2011 Chapter Annual Reports - California Native Plant Society

CNPS Chapter Annual Reports 2011Index of California Native Plant Society Chapters which submitted reports for 2011• Alta Peak• Bristlecone• Dorothy King Young• East Bay• El Dorado• Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains• Marin• Milo Baker• Mojave Desert• Monterey Bay• Mount Lassen• Napa Valley• North Coast• Orange County• Redbud• San Diego• San Gabriel Mountains• San Luis Obispo• Sanhedrin• Santa Clara Valley• Santa Cruz County• Sequoia• Shasta• Sierra Foothills• Willis Linn Jepson• Yerba Buena

Chapter Annual Report, for 2011, from Alta Peak (TulareCounty) Chapter,submitted by Joan Stewart.Turning through the newsletters (Insignis) for the year, I again must comment on how fortunate we are tohave Elsah as editor. Her background in art, design, and graphic skills bring an impressive “professional” lookto Chapter outreachefforts.An April Program, Native Plants in the Urban Garden, was provided by member Cathy Capone, at her CalNatives Nursery in Porterville. This event was an all-day open house, with tours between 10 and 3. A morestructured talk was offered for an hour late morning, using her experience to demonstrate how local nativeslook in local garden settings.Special programs from Sequoia/Kings Canyon NP, and a review of the natural history of Yokohl Valley,currently a controversial area proposed for massive development, at the County Historical Museum were alsoannounced, with topics relevant to CNPS interests.The president’s “message” asked what constitute “degaded lands”in our part of California, a questionraised by proposals to develop solar and wind energy in several large portions of the Valley. Does theinclusion of grazing in oak woodlands as an agricultural use mean that the grazed lands are to be treated as“degraded” and so considered in making decisions about siting these projects?Springtime field trips were described for lower elevation walks, before weather, snow removal, make itpossible to enjoy higher elevation sites.Drawing on the new Jack Laws CNPS Curriculum “Opening the World through Nature Journaling”, weoffered two Saturday experiences for young people 7-12 years old, and welcomed adults to join. Both of thesewere enthusiastically conducted.As the spring came and went, weather, late storms, caused cancellation of many of the field trips, but thosethat were feasible on lower elevation private ranches brought delightful surprises.As the weeks passed, we becme more and more concerned about the County General Plan Update, with itsEIR. Final document availability continued to be postponed. CNPS worked with other organizations to sortout, understand, anticipate issues that could involve native vegetation and be appropriate for our attention. Arevised plan for the Giant Sequoia Moument is also due in this year, again offering us an opportunity tocomment on elements, sections that affect plants.As always, a Fall Program was offered in conjunction with our October Plant Sale, both at the same sitein Three Rivers. Melanie Keeley spoke on Planning, Planting, and Maintaining your Native Landscape forFire Safety. The Plant Sale brings together in one long day our member-helpers, buyers, and hosts ofinterested “want to learn about the plants” neighbors.

Backing off from a re-reading of our newsletters, most of the same concerns reported on in past yearscontinue to be important to CNPS in this part of California. The private-lands portions on the eastern side ofSan Joaquin Valley and adjacent foothills are home to vestiges of natural habitats, often fragmentedecosystems, and these we care about. The area also is thought of by many as in need of ‘development’,making conflicts among the many groups and organizations who share the land. Native plants in horticultural,residential and commercial, is a useful approach, but doesn’t always lead to support on land use issues.National Forest land managers ask for comment on proposed projects as well as large scale plans, and westudy and comment on these. In all of our contacts with agency and County staff, and at public meetings andhearings we try.....not just to share our CNPS values, but to encorage new, young (?) , enthusiastic faces tobecome interested in our work.

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTChapter Name: Bristlecone Year: 2011Name and Position of Person Preparing Report: Steven P. McLaughlin, Past-PresidentWE ARE REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTERThe Bristlecone Chapter serves Mono, Inyo, and northeastern Kern Counties. We have aCreosote-Ring Subchapter for members living mostly in the Ridgecrest and Inyokern areas ofnortheastern Kern County. Our chapter offers several field trips each year. The chapter nowholds native plant sales in Mammoth Lakes and in Bishop. Most of the proceeds from the plantsale go to supporting scholarships for the Mary DeDecker Grant program, which continues to beour most successful project.ACTUAL MEMBERSHIP: The only membership data we have are those available from thestate.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES1. Board Meetings. We schedule five board meetings per year, one week before our generalmeetings in January, March, May, September, and November. All Board meetings in 2011 wereheld in Bishop.Total volunteer hours: 1332. Field Trips:We offered 17 field trips in 2011.March 26. Fay Ranch, Kern River Preserve. Ali Sheehey. (Creosote-ring Subchapter event)April 2. Red Rock Canyon (Red Rooster area & Tarweed Creek. Mark Faull. (Creosote-ringSubchapter event)April 8. Alabama Hills. Martin Oliver, Steve McLaughlin.April 23. Indian Wells Canyon burn area. Shelley Ellis. (Creosote-ring Subchapter event)April 30. Pandora’s Box. Jerry Zatorski. (Creosote-ring Subchapter event)May 21. Lime Hill. Michelle Slaton.June 5. Bodie Hills. Drew Foster.June 11. Alkali Meadow. Daniel Pritchett.June 25. Devil’s Postpile Rainbow Falls weed pulling. Holly Alpert.July 2. Witcher Meadow visit with weed pulling. Stephen Ingram.July 8. McGee Canyon. Cathy Rose, Sue Weis.July 10. Convict Lake. Holly Alpert.July 23. Saddlebag Lake. Jerry Zatorski, Kathy Duvall.August 6. White Mountains buckwheats. Scott Hetzler.

August 7. Chidago Canyon buckwheats. Scott Hetzler.August 27. Bishop Creek high country. Mark Bagley.August 27. High Meadows east of Sherman Pass: From aspens to orchids. Judy Breitenstein(Creosote Ring Subchapter event)Total Volunteer Hours: 803. Programs:January 26, Bishop. “The LORP: What We Have Learned So Far.” Katie Quinlan.March 2, Ridgecrest. "Gee, What is that Plant/Flower? Camille Anderson, Judy Breitenstein &Kathy LaShure. (Creosote-ring Subchapter event)March 30, Bishop. “Using Native Plants in Owens Lakebed Dust Control Efforts.” MargotGriswoldApril 16, Ridgecrest "Wildflower Photography Workshop" Kahlee Brighton (Creosote-ringSubchapter event)May 25, Bishop. “Shrub Invasion of Alpine Areas: An Uphill Battle?” Christopher Kopp.September 28, Mammoth (Green Church at Benton Crossing Road). “First Bloom: A PartnershipBetween Devils Postpile National Monument and Bishop Paiute Tribe.” MaureenFinnerty, BryAnna Vaughan.November 2, Ridgecrest. "A Summer of Rare Plant Treasure Hunts." Kathy LaShure. (CreosoteringSubchapter event)November 30. Program on the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory. Sherry Taylor,Leslie Dawson.December 7, Ridgecrest. “Show & Share Evening" Creosote Ring members. (Creosote-ringSubchapter event)Total Volunteer Hours: 694. Newsletter and Website:Our newsletter comes out six times a year; Daniel Pritchett is the new Newsletter Editor.Our webmaster, Maggie Wolfe Riley, maintains our website (www.bristleconecnps.org.)Total Volunteer Hours: 615. Public Outreach:Public outreach (exclusive of wildflower show and plant sales) included advertising ofour programs and field trips, and personal time spent by three of our members (Kathleen Nelson,Sue Weis, Anne Halford) on a new wildflower hot-spot guide for the Eastern Sierra. JennyRichardson is our Publicity Chair.Total Volunteer Hours: 666. Education Efforts:Recipients of the Mark DeDecker Botanical Grants program for 2011 were:· Diane Jolles, Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden, "Leaf adaptation among members ofthe Pyrola picta (Ericaceae) species complex across multiple climatic gradients in theEastern Sierra Nevada, California"Christopher Kopp, University of California, San Diego, "Shrub invasion of alpine areas: An

uphill battle?"Valentine Eastern Sierra Reserve (VESR), Native Plant Project. The Native Plant Projectenhances the Mammoth Elementary School biological curriculum through hands-onlearning. Fourth-grade children grow native plants from seed and plant the seedlings atCerro Coso Community College. Fourth- and fifth-grade children participate in aweek-long summer camp called Where Wild Things Grow.Mono Lake Committee, Mono Basin Weed Removal Stewardship Project. Healthy plantcommunities throughout the Mono Basin are threatened by the incursion of non-nativeinvasive weeds, including sweet clover (Melilotus albus). This project will supplyvolunteers with proper tools and coordinate their efforts in removing sweet clover at MillCreek and Old Marina.Ceramic Mural Project, Inyo County Free Library, Bishop. Local ceramic artist and instructor,Patty Holton, will be using funding from the Bristlecone Chapter and many other sourcesto create a full-color guide to the mural, to be available at the library and for sale locally.Many native plants and wildlife species are represented on this beautiful mural and CNPSBristlecone Chapter is pleased to be able to help.Total Volunteer Hours: 287. Conservation:Steve McLaughlin (chapter past-president) continued to represent the chapter at theEastern Sierra Environmental Roundtable, the Owens Lakebed Planning Committee, and theBodie Hills Conservation Partnership. Kathy LaShure commented on the proposed RidgecrestSolar Power Plant. Daniel Pritchett wrote several reports for our Newsletter on Owens Valleywater issues.Total Volunteer Hours: 1238. Work Parties:March 19. Mary DeDecker Native Plant Garden Spring Cleaning. Leader: JoAnn Lijek.April 17. Highway Clean-up. Leader: Scott Hetzler.June 12. Highway Clean-up. Leader: Scott Hetzler.October 17: Highway Clean-up. Leader: Scott Hetzler.Total Volunteer Hours: 649. Legislative Activity:Total Volunteer Hours: 010: Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows:April 15-17. Wildflower Show at Maturango Museum, Ridgecrest. Creosote-Ring Subchapter.July 2. Plant Sale, Mammoth. Organized by Sherry Taylor.July 30. Plant Sale, Mammoth. Organized by Sherry Taylor.September 3. Plant Sale, Mammoth. Organized by Sherry Taylor.September 10. Plant Sale, White Mountain Research Station, Bishop. Organized by KatieQuinlan.Total Volunteer Hours: 208

11. Other Activities:Included here are: (1) Rare-plant Treasure Hunt trips conducted by the Creosote-ringSubchapter (197 hours); (2) membership (Sally Manning, 32 hours); (3) nominating committee(4 hours), (4) treasurer’s activities (Rosanne Higley, 20 hours), and (5) preparation of the annualreport (Steve McLaughlin).Total Volunteer Hours: 253TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURSEstimated Total Volunteer Hours for 2011: 1221.The total hours continued to decline from the 1867 hours reported for 2009 and the 1430 hoursreported for 2010, despite almost 200 hours of Rare-plant Treasure Hunt volunteer in 2011 bythe Creosote-ring Subchapter.Bristlecone Chapter Officers for 2011:President: VacantCreosote-Ring Subchapter: Kathy LaShureVice-president: Holly AlpertTreasurer: Rosanne HigleySecretary: Rosemary JarrettBristlecone Chapter Officers for 2012:President: Yvonne WoodCreosote-Ring Subchapter: Kathy LaShureVice-president: Holly AlpertTreasurer: Rosanne HigleySecretary: Rosemary Jarrett

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME: DOROTHY KING YOUNG CHAPTER YEAR: 2011NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT Nancy R. Morin, Chapter PresidentWE ARE__X__/ARE NOT______ REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTER: The Dorothy King Young Chapter is relatively small (about 128 members) in alarge territory (Jenner to Westport and inland to about Philo). It was one of the first chapters in CNPS,established in 1966 by Dorothy King Young. The first meeting was held to address local conservation issuesand conservation has been a focus ever since. The DKY Chapter has members who have been involved overthe years in local plant surveys, habitat restoration, weed removal, and educational outreach. Lori Hubbarthas breadth and depth of experience with CNPS and plant conservation. Teresa Sholars is the expert onecology, plant communities, and plant conservation in our region. Mario Abreu, staff naturalist atMendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, has deep experience in plant propagation, habitat restoration, andlocal ecology. Helene Chalfin has experience with youth education as well as in propagation and habitatrestoration. The Chapter collaborates with the Mendocino Coast Botanical Garden, the local lighthouses,the State Parks, land trusts, and reserves.1. Board Meetings: 7 meetings/year 215 volunteer hours for officers, chairs2. Field Trips: 10 trips: total of participants ca. 100, volunteer hours: 104March 16 Maritime chaparral, led by Mike Vasey and Tom Parker. Attendees 12, leader hours: 30March 27 Montgomery Woods, led by Peter Warner.April 16 Wildflowers of The Sea Ranch, led by Mary Hunter and Lynn Tuft. Attendees 10, leaderhours 15.April 21 Jenner Headlands, lead by Peter Warner. Attendees: about 15, leader hours 10April 21 Alder Beach, with Thursday Ramblers, Mary Sue Ittner and Bob Rutemoeller. leader hours10April 22 Weed removal at Glass Beach,led by Nancy Morin. Attendees: 2, 6 hoursMay 18 Wildflowers of Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens, led by Mario Abreu. Attendees 10,leader hours 10May 21 Wildflowers at Salt Point State Park, led by Jon Thompson. Attendees: 15; leader hours 10June 11 Wildflowers at Point Arena Lighthouse, led by N. Morin and L. Hubbart. Attendees: 4;leader hours 5July 17 10 mile dunes and Inglenook Fen, leader Lori Hubbart. Attendees: 3; leader hours 8

3. Programs: 4 program meetings: 105 total attendees; expenses $125Because the DKY Chapter is long and narrow (north to south) and travel is on winding, difficult roads, wehave been trying to have programs presented twice—once in Fort Bragg and once in Point Arena.March Mike Vasey gave a talk on maritime chaparral. Attendees: 25; expenses $125April Julia Larke spoke on Lichens at the Coast Community Library, and again at Mendocino CoastBotanical Gardens. Attendees: 40December Mary Sue Ittner gave a talk on native geophytes at the annual potluck. Attendees ca. 40.4. Newsletter: 6 issues/year/150 volunteer hours to edit & distribute/annual cost $14725. Public Outreach Events: 4 events:March 21April 15April 17October 7DKY was a co‐sponsor of the Annual Environmental Potluck in March. Attendees ca. 50, noexpenses. DKY Vice President Mario Abreu was named Local Environmentalist of the YearOpening of Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens new native plant garden, led by MarioAbreu. Attendees 30.Opening of new Native Plant Garden at the Point Arena Lighthouse.DKY had a table at the Fat Tire Festival, an annual bicycling event.6. Education Efforts: Native plants for Point Arena Light House and Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardensnative plant gardens: ca. $600. Signage for PA Lighthouse garden $250; signage for MCBG nativeplant garden: $250. Probably about 300 volunteer hours between the two gardens.Point Arena Light House Native Plant Interpretive Garden: The DKY Chapter worked with the Point ArenaLighthouse Keepers to install this native plant garden, designed by Scott Graf. The Chapter writes andprovides handouts for use in the garden describing native plants and plant communities in the area.Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens native plant demonstration garden: This garden was designed byDKY Vice President Mario Abreu and installed by him with help from MCBG volunteers and DKY chaptermembers.Helene Chalfin, our education chair and education director at Jug Handle Farm Reserve has an activeeducation program in both propagation and habitat restoration, and Mario Abreu, chapter vice presidentand naturalist at Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens does the same with adults. They are both activechapter members and their work clearly advances chapter goals, but we can’t really claim credit.7. Conservation: 250 volunteer hours; the chapter is most concerned currently with incursions intoMendocino Cypress Forest and maintenance of Bishop Pine Forest.State Park Closures: The Mendocino County parks slated for closure are: Westport‐Union Landing;Jughandle; Point Cabrillo; Russian Gulch; Hendy Woods; Elk/Greenwood State Beach; and Manchester StateBeach, all within the DKY territory. We have been tracking this issue and are in conversation with sisterorganizations about strategies for keeping the parks open and maintained.DKY Chapter 2011 Report, p. 2

Maritime chaparral: The field trip with Mike Vasey and Tom Parker confirmed that the rare plantcommunity maritime chaparral does indeed occur in the DKY chapter area (further north than originallythought). One site on the field trip was a private holding for which a building permit had been requested.Tamara Gedik of the California Coastal Commission and Teresa Spade of Mendocino County were also onthe field trip in part to evaluate this property. In addition to maritime chaparral, a good patch of coastalprairie was present, on drier soils than expected, and adjacent to the maritime chaparral, suggesting thattopography, microsite conditions and oceanspray on the terrace contribute to conditions supporting theprairie community. Teresa Sholars prepared a plant list for this site.Tomales Dunes/Dillon Beach: The chapter sent a comment letter on the Lawson’s Landing developmenton the Tomales Dunes in Marin County. Several of us have visited the dunes with scientists specializing indune ecosystems and vegetation. DKY is commenting with the approval of the Marin Chapter.Navarro Point Rhiannon Korhummel, vegetation chair for the DKY Chapter, has organized relevévegetation sampling on Navarro Point Preserve. Some of the described alliances on the preserve are Carexobnupta alliance, Deschampsia cespitosa alliance, Holcus lanatus‐Anthoxanthum odoratum alliance, andRubus ursinus shrubland alliance. However, there seems to be a lack of data to fully describe other alliancesthat may be present and her project is to gather that information. Navarro Point Preserve is located a fewmiles south of Albion Ridge Rd.Vineyard conversion: The northern Sonoma County area around Annapolis has for some time beenthreatened with the conversion of conifer and oak forests to huge commercial vineyards. One of thesemega‐corporations, Cordorniu, is based in Spain, one of many foreign wine conglomerates flocking toCalifornia. DKY Chapter signed on to a letter from the Friends of Gualala River has written to thecorporation asking them to withdraw the proposal for this project. The DKY Chapter, with the blessing ofCNPS state leadership, is a signatory on a letter initiated by Friends of the Gualala River (FoGR). This letter,asking the Codorniu corporation to cease and desist, is the launch pad for an informative public relationscampaign to stop the proposed forest conversion.Fort Bragg road project: South and east of Fort Bragg is an extensive area of former Mendocino CypressWoodland (pygmy forest) that was long ago converted into a series of narrow, winding lanes and smallhomes. Mendocino County and local fire officials have decided that this “Mitchell Creek Area” needs awide, paved road that connects with Highway One. Several alternative routes were presented in a series ofpublic meetings, and some of these would probably go through remaining stands of pygmy forest. DKY isinvestigating the routes, and particularly the “preferred alternative” involving Pearl Drive and Canyon Drive.If there are stands of pygmy forest that would be negatively impacted, the county will be hearing fromCNPS.The Gualala giant bluff retaining structure keeps being postponed on the agenda for the CoastalCommission’s meetings. This structure would not protect existing development, is not needed to controlongoing erosion, and does not support any costal‐dependent endeavor. DKY will be submitting commentsto Coastal Commissioners and CCC staff.Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens Conservation Task Force: DKY members served on this Task Force toadvise the Mendocino Coast Botanical Gardens about plant communities, habitat restoration, rare plantprotection, and the design if a native plant garden.DKY Chapter 2011 Report, p. 3

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTERNAME_East_Bay______________________YEAR_2011__________NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING THE REPORTDavid John Bigham, ASLA, Chapter PresidentWE ARE _X___/ARE NOT_____REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTEREast Bay Chapter’s strength is in its dedicated volunteer base, which contributed11,583.5 hours in 2011. We consider plant science, conservation, and educationin Alameda and Contra Costa Counties to be our most important charges. Wesupport a half-time professional Conservation Analyst with contribution from ourmembers via a yearly fund appeal. Our plant science based conservation actionis supported with published data following the CNPS model. Also in 2011, theGuidebook to Botanical Priority Protection Areas was digitized and madeavailable on our website. It was also presented at the recent CNPS Conservationconference by Heath Bartosh. This document shows where and why our chapterhas designated 15 most botanically important areas in our two counties. Thepurpose of the BPPA designation is to inform planning agencies in advancewhich areas are the most important to protect. The BPPA Guidebook will serveas a blueprint for conservation work in the future. A revision of the 1997 East BayChecklist, was undertaken this year and is complete and soon to be published.We are currently conducting legal action in the Knowland Park-Oakland Zoodevelopment proposal review process. After a long and arduous involvement inthe public environmental review; having exhausted all other venues, we soughtlegal redress in what we believe is a flawed, destructive proposal. While taxingfor our volunteer base and draining of our financial resources, our Board ofDirectors believe this is the right thing for our local plant resource protectionSteady financial support is provided by our large nursery where plants are grownand sold to the public and agencies for landscaping and restoration projects inresidential, parks and reserves. Native Here Nursery features plants only fromAlameda and Contra Costa Counties and is open year round.We participate in and give financial support to the “Bringing Back the NativesGarden Tour”, an annual event in each May that brings over 6000 people intogardens and native plant nurseries within the two counties. In October, ourannual Plant Fair draws newcomers and members into the nursery.Our members are informed of chapter activities via a monthly newsletter, andannouncement list serve and website. Programs, field trips, work parties, nurserywork and outreach activities bring members together.

CHAPTER ACTIVITIES1. Board Meetings: Officer preparation and special meetingsVolunteer hours 1,217The Board of Directors held 10 regular meetings. The officers met one time atthe beginning of the year. The budget committee met once. An extraordinarymeeting of the EBCNPS Board was held to consider legal action in theKnowland Park-Oakland Zoo development proposal.President: email and phone correspondence, board meeting preparation andattendance, budget meetings, annual report preparation- 637 hoursVice President: meeting preparation and attendance, email correspondence,document review- 160 hoursTreasurer: record keeping, dealing with vendors, reporting, dealing with theSate Office on financial matters, Board meetings, more reports to the Board,Annual Report- 200 hoursRecording Secretary: meeting attendance, note taking, draft of minutes andrevisions- 60 hoursCorresponding Secretary: 10 hoursTreasurer: about 3 hours a week (which includes meetings), so 150 hours.2. Field tripsDavid Margolies1/2 to Huddart County Park, 8 people2/27 Redwood Regional Park, 14 people3/20 Chabot Regional Park, 10 people4/10 Mt Diablo State park, 6 peopleGregg Weber 95 hoursDavid Margolies 45 hours (I think, but you can check with him)Me 30 hoursTom & Jane Kelly-12hours together, for Pt. Isabel tripIgor & Shirley Skaredoff 14 hours and Elaine Jackson, 2 hours for theAlhambra/Strenzel creek watershed walkSo, roughly 200+ hours on leading/planning field trips in 2011.

East Bay chapter of CNPS had 20 field trips last year, of which I led only 2official trips (and the rogue May trip to Claremont Canyon). The rest were ledby other field trips volunteers, so I can definitely say we have a vigorouscommittee, even if we only meet by e-mail on a regular basis. Gregg Weberand David Margolies were both wonderful--without them the field trip programwould not be what it is. Gregg Weber has been doing a set of field trips thatmight be classified as Mount Diablo State Park through the months andBriones RP through the seasons.Bob Case led an all day field trip to the Red Hills last spring. If you includeplanning and driving, that is at least 18 hours of volunteer time.David Amme led a Point Molate field trip in April (cross-listed with YerbaBuena chapter). Lech Naumovich assisted. D. Amme has led this trip before,but I would suggest he put in about 12 hours, as I know he always scopes outthe area about a week before his field trip. 3 hours to Lech, unless he'salready reported these hours under conservation.Ivette Loredo of USFWS scheduled a tour of the Warm Springs vernal poolsfor the chapter in April. These tours are scheduled for 2 hours, but alwaysend up being 3-4 hours, as Ivette accomodates chapter members there to keyout every last semaphore grass and Downingia.Liam O'Brien finally got a chance in September to lead the butterfly trip on thesouth side of Claremont Canyon. I'd suggest his time at about 7 hours, toinclude the quirks of scheduling a field trip warm enough for butterflies. TheMay trip I led on the regional park side of the canyon in May (as to gettingaround only, as I really don't know insects), but one of the San Franciscobutterfly enthusiasts did the ID honors.3. RestorationI need to give Leslie Hunt credit for taking on restoration projects east of theOakland/Orinda hills. Unfortunately, I cannot begin to estimate hours for thevolunteer crews Leslie coordinated.Garber Park Stewards went big-time in 2011 to make Claremont Canyon safefrom cape ivy, Himalayan blackberry, and Eucalyptus globulus. Mary Millmanand Shelagh Broderson (sp?) deserve virtually all the credit for organizing thisgroup. Mostly I stopped by for a few work dates, cheered and offered somecontact information. Between the two of them and their most regularvolunteers, I'd guesstimate about 150 hours in 2011.

Pt. Isabel: 300 hours logged by the Kellys and their volunteersRedwood RP 90 hours collectively by various volunteersWendy Tokuda reports 500 hours at several regional parks in 2011; this maybe on the low side.Ronald Felzer: 12-16 hours at Sibley RPKen-Ichi Ueda: 15 hours at Huckleberry/Sibley RPSue Duckles: in excess of 80 hours, at all 3 RP in the Oakland hillsMe: 100 hours +So, roughly 1,120+ hours in ripping/planning to rip invasive plants.It's impressive, but it does remind me that restoration does eat into time Icould be spending on field trips.Additional projects:Marcia Kolb 100+ hours at Huckleberry RP, and keeper of the Huckleberrylist-serveWe are not doing actual restoration but more of what you would classify asenhancement. We do weeding parties around town, & at the meadow, wemeet most 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month and most of us are membersof ebcnps = 120+/- hrs4. ProgramsMembership MeetingsJanuary 26, 2011: Carol Rice and Cheryl Miller, “Going Firesafe and Native,”~50 attendees (OPL-GR)February 23, 2011: Alison Whipple, “Exploring Components of the HistoricalLandscape: From Oak Woodlands to Freshwater Tidal Wetlands,” ~45 attendees(OPL-GR)March 23, 2011: Ralph Shanks, “California Indian Baskets: New Findings inAnthropology and Botany,” ~50 attendees (OCC-FA)April 27 2011: Bob Doyle, “Progressive Transitions: The East Bay Regional ParkDistrict in 2010 and 2011,” ~55 attendees (OPL-T followed by OPL-GR receptionto welcome Bob as the new General Manager of the East Bay Regional ParkDistrict)May 25, 2011: Sal Levinson, “In the Company of Wild Butterflies,” film showing,~60 attendees (UCBG)September 22, 2011: Bart O’Brien, “Reimagining the California Lawn”, ~50attendees (OPL-T)October 27, 2011: Beverly Ortiz, “After the First Full Moon in April: The PlantKnowledge of Josephine Peters,” ~30 attendees (OPL-GR)November 16, 2011: Bob and Martha Sikora, “2,600 Miles on the Pacific CrestNational Scenic Trail,” ~65 attendees (OPL-GR)

VenuesOPL-GR=Orinda Public Library Garden Room ($246/meeting)OPL-T=Orinda Public Library Theatre ($309/meeting)OPL-T + GR=Orinda Public Library Theatre and Garden Room ($432/meeting)OCC-FA =Orinda Community Center Founders’ Auditorium ($246/meeting)UCBG= UC Botanical Garden ($75/meeting)Attendance~30-65 per meeting (average = 50)Fees and PaymentsRoom rentals (total) = $2046Speaker honoraria (total) = $800Dinners for the speakers = ~ $150 (for six of the eight meetings)Donations from audience to offset room rental fees = ~ $240 for all programscombinedVolunteer Hours80 hours for Programs Chair—organizing and hosting program meetings for theyearPrograms at the Native Plant Fair, October 1-2, 2011Saturday, October 1Laura Cunningham: “Restoring a Native Garden Based on California HistoricalEcology”Sunday, October 2Richard Schwartz: “The Biggest Trees in the World: The Phenomenal andForgotten Stories of the Vanished Redwoods of Oakland, California”VenueOutdoor classroom at Native Here Nursery (talks were al fresco without slides)Attendance~20-30 per talkFees and PaymentsNone: Each speaker was offered either our East Bay native plants CD or a 2- to5-gallon plant of their choosing from the nursery’s offeringsVolunteer Hours4 hours for Programs Chair—organizing and hosting speakers at the fairHospitality:

We produced 6 membership meeting events this year, as well as a majorreception: "The Official" Bob Doyle Reception. 50 volunteer hoursI requested a budget of $700. The membership meetings came in at $488.08(under budget!) For the Bob Doyle Reception we came in at $785.42.Hospitality totals for 2011 were $1,273.50.Newsletter - 11 issues/year530 Volunteer HoursThe Bay Leaf is the East Bay Chapter newsletter. It is produced monthly, exceptthat there is a single issue for July and August, 11 issues total. It typically has 8pages but occasionally has 6 or 12. It is sent to members and is also availableonline. The typical press run is 1200 copies of which 1080 are sent to members.Bay Leaf production typically takes 20 person-hours, not counting the time theauthors spend writing the articles. Preparing the printed version for mailing andtaking it to the Post Office takes about 12 person hours. Production is done byone or two people and mailing prep is done by 4 to 6.Beginning with the April 2012 issue there will be four printed issues per year andseven issues will be in electronic form only.East Bay Chapter Website: Volunteer hours- 100The webmaster spends about 100 hours per year working on the website.5. Public Outreach Events and Membership Volunteer Hours 557 +/-• East Bay Chapter members volunteered to help at the San FranciscoFlower and Garden Show• January 23 rd , Lisa Gorrell, Elaine Jackson covered a Girl Scout VolunteerProgram morning.• April 2 and, Sunol Wildflower Show - Janet Gawthrop, Anita Pearson, &Elaine Jackson covered this very busy event.• April 16 th, John Muir Earth Day Birthday -Heath Bartosh, a student from De La SalleHigh School, Elaine Jackson covered thiswell attended event.• April 25 th , Bringing Back the Natives GardenTour - recruiting, gathering, delivering,picking up material for gardens.1. Barbara Leitner’s Garden - Anita Person, Cyrle Bassoon

2. EJ Ledgerwood’s Garden - Carol Silva, Tina Lee3. Troy McGregor’s Garden - Shirley McPheeters, Lisa Gorrell4. Frances Dahlquist’s Garden - Hollie Briggs, Judy Martine5. Fleming Garden - Fritzi Drosten, Lori Dair6. Rick Alatorre’s Garden - Kerri Atwood, Jack Teliam• June 11 th , Heritage Day at Borges Ranch - Christine Pyers covered thisfun event in Walnut Creek• August 6 th , Beaver Festival - Elaine Jackson with help from Friends ofAlhambra Creek had a grand time talking about local flora and beavers.• October 1 st & 2 nd Plant Fair - Set up membership table, worked on display,got volunteers to cover for 2 days. Linda Newton, Heath Bartosh, AnitaPearson, Elaine JacksonMonthly activities• Receive and decipher membership reports from State and forward tovarious members.• Contact lapsed members via email or post card lapsed members• Send out letters to new and renewing members with small gift, endingApril 2011• Bay Leaf Membership Column, Meet your MembersActivities partnering with other organizations while promoting EBCNPS• John Muir Historical Site native garden, meet Monday mornings to weedetc and promote the use and beauty of our native flora• Strentzel Meadow, work with Friends of Alhambra Creek to maintain themeadow run off to the creek and plant native plants.• Work with the National Park Service and students from the New LeafCollaborative on planting and maintaining our Creek/Botanical/HabitatTrail.

