Friday, July 16, 2010

Trip Itinerary!

I haven't been out in the field in weeks and I miss it! Can't wait to get back out there looking for rare plants. I'm excited for this trip it should be lovely! Here's the preliminary itinerary.

Tahoe Training Trip Itinerary
Sat, Jul 31, 2010:
8am depart from California Native Plant Society Headquarters, carpool
10am meet at the Kingvale Shell Station, exit 171, Hwy I-80
10:30am depart for first location,
10:45 am arrive Cold Spring Campground to look for
Erigeron miser, Starved daisy occ #13. Go over survey form protocols.
11:45 am lunch at Campground
12:30 pm Depart for next location
1pm Arrive Donner Pass Rd from Ext 176 Boreal Mountain Resort
3 mi easy round trip hike to Flora Lake to look for occurrence of Erigeron miser.
4pm Depart for campground near Donner Lake -set up camp.
6pm Potluck, Mexican night
7pm Short presentation on the Rare Plant Treasure Hunt
Sun, Aug 1, 2010:
8am Depart campground
8:45 Arrive Sage Hen Hills, look for Drosera anglica
11:45 Lunch
12:30 Depart
12:45 arrive Hobart Mills, Prosser Reservoir, look for Ivesia sericoleuca occ # 41, 10.
3pm Depart for Sacramento/ Home.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Treasure Hunt Training

Rare Plant Treasure Hunt
Trip Leader Training and Treasure Hunt
Tahoe National Forest
Jul 31-Aug 1, 2010
Target Audience: The California Native Plant Society is putting together a special treasure hunt and training for anyone interested in becoming a Rare Plant Treasure Hunt Trip Leader. If you have some botanical field experience (whether professional or not) and would like to lead a group of any size on a trip this year or next then please join us.

Location: Tahoe National Forest-Donner Pass to Sage Hen Hills. Meet at CNPS headquarters, 2707 K Street, Ste 1 Sacramento on Sat morning at 8 am to carpool or at the Kingvale Shell Station (South of exit 171 off Hwy I-80) at 10 am. Please bring all supplies you will need for camping and surveying. More camping site details to come.

This trip should be amazing and beautiful. We will be looking for Erigeron miser (starved daisy), Ivesia sericoleuca, Eriogonum umbellatum var. torreyanum and the carnivorous sundew-Drosera anglica.

Cost: Minimal, there may be a small charge for our campsite.

RSVP: Reply to Amber by Jul 27th at treasurehunt@cnps.org or at http://www.meetup.com/Rare-Plant-Treasure-Hunt.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Season Summary

The results are in. This spring season has been highly successful in the Mojave Desert!
Data has been gathered on the populations of over 180 new and historic rare plant occurences.
Over 30 separate rare plant species have been documented.
Over 395 volunteer hours have been logged.
All this information will go into the Department of Fish and Game's Database of Rare California Flora and Fauna (the California Natural Diversity Data Base) and be distributed to agencies that can hopefully conserve these populations and their habitats.
But don't worry if you haven't been involved yet, this project is ongoing into the fall and hopefully next year!
In the Western mojave-it may not look like this for long though,
this area is slated to be a wind farm