General Meetings

Point Lobos – Lizard Tail (Eriophyllum staechadifolium)

General Meeting ● Wednesday, May 10th, 2023 at 7:30pm

The central coast has experienced large fires and intense storms within the past few years. The effect of the fires in Santa Clara, Santa Cruz and Monterey counties touched hundreds of thousands of acres. The CNPS Vegetation Program took this opportunity to gather post-fire data on the resiliency of redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) forests by installing 16 long-term monitoring plots throughout the Santa Cruz mountains. Vegetation Ecologists Mark Bibbo and Alexis LaFever-Jackson, from the statewide CNPS Vegetation Program, will discuss our post- fire long-term monitoring efforts as well as upcoming fine-scale vegetation sampling, classification and mapping efforts in Monterey, San Benito, and San Luis Obispo counties. This work builds on our similar and recent efforts in the greater San Bay Area counties, to expand our knowledge of vegetation types and continue to contribute to the state-wide fine-scale vegetation mapping and classification.

On Wednesday May 10 we will meet at the Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History. Doors open at 7:00 with time to visit and browse the chapter’s book selection. The meeting starts at 7:30 with current news and announcements immediately followed by the presentation from our special guest speakers!

Monterey Bay Chapter General Meeting:

Past Projects and Future Endeavors in the CNPS Vegetation Program

Speakers: Alexis LaFever-Jackson and Mark Bibbo

About Our Speakers: Alexis LaFever-Jackson and Mark Bibbo are vegetation ecologists with the state-wide CNPS Vegetation Program. Both are based in Santa Cruz. Alexis led the post-fire long term monitoring ef orts and is a graduate of Environmental Studies from UCSC and a former UCSC Arboretum employee. Mark received his undergraduate degree from UCSC in Environmental Studies and an M.S. in restoration ecology from UC Davis, and has worked as a professional botanist and ecologist for over 20 years.

General Meeting ● Thursday, Jan 12th, 2023 at 7:30pm

Due to ongoing pandemic concerns, our general meetings and programs will take place at 7:30 p.m. via the following Zoom Invite Link: https://cnps-org.zoom.us/j/5108347312?pwd=QU5kd3R0MXhmdGdESjlPU05vNnVVdz09

The CNPS October 20-22, 2022, Conference took on the topic of restoring the connection of plants, place and people. The conference explored collaborative efforts of many disciplines to gain a deeper understanding of the native plant community, its relationship to the diversity of life around it and the part we humans play in this alliance. The Monterey Bay Chapter sponsored Filipp Kashirtsev, CSUMB Environmental Science graduate student at CSUMB, to attend the CNPS conference ”Rooting Together.” Filipp will report back to the Chapter on his experiences and what he learned.

Monterey Bay Chapter General Meeting:

Restoring Connections to Plants, Place & People

Speaker: Filipp Kashirtsev

About Our Speaker: Filipp Kashirtsev is an Environmental Science graduate student at CSUMB and Habitat Mapping Field Researcher at the University. He is also a photographer with a love of science related subjects.

General Meeting ● Thursday, Nov 10th, 2022 at 7:30pm

Redwoods have been on this planet for over 200 million years, are the tallest and one of the oldest trees in the world. On the outside they are a beauty to behold with their grand stature, broad branches and reiterated trunks that reach for the sky. Yet, it is the inside that is captivating people with their ability to capture and hold large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. With pictures, videos and stories, take a journey with Deborah through a redwood forest from the forest floor to the top of the canopy and discover who hides under the duff and among the branches of a coast redwood.

Monterey Bay Chapter General Meeting:

From Restoring the Climate to a Diverse Ecosystem Discover Our Amazing Coast Redwood Forests

Speaker: Deborah Zierten

About Our Speaker: Deborah Zierten is the Education and Interpretation Manager at Save the Redwoods League. Deborah joined the League in 2013 with over 8 years of experience teaching students environmental science. At the League, Deborah deals with everything “education and interpretation.” She regularly gives presentations to the public of all ages on redwood conservation and loves leading hikes with kids and adults in the forest.

