General Meetings

General Meeting ● Thursday, March 14, 2019

Kaleidoscopes were a favorite holiday gift for children many years ago. They displayed a quickly and constantly changing series of brilliantly colored patterns. The metaphor works for California’s vernal pools with their concentric rings, ribbons and patches of showy flowers that change from week to week through a two- to- three month “season”. This talk will explore the short-lived, weird-looking, fascinating fauna that evolved millions of years ago, and dazzling swaths of tens of thousands of tiny flowers. During this tour of vernal pools throughout the state, we’ll learn what makes a vernal pool and why they are found almost nowhere but California.

Carol Witham is a self-taught vernal pool ecologist and has been studying that ecosystem for over three decades. She is a private consultant specializing rare plants and animals of vernal pools plus their management. Carol is author of Field Guide to the Vernal Pools of Mather Field, Sacramento County and co-editor of Jepson Prairie Preserve Handbook, 3rd Edition. She is also very active in vernal pool conservation advocacy and education. Carol is a past president of CNPS and currently serves as treasurer for the Sacramento Valley Chapter.

Visiting and Book Purchasing from 7:00 pm
Meeting and Program Begin at 7:30 pm
Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History