2009 DeDecker Botanical Grant Awards
The Bristlecone Chapter of the California Native Plant Society has recently awarded these grants for botanical projects. The Mary DeDecker Botanical Grant Program annually awards funding for projects that increase the understanding and appreciation of our region’s unique native flora.
These grants are supported by the annual native plant sale. Persons funded are required to report on their research findings or how they used the grant money.
Local project recipients:
Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve (VESR) Native Plant Project, submitted by Leslie Dawson and Sherry Taylor. Objectives include to enhance Mammoth Elementary School biological science curriculum through hands on learning, continue the current VESR Native Plant Project curriculum, diversify and experiment with new techniques in the VESR nursery, expand the Project to include an adult component. VESR staff would also like to start an adult program that would be titled “Gardening with Mammoth Natives” It would include a tour of the Valentine flora suitable for home gardens followed by propagation, planting, and pruning techniques. As a final project, the students will restore a site with multiple species of plants.
Graduate Student project recipients:
Mariana Last, Brigham Young University, phylogeography of Cycladenia humilis
Rebecca Franklin, University of Arizona, herbchronology of Leptodactylon pungens
David Kruse, San Francisco State University, phylogeny of Linanthus
