Sanhedrin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society

This Month

• Saturday, April 3, 2010 (unless it is pouring rain) Low Gap Park Annual Flower Count : Join naturalist Mark Albert on the 29th annual Spring wildflower identification fieldtrip at Low Gap Park in Ukiah. The outing starts at 9:30am, but if you come late the group is easy to find as they will be botanizing close to the parking lot for awhile. Each person will get an updated 8-page checklist of species, which is a very accurate listing of Ukiah Valley's early Spring wildflowers. Bring your hand lens, your identification guide and a lunch. We pull out some escaped exotic French broom while we're at it, monitor the changes in the park, and soak up some sun.
• Saturday, April 17, 2010 Turtle Pond Wildflower Walk at Ridgewood Ranch : This trip is a very easy 1mile jaunt thru oak woodlands and meadows. After lunch those who want to can come on a further hike (3 miles) up a riparian canyon to a rocky point thru madrone forests and oak woodland. It is a fun day! Those interested in attending this trip should call Steve at 707-508-8729 for info about the ranch and parking instructions.
• Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 Willits Bypass Meeting with Caltrans , The Sanhedrin Chapter of CNPS and the Willits Outlet Creek Watershed Group will be co-hosting an evening with Caltrans to talk about environmental concerns regarding the upcoming construction of the Willits Bypass. We have asked Caltrans to bring landscape design and environmental specialists from their office to discuss the use of locally adapted natives for erosion control and landscaping of the bypass and to address concerns about the importation of invasive plant propagules from the borrow sites into the valley. They will also be addressing mitigation for rare plants and wetlands as well as water quality and fish passage concerns. The event will be at the Little Lake Grange, 291 School Street, at 7PM
• Thursday and Friday, April 22-23, 2010 Collecting for Anderson Valley Wildflower Show Celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in appreciation of Mendocino County’s diverse flora. Join me on April 22 (Thursday) looking for plants of aesthetic and botanical interest for the Anderson Valley Flower Show in Boonville. If you’re willing to collect plant specimens (rare plants are generally excluded) on April 22 or 23, just let me know so we can coordinate our explorations. Peter Warner: (707) 829-1183; phytopagan@gmail.com
• Saturday and Sunday, April 24-25, 2010 Anderson Valley Wildflower Show Mendocino County Fairgrounds, Highway 128, Boonville, CA. 9AM to 4PM, : The 84th annual Anderson Valley Wildflower Show will be held at the Mendocino County Fairgrounds in Boonville.  Many wildflowers are collected and identified; plants and books are for sale; a tearoom offering good food is available; and a raffle which funds scholarships for high school students for college or camp.   Admission is free.  The Show is open from 9 am to 4 pm right on highway 128 in the middle of town.

Next Month

• Friday and Saturday, May 7, 8, 2010 Vegetation Workshop at Pepperwood Preserve Sponsored by the Pepperwood Foundation, California Native Plant Society (CNPS), and the CNPS Milo Baker Chapter Pepperwood Preserve, Franz Valley Road, 10 miles north of Santa Rosa Friday, May 7, 2010: 10 a.m. – 4 p.m. and Saturday, May 8: 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. Instructors: Julie Evens, CNPS Vegetation Program Director and Peter Warner, botanical consultant
  Cost: $25
  This workshop will review the recently released second edition of A Manual of California Vegetation (Sawyer, Keeler-Wolf, and Evens 2009), and provide initial training in the CNPS rapid assessment and relevé vegetation sampling protocols.  Participants will learn about the essential role of vegetation inventories and classification in ecological management and conservation, and will practice compiling data in support of widely adopted classification standards.  Access to a copy of A Manual of California Vegetation during the workshop is recommended. For further information, please contact Peter Warner: phytopagan@gmail.com; (707) 829-1183.
• Saturday, May 8, 2010 11AM - 2PM Family Wildflower Day Howard Forest Picnic Grounds. At the top of the ridge on Hwy 101 behind the Calfire station, 5 miles south of Willits Come learn the wildflowers on short guided walks given by CNPS members.
  Free cookies and lemonade.
  A free magnifying glass for the first 50 people.
  Great fun for kids and all who want to know the local wildflowers. Activities and games.
  Bring a picnic and enjoy the day.
  For info contact Geri 459-3689.
  This is an annual event held each May on the Saturday before Mother's Day.
• Saturday and Sunday, May 15, 16, 2010 Cache Creek and Walker Ridge Field Trip This 2-day adventure will take us into the recently designated Cache Creek Wilderness, a rugged land of oaks, chaparral, and serpentine grasslands. We’ll start on Saturday with a walk along the Cache Creek Ridge Trail – I’m already excited in anticipation of exploring new terrain. This area is renowned for its wildlife diversity, including eagles, elk, and yes, rattlesnakes.
  On Saturday, meet at 9 a.m. at the Judge Davis Trailhead parking area, about 17 miles east of Clearlake Oaks, (about 4 miles west of junction with Hwy. 16) on State Hwy. 20 at mile marker 46.07.
  Come prepared for several miles of steep trails and potentially, so many degrees of heat (bring lots of water) – we’ll moderate our activity according to conditions. For those who will camp overnight, we’ll head to Walker Ridge later in the day to look for a suitable site along the ridge or near the Indian Valley Reservoir. Camping may be in an unimproved area, so be prepared with all you need: food, water, shelter, etc.
  On Sunday, meet at 10 a.m. immediately north of Hwy. 20 at the south end of Walker Ridge Road (there are a couple of larger turnouts there). We’ll travel along the ridge during the day, making stops to explore several plant habitats, including serpentine barrens, chaparral, and cypress woodlands. This area is not a showcase like Bear Valley, but botanically much richer and full of surprises.
  Please contact me if you plan on attending, as plans could change.
  Peter: (707) 829-1183; phytopagan@gmail.com
• Saturday, May 22, 2010 Plant Propagation Workshop This workshop will be held from 10:00 to 2:00 at 1800 Muir Mill Rd in Willits. Bring a bag lunch and beverages will be provided. Also bring hand pruners, gloves, fresh cuttings in plastic bags of plants you are interested in propagating, and your questions! The fee for this workshop is $25. Call Larry at 459-2681 for more information.
• Sunday, May 30, 2010 Salt Point State Park This park continually astounds me for its rich plant life – even with over 75 years of collecting and observing, we’re still adding species to the list: well over 500 taxa. I’ll likely be doing restoration work there that weekend, but would like to take a break to explore some of the diverse habitats: marshes, pygmy forest, coastal prairie, closed-cone pine forest, and others. Meet at the Woodside campground parking lot, east side of Hwy. 1, at 9 a.m. Peter: (707) 829-1183; phytopagan@gmail.com

