Botanical leaflets

Northern California Botanists

Botanical Leaflets

Volume I, Issue 2

President’s Message

Northern California Bota-
nists have had a busy spring
and summer. We were
able to award 7 scholarships
for $ 1000.00 each to botany
students in Northern Cali-
fornia for the 2008-2009
academic year. This is a
great way to promote bo-
tanical study in Northern
California. We also cele-
brated National Botanist
Day with a field trip to low
elevation serpentine on the
Plumas National Forest in
May.

Many of us have been busy
dealing with the results of
the early fires this year and
especially the dry lightening

In honor of the first Na-
tional Botanist Day, NCB in
cooperation with the Plu-
mas National Forest spon-
sored a field trip to low
elevation serpentine on May
23,2008. National Botanist
Day started here in North-
ern California as a way to
celebrate botanists and all
the hard work that we do.
May 23rd was picked to
celebrate Carolus Lin-
naeaus’s birthday. This is a
grassroots effort that has

that occurred throughout
the state in June. On the
Plumas National Forest,
about 100,000 acres burned
in the North Fork and Mid-
dle Fork of the Feather
River. Many of the shrubs
and oaks are starting to
sprout again. The new
green growth of the bracken
ferns has been quite a con-
trast to the black overstory
of conifers and oaks.

NCB will not have a sympo-
sium in 2009 because of the
California Native Plant So-
ciety conference in Sacra-
mento this next January.

We will, however, be do-
nating money to the CNPS

been endorsed by both NCB
and by NBOT (a group of
botanists that meet periodi-
cally in Redding several
times a year).

We visited a serpentine
outcrop on National Forest
land in Magalia to view a
MacNab cypress ( Callitropis
macnabiana) stand and resto-
ration efforts to obliterate
user-created trails and
roads. We traveled to Saw-
mill Peak where Eriogonum
umbellatum var. ahartii and

Fall 2008

conference committee to
help with student scholar-
ships. In addition, we will
have a booth at the confer-
ence. We are looking for
volunteers to help with the
booth.

In January of 2010 we plan
to have our third sympo-
sium. We are beginning to
plan the symposium now so
if you would like to volun-
teer to help, please let us
know.

For more information, see
related articles within this
newsletter.

Have a great fall!

Linnea Hanson

Packer a eurycephalus var lewis-
rosei occur on another ser-
pentine outcrop. We dis-
cussed the prescribed burns
that are planned at both
sites and the monitoring
that has been completed.

Thirty people attended the
field day from state and
federal government, col-
leges, private industry, and
non-profit organizations . It
was a wonderful day and
everyone really enjoyed
themselves.

OFFICERS

President: Linnea Hanson

Vice President: Colby
B °ggs

Secretary: Jenny Marr
Treasurer: Gail Kuenster

Members-at-large

Barbara Castro
Robin Fallscheer
Christine Hantelman
Lawrence Jane way
Robert Schlising
Joe Silveira
Karen Wiese
Mike Williams

Inside this issue:

Student Research
awards

2

2009-2010 scholar-
ships

2

NAME THIS PLANT

2

Volunteers wanted

3

Board of Directors

3

Non-profit status

3

Membership news

3

Employment opportu-
nities

3

National Botanist Day Event May 23, 2008

Botanical Leaflets

Page 2

2008 — 2009 Student Research Scholarship Awards

This was the first year Northern
California Botanists offered student
research scholarships. We received
37 applications from a very strong
candidate pool. These included 3
undergraduate students, 13 in a
Master’s degree program, and 21 in
a PhD program. The schools repre-
sented include UC Berkeley, UC
Davis, UC Santa Cruz, CSU Hum-
boldt , CSU San Francisco, CSU
Sonoma, CSU Sacramento, and
Southern Illinois University.

The Scholarship Committee had a
difficult time choosing the scholar-
ship recipients. The breath of sub-
ject matter and the quality of the
research proposals were out-
standing. The research proposals
covered the most contemporary
issues facing the field of botany to-
day, climate change, fire dynamics,

invasives, and conservation. It is reward-
ing to know that such important work is
being conducted in the academic com-
munity!

Northern California Botanists awarded
seven $ 1 ,000 scholarships. We con-
gratulate these outstanding students and
would like to thank an anonymous donor
and our members who have helped to
make these awards possible.

This year’s recipients and the title of
their research are:

Gavin Archbald (MS/San Francisco
State University) “Evaluating the poten-
tial for spread of an invasive forb, Limo-
nium ramosissimum, in San Francisco Bay
salt marshes”

Christopher Dolanc (PhD/UC Davis)
“Current and future vegetation change in
Sierran subalpine due to changing cli-
mate”

Steven Johnston (MS/ Sonoma
State University) “Evolutionary
ecology of a host-pathogen interac-
tion in California woodlands”

Laura Saunders (MS /Sonoma
State University) “The effects of
mammalian herbivory on the growth
and establishment of oaks”

Lisa Schile (PhD/UC Berkeley)
“Tidal wetland vegetation response
to climate change in the San Fran-
cisco Bay-Delta”

Marit Wilkerson (PhD/UC
Davis) “Downsides to habitat corri-
dors’ potential for exotic plant inva-
sion”

Cara Witte (MS/ CSU Humboldt)
“Floristic inventory of Horse Mtn.,
Board Camp Mtn., and surrounding
areas, with special consideration to
plants on serpentine outcrops”

Student research scholarships 2009-2010

Northern California Botanists are
pleased to announce that they will be
awarding student research scholar-
ships for the 2009-2010 academic
year.