6. Conservation Committee Volunteer hours 19152011 was a heck of a year for the East Bay Chapter's Conservation Committee.We said a fond goodbye to Lech Naumovich, our Conservation Analyst for 5years, and happily welcomed Mack Casterman as his successor. We have beenincredibly fortunate to have had wonderful people to fill this role, including Jesse,our first CA. Without the Funds Development Committee and our generousdonors, we would not be able to have a staff person to fulfill this critical role.The Richmond Shoreline BPPA: The early months of 2011 were consumedwith the final acts of the CEQA process for the proposed mega-casino at PointMolate. One of Mack's first meetings was the Richmond City Council meeting inwhich the council voted down the casino. This was indeed a major victory.However, the fight is not over nor the fate yet decided for this wonderful site thatis part of the Richmond Shoreline BPPA. Native plant resources there include anumber of locally rare plants, a state-listed plant, remnant coastal prairie, andeelgrass beds. Mack or a volunteer attends the monthly Point Molate AdvisoryCommittee meetings.The Conservation Committee continues to track the General Plan process withRichmond regarding the zoning along the shoreline. This past year, there wasconsiderable conflict over whether several key parcels would be downzoned toopen space (our preference). As it now stands, the parcels are zoned lightindustrial.A second portion of our Richmond Shoreline BPPA is the UC Field Station. Thispast year the Lawrence Berkeley Lab engaged in a site selection process for itssecond campus with 5 cities vying for the development. While 5 different siteswere examined, UC selected the Field Station as its new home. At risk there isremnant coastal prairie and a number of locally rare plants. We will be looking atmitigation possibilities.The South Oakland Foothills BPPA: In February, the City of Oakland releasedits Subsequent Mitigated Negative Declaration Addendum on the proposedexpansion of the Oakland Zoo into Knowland Park. The park is a key componentof our South Oakland Foothills BPPA and contains a wealth of native plantresources. In addition to the rare chaparral and exemplar native grasslandcommunities, the park is home to 46 locally rare plant species, and two statelistedspecies. It also hosts an extraordinary array of wildlife species, includingthe federal and state-listed Alameda whipsnake.The Conservation Committee poured a huge amount of time into reading andcommenting upon the massive CEQA document. We joined Friends ofKnowland Park in an appeal of the Planning Commission's decision to amend theZoo Master Plan to accommodate this major project. After the City Council

approved the project, we filed suit against the City and Zoo charging that a fullEIR should have been done.We filed a Temporary Restraining Order to block construction of the VeterinaryHospital, but the Zoo had already graded the site and Judge Roesch denied theTRO, claiming that "the horses have already left the barn."We attempted mitigation with our opponents but left the process after it was clearthat it was a ploy to waste time and money. When we learned that the Zoo wouldnot agree to protect the park against future expansion, we realized that it wascritical to continue the lawsuit. We filed our opening brief in January, and ourcase will be heard in Superior Court in April.In the meantime, the chapter Board has generously supported our legal costswith help from the State CNPS and on-going fund-raising by Friends of KnowlandPark. We were awarded a grant by the Lawrence Foundation to help defray ourcosts, and we continue to apply for other grants.In addition to the legal portion of our campaign to save Knowland Park, we havecreated a new website with Friends of Knowland Park at www.saveknowland.org.The website is dedicated to bringing the public vital information about theimportance of Knowland Park. Because the City has chosen to hide the parkfrom the public in order to keep it as surplus land for the zoo, we have dedicatedourselves to displaying the natural wealth of the park so that the public can enjoyit as was originally intended when the state dedicated the land to the city.East County Alternative Energy Projects (Altamont BPPA): As federalsubsidies have appeared for alternative energy production, companies seekingland for wind and solar production have begun locating in eastern Alameda andContra Costa counties. Mack wrote comments on the Tres Vaqueros WindRepowering Project. In addition, he and members of the committee have beenactively participating in a coalition of other environmental groups to influence newsolar policy in Alameda County. Currently, proposed solar projects have beenplanned for much of the remaining prime agricultural land in eastern AlamedaCounty. Our chief concerns are impacts to the Altamont BPPA and pressure onother ag land in the county that would affect our Springtown BPPA. The Board ofSupervisors has already approved several small solar projects.Fuels Management Projects in the East Bay Hills: Committee members havebeen following the complex and difficult issue of vegetation management toreduce fuels in the East Bay hills for many, many years. Two years ago the EastBay Regional Park District approved its EIR/Vegetation Management Plan forfuels reduction in over 100 different sites. EBRPD was sued by the HillsConservation Network, a small but vocal group opposed to removal of eucalyptustrees. EBRPD settled the suit, but out of the turmoil CNPS insisted that apermanent public forum be created to follow plans each year for the District's

projects and to be able to comment upon them. The process has been painfullyslow, but we are making headway.Committee members also follow the County's attempts to create a Fire Planthrough the Diablo Firesafe Council. As with all plans to reduce vegetation,impacts to native habitat are rarely adequately described and avoided ormitigated.Networking: In addition to working on specific high priority projects, theCommittee also networks with state CNPS and with other environmental groupsand agencies. Among these are the California Native Grassland Association,the Sierra Club Public Lands Committee, Golden Gate Audubon Society, OhloneAudubon, the Bay Area Open Space Council, Save Mount Diablo, the EastContra Costa Habitat Conservancy, Friends of Springtown, the East BayRegional Park District, the Committee to Complete the Refuge, and others.Since we began funding our Conservation Analyst, the chapter has been able towork far more extensively to promote native plant conservation and to educateothers to its importance.I retired as chair of the Committee at the end of this past year, but I continue towork with Mack and with committee members. Currently, I spend most of mytime as Litigation Sponsor for the chapter on the Knowland Park lawsuit as wellas working actively on all aspects of the Knowland Park campaign.Although we do not have a new chair yet, Mack and the rest of the committeehave done an excellent job of carrying on owe conservation program.On behalfof the Conservation Committee, I was active in discussions, attendances,reviews (incl verbal and written reporting and public comments), on the followingissues during 2011. Please integrate (whatever summary of) this accounting isuseful to the Cons Comm annual report to the Board/State reports. My total timeinvested in review, writing, discussion, attendance, and travel, in support ofthese activities was roughly several hours weekly (3 to 8 hours / week)throughout the year.East Bay Regional Park District:• Attended (prepared for, suggested agenda items for, brought issues to thetable, discussed, reported on) Environmental Roundtable (ERT) meetingsat the District HQ.• Reviewed, commented upon, raised and discussed issues related to thedrafting of the new Master Plan of the EBRPD. Particular focus was givento issues related to the District's interpretation of its telephone and onlinesurvey results as those issues may influence the content of the newMaster Plan.

• Reviewed, commented upon, raised and discussed issues related to theVegetation Management Plan's implementation. Focus has been onreviewing the Anthony Chabot Regional Park fuel management plans asthe first example of the weaknesses and vagaries of the District's VMPimplementation. An initial meeting with the District was held to outline thenature of our concerns with Plan implementation, and follow-upexpectations were identified.• Continued to monitor District planning for making habitat improvements tothe Albany Beach and subtidal waters in Eastshore State Park (which theEBRPD administers). The protection of existing eelgrass beds in theimmediate offshore area of the beach, and the possible negative impactswhich planned watercraft activities to launch/debark in that immediatearea, are matters for concern, and will be further addressed uponissuance of the draft EIR being prepared for this project.• Site visits were made to discuss District projects (planned) in A. ChabotRP (veg. mgt), Point Pinole RS (veg. mgt., bridge and reception centerconstruction), and the "McCosker" property (anticipating development of aLand Use Plan for this acquisition).Attendance and public comment on agenda items was made, at variousEBRPD Board and Board Committee meetings.• Coordination and Communication with East Bay Public LandsCommittee of SF Bay Chapter of Sierra Club: Attended meetings of theEBPL committee, to bring issues which would be of mutual concern to SCand CNPS to the table, and to report on discussions, actions sought,collaboration desired.Information Infrastructure Committee: See my IIC 2011 report forgeneral information. Specific attention given to information infrastructurematters related to conservation activities of the chapter focused onreviewing implementation plans for online plant inventory records (D. Lakeproject), Knowland Park and EBCNPS fund-raising donation mechanism,and initial discussion of web-based support/outreach for chapter data,conservation blogging, and communicating conservation issues to our(existing and prospective) target public supporters.

GeneralParticipated fully in chapter board and conservation committee discussionsrelated to State CNPS organizational issues of interest and concern to thechapter, especially as those issues did or may affect conservation of naturalresources of the chapter and state.Conservation Analyst Fund Committee: Volunteer hours 152.5This volunteer activity is directed solely to funding of the EBCNPS Conservationsalary and position. The 2010-2011 fund drive has received contributions fromover 10% of our chapter’s membership, totaling approximately $33,000. Wereceived contributions of nearly $23,000 during the first six weeks and havecontinued to receive contributions monthly.Although the committee does not consider our goal to be fully reached, we knowour effort is worth the time and energy expended so that the EBCNPS andstatewide CNPS mission is better fulfilled, our native flora is better protected,more land use decision makers take flora and habitat into consideration whenmaking determinations for the future, and our effectiveness on local conservationissues is substantially increased.7. Plant ScienceRare Plants: Volunteer hour 240Listed here are the 2011 activities and projects that were undertaken by theChair of the Rare Plants Committee, Heath Bartosh.2011 saw the start of a new rare plant monitoring program in the East BayChapter known as the Adopt a Rare Plant Program. The goals of the Adopt A RarePlant Program include:• Develop local species specific experts, either as individuals or groups, throughthe adoption of a specific rare plant species within our chapter.• Acquire existing literature of the Chapter’s rare plants such as protologues,herbarium records, journal articles, recovery plans, mitigation plans, restorationplans, etc.• Build upon existing population occurrence information by systematicallycollecting qualitative and quantitative data species by species in the field.• Record population threats and management issues facing each species at achapter level.• Seek participation from location agencies and organizations such as East BayRegional Park District, California State Parks, Contra Costa Water District, EastBay Municipal Utilities District, and Save Mount Diablo, among others.

• Have quarterly Rare Plant Committee meetings to share results and photographstaken in the field in a slideshow format.• Invite Adopt A Rare Plant Volunteers to contribute program anecdotes orobservations from the field as Bay Leaf Articles.• Three orientation sessions were held to introduce volunteers to theprogram and provide them necessary background information. In 2011over 30 Rare Plants were adopted by 30 volunteers.Presented a talk to the Santa Clara Valley Chapter on our Guidebook toBotanical Priority Protection Areas of the East Bay. The talk presented how theGuidebook was developed, an overview of the Protection Areas, and how theProtection Areas have influenced conservation efforts.Created a PDF of the Guidebook to Botanical Priority Protection Areas of theEast Bay that is of an appropriate size to download. This PDF was posted onwww.ebcnps.orgRepresented CNPS on the Amsinckia grandiflora Working Group, which is acollection of local groups/agencies trying to ensure the long-term survival of thisendangered plant species.Attended regular conference calls as a member of the Mt. Diablo BuckwheatWorking Group, a collaboration of agency and NGO stakeholders working todevelop and implement strategies for the long term survival of Eriogonumtruncatum and to study its ecology and physiology.Attended two meetings of the state CNPS Rare Plant Program Committee(RPPC) at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden. As a part of this committee alsoprovided support to the Rare Plant Botanist, Aaron Sims, as needed. The RPPCis consulted on issues that would benefit from RPPC member’s experience andexpertise, which may involve (but is not limited to) issues related to planttaxonomy, rare plant status review procedures, changes to the CNPS Rare PlantSurvey Protocols, or changes to the CNPS.Provided plant science perspectives for local native plant outreach efforts in thecity of Martinez spearheaded by EBCNPS BoD member Elaine Jackson. Theseefforts include: creating a creek/botanical trail in collaboration with the city ofMartinez, Martinez Unified School District, National Park Service, and Friends ofAlhambra Creek, and providing plant palette input on various developments inthe city.Monitored various rare plant populations within the chapter area and providedupdates to the CNPS Inventory and California Natural Diversity Database;working on a state listing petition for Deinandra bacigalupii, contributedinformation on the Chapter’s unusual and significant plants that were

encountered throughout the year; represented CNPS in various capacitiesworking with the Friends of Springtown and Save Mount Diablo (SMD) byproviding technical expertise on botanical related issues and provided commentson development proposals and prospective acquisitions;assisted the EBCNPSconservation committee by providing plant science expertise to comment letterson environmental review documents; provided maintenance recommendationsfor a native plant restoration on one of SMDs Marsh Creek Properties; and ledlocal hikes to raise awareness of California’s native flora.Vegetation Committee:Nicole Jurjavcic and Megan Keever took over the Vegetation Committee chairposition from Erin McDermott in June 2011. Since that time, Nicole and Meganhave accomplished the following:• Obtained East Bay vegetation data from Erin’s tenure as the chair andcreated a map of sites that have been visited using this data;• Met with the science group and representatives of the conservationcommittee (i.e., Mack Casterman, Laura Baker, Heath Bartosh, ErinMcDermott, David Bigham, Dianne Lake) to understand existing projectsand data needs;• Prioritized sites for vegetation mapping in 2012 based on discussions atthe group meeting;• Corresponded with Sue Bainbridge regarding her large data set from hertenure as the Vegetation Committee chair (she replied that the data is notyet ready for sharing);• Participated in a tour of the East Bay BPPAs with Heath, Mack and Laurato familiarize ourselves with the BPPAs;• Conducted a preliminary vegetation survey of Knowland Park, includingreview of the brittleleaf manzanita vegetation type; and• Initiated coordination with Heath to set up a Google Mashup of BPPAs.This data repository could also include vegetation, rare plant and otherscience data.Volunteer hours estimate: 100 hoursUnusual Plants Program:The Unusual Plants Program continued to be in transition during 2011 while aproject to change the Rare and Unusual Plants database to a web-based formatavailable to the public was presented to the Board, approved, and pursued.Gregg Weber, a CNPS member and skilled programmer, was hired to make thetransition for a cost of $2500.

Gregg and the Unusual Plants Chair worked closely to determine the new formatand how it would be set up and used. Gregg then set up this new format whichwas basically ready by October. Then the long process of review, editing andchanges began as it was found that some of the data from the original databasedid not always fit smoothly into the new format and some things had to bereviewed and changed to ensure that users would be able to get accurate andthorough results and also be able to search in several different ways. The projectis still on-going and moving much more slowly mainly because it requires a greatdeal of work and attention on the part of the Unusual Plants Chair, and, as avolunteer, she is not able to work on it very often. Gregg is very efficient andprompt about making the changes, but those changes and other data can oftennot be reviewed by the Unusual Plants Chair until several weeks later. Theproject is unfortunately at a point now where most of the changes can only bereviewed and made by the Unusual Plants Chair since they are about contentrather than technical issues. But the project continues to slowly move forward.Work also continued on organizing the hard files so that the reference materialbacking up the records in the database will be more organized and easier to findand track when the next Chair takes over.Less fieldwork was done in 2011 than in other years because of the focus on thetransition of the database to the Web. A few volunteers still sent in Unusual Plantforms and other notifications of their surveying and monitoring efforts, but noformal effort was made to contact or prod volunteers for data. This was the firstyear that no formal survey request letter or list of focus plants was sent out ashad been done in the previous 20 years. There were also no late-season letterssent out requesting, and later reminding, volunteers to send in their data, as hadalso been done in previous years.No effort was made in 2011 to find a new Unusual Plants Chair since it is notcurrently clear what that role will be once the database is on the Web. It isbelieved that the role will change substantially and a search for a new UnusualPlants Chair will be pursued then when that role can be more clearly defined.The Unusual Plants Chair continued to support the Conservation Committee,attending meetings and supplying rare and unusual plant lists when requested.It is estimated that volunteers spent about 50 hours on field research and theCommittee Chair spent about 10 hours on field research; 80 hours on databaseconsultations, planning, and review; and 15 hours on Conservation Committeesupport and other data requests.

8. Plant Sales (Wildflower Show is under Public Outreach)2011 Plant Fair: Volunteer Hours 544The Plant Fair was held at Native Here Nursery October 1 and 2 . In addition tothe thousands of locally native plants raised at Native Here Nursery, invitedvendors Heidi Rand and Dianne Lake sold their photography and plant relatedcrafts. Laura Cunningham was on hand to sign and sell her book A State ofChange, published by Heyday, and Richard Schwartz had his books on Berkeleyhistory. Laura and Richard also were the featured speakers. The two days ofthe fair 85 volunteers put in 344 hours. The preparation time spent by thecommittee members is conservatively estimated at 200. Overall sales weredown from previous years totaling $11,660. Expenses are not tracked separatelyfrom Native Here expenses so it is difficult to know what the plant fair cleared.The Plant Fair Committee continues to operate smoothly as a team and has areal system now for this fifth Plant Fair.Native Here Nursery: Volunteer Hours 4393The chapter’s nursery is open year round growing and selling local native plantsfor restoration and gardening (by local we mean Alameda and Contra CostaCounties). Thirty-nine volunteers put in from one to several hundred hours eachin 2011, and included groups of students as well as chapter volunteers. There isa cadre of about 12 regular volunteers coming in from once a month to severaltimes a week. Seed collection hours are not adequately reflected in the totalabove.Propagation by cuttings is becoming more important, although seed collectionremains the primary source for propagation.Gross receipts for the calendar year (including the Plant Fair) were over $37,500.After expenses and sales tax, the nursery netted $12,674. Several thousanddollars of in-kind donations were also utilized at the nursery, including a gift ofads in The Berkeley Monthly.Native Here also participates in the “Nursery Extravaganza” on the Saturdaybefore the Bringing Back the Natives Garden Tour, the first weekend in May.

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME: El Dorado YEAR: 2011NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT: Rosemary Carey, PresidentWE ARE__X__/ARE NOT______ REQUESTING A SUBVENTION*OVERVIEW OF CHAPTER –As of December 2011, there are 118 members in the El Dorado Chapter as the primarychapter, including 13 members who list El Dorado as the secondary chapter.What are the main concerns or focus of your chapter? The main interests for our chaptermembers include gardening and landscaping with native plants, water-wise gardening techniques, andthe propagation of native plants. Conservation of local flora, particularly the Pine Hill gabbro-endemicspecies and oak woodlands, are important concerns in this developing county. Other unique habitats onthe neighboring Eldorado National Forest (for example: lava caps, and fens) and the endemic speciesthey contain are also of interest. Through our meetings, field trip programs, and participation in publicevents, we attempt to increase native plant awareness. We also contribute to education in our localschools about California’s native flora through our Clark Youth Fund grants program, many of whichresulted in the establishment of small native plant gardens.What are your chapter's special strengths or accomplishments?We have a very small but active group of volunteers who are enthusiastic, knowledgeable and fun. Theyhave a strong interest in growing native plants, conservation, plant walks and plant identification, and toa lesser extent, education. They continue to have new ideas and to explore different approaches andways of doing things.What are the major challenges or problems facing your chapter?Our major challenge continues to be lack of active members. Most of our members do not participate inany chapter activities. From the pool of those who do attend membership meetings, it is difficult torecruit volunteers for tasks, to lead a field trip or to take on a board position. Currently there is no vicepresident.This manpower shortage increases the work load of the few active members to the point thatthey are "burnt out" and stop contributing. As a result, it is very difficult to sustain our current projectsand impossible to begin new ones.Again this year major challenges center on conservation efforts. We continue to address water qualityissues and damages from trail and off -trail use on the Rubicon Trail on the Eldorado National Forest.We still try to address all the projects and development within the gabbro soil area adjacent to Pine Hillin Cameron Park and Rescue, and to provide comments for those as well as projects on the nationalforest in a timely manner. Our chapter is also trying to increase awareness and educate the public onthe invasive weed issues within El Dorado County.Is this an ongoing situation, has it improved or gotten worse, what steps did you take toaddress the problem and did they help?1

The lack of active members is an ongoing situation, but one that is gradually and seriouslyworsening. The only approach that has worked for me is to directly ask members to become committeechairs. In my experience, noting that we have a Board vacancy in the newsletter or at the membershipmeeting and asking for someone to step forward doesn't work.There are state office changes that could help the small, struggling rural chapters such as mine:we need timely staff assistance from the state office staff. I have had at least three occasions wheremy phone calls were not returned when trying to work out important administrative details. Wealso need technology transfer from the state office. By this, I mean that materials could be givento us, such as curricula for school gardens (example: Southern California Native Plants for SchoolGardens) that have been developed by the larger chapters. Give us one or two complimentarycopies of this and let us determine if it could be relevant to our education program. There are alsoother small yet important ways that the state office could subsidize us so that we have moreresources to work with: waived or reduced fees for workshops for Board members forprofessional development. Or, if the state office cannot subsidize our mission further, at leastallow us to retain the small revenues that we do raise for our own operations. I would like to seean opt-out list for special plea fund-raising from the state office for those chapters who don't havea budget surplus.In the Conservation area, with continued development on private lands within the gabbro soil areaaround Pine Hill, the pressure continues for our chapter to adequately address the public notices. Dr. SueBritting, who is both our conservation chair and our newsletter editor, does this time-consuming workfor us as she has for the past 18 years.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES1. Board Meetings: 6 meetings/year, avg. 8 board members170 volunteer hours for officers and chairs to attend, prepare agenda, bring forthprojects/issues/ideas, prepare and discuss budget, write and review minutes, andreserve the meeting room.We held six board meetings to oversee chapter activities. Somee decisions that needed immediateattention were done via email/telephone.2. Field Trips: 6 formal trips, 6 Wright’s Lake plant walks. Avg. 0- 16 participants/trip.For Wright’s Lake walks, avg 6-15 participants (total 50). 200 volunteer hours toorganize and lead trips, advertise and to organize and provide plant listsWe hosted 6 formal field trips to sites within and just beyond El Dorado County, in Sacramento Countyand Alpine County. There was roughly one field trip a month starting in April at Lake Natoma,Olmstead Loop in May, Silver Fork Road in June, Mormon Emigrant Road to Hwy 88 in July, CodyRidge at the end of July, and Frog Lake at Carson Pass in late August. The formal trips were publishedin the newsletter and the website, reminder e-mails are sent to members and former trip participants andthese trips are typically to locations which we have previously visited and have plant lists available.July 30th –Sept 4th: Wright’s Lake wildflower walks, Eldorado National Forest, El Dorado Co. (6 trips)2

Attendance varied from 0 to 16 on these trips with most trips having about 5 participants. Inpartnership with the Forest Service, we conducted six introductory wildflower walks at Wright’s Lakecampground on Saturday mornings.3. Programs: 6 program meetings and one field trip planning meeting. 12-37attendees/meeting, averaging 15-20. 110 volunteer hours to organize, publicize andset up program meetings. Expenses were $330 (e.g. room rental, speakerstipends/gifts, and hospitality)We hosted 6 program meetings this year: January: Robert Mackler spoke on local mushrooms;March: Kim Ingram, Northern Site Representative of the Sierra Nevada Adaptive Management Projectspoke about Forest Service thinning treatments designed to reduce catastrophic wildfires;May: Jinnah Benn of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers gave a talk entitled, "Vernal Pools: MagnificentMud Puddles."July: Al Ludtke spoke on the butterflies and moths of El Dorado County.September: Rosemary Carey spoke on low ground covers under 2' –(3') tall for use in full sunNovember: Dr. Patrick Foley of Sacramento State University spoke on Crystal Basin meadow bees andtheir flowers.4. Newsletter: 6 issues/year. 125 volunteer hours to write, edit, and distribute $365approximate annual cost (does not include donated printing costs).Our newsletters concentrate on current chapter news with a focus on information about interesting localevents. Regional and state wide events are included if needed. I and a few other Board memberscontribute articles, but the main task of putting the newsletter together is accomplished by our newslettereditor Sue Britting. Board members assist with the production, folding and mailing of the newsletter.Chapter website: $550 annual cost for webmaster, internet service and domain. Publicityincludes ads in local newspaper $450 annual cost.We have a chapter website that has the current newsletter, program activities, and hikes as well as infoabout the Clark Youth Fund. I, provide updates and changes to the webmaster. Our web master updatedthe site with a new look and format one year ago and it is a great improvement. We continue to advertiseour plant sales, programs, and plant walks in newspapers, flyers, and occasional radio programs.5. Public Outreach Events: 9 events (not including the chapter Plant Sales): 415 volunteerhours, 40-200 estimated public contacts per eventI taught a class on Revegetation techniques for wildlands at the American River Conservancy in March.Our chapter attended the Georgetown School “Nature Fest” event in the spring, and sold books, posters,and plants as well as distributed free posters to teachers.We participated at the El Dorado County Master Gardener plant sale on April 16 th . We provided severalnative plants that were propagated by our chapter and also had educational displays on landscaping withnatives, “losing the lawn”, and water wise gardening as well as information on chapter programs andevents. We also led two plant identification walks for the Master Gardeners.For native plant week we offered 2 free public plant identification walks. The first one was to SoapPlant Lane in Cameron Park, an easily accessible and flat bit of wildland right in suburbia. The3

second was to Buck's Bar Trail along the north fork of the Cosumnes river. Cindy Podsiadlo gave aslideshow at the Cameron Park Library on California wildflowers and then led a four-hour activityperiod for kids on discovering native plants.6. Education Efforts: Clark Youth Fund grants, 85 volunteer hoursGrants are provided to schools and other organizations supporting school-aged children in El DoradoCounty to provide activities about California’s native plants. For 2011 we were able provide grants tofour deserving local schools and/or youth organizations and one Eagle Scout for a variety of projectsthat included native plants. We distributed $1325 in monetary awards, including $200 in 2 for 1coupons redeemable at our Fall plant sale. Grants were distributed to the following: Herbert GreenMiddle School 5 th grade class; Sly Park Environmental Education Center 5 th and 6 th grade classes; HolyTrinity School and Parish; Latrobe Outlanders 4-H to create a garden at the Miller's Hill ElementarySchool, and to a senior at El Dorado High School to build a bench and an informational sign aboutnoxious weeds.7. Conservation: 200 volunteer hoursSue Britting spent time discussing rare plant mitigation issues and rare plant conservation with localgoverning agencies, reviewing documents and project proposals, field trips to view the area, meetings todiscuss results, and attendance at appeals court. Annie Walker and Shellie Perry also worked on issuesconcerning the Rubicon Jeep Trail and the cleanup and abatement order issued by the Central ValleyRegional Water Quality Control Board.We promote appreciation and conservation of native plants on each of our plant hikes. Our invasiveweed chairperson continued to participate in the local Weed Management Group meetings and workedon providing an educational display and information on invasive weeds during our plant sales.The chapter continues to check the Schedule of Proposed Actions (SOPA) in El Dorado National Forestand write letters in support of certain projects or to provide input for projects.8. Work Parties: One weed pull at the Dave Moore Nature Area on the South Fork of theAmerican River in March.9. Legislative Activity: See conservation.10. Plant ScienceRare Plant Treasure Hunt: Our chapter under the leadership of Annie Walker participated andvisited sensitive plant sites to check for occurrences on the Eldorado National Forest.11. Plant Sales: 2 plant sales: April 2nd and October 1st600 volunteer hours with up to 25 volunteers per event150-200 members of public attending each eventOur biggest public outreach events are our semi-annual plant sales. The plant sale in April netted$1344, while the October sale netted $1269. About 25 volunteers for each sale staffed our operations as4

well as helping during our pre-sale preparations. We continue to use both larger nurseries [CornflowerFarms, Floral Native Nursery in Chico, and High Ranch Nursery] as well as small local nurseries (SteveDowty Nursery, Lotus Valley Natives, Brian Austin Nursery) as our sources for native plants. We had agood selection of books, posters, and cards for sale as well as some discounted books.Our chapter continues to develop new informative posters and displays: Pine Hill Preserve and endemicspecies, Oaks and Living with Oaks; Landscaping with Native Plants, Lose the Lawn, Invasive Weeddisplays, as well as photographs of native plants from members’ collections and the chapter photodisplay.12. Other Activities: Propagation of Native Plants, 40 volunteer hours, 5 membersPropagation: The propagation group had previously met and used the facility at the Institute of ForestGenetics (USDA Pacific Southwest Research Station) which was located near the eastern end ofPlacerville. The propagation area was located at the lath house which included an automatic wateringsystem and supplies. In addition, our chapter maintained the California elevational transect garden.Due to problems in maintaining the watering system and excessive shade during winter on seedlings, wechose to end our cooperative agreement with the agency for both of these areas. We spent about 12hours in moving the supplies and plants to a member's house. Currently the chapter has restarted thepropagation group and we meet monthly at various members' houses.Plants and seedlings are taken care of by members who have the facilities and time to water them.Emails are sent to notify interested members of the next meeting date, time, and location. In 2011 wemet 3 times at 3 different locations for a total of 7 hours' work time, and 3 to 5 members have attendedeach session. We hope to further develop the propagation program to offer native plants that are notreadily available at local nurseries.5

