Bulletin of the Native Plant Society of OregonNOTE: This is an archived NPSO Bulletin.
Some information may be out of date, and
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Bulletin of the Native Plant Society of Oregon[ Return to Bulletin Directory ]
Sept. 27, Sat.. State Board Meeting: 10 A.M. - 4 P.M. Central Oregon Environmental Center, 16 NW Kansas, Bend. Hosted by the High Desert Chapter.
Meeting: No meetings until October.
Meeting: No meetings until October.
Survey: We will be sending you a survey about the activities in our chapter. Please take the time to fill it out and return it. It will help us determine what your interests are and how we can help best serve them. For more information, call Carolyn.
Officers: Newly elected officers are: Rhoda Love and Gail Baker, co-presidents; Marcia Cutler, vice president; Phil Warner, secretary; Dave Predeek, treasurer.
Sept. 13, Sat. Field Trip: McKenzie Pass. We'll see Newberry's gentian, and hopefully, two, three, or four species of cute little grape ferns and moonworts (Botrychium spp.). And if that's not enough, it will be huckleberry season too. Meet: S. Eugene H.S. parking lot, 8:30 A.M. Bring lunch. Co-leaders: Dave Predeek, Bruce Newhouse.
Sept. 22, Mon. Meeting: 7:30 P.M. Room 110, main campus, Lane Community College, Eugene. Jerry Igo, of the Mid-Columbia Chapter, will present his video program, "Cottonwoods, Cattails and Coots," about wetlands and their uses for outreach and education. Jerry may also talk about his recent pilgrimage along the Lewis and Clark Trail. Directions: From 30th Ave., turn south on Eldon-Schafer Drive, go past Oak Hill School and park in LCC's south parking lot, east end. Walk downstairs to Science Building. Entrance to room 110 is on east side of the building.
Oct. 27, Mon. Meeting: 7:30 P.M. Room 110, main campus, Lane Community College, Eugene.Dr. Barbara Wilson, of the Carex Working Group at OSU, returns to tell us "More Than You Ever Wanted to Know About Oregon Fescues." See Sept. meeting for directions.
Sept. 13, Sat. Field Trip: Broken Top Volcano. Our annual trek to view the spectacular glaciated scenery and alpine wildflowers in the high Cascades, west of Bend. This is a 6 mi. R.T., moderate to strenuous hike with 1700 ft. elev. gain. Mostly off-trail hiking through the Three Sisters Wilderness, so number is limited to 12. A Cascades classic! Preregistration is required. Call trip leader Stu Garrett, eves., to sign up.
Sept. 30, Tues. Meeting: 7 P.M. This is our annual fall potluck at Stu Garrett's house, where we will plan the year's meetings. Bring salad, main dish or dessert. Address is 21663 Paloma Dr., Bend. Call evenings, for questions. (Note: This is the 5th tuesday.)
Oct. 28, Tues. Meeting: 7:30 P.M.Central Oregon Environmental Center, 16 NW Kansas, Bend. This is the member slide show. Bring ten of your favorite, recent slides to share.
Sept. 17, Wed. Meeting: 7 P.M. Room 218, Owens Hall, OIT campus. Sandra Klepadloe will present a slide show on the plants of Crater Lake National Park. Call Susan Erwin for more information.
Sept. 3, Wed. Meeting: 7:30 P.M. Pietro's Pizza in the Dalles. Bill Reynolds, weed control officer for Hood River County, will tell us about a study on knapweed control.
Sept. 9, Tues. Meeting: 7 P.M. First United Methodist Church, 1838 Jefferson St., Portland. Charlene Holzwarth, Marvel Gillespie and Linda Hardie will share their trip to Switzerland.
