Trip Change of Dates

From all reports it looks as though the desert is blooming early this year! Our first trip of the season to the Ocotillo area will be moved from March 11-13th to February 25th-27th!

We also still have a couple spots open if you'd like to join us. RSVP to http://www.meetup.com/Rare-Plant-Treasure-Hunt or treasurehunt@cnps.org by February 5th. A more detailed itinerary will be sent to confirmed participants.

This should still be an awesome trip and we are sure to find many things in bloom and hopefully some rare plants as well!

(Photos top to bottom: Indian Gorge; Cylindropuntia wolfii; and Looking east to Ocotillo. All these beautiful photos by Anna Bennett)

First Trip of the Season

Reserve your spot now to join in a Rare Plant Treasure Hunt in the desert. Volunteers will search for rare wildflowers in the Southern Colorado (Sonoran) desert outside of Anza-Borrego State Park. We will be exploring the mountains and washes near Ocotillo, the Jacumba and Coyote Mountains, and the Yuha Buttes in Imperial County. Hopefully we will find Mountain bush lupine, Orcutt’s woody aster and Brown turbans, among others. This will be sure to be a beautiful trip with the possibility of seeing masses of amazing wildflowers. We will be camping Friday and Saturday night in the beautiful desert landscape and enjoying a potluck on Friday night.
Friday afternoon-Sunday afternoon, March 11-13th, 2011
RSVP by February 25th to http://www.meetup.com/Rare-Plant-Treasure-Hunt or Treasurehunt@cnps.org, the first 10 volunteers to RSVP will be able to attend. Please let us know if you have any special circumstances.

Grand Prize Winner

Duncan in his element, March 2010

Duncan Bell was our 2010 Grand Prize Individual Winner. Read below about his project and how he got involved in botany.

"It was Naomi Fraga and Sula Vanderplank of Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden who first introduced me to floristics. As an intern they took me out to far away places and showed me plants that most people have never seen. I was immediately hooked. It wasn’t long after that I heard a discussion from botanists Steve Boyd and Lucinda McDade on the importance of floristics in California and how very large areas were still unexplored. Like many others, I assumed that all of California had been fully explored and that there was nowhere where botanists had not been. I was very wrong! With some research I found that there were many areas (vast areas!) that were under collected and unexplored. Partly for my need to be in nature, and partly for my want to learn how to identify and key out plants, and with a whole lot of curiosity I set out to a small unexplored mountain range in the desert in literally “the middle of nowhere“. I wasn’t sure what I would find, but I ended up finding a great deal. To date I have identified over 150 species of plants that have never been collected from that mountain range, many of which are rare and endemic to only California.

I urge anyone interested in floristics, rare plant hunting, and botany in general to look to California’s deserts, especially those areas belonging to the Bureau of Land Management. There are many large solar and wind projects that are going into effect right now that will soon disrupt thousands of acres of desert lands in the way of bulldozing to make way for solar mirrors and wind turbines. It is these areas that need immediate study and exploration before those plant communities are wiped out. There are so many areas out there that need study, and so many areas where no botanist has been.

Any plant collection within an unexplored area, weather common or not, is an important collection for science as it increases the knowledge of species distribution and habitat. There is great potential to find undescribed species as well as undiscovered populations of rare species within these vast areas. In an editorial commending field botanists for significant floristic discoveries, California botanist Scott White made a terrific statement by saying “Anyone with requisite curiosity and a plant press can make similar discoveries”.
Much thanks to Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, the California Native Plant Society, and to all desert naturalists assisting in the conservation of California’s great deserts."

Chapter Winner

Phacelia mohavensis, Mojave phacelia, CNPS list 4.3 (Photo by Jane Tirrell)

The San Gabriel Mountain CNPS Chapter in Southern California took our grand prize. Volunteers in this chapter contributed over 400 hours of their time and submitted 52 survey forms! This included 26 separate rare plant species. Wow! So we would like to take this moment and recognize their efforts and tell you about their project. Why don't you join them next year?

Carpet of Phacelia mohavensis. (Photo by Jane Tirrell)

Jane Strong, Field Trips Chair, writes:

This year, our chapter began a new project called the Lily Spring Area Survey. The purpose of the survey was to check on the phenology of about 100 plant species documented in Wayne Sawyer’s paper published in Crossosoma, February 1987 13(1):5-10, entitled “A List of High Elevation Angiosperms and Their Phenology in the San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, California”. This project dovetailed perfectly with the objectives of the CNPS Rare Plant Treasure Hunt.