Los Angeles/Santa Monica Mountains Chapter Annual Report 2011Person preparing report: Snowdy Dodson, Chapter PresidentWe are requesting a subvention for 2012.Our Chapter's primary missions are the conservation and preservation of California native flora in both a wildland and a heavily urbanized environment. We present public programs to increase the knowledge,appreciation, use and enjoyment of native plants. This means that we are interested in a broad array of issues:both public and private landscaping with natives, rare plant preservation, environmental documents, monitoringmitigations, re-vegetation, weeding projects, education in both schools and through working with agencies andNGOs, informing our legislators about native plant issues and related topics, writing informational materialeither as free handouts or published and sold.We fund projects in conservation, preservation, weed eradication or public native plant landscaping (by nonprofits)that mirror the goals of CNPS. We are active in the Los Angeles County Weed Management Area andthe Los Angeles/San Gabriel Rivers Watershed Council, as well as the Los Angeles County Integrated WasteManagement Task Force.We advertise our programs and events by publishing and mailing over 600 copies of our bimonthly Chapternewsletter, Toyon. We have a well-designed and much used Chapter website that also serves to reach out to ourmembers and the public. We also have a Facebook page that promotes our Chapter activities. Also all of ouractivities in the Santa Monica Mountains are published in the National Park Service publication, Outdoors, acalendar of mountain-wide events in the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area.Our major challenges are to attract active members and to schedule events in locations accessible in areasonable time on our gridlocked freeways. We alternate our monthly public programs between the SanFernando Valley and Santa Monica. We have also scheduled our Spring Wildflower Show every Easterweekend at Malibu Bluffs Park on the coast and our Fall Plant Sale in the San Fernando Valley at the SepulvedaCommunity Garden Center in Encino in order to reach more of our membership and anyone else curious aboutnative plants.LONG TERM PROJECTSWeed WarsJo Kitz leads our Weed Wars in the parks and wild lands of the Santa Monica Mountains. Our Chapterconsistently excels through our efforts to eradicate invasive, non-native plants on public lands. Our geographicfocus has been in the Santa Mountain Mountains and along the Los Angeles River and in the Sepulveda DamBasin in the San Fernando Valley. We have worked in Malibu Creek State Park, Malibu Bluffs Park, ColdCreek Preserve, Tapia Park, Solstice Canyon, Lower Topanga Creek in Topanga State Park, Bull Creek, toname only a few locations. We have formed a partnership with TreePeople and Mountains Restoration Trust toexpand our weeding and restoration efforts. Our efforts were two pronged: 1. We had many dedicatedvolunteers who spent 1096 hours pulling weeds and replanting; and 2. We used Chapter funds (thousands ofdollars) to pay an independent contractor (Bill Neill of Riparian Repairs) to eradicate weeds that are toodifficult for volunteers to remove e.g. Arundo.In addition to weeding, we are involved in planting and maintenance to help replace the weeds. Of particularnote is the annual planting of commemorative oaks at Malibu Creek State Park. In 2011 oaks were planted inhonor of Los Angeles County Supervisors, Zev Yaroslavsky and Mike Antonovich; and in memory of SierraClub activist Elden Hughes, Northeast Trees founder Scott Wilson, and family members of Halli Mason –

Anneliese Hoell (sister), Else Matzk (mother) and Ille Klueger (cousin). All of these efforts have taken placeover many years and have resulted in a truly improved look for the vegetation in the areas that we maintain.In February, our Chapter members helped with cleaning up, weeding and replanting in the California NativePlant Garden at Descanso Gardens. This garden was originally planted over 50 years ago by Theodore Paynehimself.We have been involved in educating the public about the problem of invasives and have devoted Chapterprograms to the topic. We support Cal-IPC through donations to support their annual symposium and bydistributing their “Don’t Plant a Pest” brochure at our events. We have a representative to the local WeedManagement Area meetings.We continue to monitor invasive plants in the Caballero Canyon/upper Reseda Blvd. area and insuring that ourChapter funds go toward eradication of horehound, castor bean, fountain grass, tamarisk, etc. Much progresshas been made in eradicating horehound along one of the main trails.Steve Hartman, as a volunteer, advises the Los Angeles City Recreation and Parks and the Army Corps ofEngineers regarding monitoring invasive plant problems in the Sepulveda Basin. He insures that newinfestations are identified and eradicated. He also monitors the native plantings to make sure they are beingmaintained and not replaced with non-native plants. Steve has organized a group of volunteers who regularlyweed at the Bull Creek Restoration Project and the the Wildlife Area; he has ensured that the City of LA Dept.of Recreation and Parks is aware of invasive weeds and has partnered with their staff to help in eradicationefforts.Barbara Marinacci and Mike Terry continue to organize volunteers in West Los Angeles at Temescal CanyonPark and Los Liones Gateway Park to do weeding and restoration work in those areas.Cal-IPC honored Jo Kitz with the Ryan Jones Catalyst Award for her over 30 years of organizing volunteers toremove invasive plants in the Santa Monica Mountains. The Pacific Palisades Community Council awarded aGolden Sparkplug Award to Barbara Marinacci in recognition of her volunteer efforts to restore the TemescalCanyon native garden.ConservationChapter Board members write letters on pertinent legislative and conservation topics and encourage themembership to do so through our newsletter. Rare plant research is ongoing as is advice to local agencies onrare plants and local flora by Chapter experts.Ileene Anderson represents our Chapter on the Friends of the Santa Clara River.Steve Hartman and Snowdy Dodson (alternate) represent CNPS on the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Areas SteeringCommittee, through participating at meetings, surveying for and recommending weed eradication strategies,leading training walks for the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Area Docents, organizing and attending weeding andtrash cleanup parties and consulting with the City of Los Angeles and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers onnative landscaping in the Sepulveda Dam Basin.We have written letters concerning the Newhall Ranch development asking that it not go forward due to adverseimpacts to rare plants, oak woodlands and riparian areas.

Chapter members have also continued to be involved with commenting on the Santa Susana Field Laboratorycleanup process. Betsey Landis and Snowdy Dodson attended scoping meetings followed up by an input lettercommenting on the environmental importance of the area that has been the site of an ongoing chemical andnuclear cleanup and has at least two CNPS listed plants - Astragalus brauntonii and Deinandra minthornii(Santa Susana tarplant).Steve Hartman was a participant in the CNPS Rare Plant Treasure Hunt in the southern California deserts. Byall accounts this event was very successful in identifying a number of rare desert plants for further study.Snowdy Dodson was a regular attendee at the Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Works sedimentmanagement task force meetings. At issue was the proposal to use pristine riparian areas such as La TunaCanyon as areas for debris disposal. The proposal to use La Tuna Canyon for this purpose has been tabled fornow due to the outcry from environmentalists.CHAPTER ACTIVITIESWe held 9 Board meetings this year. Including driving time, attending each meeting requires from 3 to 5 hoursof each attendee's time.To celebrate the first California Native Plant Week, our Chapter organized a Symposium, Wildflower Show andPlant Sale on April 23. Our speakers included Lili Singer who spoke on “The Joys of Gardening with NativePlants,” Jim Kenney who gave a slide show of “Wildflowers and Landscapes of the Santa Monica Mountains”and Cassy Aoyagi who presented on “Water Conservation Gardening with Natives.” The Symposium wasorganized in partnership with the Theodore Payne Foundation (TPF) whose staff sold plants from their nursery.The Wildflower Show featured cuttings from TPF and private gardens. A similar program will be held in 2012.Our Fall Plant Sale (Oct. 29 & 30) was very successful this year with scheduled gardening talks by well knownspeakers – Genevieve Arnold, Bart O’Brien, and Steve Hartman - which encouraged a lot of gardeners to buyplants and books. Around 250 to 350 people came to the October Plant Sale. Steve Hartman and Halli Masonwere the Co-Chairs of this event.Our public programs in the San Fernando Valley and in Santa Monica attract anywhere from 13 to 50 people.Rental costs for the meeting rooms are around $100 depending on the venue.Our Chapter presented eleven public programs in 2011:January: How Do You Maintain & Care for a Water-Conserving Garden? – Ellen Mackey.February: Habitat Fragmentation in the Simi Hills – Dr. Katy Delaney.March: Rare Plant Survey of Post-Wildfire Griffith Park – Dan Cooper.April: Gophers Rule the World! – Dr. Polly Schiffman.May: Moss Floristics – Dr. Paul Wilson.June: Reimagining the California Lawn – Bart O’Brien.July: Lower Topanga Creek Restoration – Jo Kitz.September: A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of California – Laura Cunningham.October: How to Wild Your Garden with Native Plants – Barbara Eisenstein.November: Sepulveda Basin Restoration History 1978-2011 – Steve HartmanDecember: The Rare Plant Treasure Hunt – Amber Swanson.Wildflower walks and hikes were scheduled monthly at either Malibu Bluffs or at Solstice Canyon and atCaballero Canyon. Attendance at these events varies widely from 8 to 25 persons. Hike leaders are Jo Kitz,Betsey Landis, Steve Hartman, and Snowdy Dodson.

Tabling at events such as the Santa Monica Mountains Science Festival and the Environmental Education Fair;judging at County and/or State Science Fairs; making presentations; serving on many committees andcommissions are among the numerous Chapter volunteer activities. Betsey Landis is the Chapter Delegate tothe Chapter Council and served on the Santa Monica Mountains Community Fire Protection Plan Committee.Halli Mason continued to serve on state-wide Chapter Support, Leadership Development and VolunteerRecognition Committees. Ileene Anderson serves on the statewide Conservation Program Team.Calculating all the volunteer hours of the many members of our Chapter who represent CNPS in the public eyeis not easy as leaders and organizers in our Chapter tend not to keep accurate records, but a conservativeestimate would be around 7000 hours for the year again, based on scheduled meetings, events, and otheractivities (noted in the newsletter) involving Chapter Board members.

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTERNAME_____Marin______________________________YEAR___2011_________NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT____Kristin Jakob, Co-Vice President________________________________________________WE ARE____/ARE NOT___X___ REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTER - Please describe the main interests of your board andmembers. What are your chapter’s special strengths and accomplishments?Interests span study of plants in wild, rare plants, control of invasives, conservationand horticulture. Strengths are in rare plants, field trips, and expandinghorticultural activities.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES - please describe the activities sponsored by your chapter,the number of people who attended (both members and non-members), and theapproximate number of volunteer hours required to organize these activities. Donot include hours attending programs or field trips except for those personsleading or organizing them.1. Board Meetings: # of meetings/year: 7 plus a retreat this year focussing on boardstructure, areas into which to direct energy in coming years/volunteer hours forofficers, chairs: 350 attendance hrs/ Treasurer: 90 hrs/ Recording Secretary: 20hrs/ Membership: 20 hrs/ Books: 60 hrs/ Posters: 56 hrs/ Chapter Councilmeetings: 80 hrs/ Other Administratioin, emailing, phone calls, preparing thisreport, etc: 150 hrs.2. Field Trips: # of trips: Please list locations/destinations/participants per trip,volunteer hoursField trips 20111/15/11 Fairfax Cataract Gulch Trail 8 12

1/22/11 Muir Beach Redwood Creek 5 12Restoration1/29/11 Mount Tam Watershed Collier Spring 7 122/6/11 Point Reyes NP Muddy Hollow trail 9 122/13/11 Mount Tam SP Rock Spring to West 10 12Point2/16/11 Point Reyes NP Chimney Rock 25 122/20 Novato Mt. Burdell 30 122/26 Fairfax Pine Mountain 9 122/28/11- Point Reyes NP Chimney Rock – rare 6 643/5/11orchid surveys3/6/11 Samuel P. Taylor SP Barnaby Mountain 6 123/12/11 Olema Bolinas Ridge 7 123/20/11 Big Rock Loma Alta 8 123/31/11 Fairfax Cascade Canyon 8 124/16/11 Point Reyes NP Abbots Lagoon 12 124/18/11 Fairfax Deer Park 7 124/19/11 Fairfax Carson Ridge 9 124/20/11 Mt. Tam Watershed Cataract Gulch 8 124/21/11 Fairfax Pam’s Blue Ridge 6 124/22/11 Mt. Tam Watershed Lake Lagunitas 16 184/23/11 Mt. Tam SP Bootjack 9 125/14/11 Fairfax Carson Ridge 10 125/22/11 Samuel P. Taylor SP Pioneer Trail 8 126/4/11 Mt. Tam Watershed Pilot Knob 11 126/18/11 Point Reyes NP Muddy Hollow 9 127/8/11- Klamath NF Cook and Green Pass 2 507/11/118/6/11 San Rafael Boyd Park 11 129/17/11 Fairfax Deer Park 7 12

10/15/11 San Rafael Gerstle Park 8 1211/25/11 Tomales Bay SP Jepson Trail 30 1212/25/11 Big Rock Big Rock Ridge 9 12TOTALS 30 trips 310 people 456 hours3. Programs: # of program meetings: 8. Please list subjects and speakers: Jan:John Taylor “Populations of Fungi”; Feb: Ken Himes “Wildflowers ofEdgewood Park and Natural Preserve”; Mar: Jack Nisbet ‘David Douglas in theNew World 1823-1834”; April: Carol Bornstein “Reimagining the CaliforniaLawn”; May: Dick O’Donnell “Streptanthus of the North Bay”; June: EvaBuxton “Weeds”; Sept: annual potluck with members’ slides; Oct: GretchenLeBuhn “The Great Sunflower Project” (& local bees); Nov: Lisa & RalphShanks “California Indian Baskets, Part 2”/ # of attendees per meeting: averages40 /expenses (i.e. room rental: $300/year, speaker fees: $100 honorarium offered,sometimes declined or donated to another environmental nonprofit org, budgetfor $800/year/ hospitality supplies: 0 - we no longer have goodies at meetings).Volunteer hours: 654. Newsletter: # of issues/year: 7/# of volunteer hours to edit/distribute: 215/annualcost: $4,000 (approx)/ e-Bulletin volunteer hours: 40, Constant Contact: approx.$300/ website volunteer hours: 100, domain address cost: $120/ Bay Nature ads;cost divided between SF Bay Area Chapters, Marin’s share approx: $400.5. Public Outreach Events: # of events: 3/ Please describe the nature of events: Jan:BAEER (Bay Area Environmental Educational Resources) Fair; March: SFFlower & Garden Show, San Mateo (Chapter contributed towards booth fee,and some volunteer staffing hours); April: Point Reyes Bird & Wildlife Festival/Public Contacts: Various ongoing activities include creating and updating Marinplant lists available to the public, agencies and other nonprofits; responding toquestions sent through our website; providing plant photographs to other orgs;plant identification and guidance for other groups, schools and individuals;assisting a local library with production of an introductory wildflower guide tolend to patrons/ total volunteer hours: 280.6. Education Efforts: special outreach to teachers or students, grants to gradstudents: $2,250 was awarded in student scholarships, volunteer hours: 12; inservicetraining for teachers; donation of education materials to schools;curriculum development/#volunteer hrs./project

7. Conservation: # of volunteer hours: 220/most important issues the chapter hasworked on: stewardship issues, incl. invasive plants, and proposeddevelopments/types of conservation activities (review documents, attend hearings,etc.): Attended hearings, reviewed and commented on DEIRs for proposed housingdevelopments, and studied and provided input on vegetation management plans forlocal watersheds and public lands; wrote letters/ coalitions/cooperators with whomyou worked: state CNPS; conservation chairs of other CNPS chapters; localagencies (Marin Municipal Water District, Marin County Open Space District,Golden Gate National Recreation Area); town councils.8. Work Parties: # of work parties: 9 (8 of which a new group - Third ThursdayWeeders) /nature of project(s): Invasive plant removal, including of Avena fromblack jewelflower serpentine habitat/ # participants: average 4 per session/volunteer hours: 130.9. Legislative Activity: what issues or bills did your chapter work on/type of contact(i.e. visits to legislators, written communication, letters to the editor, petitions,press conferences)legislative contacts with reps and staff/#volunteer hours.10. Plant Science – Rare Plant Program: Very active, as always, with participationin 3 Rare Plant Treasure Hunts; advice on rare plants provided to local parks andagencies, schools and individuals, feature on rare or unusual plants written for eachMarin Chapter newsletter issue/ volunteer hours: 7011. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: does your chapter have a plant sale? Yes, inApril/ wildflower show? No /#volunteer hrs: approx 450 for plant sale and otherhort activities, including propagation parties/ how many people attended eachevent: 75 or so for plant sale, average 6 to hands-on activities/do you grow yourown plants, if so %: we now have space for propagation and demonstrationplantings at a Novato nursery, and we are starting to grow a larger % of ourplants for sale, now perhaps 20%; also plan to provide plants to schools at steepdiscount, perhaps donating surplus in future/any interesting/useful ideas to share12. Other Activities:

Please share your main concerns for your chapter. What are the major challengesor problems facing your chapter? Trying to reverse the decline in membershipnumbers and increase the participation of members in leadership and chapteractivities. Is this an ongoing situation, has it improved or gotten worse, whatsteps did you take to address the problem and did they help? It is ongoing, butsome of our newer activities seem to be attracting more people. We held achapter board retreat in September, where board structure and chapter goalswere discussed. Not all board members attended, and not all agreed with thedecisions that were made regarding board structure. Nonetheless, changes to thechapter Bylaws were proposed, presented to the membership, and passed (at ourJanuary 2012 membership meeting). As a result of the revisions, we now have asmaller executive (voting) board and a somewhat different committee structure.We are still struggling to find a President, and are running the chapter with twoCo-Vice Presidents in the interim.

CNPS CHAPTER ANNUAL REPORTMilo Baker Chapter 2011We are not requesting a subvention.Name of people preparing report: Jim Piercy, Treasurer and Liz Parsons, Vice-PresidentOverview of Chapter: Membership is down 11% to 359Chapter:1. Board Meeting: 10 meetingsSpecial meeting in July about new web-site development140 volunteer hours for officer and board members to attendMeeting held at the the Sonoma County Environmental Center, membership costs $425.00per year.2; General Meetings/Programs: 10 meetings;January: Curtis Short, Lawn Removal and replacement with native plantsFebruary: Rose Roberts, Farm StewardshipMarch: Student and Teachers Rehabilitating a Watershed (STRAW), Marin CountyApril: Reny Parker, Sonoma County WildflowersMay: Heidi Herrmann, Seaweeds of the CoastJune: Susan Magnoli, Community Level of Ice Plant Invasion on Dune Vegetation and AndyKleinhesselink, Facilitation between Plant and the Dunes at Bodge Head (scholarship recipients)July: no meetingAugust: Chapter picnic at Alan Brubaker’s garden in KenwoodSeptember: Nancy Bauer, Habitat Gardening with Native PlantsOctober: Ayzik Solomeshch, Vernal Pool Plant CommunityNovember: Roger Raiche, Fellow Ceremony and The CedarsDecember: Wreath Making Workshop, Liz ParsonsPlant ID hour at general meetings: 10 volunteer hours10 general meetings with 30-70 attendeesMeetings held at the Luther Burbank Art and Garden Center, Santa Rosa which costsus $1,100.00 per year in rent; speaker fees and cost of dinner and hospitality are $1,300.00per year.20 volunteer hours for hospitality and 20 for books sales, 20 for organizing the general meetingand 20 hours for setting up audio-visual for a total of 80 volunteer hours3. Field Trips:February: Mushrooms at Salt Point State Park, Tina Wistrom, leaderMarch: Montgomery Woods, Mendocino County, Peter Warner, leader

April: 9 field trips,Van Hoosear Wildflower Preserve, Ellie Seelye, leader; LagunaHeadwaters, leader Arthur Dawson; Lake Sonoma, leader , Wildflower hike at SonomaBaylands; Tolay Creek Ranch, Sonoma Land Trust; Mayacamas Sanctuary, Peter Leveque; SearsPoint, Sonoma Land Trust; Jenner Headlands, leader Peter Warner; Fairfield Osborne Preserve(SSU), leader Linden Schneider.May: Jenner Headlands, leader Peter Warner; Mayacamas Preserve, leader Peter Warner;Cedars, leader Roger Raiche; Tolay Creek w/ Sonoma Ecology Center.June: Estero Americano, leaders Kathleen Kraft and Peter Warner; Mayacamas Preserve (rareplants), leader Lynn Houser; Bouverie Preserve;August: Camping at Highland Lakes in the SierraSeptember: Seed Packaging Workshop, Liz Parsons’ houseOctober: Shell Beach, Pomo Canyon TrailNovember: NoneDecember: Iris Division Workshop (Plant Sale Preparation)16 field trips with 15-20 participants; 30 hours to organize; 64 hours to lead for a total of 94volunteer hours4. Newletter:10 issues a year.$3,524.00 cost of printing and mailing180 volunteer hours to edit and produce5. Web Site: Service provider $284.00 per year. Chapter worked to get new web-site and bringit in line with the state and and other chapters protocols.6. Public Outreach: Tabling at Pepperwood Preserve Wildflower Festival in April.25 volunteer hours7. Education Efforts: Scholarships to Sonoma State Students of $1,000.00. AndyKleinhesslink and Carrisa Bosch, and Clark Richter1. Work Parties at our Preserves: The Milo Baker Chapter has 4 preserves a) VineHill (Sebastopol), b) Rincon Ridge, Santa Rosa c) South Ridge, Santa Rosa d)Cunningham Marsh, Sebastopol.Vine Hill: 25 volunteer hoursRincon Ridge: 160 volunteer hoursSouth Ridge: 15 volunteer hoursCunningham Marsh: 220 volunteer hours and 65 paid hours (mowing)

1. Conservation: Committee worked on several projects: airport expansion and PitkinMarsh were local issues and at the State level the solar projects in the desert wereprimary.Local: 75 hoursState: 160 hours10. Plant Sale: 40th Annual plant sale consisting of plants propagated and grown by chaptermembers. The plants are the result of 4 workshops. The iris workshop in December producesabout 130 Pacific Coast Native Iris for the sale. Members grow them on until the Octobersale. In February, there is a division workshop at the home of plant sale chair, LizParsons. Members divide wild ginger, bleeding heart, goldenrod, wood fern, zauschneria, andother plants that are easy to divide and take them home and grow them on. In May there is aworkshop at California Flora nursery where members pot up liners that are provided by ShootingStar Propagation Nursery--Arctostaphylos, Ceanothus, Ribes, and members take them home togrow on.In August we have the final workshop at Casa Grande High School in Petaluma. We pot up fastgrowing natives--Salvias, Mimulus, Zauschneria, provided by Shooting Star.Gross sales: $9,000.00Net profit: $5,000.00500 volunteer hoursOther Activities:Sonoma County Conservation Council Representative - 64 volunteer hoursSonoma County Water Coalition: 30 hoursTotal volunteer hours 1778

CNPS CHAPTER ANNUAL REPORTMojave Desert Chapter 2011Report Prepared by Tim Thomas, Chapter President and DelegateWe are requesting a subvention.Overview of Chapter - We are centered at the Victor Valley College where we have theopportunity to include many students in our monthly program activities and educate them aboutCNPS. Most of our activities occur in northern San Bernardino County, from Big Bear Valley inthe San Bernardino Mountains north into the Mojave Desert.We are working cooperatively with other high desert conservation organizations (Sierra Club,Mojave Bird Club, Mojave River Natural History Assn., Turtle and Tortoise Club, Dark SkyAssn...) to provide a regional network of limited personnel to cover conservation issues.Our conservation chair, Tom Egan, continues to comment on desert issues. He was principal inconvincing legal corrections to BLM’s failure to have a defensible route designation for the WestMojave planning area. Using photo-documentation he illustrated many ‘closed area’ were in factheavily used by the off road community with no BLM enforcement presence or enforcement.The courts required BLM to provide remedies designed specifically to address the routedesignation inadequacies (200 HRS.)Our Desert rare plant chair, Jim Andre, concentrates on the eastern Mojave and southern Nevada.His efforts have largely been spent defending rare plants in public hearings involving alternativeenergy projects on public lands. (200 + HRS)Chapter ActivitiesBoard Meetings and Chapter monthly program meetings were combined. (12 HRS.)Chapt Board Meeting Feb 9 – 6 members attended (20 HRS)We had chapter elections conducted through our newsletter, with a continuance of the existingboard members. We are actively seeking new leadership with a hopeful lead.Feb. 9 – High Desert Conservation Coalition Meeting –Greg Suba, the Conservation ProgramDirector for the California Native Plant Society. He has worked closely with agencies, industryrepresentatives, and other conservation groups to develop conservation measures that helpprotect the desert landscapes being impacted by the rush to develop alternative energy farms -often to receive tax payer subsidies. His presentation discussed how to assist in promoting lessenvironmentally damaging locations for alternative energy production. He gave anupdate onhow many square miles have been approved to date, and the projected total if the current focuson large-scale generation facilities continues to control the siting process – 35 participants (5HRS)Mar 2 John Reid, photography instructor at Victor Valley College, covered tips on taking quality

flower photos. (9 participants – 4 hours)Apr 7 Alee Montalvo, Botanist for the San Bernardino Resource Conservation District. Arleediscussed her research on revegetation. (12 participants -4 hours)June 2, Pam MacKay and Tim Thomas presented their botanical discoveries in eastern Australia.(11 participants – 4 hours)Field Trips (10 HRS)Ord Petroglyphs – led byTim Thomas and Pam MacKay – we had a small group travel out to theeast end of the Rodman Mtns to botanize the small wash where many petorglyphs are etchedonto the vertical desert varnish cliffs. The bloom was satisfactory with many species.Newsletter (25 HRS.)We published one newsletters and one postcard notice this last year.We currently have 33 members.