Sept. 13, Sat. Field Trip: Mt. Hood. We will join USFS management officer John Davis for a discussion of vegetation practices on four separate sites, including West Lake Rd. to examine the preservation of whitebark pine at timberline, retaining vegetation at high elevations, traditional foods of native Americans and the comparison of management practices, and Old Maid Flat on how to manage vegetation under power lines. Meet: 8 A.M., 99th and Glisan Park & Ride, southeast corner of parking lot. Second meeting place: 9 A.M., Zig Zag Ranger Station, Hwy. 26, in parking lot. For more information, call Greg Stone, or John Davis.
Sept. 21, Sun. Field Trip: Mt. Adams. Join field trip leader Mary Vogel for a hike along the Pacific Crest Trail to see gentians, alpine anemones, mushrooms, and to discuss pioneer and native American uses of herbal plants. Approx. 6 to 8 mi. R.T., 2 hr. drive to trailhead. Optional stop at Carson Hot Spring afterward. Meet: 8 A.M., 99th and Glisan Park & Ride, southeast corner of parking lot. For more information, call Greg Stone, or Mary Vogel.
Oct. 5, Sun. Field Trip: Mt. St. Helens. See some of the finest noble fir anywhere (5 to 6' diam.) on the Blue Lake Trail, with field trip leader Mary Vogel. There will be discussion of ancient forest ecology and native plant uses. One and a half hour drive to trailhead. Meet: 8 A.M., 99th and Glisan Park & Ride, southeast corner of parking lot. For more information, call Greg Stone, or Mary Vogel.
Sept. 18, Thurs. Meeting: It's time for our annual fall potluck (food and slides): Dinner at 6 P.M. at the upper duck pond in Lithia Park. Bring a dish to share, a plate and utensils. Meeting at 7:30 P.M. in room 171, Science Building, SOSC, Ashland. Everyone is encouraged to bring slides of new and old discoveries, favorite plants and places, and ??? to share with the group.
For information on South Coast Chapter, contact Bruce Rittenhouse.
Sept. 11, Thurs. Meeting: 7 P.M. Room 310, Douglas County Courthouse, Roseburg. Come and share your botanical experiences.
Sept. 15, Mon. Meeting: 7 P.M. Room 225, United Methodist Church, 600 State St. NE, Salem. This is a business meeting in which we will decide the goals and projects for the coming year. All members please attend. Snacks provided.
Meeting: No meeting in September.
Sept. 13 - 14, Sat. - Sun. Work Party: The Nature Conservancy's Dunstan Preserve on the Middle Fork John Day River. Help remove old fences, dismantle buildings, repair historic structures. BBQ Sat. eve. Bring camping equipment, food, musical instruments. Meet at preserve Sat. A.M. For directions, call Berta Youtie, or the preserve.There may be other activities. Watch the La Grande Observer for announcements.
IMPORTANT NOTE TO FIELD TRIP PARTICIPANTSField trips take place rain or shine, so proper dress and footwear are essential. Trips may be strenuous and/or hazardous. Participation is at your own risk. Please contact the trip leader or chapter representative about difficulty, distance, and terrain to be expected on field trips. Bring water and lunch. All NPSO field trips are open to the public at no charge (other than contribution to carpool driver) and newcomers 'and visitors are always welcome.NOTICE TO FIELD TRIP CHAIRS AND LEADERSThe Forest Service and other agencies have set policies limiting group size in many wilderness areas to 12. The reason is to limit human impacts on these fragile areas. Each group using wilderness areas should be no larger than 12.POSTAL NOTICEBulletin of the Native Plant Society of Oregon; John Robotham, Editor; 117 NW Trinity P1. #28, Portland, OR 97209.Published monthly. Subscription price $18/year. ISSN 0884-599. Date and issue number on page 1. |
Opinions expressed in this publication are those of the authors of the articles. They do not represent the opinions of the Native Plant Society of Oregon, unless so stated.
