Local non-CNPS programs of interest:

At the SLO Botanical Garden...

 

Title: Native Bees, Native Plants

 

 

Event Name: Saturday in the Garden - “California Native Bees in Urban

Landscapes”

 

California is home to over 1500 species of native bees. From big, black
bumble bees, to shiny green Osmia, to bees so small they are seldom noticed,
all are important pollinators of our our native plants. And, sadly, their
numbers are declining due to habitat destruction and urban development.

California's native bees don't live in hives and don't produce honey but

they are star pollinators. Marissa Ponder of UC Berkeley will

familiarize us with California's native bees and their habits, and she

will tell us how to make our gardens friendly to native pollinators.

 

Marissa Ponder graduated from the University of California at Berkeley

with a B.S. in Conservation and Resource Studies. She has been working

at the UC Berkeley College of Natural Resources' Urban Bee Laboratory

for the past 2 years. She wrote her honors thesis on one of her favorite

subjects; 'Urban Bee Gardens'.

 

 

Venue:

 

 

San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden

Oak Glen Pavilion

3450 Dairy Creek Road

San Luis Obispo,California 93405

 

 

Date: April 10, 2010

Time: 1:00 PM - 2:00PM

 

 

Cost: $4/$5 Member / Non-member

 

 

For great photographs of some of our native bees, visit the Urban Bee

Laboratory's website at:

 

 

http://nature.berkeley.edu/urbanbeegardens/general_diversity.html

 

 

 

 

State CNPS Educational Trips and Workshops

 

Cal-IPC's 2010 Wildland Weed Field Courses!

Six upcoming field courses will train natural resource managers and restoration volunteers on all aspects of invasive weed management.

Registration and course details at www.cal-ipc.org/fieldcourses/index.php.

Upcoming 2010 Field Course Schedule:

San Diego - Mira Costa College, San Elijo Campus
    March 30 - Biology & Identfication
    March 31 - Control Methods

San Francisco Peninsula - Don Edwards National Wildlife Refuge, Newark
    April 28 - Control Methods
    April 29 - Mapping Invasive Weeds

Northern California - McLaughlin Natural Reserve
    June 8 & 9 - Integrated Control Methods NEW!

Ventura - Location to be determined
    October 13 - Strategic Approaches to Effective Weed Managment NEW!
    [Cal-IPC 2010 Symposium follows on Oct. 14-15 at Ventura Crown Plaza Hotel]

Registration Fees:

Cal-IPC Members: $145 per course
Non-members: $165 per course, this fee includes a 2010 Cal-IPC Membership

In 2010 Cal-IPC is able to offer a special discounted rate for restoration volunteers! You qualify as a restoration volunteer if weed management is not part of your professional work and you volunteer for an organized restoration effort.
Restoration Volunteers: $45 per course

 

CNPS Plant Science Training Program presents two vernal pool workshops in Davis and surrounding Sacramento/San JoaquinValley vernal pool terrain

Vernal Pool Plant Taxonomy, April 12-14,  

with Carol Witham, Nick Jensen, & possibly Dr. Robert Preston

and

Classification of Vernal Pool Plant Communities, April 15-16,

with  Dr Michael Barbour & Dr Ayzik Solomeshch

http://cnps.org/cnps/education/workshops/index.php

 

Vernal Pool Plant Taxonomy

Instructors: Carol Witham, Nick Jensen, & possibly Dr Robert Preston

 April 12-14 

 

  This three-day course is a combination of laboratory and field studies of the taxonomy of vernal pool plants with a focus on difficult genera.

 

Locations: the herbarium at UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity and vernal pools at the following locations in Solano, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties: Jepson Prairie, Tule Ranch, Rancho Seco, and Howard Ranch

 

Cost: CNPS members: $395; non-members : $420

Registration and full details: http://cnps.org/cnps/education/workshops/index.php

 

Reduced or waived fees: One or more spaces are available for students and low income participants through our Work Exchange Program (http://cnps.org/cnps/education/).

 

Participants can expect to:

Acquire a higher level of knowledge and confidence in identifying vernal pool plants both in the laboratory and in the field. 

 

Learn characters used to distinguish species beyond those used in the typical dichotomous plant key. 

 

Gain field identification skills to make participants more efficient and effective at vernal pool vegetation assessments, floristic surveys and rare plant surveys. 

 

Classification of Vernal Pool Plant Communities

Instructors: Dr Michael Barbour and Dr Ayzik I. Solomeshch

April 15-16

 

 

This is an intensive and pragmatic course on plant community identification, sampling design, and ecology.  The course also reviews general plant community attributes and the relationship between vernal pool community classification and rare species occurrence, conservation, restoration, and vegetation mapping.  Experience with vernal pool plants is recommended.

 

Locations: Yolo Bypass Visitors Center, Davis with field sites at Glide Tule Ranch and Mather Field

Cost: CNPS members $320; non- members $345

Registration and full details: http://cnps.org/cnps/education/workshops/index.php 

 

Reduced or waived fees: One or more spaces are available for students and low income participants through our Work Exchange Program (http://cnps.org/cnps/education/).  

 

Participants can expect to learn:

How and when to quantitatively sample vernal pool vegetation

How to use vegetation data to define community types

How to key out and name community types at several hierarchical levels

The geographic range of each community type

Which environmental factors correspond with each community type

Which rare plants are likely to be associated with each community type

How classification can improve conservation and restoration activities