Research scholarships will consist of
$ 1 ,000 awards to undergraduate and
graduate students who are enrolled in
a botany, plant ecology, or other
plant-focused program as a full-time

student at one of northern California’s
colleges or universities. Junior and sen-
ior undergraduates and MS and PhD
graduate students are eligible. Projects
must be part of Independent Study, The-
sis or Dissertation coursework.

Applications must be submitted to NCB
by midnight on March 1 , 2009. Awards
will be announced in May 2009, with
funding provided to students for the

2009-2010 academic year in August
2009.

Applications will be available in
January. For more information and
to download an application, visit the
NCB webpage: http:/ /
www . csuchico . edu/biol / Herb /
norcalbot/ index.htm

Can you name this plant?

Can you name this native plant of northern California, that is forming its aggre-
gate fruit of achenes inside a leathery receptacle?

Volume I, Issue 2

Page 3

Volunteers wanted

NCB is striving to become more actively engaged with its membership on several levels and is requesting your participation.
Please consider your preferred level of participation (e.g., general volunteering to assist with NCB’s annual symposia, help-
ing with the NCB booth at the 2009 CNPS conference in Sacramento, specific volunteering to serve on NCB’s action com-
mittees).

Please let us know if you would like to become more involved by contacting us at ncbotanists@gmail.com

N CB is setting up an information
booth at the upcoming CNPS
conference in January 2009.

One of the features will be a dis-
play of “Tools of the Trade”. To
date, we have modern tools used
by field botanists, as well as a few
historic items like a vasculum.
We’d like more! If you have
other historic items that you’d be
willing to share, please contact
Christine Hantelman at
baji@chico.com

NCB is looking for volunteers to
represent the organization through
attendance at NCB’s booth at the
CNPS 2009 Conference. If inter-
ested, please contact NCB at
ncbotanists @gmail . com

NCB is looking for webmaster help!
If you have web expertise and would
like to donate some time helping us
maintain our web pages, please con-
tact us at ncbotanists@gmail.com

NCB is currently looking for
volunteers to serve on the
student stipend and student
research scholarship review
committees. Your participa-
tion will support the selection
of students who receive finan-
cial assistance to attend the
2010 NCB annual symposium
and will help select recipients
of the 2009-2010 student
research scholarships.

NCB Board of Directors

Officers and member-at-large, com-
prising the Board of Directors, were
voted in by the ballots received in
May 2008. The roster of board
members as listed elsewhere in this
newsletter, will serve a two-year
term, ending in 2010. Most ballots
voted for all members on the slate .
There was one write-in. President
Linnea Hanson has contacted him,

asking if he would like to volunteer to
help in particular activities. Persons de-
siring to serve as directors of Northern
California Botanists are urged to make
their interest known to the Board so as to
be included on the slate for voting by the
entire membership in early 2010. Please
contact Rob Schlising at rschlis-
ing@csuchico . edu

Non-profit status

In 2008, NCB obtained its non-
profit status for both federal and
state tax reporting. We are now a
federally recognized SOI (c) (3) non
-profit organization as of February
2007. Membership dues and dona-
tions to N CB are tax deductible .

Membership news

N CB counts on its membership and donations to help fund
its programs such as the student research scholarships. In
addition, we are starting to plan for our next conference
in January 2010. If your membership has expired, this
will be the last newsletter sent to you. Your expiration
date is listed on the address label of this newsletter.

Please consider renewing and helping with a donation if
possible to help fund next year’s student research scholar-
ships and other important N CB programs .

Employment opportunities

The Federal Government is hiring botanists. Check http: / /
jobsearch.usajobs.gov/ for current vacancies . Though not
posted yet, the Anchorage Forestry Sciences Lab anticipates
hiring both permanent seasonal and temporary positions for the
2009 field season to serve on the data collection team in Alaska.
For more information contact: Connie Hubbard at chub-
bard@fs.fed.us or Ray Koleser at rkoleser@fs.fed.us.

Plant on page 3 : Calycanthus occidentalis

Northern California
Botanists

c/o Chico State Herbarium
California State University Chico
Chico, CA 95929-0545

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:

Northern California Botanists
c/o Chico State Herbarium
California State University, Chico
Chico, CA 95929-0545

NCB is a federally recognized 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization.

E-mail: ncb 0 tanists@ 5 mail.com

Check out our webpage!

www.csuchico.edu/biol/
Herb /norcalbot/ index.htm