mountains Desert Research Center. 4-wd is required and moderate hiking is likely. There are only 10 parking spaces and half have already been reserved. CNPS has reserved the Norris Camp cabin. If you are interested in this trip please contact me ASAP to reserve your spot. We are limited to number of cars, not people, so please don't drive alone if possible. Some botanizing destinations include Caruthers Canyon and the Kelso Dunes. The second is the annual CNPS field trip to Joshua Tree National Park, April 22-24. Camping spaces are limited for this trip also, as we were lucky enough to reserve the "private" Lost Horse Campground near Hidden Valley. For those who can get away before the weekend, the trip starts with bird watching at Big Morongo Preserve on Friday morning followed by a caravan through the park to look at wildflowers on our way to the campsite. Saturday will include a botanical field trip to a selected destination. Sunday will include driving south unless the flowers are already done in the south part of the park. Please send your "reservation" to naturebase@aol.com and you’ll receive a confirmation with details as the trip date nears. Invasive Weeds Awareness Coalition (IWAC) works to educate individuals and organizations on steps they can take to protect land, such as learning more about invasive weeds, recognizing plants that are out of place, and alerting appropriate local agencies to their presence. IWAC also hopes to teach people how to responsibly select noninvasive plants for landscaping and prevent inadvertent transportation of invasive plant species or their seeds to new areas. A recently enacted law is expected to significantly strengthen the fight against invasive weeds in the United States, helping restore native plants and ecosystems nationwide. Signed last October by President Bush, the Noxious Weed Control Act enables the Secretary of Agriculture’s office to assist eligible weed management agencies in responding to noxious weed problems on public and private lands. Invasive plant species infest an estimated 100 million acres across the United States. Invasive plant species displace native species by a rate of eight to 20 percent each year, often causing serious environmental problems. For example, thirsty invasive brush such as saltcedar is capable of consuming as much as 300 gallons of water a day. In comparison, the average American household uses about 8,000 gallons of water per month. Our official Kern CNPS web site at http ://www. cnp s . or g/ chapter s/kern/ has gotten a bit age-challenged, in that all of the "upcoming events" happened several years ago. The problem is that our current web hosting arrangement doesn't allow easy access to update the site. However, this year, we have some upcoming events in the future so until a better arrangement for the official page is worked out, we are putting up an adjunct web page that we can easily modify. It is at http://www.ics.uci.edu/~hampson/kcnps/ While at this point it is just a collection of links that may be of interest to our local CNPS group, it does have a "field trips" section that will be filled in soon, or may be already by the time you read this. Lucy Clark has done an amazing job of lining up a series of field trips for what promises to be an amazing spring, so keep an eye on that location. And, while you are there, check out the rest of the site. In addition to updating the web page more frequently, it has been suggested that we try out a "news flash" email option for information with a very short shelf life (eg, nearby rare plant sightings), or last minute field trips to see a nearby rare plant). This is just an experiment for now, but if you are interested in participating, include your email address on the mail-in ballot, or send it to hampson@ics.uci.edu with a subject of "news flash". Then, if you would like to share something with the CNPS -flashers group, email that information to hampson@ics.uci.edu and it will posted on the web page and forwarded to everyone on the group list. That way you won't have to check the web page daily to see if something rare has been spotted. If this proves to be popular it might upgraded to an automatic list-server. Hopefully this won't add significantly to your existing spam load, but if we get too many fiddleneck sightings for example, we may not forward * everything*. multiple uses as you ivort^on projeets including mating cordage and processing and preparing edible plants. ” $65.00 IF or information contact ‘Earth Skills, 1113 Cougar Court , Frazier Ear d Cl 93225; 661-245-0318; ivzvzu. earths kills.org Govenor Schwarzenegger signed SB 1226 on August 23, 2004 making the designation official. Purple needlegrass is endemic to California in the Central Valley and surrounding foothills, central coast and south to San Diego County. It is a major grassland species. It is official . . . the state grass of California is Nassella pulchra. The Kern County Archeological Society presents an educational 2 day tour, April 9 & 10, of the natural history and pre-history of the southern Sierra Nevadas and the western Mojave Desert: botany, geology, hydrology, ethnology and archeology. $100 per person ($90 is tax-deductible). RSVP by 4-1-05. For more information and reservations: Alan Gold at avraml952@yahoo.com or 559-243-8186. 54 Elant Uses class ivill Be taught By Earth Skills on 54pril 13 , July 14 and again on September 11. 54s you use native plants "you Begin to fqtozv not only their names , But their personality and hozv and zvhere they grozv. In this one- day class you zvillget to kpozv intimately local plants zoith Calochortus kennedyi from "California Desert Flowers" by Sia and Emil Morhardt University of California Press, 2004 Calochortus kennedyi (desert mariposa lily) is a car-stopper (even at 70 mph) with brilliant coloring that varies from intense yellow to radiant red. Most often petals are electric orange with an almost black spot (the nectary, or nectar-producing gland) at the base of each petal. Sepals are narrow and greenish. Up to six flowers may grow on a single stem, standing straight up to boldly announce their location. It can be very exciting to find a population, since they do not flower every year and are seldom abundant. The species was named for William L. Kennedy (c. 1827), who collected specimens for botanist who described it. There is a reasonable chance that we will see C. kennedyi and C. venustus on our Hungry Valley field trip. Check out the plant list at http://www.ics.uci.edu/~hampson/cnps/ PlantLists/hungrv.html CNPS - Kern County Chapter P O Box 9622 Bakersfield, CA 93389-9622 The mission of the California Native Plant Society is to increase understanding and appreciation of California’s native plants and to conserve them and their natural habitats through science, education, advocacy, horticulture and land stewardship. OFFICIAL CNPS KERN CHAPTER BALLOT Although voting in an uncontested election may not seem necessary, an election is required by our bylaws. Please vote as an expression of confidence and support for those who are willing to serve as volunteer officers in our chapter. President Lucy Clark Vice president Debby Kroeger Treasurer Harriett Morris Secretary Laura Stockton Please return your ballot by March 30, 2005 to: CNPS Kern Chapter P O Box 9622 Bksfld, CA 93389-9622 Thank you. * It "k Would you like to be included in our “news flash” email list?? If “yes”, provide your email address here: *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Kern CNPS Committee Chairs Membership Ellen Cypher ecypher@bak.rr.net 398-2201 Newsletter Editor Steve Hampson hampson@ics.uci.edu 366-6357 Conservation Randi McCormick randi@mccormickbioloaicalinc.com Rare Plant Coordinator Eve Laeaer laeaer@lightspeed.net 760-379-3360 Education Laura Stockton lastockton@sbcglobal.net 831-2325 Plant Sale Debby Kroeger decay@att.net 323-4259 & Randi McCormick 589-4065 Plant Communities Mary Warters 589-9224 Field T rips Lucy Clark LucyG391 @aol.com 391 -9302