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME____Monterey Bay____YEAR____2011NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT_Brian LeNeve PresidentWE ARE__X__/ARE NOT______ REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTER - Please describe the main interests of yourboard and members. What are your chapter’s special strengths andaccomplishments?Local issues and events such as conservation, field trips, chapter meetings/programs, and invasive weed eradication.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES - please describe the activities sponsored by yourchapter, the number of people who attended (both members and nonmembers),and the approximate number of volunteer hours required toorganize these activities. Do not include hours attending programs or fieldtrips except for those persons leading or organizing them.1. Board Meetings: # of meetings/year/volunteer hours for officers, chairs4 board meetings per year with 5 officers and 4 board members total time 30hours. Secretary additional time 12 hours. Treasurer additional time 160hours. President additional time 60 hours. Total time Board 262 hours.2. Field Trips: # of trips: Please list locations/destinations/participants pertrip, volunteer hoursMonterey Bay held 60 field trips last year with 60 hours spent organizing eachtrip and an average of 3 hours leading the trips for a total field trip hours of 240hours.3. Programs: # of program meetings: Please list subjects and speakers/ # ofattendees per meeting/expenses (i.e. room rental, speaker fees, hospitalitysupplies)Monterey Bay had 10 programs last year the program chair spent 70 hoursarranging the programs and there is 3 hours spent in setting up and taking down

the meeting room for a total of 100 hours Average attendance is 35 members andpublic. Monterey offers an Honorarium of up to $200.00 for speakers and takesthe speaker out to dinner total expenses were $811.00.Speakers and topics were Doug Kent – Firescaping, Jenn Yost – Goldfields, jackNisbet – the collector David Douglas, - Michael Chasse – San Francisco’s rareManzanita’s, Pat Stadille and Carmel Middle School students – bugs in thenative garden, Dr. Ron Yeager – Wildflowers of Garland Park – Brett HallUCSC Arboretum plants, Dale Hillard – Bees in Monterey County, and NikkiNedeff’ – Monterey Pines4. Newsletter: # of issues/year/# of volunteer hours to edit/distribute/annualcostMonterey Bay had 10 newsletter issues last year with an average of 5 hours toproduce and edit and another 3 hours to collect from printer and mail for atotal of 180 hours. Total cost $1,800.005. Public Outreach Events: # of events: Please describe the nature ofevents/volunteers hours/public contactsCity of Monterey cutting day 2 members 6 hours, REI event one member 6hours, Carmel Middle School plant sale 4 members 16 hours, PinnaclesNational Monument event 20 hours. Total time 48 hours6. Education Efforts: special outreach to teachers or students, grants to gradstudents; in-service training for teachers; donation of education materialsto schools; curriculum development/#volunteer hrs./projectNone this year7. Conservation: # of volunteer hours/most important issues the chapter hasworked on/types of conservation activities (review documents, attendhearings, etc.), coalitions/cooperators with whom you workedPebble Beach master plan Bob 15 hoursConservation chair 1,200 hoursTotal time 1,215 hours8. Work Parties: # of work parties/nature of project(s)/ # participants/volunteer hoursWeed bashes Bob Soberanes Canyon 202 hoursWeed bashes Point Lobos 216 hours

Total time 418 hours9. Legislative Activity: what issues or bills did your chapter work on/type ofcontact (i.e. visits to legislators, written communication, letters to theeditor, petitions, press conferences) legislative contacts with reps andstaff/#volunteer hours.None this year10. Plant Science – Rare Plant ProgramMonterey Bay Chapter is performing a plant survey, mapping and making acomplete plant list on the former Fort Ord property. To date members havespent over 1840 hours on the project. Other plant list 70 hoursTotal time 1910 hours11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: does your chapter have a plant sale?wildflower show?/#volunteer hrs./ how many people attended eachevent/do you grow your own plants, if so %/any interesting/useful ideasto sharePlant sale in September 12 to 14 members participated in planning and holdingsale with a total of 157 hours.Wildflower show in April in conjunction with the Pacific Grove Museum ofNatural History. 25 members participated volunteering 429 hours.Attended by over 2,000 people over the three days. On display over 600 taxaTotal time 586 hours12. Other Activities:Please share your main concerns for your chapter. What are the majorchallenges or problems facing your chapter? Is this an ongoing situation,has it improved or gotten worse, what steps did you take to address theproblem and did they help?Total volunteer hour Monterey Bay Chapter 3,959 hours

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME: Mount Lassen YEAR: 2011Report Prepared by: Paul Moore, PresidentWE ARE REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTERMount Lassen Chapter continues to promote CNPS through outreach events, well attended generalmeetings and field trips. We had a very successful Native Plant and Wildflower Show during Native PlantWeek. We launched a Conservation Committee and Rare Plant Committee for the first time in thechapter’s history. We have successfully developed a website for our chapter.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES1. Board Meetings: The Chapter holds nine (9) board meetings per calendar year. There are eight (8)elected officers and 17 chair positions for permanent committees. Board meetings: 320 total hours.Volunteer Hours for Officers/Chairs (unless noted otherwise)President: 100 Horticulture 180Vice President 63 Rare Plants 47Past President: 42 Field Trips 379Treasurer: 45 Education 60Invasive Plants: 80 Chapter Council 268Membership/ 225 Conservation 30MailingsRecognitionPublicity/graphicDesign 86Volunteer Hours 2011 MTL Board and Chairs: 16052. Field Trips: 39 Field Trips were scheduled for 2011, 5 others rained out, attended by 587 participants.Month Location #AttendedJanuary Banana Belt 9February UC Davis Conservatory 29Upper Park 4March Cedar Grove, Lost Arboretum 7CSUC Tree Tour #2 16CSUC Tree Tour #3 8Fawn Lilies 8Buttermilk Trail 10April Sutter Buttes 30CSUC Tree Tour #4 40Pulga 12Hedgerow Farms 18May Dale and Hog Lakes 9

Chaffin Farms 21Yahi trail 4Caribou Trail 21June BLM Trail, Butte Creek 8Feather Falls 24Butte Meadows/Jonesville 9July Dye Creek Preserve 15Lake Basin, Plumas NF 34Wilson Lake, Lassen NF 12Castle – Heart Lakes, Shasta NF 11August Drakesbad, Lassen VNP 15Square Lake, Yolla Bolly 151000 Lakes 5September Ridge Lakes, Lassen VNP 28Hat Lake 9Willow Lake 9Brokeoff Trail 8October Maidu Medicine Plants 19Kings Creek Falls 3CSUC Tree Tour #1 33November Old Plant Intro. Station (GRC) 5Ten Mile House 10CSUC Tree Tour #2 25CSUC Tree Tour #3 23December Cedar Grove, Lost Arboretum 13CSUC Tree Tour #4 8TOTAL 5873. Programs/General Meetings:Month Speaker Program #AttendedFebruary Joe Silveira Integrating Wildlife Habitat Goals 55With Native Plant ConservationMarch Jenny Marr Little False‐Mermaid in the Big 47Conservation PoolApril Summer Kemp‐ What is the fate of a Silent Forest? 43JenningsMay Albin Bills Table Mountain: the Natural History 50of a Very Special Place(No general meetings June‐August)September Ron Coley Mount Lassen Chapter Finds Rare 30Plants…Our First Treasure HuntsAnd Member PhotosOctober Jim Bishop Plant Colors Beauty and Science 32All Around UsNovember John Whittlesey In the Company of Flowers – Obser‐ 47

vations of Flowers and InsectsDecember Dr. Dan Potter Evolutionary Development, Class‐ 45Ifications, and Name Changes in theCalifornia Flora(ATTENDANCE TOTAL: 349)Nominal cost for hospitality supplies. Dinners for presenters: approximately $100. Per year.Butte County Library meeting room provided free of charge.4. Newsletter: 9 issues per year. Average 8‐12 pages per issue. Annual Cost: $2600Edit and design 360 total hours. Facebook hours were 20 and additional graphic work for chapterprograms was 30, for total hours of 410..5. Public Outreach Events: Participated in 11 events in 2011Event #Volunteers #ContactsNo. California Botanists Conference3/28 hoursSnow Goose Festival 9/15 hours 11Home and Garden Show 6/12 hours 11Wildflower Show 35/149 hours 28Endangered Species Faire 10/16 hours 17Butte College Welcome Days 3/12 hours 14Annie B;s Campaign, City Plaza 3/6 hours 3KCHO fund drive, answer phones 2Oroville Wildflower Festival 7/49 hours 4Farm City Harvest Festival/Native Plant Sale 10/60 hours 11Native Garden@ Glenn CountyAt these events, a query indicates our membership chair sent out a follow‐up note and complimentarynewsletter. TOTAL HOURS: 3476. Education Efforts: Members teaching at the Invasive Plant Workshop (80 volunteer hours),sponsorship of a wildflower art contest for high school students as part of the Wildflower Show, andfunding of students to attend the 2012 association conference. Members volunteered for a high schoolhorticulture class (60 volunteer hours)7. Conservation: In 2011, the chapter reestablished it Conservation Committee which became involvedin:*Participating in the development of a Federal Habitat Conservation Plan (HCP) for 14 plants and 29animal species and a State Natural Communities Conservation Plan (NCCP) for the western portion ofButte County from its foothills to the Sacramento River;*Critiquing the City of Chico’s Mitigation for Peregrine Point Disc Golf in Upper Bidwell Park, Chico;*Encouraging implementation of the management plan adopted by Dept. of Fish & Game for NorthTable Mountain Ecological Reserve and critiquing plans for an accessible trail to popular Phantom Falls.8. Work Parties: the chapter continued participation Bidwell Park’s Yahi Trail maintenance.Chico Creek Nature Center Native Plant Garden TOTAL HOURS: 84

9. Legislative Activity: No formal legislative action was taken by the board in 2011. Legislative notes arewritten periodically and published in the newsletter and chapter website.10. Plant Science – Rare Plant Program: The chapter establish a rare plant program during 2011. Therewere 2 chapter Rare Plant Treasurer Hunts and the chair participated in four other hunts are part of theorientation process.11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: The chapter sponsored its biennial Wild Flower Show and NativePlant Sale in 2011. A Native Plant Sales was also held in the fall in conjunction with our outreach tableduring the Harvest Festival held at Bidwell Mansion.12: Other Activities:Annual Chapter Picnic June 2011: 40 attendedVOLUNTEER HOURS FOR 2011 (MINIMUM): TOTAL HOURS: 2588

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME____NAPA VALLEY ____________YEAR___2011_____NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT:___Henni Cohen, President __________________WE ARE__X__/ARE NOT______ REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTER - Please describe the main interests of yourboard and members. What are your chapter’s special strengths andaccomplishments?The main focus of the Napa Valley Chapter is to maintain and enhance the Martha WalkerCalifornia Native Habitat Garden (MWG), which is located in Skyline Wilderness Park in thecity of Napa and has been in existence for over 25 years.In the three acre demonstration garden, most plant species are identified and arranged inwildlife plant communities that are representative of the Napa Valley: meadow, riparian,mixed evergreen forest, oak woodland, and redwood forest. The purpose of the garden is tofamiliarize citizens of Napa County with California native plants and to share their value increating successful wildlife habitat. We also provide an educational setting to supplementthe environmental education curriculum of the Napa Valley School District. To that end, wehost school groups in the Garden several times each year.In addition, the Napa Valley Chapter holds two plant sales each year, in April and October.The sales further the important tasks of introducing native plants for use in the garden andproviding a source of native plants that are not otherwise available to the public atcommercial nurseries.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES - please describe the activities sponsored by yourchapter, the number of people who attended (both members and nonmembers),and the approximate number of volunteer hours required toorganize these activities. Do not include hours attending programs or fieldtrips except for those persons leading or organizing them.1. Board Meetings: # of meetings/year/volunteer hours for officers, chairsThe Napa Valley Chapter Board meets monthly throughout the year, with the exception ofone month during the summer. Most officers spend between 5 and 10 hours/month, withthe following exceptions:

Curator of MWG: 30-40 hrs/monthNewsletter and Website Chair: 15-18 hrs/monthMembership Chair: 5 hrs/monthPresident: 20-25 hrs/month2. Field Trips: # of trips: Please list locations/destinations/participants pertrip, volunteer hoursThe following is a list of the locations, dates, and leaders for the 2010 field trips. Unlessotherwise stated, all field trips began with a carpool/caravan at 9:00 AM. Participants wererequested to bring snacks, lunch, ample drinking water and sturdy hiking shoes. Steady raincanceled trips.• Saturday, January 15 Mushroom walk at Archer Taylor Preserve Land Trust ofNapa County Leader: Jake Ruygt (707)253-1839• Saturday, January 29 Mushroom walk at Las Posadas Leader: Jake Ruygt (707)-253-1839• Flyway Festival Mushroom Walk at Mare Island Leader: Jake Ruygt (707)253-1839 See Flyway schedule for date, time and meeting place.The focus of these walks was on mushroom identification. The following information wasprovided in the publicity for the walk:“Although spring is yet weeks away, the Napa Valley chapter plans to hold two mushroomwalks in January to get people into the field to discover the world of fungi. We will focus onmushroom identification. Mushrooms are not vascular plants; they lack chlorophyll or aroot system, and they don’t have cellulose in the cell walls. Although this falls outside of therealm of California native plants, fungi play an important role in the sustenance of plants.Probably the most important group is the mycorrhizal fungi that interact with the roots ofmost trees and shrubs along with many perennials and annuals. They help vascular plantsabsorb essential nutrients such as phosphorus from the soil. In return, they depend on thesugars produced in the host plant since they are incapable of photosynthesis. The transferoccurs through interloping hyphae that grow among the layers of cells of the root cortex. Thehyphae are cells of a larger network called the mycelium that can cover acres and live to behundreds of years old. On the walk, you will see the many interesting forms and colors thatfungi can take. Be sure to dress for cool weather and bring fluids. The walks generally last acouple of hours and are not strenuous.”Edible Candy-caps and Pigs-ears Mushroom Hunters Silverlight

Hike leader Jake Rugyt explained the difference between saprophytic, mycorrhizal andparasitic forms. Many different species were identified. Highlights included delicate ear pickfungus on douglas fir cones, troops of coral and clubbed mushrooms, bright yellow witchesbutter and an elegant shaggy stalk carousel. Twelve (12) participants spent 3 hours on thewalk.Tuesday, March 1 The first of Weekly Wildflower Hikes: location decided each week asthe season dictates. Leaders: Mike Parmeter, Juanita Doran and Margaret Barson (707)257-8389.• We led 13 Tuesday walks each at about 5 hours with an average of 4 participants and2 leaders.In addition to the weekly Tuesday walks, the following is a list of the Saturday WildflowerWalks:• Saturday, March 5 Rockville Hills Park in Fairfield Leader: Linda Price (707) 257-7574• Saturday, March 12 Bothe Napa Valley State Park Leader: Mike Parmeter(707)255-6757• Saturday, March 19 Bear Valley Napa Leader: Jake Ruygt (707) 253-1839• Saturday, March 26 Quail Ridge Leader: Jake Ruygt(707)253-1839• Saturday, April 2 Skyline Park Hikes at Wildflower Show Leaders: MargaretBarson at 10:00AM Jake Ruygt at 1:00PM• Saturday, April 9 Moore Creek Leader: Mike Parmeter (707)255-6757• Saturday, April 16 East Napa Hills Leaders: Margaret Barson (707)257-8389Juanita Doran• Saturday, April 23 King Ridge Rd. Sonoma County Leader: Mike Parmeter (707)255-6757 THIS TRIP LEAVES THE MEETING PLACE AT 7:00 AM• Saturday, May 7 Las Posadas Leader: Linda Price (707) 257-7574• Saturday, May 14 Snell Valley Land Trust of Napa County Missimer WildflowerPreserve Leader Jake Ruygt (707)253-1839• Saturday, May 21 Wildlake Land Trust of Napa County Leader: Jake Ruygt(707)253-1839• Saturday, May 28 Boggs Lake Lake County Leader: Margaret Barson (707)257-8389 Please call for informationAll of these trips were held as planned, and on average we had 12 participants and usually 2leaders. Each trip on average lasted 6 hours. It takes about one hour of planning for eachone. We have a general planning meeting with four people; 10 hours including preparationand meeting time for that. Collection and set up for the flower show takes about 12 hours (2people not including Jake's time).

In addition, on Saturday, April 30 we held a Plantathon. CNPS experts, supported bypledges, counted plant species over the course of the day to raise funds for the MarthaWalker Garden. Leader: Mike Parmeter (707) 255-6757.3. Programs: # of program meetings: Please list subjects and speakers/ # ofattendees per meeting/expenses (i.e. room rental, speaker fees, hospitalitysupplies)• March 16, in conjunction with the Spring Plant Sale and Wildflower Show: ‘NapaCounty Wildflowers – A Spring Primer’ by local wildflower expert Jake RuygtThe presentation included photographs of the wildflowers of Napa County. Manyplants were on display. Approximately 25 people attended.No speaker fee. Hospitality fees were approximately $20.• September 27, in conjunction with the Fall Plant Sale: Practical Tips for Growing Nativesin your Garden, presented by Kathleen Chasey, former curator of the Martha WalkerGarden and local landscape designer specializing in native plants.The presentation included many plants used in local landscaping and a discussion ofplant communities and how to determine the right plant for the space. Approximately50 people attended. No speaker fee. Hospitality fees were neglible.Both programs were held in the Social Hall in Skyline Park which is available for our usewithout charge.4. Newsletter: # of issues/year/# of volunteer hours to edit/distribute/annualcost• 4 issues/year. Approximately 40-60 hours/year. In addition, periodic email blasts(average 1/mo) announce workshops, garden events, and walks.• Annual cost of printing, postage, bulk mail permit: $600/yr. As more people chooseto receive the newsletter by email, this cost should go down.5. Public Outreach Events: # of events: Please describe the nature ofevents/volunteers hours/public contacts• February 4-6: San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival: We staffed an informationaltable at the festival held on Mare Island, Vallejo. The display included acomputerized slide show of native plants and the Martha Walker Garden, severalexamples of native plants. We distributed brochures about CNPS and MWG. Wesigned up 4 new members and received $280 in donations.• April 23: Napa Earth Day: We had a booth at the Napa Earth Day event, duringwhich we distributed informational brochures about CNPS, Earth Day, NativePlant Week, and Skyline Park. Senator Noreen Evans sent 2 representatives tothe event. We gave away 15 flats of poppies and sold four-packs of flowers. A lotof prospective volunteers signed up, and we received almost $200.00 indonations. We signed up 1 new member. The event drew hundreds of people,

many of which stopped by our booth. Not counting the time to plant and maintainthe flats of plants for the give away, 6 volunteers spent 36 hours.• May 1: Bay Friendly Garden Tour: The Martha Walker Garden and the CNPSnative plant plot in the Napa Community Garden were 2 of the 12 nativeplant/water wise gardens in Napa participating in the tour. This is the first yearthat Napa has been included in the Bay Friendly Garden Tour. In conjunctionwith the tour, we held a mini plant sale of native plants to visitors to MWG. Wealso conducted a tour of the garden. Approximately 25 people attended the noontour, during which they asked a lot of questions and were very interested in thegarden. 87 visitors toured the garden during the course of the day. We sold$550.00 worth of plants and gave away poppies. 8 volunteers; 50 hours• Mare Island Vallejo People’s Garden. Steve Konakis gave a presentation aboutthe creation of a community garden. His presentation was voted best of the dayby the attendees.• Saturday, August 13, 2011: US Representative Mike Thompson Annual Napa CountyPasta Dinner. 2011 Theme - “Sustainable Napa Valley” held at The Ranch Winery,St.Helena. We staffed a booth and handed out brochures about CNPS, theupcoming Fall Plant Sale, and talked to people about using native plants. Severalhundred people attended the event, many of whom stopped by our booth. 3people/15 hours.• September 27: Noreen Evans award presentation: CNPS Executive Director TaraHansen and Legislative Analyst Vern Goehring presented the CNPS Legislator ofthe Year award to California State Senator, Noreen Evans. The award cerebrationand reception preceded the program presentation on Practical Tips for GrowingNatives in your Garden: Perfect Plants for Napa Gardens. Hors d’oeuvres, wine,and non-alcoholic beverage were served, provided by members of CNPS.Approximately 50 people attended the award presentation and the program. SenatorEvans was presented with a native plant for her home or office. 4 volunteers/20hours6. Education Efforts: special outreach to teachers or students, grants to gradstudents; in-service training for teachers; donation of education materialsto schools; curriculum development/#volunteer hrs./project• Local high school environmental class visited the garden.• 150 students from a local middle school spent one day in the garden rotating throughvarious work/learn stations. These included: planting wildflower seeds in flats;weeding and mulching several beds; building birdhouses for the garden, and learningabout various native plants. 8 volunteers/50 hours• A docent lead tour of the Garden for local elementary school. 1 volunteer/6 hours

7. Conservation: # of volunteer hours/most important issues the chapter hasworked on/types of conservation activities (review documents, attendhearings, etc.), coalitions/cooperators with whom you worked• Circle R Ranch Project/Conservationo The Circle R Ranch is the last undeveloped valley in Napa County. Theowner is proposing to plant a vineyard which will have a great impact onwetlands.o Jake Ruygt presented supplemental EIR relating to effect on plants locatedon the site.o 40 hours• Wildlife Commission Grant to preserve vernal pool at Suscol Creeko This project was funded by the Napa County Wildlife ConservationCommissiono In conjunction with the landowner, the project involved installing a fenceto surround 80% of a vernal pool at Suscol Creeko Jake Ruygt was the recipient of the grant from the Wildlife ConservationCommission.o 100 hours• Circle S Ranch – Supplemental Draft Environmental Impact Report, May 2011o Jake Ruygt prepare extensive comments on the draft report relating to theimpact of the project on native plants and vernal pools. Comments weresubmitted to Brian Bordona, Napa County Conservation, Development andPlanning Departmento 80 hours• Jake Ruygt discovered an Indian Paintbrush that has never been described• Jake Ruygt organized a work date for a project to remove invasive weeds onAtlas Peako 12 hours• Clark Ranch West Planning Meeting/American Canyono We were requested to send a representative to a meeting on Dec. 12, 2011, ofschools and other relevant groups to help plan future uses for the AmericanCanyon wetland area. Gerald Tomboc attended.o 6 hours8. Work Parties: # of work parties/nature of project(s)/ # participants/volunteer hours9. Legislative Activity: what issues or bills did your chapter work on/type ofcontact (i.e. visits to legislators, written communication, letters to the

editor, petitions, press conferences) legislative contacts with reps andstaff/#volunteer hours.None10. Plant Science – Rare Plant ProgramNone11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: does your chapter have a plant sale?wildflower show?/#volunteer hrs./ how many people attended eachevent/do you grow your own plants, if so %/any interesting/useful ideasto shareWe have 2 plant sales each year, generally the first weekends of April and October, held inthe CNPS nursery in Skyline Park in Napa.April 1, 2, and 3, 2011: Spring Plant Sale and Preview Party and Wildflower Show• Friday, April 9, 7-9PM: Plant Sale Member Preview Party: For members and guestsfor a sneak preview at the hundreds of labeled specimens in the sale. Membersreceived a 10% discount on all plant purcheses while enjoying wine and silentauction and raffle.• Saturday and Sunday, April 10 and 11, 10AM to 4PM:Plant Sale: Sale of hundreds of native plants for the garden. Expert help wasavailable for gardening question about using natives in the home garden.• Wildflower Show: Display of over 200 native flowers, with a wildflower walk inSkyline Park (10AM and 1PM), talk and demonstration on bee keeping.September 30, October 1 and 2, 2011: Fall Plant Sale and Preview Party• Friday, September 30, 7:00 to 9:00PM Plant Sale Member PreviewFor CNPS members & friends, a wine tasting and door prize drawing the eveningbefore the Fall Plant Sale.• Saturday and Sunday, October 1 and 2, 10:00AM to 4:00PMPlant Sale: Over 1,000 hard to find native plants were available for sale.Volunteers managed publicity to local media outlets, produced flyers which were postedaround area; clean up and set up the Nursery area; accept deliveries from wholesale nurseryproviders; mark all plants with identification tags; organize plants in plant communities withsigns designating various areas (shade, dry shade, chaparral, oak woodlands, meadows, etc.);set up for Preview Party silent auction and wine tasting; wildflower collection and set up forWildflower Show; sales assistance.Twelve (12) volunteers work 15-20 hours each on presale activities; 15-18 additionalvolunteers staff the preview party and sale in 4 hour shifts; 6 plant expert volunteers staff thesale for the entire period.

We do not grow our own plants, but purchase them from wholesale native plant nurseries.We have sold out all plants at both sales. Several hundred attendees on each sale date.Providing 10% discount to members increased new membership.12. Other Activities:During the first quarter of 2011, the focus in the Garden was to complete the projects forwhich funding was received through a grant from the Napa County Wildlife ConservationCommission. These included installing signage describing the different plantcommunities in the Garden, plant identification signs, and a brief history of the Garden;planning and installing a Native American garden area that focused on plants used byNative Americans in the Napa area; installing a new wildflower garden areas; andcoordinating school visits to the Garden.During the remainder of the year, the focus shifted to maintenance of the Garden. Weidentified areas that needed to be rejuvenated, planted a Manzanita garden at the mainSouth entry gate, installed a new North entry gate and enhanced the entry with nativeplants and a new path from the Skyline Park parking lot path to the gate. Theseenhancements made the Garden more visible, thereby increasing visits by the generalpublic.On August 20, 2011, the family of Ralph Ingols held a memorial service for friends andfamily in the Redwood Grove of the Garden. Approximately 60 people attended andshared stories and remembrances about Ralph. Many who attended had been students ofRalph when he was a teacher at St. Helena High School. Kathleen Chasey announcedthat a Butterfly Walk would be created in the Garden in memory of Ralph and inrecognition of one of his last requests that the Garden be a place for butterflies. Butterflyattracting plants have been planted in various places throughout the Garden and signshave been ordered to identify the plants and note that they are in memory of Ralph andEvelyne Ingols. Donations from the memorial service attendees have been used for thisfitting memorial.In June, the Napa Valley Community Foundation awarded us with an unsolicited grant of$2,000. The Board decided to used the funds to upgrade our newsletter and websitecapabilities. With the assistance of Catherine Thorpe, a website and communicationsconsultant, we were able to streamline the process of creating a newsletter and updatingour website. Ms. Thorpe also created a manual that describes the process in a step-bystepmanner so that a new volunteer could learn the process easily. As a result of thiswork, a new volunteer has taken on the responsibility of being our newsletter editor andwebsite master.In order to increase our communication with lapsed members and to acknowledge newmembers, Gerald Tomboc created a postcard, from a picture of the native plant meadowin the Garden. These postcards are sent to lapsed members reminding them to renew andto thank new members for joining. Each month, the membership chair sends out 1-2

dozen postcards to former and new members culled from the membership report preparedby the State office.The Outreach Coordinator prepared a packet for distribution to groups interested inparticipating in a project in the Garden. The packet contained information about CNPS,the Martha Walker Garden, and listed various projects that could be organized for agroup.Two volunteers planted 30 flats of wildflower seeds to use a give aways at public events,such as Earth Day.MWG Bird Feeders: filled every week by 1 dedicated volunteer.Please share your main concerns for your chapter. What are the majorchallenges or problems facing your chapter? Is this an ongoing situation,has it improved or gotten worse, what steps did you take to address theproblem and did they help?As always, the major challenges for the Nap Valley Chapter is obtaining adequate fundingand attracting adequate number of volunteers to maintain the Martha Walker Garden.Almost unique among CNPS chapters, maintaining and improving the 3 acre native habitatand plant garden requires a considerable commitment of volunteer time as well as acontinued need for funds to finance maintenance and improvements.In general, most Napa Valley CNPS members are primarily interested in attending the plantsales and receiving information about using native plants in the garden. With our newnewsletter and website capabilities, we are hoping to increase the level of active participationas well as increase our members’ awareness of ongoing conservation issues that affect thestate.Funding sources include proceeds from our plant sales, private donations, and grants.Finding possible grant sources and writing proposals is an ongoing challenge.

