DECEMBER 2012 1-k • The • Pipevme Marvelous Newsletter of the Mount Lassen Chapter CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY General Meeting DECEMBER 5, 2012 Wednesday 7:30 pm Butte County Library, Chico Mountain Wildflowoers along the Eastern Edge of Butte County Presented by CINDY WEINER, ROBERT FISCHER and ROB SCHLISING T he Mount Lassen Chapter has always held field trips that provide good company while hiking and viewing diverse plants in wonderful settings. The chapter has added a new “work” element to several of its trips, where rela- tively small areas are visited with the daunting goal of listing (naming) ALL plants (seed plants and ferns) at the site. In these check-list- ing trips participants share their knowl- edge and even have fun keying plants in the field. The first checklist was made in June 2011 , for Lumpkin Ridge, east of the village of Feather Falls. The list is posted on the Chapter website. The list made for Scotts John Creek in extreme northeast Butte County, visited in early August that year, is also posted. Despite the much drier conditions in 2012, check-listing trips back to Lumpkin Ridge in July and to an area just east of Humbug Sum- mit in early August provided species not seen on earlier trips. The three leaders of all four check-listing trips, will present the results, with some attention to numbers of species found, but mainly with pictures of the marvelous mountain wildflowers at these sites. Cindy Weiner, a retired teacher, serves the Chapter as Publicity Chair. She is a major volunteer at the Herbarium at Chico State, accessioning, filing and doing data-entry. She also has recently gained the status of “Master Gardener.” Robert Fischer, who is the grass and sedge expert for the checklists, has spoken to MLC about Ahjumawi Lava Springs State Park (Shasta County). He has produced a printed flora for that area and for Scotts John Creek in Butte County. Rob Schlising, a retired teacher, volunteers with several botanical and environmental groups in the area, and continues field research projects on geophytes, vernal pool plants and native bees. Horkelia tridentata (Three-toothed Horkelia) by Rob Schlising Field Trips Wes Dempsey and Gerry Ingco, Co-chairs CAMPUS TREE TOURS CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, CHICO AND BIDWELL MANSION November 30 Friday Meet at 10 am in front of Bidwell Mansion where parking is free for participants. This is the 125th anniversary of the CSU, Chico campus so we will be featuring the many fine trees that were in exis- tence or planted about that time by the Bidwells: European lindens, American chestnuts, Califor- nia incense cedars, water oaks, English and east coast white oaks, London planes, southern mag- nolia, pecans, turkey oak and several others. Tour ends about 11:45. Leaders: Wes Dempsey 530- 342-2293 and Gerry Ingco 530-893-5123 Checklisting at Humbug Summit, July 2012, by Rob Schlising HAPPY NEW YEAR! BANANA BELT UPPER BIDWELL PARK January 1 Tuesday Meet at 10 am at Horseshoe Lake, parking lot E with lunch and drink. Wear hiking shoes for the scramble up to the north ridge where we will see the first of the new year’s flowers and the last of the old ones. With two good early rains already, we have a good chance to see blue dicks, purple mouse ears, goldfields along with some Indian paintbrush and gumweed. If the weather cooper- ates we will have lunch at a Maidu rock shelter that comes equipped with 30 bedrock mortars and run- ning water. Common manzanita may be in bloom down by the park road. Leaders: Wes Dempsey 530-342-2293 and Gerry Ingco 530-893-5123 New Year Banana Belt Hike 2009 Upper Bidwell Park. 2 . The Pipevine December 2012 WOKHTgOS. ©RSACS THE NEXT Ex Board Meeting will be on January 16, 2013 General Meeting will be on February 6, 2013 and the Pipevine will be the February issue HAPPY HOLIDAYS CHAPTER TRANSITIONS by Catie Bishop, Volunteer Recognition Chair I t’s that time of year again, the time of tran- sition. Transition from fall to winter, and for our Chapter it’s time to transition to new leadership. But before we do that we need to thank the outgoing board members, and acknowledge their service. We have such high-quality people in this organization. They are dedicated and hard- working volunteers. It has been a reward- ing group to belong to, and