Guidelines for Contributors to the Bulletin
The NPSO Bulletin is published monthly as a service to members and the public.The next subject surveyed was "How can you contribute?" This is the question that I had in mind for this issue of the NPSO Bulletin. The top five answers to the WNPS survey were: 1) contribute to WNPS by purchasing items such as books, t-shirts, etc., 2) contributing labor for example habitat restoration or participating in plant inventory projects, 3) helping at special events, 4) donating to a special memorial fund and 5) leading a field trip. The ranking for leading a field trip was low, but an even lower rank was given to the "dreaded contribution of serving as a chapter officer or board member."
I believe the NPSO can provide a wide range of opportunities for members to make a difference in how the state of Oregon looks on its heritage of native plants. Oregon ranks third or fourth in abundance of native plants in comparison with the other 49 states. It should be the responsibility of all of us to acquaint all Oregonians with this fact. If all were aware of their heritage, they would take pride in it and do more to protect and publicize it.
We would also generate more recognition of our heritage if we did more to promote the use of native plants in our gardens. We have some extremely beautiful plants that would suit almost any garden situation, as has been pointed out by Dr. Kruckeberg in his book, "Gardening With Natives." The Washington Native Plant Society has such a program and we could use it as a model.
There are many ways in which individuals can contribute to NPSO. There are probably as many ways as there are members. We need people who can generate new members; we need people who can provide publicity for the goals that we have as a society; we need people who have an interest in education of the younger generation and can promote science fairs where high school students
could produce demonstrations of projects or report on studies they have conducted on native plants. We could also use fund raisers if we want to expand some of our activities in conservation areas where we would need to hire qualified people to carry out our programs (similar to some of the programs being undertaken by the California Native Plant Society).
These are only a few of the many ways that you might contribute to NPSO. I will not add to the list, as I am sure that each individual can come up with an activity of special interest to him/herself. I have one more contribution that we should take seriously, and that is serving as an officer or board member. Veva Stansell is currently chair of the nominating committee for next year's state officers and I hope you will think about how you could make a difference in the operation and effectiveness of NPSO if she contacts you about serving in one of these offices.
Michael Fahey
President, NPSO
Those who already have the computer plant keys, may be interested to know that graphics are now available to supplement the definitions of terms in the help screens. Upgrades for current users are $30, including shipping. The computer plant keys are available for Oregon, Washington, southern British Columbia, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, for either DOS or Windows. A Mac version is now in final testing.
For information, contact Bruce Barnes, Flora ID Northwest, 135 SE 1st, Pendleton, OR 97801. Telephone: 541-278-2222 (Office). FAX: 541-276-8405. E-mail: flora@ucinet.com, or http://pullman.com/Business/xid/fidnw.html.
Bruce Barnes
Blue Mountain Chapter
Flora of North America, Volume 3, by FNA Editorial Committee, Nancy R. Morin, Convening Editor, Oxford University Press, New York, 1997. 8 1/2" X 11" format, hard cover, $75.00. ISBN # 0-19-511246-66 (v. 3), 590 pages, maps, drawings. Order from: Oxford University Press, 200 Madison Avenue, N.Y., N.Y. 10016.
Volume 3 of Flora of North America came out in late June. The first two volumes of this comprehensive work appeared in 1993 and were reviewed in the NPSO Bulletin in January and May of 1994. FNA is now projected to fill 30 volumes, and it is predicted that these will appear at the rate of approximately two per year. At present, the project costs a million dollars a year, and is a giant collaboration of 30 institutions and hundreds of botanists in the U.S. and Canada. It is centered at the Missouri Botanical Garden. The book includes keys, detailed descriptions and maps for all known species of vascular plants and bryophytes growing in North America north of Mexico. Many, but not all species are illustrated.
Volume 3 covers 32 dicot families, 129 genera, and 741 species from the Magnoliaceae through the Casuarinaceae. These are angiosperm families considered "primitive" by Arthur Cronquist and other evolutionary botanists. Families of interest to us in the Pacific Northwest include: Lauraceae, Aristolochiaceae, Nymphaeaceae, Ranunculaceae, Berberidaceae, Papaveraceae, Fumariaceae, Urticaceae, Myricaceae, Fagacae and Betulaceae. Treatments include keys to all known species north of Mexico, species descriptions, range maps for every species, and illustrations of many species. It is interesting to note that the editors of FNA have not submerged the Fumariaceae within the Papaveraceae, as was done by the editors of The Jepson Manual.