NORTH COAST CHAPTER2011 ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTReport prepared by Carol Ralph, PresidentSubvention? Yes, pleaseOVERVIEW. 276 members at year end (including 11 as “second chapter”)(Was 270 last year)Our chapter is a strong mix of professional botanists, amateur plant-watchers, academics,conservationists, and gardeners. We offer a reliable program of evening lectures, field trips, interpretivewalks, quarterly newsletter, a yard consultation service, and native plant sales. Fortunately at themoment we face no major conservation crisis and focus on the county general plan and working withother groups.The Spring Wildflower Show is our biggest event each year, a terrific outreach to the public and afun social gathering for us. Our spring plant sale, our biggest source of funds, coincides.Good organization and vast communication time on the part of one or two people have broughtmany hands and heads into service. We find new volunteers by passing around a sign-up sheet at theevening programs listing very specific tasks, by advertising specific tasks in the newsletter, and by gettingto know people and their talents. This year we had turnover in our treasurer, education chair,membership guru, and poster sales person. An inspired volunteer created gorgeous new material for ourbooth displays at public events.We have seen the critical role of publicity in all its forms--newspapers, fliers, radio, web site,Yahoo! group, roadside signs, TV, our newsletter, other groups' newsletters, and now Facebook. Eachreaches different people; we shouldn't neglect any. No one joins CNPS to do publicity, especially givenits insistent deadlines, but we dearly need expertise and reliability in it.BOARD MEETINGS. 84 hrs to attend. About 12 volunteers.Seven1.5-hr Steering Committee meetings. The Steering Committee consists of four elected officers andany other Jobholders approved by the S.C. itself, currently 15 people. We welcome input from anymember.FIELD TRIPS. 150 hours to lead; 5 volunteers. Average attendance 13."Field trips" are usually all-day or longer outings for exploration, publicized mainly through clubchannels. See Public Outreach for "interpretive walks."Feb. 26. Trinidad Head to Elk Head Day HikeMar. 20. Equinox in the Redwoods: Brown Creek-South Fork Trail LoopApr. 10. Benbow to Garberville along the Eel River Day HikeMay 7. Stony Creek Half-day HikeMay 21. Mattole Wildflower TourJun. 18. An Introduction to Horse Mountain Botanical Area, Short HikeJun. 25. Looking for Lewisia—a Rare Plant Treasure Hunt near OrleansJul. 22-24. Cook and Green Pass day hikes and overnightsAug. 13. Waterdog Lake Day HikeSept. 11. Horse Mountain Day HikeOct. 2. Chapter picnic at Big LagoonNov. 5. Looking at Lichens Day HikePROGRAMS. 30 volunteer hours; 15 volunteers9 evening programs; average attendance 53; cost about $700 for room rent (Masonic Lodge) andrefreshments. We offer out-of-town speakers modest travel reimbursement, dinner with chaptermembers, lodging in a local home, and local outings to suit their fancies.Jan. “Intimate Views of Golden Inside-out Flower and of the Dune Silver Bee” by Brian Dykstra and KimMcFarlandFeb. “ Chemicals—the Language of Plants” by William WoodMar. “Lassics Lupine: Taking the Pulse of a Rare Plant” by David Imper, Lisa Hoover, and SydneyCarothersApr. “Walter Earle’s Favorite Native Plants for our North Coast Gardens” by Walter EarleMay “Insect-Plant Relationships and Tips on Photography” by Bob Case

Sept. “The Nightshade Family—Friend and Foe” by James P. SmithOct. “New Guinea Plants I Have Known” by David PriceNov. “ High Elevation Pines of the Klamath Mountains: Past, Present, and Future” by MichaelKauffmannDec. "Native Plant Show and Tell". An informal evening for anyone to share photos, artifacts, readings,or food related to native plants and their habitats.NEWSLETTER.; 56 hours; 3 volunteers4 issues/year of Darlingtonia; printing and mailing cost about $2,000Edit and layout: 32 hours; 1 volunteerMaintain mailing list: 24 hours; 2 volunteersPUBLIC OUTREACH. 200 hrs; 24 volunteersInterpretive walks—local, 2-hr walks publicized in public channels; 10; average 10 participants. ArcataMarsh, Arcata Community Forest, Lanphere Dunes, a Hydesville property, Manila Dunes, Humboldt StateUniversity, Horse Mountain (16 hours; 7 volunteers)Information booth at Godwit Days, Spring Wildflower Show, and North Country Fair.T-shirt and poster sales. (30 hrs; 10 volunteers)Web site. (100+ hrs; 6 volunteer)Fliers for evening programs. (10 hrs; 1 volunteer)Publicity in newspaper and radio for various events. (12 hrs; 3 volunteers)Poster sales. (5 hrs; 1 volunteer)T-shirt sales. (3 hrs; 1 volunteer)Yahoo! groups. Moderating it. (6 hrs; 2 volunteers)Econews reporter. (6 hrs; 1 volunteer)Native Plant Week. (5 hrs; 3 volunteers) Speaker: “Fast Times on Planet Earth” by Dan GluesenkampHorse Mountain Trails Group. Participate in planning (6 hrs; 2 volunteers)EDUCATION. 6 hrs; 3 volunteersLessons normally given to school groups at the wildflower show didn’t happen because it was Eastervacation week.Science Fair award (6 hrs; 3 volunteers)See also interpretive walks, under “Outreach”CONSERVATION. 250 hrs; 1 volunteerTracking the County General Plan Update for plant‐related issues; writing articles for Darlingtonia andEcoNews; reviewing and commenting on conservation issues; letters of support; etc.) 50 hoursParticipating in governing the Northcoast Environmental Center (200 hrs.)WORK PARTIES.We support other local groups that have active programs of invasive plant removal (Friends of the Dunes,State Parks, City of Arcata, Weed Management Area), mainly English ivy and European beach grass.LEGISLATIVE ACTIVITY. Included with conservation.WILDFLOWER SHOW. 1,300 hrs., 80 volunteersA free, 3-day show featuring about 300 taxa of cut or potted wildflowers (native and non-native); classtours; guided walks in the dunes; displays of invasive weeds, insects, dune and redwood forest habitats,and edible plants; presentations by Native Americans, an herbalist, a landscaper, and a taxonomist; anartists' evening. 800 visitors.NATIVE PLANT GARDENING. 530 hrs.,40 volunteersPlant sales. Two. One at the wildflower show in May, the other at Arcata Marsh during North Country Fairin September. Sales $5,300; profit $4,850, our biggest source of revenue. Plants are both volunteergrownand nursery-grown sold on commission. Communicating with growers, providing soil, pots, andstarts (10 hrs; 2 volunteers). Growing plants (200 hrs; 20 volunteers). Staffing plant sales (80 hrs; 30

volunteers)Native Plant Consultation Service. Visited 8 properties to identify their natives and invasives and tosuggest plantings. (Coordinating: 5 hrs, 1 volunteer. Consultations: 32 hrs; 7 volunteers)Landscape and maintain a garden bed on Arcata Plaza (10 hrs; 4 volunteers)Humboldt Botanic Garden. Represent native plants on the Plant Health Committee and work withplants (32 hrs, 1 volunteer)Humboldt Coastal Nature Center living roof. (20 hours; 1 volunteer)“Healthsport” garden (52 hrs; 1 volunteer)Lectures to garden groups, CNPS, Audubon, etc. About 24 lectures (72 hours; 1 volunteer)Yahoo! group. Moderating it. (5 hrs; 1 volunteer)Workshops. Three—propagation and plant siting. (8 hrs; 2 volunteer)PLANT SCIENCE. 467 hrs.; 13 volunteersField guide to redwood forest flora, research and writing. (355 hrs; 6 volunteers)Cost-share agreement with Six Rivers National Forest. Field work, background research, and writingconservation assessments and other studies of rare plants. (100 hrs; 5 volunteers)Restoration Monitoring of Wood Creek Wetland Restoration for Northcoast Regional Land Trust (12hrs; 2 volunteers)

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME: Orange County YEAR: 2011WE ARE REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONReport Prepared by Brad Jenkins, Chapter PresidentCHAPTER OVERVIEWThe chapter organizes activities under primary mission areas: Horticulture,Conservation, Science, Education, and Exploration. For outreach thesefunctions are shortened to “CNPS: Explore – Grow – Research – Protect”, orto show our location focus, Protect OC, etc. Additional key teams areMembership, Communications/Publicity, Book Sales, and Finance.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES (Please describe the activities sponsored by your chapter, thenumber of people who attended (both members and non-members), and the approximatenumber of volunteer hours required to organize these activities. Do not include hoursattending programs or field trips except for those persons leading or organizing them. )1. Board Meetingsa. # of meetings: 10 regular meetings and one planning meeting held during thesummer for 2011.b. Board Members: 4 officers and 4 at-large directors.c. Volunteer hours for officers, chairsi. President (Jenkins): 55 hoursii. VP (Camp): 60 hoursiii. Treasurer (Mabley):iv. Secretary (Heuler): 82v. At-Large 1 (Jayne): 40vi. At-Large 2 (Kutcher): 40vii. At-Large 3 (Songster): 40viii. At-Large 4 (Shilk): 352. Field TripsJanuary 12 – Laguna Beach Hills: A science based trip to view rarely seenOphioglossum californicum and other plants. Approximately 15 attendees. Lead, BobAllen, 3 hours.March 26 – Whiting Ranch Wilderness Park (Allen)

April 10 – Limestone Canyon: Irvine Ranch Conserverancy tour in the Santa AnaMountain foothills. (Burger)May 15 – Tyke Hike at Nix Nature Center, Laguna Coast Wilderness (Jayne)May 28 – San Onofre State Park: search for Ferocactus viridescens (Allen)2. ProgramsOverview: Meetings are held at the “Duck Club”, a house like building surrounded bywater district retention ponds and acres of native plants in a wildlife friendly setting. Weusually have pre-speaker tables for membership, hospitality, and conservation. Additionalinterest tables often include plants for sale, information, or activities. Attendance isbetween 40 and 80+ people per meeting. The room is free, but must be scheduled wellin advance. Approximate total preparation volunteer hours: 120Details (Program Chair-Dan Songster)Date: January 20, 2011Speaker: Barbara EisensteinSubject: Now you have planted it-How to help it grow!Approximate attendance: 75+Honorarium: $125.00Date: February 17, 2011Speaker: Dr. Peter BryantSubject: California native plant gallsApproximate attendance: 68Honorarium: None requiredDate: March 17, 2011Speaker: Dr. Allan SchoenherrSubject: Wild and Beautiful-A Natural History of Orange County’s Open SpacesPresentation and Book SigningApproximate attendance: 80+Honorarium: None requiredDate: April 21, 2011Speaker: Laura CunninghamSubject: A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of CaliforniaPresentation and Book SigningApproximate attendance: 70Honorarium: $200.00Date: May 19, 2011Speaker: Chris Barnhill

Subject: Humble, Neglected & Ignored-Underused natives for the adventurousgardener(Meeting Held at the Fullerton Arboretum)Approximate attendance: 65Honorarium: None requiredDate: June 16, 2011Speaker: Bart O’BrienSubject: Reimagining the California LawnPresentation and Book SigningApproximate attendance: 80+Honorarium: None requiredDate: September 15, 2011Speaker: Lili SingerSubject: Natives that will work in your garden!Approximate attendance: 78Honorarium: $125.00Date: October 20, 2011Speaker: Ron VanderhoffSubject: Off the Path with Ron: Native Plant Adventures in the Wilds of OrangeCountyApproximate attendance: 72Honorarium: None requiredDate: Nov. 17, 2011Speaker: Bob AllenSubject: Native Plant Associations (Bugs, Butterflies, and Birds) with thoughts onWildscapingApproximate attendance: 70Honorarium: None requiredDate: Dec. 15, 2011Speaker: Thea Gavin and the Whole Crowd!Subject: The Brilliant North Rim: Poems and Images from a barefoot Artist-inresidencein the Grand Canyon and our annual Members TurnApproximate attendance: 62Honorarium: None required4. Newsletter# of issues: 6Volunteer hours to compose and edit: 20

Cost: Approximately $2,000 to print and mail5. Public Outreach Events (For each event describe the nature of events/volunteershours/public contacts)March 15-17 – Green Scene, CSU Fullerton Arboretum: community Earth Day andplant related booths. CNPS booth provides information and sells plants and books.Estimate two hundred personal public contact touch points with more seeing ourpresence. Volunteer Hours: 60.Native Plant Week: Hand delivered wildflower bouquets to 5 of Orange Counties statelegislators. (Kutcher)April 28 – May 1 – South Coast Plaza Spring Garden Show: Large public gardenshow in a three story mall. Chapter teams with Tree of Life Nursery to provide nativeplant information, and sell plants and books. Hundreds of public contact touch points.Volunteer Hours: 75.May 7 – Garden Tour: Twelve gardens were included in this one day tour. We do notcharge for this tour. The top garden was visited by over 200 people. Volunteer hours:100July 22 – Orange County Fair: Man booth set up by “Friends of Harbors, Beaches,and Parks”. Assisting with booth allows CNPS material to be shown during whole fair,and provides extra outreach during day we are present. Volunteer Hours: 20.Other Simple Talk or Tabling Events: 3 (Kutcher)6. Education Efforts (Special outreach to teachers or students, grants to grad students; inservicetraining for teachers; donation of education materials to schools; curriculumdevelopment/#volunteer hrs./project)Primary activity: Review of sites and consideration of applicants for our Acorn Grantfor school gardens by Sarah Jayne and others. Volunteer Hours: 20.7. Conservation (# of volunteer hours/most important issues the chapter has workedon/types of conservation activities (review documents, attend hearings, etc.),coalitions/cooperators with whom you worked)# of Hours: 500+ (Kutcher)Most important issues: In 2011, wrote support letters for &/or signed-on toletters originated by OC Green Vision to promote use of transportation tax funds topurchase properties from willing sellers for preservation, & for restoration ofproperties already preserved.

Types of conservation activities (review documents, attend hearings, etc):GENERAL:Wrote regular Conservation Reports, monthly for chapter board and bimonthly forpublication in chapter Newsletter.Advised and commented on local rare plants and habitats, links and sources for howCEQA, agencies and the habitat conservation process works, etc. to inquirers re awide variety of issues.DOCUMENTS REVIEWED, LETTERS WRITTEN/SIGNED-ONCenter for Biological Diversity letter opposing the LEAPS project on east slope ofSanta Ana Mts.Support for inclusion of the Proposed Natural Lands Acquisition and Open SpaceConservation Strategy in the 2012 RTP/SCS, Southern Calif. Ass’n of Gov’ts.Coastal Development Permit Application No. 5-10-168, Sunset Ridge Park Project,City of Newport Beach.Newport Banning Ranch DEIR, City of Newport Beach.Support for Agreement for Purchase of 100 acres of native vegetation contiguous tothe Cleveland National Forest boundary, County of Orange.Initial Study and Mitigated Negative Declaration, Bolsa Chica Lower MesaRestoration Project.Support for S. 826/H.R. 1907, Infrastructure Facilitation and Habitat ConservationAct of 2011.Revegetation of ocean-facing slope at 1013 Buena Vista, San Clemente CA, CoastalCommission Notice of Intent to Issue Permit, Application No.: 5-10-062.Oppose rollbacks on CEQA.Support for Weed Management Area funding.Request that Sara Wan be re-appointed to the California Coastal Commission.Required FMZ clearing conflict with Coastal Commission’s Consent RestorationOrder for native habitat restoration on Hobo-Aliso Ridge, City of Laguna Beach.ATTENDED:State CNPS Conservation conference calls, generally monthly.Quarterly meetings of OC Parks senior staff with enviro-group stakeholders; themeetings are organized by OC Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks.OC Green Vision Workshops.Storm Water Best Management Practices Workshop, OC Watersheds Program.Quarterly South Orange County Watershed Management Area Executive Committeemeetings, & occasional forums.COALITIONS/COOPERATORS WORKED WITH:Endangered Habitats League (SoCal issues)Friends of Harbors, Beaches & Parks/OC Green Vision (OC Parks and relatedissues)

Hills for Everyone (Chino-Puente Hills)ORCA (Organization of Coastal Activists; coastal issues)Sierra Club entities:1. Banning Ranch Task Force (Newport Banning Ranch and environs)2. Friends of the Foothills (San Mateo Creek watershed)3. Hobo-Aliso Ridge Task Force (Aliso/Wood Canyons Wilderness Park andenvirons)4. Orange County Conservation Committee (general OC issues)5. Santa Ana Mts Task Force (Forest Service issues, LEAPS, tunnel)6. SPON (Stop Polluting Our Newport; Newport Beach City Hall and Park,other area issues)8. Work Parties (# of work parties/nature of project(s)/ # participants/ volunteerhours)Minimal to None.9. Legislative Activity (What issues or bills did your chapter work on/type of contact (i.e.visits to legislators, written communication, letters to the editor, petitions, pressconferences) legislative contacts with reps and staff/#volunteer hours.)Minimal to None.10. Plant Science – Rare Plant ProgramPresented in field trips, newsletter articles, and monthly membership meeting speakersand special tables (plant id, bug plant relationship…)11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows (Does your chapter have a plant sale? wildflowershow?/#volunteer hrs./ how many people attended each event/ any interesting/usefulideas to share.)October 8 – Member Day at Tree of Life Nursery: Plant sale event was held tobenefit current members, attract new ones, and educate the public. Discounts wereprovided (on plant sales) to new and current members, and educational talksdesigned to provide valuable information to members and the public. We lucked outwith beautiful weather. Five talks were held which attracted an average of 15-25people per talk. The plant sale attracted hundreds of people, and parking lots werefull and sales areas active. An informational booth provided a flyer for the talks andother CNPS info and displays. 20 new members were signed and 15 were renewed.Estimated volunteer hours: 7012. Other Activities:Website: Transferred website to Joomla content management platform. (Shilk)Email distribution: Email newsletter produced monthly and distributed to 1000

contacts. (Camp, 40 hours).Facebook (Heuler, 8 hours)Media announcements, flyers (Heuler, 24 hours)Member appreciation event: combined with June member meeting. Festive foods,auctions, special speaker, and other special activities. Fundraiser for chapter. Estimatedvolunteer hours: 50Chapter Council Attendance: All four by delegate Heuler (236 hours), and boardmembers Camp and Jayne who also have state level roles. Most attended byConservation chair (Kutcher). Additional officers attended local meetings.13. Main concerns for your chapter. (What are the major challenges or problems facingyour chapter? Is this an ongoing situation, has it improved or gotten worse, what stepsdid you take to address the problem and did they help?)a. Finding time and volunteers to lead projects.b. Financial support: Chapters need more than a subvention to attract and retain asizable membership as well as carry out mission directed activities. The currentmembership “subvention” is highly inequitable.c. Loss of main fundraiser and income source (fall plant sale)

OVERVIEW OF REDBUD CHAPTER - Please describe the main interests ofyour board and members. What are your chapter’s special strengths andaccomplishments?The interests are varied: Conservation, rare plants, native plant sales, field trips,producing regional plant books, growing native plants, native plant demonstrationgarden... The plant sales are probably the highlights of the year, with goodparticipation.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES - please describe the activities sponsored by yourchapter, the number of people who attended (both members and nonmembers),and the approximate number of volunteer hours required toorganize these activities. Do not include hours attending programs or fieldtrips except for those persons leading or organizing them.1. Board Meetings: # of meetings/year/volunteer hours for officers, chairsWe had 4 board meetings, for a total of 80 volunteer hours.2. Field Trips: # of trips: Please list locations/destinations/participants pertrip, volunteer hoursWe lead 11 field trips and averaged 12 people per trip, for a total of 132participants and 88 volunteer hours. We went to Independence Trail, Bruin Ranch,Hell’s Half Acre, Edward’s Crossing, Sagehen Creek, Washington, Onion Valley,“Sherwood Forest”, Donner Peak, and Donner Summit, and Lake Vera.3. Programs: # of program meetings: Please list subjects and speakers/ # ofattendees per meeting/expenses (i.e. room rental, speaker fees,hospitality supplies)We presented 4 evening programs and averaged 30 people per program for a totalof 120 participants. Speakers leading programs included Greg Kareofelaswhose topic was butterflies, Farrell Cunningham and Alicia Funk whose topicwas Maidu Indian Plant Names, Wade Belew whose topic was CaliforniaGrasslands, and an evening of member presentations. Our room rental is $330per year.4. Newsletter: # of issues/year/# of volunteer hours to edit/distribute/annualcostWe published 3 newsletters. Total volunteer hours = 100. Cost = $1200.5. Public Outreach Events: # of events: Please describe the nature ofevents/volunteers hours/public contactsOur Native Plant Demonstration Garden attracted an unknown number ofparticipants. A handout and signage provided education on-site. Volunteerhours = 100.

6. Education Efforts: special outreach to teachers or students, grants to gradstudents; in-service training for teachers; donation of education materialsto schools; curriculum development/#volunteer hrs./projectWildflower Identification Class, taught by L. Hanson and J. Marr, Information Booth atboth Plant Sales with special binders created by Chet Blackburn which describepropagation characteristics for all the plants we have sold at the Plant Sales for thelast decade. Started educational grants for 2012 Conservation Conference.7. Conservation: # of volunteer hours/most important issues the chapter hasworked on/types of conservation activities (review documents, attendhearings, etc.), coalitions/cooperators with whom you workedRefer to numbers 9 & 10...8. Work Parties: # of work parties/nature of project(s)/ # participants/volunteer hoursScotch Broom Pull, 25 volunteers, 75 volunteer hours.9. Legislative Activity: what issues or bills did your chapter work on/type ofcontact (i.e. visits to legislators, written communication, letters to theeditor, petitions, press conferences)legislative contacts with reps andstaff/#volunteer hours.Letters and contacts on conservation issues:-Loma Rica Ranch, (3 hrs. phone, emails)-GV planners about park on Idaho-Maryland (email letter, 1 hr.)-Homeless encampment at HHA, (phone calls and emails plus trip to site: 6 hrs.)Total: 10 hours, 1 volunteer.10. Plant Science – Rare Plant Program-Jan. 2011: Poster presentation at the Northern California Botanist Symposium, Chico.“What grows here? Building a plant list for Nevada and Placer Counties. 3volunteers, 16 hours total.-Apr 25, May 12. Mar 15, 2011: Meetings with biologist from Fish &Game and rep. fromCalFire. Surveys for rare plants near Nevada County Animal Shelter, 6 volunteers, 66hours total.-2011: Rare plant field surveys: Loma Rica NID project, (Juncus digitatus, Alliumsanbornii), Lowell Hill Road (Muilla, Boschniakia), Malakoff Diggins SHP(Lycopodiella, Drosera), Sand Pond, Fall Creek Fen (with Land Trust, Darlingtonia,Bryophytes), Donner (Erigeron miser), Pat Yore Flat (Darlingtonia, Bryophytes,Eriophorum, others), Rock Creek (Fritillaria eastwoodii, Cypripedium). Estimate 55hours & 7 volunteers.-2011: Plant herbarium collections and reports to the Natural Diversity Data Base: 10hrs., 2 volunteers.11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: does your chapter have a plant sale?wildflower show?/#volunteer hrs./ how many people attended eachevent/do you grow your own plants, if so %/any interesting/useful ideas toshareWe have two, one in the spring(Rocklin), and one in the fall(Grass Valley). Weattract about 800 participants, and our volunteer hours total 240.

12. Other Activities:-Joan Jernegan and Karen Callahan presented a slide show to the Chapter Councilmeeting. Total volunteer hours = 14.-April 16, 2011: Wildflower Identification Class, taught by L. Hanson and J. Marr. (25hours), prep for class, K. Loro, K. Callahan, B. Wilson (15 hrs.) Helpers- (10 hrs.).Total: 16 students, 6 helpers, and 2 teachers. 50 hours volunteer time.Please share your main concerns for your chapter. What are the majorchallenges or problems facing your chapter? Is this an ongoing situation,has it improved or gotten worse, what steps did you take to address theproblem and did they help?Our Board is slowly growing, and we have a new President and Treasurer! We areadding two member-at-large positions. Things are looking up!

CNPS SAN DIEGO CHAPTER ANNUAL REPORT – 2011Prepared by Kay Stewart, 2011 Chapter President,February 20, 2012The San Diego Chapter requests a subvention from the State CNPS.The report is organized alphabetically by Chapter activity, with a brief summary at the end.Book and Poster SalesThe Chapter has raised about $4700 through the efforts of sales table chair Cindy Burrascano,chair, assisted by member Sue Marchetti and others. The sale of books and other materialscontributed to the education of people in the San Diego Region. Income from the sale of 41different titles accounted for approx. $4200 of income, while t‐shirts, posters, cards, hats,seeds, and plants, earned the remainder. The table operated at each of the eleven generalmembership meetings, the October plant sale, and State Chapter Council Meeting inSeptember. Some sales were generated through Marie Barret in the eastern part of the chapterand Megan Enright through some north county chapter meetings as well as some sales at publicevents. In addition, books were ordered and receipts were tallied for the chapter’s treasurer.Poster Sales were passed to James Rader during the year. The volunteer effort for this essentialpart of the chapter activity is estimated at 100 hours of volunteer time.Chapter Council RepresentativeChapter member Dave Varner served as the Chapter Council Representative. He attended threeof four quarterly meetings, contributing around 75 hours including advance preparation andtravel.CNPS 2012 Conservation ConferenceThe chapter was pleased to continue to prepare for the 2012 state Conservation Conference.Vince Scheidt continued to serve as the chair of the state level steering committee, while CNPSmember Dick Miller headed the local arrangements committee and organized monthlymeetings to coordinate with the state staff, event planner, and Chapter members/volunteers.Many members helped planning: of particular note, members Dave Varner headed the PublicDay planning; Dick Miller chaired the AV committee; Isabelle Kay helped locate studentvolunteers; Carolyn Martus planned field trips; Michelle Cox helped organize volunteerassignments; Kay Stewart served as chapter liaison; Stephanie Shigematsu arranged for silentauction donations in the chapter; and Meghan Dinkins, Scott Jones, and Taylor Parker alsocontributed hours to planning. These many volunteers donated a conservative estimated 200hours in 2011.In addition, the following 27 Public Day presenters donated an estimated 4 hours ofpreparation time by years’ end (the actual presentation donation time should be reported in

next year’s 2012 Annual Report.): Connie Beck, Chris Brennan, Cathleen Chilcote Wallace, KaseyCinciarelli, Mike Evans, Anne Fege, Connie Flores, Shelley Glenn Lee, Mary Ann Hawke, PaulHerzog, Cindy Jenson‐Elliott, John Muir Laws, Mike Letteriello, Karen Mabb, Diane Nygaard,Nicole Olmstead, Kristie Orosco, Rose Ramirez, Gene Ratcliffe, Greg Rubin, Abe Sanchez,Deborah Small, Kay Stewart, Sean Telles, Jeanne Waterford, Erika Weikel, Ryan West; for atotal of over 100 hours of donated time in addition to the 200 hours noted above, for anestimate 300 hours of donated volunteer time in 2011 for planning for the ConservationConference.ConservationThe Conservation committee was chaired by Carrie Schneider with transfer at the end of theyear to Frank Landis. Ten monthly meetings were held. The six active members wrotecomment letters regarding developments or plans in the City of San Diego (the PEIR for MasterStorm Water System Maintenance Program, Gables Carmel Valley), San Diego County (RanchoNuevo Major Subdivision, Howland TPM, and Wind Energy Zoning Ordinance and General PlanAmendment), and Federal (revised critical habitat for Monardella viminea and taxonomicrevision for Monardella linoides and South Coast Draft Resource Management Plan andEnvironmental Impact Statement). Committee members testified at public hearing involvingchanges to the City of San Diego Land Development Code and on the vernal pools HCP revision.The City of San Diego was questioned about the use of a CEQA exemption to carry out sewerreplacement projects in MSCP conservation land near Alvarado Court. No reply was received.A letter was sent to Mayor Voepel of the City of Santee, reviewing the failure of atransplantation project for smooth tarplant (Centromadia pungens ssp. laevis) which wasmitigation for the Santee Trolley Square Commercial Center. Only one out of three transplantedsites could be considered successful. Remarkably, we received a response from Mayor Voepelagreeing with our assessment, stating that there was no long‐term funding mechanism toensure survival after the 5‐year mitigation period had ended (and that the City continued toattempt restoration at a County‐owned site in a wetland preserve).The Legal Fund was grown to $6700 by donations from chapter members.The committee continued to participate in the development of the Environmental QualityReport Card for the City of San Diego Council members, by recommending issues forconsideration by Strategic Community Consulting group and providing background informationon issues. The committee also prepared a Chapter Poster for the 2012 Conservation Conference(titled Supporting Community Habitat Programs in San Diego).The conservation volunteers contributed an estimated 400 hours.Executive Board

Executive Board officers were ; Kay Stewart, President; Tom Oberbauer, Vice‐President; TomBeltran, Secretary; and Connie di Girolamo, Treasurer. The Executive Board held elevenmeetings in 2010. The President donated an estimated 200 hours to Board‐related activities.Including responding to chapter committee needs, writing six “Prez Sez” columns, preparing forand chairing the monthly board meetings. The Vice President donated an estimated 60 hours,including organizing board elections. The Secretary donated an estimated 100 hours, preparingminutes and other board correspondence and packages for the meetings. The Treasurerdonated an estimated 200 hours, including 10 hours per month for routine bookkeeping plusadditional time spent on annual budget planning, helping the chapter experiment with using acredit card reader for plant sales, and coordinating with the Garden Committee on the use ofPayPal. The estimate of combined hours donated by the Executive Board was therefore 560hours.‐ Non‐Executive Board MembersThe participation of board members in Chapter monthly board meetings was very high, witheight to ten members at every meeting, and advance preparation clearly having been done, asboard members were familiar with the contents of the agendas. Therefore, an estimate of timedonated by the board members to Chapter operations can be estimated conservatively at 150hours.Field TripsThe Chapter organizes and leads two kinds of field trips. One type is called plant walks, for thegeneral public, to help people learn to identify and to appreciate common native plants in localcanyons and open space areas. The public plant walks are organized by, and under theleadership of, member Paul Hormick. An additional monthly public plant walk in TecoloteCanyon has been led by members for years. The other Chapter field trips to wildland sitesscattered all over San Diego County, are for members, and emphasize botanical study andtaxonomy. These trips are organized by Kay Stewart. Botanists volunteer time to lead thesewalks. Nine volunteers led eighteen public plant walks in 2011. Approximately 200 members ofthe general public participated in these 18 events. Seven members’ botanical/taxonomic fieldtrips drew approximately 90 participants. The estimated donated time for both kinds of Chapterfield trips (including preparing plant check lists and time spent on publicity), was approximately300 hours.HospitalityThree volunteers on the Hospitality Committee, led by chair Betsy Cory, set up and providedfood at ten monthly chapter meetings and our annual holiday party in December. Thevolunteers donated approximately 70 hours to setup, cleanup, and buying supplies, food, anddrinks.Invasive Plants

