2015-16 Botany Society Activities Are Coming to a Close

This season’s Botany Society activities are coming to a close, so it is time to report on the year’s activities and to thank all those who have made it possible.

This year, the Botany Society volunteers stepped up and made the 2016 Botany Certification Curriculum happen. Course Director Judy Ramirez, who left the valley at the end of October, left good records and handouts for the course.  The volunteers put them to good use, and taught the 13-week curriculum, organizing and leading 6 field trips and giving 16 lectures.  Three students completed the curriculum, another four students are on-going and yet another eight “repeaters” participated.  The sessions were enjoyable as well as educational.

Those who led field trips were:  Kathy Bussey, Pat Flanagan (special guest lecturer and leader), Kate Harper (twice), Laura Webb, Larry Hendrickson (Sr. Park Aide), Myrl Beck (guest leader “borrowed” from Paleontology) and Paul Larson.  We were so fortunate to hold field trips in the places in the Park with the best flowers at peak times!

Those who presented lectures on desert plant adaptations, plant morphology and characteristics of plant families were: Arie Korporaal (two), Kathy Bussey, Pat Matthews, Kate Harper (two), Larry Hendrickson (two), Marilyn Dickson, Joanne Ingwall, Birgit Knorr (three) and Don Rideout.  Add on a tour of the Herbarium with a demonstration of how to mount plant specimens (by Larry Hendrickson, Mary Jo Churchwell and Ruth Ehly), a lecture on pollination ecology (by Birgit Knorr) and post-public lecture discussions of the talks given by Travis Huxman, Kate Barrows, Don Fosket, Daniel Winkler and LuAnn Thompson, and the year was complete.

And let’s not forget to thank Pat Matthews and Vern Konen for their work as invasive weed warriors, Diana Lindsay for her work as director of the Public Lecturer’s Program, Mike Strandberg and Joanne Ingwall for leading Botany Study Group, Don and Shiela Rideout for preparing the Newsletter, and each of the steering Committee members who lead the organization – Julie Taylor, Joanne Ingwall, Marilyn Dickson, Arie Korporaal, Kathy Bussey, Kate Harper, Don Rideout.

Many thanks to all who made this season’s Botany activities such a success!

--reported by Joanne Ingwall and Laura Webb

LuAnn Thompson to Speak at the Botany Society Public Lecture

Join the Botany Society for their monthly lecture presented by LuAnn Thompson. LuAnn has been doing outreach from Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to classrooms statewide. She has beamed her live programs for 10 years using a green screen in the studio and a vehicle equipped with a satellite feed that allows her to broadcast from remote areas of the Park.

LuAnn is the on-camera teacher for the Parks Online Resources for Teachers and Students (PORTS) Program. She brings a Masters degree in Biology and 20 years of science teaching experience to the program.  LuAnn will share how the program works with classes and some of the many fun interactions that happen as she connects kids to California State Parks.  This lecture is open to the public and meets in the Discovery Lab at the Visitor Center.

Who: LuAnn Thompson, On-camera teacher, PORTS Program
What: Using plants and ecology in programs for students
When: Monday, April 11, 2016; 10 AM
Where: Discovery Lab, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park® Visitor Center
Cost: Free to the public

Anza-Borrego Desert State Park Botany Society Volunteer Field Trip

Carlowrightia arizonica

A special opportunity to hunt for the rare Arizona Carlowrightia (Carlowrightia arizonica) in Borrego Palm Canyon. We will be pulling Sahara Mustard to help protect this species.  Along the way we will see a colorful sprinkling of desert wildflowers.

Date: Friday, March 25, 2016
Time: 9:00 – 11:00 AM

Meet at the Visitor Center third parkinglot at 8:45 AM.   We will drive to the Borrego Palm Canyon Trailhead area and walk up the Alternate Wash.

Please wear sturdy shoes, bring gloves.  I will provide tools and bags for removing Sahara Mustard. 

Weekend Storm Produces Showers in Borrego

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The National Weather Service San Diego is reporting 0.18-inches of rain fell in Borrego over the previous 48 hours ending at 2 PM Monday. These brief showers could extend the annual wildflower bloom in the extended Borrego area.

March Newsletter Has Been Posted

The ABDSP BOTANY SOCIETY NEWSLETTER for March 2016 has been published. This issue includes a message from the Botany Society co-presidents, the March Botany Society and Certification Course schedule, a book report on Field Guide to Manzanitas; California, North America and Mexico reviewed by Marilyn Dickson, and report on a collection of news articles about happenings at the San Diego Natural History Museum by Don Rideout.

You can download the latest issue to your computer and read it on screen or print it out and read a hardcopy version. In addition, all Botany Society newsletters are published electronically on the ezine (electronic magazine) Web site Issuu. By clicking on the link you can go directly to an index of all Botany Society newsletters and other documents. The newsletters can then be read in a professional magazine-like format.

Publishing on Issuu gives the Botany Society the ability to publish instantly and makes the newsletters available to any reader worldwide. Coincidentally, the Anza Borrego Foundation also publishes its newsletters on Issuu as well. Lastly, there are other publications focusing on botany on the site such as the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Gardens in Claremont, California. Check it out.

Don and Shiela Rideout, editors, remind all members that their contributions to the newsletter are welcomed. You can email news briefs, blurbs, bits, and blog writings directly to Don.