The March meeting will be held at White Mountain Research Station at 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, March 26. The program titled: Fire - The Ecological, Restoration and Political Context will be presented by Anne Halford, Botanist for the BLM Bishop Field Office. The program will contain information about basic fire ecology, natural versus prescribed fire, and post-fire restoration treatments using examples from fires that recently occurred in the eastern Sierra.

The next Chapter Board meeting will be at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, March 18 at Sally Manning's residence. All are welcome to attend.

What's onion spelled backwards? "Muilla," as in Muilla coronata, the crowned muilla, a close relative of Allium. It's one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring, and is already showing its bright white flowers among the blackbrush and sagebrush northwest of Bishop.
Due to favorable meteorological circumstances, we have decided to hold another Sierra Spring Sojourn this spring! It will be on the weekend of May 16-18 at Bernasconi Center. With the early winter and the more recent rains, it should be a pretty good year for plants in the Owens Valley area. Sherryl Taylor provides details in this newsletter.
Our other major event scheduled for May is the dedication of the Mary DeDecker Native Plant Garden at the Eastern California Museum in Independence. A few of our volunteers have been working hard on this project, and we hope many of you will be able to attend the fun dedication event on May 10. See the newsletter for more information.
I'm reluctant to write anything political in this message, so I'll just quote Gandhi and you can figure out which presidential administration policies to take action against. There are plenty to choose from. "It's the action, not the fruit of the action that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there will be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result."

. . . . . . .. Stephen Ingram

This May 10, the Bristlecone Chapter will formally dedicate and celebrate The Mary DeDecker Native Plant Garden at the Eastern California Museum in Independence. CNPSers statewide are warmly invited to attend.

The Mary DeDecker garden features a variety of native plants from the eastern Sierra, including species from alluvial fan, lower montane and riparian zones. The garden was established by the Bristlecone Chapter as a tribute to Mary DeDecker, a self-taught botanist who discovered several new plant species, including a new genus, and who worked tirelessly to preserve unique Eastern Sierra habitats.

The celebration takes place Saturday, May 10, from 2 - 4 p.m., followed by a barbeque to benefit the Eastern California Museum. The garden dedication features music, tours of the garden, and talks by regional plant experts. The post-event barbeque is sponsored by the Friends of the Eastern California Museum.

Mark you calendars now and watch for further details in future issues of the Bulletin and on the Bristlecone Chapter's website: www.bristleconecnps.org. For further information, contact Heidi Hopkins, heidimono@aol.com, 760-647-6271.

Our chapter will hold the sixth Sierra Spring Sojourn at Camp Inyo, Bernasconi Center, in Big Pine on May 16-18, 2003. This is a weekend of field trips, programs, and conversation among folks who share an interest in native plants. It's an opportunity for us to show off "the eastside" to CNPS members from all over the state. If you would like to receive information about the Sojourn, including a registration form, please email me at sherrylt76@aol.com. If you think you will attend only part of the weekend activities, please ask for the "locals" registration form. If you do not have email, please drop me a note at P.O. Box 1638, Mammoth Lakes, CA 93546.

Hope to see you at the Sojourn!

 . Sherryl Taylor

The goal of the Owens Valley Water Fair, scheduled for May 9-10, is to encourage participation of Owens Valley residents to learn about water topics and water conservation practices. This two-day event will include activities for elementary students from the Big Pine School and members of the four Indian Tribes of the Owens Valley, as well as an invited general public.

The event will feature the presentation of water issues and concepts by Environmental Magician Paul Cash. Paul works closely with CSU San Bernardino and teaches several science concepts according to the California Science Standards. In his show "Protecting Earth, The Water Planet," he entertains with magic and humor while educating students about good environmental behaviors to protect water quality and personal water conservation.