2011 was the second full year for this committee. The goal is to provide volunteer services toopen space parks needing help with exotic plant populations, and to use the activity to trainCNPS volunteers to become knowledgeable weed workers. Topics covered include safetyconsiderations, herbicide labels, drilling techniques for palms, and cut‐stump herbicideapplication. These topics are covered within the context of habitat restoration, stewardshipand fire prevention. Many people have participated, with a core of about five people who havecome consistently to care for the half‐dozen open space sites. An estimated 400 field hourswere volunteered by Committee Chair Arne Johanson and weed control volunteers.GardeningThe Gardening committee, under the chairmanship of Susan Krzywicki, continued to refine itsmission to educate chapter members and the general public by offering nine “Natives forNovices” gardening workshops before the monthly meeting (organized by Sue Marchetti) andproducing 15 gardening fact sheets, part of an anticipated series of 40. We have completed onenew school garden under the direction of Jim Rader: Park Village Elementary. Natives forNovices, and Fact Sheet development, Fourteen active committee members, led by chairpersonSusan Krzywicki, volunteered an estimated 320 hours for these activities.The Gardening Committee members started planning a native garden tour for April 2012.Under Clayton Tschudy, the garden tour planning had made great progress in 2011. Web pageswere designed and registration via PayPal was scheduled to go live by February 2012, at whichtime income from ticket sales will be possible. Master Gardeners and students at two highschools are volunteering to serve as site docents for each home garden on the tour. Training fordocents will begin in March 2012.$2500 had been committed by several sponsors by years’ end. Allied environmentalorganizations and businesses will have tables and conduct sales at the tour’s two startinglocations. Chula Vista Nature Center has donated their beautiful space for a VIP Party beforethe tour. An estimated 270 hours were spent by year’s end planning the Garden Tour.Two public native plant gardens are being under CNPS gardening committee direction. MemberWes Hudson has continued to develop the North Park Native Plant Demonstration Garden, andPeter St. Clair and Kay Stewart coordinate monthly work parties at the Old Town State ParkNative Plant Garden. These activities, including publicity, have resulted in over 300 hours ofdonated volunteer time.The Gardening Committee has enabled 890 donated volunteer hours through these variousworks.Newsletter

CNPSSD Editor, Bobbie Stephenson, suggested to the Board that the newsletters be publishedeach month of the year since there is always so much information to be included, and theBoard agreed. Therefore, twelve issues of the chapter newsletter, each eight pages long, wereproduced and distributed during 2011. The September issue included a separate one pageflyer for the fall plant sale and the October issue included a separate ballot for the chapterelections. The newsletter advertised chapter meetings, field trips, the 2012 CNPS ConservationConference, and other CNPS activities; provided reports from committee chairs; and includedarticles submitted by members, particularly a series of multi‐page articles on various aspects ofSan Diego County botany by Tom Oberbauer and a wildfire article by Rick Halsey. In addition,one month members were encouraged to submit any concerns about the newsletter andwhether they thought any changes needed to be made. The feedback was that people like thenewsletter and a couple of people said they particularly like the more in depth articles wherethey can learn more about native plants. Kay Stewart urged the use of more pictures andgraphics in the newsletter. A controversial issue arose when a reference about wildfire in oneof Mr. Oberbauer’s articles was challenged by Mr. Halsey. The result of the controversy was aprocess that laid out the steps if another such controversy arises, and a policy for thenewsletter that states,“The newsletter is not peer reviewed and any opinions expressed are those of the authoridentified at the end of each notice or article. The editor is allowed to edit submissions toimprove factual accuracy, improve readability, to shorten them to fit in the newsletter space,and to reduce liability of CNPS to legal challenges that arise from submission. The author hasfinal say if the article is to appear in the newsletter as edited. In the event that an article, asedited, is not satisfactory to the author, the author can then appeal to the board.”Slowly more chapter members are choosing to receive the electronic version of the newsletter:by year’s end, 71 members, around 10%, had chosen that option.Bobbie Stephenson volunteered an estimated 190 hours working on the newsletter andcoordinating with submittal writers. Time donated by volunteer members who have writtenarticles has not been estimated, but could amount to another several hundred hours.OutreachThe Public Outreach committee, headed by chair Margy Day, used the Chapter’s two tabletopexhibits so volunteers could attend concurrent events, since April and May are filled withweekend outdoor events. The exhibits were displayed around San Diego County. Theseincluded Earth Day, San Diego Horticultural Society, Mount Helix Environmental Fair, San DiegoScience Teachers’ Conference, Tecolote Canyon Baskets and Botany, and UCSD and CuyamacaCollege events. A conservative estimate of 180 hours of volunteer time (including travel) wasexpended for outreach at these numerous events.The first annual Native Plant Week in April was celebrated for the first time in 2011. MemberFrank Landis organized a Native Plant Art Contest to choose a San Diego native plant image topublicize Native Plant week. Thirty‐four entries were received (photographs, manipulated

photos and paintings) and presented at the March general meeting. The people attending thatmeeting then voted for their favorite. James Soe Nyun's "Chalk Dudleya, Budding Out," was thewinner. However a volunteer failed to collaborate as expected, and the image was not used for2011 Native Plant Week publicity. The image was, however, printed on 100 t‐shirts for the fallplant sale. If all the t‐shirts sell at $15 each, these sales will net approximately $411 over thecost of production, and the wearers will publicize CNPS, the San Diego chapter, and the beautyof native plants quite nicely.Frank Landis concluded that many talented artists are within the CNPSSD region. The Chaptercould benefit if it could tap this talent pool in the future. However, CNPSSD failed in thisinstance to use the artwork to advertise the beauty of native plants for Native Plant Week,despite the hard work of Frank and other volunteers. These volunteers donated an estimated60 hours on this worthwhile project, not including the volunteer efforts of the artists whosework was submitted.Plant PropagationThe Plant Propagation committee, under co‐chairs Connie Beck and Amy Huie, is a cooperativeeffort between CNPS volunteers and the City of San Diego Parks and Recreation Department.Approximately 1200 plants have been successfully propagated with plants being donated tothe CNPS fall sale, and for use in Balboa Park's native display garden. Plants have also beenmade available to the Park Rangers for their planting projects in the park and in open spaceareas. Sixteen volunteers, with an average of eight on every 3‐hour work‐party day, led by cochairs,met 10 times at the Kate Sessions nursery in Balboa Park during the year, donating atotal of approximately 90 hours.Plant Sales: The San Diego Chapter participates in two plant sales every year.‐ Spring Plant SaleChair Kirsten Olafson helped coordinate the annual spring plant sale at Tree of Life Nursery(TOLN) on March 5, 2011. There were 7 chapter members assisting TOLN staff with plant salesand education, with 1 of these volunteers speaking on the topic of “Natives for Wildlife.” TOLNgenerously donated 20% of the plant sales from the day to the San Diego chapter. Thesevolunteers contributed approximately 45 hours of effort. In addition, publicity efforts took atleast another 25 hours of volunteer time. This included design and production of a flyer,distributing the flyer to various locations in the county, and sending out online announcementsand postings of the sale.‐ Fall Plant SaleThe biggest chapter event of the year is the Fall Plant Sale, chaired by Carolyn Martus withsubstantial assistance by Mary Kelly and too many others to name. Between volunteers

planning the plant sale, ordering plants for day‐of‐sale sales as well as advanced sales, ten tofifteen members growing plants, ten members tagging plants at three nurseries before the sale,a group of volunteers orders, collects and packages all the seed, and the day of sale, fiftyvolunteers assisting with unloading, setting up, selling and loading the plants, and cleaning up,the estimate of hours is 1,000.ProgramsThe ten general membership meetings held in the Casa Del Prado in Balboa Park were plannedby Program chair Claude Edwards, including inviting, writing notices and working with publicity,hosting the speakers for a pre‐program dinner, and being MC at the meeting. Claude donatedan estimated 60 hours.PublicityThe Publicity Chair Pat Fishtein has worked publicizing chapter meetings, pre‐meeting seminarsand canyon walks in print and electronic media. Roland Roberge has been consistentparticipant by helping with his computer skills. About 90 hours of volunteer time weredonated.Rare PlantsFred Roberts, the chapter’s Rare Plant Botanist, did not provide an estimate of his hours in2011, but his activities helping San Diego, Riverside, and Orange County CNPS continuedunabated. In 2010 he estimated he spent over 60 hours on behalf of San Diego’s rare plants.The same number would be reasonable to assume for 2011.Rare Plant SurveyThe 2011 Rare Plant Survey Committee is chaired by Frank Landis, who chaired in 2010 and willcontinue in 2012. For the second consecutive year, his committee’s efforts won second place inthe state's rare plant treasure hunt.This year, the rare plant survey focused on CNPS‐listed plants growing on coastal sand dunes.The survey locations were: Silver Strand State Beach, Silver Strand Elementary, Fiesta Island,Black’s Beach, Torrey Pines State Reserve, Cardiff State Beach, and Batiquitos Lagoon.The committee found between 714,283 and 933,172 dune plants. The estimate range is due tothe fact that some populations (particularly at Silver Strand State Beach) were too big to countdirectly and needed to be estimated. Averaging among low and high population estimates,volunteers found approximately 10,000 Robinson's pepper‐grass (Lepidium virginicum var.robinsonii), 39,370 Nuttall's Lotus (Lotus nuttallianus), 768,722 coastal woollyheads(Nemacaulis denudata var. denudata), 4,414 Brand's phacelia (Phacelia stellaris), 327 red sandverbena (Abronia maritima), 63 spiny rush (Juncus acutus ssp. leopoldii), and 827 Woollyseablite (Suaeda taxifolia). Note that the first four species are all CNPS list 1B sensitive species,

while the last three are list 4. The committee reported the results to the landowners, who inthis case are State Parks (Silver Strand, Black's Beach, Torrey Pines, and Cardiff), CaliforniaDepartment of Fish and Game (Batiquitos), and City of San Diego (Fiesta Island), as well as tostate CNPS rare plants and to the California Natural Diversity Database. Dr. Landis used the2010‐2011 rare plant survey data as the basis for his talk at the 2012 CNPS ConservationConference.The eighteen volunteers on the committee collectively contributed over 152 hours working forthis committee.Seed CollectionThis committee disbanded in early 2011 due to the Chair experiencing time constraints.Vegetation MappingMember Anna Bennett continued to lead Vegetation Mapping events in 2011 but did notprovide an estimate of volunteer hours. In 2010 Anna organized a series of workshops to mapvegetation types and train volunteers in the transect procedures. The vegetation mappingresults are used to augment state records. Altogether in 2010 the volunteers donatedapproximately 600 hours of effort.WebsiteWebMaster Mary Alice Kessler continued to volunteer to maintain and update the Chapterwebsite at www.cnpssd.org. She had to expend extra effort collaborating with the web designfirm that was hired by the Gardening committee for the garden tour coming up in April 2012.Mary Alice estimated this resulted in her donating 200 hours in 2011.SummaryCNPS members and others contributed over 5,300 hours documented time plus an estimated660 hours that were not reported, to support the San Diego Chapter’s activities in 2011. Hoursdonated by Council Secretary Marty Foltyn and State Board member Vince Scheidt are nottallied with the Chapter volunteer efforts, and should be accounted for elsewhere, as thesewould be substantial contributions to CNPS.Concerns for the chapter are principally how to continue to sustain this high level ofparticipation, and to use these efforts to reach out to a broader segment of the general public,to encourage more people to participate in the appreciation and conservation of California’sflora.

SAN GABRIEL MOUNTAINS CHAPTERCalifornia Native Plant SocietyANNUAL REPORT 2011Prepared by Gabi McLean, Past PresidentTHE CHAPTER IS REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOverviewThis year, the San Gabriel Mountains Chapter increased its membership slightly, from 237members to 245, after last year’s dip in memberships a hopeful sign.Our outreach and education program consists of monthly program meetings, numerous fieldtrips and monthly plant walks, our annual native plant sale, maintenance of our web site, andrepresentation at local public events, generating interest and inquiries. The Chapter’snewsletter The Paintbrush is mailed to our members and posted on our website. The shortversion of our newsletter (one page, double sided, with program information and websitereference) we make available in nature centers, native plant nurseries, outreach events, andlocal libraries for free.We continued our plant survey in the Lily Springs area of the San Gabriel Mountains. This efforthas again significantly contributed to the success of the rare plant treasure hunt where ourchapter was awarded the Grand Chapter Prize as the chapter with the most volunteer hoursdocumented. Major participants in this survey, Jane Tirrell and Walt Fidler received prizes formost volunteer hours contributed by an individual, and Don Davis has taken the Grand Prize forteam or individual and 3 rd place in the photo contest.We participated in the native plant week in April and reached out with the presentations ofnative bouquets of wildflowers to several public places and a Gardening with Nativespresentation at a local library.We continue to see the need for a full time biologist who could represent our conservationinterests in the area. Our chapter continues to reserve funds in support of a paid position towork of those issues together with our neighboring chapters, but we have not raised enoughfunds and have not heard from other chapters. We would support a biologist position at thestate level that would concentrate conservation efforts in the deserts.We continue plant surveys in the San Dimas Experimental Forest, a restricted access area inthe Angeles National Forest, and participated in the Oak Woodland Strategic Alliance.1. Board Meetings:Chapter ActivitiesWe held six board meetings in 2011 (January, March, May, July, September, November). Onaverage, eight board members attended. Volunteer hours spent on planning, attending, andwriting minutes totaled at least 146 hours. Board meetings have been held at Eaton CanyonNature Center, and at two local libraries.1

2. Field Trips:Winter:January 8, California Garden at Descanso Gardens, with Rachel Young, 26 peopleFebruary 5, Powder Canyon, Habitat Authority Wilderness Reserve, La Habra Height, 27March 5, Restoring the Palos Verdes Blue Butterfly and Native Plants at Friendship Park, SanPedro, 10March 10, Etiwanda Preserve for Chapter Council, 3Spring:April 8, Pebble Plains, canceled - bad weatherApril 30, Bob’s Gap Road, Theodore Payne Wildlife Sanctuary and Black Butte, 20 peopleMay 7, L. A. County Arboretum, Tallac Knoll Engelmann Oak Grove and Nursery, 7May 21, Barrett-Stoddard Road, San Antonio Canyon, cancelledJune 4, Hwy 2 and Santa Clara Divide Road, 15June 18, Hwy 39 above Crystal Lake, 15Summer:July 9, Lily Springs Area Survey Introduction, Islip Saddle, Angeles Crest Hwy, 16July 23, Bug Safari, Nature Center at Fullerton Arboretum, 9August 13, Blooms and Butterflies, One-way car tour on Angeles Crest Hwy, 22August 27, Lower Arroyo Seco, 14September 10, High Country Berry trails, 4September 24, West Fork, 0Fall:October 22, Fall Color in Baldy Canyon, Barrett-Stoddard Road, 4December 3, Meet the Sumac Family, Marshall Canyon, cancelledTotal field trips offered: 18Total field trip attendance: 192Total volunteer hours: 144In addition to the very successful field trips listed above, most of them lead by naturalist JaneStrong, we conducted monthly Native Plant Walks for the public at Eaton Canyon in Pasadena.The Plant Walks are supported by the Eaton Canyon Nature Center, and are promoted throughthe center and chapter publicity. Attendance varied from 6 to 16. Volunteer hours total 40.In addition, we partnered with the Natural Science Section of the Sierra Club who offeredseveral botany walks in our area, as well as a weekend Nature Knowledge Workshop in June.These outings were led or assisted by CNPS chapter members Cliff and Gabi McLean, MickeyLong, and Ginny Heringer. Average attendance at the botany walks was 15 per outing.Volunteer hours for these outings amounted to approximately 40 hours.Total volunteer hours for field trips, outings, and plant walks: 2243. Program Meetings:We conducted eight program meetings at Eaton Canyon Nature Center in 2011. We considerthose programs not only a resource for our members, but also public outreach and education.The yearly fee for the meeting place was $290.2

Refreshments are served and organized by our hospitality chair. Our membership chair sendsout e-mail reminders one week before the program. We also have printed, personalized nametags with the CNPS logo available for anyone who attends the program more than once.DateProgramJanuary 27, 2011 Gold Spotted Oak Borer, Tom Scott, 25February 24, 2011 Griffith Park Rare Plant Survey, Dan Cooper, 37March 24, 2011 Landscaping Plants for California Gardens, Bob Perry, 76April 28, 2011 Wildflower Areas of Southern California, Bart O’Brian, 55May 26, 2011Arroyo Seco Plants, Natural Communities and Habitat Values,Mickey Long, 58June 23, 2011 Will Environmental Regulation Save the Planet? Ty Garrison, 30September 22, 2011 Potluck Supper and Photographic Show and Tell, 42October 27, 2011 Reimagining the California Lawn, Bart O’Brian, 51In total, we had 374 attendees at our program meetings in 2011, including CNPS members andthe general public, an average of 47 per program. Volunteer hours for program preparation andpresentation, publicity, and hospitality amounted to 141 hours or more. We paid $500 inspeaker honoraria.4. Newsletter:The Paintbrush, SGM Chapter’s newsletter, was published four times in 2011, and eachcovered eight to ten pages, with interesting articles and illustrations. We have a two-personnewsletter team: Jane Strong has been serving as editor and layout person, the other teammember is responsible for assembly and distribution. This year, Andrea Edwards who printedand distributed the newsletter moved away and her tasks were taken up by Jane Strong andEva Morgan. The production of the newsletter - assembling material, research, layout, editing,proof reading, printing, folding, addressing, mailing - took about 50 hours per issue on average,for a total of 200 hours.Various members contribute articles and do proof reading. Volunteer hours for writing articleswere estimated at 35 per issue, total of 175 hours.The membership database serves as the distribution database and is maintained by ourmembership chair; maintaining this database took 12 volunteer hours in 2011.The cost of printing and mailing was $1,247. We print extra copies per issue to distribute atEaton Canyon Nature Center and Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (RSABG) as publicoutreach. Total volunteer hours were 387 hours.5. and 6. Public Outreach and Education Efforts:The SGM chapter conducts monthly Native Plant Walks for the public at Eaton Canyon inPasadena (included in field trips above).The chapter also provided outreach at the RSABG native plant sales in Claremont, in April andNovember 2011. Chapter members staffed a table, brought display material, handed outinformational and membership brochures, offered sign-ups for programs, and answeredquestions from the public.3

Board member Andrea Edwards and other chapter members represented CNPS and ourchapter at the Monrovia Environmental Fair in March 2011. This event provided opportunity toreach out mainly to students and teachers in our area.In April, our chapter participated at the California Native Plant Week. Members crafted smallnative plant bouquets and delivered them to libraries and other public places with informationaloutreach material. They were generally very well received. Members Cliff and Gabi McLeanalso gave a Native Gardening presentation at a local library that the City of Azusa organized forNative Plant Week.Volunteer hours for these events were approximately 52.We couple our program meetings also with education: For 30 minutes before the program, weoffer informal plant identification: we have some plant cuttings available – from the field, thepark, or native plant gardens - and members bring in plants or photographs and they arediscussed and identified by knowledgeable members. We identify native and non-native,invasive plants, and occasionally uncommon plants. This part of our program is very muchappreciated by people who are new to native plants. The volunteer hours are included in thereported hours for programs.7. Conservation:At the beginning of the year, a broad base of members participated in conservation efforts for 13acres of oak woodland that was to be destroyed to make space for sediment placement ofvarious debris basins and the Santa Anita dam in Arcadia, CA. There was a public meeting, aplanning meeting, observation field trip to the woodland. Several members wrote individualletters to L.A. County Supervisor M. Antonovich, and the chapter also sent a letter and analysisto the supervisor’s office. Unfortunately, we were not successful. However, this effort broughttogether several environmental organizations and we are in contact to build a process where wecommunicate significant projects and environmental threats so that we can be more successfulin preserving native habitat. Estimated volunteer hours: 100At least one member participated regularly in the local Weed Management Area meetings tokeep up with current events and make connections to aid in our conservation and weed controlefforts. Total volunteer hours: 9The chapter continues to hold in reserve $3000 for a botanist position to work onconservation issues in southern California, together with other southern California chapters.San Dimas Experimental Forest (SDEF) Plant Survey:The chapter renewed its agreement with SDEF, a unit of the Angeles National Forest, to obtainaccess to and conduct field surveys on the premises of SDEF. Several field visits wereconducted and documented and Terry Keller delivered a written report on the survey results toSDEF. There were two survey visits during the year and the plant list for the locality wasexpanded by 40 species. This is an ongoing project. Total volunteer hours for 2011: 20.Oak Woodland Strategic Alliance:A delegate of our chapter, Orchid Black, and at least two other chapter members continue toattend the meetings of the Oak Woodland Strategic Alliance which is creating the OakConservation Plan for LA County. There were six meetings and a 1-day workshop. Togetherwith related research and activism, the volunteer hours for this project amounted to about 45hours.4

Station Fire Invasive Plant Survey project:Due to the unavailability of the Forest Service botanist, no work was done this year on thisproject.Total estimated volunteer hours for conservation: 1748. Work Parties:The chapter maintains the Becky Rothenberg Memorial Wildflower Garden at Eaton CanyonNature Center in Pasadena. Throughout the year, members continue weeding the Wildflowergarden to control the mustard, alyssum, and grass seedlings. More active participation would beappreciated. (10 hrs)Following our plant sale in November, we conducted a planting workshop where participantslearn and gain experience planting and maintaining native plants. We only had 8 participantsand were still able to put in 10 plants in the Becky Rothenberg Memorial Garden, and do somemaintenance work. (12 hrs)Total volunteer hours: 229. Legislative Activity:See Oak Woodland Strategic Alliance under Conservation.10. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows:We held our plant sale “Native Plants for Foothills Gardens” on November 12 at EatonCanyon Nature Center. We ordered more plants than in the previous year, but still sold 1047plants and had good fundraising success, with a net income of $3,565. We had plenty ofvolunteers, and, as in the year before, we coupled the plant sale with a very successfulmembership drive. The weather was excellent and we increased our outreach for the eighthyear in a row. We offered membership incentives by giving a 10% discount to all CNPSmembers for all purchases: the plants, seeds, Care and Maintenance books, chapter T-shirts,and two interpretive plant CDs of the San Gabriel Mountains, produced by chapter members.We recruited 24 new members at the plant sale.On the day of the event, 32 volunteers contributed expert advice, assisted sales, carried plants,conducted the membership drive, manned the cash register, and handled overall organization.Planning, plant selection and delivery, publicity, and other preparations also took considerabletime by the plant sale team, for a total of more than 300 volunteer hours.Public attendance was about 250 people, and 162 people bought plants. All plants werepurchased from local native plant nurseries. We continue to receive positive feedback about theplant sale, as this is seen as a convenience to acquire native plants locally and receive freeexpert information. We also advertised our free planting workshop that we conducted on thefollowing weekend (see above under work party).11. Other Activities:5

Rare Plants: Our Rare Plant chair advised the State CNPS botanist on several rare plant listingdecisions, attended the Rare Plant chair meeting, provided information to the public, andmaintained the rare plant list for Los Angeles County. Our rare plant co-chair represented thechapter in an interview with the Center for Plant Conservation. Volunteer hours: 17Plant Science: This year, our chapter continued the Lily Spring Area Survey.The Lily Spring Area Survey is repeating a phenology study conducted by Wayne Sawyer in1981, published in Crossosoma 13(1): 5-10, 1987. The study area has undergone substantialchange since 1981, including a decade of relatively dry conditions from 2000 to 2010 anddevastation by the 2002 Curve Fire. Preliminary results indicate that the 2011 floweringphenology for 95 angiosperms was not significantly different from that observed by WayneSawyer in 1981. However, the average bloom duration was longer in 2011, 8.6 weekscompared to 5.4 weeks in 1981, a difference that may be attributed to the effects of the CurveFire. The team noted twelve rare plants, four classified as 1.B and eight classified as 4.2 or 4.3.They also observed 130 angiosperm species whereas Sawyer listed 100 in his Crossosomapaper. The increased number of species in 2011 may be due in part to the presence of firefollowers such as Turricula parryi and Hulsea heterochroma and non-native species such asMelilotus albus and Sonchus oleraceus that were not listed in the original study. They alsonoted 17 angiosperms that are either new to the area or were previously overlooked.The project accumulated over 1100 hours of volunteer time and numerous reports of rareplants. This resulted in our chapter winning the Chapter Grand Prize in the Rare Plant TreasureHunt. Volunteer hours: 1,182Chapter Council Meetings: Our chapter co-hosted the chapter council meeting in March atRSABG, providing refreshments and volunteers, as well as a field trip. Our chapter councilrepresentative attended four chapter council meetings. Volunteer hours: 125Chapter Web Site, cnps-sgm.org: The chapter web site has been very successful ingenerating interest in CNPS; we get many inquiries from the public about native plants and ourprograms from people who visit the site. The web site has an extensive photo gallerydocumenting the plants and their habitats seen on our field trips. All chapter newsletters, sincethe inception of the chapter, are available on line. Total volunteer hours 40.Volunteer hours for financial reports and accounting: 51Volunteer hours for other activities, e.g. responding to inquiries the public: 30Volunteer hours for maintenance of membership database: 30Summary of Volunteer Hours: 2,9211) Board meetings: 146 9) Legislative: see conservation2) Field trips, outings, plant walks:224 10) Plant Sale: 3003) Program meetings: 141 11) Other: 1,4854) Newsletter: 387 Rare plants: 175 & 6) Public Outreach & Education: 52 Plant science: 11827) Conservation: 174 CCMtgs 1258) Work parties: 22 Website & other 1516

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME San Luis Obispo YEAR 2011NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT: David Chipping(President)WE ARE REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTER - Chapter interests of general membership remain dominatedby horticulture and native plant gardening, followed by taking field trips and learning a littlebit about nature and plant identification. The Board’s interests include conservation, K-12education, scientific botany and status of rare plants , photography, and identification ofplants on field trips. Many enjoy the monthly meetings and both the speakers and socialinteraction. The Board has constantly looked for ways to meet chapter member needs.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES1. Board Meetings: 5 meetings were held, distributed over different locations and usingabout 280 hours total in travel, preparation, and meeting time. The Board has beenattempting to spread the meetings geographically. In addition special subcommittee meetingstook 35 hours of time. Board Secretary used an additional 5 hours in preparing minutes, andTreasurer 100 hours ( maintaining accounts, making payments and deposits, annualstatement , room rental, cashier management for special events).2. Field TripsFebruary 26: Late Winter Burton Mesa Chaparral; March 5: Islay Hill, San LuisObispo; March 12, Reservoir Canyon and Bowden Ranch, San Luis Obispo; March 26,Coreopsis Hill; April 2, Annual Malcolm McLeod Memorial Field Trip Meeting to ShellCreek; April 6, CNPS member only Chimineas Ranch; April 9, CNPS / Sierra Club SpringLa Purisima Burton Mesa Wildflower Walk; April 16, Los Padres National Forest and CNPSFigueroa Mountain Trip; May 1, Morro Coast Audubon/CNPS joint picnic and field trips,Santa Margarita Lake; May 7 Joint CNPS/Sierra Club, Bishop Peak including FelsmanLoop; May 14, Field Trip to the San Joaquin Valley side of Tejon Ranch Conservancy; May21, CNPS/ City of SLO Trip to Guidetti Ranch; June 11 CNPS/ City of SLO Trip to IrishHills; June 19 Coon Creek Montana de Oro; July 10, Doc Miller’s Trip North County coastabove Arroyo de la Cruz; October 23, CNPS/ALPS joint field trip to Stadium Park andAdobe Springs, Atascadero; December 4 Joint CNPS/Sierra Club, Black Hill, Morro BayState Park; December 10, Fungal Foray, Cambria; December 10 Joint CNPS/Sierra Club,Oats Peak, Coon Creek LoopHours spent by Field Trip Coordinator (B. Waycott) and trip leaders -60 hours.