that is because of the people. Each one has plenty of com- mitments in their lives, but somehow find the energy and time to keep the Chapter running smoothly, and contribute to this very important conservation work. For the last 2 years, the following people have played key roles in our Chapter: PAUL MOORE, President; JOHN MEEHAN, Vice President; SUSAN BAZELL, Treasurer; PAULA SHAPIRO, Member-at Large; and CINDY WEINER, Member-at Large. Al- though not performing their former duties, all of the above are assuming others, still staffing tables, planting and selling plants, organizing our events, attending meetings, writing letters, and all the other tasks that need doing in a volunteer organization. So during this season of transition, if you run into one of these helpful people, take a couple of minutes to thank them for their successful efforts to make this Chapter a fun and educational experience. THANK YOU PAUL Legislative Notes by David Anderson A NEW TAX! T he Timber Tax Bill, AB 1492, was the last bill passed by our legislature in its 2012 session. It was approved by Governor Brown on September 1 1 . It imposes a 1 % tax on retail sales of lum- ber products and engineered wood products. The tax revenues are to be used, among other regulatory purposes, to fund the costs of the state agencies (including Fish & Game and Cal Fire) involved in reviewing timber harvest plans. AB 1 492 also identifies the need for (but does not provide) standards that assess forest health and ecological performance after lumber harvesting. Other provisions of AB 1492 are for the benefit of the timber harvesters rather than the forests, which explains the mystery of a new tax bill getting bipartisan support. These other provisions extend the period of timber harvest permits from 3 to 5 years, with possible 2 year extensions, and limit the liability of persons who negligently or in violation of law set fires. CNPSdid not support AB 1492 but worked with other environmen- talists in getting amendments to it which inserted the provisions for a tax to boost funding timber harvest plan reviews. This was an important legislative accomplishment because inadequate plan reviews can lead to serious forest and watershed damage. MOUNT LASSEN CHAPTER 201 3 Elected Officers The following people were elected to the Mount Lassen Chapter 2013 Executive Board on November 7, 2012 at the General Meeting. President Vice President Secretary Treasurer SUELLEN ROWLISON ANGIE TILARO JIM BISHOP JOHN MEEHAN Members-at-Large CATIE BISHOP HESH KAPLAN MARGO LUND MARION WEER THANK YOU MEMBERS THAT VOTED The Pipevine December 2012 3. NEW COMMITTEE MOUNT LASSEN CHAPTER IYINT8 Janna Lathrop, Events Chair I would like to establish a contact list of members willing to help staff the MLC outreach table, on occasion, at upcoming events such as Snow Goose Festival, Oroville Wildflower Festival and Endangered Species Faire. Partic- ipation entails being a welcoming presence, field queries, handout brochures and help promote inter- est in our native flora. Snow Goose Festival 2013 We will have our outreach table at this year’s Snow Goose Festival. We will need help to staff it on Saturday January 26 from 9 -5 and Sunday January 27 from 9-3 at the Chico Masonic Lodge. Help for a two or three hour session and be a friendly face for Mount Lassen Chapter CNPS. Thanks in advance for your participation. Please contact mejlathrop4mlc@comcast.net BOTANICAL BOOKS John Meehan, Sales Co-chair ...Are you running out of space for your old books? ... Are you no longer using that field guide to trees? ...Have you enjoyed that coffee table book long enough? ...Have you moved on to mushrooms and now have too many fern books? D onate your books for the Chapter’s USED BOOK SALE to be held at the MAY 2013 GENERAL MEETING. All books on plants, gardening, natural history and field guides will be welcome. Books donated to the chapter will be reasonably priced and the proceeds will benefit the Chapter. Bring your books to the Sales Table at any of the General Meetings from November to April or call John Meehan at 530-894-5339. Availability for Review of CEQA Document North Table Mountain Ecological Preserve TRAILS PROJECT Woody Elliott, Conservation Chair C alif Dept of Fish & Game has prepared the Mitigated Nega- tive Declaration (MND) including the initial