For those of you who are on-line, FNA project leaders have made their database available on the web. Data contained in the printed volumes, additional supporting data, authority files, more precise maps and other useful information are available on-line at http: // www.fna.org. (You will need a good deal of available memory to pull up all the graphics.)
At present, folks throughout Oregon and elsewhere, led by botanists at Oregon State University, are at work on our new Flora of Oregon. To me, this makes a related and on-going project
such as Flora of North America doubly exciting. We in Oregon can feel part of a comprehensive effort to understand the botanical diversity of our continent and our region. We can coordinate our work with that of the many botanists providing new treatments for FNA. I am personally thrilled to see this giant effort coming to pass. Historically, it is the great project dreamed of in the nineteenth century by Asa Gray finally coming to fruition in our lifetime. Join me in congratulating the folks at the Missouri Botanical Garden on this very important work.
Rhoda Love
Emerald Chapter
NPSO Window Stickers are decals with NPSO's trillium logo in green over an opaque white background, for use inside car windows. Available from Stu Garrett, $1, minimum order five.
NPSO T-Shirts are available in various colors and designs, and are sold through NPSO chapters.
NPSO's Original Wildflower Poster depicts 13 Oregon wildflowers in a striking artist's rendition. Soon to be a collector's item. Available from Stephanie Schulz, 84603 Bristow Rd., Pleasant Hill, OR 97455. $5 each, plus $3 per order for shipping. Posters are mailed in tubes.
NPSO Membership Directory list names, addresses, and phone numbers of members (April, 1997). Available from Jan Dobak, $2 each.
High Points: An identification manual with up- to-date, authoritative taxonomy and nomenclature. Complete regional coverage includes parenthetical reference to adjacent regions. Practical, carefully written, indented keys. Sensible choice of species for detailed descriptions from west side perspective. Absolutely first-rate color photos, more than 200 of them, are the hidden gems of this book. Excellent drawings with scale bars. Clearly written descriptions which are well referenced. Notes emphasize diagnostic characters distinguishing subject from look-alikes, much appreciated by all. English ("common") names provided for genera (if not for species). Illustrated glossary is terse, beautiful and useful. Index is focused on names only, making it easy to find species. Good binding: easy to use and carry around, easy to shelve, easy to find again on the shelf.
Cautions: Not really for beginners: the introduction is sparse and lacks illustrations (but see glossary). Less useful for east side botanists (but see Macrolichens of the Northern Rocky Mountains by McCune and Goward, Mad River Press, 1995) Strange and awkward use of photobiont type as major discriminant in initial ("introductory") key can throw off first time users. Lack of scale in photographs will confuse the inexperienced. Abominable four-letter + number acronyms are advocated, much to the dismay of users of more intuitive six-letter acronyms. Instructions for packet folding and label format are not to highest herbarium standards. Index is focused on names only, making it difficult to look up any subject other than species.
Bottom line: If you like a lichen, GET THIS BOOK! This is the most significant publication on Pacific Northwest cryptogams in a quarter of a century, since Elva Lawton's book on mosses was published in 1971. The authors' experience with training students and field personnel shows through in the clarity of the text and tight editing. The Sharnoffs" photographs alone make the book worth twice its price. Mikulin's drawing skill achieves elegance in this work.
Thamnolia subulifornis (illustration to be provided)
Ordering: OSU Press, 101 Waldo Hall, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR 97331-6407. Add $2.50 for shipping. Visa and Master Card orders accepted: 541-737-3166.
David H. Wagner
Emerald Chapter
Webmistress@NPSOregon.org
© Copyright 1996 Native Plant Society of Oregon, All Rights Reserved
Last Modified April 6, 1996