3. Programs: January: Annual Banquet, Speaker Bruce Baldwin on the Jepson ManualProject; February: Bob Stafford on the Carrizo Plain Ecological Reserve; March: SpecialNorth County Program- David Chipping/ Dirk Walters, The Carrizo Plain, A WildflowerWonderland ; April: Annual Shell Creek Field Meeting; May, Lisa Stratton on EcologicalRestoration on the UCSB Campus ; June, Dr. Charlie Knight on The Evolution of Trees,Seeds, and Stomata; October: Annual potluck and member photo show; November, RandyBaldwin on Native Plant Choices for the Garden; December, Daniel Gluesenkamp on newtools at CalFloraRecognitions and Awards:Included in the January Banquet Program were the Community Service Awards given toPete Sarafian and Yolanda Waddell of SWAP for their work on the Elfin Forest Preserve,and the Hoover Award given to Marlin Harms for service rendered to the SLO Chapterthrough photography.Meeting Expenses: The chapter donates a book as a gift to speakers, average retail value $30,with a total cost of $100-$120 to the chapter. Hospitality costs include diner for speaker andguest ($150), snacks for meeting ($100) and room rental ($500). The hospitality chair (M.Niles) gave 43 hours at general meetings in providing refreshments.The Annual Banquet requires many person hours on such things as contracts/insurance,table set-up, servicing the pot-luck with equipment, set up and clean up, table decoration etc.4. Newsletter: The editor creates 8 issues/year and a mailed banquet announcement. Thenewsletter editor spends 80 volunteer hours, and labeling and mailing takes about 80 hours.The annual cost is about $6,000. The newsletter always features an article and plant drawingsby D. Walters and B. Walters, totaling 45 person hours.The Chapter maintains a web site (http://www.cnps-slo.org/) and is contracting to have thesite maintained. A Facebook site is also maintained. Web page costs for maintenance anddesign are $1.316 and $25 for domain name.5. Public Outreach Events: CNPS volunteers had booths at Earth Day (10 person hours) ,had a sales and information table at Shell Creek during the peak wildflower weekend (April)(4 person hours), had a sales table and information at the Cambria Wildflower Show (April)(30 hours), had an information booth, and flower display at Paso Robles Festival of the Artsand Riverwalk (May) (20 person hours). Additional hours for maintaining displays etc. 20hours.California Native Plant Week started with Resolutions of Support from SLO County Boardof Supervisors (Chipping) and Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors (Blair). TheChapter coordinated the flowing activities: April 16: Guided tour of the Carrizo PlainNational Monument given by the Santa Margarita Community Forestry Gateway Committee;Butterflies and Native Plants Hike, Elfin Forest, Los Osos; April 17: Nipomo Native GardenTour, Wendy Brown Garden Tour; April 18: Bill Shearer Garden Tour; April 19 Mardi Niles

Garden Tour, San Luis Obispo Growing Grounds Open House; April 20 Susan GrimaudGarden Tour, Sweet Springs Nature Preserve Tour; April 21: Wendy Brown Garden Tour;April 22: Bill Shepard Garden Tour, Las Pilitas Nursery Open House; April 23 San LuisBotanic Garden Presentation (Niles, Waycott, Nowak)6. Education Efforts: The Chapter has established a scholarship program for students inhonor of Malcolm McLeod. Two scholarships of $500 each were awarded to students at CalPoly. The students gave a presentation of their projects at the June Meeting. Board membersHotaling and Krause have worked with staff at a continuation high school in Paso Roblesregarding a possible horticultural program for students. This constituted 10 hours of time.Board member Chesnut continues to work with Los Osos Middle School in theireducational native plant propagation program . The Chapter is working on an illustratedflora of the Carrizo Plains. Wholesale distribution of books has required 165 hours ofdonated time (L. Chipping).7. Conservation: 2011 was a relatively quiet year, as many development projects wereterminated or delayed due to the recession. Important issues included commenting andtestifying at meetings and during the CEQA process on two large solar projects in theCarrizo Plain, and tracking updates on county general plan documents, and several largehousing projects that were eventually cancelled. The Chapter has two Board members(Walters, D. Chipping) on the board of the Friends of the Carrizo Plain, in order to betterwork with BLM in botanic and habitat conservation issues, There are also two boardmembers on the SLO County Water Advisory Committee (L. Chipping, D. Chipping).Lauren Brown represents CNPS on the county Weed Management Area Committee, and thechapter has a small program that attacks weeds in the county state parks and had pampasgrass removal project around rare plant habitat in San Luis Obispo. This totals 20 hours.For review of documents, EIR’s etc. For conservation actions involving CNPS alone, about400 hours. In addition CNPS Board members have commented as individuals.8. Work Parties: A work party removed has helped control veldt grass and long-leaf iceplant in the Los Osos area (40 hours).9. Legislative Activity: The Chapter did not address any Federal or Statewide issues at thelegislative level, with all work being at the county level. Hours at the County level areaccounted for in the Conservation section.10. Plant Science – Rare Plant ProgramSome chapter members are consultants working on plant conservation issues, but they havecontributed comment letters as individuals, interacted with state level mapping of the rareplants in the Carrizo Plain.11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: The Chapter has an annual plant sale and sales table inNovember. It netted $2196 after taxes on gross sales of $6948. It is on a new but highlyvisible site on county school grounds, with a small rent ($100). There were about 30

volunteers supervised by J. Nowak , totaling 400 hours.12. Other Activities:Book Table and Sales: H. and J. JohnsonMaintaining and ordering sales stock, transport and setup at meetings and other relatedactivities require about 80 person hours.Publications.J. Johnson is working with authors who are preparing botanic guides, and is advising onsame. These include a guide to plants on the SLO County coast, postcard productionprojects and more.Historian.D Walters spends about 5 hours as Historian.PublicityJ. Prostovich spends about 10 hours on Publicity for CNPS eventsRepresentative to Chapter Council:Lauren Brown estimates about 180 hours of work were associated with her work on thechapter board in this role.Please share your main concerns for your chapter.What are the major challenges or problems facing your chapter?Recruitment of young people as general members, and problems arising from manner inwhich membership data has been delivered from central office in Sacramento, resultingin increased volunteer work load.Is this an ongoing situation, has it improved or gotten worse, what steps did you take toaddress the problem and did they help?Recruitment is showing some improvement. Membership data issue is not getting better.

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME: Sanhedrin __YEAR 2011NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT:Vishnu /TreasurerWE ARE_X_REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTER - Please describe the main interests of yourboard and members. What are your chapter’s special strengths andaccomplishments?Main interest of Sanhedrin Board is in botanizing and in enabling, throughminimum effort, the Chapter to survive.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES - please describe the activities sponsored by yourchapter, the number of people who attended (both members and nonmembers),and the approximate number of volunteer hours required toorganize these activities. Do not include hours attending programs or fieldtrips except for those persons leading or organizing them.1. Board Meetings: # of meetings/year/volunteer hours for officers, chairsOne meeting in 2011, on January 27, 2011Five (5) Board members in attendance for a total of 12.5 hoursTreasurer volunteer hours in 2011 = 4 hoursSecretary =1 hr2. Field Trips: # of trips: Please list locations/destinations/participants pertrip, volunteer hoursNine (9 field trips with 127 participants and a total of 66.5 hrs of volunteerleadershipMontgomery WoodsMitro-Levine propertyJenner Headlands

Montgomery Woods/Big River JulyLow Gap / lichensLost ValleyLow Gap ParkRidgewood RanchRidgewood Ranch3. Programs: # of program meetings: Please list subjects and speakers/ #of attendees per meeting/expenses (i.e. room rental, speaker fees,hospitality supplies)NONE4. Newsletter: # of issues/year/# of volunteer hours toedit/distribute/annual costOne newsletter: Hours to produce & distribute = 20Cost: = $93.005. Public Outreach Events: # of events: Please describe the nature ofevents/volunteers hours/public contactsFour Events:1) Assistance with identification of native flora for a regional Wildflowerexhibit - 5 hours2) Lecture on Habitat Gardening for Wildlife using CA native plants - 8 hrs3) Redwood Valley Outdoor Education Project (RVOEP) 2 Sanhedrinmembers volunteered 15 hours4) Willits Little Lake Valley Meadowfoam count 36 hrs6. Education Efforts: volunteer hrs. = 45

7. Conservation: # of volunteer hours = 758. Work Parties: # of work parties/nature of project(s)/ # participants/volunteer hoursOne (1) Broom Pull on March 13, 2 participants = 8 hours9. Legislative Activity: NONE10. Plant Science – Rare Plant Program - NONE11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: does your chapter have a plant sale?wildflower show - NO12.Attached also is a Google Spreadsheet with a more accurate representationof the Sanhedrin member (mostly officers) hours spent on SanhedrinChapter business in 2011. The spreadsheet indicates 319 volunteer hours

TOTALS: NumbersEqual hours Meeting conservation education events/outreachfield trips leaderhours membership newsletter officer duties work partyCNPS Liaison wEnvironmentalGroupsPeter 9 35 11 5 30 5.5 7 0 0Vishnu 1 14 4 0 14 0 2 4Mark 0 18 10 4.5Chuck 6 25 12 8 4 30Marisela 12 10Kerry 4 8 16Dave 5Tara 4Rob 4 12 4 1Geri 4 12Marigold 2357 total hours 28 74 45 64 66.5 5.5 31 5 8 30157Participants intotal

We are requesting a subvention.California Native Plant Society - Santa Clara Valley ChapterSanta Clara County and Southern San Mateo Countywww.cnps-scv.orgChapter Activity Report – 2011Prepared by: Judy Fenerty, Chapter Council Representative 2011-2012, and Arvind Kumar, ChapterPresident 2011-2012.Membership: January 2011: 810, December 2011: 810 (confirmed by Ray Deutsch, Membership Chair)1. Board Meetings and Board Retreat: Six Chapter Board meetings were held in 2011.Attendance at our Board Meetings is good (we average 15 attendees). For the fifth year in a row,we held a well-attended Chapter Board Retreat in November, with 20 participants. This year theretreat was held over two days at Point Montara Lighthouse Hostel on the San Mateo Countycoast. The retreat gave us an opportunity to continue to discuss and refine our goals and strategy.We don’t usually have time for in-depth discussions at our regular board meetings, and it was agreat chance to further strengthen our friendships, and get to know our newer Board members aswell.Total Chapter Board Volunteer Hours: 1,3862. Field Trips: We continue to have an active and well-attended field trip program. We featuredmany trips in our local area, and had great hiking and camping adventures in other parts of ourstate as well.Field trips this year included: Ano Nuevo State Park (Pescadero), Crystal Springs Watershed(San Mateo County), Huddart County Park (Woodside), San Bruno Mountain (three times),Edgewood Preserve (Redwood City) (twice), Coal Mine Ridge (Portola Valley), Sunol RegionalWilderness (Alameda County), Hidden Villa Preserve (Los Altos Hills) (twice), Pulgas Ridge(Redwood City), Stile Ranch (south San Jose), Death Valley National Park (car camping), CoyoteRidge (south San Jose) (twice), Coyote Lake County Park (Gilroy), Grant Ranch County Park(east San Jose), South Valley Ecological Reserve (eastern Santa Clara County), WhitehouseCreek (San Mateo Coast), Blue Oak Ranch Reserve (east San Jose), Henry Cowell State Park(Felton), The Cedars (Sonoma County), Mount Madonna County Park (Gilroy), Alum Rock Park(east San Jose), Carson Pass (Sierras, car camping), Castle Rock State Park (La Honda), RanchoCanada Del Oro (Morgan Hill), Fountain Thistle field trips/service trips (San Mateo County)(twice), Calero Creek (Morgan Hill).For the first time, the chapter offered a field trip training course for new leaders, in addition tothree field trip planning meetings.Total Field Trip Volunteer Hours: 7283. Programs: Seven Chapter public programs/general meetings were presented this year on Fridayevenings at local libraries and community centers, with attendance ranging from 20 to 95. Inaddition to plant related programs, the meetings include introduction of chapter scholarshipwinners, presentations by school groups, announcements, book sales, plant discussion and keying,and hospitality. Our Program Committee continued to share the work of bringing excellentprograms to our communities.Santa Clara Valley Chapter 1 Activities Report 2011

Date Program Title Speaker Venue2/4/114/1/115/20/116/17/117/15/119/23/1111/12/11Members’ Night(Photography)Plant Demographics ofSanta Clara & San MateoCountiesCalifornia Native Plantsin School Gardens(Presentations and PanelDiscussion)Wildflowers of MontereyCountyEast Bay BotanicalPriority Protection AreasBotanical Work at theCalifornia Academy ofSciencesFlora East of the SierranCrest: A PhotographicJourney (Annual Potluck)Chapter Members,Kevin Bryant, HostAttend-anceLos Altos Library 62Toni Corelli Los Altos Library 90Vicki Moore, ClaireElliott, SusanStansbury, Chris NutterMichael Mitchell andRod YaegerHeath Bartosh and LechNaumovichLos Altos Library 51Los Altos Library 48Lucie SternCommunityCenter, Palo AltoFrank Almeda Los Altos Library 55Aaron SchusteffSubtotal: General Program Meeting Volunteer Hours: 240Shoup GardenHouse, Los AltosGardening With Natives (GWN): www.gardeningwithnatives.com. Over 35 GWN meetings,workshops, and programs were held this year, with an attendance ranging from 17 to 113 peopleat each talk, and a cumulative attendance of 1,473. These programs were held at librariesthroughout San Mateo and Santa Clara Counties, with the libraries often co-sponsoring theprograms and providing additional publicity and funding. The GWN Steering Committee wasexpanded, and met twice to plan programs. Many of the GWN programs were actually presentedby GWN Steering Committee members, as well as dozens of additional chapter volunteers.GWN meetings are very popular and have attracted many new people, including activevolunteers, to CNPS. A GWN Yahoo! group initiated in 2002 now connects over 1,130 people,and has become a reliable source of native gardening advice to those in our Chapter andthroughout the state.GWN classes and workshops were also held during our Wildflower Show and at the plant sale.Several members held workshops and presentations for neighborhood associations and gardenclubs, and Steering Committee members worked extensively with other groups, such as the GoingNative Garden Tour, the Bay Area Sustainable Landscape Coalition, and the Santa Clara ValleyWater District.Date GWN Program Speaker LocationAttend-ance1/11/11 Calochortus of California Ron Parsons Saratoga 502/3/11 Plants for Sunny Slopes Ken Himes San Carlos 422/16/11 Native Plant Gardening for Beginners Stephanie Morris Campbell 482/24/11 Gardening for BirdsToby Goldberg &Arvind KumarSan Carlos 223/2/11Garden Plants From Valley & FoothillWoodlands/Rancho San Antonio Field TripKevin Bryant Los Altos 403/8/11 Gardening for Wildlife Diversity Radhika Thekkath Fremont 603/15/11 Gardening Under Oaks, Garden Visit Alexandra Von Woodside 142095Santa Clara Valley Chapter 2 Activities Report 2011

Date GWN Program Speaker LocationAttend-anceFeldt, Tina Dreyer4/7/11 Garden Plants From Valley Grasslands David Amme Milpitas 444/11/11 Healthy Native Gardens, Healthy Creeks Josh Fodor Cupertino 174/15/11Year-round Interest in a Native PlantGardenSally Coverdell Half Moon Bay 244/16/11Success With Native Plants: A Beginner'sJourneyDee Wong Los Altos Hills 314/18/11 Caring for Oaks and Native Trees Barrie Coate Belmont 254/28/11 Native Plant Gardening for Beginners Fran Adams San Carlos 215/3/11 Garden Plants From the Redwood Forest Matt Teel Saratoga 255/6/11Biodiversity, Native Plants, and the HomeLos Gatos (FirstArvind KumarGardenerBaptist Church)255/14/11 Native Plants for Brisbane Gardens Geoffrey Coffey Brisbane 205/19/11 Habitat Gardening with Native Plants Nancy Bauer San Carlos 256/2/11 Native Plants for the Garden Chris Todd San Carlos 266/9/11 Gardening for BirdsToby Goldberg & San MateoArvind Kumar Garden Center356/14/11 Native Perennials for the Garden Stephanie Curtis Campbell 636/30/11 Container Gardening With Native Plants Pete Veilleux San Carlos 307/6/11 Irrigating Native Plants - Tips and Tricks Lori Palmquist Los Altos 667/12/11 ABCs of Native Plant Gardening Fran Adams Fremont 898/4/11 Garden Plants from Riparian Woodlands Deanna Giuliano Milpitas 158/8/11 Reimagining the California Lawn David Fross Cupertino 1139/6/11Care and Maintenance of California NativeGardensDee Wong Saratoga 689/27/11Biodiversity, Native Plants, and the HomeGardenerArvind Kumar Cupertino 3010/6/11 Replacing your Lawn with Native Plants Deva Luna San Carlos 4010/13/11Do-It-Yourself Native Plant Gardening I &IIDeva Luna Campbell 9210/15/11 Success With Native Plants Kevin Bryant Los Altos Hills 3010/20/11Do-It-Yourself Native Plant Gardening III& IVDeva Luna Campbell 6511/2/11A Library Native Plant Garden: A 20-yearPerspectiveTina Dreyer Los Altos 2511/8/11 Easy to Grow Native Plants Arvind Kumar Fremont 3012/1/11 Propagation Talk/Seed & Cutting Exchange Deanna Giuliano Milpitas 5212/11/11 An Ecosystem in Your Garden Jim Howard Cupertino 53Subtotal: GWN Program Volunteer Hours: 756Symposium: We also held the first California Gardens Symposium in our chapter February 2011at Foothill College in Los Altos. Speakers included Bart O’Brien of Rancho Santa Ana BotanicGarden, Bernard Trainor of Bernard Trainor + Associates, David Fross of Native Sons Nursery,Judith Lowry of Larner Seeds, Nevin Smith of Suncrest Nurseries, Paul Kephart of Rana Creek,and Dr. Glenn Keator of Merritt College. The one-day symposium was a great success in termsof attendance and funds raised, as shown in the following table.Santa Clara Valley Chapter 3 Activities Report 2011

California Gardens SymposiumSanta Clara Valley ChapterFebruary 19, 2011Speakers 7Tickets $50-$110Tours 2Attendance 300Committee Members 13CNPS Volunteers 12Foothill College Volunteers 11Volunteer-hours 400Surveys Received 172New Memberships 6Funds Raised $16,800Hort Scholarship Funded$500 per year for 3 yearsSubtotal: Horticulture Symposium Volunteer Hours: 400Total General Meeting and GWN Program Hours: 1,3964. Chapter Newsletter: Six chapter newsletters (The Blazing Star) were published and each issuewas mailed to more than 1,000 recipients. The newsletter was also sent in response to inquiries,placed on our chapter website, handouts at meetings, etc. Our newsletter continues to be anextremely critical outreach tool and has brought in new members and volunteers. It also serves,in combination with our website, as an invaluable archive of our Chapter.Total Chapter Newsletter Hours: 4735. Public Outreach Events: We tabled at more than a dozen public outreach (tabling) events thisyear, including Earth Day events and environmental education fairs, with great coordination byOutreach Event Coordinator (and Chapter Vice President) Toni Gregorio-Bunch. We alsoteamed with other Bay Area chapters for the San Francisco Flower & Garden Show.Date Event LocationMarch San Francisco Flower and Garden Show San Mateo Event CenterApril Pacheco State Park Spring Wildflower Day Between Gilroy & Los BanosApril Full Circle Farm SunnyvaleApril Foothill College Earth Day Los AltosApril Synaptics Earth Day Santa ClaraApril Kaiser Permanente Earth Day Santa ClaraApril Cupertino Earth Day CupertinoApril HP Earth Day CupertinoApril San Jose State Earth Day San JoseApril Stanford - SLAC Earth Day Menlo ParkApril Mission College Earth Day Santa ClaraMay Alum Rock Park Science Day San JoseOctober Audubon Wildlife Education Day CupertinoNovember Santa Clara Creeks Coalition CampbellSubtotal: Tabling Event Volunteer Hours: 138Santa Clara Valley Chapter 4 Activities Report 2011

Going Native Garden Tour (GNGT): www.goingnativegardentour.org. Founded in 2003 as aseparate group, in 2010 the Going Native Garden Tour became an official part of our Chapteractivities. This year the Tour was held on April 17 th , and featured 69 gardens throughout SantaClara and San Mateo Counties. The Tour continues to gain recognition throughout the Bay Area,and last year attracted over 5,250 registrants and more than 9,916 garden visits. The 15 Tour“Sponsors” included numerous nurseries, the Santa Clara Valley Water District, and other nonprofitorganizations. The Tour also counted 16 additional organizations as “Supporters,”including our local Audubon and Sierra Club chapters, neighborhood associations, and the DonEdwards San Francisco Bay National Wildlife Refuge. More than 300 volunteers participated onTour day, serving as docents and greeters. And for the first time, visitors could navigate togardens through our own smart phone application!Subtotal: Going Native Garden Tour Volunteer hours: 2,400Total Public Outreach Volunteer Hours: 2,5386. Education - Scholarships: For the 12 th year, the Chapter provided scholarships to graduatestudents doing research related to plant systematics, plant ecology, plant physiology, and otherrelated botanical studies of plants that grow in habitats in Central and Northern California. Thescholarship winners were chosen by committee, and this year we provided $1,500 scholarships tothree graduate students:• Suzie Woolhouse, San Jose State University, 2011-2012 CNPS-SCV Native PlantConservation Scholarship Recipient. “Ecology and Reproductive Biology of Rare PlantsFound on Serpentine.”• Sara Grove, University of California, Santa Cruz. “Impacts of Scotch Broom Invasion onNative Forest Regeneration After Logging.”• Jenn Yost, University of California, Santa Cruz. “Soil Adaptations and Cryptic Diversity inCalifornia Goldfields.”This year, based on the success of the gardening symposium in February at Foothill College inLos Altos, we also provided a $500 scholarship to a student in the College’s HorticultureProgram. This scholarship program has also been funded for the next two years. In addition, weunderwrote several student memberships, and provided funding for students attending the 2012CNPS Conservation Conference. We also sponsored a school garden program and paneldiscussion at one of our general meetings, and chapter members also visited classes, includingsome at San Jose State University.Keying With Natives (KWN): An enthusiastic group continues to meet one Friday of mostmonths throughout the year. In 2011 there were monthly KWN meetings at the Chapter office inthe Peninsula Conservation Center. This is a teamwork approach, with everyone contributing tohelp themselves and others learn. Participants bring plants, books & curiosity; the Chapterprovides microscopes and lamps.Total Education/Scholarship Volunteer Hours: 1147. Conservation Activities, Habitat Restoration/Invasive Plant Education & Control: Theseactivities include (but are not at all limited to):• The Chapter Conservation Committee (LiveCorps) met several times in 2011; and manymore times via email, phone, and in person.Santa Clara Valley Chapter 5 Activities Report 2011

• Chapter Past-President Kevin Bryant continues as a member of the StakeholderCommittee for the Santa Clara Valley HCP/NCCP, a complex multi-species plan nowundergoing environmental review.• The Chapter monitored riparian and wetland areas, including participation in severalwatershed and creek groups.• Meetings with other local conservation organizations on topics of common concern.• Training docents (including walks) for Edgewood County Preserve, Acterra,Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, and Coyote Ridge.• Representation at the Bay Area Open Space Council.• Fountain Thistle habitat restoration in San Mateo County.• Comments and review of the following projects and programs in Santa Clara County:- Input on BCDC global warming criteria as it effects the baylands and the SouthBay Salt Pond Restoration efforts.- Coyote Creek COE/SCVWD mitigation wetlands and marsh,- Lehigh-Hanson Quarry expansion and reclamation plan,- Moffett Field Restoration Advisory Board remediation sediment removal and leveeand wetlands revegetation,- Resource Conservation District's review by LAFCO- Stanford University HCP and Palo Alto Fire Management Plan,- Stream Maintenance Program – Santa Clara Valley Water DistrictInvasives Activities:• Active year-round participation in both San Mateo County & Santa Clara County WeedManagement Areas, as well as State WMA meetings.• Participation in State CNPS Invasive Plants Committee and Invasive Weeds Day.• Donation made to Cape Ivy biocontrol research.• Collaboration with local park agencies (Santa Clara County Parks, Mid-PeninsulaRegional Open Space District, Santa Clara County Open Space Authority) to encourageinterested CNPS members to participate in agency habitat restoration activities.Total Conservation/Invasives Volunteer Hours: 9288. Work Parties:• Edgewood County Preserve: Invasives removal, monitoring, and outreach at EdgewoodCounty Preserve every Friday year-round, every Wednesday evening spring – fall, plusseveral special Saturday sessions.Subtotal: 4,100 Volunteer Hours• Native Hill (Foothill Community College): This is the 1/3-acre native garden that ourChapter stewards at Foothill College in Los Altos. There were several volunteerweekend workdays in 2011, with activities including weeding, seed collection, pruningand other tasks. Native Hill is an important native habitat and provides educationalopportunities to volunteers, students, and visitors.Other work parties that chapter members participated in (not counted in total hours):• California Native Garden at Lake Cunningham Park, San José invasive removal & andnative planting, worked on by chapter members.• Year-round weeding at Foothills Park & Preserve in Palo Alto.Total Work Party Volunteer Hours: 4,210Santa Clara Valley Chapter 6 Activities Report 2011

9. Legislative ActivityPlease see the Conservation section.10. Plant Science – Rare Plant Program• Participation in the State CNPS Rare Plants Committee.• On-going monitoring of serpentine rare plants, including the Tiburon Indian Paintbrush atCoyote Ridge.• Numerous survey visits to ranch properties on the east side of the Mount HamiltonRange.• New CNDDB entries for Santa Clara County.Total Plant Science Volunteer Hours: 21011. Plants Sales and Wildflower ShowsPlant Sales: Our main fundraiser and outreach to the public, as well as heroic volunteerleadership & teamwork on the part of many. Plant sales held in April and October at HiddenVilla Preserve in Los Altos Hills attracted hundreds of customers and several new members. Wecontinue to add new features to our sales, including gardening classes, tours, a grass display, seedand bulb sales, and wildflower card sales. We continued our partnership with Acterra, a localenvironmental organization, to provide a sales platform for plants from their restoration nursery.Chapter Nurseries:Hidden Villa: Our nursery at Hidden Villa Preserve in Los Altos Hills is also the location of ourPlant Sales and continues to be our main source of chapter income. Dedicated volunteers (leadby Jean Struthers and Ray Deutsch) work most Wednesdays all year round on all aspects ofpropagation and nursery management. There were additional “special work days” in advance ofour two sales in 2011.Sally Casey’s backyard: Chapter founding member and CNPS Fellow Sally Casey raisesmoney for the chapter by growing & propagating bulbs, annuals and grasses in her backyard.Sally’s plants are sold at our sales, Gardening With Natives meetings, general meetings and otherevents. Sally also mentors many in our Chapter in gardening and propagation techniques, teachesand leads hikes on native grasses, and is active in Keying with Natives.Subtotal: Plant Sale/Nursery Volunteer Hours: 2,734Wildflower Show: April 23 & 24, 2011, Mission College in Santa Clara.Our 2011 show included several displays focused on activities that involve significant numbers ofChapter members. Included was a joint display featuring Chapter activities, Gardening withNatives, and restoration work at Edgewood Preserve. We again had a children’s activity tablethat was very well received. We also featured displays from other environmental groups, andplants were sold by a commercial nursery, Central Coast Wilds of Santa Cruz.Like the Plant Sales, the 2011 Wildflower Show was a great public outreach event and atremendous show of volunteer leadership, teamwork and support; attracting hundreds of visitorsover two days. This year’s show also featured free classes on gardening with natives and keyingnative plants, and sales of books, posters, cards, plants, seeds, and textiles.Santa Clara Valley Chapter 7 Activities Report 2011

Following the show in April, the Wildflower Show Committee began the process of updatinghundreds of display cards to the current botanical nomenclature, a project which will likelycontinue until the 2012 Show!Subtotal: Wildflower Show Volunteer Hours: 988Total Plant Sale and Wildflower Show Hours: 3,72212. Other Activities:Chapter Office: Our Chapter office is located in Peninsula Conservation Center in Palo Altoalong with nine other environmental and non-profit organizations. The office is staffed byvolunteers and provides a location for meetings, classes and other CNPS events, and we benefitfrom our proximity to other environmental organizations. As part of renting the office space wealso participate in the management of the building as well as in regular meetings of all residentorganizations.Chapter Website: Our chapter website is maintained by a group of volunteers, chaired by SteveRosenthal. Steve has also been recording and posting numerous videos of presentations andlectures given at our events on to the website.Publicity: Our current and past Publicity Chairs Rose Rockwood and Arvind Kumar areresourceful and thorough, such that our events and activities are well represented and appear innumerous publications, and on local television and radio. We’re also starting to use socialnetworking sites, including Facebook and Twitter.State Chapter Council (CC) Meetings: Chapter members attended & participated in all four 2011Chapter Council meetings as delegates or guests. Our Chapter is also represented at the statelevel by Director Arvind Kumar, and member of the Invasive Plant Committee Don Mayall.Hospitality: A dedicated and talented Hospitality Chair provides refreshments at our generalmeetings, which are obviously well appreciated by members and visitors alike. This extends tofeeding volunteers at our Plant Sales and Wildflower Shows, which is a tremendous benefit tothose participating and keeps volunteers “well fueled” at these important Chapter events.Book & Poster Sales: Books and posters are a very popular item at our general meetings, plantsales, Wildflower Show and other events. Sales of these items represent a vital contribution toour chapter budget. We have a very reliable and knowledgeable Book Chair. We now sellposters only at our Wildflower Show and plant sales. This year we continued to sell t-shirts,aprons, and tote bags with a Santa Clara Valley rare plant logo designed by chapter member JudyMason. Chapter members also donate hundreds of used books, prints, and other items which aresold to raise funds at our annual potluck in November.Total Other Activities Volunteer Hours: 350TOTAL 2011 Volunteer Hours for Santa Clara Valley Chapter: 16,382 hoursSanta Clara Valley Chapter 8 Activities Report 2011