General Meeting ● Thursday, Sept 8th, 2022 at 7:30pm

We are entering the time of year that is traditionally the planting season for most any kind of landscape

plant in Coastal California. Some will have their gardens planted by landscapers and many more will carefully select new plants from catalogs, websites, nurseries and specialty sales and then place them in predetermined locations in their gardens or shoehorn them in because they couldn’t say no to that plant. But why? Why do we “garden” ? Why do we garden with native plants? Do you have a favorite place in the wild that you wanted to recreate in your yard? Do you have a favorite bird or butterfly that you wanted to attract into your backyard? Are you trying to create a fire safe zone around your house? Do you want to reconnect your yard to the ecological web of life that used to be in your “neighborhood”? Do you love beautiful things and want to see them up close?

There are likely as many different answers as there are people who garden and no single “right” answer and no single plant that can fit every criterion. But can we have it all? Two current streams of thought that encompass gardening but so much more include the choices we make when we garden. How do we protect life and possessions from wildfire? How do we protect the biological diversity of the place where we live ? The first question is more obviously pragmatic. Your insurance agent, your neighbors and your local fire department all have strong opinions about it too. The second one is a little more theoretical but no less real or practical. How do you choose plants to garden with that fit into these two broad categories?

In our September 8 General meeting, we are hoping to touch on these ideas when we present some of our favorite plants that will be available in the annual Fall Native Plant Sale (Oct 8). We will talk about why these plants are beneficial, practical and what you can do to make them work even better. You can plant native plants and be more fire safe while making a difference in your neighborhood for all of your neighbors – not just the human kind.

Monterey Bay Chapter General Meeting:

Remember This? – A Talk About Our Plant Sale!

Speaker: Pat Regan and Peigi Duvall

CNPS Monterey Bay has provided a Plant List as a guide for the Sept. 8th General Meeting. To preview, print, or download your copy of the Plant List, click the button below.

Plant List

General Meeting ● Thursday, May 12th, 2022 at 7:30pm

Please join us to learn from Calflora’s Executive Director Cynthia Powell about new Calflora tools for CNPS native plant professionals, gardeners, and enthusiasts ! Calflora aggregates millions of plant observations across the state from dozens of sources and serves them to the public free of charge. These data sources include CCH2 (a worldwide plant information portal from the California Consortium of Herbaria), iNaturalist, and CNPS plant checklists from around the state. How can you better use this incredible resource to learn more about regional plants?

At this presentation, Cynthia will cover Calflora’s planning your garden tool, specimen and other plant observations used in this tool, detailed plant ranges now available on Calflora’s species pages (for example, Grindelia stricta), population monitoring tools, and email alerts. She will also go over the important role CNPS members play in submitting and commenting on Calflora observations and checklists.

Also, Bryophytes are now in Calflora, and Calflora needs help from CNPS Bryophyte lovers to improve distribution information.

Hike! Friday, May 13th

Following the presentation, Cynthia will lead a hike Friday May 13th to demonstrate use of these tools in the field. We must limit the number of participants on the hike. Attending the presentation is a prerequisite to attending the plant hike. Sign up here to receive hike details.

____________________________

Because the Chapter is still observing the COVID-19 directives to avoid large gatherings of people, we’ll have a presentation using Zoom in lieu of a regular chapter meeting at the Pacific Grove Museum. You can watch the lecture at home on your computer.

The Zoom link will be posted on the website, https://chapters.cnps.org/montereybay/ and sent a day or two in advance in an eblast. The Zoom presentation will start at 7:30 and you’ll need to login to the web link with the instructions that will be available on the Chapter website and sent in the eblast. As there is a waiting room at our Zoom meeting, please come early!

**************************

Calflora’s Executive Director Cynthia Powell

After 3 years as Calflora’s GIS Project Manager, in 2016 Cynthia became Calflora’s Executive Director. She graduated with her MS in GIS (Geographic Information Science) in 2010 forecasting Mokelumne River water supply based on MODIS remote sensing snow pack images. She’s been examining what was under that snow — plants — ever since. She coordinates all Calflora programs, research, outreach, and advocacy, as well as fundraising and project management. Cynthia wears many hats.

Hike! Following the presentation, Cynthia will lead a hike Friday May 13th to demonstrate use of these tools in the field. We must limit the number of participants on the hike. Attending the presentation is a prerequisite to attending the plant hike. Sign up here to receive hike details.