study (IS) for North Table Mtn Trail Project. The Mitigated Negative Declaration is available for the 30-day public review and comment period starting November 1, 2012 and concluding 12:00 noon Novem- ber 30, 2012. Electronic copies of the Proposed MND/IS can be downloaded from the CDFG website:http://www.dfg.ca. gov./news/ pubnotice/. Please send comment letters to Bruce Foreman by email:bforman@dfg. ca.gov by FAX(91 6)358-291 2 or US Mail addressed to: Bruce Forman, CA Dept of Fish and Game, 1701 Nimbus Rd, Rancho Cordova, CA 95670. More information can be found on the Conservation page of the Mount Lassen Chapter’s website: www.mountlassen.cnps.org MOUNT LASSEN CHAPTER Plant Sale at the HARVEST FESTIVAL FARM CITY CELEBRATION Paula Shapiro, Horticulture Chair T HANK YOU to everyone who contributed to another fun and successful plant sale at the Farm City Celebration: Germain and Zeb at FLORAL NATIVE NURSERY and Nancy Schleiger at NANCY’S NATIVE SRINGS NURSERY for your plant dona- tions; Dalynn and Spencer Dykstra, Lorna Cunkle, Jim and Catie Bishop, Paul Moore, John Meehan, and Ron Cooley for volun- teering at the sale and Denise Devine and Cindy Weiner for their invaluable behind the scenes labor. Most of all to the many, many people who stopped by our booth to talk and buy native plants. WE’LL SEE YOU ALL AT THE SPRING WILDFLOWER SHOW AND PLANT SALE. 4. The Pipevine December 2012 2013 Wildf lower Show and Plant Sale Janna Lathrop, Events Chair O ur 2013 WILDFLOWER SHOW and PLANT SALE is fast approaching on Sunday April 21, 2013. Noon to 5 pm at the CARD Community Center in Chico. Join us for a wonderful afternoon bursting with native flora, ac- tivities and the camraderie of fellow native plant aficionados. What better way to celebrate CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT WEEK, April 14-21,2013. We hold the Wildflower Show and Plant Sale every other year and the proceeds traditionally have been one of our most impor- tant funding sources to the Mount Lassen Chapter budget. For the day of the show we will bring in hundreds of examples of wildflowers and native flora from our Mount Lassen Chap- ter region. This includes habitats from valley grasslands, ver- nal pools, riparian, foothill woodland, serpentine, chaparrel, and yellow pine forest. The plants are then identified, labeled and displayed by habitat. The array offers attendees the opportunity to enjoy their beauty, learn their names, and appreciate their ecology. Learn new plants and reunite with old favorites. During the Wildflower Show in one afternoon you can see more kinds of native plants than on dozens of walks. Likewise, on your next walk more native plants will be familiar to you. Have a mystery native plant you can’t identify, bring it to the plant ID table, and we will have experts you can ask. Explore the wonder of plants and plant structures at our microscope table. It is a really nice attraction to young and not so young eyes. There will be an activi- ties table for children, displays about nature and native plants, short nature walks, and infor- mative speakers about native plants and be- yond. Indoors will be our sales table with t-shirts, posters, books and more. Outside will be our popular PLANT SALE where such natives as toyon, pipevine, buck- wheat, milkweed, wood- land strawberry, bleeding hearts, iris, current, coy- ote mint, sticky monkey- flower, deer grass and more, more, more will be available to add to your garden. Come early for best selection. After filling your senses with the bountiful flora and your arms with native plants and books, while sporting your new MLC t- shirt, enjoy a refreshing glass of native tea or punch and a cookie or two. Sounds better than wonderful. This all comes together with lots of help of our membership. CURRENTLY WE ARE STILL IN NEED OF A COORDINATOR (or co-coordinators?) to oversee and help with volunteer staffing. We need volunteers to help with the following areas: distribute posters, set up (arriving by 8 am) and take down, plant collecting (the day prior), publicity, refresh- ments, entrance table, nature walks, speakers, microscope ta- ble, children’s activity, sales table, membership, native tea table. We need help before, during and after the show. Please support our chapter by supporting the Wildflower Show and Plant Sale and