The second day of the fair will be open to the general public and will feature several organizations and agencies within the Owens Valley to host tables for distributing information and publications. Organizations may include the California. Rural Water Association, the Owens Valley Indian Water Commission, California Native Plant Society, the LA Department of Water and Power, and the Owens Valley Committee.

The Water Fair will be held at the Big Pine Paiute Tribe Community Center from 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM on Saturday May 10. Call 938-2003 for more information.

The Bristlecone Chapter has recently awarded two $500 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 wonderful native flora. Some of the past grants that have been awarded include a grant to a botanist working on the flora of the Glass Mountains in Mono County, a researcher studying the climate record through Bristlecone Pine tree rings, and a student working to understand the genetics of the Eureka Dune Grass, found only in Eureka Valley.

This year, the Bristlecone Chapter awarded $500 to the Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve's Outdoor Education Program. Sherry Taylor will be beginning a new program, "The Native Plant Project," that will use a variety of tools to teach botany to third and fourth graders in Mammoth Lakes. Another $500 grant was given to Naomi Fraga, a graduate student from Rancho Santa Ana. Botanic Garden and Claremont Graduate University. Naomi is working on a flora (a complete list of all the vascular plants that occur in an area) of the Owens Peak Eastern Watershed in the southern Sierra Nevada. Considered a botanical "black hole," this area has not been well surveyed for rare plants and contains a wide variety of plant communities.
For more information about the Mary DeDecker Botanical Grant Program, please call 387-2913.

The latest guesses on the date of the release of the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the ill-conceived proposal to build a large observatory at an undisturbed site in the Inyo Mountains (a.k.a. the CARMA project, discussed repeatedly in this newsletter since 1998) are sometime in March - it may be released by the time you read this newsletter.
For those of you who care about the Inyo Mountains it will be important to get a copy of this document and let Inyo National Forest know your comments. Comments will be taken verbally at a public hearing and may also be submitted in writing. The comment period will probably last only 30 days. We have had a tremendous impact already but the proposal is still very much alive and we cannot let up.

Please monitor the chapter website (www.brigtleconecnps.org/conservation) for the latest information. This will be a crucial period if we .are to succeed in protecting Juniper Flat.

 ........ Daniel Pritchett

How would you feel if you woke up one morning and learned that your County Supervisors had negotiated a deal with LADWP to deny your area the protection to which it is entitled under the Inyo-LA Long Term Water Agreement (LTWA)? Residents of Laws will experience this feeling soon if a proposed modification to the LTWA is approved by Inyo County representatives to the Inyo-LA Standing Committee.

The final version of the proposed modification is still being withheld from the public but essentials have been known for some time and there is no reason to believe the final version will be less bad. -Under this proposed "deal" Inyo County gets irrigation water at Laws - to which it is already entitled under the LTWA - in return for. giving up environmental protection at Laws - to which it is also already entitled under the LTWA.

Both irrigated pasture and native groundwater-dependent vegetation at Laws have been devastated over the last decade by LADWP's curtailment of irrigation and excessive pumping for export. Both pasture and native vegetation ultimately depend on running the McNally Canals to recharge the aquifer. Unfortunately, LADWP has changed its management practices regarding the running of the canals, in direct violation of the LTWA. Inyo County is aware of this and initiated Dispute Resolution proceedings in 2000. After the county made an enormous tactical mistake (space does not permit an explanation) the county's complaint was sent back to the Technical Group on a procedural issue two years later in spring 2002. Rather than address the procedural issue and resubmit the complaint, county supervisors have apparently decided to snake a deal to try to just get the pasture irrigated by sacrificing native vegetation in the area.

The sacrifice comes in the form of two new well exemptions in the proposed deal. A well exemption means the LTWA requirements - that pumping be managed to avoid significant impacts - will not be applied. The exempt wells may therefore be pumped regardless of impacts they create. Pumping the exempted wells will almost certainly lower water tables under vegetation already impacted by excessive pumping and , thereby eventually render the existing environmental damage permanent.