General Meeting ● Thursday, January 13th, 2022 at 7:30pm

Though identified nearly 20 years ago as a probable new species, the “Pinnacles Jewelflower” has languished undescribed. At last, this species is in the process of being described. As an extremely rare endemic species, describing it is the first step to making sure it is preserved. Pinnacles has also been allocated funding to begin systematic surveys of this rare species. As of yet, however, we have only casual observations about the species and no idea of the sizes, number, and extent of populations. In this “preview” talk, we will look at what we know so far about this species, its characteristics, and its preferred habitat, and discuss the distribution and status of other similar species in the area. We will also cover some other interesting and unusual plants found at Pinnacles.

____________________________

**************************

Amelia Ryan developed a love of plants growing up on 40 acres in western Sonoma County. This led her to study botany at UC Davis and later acquire a MS in Ecology from San Francisco State. She has been working in habitat restoration and resource management for over 20 years, having started at Armstrong Redwoods in the late 90s, then worked at Point Reyes National Seashore on several restoration and endangered plant projects for nearly 14 years before moving to Pinnacles National Park where she has been the Vegetation Ecologist for 5 years. She is a long-time member of CNPS and served on the Marin Chapter Board for 6 years.

Monterey Bay Chapter General Meeting:

A Preview of the “Pinnacles Jewelflower” – an undescribed species – and other botanical rarities of Pinnacles

Speakers: Amelia Ryan

General Meeting ● Thursday, November 11th, 2021

The coastal marshes surrounding Monterey Bay once covered thousands of acres in a rich mosaic of fresh, brackish, and salt marsh habitats. These marshes provided numerous ecosystem services to a vibrant community of species that occupy some combination of marine, estuarine, and terrestrial environments. This talk will focus on coastal marsh plants which link vital bio-geo-physical processes with vegetation structures and functions that yield key habitat for marsh wildlife. Coastal marsh plants are surprisingly easy to get to know if you don’t mind getting muddy. We will focus on new restoration and recovery initiatives underway in northern Monterey. We’ll also touch on some lessons learned from the San Francisco Estuary which faces similar challenges to coastal marshes in northern Monterey.

____________________________

**************************

Michael Vasey, PhD, is the former Manager of the SF Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (Reserve), a sister Reserve to the Elkhorn Slough Reserve. Mike got his PhD at UC Santa Cruz and has long focused on tidal wetland vegetation ecology in the SF Estuary. He is also a long term admirer of the Elkhorn Slough Reserve program. He is currently on the Technical Advisory Committee for the Wetland Regional Monitoring Program in San Francisco Bay.

Monterey Bay Chapter General Meeting:

Monterey Coastal Marshes

Speakers: Michael Vasey, Ph.D

General Meeting ● Thursday, September 9th, 2021

As has become our custom, the September meeting will focus on the Horticulture of Native plants. In preparation for our October annual Plant sale we will discuss some of the plants that will be available. In looking over the list of plants that we sold in our sale last year… It is an impressive group of Latin words and colorful nicknames. For me a comforting accounting of old friends that conjure memories of places and fragrances and life events. But for many, it is just that, a list of difficult to pronounce words that require an interpreter and beg for descriptions and photographs to have any idea of what it looks like, much less know how it might grow. Sometimes, when looking for new ideas for your own garden, even with a good concise description and a picture, many of these plants remain a mystery and feel like a risk not worth taking. What we often need is a friend who has grown the plant in their garden and can recommend it from their experience, to give us the confidence to give it a try.

Well, we would like to offer a group of friends to do just that. Our September 9th General meeting will include a panel of CNPS members who have discovered the joys (and agonies) of Native Plant gardening. Each will present 5-10 plants that they particularly like and have grown in their own gardens.

Good photographs will be complemented with comments about why they like the plant, where they have grown it and extra tidbits that might include the origin, the natural history, good companions for that plant and any cautionary notes. (For example: don’t prune a Flannel bush and then rub your eyes to get the “dust” out) Our Panel of gardeners includes Peigi Duvall, Amy Essick, Pat Regan and Loren Walden who have all gardened in a variety of California microclimates and had a full spectrum of successes and failures that will benefit your plant selecting this fall.

____________________________

**************************

Our Panel includes Peigi Duvall, Amy Essick, Pat Regan and Loren Walden who have all gardened in a variety of California microclimates and had a full spectrum of successes and failures that will benefit your plant selecting this fall.

Monterey Bay Chapter General Meeting:

A Few of Our Favorite Things

Speakers: Peigi Duvall, Amy Essick, Pat Regan and Loren Walden

HANDOUT

Details of prior general meetings can be found in the Events archive:

Events archive