Vol. 10 No. 1 January 1991

NEXT CHAPTER MEETING January 30, 1991, in Independence at the Sierra Baptist Church located at the corner of Highway 395 and Wall Street, the social hall in the rear. The program is to be announced.

PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE:

As our new president for a new year, I would call on each of you to continue the vigilance we have established over the years regarding agencies and legislators ready to forfeit environmental values to constant use pressures. Preservation of the environment is the first step in the preservation of California's native flora.

I trust that each one of us is doing his/her part to protect the environment; recycle our waste, keep our cars tuned, and conserve water in home and garden. Keep up the good work on all fronts!

....... Evelyn-Mae Nikolaus

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BRISTLECONE CHAPTER (Inyo-Mono-Eastern Kern Region)

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NEW MEMBERS

The following new members are warmly welcomed:

Mary Dana Baker, Berkeley

John and Rosamond Gorham, Big Pine

Bill and Barbara Manning, Big Pine

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Conservation Corner

I have to chuckle a bit at my sister when she comes up here from Sherman Oaks to visit. She regularly asks what I do around here to keep busy. Even when I explain just what all I do do, I don't think that.-she really understands the time it takes to; prepare for even a simple presentation before the County Board of Supervisors, or to attend a Water Commission meeting, or a BLM or Forest Service or CALTRANS meeting. And how much time it takes to thoroughly digest a BLM or an LADWP or an Anheuser-Busch Environmental Report and fashion a competent reply. And there are letters about proposed harvest in Forest Service logging compartments, BLM proposed actions in the desert areas, geothermal or small hydro proposals, etc., etc. Often the subject of the letter needs field review so that better understanding of the impact of the project upon the environment can be achieved.

So, yes Bobbi, there's plenty to keep me (us) busy to help protect this wonderful area you like so much. And may our efforts help it to remain beautiful, too.

................Vince Yoder

FIELD TRIP CHAIRMAN, Mark Bagley, will be submitting a schedule

for the March newsletter. In the meantime we have planned an

early trip to start the year.

MARCH 9. A day around Owens Lake to see points of interest,

including springs and wetlands. LEADERS: Vince

Yoder and Mary DeDecker. Meet at the Inter-Agency

Visitor's Center south of Lone Pine at 9:00 a.m.

Take lunch, water, and personal items. Be prepared

for chilly weather.

TRIP REPORTS

Late reports on two of the best of last year's field trips have just been received. They will make you eager for another blooming period. Plant names as in Munz.

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JULY 21, 1990: Agnew Meadow and the River Trail to Soda Springs. Leader: Diane Payne.

A lovely day started with a bus ride down the back of the San Joaquin Ridge and a stop at a pull-out to give us a magnificent view of the Minarets and Ritter and Banner peaks. Agnew Meadow was resplendent with flowers, monkshood, Aconitum columbianum, cow parsnip, Heracleum lanatum, large-leaved lupine, Lupinus polyphyllus ssp.superbus. There was such a variety of flowers we made slow progress down the road to the trailhead leading to Shadow Lake. On the way we passed pink monkey flower, Mimulus lewisii, little elephant heads, Pedicularis attollens, white-veined wintergreen, Pyrola picta, and coral-root, Corallorhiza maculata and also lots of grasses and sedges.

After turning off the Shadow Lake trail onto the River Trail (part of the Pacific Crest Trail) we had lunch under the trees in the middle of arnica, Arnica mollis. golden brodiaea, Brodiaea lutea var. analina, and lodgepole pine, Pinus murrayana. It gave us the chance to catch up on some of the plants we were still wanting to key. One turned out to be Brewer's golden-aster, Chrysopsis breweri. Here we said goodby to part of the group that wanted to go on faster. The terrain changed from meadow and conifer forest to a dryer, south facing slope. The plants changed too. The azure penstemon, Penstemon azureus, the rest of the way down were superb. Penstemons were well represented with Penstemon bridgesii, Penstemon heterodoxus, and Penstemon newberryi all present. There were Sierra sedum, Sedum obtusatum, and ferns, lady fern, Athyrium filix-femma, rock-brake, Cryptogramma acrostichoides, Indian'sdream,Onychium densum, cliff-brake, Pellaea bridgesii, and small, scrubby huckleberry oak, Quercus vaccinifolia, were where we might not expect to find them. We viewed the San Joaquin River intermittently the rest of the way, the numerous cascades and crystal clear water were a refreshing sight on a warm day. We went from Jeffrey pine to white pine with a stretch of red fir forest with small stream crossings changing our scene.

. . . . . . . Diane Payne

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Tioga Crest Walk, September 15

On a breezy Saturday morning, 16 enthusiastic people met at the Saddlebag Lake turnoff for a walk just east of the Tioga Crest area. With Mark Bagley, our leader, our intention was to find what plants were still blooming as we headed up to the site of Bennetville and on past Fantail, Spuller and Maul lakes.

……… Kathy Duvall

A DATE TO REMEMBER

Planning and Conservation League invites you to the eighth annual

ENVIRONMENTAL LEGISLATIVE SYMPOSIUM, Saturday and Sunday, February

16-17, 1991, Sacramento, California. For more information call

Claudia Desmangles (916) 444-8726, PCL, 909 12th Street, #203

Sacramento, CA 95814. Pre-registration deadline, Feb. 8, 1991.

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BE CONSIDERATE OF THE EARTH'S ATMOSPHERE

This cold winter brings concern over the proper use of fuels in our stoves and fireplaces. ELLEN HARDEBECK, Air Pollution Control Officer of the Great Basin District, has furnished us with the following guidlines:

Even if you have an old-style woodstove, you can reduce the amount of air pollutants by following these tips;

D0: Burn seasoned wood - it should cure at least six months after cutting.

D0: Give your fire plenty of air - don't let it smolder.The wood will burn more cleanly and efficiently and give you more heat per cord.

DON'T: Burn coal, plastic, trash, colored paper, treated wood, rubber, waste oil, paints or solvents. These products contain toxics and give off more smoke than wood.

1) Buy or cut your wood six months to a year in advance and "season" it by stacking it under cover in a way that keeps rain off and allows air to circulate easily through the pile. Seasoning reduces the moisture content in the wood, making it better for burning. it also makes wood lighter, so it is easier to carry.

2) Hardwoods--such as oak, maple, beech, ash, and hickory--make the best fuel. They burn more cleanly than softwoods, such as fir or pine. ( We do not have that choice here.)

3) Burn only 100% wood. NEVER BURN: green, wet, painted, or treated wood; products that contain glue, binders or chemicals, trash or garbage; plastics; magazines, colored paper or gift wrap. These materials give off harmful chemicals, more smoke and pollution, and less heat. Do not burn coal in a wood stove.

CONTRIBUTION BY DERHAM GIULIANI, our local entomologist:

Almost every desert shrub is host to a caterpillar that feeds exclusively on that species, although the resultant moth or butterfly will usually gather nectar from many plant species. The caterpillar of the Monarch butterfly feeds on the leaves of milkweed, (Asclepias) but, in its fall migration it seeks nectar from rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus nauseosus). Rabbitbrush, in our area, is used by more insects (flies, bees, wasps, moths, butterflies, beetles) than any other shrub.

Most species of saltbrush (Atriplex ) are important food sources, but I have never seen insects on allscale (Atriplex polycarpa). Watch for the little blue butterflies that are host specific to almost every species of buckwheat ( Eriogonum), a different subspecies of the butterfly for each different buckwheat.

………………………………..

"Let us a little

permit Nature to take her own way,

She better understands her own affairs than we."

Michel de Montaigne, (1533-1592)