Granting well exemptions will also weaken the county's chances for ever prevailing in the McNally Canals dispute. Why would a judge accept Inyo County's arguments about the need to run the canals to sustain native vegetation if the county itself has jeopardized the same vegetation through well exemptions?

One of the great strengths of the LTWA is that it places the use of water - whether for export to Los Angeles or for pasture irrigation -- on an equal footing with environmental protection. Our Supervisors' predecessors spent much tune and effort to build this equality into the LTWA. It is remarkable that their hard won achievement may be voluntarily undermined by the current Board of Supervisors.

What you can do:

1) Contact your supervisor and tell him/her that the county should not undermine the LTWA and its own Dispute Resolution case by trading environmental protection to get irrigation. The solution to the problems at Laws will come through insisting the McNally Canals be run as the LTWA requires.

2) There will also be a public comment period on the CEQA documentation for the proposed LTWA. Write a comment! When the CEQA document is released, further information will be posted on our website at www.bristleconecnps.org/conservation.

 ........ Daniel Pritchett

Lupinus padre-crowleyi is a ghostly lupine with pale clay-yellow flowers and herbage shrouded in shimmering grayness.- I've seen its ghostliness in live plants up Big Pine canyon, and in dried herbarium specimens collected there and elsewhere by Mary DeDecker and others. It is on the California Native Plant Society's list 1B ("rare, threatened, or endangered"), and was declared a "Rare" plant by the State of California in 1981. It is listed federally as a "Species of Concern". Its known populations occupy only a few sites at 8000 to over 10,000 feet elevation along the western edge of Inyo County. For nearly a decade (from 1969 to the late 1970s), this Eastern Sierra rarity was known as Lupinus dedeckerae Munz & Dunn, but then it was found to have been named earlier for Father John J. Crowley. Some botanical sources still give it the common name "DeDecker's Lupine", while others call it "Father Crowley's Lupine". It is fitting that these two devoted lovers of the Eastern Sierra and Inyo County should share association with this rare and unusual species. I'll say a few words about the two names, both well known locally, then delve into the somewhat complex history of this plant's discovery and naming.

Mary DeDecker was both an ardent student and champion of the flora of the Eastern Sierra. For half a century she collected specimens and amassed a treasury of information on regional native plants. She was largely selftaught, but made sure to consult frequently with botanical experts, especially at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont (RSA), and the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco (CAS). Those experts praised her work which greatly raised the botanical awareness of this little studied region. She was a founder of the Bristlecone CNPS chapter. She used its newsletter, in addition to the local newspapers, to sound the alarm when she saw threats to the special flora here. She prodded Inyo County Supervisors and citizens to stand up to the City of Los Angeles when the City was bent on taking so much water from the Valley as to cause severe damage to the natural environment. Mary died in the year 2000, at the age of 91. One manifestation of the love and admiration that persists for her is the new Mary DeDecker Native Plant Garden in Independence, which many members of the Bristlecone chapter have worked on so diligently.

Prominent man-made features in the Eastern Sierra keep the Crowley name alive: Crowley Lake; the Father Crowley Overlook on the western approach to Death Valley National Park; a monument on Highway 14 where he met his death in his old Ford (which, it is said, he always drove too fast, hurrying to this or that secular or religious appointment); and, recently, a mural on a building in Bishop. Though not a botanist, Crowley knew and loved the native plants of the mountains and deserts. In his writings, especially his weekly column "Sage and Tumbleweed" (which he wrote using the pseudonym Inyokel), he frequently referred to the plants that he admired on outings. He consulted the only book dedicated at that time to the desert regions, Coville's "Botany of the Death Valley Expedition", published in 1893; Crowley called it "the most complete survey of the flora of the valley extant". Father Crowley, the "Desert Padre", struggled mightily, and successfully, to enhance the economic base of the Eastern Sierra in the 1930s, primarily by publicizing it as a tourist mecca. Like Mary, he fought the City of Los Angeles over its water policies, to help the disheartened residents out of their depression over the City's depredations. His fatal auto accident occurred in 1940, when he was 48 years old. His legendary life and writings are lovingly presented in the 1997 book, "Desert Padre", by Joan Brooks.