become a volunteer. Please contact any board member or wildflowershow@mountlassen.cnps.org. The Pipevine December 2012 5. THE ETHICS of HARVESTING WILD PLANTS O n a planet where it was intended for life to eat living things, some life forms are in peril of being eaten right out of existence! The problem lies in an expanded population of people foraging in the out-of-doors for edible organisms, as featured in an article, “The Forager’s Dilemma,” by Jonah Raskin, in the April-June is- sue of Bay Nature magazine. Perhaps more importance should be put on poison in nature! Once a novel way of sampling wild foods in a metropolitan area that is now crowded with seven million residents, foraging spaces have become few, and sometimes habitats are stripped bare by over-eager consumers. Most parks now do not allow collecting of anything, and private lands are often trespassed for access. The article indicated that some foragers strip seaweed from rocks, deplete urchin beds, engage in unlimited poaching, gather plants without restraint, play roulette with mushrooms, and sometimes trample the ground and reduce food for wildlife. In the prehistory days of the Native American Indians, foraging and hunting was often the sole means of existence, especially before agriculture was practiced. But time has wrought changes to the food factor. Now food goes from the farm to the grocery stores, and an expedition across America in the style of the 1804 Lewis and Clark live-off-the-land journey, is no longer viable. Laws, lack of game, and private land restrictions, dictate a different kind of exploratory mode. When working with Oakland Parks on the Naturalist Staff in the 1960’s, we would lead nature hikes into the hills with a feature of edible/medicinal plants and mushrooms. We would nibble our way through miner’s lettuce, chickweed, huckleberries, and hazel nuts without any thought of damaging the environment, but we may have had some apprehensions twenty years later when an advertised “edible mushroom walk” brought forth 150 people. With that, we put the emphasis on poisonous mushrooms and habitat stewardship-plus warnings that getting off of the trail subjected one to poison oak!. Alas! Even today there are a few Bay Area forager clubs that col- lect edible plants and animals for a $1 00 a plate dinner at a Wild Kitchen feast.. .even amid restrictive laws and regulations. by Rex Burress The trample-traffic is not as intense at Oroville, CA, and on nature walks I point out edible miner’s lettuce, even though I suggest only a nibble to get the flavor of what was once important to the gold miners. I specify restraint and conservation in collecting anything in nature. Unless you own acreage, there’s no living off the land anymore. Collecting rocks and nature cast-offs is not as intrusive to bal- anced habitats, but even so, popular gemstone sites have been severely picked over, disrupting geological formations, and impos- ing limits. Once there was a marvelous “Wonderstone Mountain” of colorful rhyolite in Nevada, but it has nearly been leveled by commercial exploiters. When the money factor is involved, greed evolves. When morel mushrooms, or chanterelles, sell at $40 a pound, you know there are more sellers than eaters. Imagine my concern when a group of displaced Hmong refu- gees were established in Oroville. I soon noticed that they were excellent foragers as had been their custom in the Asian world. They didn’t understand our laws, and it took awhile for them to adjust. Not only did they excel at fishing, but setting snares for squirrels and succeeding, was going too far. The boys could scoot right up the cottonwood to pick oyster mushrooms, and the Hmong women were stripping the riverside of edible plants, especially pea family. But when lovely Hmong girls were picking bouquets of California poppies, I reacted, followed them home and confronted the parents. They understood little English, but I think they got the message with a lot of pointing and grimacing. I think the kindly Hmong are within the orderly law and order system now, and contribute to the community circle. Worldly ex- pansion has suggested a need to share natural things of aesthetic wonder and conserve limited resources. In the end, we will conserve what we love, We will love what we understand. We will understand what we are