Randy Morgan, CNPS Fellow
Here we honor early CNPS fellow and Santa Cruz Chapter President Randy Morgan (linguist, historian, entomologist, ornithologist, botanist) who succumbed in 2017, vanishing from the stage of Nature’s wild, but not forgotten.
Nomination of Randy Morgan as a CNPS Fellow by Janell Hillman, October 25, 2000
(posted with her permission)
Natural historian, community ecologist, fifth generation Santa Cruzian, linguist, lover of botany, entomology, ornithology…quizzical, passionate, endearing, and modest. I am at a loss to describe what an amazing person Randy Morgan is. Having dedicated his entire life of 53 years to the study of the natural world, specifically in Santa Cruz County, his compulsive ability to examine in great detail and catalogue everything has resulted in a wealth of knowledge, taxonomic distinctions and new species. The flora and fauna of the county would surely not have the protection they do and we in Santa Cruz might not have the open space and greenbelt land that we do, if Randy had not dedicated his life to highlighting these sensitive areas and the organisms that inhabit them.
Randy was born in Soquel and has lived there all his life. He attended UC Santa Cruz and is an amazing linguist and historian. He is interested in Native American dialects, Athabascan (from Alaska) in particular, and is knowledgeable on many subjects, including art, music and literature. However, it is for his contributions to botany that most of us know him.
The contributions Randy has made to California’s native flora are numerous. Besides discovering some species (Scotts Valley polygonum, P. hickmanii, currently a candidate for listing on the federal level) and naming others (i.e. Piperia candida and P. yadonii), he is constantly finding new range extensions and regional distinctions for local species. Randy has named four species of the genus Piperia, having basically revised the genus independently and in collaboration with two other workers. He has published one Trifolium and is currently deep into a revision of this genus as well with potentially eight new types awaiting taxonomic distinction. His yard in Soquel is a “common garden” with clovers from around the state growing in pots, where Randy records pollination and other ecological information meticulously. In addition, he re-discovered the endangered Scotts Valley spineflower (Chorizanthe robusta var. hartwegii). Among his many other accomplishments, Randy is a Research Associate with the California Academy of Sciences.
Randy has also made numerous contributions to the Santa Cruz Chapter of CNPS. He was Chapter President from 1991 through 1993. He has been Rare Plant Coordinator from the Chapter’s inception some time in the mid 1970’s. His list of “’Locally Unique’ Native Plants in the Santa Cruz County Coastal Zone” (1980), is still used in regional planning by many agencies and was the impetus to develop a database and flora of Santa Cruz County. This current effort by the Santa Cruz Chapter’s flora committee would be impossible without the meticulous notes and seemingly photographic memory that Randy possesses. In addition, Randy has led numerous field trips, given lectures, testified at public meetings, and developed plant lists and maps for most sensitive areas of the County that have proved indispensable to the local chapter’s conservation efforts. In just one example, his research in the Sandhills of Ben Lomond and Felton was instrumental in conveying to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors the importance of this rare habitat that is found nowhere else in the world.
He has also served as a “connecting link” with past botanists through cultivation of friendships with noted locals such as the late Vesta Hesse and John Thomas Howell. His friendship with Vesta in particular has resulted in the meticulous notes she made on the local flora being preserved and available to science.
These accomplishments are even more amazing when one considers that he began studying birds and moved on to plants at a later date. Currrently Randy is completing a ten year study of insect diversity in Santa Cruz County. This information, gathered from representative areas through time, presents a true ecological study of plant-insect relationships in some of the more sensitive habitats of the Santa Cruz bioregion.
What I love about Randy is his passionate ability to see everything as if for the first time. His enthusiasm is contagious; his excitement over even the most common of plants and animals, where he will find something different, is really enjoyable to witness. As Jim West, his friend and colleague of 30 years says, “Randy sees 40 to 50 things where other people see one thing”. However, far from assuming a superior attitude, Randy is modest and works well with others as a consensus builder. He never assumes that he knows more than anyone else, or that any question is too silly or trivial.
His keen observation skills and attention to detail, coupled with an almost child-like enthusiasm, make him a truly great naturalist of the sort that one doesn’t see very often in this day and age. Those who know and love him have this to say: “…Randy is always in the process of becoming…he is a true, lifelong student…a 19th Century naturalist. Randy is the best role model of his generation…he stands larger than the discipline he studies and I can think of no greater honor than a CNPS Fellowship” (Jim West).
The California Native Plant Society’s Administrative Handbook states that “CNPS Fellows are persons who have made a substantial contribution to the preservation, understanding, and/or appreciation of California’s native flora” (Section 3-8, 1993). Randy surely stands among us as one of the most gifted and giving in this capacity.
Information from this essay was gathered from the author, Janell Hillman’s personal knowledge of Randy, as well as from interviews with Dylan Neubauer, Grey Hayes, Jim West, and Suzanne Schettler.