Now to the namers and collectors. Keep in mind that lupines are difficult to classify and to present clearly in a flora. The number of new world lupine species has been suggested to range from 200 to 1000, the wide range mainly due to it often being so difficult to nail down distinct species.

The story of the naming of this plant begins with a false start of sorts. The prominent Califomia/Nevada botanist A. A. Heller visited Inyo County in 1906, and, among other things, came away with 6 lupine species, 4 of which he thought were new. One, from McGee Meadows west of Bishop, he named L. inyoensis. You won't find it on the list of recognized lupine species in the new Jepson manual (1993), where it is noted as having been incorporated into L. argenteus var. heteranthus. It will be found, though, in earlier California floras by Munz (1959) and Jepson (1920s).

Fast forwarding a bit, Mary DeDecker's first collection of the subject plant came from the North Fork of Big Pine Creek in 1957. She was puzzled as to its identity, but considered it "near inyoensis". She made additional collections of it (in the same region, and also the West Fork of Coyote Creek) through 1976. The type specimen of Lupinus dedeckerae Munz & Dunn was to come from her third collection, made in July of 1968, which Mary had provisionally labeled L. inyoensis.

As it turned out, Mary wasn't the first to collect the plant in the area. Botanists F. W. Peirson (in 1921), Roxana Ferris (in 1934), and John Thomas Howell (in 1947) also collected it along Big Pine Creek. Of the three, only Howell hazarded a guess on its name, thinking it a previously named variety of L. inyoensis. (The highly regarded Howell, of the CAS, was a principal mentor of Mary DeDecker, as readers of earlier essays in this series may recall.)
In the late 1970s and through the 1980s, botanist Dean Taylor, who has a long association with Eastern Sierra botany, made 4 separate collections of the plant in the Big Pine Creek and Coyote Flat area. In 1988 he also found it, in a blue-flowered form, along a jeep trail on the Wheeler Ridge.

There are two indications of its occurrence in Tulare County, over the crest from Inyo County; an herbarium specimen collected by F. W. Peirson (in 1908) along Golden Trout Creek (a.k.a. Volcano Creek), and a mention in later literature of its occurrence at Summit Meadows.

Thus it appears that, except for the Wheeler Ridge and Tulare County cases, most populations occur in the North Fork Big Pine Creek/Coyote Flat region.

The name Lupinus padre-crowleyi was coined in 1945. The peripatetic lupine specialist Charles Piper Smith (1877-1955) chased lupines all over North and South America. He also pored over specimens in herbaria far and wide. He had access to the 1921 specimen collected by Peirson, and the 1934 specimen of Ferris, noted above. Based on his study of them, he concluded, in his 1945 paper on Inyo County lupines, that they represented a new species. He officially described it and named it Lupinus padre-crowleyi (see upcoming part II of this article), in his somewhat obscure self-published journal, "Species Lupinorum". However, he didn't convince all botanists of the validity of his determination. The eminent RSA botanist, Phillip Munz, in his 1959 Flora of California, considered Smith's species to be the same as Heller's Lupinus inyoensis, and thus not new. (Munz, like Howell, encouraged and aided Mary DeDecker's efforts in Inyo Co.)

Subsequently, Munz and David B. Dunn (a lupine specialist based at the University of Missouri in Columbia) studied Mary DeDecker's collections, and decided that they represented a distinct and new species. Thus, in 1969, they provided a detailed description, in RSA's journal "Aliso", of what they called Lupinus dedeckerae. They obviously came to the conclusion that the name L. inyoensis did not apply to these plants, but, due to a possible oversight, they failed to reconsider Smith's name.