This Year

• Saturday, June 5, 2010 Indian Springs Hike at Ridgewood Ranch This is a 6 mile hike through woodland and creek areas up to a view of Eagle peak. There are tiger lilies that could be blooming along the way! This trip requires good hiking shoes along with other necessary gear for an all-day outing. Those interested in attending this trip should call Steve at 707-508-8729 for info about the ranch and parking instructions.
• Sunday, June 13, 2010 Red Mountain and Lost Valley (Cow Mountain) Like Rickabaugh Glade, a few miles farther south in the Mayacmas, Lost Valley is an expansive open area with abundant native forbs & grasses, with a seasonal stream and a vernal-type pool. Lost Valley has been reserved by BLM and is a wonderful place to know because of its great variety of flora, and relative ease of access. (One can drive to within a few hundred yards.) Red Mt. has been less explored by local botanists but it contains a variety of soil types, including serpentine. This year presents a particularly interesting challenge to plant nerds because Roger Raiche (creator of the original Rickabaugh plant list) has just thrown out the very distinct possibility that we may be able to locate on Red Mt. a small population of a species of Calamagrostis (Reed Grass) that he discovered there over 25 years ago, but never thought to key out. He now believes, as it was found on serpentine, that it likely was Calamagrostis ophitidis. This is a species not reported in the Smith & Wheeler Flora of Mendocino County. As it turns out, Kerry Heise has already located C. ophitidis on a serpentine site on the Hopland Field Station, a few miles to the south, but if a population can be found on Red Mt., this would be the farthest north this taxon has ever been located by anyone. For carpooling (Important! as there may be many ORV-types on the mountain), please meet at the CVS parking lot (formerly Long’s) along Orchard Ave. at 8:00 am on Sun. 6/13. Sunscreen, a hat, water, lunch, hand lens, & hiking boots, all will make this outing more pleasant for you. For more information call Kerry (462-4533) or Vishnu (467-1341).
• Friday to Sunday, June 25, 26, 27, 2010 Plaskett Meadows, Black Butte, Anthony Peak This botanically rich area of the Mendocino National Forest has delighted many of us in the past, and the camping and camaraderie are a bonus. We’ll camp at Plaskett Meadows on Friday and Saturday nights, and explore the meadows, peaks, and forests for a broad array of plant life, and indulge a short drive to Mendocino Pass and Anthony Peak for yet more plant diversity. An extensive plant list of the area is available. Anyone interested in attending should contact me for further details. Peter: (707) 829-1183; phytopagan@gmail.com
• Annually in the third week of July Lake County Weed Mangement Area (WMA) Auto Tour : Details to be announced. Typically, the tour starts at 8AM and finishes with lunch furnished by the Lake County WMA. The Sanhedrin CNPS Chapter is a partner of the Lake County WMA. For info contact the Lake County Agriculture Department at (707) 263-0217 or e-mail Katherine Blyleven at kathrynb at co.lake.ca.us

Annually

• March, annually Broom Pull on Orr Springs Rd. and Montgomery Woods Lunch :

  Brooms- Scotch, French, Spanish - line the roadsides in many parts of Mendocino County. Their names give the clue- they are not native to this area, but were introduced as horticultural plants and then escaped into the wildlands. Although the blooms are beautiful, these plants are devastating for wildlife and increase wildfire risk because they are very flammable. Along roadsides, they also pose a safety hazard as they reduce visibility and obstruct pedestrian corridors. What can we do about it?

  BASH IT! The California Native Plant Society and the Inland Mendocino Cooperative Weed Management Area are hosting a broom bash on Sunday, March 28, 2010 in our Adopt-A-Road corridor along Orr Springs Road near Montgomery Woods State Reserve. Manual removal of the broom, including the roots, followed by annual monitoring to remove seedlings is a proven effective strategy to be rid of broom on roadsides. However, it takes a lot of time and effort. Come help us pull out the broom! Mild to strenuous exertion according to your ability and desire. Meet at the north side of the Mendo Mill parking lot (1870 N. State St.) in Ukiah at 9AM for carpools, at 9:30AM at Montgomery Woods State Reserve parking lot for a mandatory safety training.

  Wear long-sleeved shirt, long pants, bring gloves. Participants must be 16 or over.

  Trip Leaders: Chuck Williams 462-8984, Tara Athan 272-2115 (coord at imcwma.org)