Terry Hunefeld Receives a Golden Poppy Award

Eschscholzia californica

The Golden Poppy Award recognizes outstanding individuals, corporations, and organizations for their contributions of leadership, time, and/or financial resources to protecting and enhancing state parks and the California environment. Botany Society member Terry Hunefield is one of this year's honorees.

Here are the comments about his award from the Volunteers Gala: "Terry Hunefeld was an invaluable contributor to the Botany program last year; namely showing up to nearly almost every class lecture/field trip, teaching lectures, mentoring new members, weighing in on important decisions and training development, photographing identifying and uploading hundreds of park plant observations to iNaturalist to a database both the SD Natural History Museum and the Park can use for management use, identifying and reporting new populations of invasives, leading plant walks, and generally inciting enthusiasm, curiosity, positivity and motivation in all new and old members to learn new plants and make observations. This season his contagious enthusiasm and high quality work has continued and spread in other ABDSP programs in naturalist society and outreach at the VC. He was recently elected as a Botany Society Steering Committee member for the 2018-2019 year."

Robin Connors To Speak at Botany Society Lecture Series in April

Robin Connors,  Associate State  Archaeologist

Robin Connors is scheduled to provide a public lecture at the Botany Society Public Lecture Series. Her talk, Archaeology: From Agave to Zea Mays, complements her research on correlations between higher status habitation sites and the midden remains of larger and more sought-after marine mollusks. She will share her insights into the relationship between Anza Borrego's Native American peoples and their environment.  Robn will discuss how the Kumeyaay and Cahuilla used plants for food, clothing, medicine, shelter, fodder, fuel, furniture and even weapons.

Robin received her MA degree in Anthropology from San Jose State University after a career in public health laboratory services.  She is currently an Associate State Archaeologist for the California Department of Parks and Recreation, Colorado Desert District.  Her archaeological research focuses on the roles of gender and status in food procurement activities.

She enjoys thinking about, discovering and marveling at the adaptations and interactions of human beings with the extraordinary diversity of the life forms and landscapes that sustain them.

Who:     Robin Connors, Associate State Archaeologist, Colorado Desert District
What:    Botany Society Public Lecture Program
When:   Monday,  April 9, 2018; 10:00AM
Where:  Discovery Lab, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park® Visitor Center
Cost:     Free to the public

Birgit Knorr Is Recognized for Her Botany Work

Cylindropuntia fosbergii

Birgit Knorr, a stellar active member of the Botany Society, was highlighted in a recent Observation of the Month by the San Diego Natural History Museum. 

Birgit has contributed over 200 observations of the elusive Mason Valley Cholla (Cylindropuntia fosbergii) using the digital application iNat on her smartphone.. Her observations constitute nearly half of all 450 observations of Mason Valley Cholla in San Diego County on iNat.

Birgit's observations, and others, help to refine the extent of the range of this narrow endemic which is on the California Native Plant Society Inventory of Rare and Endangered Plants. As she has stated that she is "fascinated by Cylindropuntia fosbergii and wanted to map its range."

Huzzah Birgit!

This link will take you to Birgit's "observation of the month." 
Information courtesy of Millie Basden. 

Stephen Ingram Returns to Speak on Desert Succulents

The Botany Society of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park invites you to a public lecture by Stephen Ingram as he returns to present a free-to-the-public talk on native desert succulents, His talk is scheduled for March 12 in the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park® Visitor Center. Ingram’s presentation will be drawn from his book Cacti, Agaves and Yuccas of California Deserts in the park.

Stephen Ingram is a native Californian with an enduring interest in plants and plant ecology. He received a B.S. in biology from Lewis and Clark College and a M.A. in botany from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Following graduate school, Stephen worked as Herbarium Manager at Selby Botanical Gardens but now focuses on photography and writing. He also works part-time as a botanical consultant in the Eastern Sierra and the Mojave Desert. Stephen’s photos appear in numerous books, magazines, and calendars, and he has written many articles for scientific journals and magazines. He lives with his wife at 6500 feet on the eastern slope of the Sierra Nevada, in porcupine prickly-pear habitat.

Botanist, writer, and photographer Stephen Ingram traveled more than 30,000 miles – much of it on remote backroads – to search out, study, and photograph the cacti, agaves, and yuccas of California and Nevada. He also delved into the scientific literature, visited numerous herbaria, and interviewed our region’s leading experts on Cactaceae and Agavaceae. 

Who:     Stephen Ingram, photographer and biological consultant
What:    Botany Society Public Lecture Program
When:   Monday, March 12, 2018; 10:00AM
Where:  Discovery Lab, Anza-Borrego Desert State Park® Visitor Center
Cost:     Free to the public

Jon Rebman to Speak on New Botanical Discoveries, Resources, and Projects in our Region

Dr. Jon P. Rebman, noted botanist for the San Diego Natural History Museum, will be speaking at the Anza Borrego Botany Society Public Lecture Series on his new botanical discoveries. The free-to-the-public lecture will be delivered on Monday, February 12, 2018, at 10 a.m., in the Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center. 

San Diego and Imperial counties of California and the Baja California region of Mexico are areas with continual botanical discovery. Come and learn about some of the most recent new plant species found and described in our region, analog and digital tools for better understanding the local flora, conservation-oriented tasks, and digital projects that include public participation. 

In respect to our extremely rare, regional flora, Dr. Rebman is currently conducting extensive botanical research via binational collaboration throughout the Baja California peninsula in an attempt to re-discover 15 native plant species that are endemic to the Baja California peninsula and have been documented with only 1 historical specimen (the type specimens). Come learn about the progress on this conservation project and see images of some of these “never been photographed before” plants.

Who: Jon P. Rebman, Ph.D., Curator of Botany, San Diego Natural History Museum
What: New Botanical Discoveries, Resources, and Projects in our Region
When: Monday, February 12, 2018; 10 AM
Where: Steele/Burnand Anza-Borrego Desert Research Center
Cost: Free to the public