Finally, it remained for a student of Dunn's, Melvin Conrad, while working on his Ph.D. thesis on lupines in the late 1970s, to confirm that the Big Pine Creek/Coyote Flat plants were indeed distinct (and he also included Peirson's 1908 plant from Tulare County), but that they should go by the name of L. padre-crowleyi. This was because Smith's description, and the actual type specimen it was based on (Ferris' of 1934), clearly represent this species; thus, Smith's name, which was published in a valid manner, had priority. The name Lupinus dedeckerae Munz & Dunn had to be set aside.

(Additional information, references, and graphics will be found on my website: www.csupomona.edu/~Iarrybiakely/whoname )

  . . . Larry Blakely

Jane Freeburg - Santa Barbara

Robert & Jennifer Creasy - Mammoth Lakes

Martha Dickes - Trona

Greg Reis - Lee Vining

Jay Smart - Bishop

Cheryl Chapman - Bishop

Cheryl Chapman - Bishop

Mary Beth Cook - Copper Center, AK

Harold Dittmer - San Diego

Tom Lane - Seattle

2003 BRISTLECONE CHAPTER FIELD TRIPS

Below are listed our spring and summer field trips, work parties and plant sale. There are additional trips planned which will be announced in upcoming newsletters and on our website (www.bristleconecnps.org.) There will also be further details added to summer and fall trip descriptions so stay tuned! 2003 is shaping up to be potentially a good flower year so please join us on these trips. For general questions on field trips or if you would like to lead a trip, please call Karen Ferrell-Ingrain at 387-2913 or write ingram@telis.org.

March 15, Saturday, Mary DeDecker Native Plant Garden Spring Cleaning. Leader: Jerry Zatorski. It's been over a full year since we installed the first plants in Independence and things look good. This winter's rains have been beneficial and many of the plants are already growing. Along with the species we've planted, a whole host of annual species are also popping up. Fortunately, most are native. As with any garden, a little maintenance is required from time to time. March is a great time to jump on any exotic weeds and get them out before they drop their seed, as well as trim up anything that might need it. We'll meet at the garden at the Eastern California Museum in Independence at 9:00 AM, bring garden gloves, trowels, hand pruners, and wear sturdy work clothes. For more information contact Jerry Zatorski at 872-3818 or jerryzat@yahoo.com

April 12, Saturday, Pandora's Box. Leader: Jerry Zatorski. Nestled at the foot of the Inyo Mountains, this box canyon was carved from the mountains over time. Growing on the unique limestone substrate are a host of interesting species adapted to grow there. We will explore the canyon and climb out of one arm and loop around to the other arm of the canyon. There will be moderate to strenuous hiking and scrambling. High clearance vehicles will be necessary on dirt roads. We'll meet in Independence at the park at Citrus Ave. and Highway 395 on the south end of town at 9:00 AM. For more information contact Jerry Zatorski at 872-3818 or jerryzat@yahoo.com

April 19, Saturday, Volcanic Tablelands. Leaders: Anne Halford and Karen Ferrell-Ingram. With enough seasonal precipitation, the Tablelands can explode into an intoxicating floral display. We may have the sweetly fragrant Lupinus odoratus and Cryptantha utahensis, the diminutive Gilia inyoensis and the glowing yellow Camissonia claviformis among many perennials and shrubs. We will investigate the Chalk Bluffs area and take a moderately easy walk through the Bishop Tuff formations in search of flowers. Walking will be easy but mostly off-trail and over rocks and around bushes. Bring water, hat and good shoes. We'll end with lunch on the rocks. Meet at 9:00 AM behind (north of) the Llo Gas Station at the Y in Bishop. We will take a quick look at the proposed 500-acre expansion of the gravel pits near Five Bridges before continuing on to find flowers. Call Anne at 873-6714 or Karen at 387-2913 for more information.

