Past Chapter Meeting and 50th Anniversary June 9, 2025

It’s a perfect time to appreciate our chapter logo as we celebrate the Santa Cruz County Chapter’s 50th Anniversary on June 9. You can come early to explore the beautiful UCSC Arboretum gardens and stay for the general meeting and Jodi McGraw’s talk. Afterwards, join us to celebrate our milestone anniversary! There will be cake, free plants, botanical party favors, and native plant lovers who won’t tire of your native plant stories!

Location: UCSC Arboretum Horticulture Building

5:30 p.m. keying session, 7 p.m. meeting and Jodi McGraw’s talk, then the celebration!

Effects of the CZU Lightning Complex Fire on the Recovery of Santa Cruz and Butano Cypress by Jodi McGraw, Ph.D. 

In 2020, three populations of Santa Cruz cypress, and the only population of its close relative, Butano cypress, were burned by the CZU Fire, which burned 86,529 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains. While fire-adapted, the species’ response to the fire may be affected by many factors including exotic plants, climate change induced heat and drought, and the return of too-frequent fires. Join us to hear Jodi McGraw’s update on how these closed-cone conifers are doing now, based on her three- year study of their regeneration, distribution, and habitat conditions.

Like Santa Cruz itself, the Santa Cruz cypress (Hesperocyparis abramsiana) is unique. Its rarity and link to this special area made it a fitting logo for our chapter. Thus our hearts sank in 2020 when we learned many of these trees burned in the CZU fire. The fire burned 86,529 acres in the Santa Cruz Mountains, including four of the five populations of the endemic closed-cone conifers. While the trees are adapted to fire, they are negatively impacted by anthropogenic factors that alter the fire’s effects, including exotic plants, climate-change induced heat and drought, and the risk of too-frequent fire. So, how are these populations doing now?

At our June 9 general meeting at the UCSC Arboretum, Dr. Jodi McGraw will present the findings and conservation implications of a three-year study examining the effects of the 2020 CZU Lightning Complex Fire on the distribution, habitat conditions, and regeneration of these two extraordinarily rare trees: Santa Cruz cypress (Hesperocyparis abramsiana var. abramsiana), which is known from four locations totaling 177 acres, and Butano cypress (H. a. var. butanoensis) which has a single population occupying just nine acres.

The presentation highlights key findings from efforts to evaluate the implication of the fire as well as identify other factors influencing the species’ persistence. Jodi will identify land conservation, management, population enhancement, and future research and monitoring that can help promote long-term persistence of this iconic species and its sensitive habitat in the Santa Cruz Mountains. The talk is perfectly timed to coincide with the CNPS Santa Cruz County Chapter’s 50th anniversary. Join us as we learn about our iconic logo and celebrate our chapter’s milestone.

Jodi McGraw is a conservation ecologist whose work focuses on conserving rare and endangered species and promoting native biodiversity in sensitive natural communities in Central Coastal California. Trained as a plant population and community ecologist, Jodi has spent the past 30 years conducting ecological research, habitat restoration, management, and conservation projects in edaphic endemic systems including the Santa Cruz sandhills. Her prior work on Santa Cruz (and Butano) cypress, which provided important data for the current study, has included a 2006 demographic study of the Majors Creek, Eagle Rock, and Butano populations, a 2011 study of the effects of the 2008 Martin Fire and a vegetation management project on the Bonny Doon population, and cone collection for ex situ conservation in the Bracken Brae population. Jodi serves as Principal of Jodi McGraw Consulting, a small biological consulting firm in Santa Cruz County, which focuses on assisting clients with projects related to endangered species and biodiversity.