The survey area is between 7,000 and 8,400 feet elevation, bordered on the south by the Pacific Crest Trail, and on the north by Highway 2, Angeles Crest Highway, and includes two moist areas, Little Jimmy and Lily Springs, a wind-swept, rocky ridge and many north-facing, forested slopes. The site was visited at least once a week by one or more of the team members from May when the road was still closed and icy continuing through November until the road is once again closed for winter conditions.

Lilium parryi, Lemon lily, list 1B.2 (Photo by Jane Tirrell)

The project manager is Graham Bothwell who also did the website at www.cnps-sgm.org/lilyspring/lsas_overview.php. Jane Tirrell and Walter Fidler did over 95% of the field work and reporting; Shirley Imsand and Laura Scott Sellers participated one or two days. Tom Chester helped with identification. Jane Strong did a workshop, some field work, identification, and the paperwork necessary for the Rare Plant Treasure Hunt.

Highlights are the discovery of several populations of Viola pinetorum ssp. grisea, gray-leaved violet, CNPS list 1B, the first Los Angeles County collection, and a significant range extension for Mimulus breweri, Brewer's monkeyflower, not previously vouchered in Los Angeles County. There were vast carpets of Phacelia mohavensis, Mojave phacelia, CNPS list 4.3 and Acanthoscyphus (Oxytheca) parishii var. parishii, Parish's oxytheca, CNPS list 4.2.

Viola pinetorum ssp. grisea, gray-leaved violet, CNPS list 1B (Photos by Jane Tirrell)

Prize Winners

Treasure Hunters at Chimineas Ranch, San Luis Obispo County

Here's the short list of the prize winners for the Rare Plant Treasure Hunt. These dedicated volunteers and partner organizations went out searching for rare plants and documented important information on survey forms about their populations. This data included namely location and habitat descriptions along with gps coordinates (usually), a site quality and viability assessment, blooming and fruiting information and population estimates. This isn't as difficult to gather as it sounds, keen observations skills and some good reference materials is all you really need.

Throughout the next few weeks I will be highlighting the project these groups and individuals have done. Stay tuned for that series. But now, without further ado, the winners are...

Individual Winners:
Grand Prize – Duncan Bell, Treasure Hunter Extraordinaire
Most occurrences updated by an individual!

Second Place- Clyde Golden, Intrepid Treasure Hunter
2nd most occurrences updated by an individual!

Third Place – Natalia and Bill Blackburn, Terrific Treasure Hunters
3rd most occurrences updated by an individual(s)!

Chapter Winners:
Grand Chapter Prize- San Gabriel Mountains Chapter
Chapter with the most hours and occurrences updated!

Second Place Chapter Prize-San Diego Chapter
Chapter with the 2nd most occurrences updated and volunteer hours!

PARTNER ORGANIZATIONS with the most occurrences:

George Butterworth, Department of Fish and Game-most occurrences updated!

Karen Cotter and volunteers, Santa Clara County Parks-2nd most occurrences updated!

Tanya Chapple and interns from the Mid Klamath Watershed Council

Tarja Sagar and interns, Santa Monica Mountain National Recreation Area, National Park Service

Michael Chasse and volunteers at the Golden Gate National Recreational Area, National Park Service

HONORABLE MENTIONS:
Clyde Golden, Most prompt form submitter-Thank you for getting your forms in so quickly!

Millie Nielson, 4 years old, of Nevada - Youngest Treasure Hunter

Photo Contest Winners!

The decision has been made and the best photo submitted to the Rare Plant Treasure Hunt is....

this photo of the elegant White bear poppy, Arctomecon merriamii, list 2.2 by Lara Hartley, Kern County Chapter! This plant is found in the Eastern Mojave desert. Lara submitted a survey form for this and other rare plants in the desert. Thank you Lara!

Our 2nd place winner is Ben Smith who captured this beautiful rare Mariposa Lily, Calochortus weedii var. intermedius, list 1B.2, in Orange county. He submitted survey forms on not only this plant but on the rare Peninsular beargrass, Nolina cismontana, list 1B.2. Thank you Ben!
Our 3rd place winner is Don Davis, who took this photo of the striking Alkali Mariposa Lily, Calochortus striatus, list 1B.2 near Lancaster, CA. Don is getting us coordinates for this rare plant population as well. Thank you Don!

More Photos

The Carrizo Plain in San Luis Obispo County was remarkably beautiful this year and one of our volunteers spent a lot of time documenting rare plants in the region. Check out some of his photos.

Layia heterotricha, Pale Yellow Tidytips, list 1B.1

Hills covered with Madia radiata, Layia heterotricha and Monolopia lanceolata

A field of Madia radiata, Golden madia, list 1B.1 with Guillenia lemmonii, Lemmon's mustard

All photos by George Butterworth