May 3, Saturday, Plant Sale Work Party. Sowing seeds, filling flats, mixing soil, and other propagation related tasks. Please call Karen for more information at 387-2913 or ingram@telis.org.

May 10, Saturday, Mary DeDecker Native Plant Garden Dedication. 2:00 PM at the Eastern California Museum in Independence. Call Sally Manning at 873-3790 or Heidi at 647-6271 for more information (also see article in this newsletter).

May 11, Sunday, Swall Meadows post-fire flower walk. Leader: Karen Ferrell-Ingram. This annual flower check will be different this year as most of the area burned up last July. After a winter of decent moisture, we will see what the seed bank has in store for us. It will be a moderate walk of 3-4 miles on and off trail lasting 2-3 hours. Meet at 9:00 AM at the gravel pit on Sky Meadow Road in Swall Meadows. Call Karen at 387-2913 or write to ingram@telis.org for more info.

May 16-118, Friday-Sunday, Sierra Spring Sojourn. Join us for a fantastic weekend of varied field trips and interesting lectures and nice people in a beautiful place! This action packed weekend of flowers and friendship is based at the Bernasconi Education Center, west of Big Pine. Call Sherryl Taylor for more information at 924-8742 or write her at sherrylt76@aoLcom (also see article in this newsletter).

June 14, Saturday, Molybdenite Creek. Leaders: Stephen Ingram, Paul McFarland, and Sally Miller. Join Friends of the Inyo and the Wilderness Society on this joint CLAPS hike to view one of the most amazing stands of Sierra junipers (Juniperus occidentalis var. occidentalis) in the Eastern Sierra. A relatively flat 4 mile round trip hike will take us into a beautiful grove of ancient junipers on the border of the Eastern Sierra Citizens' Proposed Additions to the Hoover Wilderness at the mouth of the wide, glacially sculpted canyon of Molybdenite Creek. For those who wish, we may continue up the canyon bottom to enjoy the plants of the higher elevation montane lodgepole forests. Meet at 8:30 am in front of the Mono Lake Committee in Lee Vining; we'll carpool to the trailhead from there. Or meet at 9:15 at Obsidian Campground on Little Walker Road just south of HWY 108. Please call Paul at 647-0079, Sally at 746-1614 or Stephen at 387-2913.

June 21, Saturday, Symmes Creek, Shepherd Pass trail. Leader: Kathleen Nelson. This will be a robust hike ascending about 3000 feet in approximately 3 to 3.5 miles to the saddle between Symmes Creek and Shepherd Creek. If you decide to go the distance, you will be rewarded with a spectacular view of Mt. Williamson, not to mention an early season encounter with Father Crowley's lupine (Lupinus padre-crowleyi), a rare endemic in the eastern Sierra. But don't despair, there is plenty to see lower down if you want to shorten the hike and turn around early, including the lovely DeDecker's clover (Trtfollum macilentum var. dedeckerae), and California fuchsia (Epilobium canum ssp. latifolium). The trail follows the creek for the first mile or so. We will also keep an eye out for the rare marble rockmat (Petrophyton caespitosum ssp. acuminatum) in the cliffs above the creek. Bring lots of water and a hearty lunch. Tip: if you want to go all the way to the saddle, you should enjoy switchbacks. High clearance vehicle recommended for access to trailhead. Meet at 8:00 AM sharp at Dehy Park in Independence. For more information call Kathleen at 873-1095.

June 28, Saturday, Benton Crossing Flower Quest. Joint trip with the Nevada Native Plant Society. Leaders Stephen Ingram and John Dyer. We'll be botanizing in Adobe Valley, Big Sand Flat and possibly other areas. More details to come in the May newsletter. Meet at Benton Hot Springs on HWY 120 at 9:00 AM. Call Stephen at 387-2913 or ingram@telis.org for more information.