taught. - Baba Dioum 6 . The Pipevine December 2012 FRIENDS of the HERBARIUM UPCOMING HOLIDAY 2012 WORKSHOP Officers & Chairs Wreath Making Workshop December 8, 2012 Bring a little native plant cheer into your Holiday Season. Make one or two 10-12 inch wreaths for your home or for gifts. Learn some history about wreaths and the plants they are made from. The instructors are Jennifer Jewell, garden writer and creator of “In a North State Garden” (www.jewellgarden.com) and Adrienne Edwards, Adjunct Faculty at Chico State, botanist, (aledwards@csuchico.edu). Meet from 1 - 3pm in 129 Holt Hall at CSU, Chico. Cost is $20 for one wreath or $30 for two. Please register in advance, contact the CSU, Chico Biology office at 530 898-5356 orjbraden@csuchico.edu Detailed descriptions and sign up forms are available on the Chico State Herbarium website: www.csuchico.edu/biol/Herb/ Events.html NORTHERN CALIFORNIA BOTANISTS 2013 SYMPOSIUM From the Redwoods to the Sagebrush: Botany Ranging Far and Wide The NCB symposium planning committee invites you to bring a POSTER to share your work and knowledge of the biology, ecology, conservation or management of our Northern Califor- nia plant life with others. This will be a great opportunity for con- tinuing education and networking. Deadline for poster abstract: December 15, 2012. For details go to www.norcalbotanists.org Join us January 14-15, 2013 for the 5th botanical symposium hosted by Northern California Botanists. It will be held in the Bell Memorial Union on the campus of California State University in Chico. Optional botanical workshops will be held on Wednes- day, January 16. A 2-day schedule of presentations by working botanists will include sessions on Biogeography, Restoration & Recovery, Redwood and North Coast Botany and Ecology, Non-seed Plants, Seed and Propagule Biology of northern Cali- fornia plants, Great Basin Ecology, and New Discoveries. California Native Plant Society, Mount Lassen Chapter and LIKE US facebook mountlassen.cnps.org ELECTED OFFICERS <530) President PAUL MOORE 343-4287 Past President pmoore@csuchico.edu JANNA LATHROP 636-4547 Vice-President jlathrop4mlc@comcast.net JOHN MEEHAN 894-5339 Secretary jsmeehan64@yahoo.com JIM BISHOP cjbishopl 991 @sbcglobal. net Treasurer JOHN MEEHAN 894-5339 Member-at-Large jsmeehan64@yahoo.com PAULA SHAPIRO 343-7440 paulashapiro@wildblue.net CATIE BISHOP cjbishopl 991 @sbcg lobal.net CINDY WEINER 342-7645 wildflowermaven@comcast.net CHAIRS Conservation Education Invasive Plants Field Trips Co-chairs Membership Horticulture Newsletter Editor Programs Co-chairs Rare Plants Publicity Sales Co-chairs WOODY ELLIOTT 342-6053 woodyelliott@gmail.com ADRIENNE EDWARDS aledwards@csuchico.edu SUSAN MASON 892-1666 smason908@gmail.com WES DEMPSEY 342-2293 wdempsey@csuchico.edu GERRY INGCO 893-5123 genaroingco@aol.com SUSAN MASON 892-1666 smason908@gmail.com PAULA SHAPIRO 343-7440 paulashapiro@wildblue.net DENISE DEVINE 345-8444 dsrdevine@hotmail.com JIM BISHOP cjbishopl 991 @sbcg lobal.net WOODY ELLIOTT 342-6053 woodyelliott@gmail.com RON COLEY 533-1238 rcoley64@comcast.net CINDY WEINER 342-7645 wildflowermaven@comcast.net JOHN MEEHAN 894-5339 jsmeehan64@yahoo.com ELLEN COPELAND copelande12@yahoo.com Vol. Recognition / Chapter Council Delegate CATIE BISHOP cjbishopl 991 @sbcglobal. net The Pipevine December 2012 7. MOUNT LASSEN CHAPTER CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY P O. BOX 3212 CHICO, CA 95927-3212 Requested In-home Delivery 11/26-28/2012 3-Day Window Nonprofit Org. U.S. Postage PAID Chico, CA Permit No. 553 RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED Time Value DECEMBER 2012 issue Phyllis would say Join Today ! MEMBERSHIP APPLICATION CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY I wish to affiliate with the Mount Lassen Chapter Name Address City State Zip Phone Email Send Membership Applications to: student , Limited |ncome $25 MOUNT LASSEN CHAPTER CNPS Individual $45 P O. BOX 32 1 2 Family / Library $75 CHICO, CA 95927-3212 Plant Lover $100 Patron $300 m0untlassen.cnps.org Benefactor $600 new renew November 30 - CSUC Tree Tour December 5 - General Meeting NO Ex Board Meeting January 1 - Upper Bidwell Park 14-15 - Nor Cal Botanical Symposim 16 - Ex Board Meeting 25-27 - Snow Goose Festival February 6 - General Meeting 20 - Ex Board Meeting