Volume 26 No. 1 January/February 2006
THE CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY
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NEXT CHAPTER MEETING The Bristlecone Chapter Meeting will be held at White Mountain Research Station in Bishop at 7:00 PM on Wednesday, January 25th. Our speaker will be our chapter Conservation Chairman, Daniel Pritchett. Daniel will update us on how Owens Valley has fared under ihe Inyo/LA Water Agreement. Field trip planning meeting precedes the program meeting at 5:30. All are welcome. Next Board Meeting The Bristlecone Chapter Board will meet on Wednesday, January 18th, 7:00 PM. All members are welcome to attend. Please contact Shenyl Taylor at 924-8742 for location and directions. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE As you read in our last newsletter, Bristlecone members in the southern part of our chapter area (Lone Pine to Ridgecrest) are meeting monthly to plan and conduct field trips and work days closer to home. We thank Kathy LaShure for her time, energy and enthusiasm in getting this sub-chapter up and going. For more information please contact Kathy at desert_encelia@verizon.net. As you can see in our Bristlecone Chapter directory on the back of the newsletter, our 2005 Officers were re-elected and most of our Board Members have agreed to serve in their positions in 2006. We are sad that Cheryl Chipman will be leaving the Board. Thank you, Cheryl, for all your efforts in publicizing our events. Ann Fulton has agreed to take over the job of publicity. Thank you, Ann. Over 1500 volunteer hours were reported by Bristlecone members in 2005. The year ahead looks just as busy with field trips, programs, our summer banquet, Dedecker Garden work days, and our plant sale. In addition, our chapter will be hosting the CNPS State Meetings in June along with the Kern and Mojave chapters. Please mark your 2006 calendar now for our program meetings and look for our field trip and activities schedule in the next newsletter. Visit our website at www.bristleconecnps.org for updates anytime. . . . . . ... Sherry1 Taylor Awards Given to Pritchett and Bagley Bristlecone Chapter's Daniel Pritchett and Mark Bagley received awards at the November 20th performance of 'A Mulholland Christmas Carol' in Bishop. Before an audience of 400 Daniel was given the first ever Charles H. Lee Award for his tireless work on the relationship between groundwater and vegetation. With the continuing disappearance of grasslands in the Owens Valley the Owens Valley Committee has begun the Grasslands Initiative to focus science and public education on the importance of these plant communities. Coordinated effort will be brought to the project by the Bristlecone Chapter of CNPS, the Eastern Sierra Audubon and the Owens Valley Committee. This work is important not only to plant species both common and rare, but to many insect, reptile, mammal and bird species. Daniel was presented with an original copy of the Charles H. Lee report on Owens Valley groundwater resources that was published in 1912. Mark Bagley was awarded the first ever Leaping Lizards Legal Award for his role as the single most effective legal strategist and tactician over more than two decades dealing with the Lower Owens River Project and the Inyo/Los Angeles Water Agreement. Mark has been invaluable in integrating legal efforts of the Sierra Club and the Owens Valley Committee by tracking the details of complex events and agreements over many years. He is responsible for guiding the California Attorney General's Ofice to finally join in the legal action to force LADWP to meet its obligations to begin the Lower Owens River Project. Mark received an original $1,000 1913 City of Los Angeles water bond. All of us owe Daniel and Mark our sincerest gratitude for their work to protect the environment of the Owens Valley. . . . . . ... Mike Prather Owens Valley Committee, Outreach Coordinator UPCOMING ACTIVITIES The Eastern Sierra Land Trust will be five years old in 2006! Come join the ESLT to celebrate "Land and Legacy" on Sunday, January 29,2006. Enjoy live music, a silent auction, food and drink, and hear about our accomplishments and latest projects. Many of you have been an important part of this lasting work, so come be a part of the celebration! his milestone event is open to all and will be held at the beautifid Mountain Light Gallery, at the corner of Main St. and Line St. in Bishop, from 4-7 pm., January 29. Warm up the gallery and bring your friends along. Space is limited, so please RSVP to the ESLT ofice at 873-4554 by January 24th. News from the Southern Territory We're on a roll! The first meeting of the Bristlecone Chapter members who live in the southerly reaches of the Chapter's boundaries drew 18 native plant lovers. It was a congenial and productive meeting with an agreement to meet monthly (first Wed) at the Maturango Museum (as the other local conservation organizations do). We also discussed several potential service projects and made a date for a Tamy Bashing party in early Dec (see report below). The prospect of helping to host the June State Chapter Council meeting here in Ridgecrest was seen as a plus for the Indian Wells Valley and a project we could adopt. We've now had another evening meeting with a third that will occur before this newsletter is delivered. By the time you read this we should have an official name for our sub-chapter. I would like to thank the Bristlecone Board for their encouragement and help in getting this group started. If anyone would like to be added to the email notification list please contact me: desert_encelia@,verizon.net. Anyone is welcome! ! A Grand Day Out (to borrow a title from Wallace & Gromit) December 3 dawned clear and crisp. By 9:00 ten volunteers had gathered at the dusty Panamint Valley town called Ballarat. We caravanned north to Surprise Canyon where hordes of tamarisk seedlings waited in the stream bed, never guessing that their time was up. Before setting to work dispatching them, project organizer Marty Dickes, BLM Wilderness Specialist, suggested a short hike further up the canyon to see the sights. Two of our party, other BLM staff, were eager to get their binoculars trained on avian residents and visitors. The 3 SEA interns took off like the youngsters they were, heading for the upper canyon. The remaining five participants paid more attention to the location and size of the tamarisk infestation. None of us had much experience with this sort of weed-whacking and we quickly learned which size tools work on which size tamarisk. We finally settled into two groups. The sun was delightfully warm, there was no annoying wind, and the stream chortled merrily. So sitting on a sand bar diligently pulling up little tamy seedlings became a sort of meditation. Our two groups eventually came together and we found that our work allowed for conversation and sharing of delicious chocolate. While there are still many seedlings left, we felt that we had made a dent in their ranks. And we had the wonderful treat of a robustly blooming Panamint daisy waiting to catch our eyes as we rattled down the canyon in our vehicles. I think everyone with a camera got pictures of the CNPS logo flower that day! If you'd like to try your hand at tamy bashing Marty has scheduled additional work days in Surprise Canyon: Dec. 3 1 (a good way to end 2005 on a virtuous note) and Jan. 14-1 5 (with the Desert Survivors). You may contact her for more information: Martha_Dickes@,ca.blm.gov. NEXT NEWSLETTER DEADLINE: February 28th
President - Sherry1 Taylor (760) 924-8742
THE CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY (www.bristleconecnps.org) Bristlecone Chapter Newsletter comes out bimonthly. |
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