July 12-13, Saturday and Sunday, Coyote Plateau Car Camp. Leaders: Sherryl Taylor and Kathy Duvall. Spectacular vistas and natives in bloom (including Lupinus padre-crowleyi). Meet at 8:00 AM sharp at the old Smart and Final parking lot behind Joseph's Market in Bishop to caravan to our campsite at 9,000 ft., a 1-2 hour drive. Map will be provided. Four wheel, high clearance vehicles required on rugged road with some exposure. Opportunities to climb Sugarloaf, view the Palisades Glaciers and hunt for yellow-legged frogs with Phill Kiddoo. Bring your own camping gear, water and food and something to contribute to the potluck taco dinner. Group size limited to 15, reserve early. Call Kathy at 387-2122, kduvall@telis.org, and Sherryl Taylor 924-8742, sherrylt76@aol.com for more information. Call Kathy to reserve a place.

July 19, Saturday, Telescope Peak, Death Valley National Park. Leader Jerry Zatorski. With a summit of 11,049', Telescope Peak, the highest peak in the Panamints, and the surrounding summits are very unlike the stifling deserts below. The Panamint peaks are true sky islands and they hold an enormous wealth of unique flora isolated by a seemingly endless sea of desert beyond. On this excursion we'll botanize our way up the summit trail and go as far as we choose. We will meet at the Mahogany Flat campground at 8:00 AM on Saturday. There will be moderate to strenuous hiking at high elevation. There is no available water here, so bring plenty of fluids and food. High clearance and/or 4WD vehicles will be necessary on the road for the last few miles to Mahogany Flat. For more information contact Jerry Zatorski at 872-3818 or at jerryzat@yahoo.com

July 26, Saturday, Gaylor and Granite Lakes Basin. Leader: Cathy Rose. After a stiff climb of about 1/2 mile, expect a fairly easy, though mostly cross-country, high-elevation, walk of about five miles. We'll visit four lakes and an old mine and see a goodly array of subalpine and alpine plants, superb views, metamorphic and granitic rocks, and mountain birds. Bring lunch, water, camera. Meet at 8:00 AM at Tom's Place for carpooling or 9:00 AM just outside Tiogo Pass to begin hike. Call Cathy for details at 935-4.329.
September 6, Saturday, Trees of the Eastern Sierra, Mammoth to Rock Creek. Lead: Cathy Rose. In a time of year when flowers are on the wane, we'll look up at the conifers and broad-leaved trees of the Mammoth, Convict Lake, and Rock Creek area. We will take short walks in each place; expect some uphill but at a botanist's pace. Meet at the Inyo National Forest's Visitor's Center on HWY 203 before entering Mammoth Lakes. Bring lunch and water. Handout provided. Call Cathy at 9354329 for details.
September 13, Saturday, Native Plant Sale. Tri-County Fairgrounds, 9:00 AM. Call Karen at 387-2913 for more information.

October 4, Saturday, Oct. 4, Saturday, Hilton Creek fall colors and mosses. This is a strenuous 4.5 mile (9 mile round trip) hike with about a 2000 foot elevation gain to the large meadow below Davis Lake. There is a beautiful view of Long Valley and some Penstemon papillatus to help you up the switchbacks. This is one of three locations in the state of the rare moss Helodium bland7owii and Eve Laeger, bryophyte devotee, has been invited to come along and discuss the mosses. Meet at the old hostel/packstation building at 8:30 am, bring lunch. Feet may get wet in some areas of the meadow. Call Sue Weis at 387-2349 for more information.

For all field trips, be sure to bring plenty of water, lunch, good walking shoes or boots, and appropriate clothing for hot sun or inclement weather. Also useful would be a hand lens, binoculars, camera, floras, and plant lists. Trips will leave at the time announced, so please arrive at the meeting sites a few minutes early. Unless indicated, the average car should do fine. Car pooling is encouraged. Everyone is welcome, but please no pets. If you need more information contact Field Trip Chairperson Karen Ferrell-Ingram at 387-2913 or write ingram@telis.org.