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME The Cypress Cone Santa Cruz Chapter, 2011NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT__Deanna Giuliano –Chapter President, Jenn Yost – Membership ChairWE ARE NOT REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTER - Please describe the main interests of your board andmembers. What are your chapter’s special strengths and accomplishments?The main focus of our board has been conservation and education. We have anactive conservation committee that has done amazing work fighting to save habitatfor some of our local rare plants, as you will read in detail in the conservation report.Education is another strong focus for our chapter. We have recently started a keyingclub before our public meetings, which has been a great success to encourage ourmembers to learn more about our local flora, along with field trips, plant sales andpublic meetings. We also have been helping with the Randall Morgan collection atthe UCSC history museum with work parties to mount plant collection and financialsupport for Randall’s collection. We are also working on updating the AnnotatedChecklist for the county.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES - please describe the activities sponsored by your chapter,the number of people who attended (both members and non-members), and theapproximate number of volunteer hours required to organize these activities. Donot include hours attending programs or field trips except for those personsleading or organizing them.1. Board Meetings: # of meetings/year/volunteer hours for officers, chairs6 per year 3 hours each with prep = 18 hours for each board members.Deanna Giuliano - President - 120 hours/yearBrett Hall - VP - 450 hours/yearCharles Koester - Newsletter - 80 hours/yearDenise Polk & Mike Luther - Plant Propagation - 290 hours/yearLinda Brodman – Programs, Habitat Restoration 82 hours/yearEllen Holmes- Field Trip Coordinator 80 hours/year

Suzanne Schettler - Treasurer - 60 hours/yearPeggy Waters - Conservation - 67 hours/yearVine Cheap & Debbie Bulger - Conservation Committee - 400 hours/yearJenn Yost - Membership - 120 hours/yearKaren Hildebrand & Linda Willis - Plant Sales - 167 hours/ yearAngel Guerzon - Hospitality 8 hoursFred McPherson - Education 37 hoursBill Malone - Web master 12 hours2. Field Trips: # of trips: Please list locations/destinations/participants per trip,volunteer hoursTrips offered: 12Trip leader volunteer hours: 80Trip Coordinator volunteer hours: 27Total volunteer hours: 107Field trips highlighted many local endemics from Calypso Orchids at Butano StatePark, to Chorizanthe robusta robusta at Sunset State Beach, to the botanical wondersof the Bonny Doon sandhills. Our publicity also let the community know aboutopportunities to join our neighboring chapters in Monterey and Santa Clara Counties,on their outings, which greatly increased the number of offered trips (not countedbelow).3. Programs: # of program meetings: Please list subjects and speakers/ # ofattendees per meeting/expenses (i.e. room rental, speaker fees, hospitalitysupplies)General Meetings 6 per year 3 hours each w/cleanup = 18 hoursJanuary 10, 7:30 PMUCSC Arboretum Horticulture BuildingPeggy EdwardsA California Yankee on the Raised Bog of the Carse of StirlingMarch 14, 7:30 PMUCSC Arboretum Horticulture BuildingEveryone welcomed!Members’ Night and General MeetingCo-sponsored by CNPS and the UCSC Arboretum

May 9, 7:30 PM - Biggest’s meeting of the year. ~ 70 attendeesUCSC Arboretum Horticulture BuildingMatt Ritter, Ph.D.A Californian’s Guide to the Trees among UsJuly 11, 7:30 PMUCSC Arboretum Horticulture BuildingGage Dayton and Elizabeth HowardWhat is going on at Younger Lagoon?An overview and update on activities at Younger Lagoon Natural ReserveSeptember 12, 7:30 PMUCSC Arboretum Horticulture BuildingRyan O’DellSerpentine Flora of CaliforniaNovember 14, 7:30 PMUCSC Arboretum Horticulture BuildingFred McPhersonA Video Story of the Natural History of Henry Cowell Redwoods State ParkTotal # of attendees per meeting: 30 (approximately 200 folks for the year)Other Expenses: See treasurer’s reportHonorarium: $100/speaker ($600/year)4. Newsletter: # of issues/year/# of volunteer hours to edit/distribute/annual costThere are 6 issues of The Cypress Cone per year. Four of them include color pictures.We mail out approximately 250-300 newsletters and email out pdfs of the newsletterto about 75 members. Volunteer hours: ~ 805. Public Outreach Events: # of events: Please describe the nature ofevents/volunteers hours/public contactsThe chapter co-sponsored the UCSC American Indian Resource Center’s “Heal theEarth” event that was held on campus the day after our fall plant sale ($200).We were a co-sponsor for the annual Cal-IPC symposium ($250).We also participated in hosting the fall Chapter Council meeting in Monterey.

6. Education Efforts: special outreach to teachers or students, grants to gradstudents; in-service training for teachers; donation of education materials toschools; curriculum development/#volunteer hrs./projectKeying Sessions - Before the general meetings we hold 2 hour long “Keying Sessions”for students and the general public. 10 hours of volunteer time this year.Botanist Dylan Neubauer is updating the Annotated Checklist of Vascular Plants of SantaCruz County, which has grown by more than 150 species since it was published in 2005.The board paid $4,000 for her research and editorial work. The planned tasks total 1,000hours of work, making this project clearly a labor of love.The board provided scholarships for several people to attend the CNPS 2012 ConservationConference in San Diego in January: four at $500 each for board members and two at$300 each for students.7. Conservation: # of volunteer hours/most important issues the chapter has workedon/types of conservation activities (review documents, attend hearings, etc.),coalitions/cooperators with whom you worked400 hours of work this year.Project List1) Arana Gulch paved bikeway threatens listed Santa Cruz Sunflower(Tarplant) and Coastal PrairieCity of Santa Cruz Arana Gulch greenbelt Master Plan proposed projectto pave a bike transportation connector destroying both the federally and state listedSanta Cruz sunflower ("Holocarpha macradenia") and the state protected sensitivehabitat coastal terrace prairie. CNPS has fought since 1998 to get the City andCalifornia Coastal Commission (CCC) to route the proposed bikeway around thegenetically-unique Arana Gulch sunflower population and its habitat instead ofthrough the middle.The majority of our 2011 volunteer hours were expended by CNPS ConservationCommittee members (including work done by other board and chapter members aswell a volunteer biological consultant). The hours involved reviewing reviseddocuments, commenting on those documents, meeting with the City and CoastalCommission staff, and commenting at multiple Coastal Commission meetings.Although the project was approved at the December 2011 CCC meeting, there werenew Conditions of Approval added by the CCC which reflected some of theimprovements CNPS has been pushing for over the years.There is more work yet to do in making sure the City will actually follow theseconditions and use the best available scientifically based practices to save this veryrare and threatened annual found in only 12 native populations, 11 in Santa Cruzcounty and one in north Monterey County.

2) Proposed Residence on Moore Ranch Road in Bonny Doon threatenslisted Ben Lomond Spineflower and Coastal PrairieThis 47-acre parcel contains the federally listed Ben Lomond spineflower("Chorizanthe pungens var. hartwegiana") and a suite of other locally rare grasslanddicots on an intact piece of coastal terrace prairie - a state protected sensitive habitat.CNPS investigated the biological reviews requested for this under CEQA andrecommended that the county move a proposed cistern out of the coastal terraceprairie area. Both the County and owners agreed.Much of the time involved in this project was spent investigating/reviewing thecounty's file (available for review only in their planning department file room)especially the actual proposed building envelopes for numerous accessory structures,and the biological assessments. With the assistance of our CNPS experts familiar withthe site we submitted our comments and recommendations to the County.3) Non-permitted boutique horse ranch expansion destroys listed OhloneTiger Beetle and its Coastal Prairie HabitatThis is a continuing investigation from 2010 of the non permitted destruction ofseveral acres of state protected coastal prairie grassland and documented take of thefederally listed Ohlone Tiger Beetle/OTB ("Cincindela ohlone") - an endemic toSanta Cruz County found only on coastal prairie.The damage took place over several years and is quite evident in aerial photos fromcounty records. There is also an actual photo of dead OTB. Several agencies hadregulatory jurisdiction over this violations on this ~ 50 acre parcel including CCC andthe county. State parks which adjoins the property also had concerns for these nonpermitted impacts to the adjoining lands of Wilder State Park.We investigated and found there was only one agency, the county, that was asked by aprivate citizen to investigate for the non permitted grading and building whichdestroyed coastal prairie and Ohlone tiger beetle. This resulted in a red tag codeviolation. CNPS asked for the the current status and the red tag is still active. Thecounty put actual prosecution on hold while the owners applied to US FWS for anHabitat Conservation Plan (HCP) as a way to mitigate for the damage, forrestoration, and to allow future expansion of the ranch.CNPS contacted other lead agencies but all appeared to be waiting to review theHCP. Through CNPS investigate efforts into the planning file for this parcel wediscovered that the owners had originally hired experts to develop a habitatmanagement plan (HMP) that clearly defined where not to develop in order toprotect the OTB and coastal prairie. The owners then disregarded their own plan and

graded and built corrals in those areas that should have been protected withoutpermit and in the process destroying OTB and prairie.After consulting our best coastal prairie experts including reviewing the most recentscientific data on managing OTB we submitted comments to FWS regarding the inprocess HCP for this parcel. Specifically we stated that given the past illegal behaviorof these owners that any future building/expansion be stopped until the past damageis adequately mitigated. Further, that the FWS make sure that anymitigation/restoration be scientifically valid and use the newest studies especially arecent new study on OTB commissioned by FWS itself on a nearby parcel.CNPS hopes the owners will be required by their HCP to restore damaged areasbased on the best available science and that future expansion will be stopped untilthat proves to be successful. Especially important is for the FWS and other agencieslike the County to monitor the owners as they have shown a past disregard for gettingpermits and also shown a willingness to carry out development that destroys OTBand prairie. Further, CNPS hopes that our contacts with the other regulatory agenciesincluding Coastal Commission and California State Parks will enable them to take amore active part in stopping this kind of blatant disregard for the Endangered SpeciesAct and the Coastal Act.4) Multi-use trail on Pogonip Greenbelt and threats to Coastal PrairieCNPS reviewed a City plan to build a new multi use trail on this 600-acre Santa CruzCity greenbelt property, and commented that the proposal appears to violate its ownprevious CEQA/EIR for the greenbelt. CNPS asked that the project not go throughprairie areas and if it does, a new EIR be done to fully disclose environmental damageto coastal prairie and mitigations.8. Work Parties: # of work parties/nature of project(s)/ # participants/ volunteerhoursHerbarium Work PartiesThe plant collection of CNPS fellow Randy Morgan is housed at the UC Santa CruzMuseum of Natural History Collections (MNHC), on the campus of UC Santa Cruz.A team of CNPS volunteers work with student interns and museum scientist ChrisLay to mount, label, and accession specimens from this collection. Once they areaccessioned at MNHC, all specimens are entered online with the Consortium ofCalifornia Herbaria.In 2011, CNPS volunteer work parties were held from January through April at theMHNC. A summary is provided below.Herbarium Work Parties stats:

# of work parties = 4# of volunteer hours = 124 - (19 people)# of specimens mounted/labeled 202------------Habitat Restoration Total # of CNPS Projects = 19Groups Participating°San Lorenzo Valley Junior High School Nature Academy, Felton°Santa Cruz County Parks°State Parks°Twin Lakes Church, Santa Cruz°UCSC Praxis, Santa Cruz°UCSC Restoration Ecology and Biology Classes, Santa CruzTotal of Volunteer Hours = 932Locations Projects/Events Hours°Natural Bridges State Park 1 32°Quail Hollow Ranch Co Park 13 557°Sunset Beach State Park 2 152°Younger Lagoon 3 191State Park Hours = 184County/other Park Hours = 748Number of Individuals = 318Invasive Species Removal°Bromus diandrus°Cakile maritima°Carpobrotus edulis°Conium maculatum°Ehrharta erecta°Genista monspessulana°Hirschfeldia incana°Raphanus sativua

9. Legislative Activity: what issues or bills did your chapter work on/type of contact(i.e. visits to legislators, written communication, letters to the editor, petitions,press conferences)legislative contacts with reps and staff/#volunteer hours.See the above Conservation Section.10. Plant Science – Rare Plant ProgramNA11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: does your chapter have a plant sale? wildflowershow?/#volunteer hrs./ how many people attended each event/do you growyour own plants, if so %/any interesting/useful ideas o shareSanta Cruz Chapter of CNPS held both spring and fall plant sales. Eighteen membersworked at the spring sale, and twenty at the fall sale, putting in a total of 141 hours.Preparation, including phoning, recruiting and scheduling volunteers and preparation ofthe flyer required additional hours. Total hours for our two plant sales was 167.Our plant propagation team meets the 3rd Sunday of every month from 9 am until Noon.Participation varies between 6 and 14 volunteers per monthly session.Two co-leaders prepare for the sessions, instruct and supervise the volunteers during thesessions, and check on the plants in between sessions.We grow only native species (no hybrids or exotics) of annuals, perennials, shrubs, vines,groundcovers, trees and bulbs. Our source material varies from nursery stock to catalogpurchases, from material legally collected from the wild to donations from the gardens ofour volunteers.At the propagation sessions we:Propagate plants via seeds, cuttings, bulbs and divisionsPot up the rooted cuttings and seedlingsTransplant into larger containers for saleHand-write labels for every plant with complete botanical name and area of originPrune, fertilize and weed, weed, weedGroom the plants for our spring and fall plant salesLoad the plants onto the truck for delivery to the plant sale siteKeep inventory records including source of material and propagation dataHave wonderful conversations while we workAll told, we volunteered 290 hours this year in propagating and growing the native plantsthat we sold.Growing facilities, supplies and labor to water the plants are generously donated by SuncrestNursery in Watsonville, California.12. Other Activities:The chapter continued its financial support of the collection of local insects housed atUCSC's Natural History Museum. The huge collection was accumulated by CNPSFellow Randall Morgan, who systematically visited 39 sites throughout the flightseasons over the course of ten years to study the pollinators of local native plants. To

curate the collection, the chapter committed $1,500 to match grant money in 2011and another $1,500 for 2012. The grant we planned to match did not materialize andthe museum curator is exploring other funding.Please share your main concerns for your chapter. What are the major challenges orproblems facing your chapter? Is this an ongoing situation, has it improved orgotten worse, what steps did you take to address the problem and did they help?We have bags and backpacks to promote membership, but almost everyone is signingup online. We prefer that folks sign up online but that creates a strange disconnectbetween when the bags are handed out and when members actually sign up.

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME___Sequoia________________________________YEAR__2011__________NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT_Warren Shaw,Education Chair_________________________________________________WE ARE__X__/ARE NOT______ REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTER - Please describe the main interests of yourboard and members. What are your chapter’s special strengths andaccomplishments?Despite being a small and ageing group, we continue to exert some influencein our community. We participate in local conservation efforts, work to keepnative plants as a landscaping option through participation in the publicevents listed below, and for the last 10 years have poured a major portion ofour resources into a combination Education and Restoration project at ChinaCreek , an undeveloped Fresno County Park consisting of 120 acres of remnantoak woodland in the Kings river floodplain.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES - please describe the activities sponsored by yourchapter, the number of people who attended (both members and nonmembers),and the approximate number of volunteer hours required toorganize these activities. Do not include hours attending programs or fieldtrips except for those persons leading or organizing them.1. Board Meetings: # of meetings/year/volunteer hours for officers,We held four Board meetings in 2011 with about 168 volunteer hourscommitted.2. Field Trips: # of trips: Please list locations/destinations/participants pertrip, volunteer hoursThe Chapter held one full-up field trip, and numerous hikes were led byChapter members during the year. Since the hikes were in coordination withother organizations, we’re claiming only half the hours donated to those, so wecalculate a total of 94 hour volunteered, with 98 participants.

3. Programs: # of program meetings: Please list subjects and speakers/ # ofattendees per meeting/expenses (i.e. room rental, speaker fees, hospitalitysupplies)Sequoia Chapter no longer holds program meetings; it became impracticalwhen we could no longer rally an audience for our speakers.4. Newsletter: # of issues/year/# of volunteer hours to edit/distribute/annualcostWe published 9 issues of CARPENTERIA in 2011. Our total cost forprinting the newsletter was $535. (We spent another $75 publishing variousfliers and brochures). 359 volunteer hours were reported for writing,editing, and distribution.5. Public Outreach Events: # of events: Please describe the nature ofevents/volunteers hours/public contactsSequoia Chapter participated in 6 outreach events last year:1. One of the most significant was our plant sale (see #11).2. The Fresno Home and Garden Show, a three day event in earlyMarch. About 50 volunteer hours were committed, and we estimate wemade at least 120 direct contacts with the public.3. Fresno City’s Water-Wise Plant Exchange, where we gave awaypackets of Redbud seed and lots of free literature to around 30, using 19volunteer hours.4. Earth Day at the UU Church – 21 volunteer hours; about 25 contacts.5. We also staffed a table at Clovis Botanical Garden’s spring event,using 13 volunteer hours and making again around 25 direct contacts.6. Community Services event at CSUF – 8 volunteer hours; 26 studentscontacted.6. Education Efforts: special outreach to teachers or students, grants to gradstudents; in-service training for teachers; donation of education materialsto schools; curriculum development/#volunteer hrs./project

The Chapter’s primary education effort is tied in with our project at ChinaCreek Park. In addition to our restoration efforts there, we have built andmaintain a mile-long interpretive trail with 13 stations. In addition there isa shorter trail which is handicapped accessible. Near the entrance to thePark is an information kiosk, where the brochures for the trail are available,and where we keep a variety of informative materials posted (and a supplyof CNPS membership brochures). We have no way of knowing how manypeople walk the trail or see the literature, but the brochures keepdisappearing from the boxA member also prepared and delivered 2 public presentations, focusedmainly on native landscaping, for about 40 people.7. Conservation: # of volunteer hours/most important issues the chapter hasworked on/types of conservation activities (review documents, attendhearings, etc.), coalitions/cooperators with whom you workedOur conservation efforts have primarily been local. In addition to our work atChina Creek, the chapter has also focused on opposing destructive aggregatemining in the kings river floodplain and at Jesse Morrow Mountain. At least 30volunteer hours have been given to this cause; the Chapter also gave $50 to theJ M Mtn. Defense fund.8. Work Parties: # of work parties/nature of project(s)/ # participants/volunteer hoursIn 2011 we held 11 work parties, all at China Creek (see # 6), where wedevoted most of our energies to removing exotic species (mainly YellowStar Thistle). We also worked to maintain the trail, eliminate graffiti, andpick up trash.Participants averaged around 8, and we logged 476 volunteer hours.9. Legislative Activity: what issues or bills did your chapter work on/type ofcontact (i.e. visits to legislators, written communication, letters to theeditor, petitions, press conferences)legislative contacts with reps andstaff/#volunteer hours.Our political activities have been largely local in nature, with someattendance at Board of Supervisors meetings. Our Conservation Chair hasalso managed to get several letters published in The Fresno Bee. Webelieve about 12 volunteer hours were devoted to such activity.

10. Plant Science – Rare Plant ProgramWe have no active Rare Plant program, however, our primary hikeleader is a very well-informed botanist, and is always watching for rare plantson her hikes.11. Plant Sales /Wildflower Shows: does your chapter have a plant sale?wildflower show?/#volunteer hrs./ how many people attended eachevent/do you grow your own plants, if so %/any interesting/useful ideasto shareOur fall Pant Sale is, in some ways, the biggest event of the Chapter’s year. Forone thing, it’s our only fundraiser. For another, it’s the event that requiresthe largest number of volunteers – we logged 123 volunteer hours in 2011.In addition to actual sales, we also staff an information table; between the two,we made contact with at least 150 people.Our plants are provided by Intermountain Nursery; sometimes members willbring some plants or seed, but this was not the case in 2011.One useful idea, probably not unique to our chapter, is that we have created aflier on planting and caring for natives, that is specific to our area; it alsonaturally, provides information about CNPS and Sequoia Chapter. We tryto see that each buyer is provided with this information.We have no wildflower show, but our spring, “Windshield Wildflower Tour”focuses mainly on blooming plants.12. Other Activities:We did a certain amount of consulting with the Kings River Conservancyand other organizations, and attended meetings of the Kings Basin WaterAuthority as an “Interested Party.”Please share your main concerns for your chapter. What are the majorchallenges or problems facing your chapter? Is this an ongoing situation,has it improved or gotten worse, what steps did you take to address theproblem and did they help?

As mentioned above, our chapter is small and ageing. Though we havemaintained our outreach efforts, and the number of people who pay theirdues and receive the newsletter is much the same, the number of activepeople, those who come to meetings and participate in activities, hassteadily declined.Another, though probably related, issue is one of attitude. The Fresno area,despite its growing urbanity, is still largely agricultural in orientation,history and focus. Farmers tend to hear “weeds” when “native plants” arementioned. Early in the year one member gave a talk for a water group,extolling the exciting possibilities of combining water banking projectswith wetlands habitat restoration. At the end there was not a singlequestion or other indication of interest.We have clung to the hope that the Government-mandated installation ofwater meters in Fresno would rekindle some interest in native plants, butthis has not developed in any large scale yet.Nonetheless, a small hard core group continues to meet, participate in events,give talks, show up for workdays and do what we can.

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTChapter Name: SHASTAYear: 2011Report Preparation: Ken Kilborn, President & Terri Thesken, TreasurerSubvention: We ARE requesting a subvention.OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERThe Shasta Chapter serves Shasta, Siskiyou, Modoc and Lassen counties in northernCalifornia. Although our four-county area is sparsely populated, Shasta Chapter(approximately 150 members) is proud of a high per-capita membership rate, reflectingthe interests of the outdoor-loving people of the north state. Our members enjoymeeting and educating like-minded people at our programs, projects, and field trips.Our primary goal is public outreach education, where most of our efforts are focused.We support college students through two $1500.00 scholarships each year, and youngerstudents through our “Acorn Grants” for native plantings and programs in K-12 publicand private schools. We also offer “Oak Tree Grants,” which support general publicplantings of California native species.A keynote of our chapter is collaboration with agencies in the area, where we seekcommon ground. We conduct joint events and projects with the national forests, fish,game, and wildlife agencies, the Bureau of Land Management, Resource ConservationDistricts, the national parks and national recreation areas, area colleges and schools;and groups such as Audubon, Horsetown-Clear Creek Preserve, Shasta Land Trust, andthe Turtle Bay Museum and Arboretum in Redding.Recent Innovations:Our major fund-raisers are plant sales. In the last five years, we have coordinated withShasta College in a three-day Spring Plant Sale, as well as holding our traditional FallPlant Sale. We also participate in information booths and plant sales with the TurtleBay McConnell Arboretum, the Whole Earth Watershed Festival, and the U.S. ForestService. We have seen significant growth in interest in native plants in the communityas water becomes more expensive and rationed. Collaboration with the Shasta Collegehorticulture program has increased our sales, and public presence.CNPS volunteers continue to maintain a “Mother Plant Garden” in the Shasta Collegehorticultural area. This garden, filled with California native plants propagated bychapter volunteers, serves as a teaching garden for students at Shasta College and alsoas a source of material for our Chapter’s plant propagation.1

Our field trips have always varied from easy to rigorous, and aim to serve a widevariety of participants. Long-term residents of the area have been delighted to discovernew trails, climb high mountains in the Trinity Alps or other wilderness areas. Ourfieldtrips also attract CNPS members from other Chapters, or members of the publicfrom outside the area. In 2011, one of our summer fieldtrips to the Klamath Mountainsof northern California was attended by 14 naturalists and botanists from England andthe eastern United States, and turned into an excellent teaching and sharing experiencefor all.CHAPTER ACTIVITIESPrograms (Approximate member volunteer hours: 48 hours)Nine monthly meetings were scheduled in 2011. Eight of these meetings werehighlighted by speakers (program coordinator is Terri Thesken) and one meeting (June)was a pot-luck outdoor meeting at President Ken Kilborn’s house and gardens.Approximately 20 to 40 people attend the monthly Chapter meetings, withapproximately 85 percent being CNPS members. Meetings are held at a centrallocation for the Chapter at the Shasta College building in downtown Redding (rentfree). Typically our Chapter does not pay speaker fees, but out-of-town speakers areoften accommodated overnight at a member’s home or at a local hotel.Speakers included:• Doug Mandel: Photo Journey – Glacier National Park to Cape Alava, Washington• Baldo Villegas: Biological Control of Invasive Plants• Ken Kilborn: Identification of Common Wildflower Families of NorthernCalifornia• Eric Knapp: Natural Variations in Plant Populations• Rob Preston: Naming the Brodiaeas: Introducing the New Species, Brodiaeamatsonii• Chase Lentz: Oak Woodlands of Northern California• Photo Show: Jay and Terri Thesken: Shasta CNPS 2011 Fieldtrips, Richard Hayes:Variation in Calochortus• Stacey Weller: Photographs of Plant Diversity in a Biosphere Reserve in MexicoChapter Board Meetings (Approximate member volunteer hours: 90 hours)9 meetings per year, held on the days of the Chapter monthly meetingsState Chapter Council Meetings (16 hours)Officers sent to one meeting in March 2011, amounting to 2 participation-person-daysfor 2011.Field Trips (Approximate member volunteer hours: 160 hours)2

Twenty-two outings were scheduled in 2011 by Fieldtrip Chair David Ledger.Fieldtrips are typically attended by 15 to 25 CNPS members or members of the public.Some of the 2011 fieldtrip highlights included:• Mary Lake/Westside Trail – Redding (2 trips)• Mule Mountain Pass Trail – Whiskeytown National Recreation Area• Cloverdale Loop Trail – BLM Clear Creek Greenway• South Fork Mountain Road – Whiskeytown National Recreation Area• Salt Creek and the Sacramento River Trail Redding (3 trips)• Sulphur Creek drainage in Redding to see Brodiaea matsonii, and the ClikapudiTrail at Lake Shasta• Davis Gulch Trail at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area• Upper Sacramento Ditch Trail• McConnell Arboretum in Redding• McCloud River Falls Trail – Siskiyou County• Kangaroo Lake Fen Trail – Klamath Mountains of Siskiyou County (group fromEngland)• Panther Springs to South Gate Meadows – Mt. Shasta• Brokeoff Mountain – Lassen Volcanic National Park• Humboldt Bay National Wildlife Refuge and Arcata Community Forest –Humboldt County• Gamin Mine Ridge at Whiskeytown National Recreation Area• Fall colors fieldtrip to Waters Gulch Trail at Lake Shasta• Mt. Shasta Mine Loop Trail at Whiskeytown National Recreation AreaPublic Outreach/Special Events 2011• April 14-16 : Spring Plant Sale at Shasta College• April 29-30: Turtle Bay Arboretum Spring Plant Sale• April 23: Whole Earth & Watershed Festival• May 8: Annual Mother’s Day Wildflower Show in Yreka• July 14: Outreach fieldtrip with 14 botanists/naturalists from England/eastern U.S.• September 24: 28 th Annual Shasta Chapter Fall Plant Sale• October 8: Turtle Bay Arboretum Fall Plant SalePlant Propagation and Sales/EventsPlant propagation for Shasta Chapter is conducted monthly by approximately 15members, at growing grounds at the Shasta College horticultural area, and also atmember’s homes. Susan Libonati and Jay & Terri Thesken, plant sale chairs, maintaina two-pronged approach to reach two main markets for our plants: 1) site-specific localspecies of California natives for local parks and restorations, and 2) garden-worthy anddrought-tolerant forms of California native species for sale at our various plant salesand events. The volunteers maintain a stock of about 1,800 plants of over 120 species,and in 2011 sold about 1,850 plants. Volunteers contributed over 1,400 hours annuallyon plant propagation endeavors.3

Shasta Chapter holds a Native Plant Sale in the fall (late September), and also joinswith Shasta College for a three-day Spring Plant Sale (mid-April). Volunteerspropagate native plants on a monthly basis, and advertise and staff the sales. Volunteertime for the Spring Plant Sale is approximately 100 hours and for the Fall Sale isapproximately 120 hours. Plants were also sold in 2011 at events such as the WholeEarth & Watershed Festival (approximately 20 volunteer hours), the Yreka Mother’sDay Wildflower Show (approximately 140 volunteer hours), and the Turtle Bay Springand Fall Plant Sales (approximately 48 volunteer hours). Hundreds of plantenthusiasts, as well as staff from local parks, frequent the sales and provide the mainincome for our annual programs, events and educational support.Plant Propagation volunteers donated plants, continue to maintain a Mother PlantGarden of shade-loving native species in the Shasta College horticultural area (plantedin 2009). This garden is being used as a teaching tool for college horticulture courses,and when it is more mature, will be a source of material for plant propagation.The Mother’s Day Wildflower Show (facility rental: $350) takes place annually at theSiskiyou-Golden Fairgrounds near Yreka. This project is a collaboration betweenShasta Chapter and Forest Service botanists from around the area. Hundreds of visitorsenjoy the free display of some 300 species of flowering herbs, shrubs, and grasses! Thisis definitely a destination event for this particular holiday, and is one of our main publicoutreach projects every year. (Volunteer contribution: 140 hours)Newsletters and website (Approximate member volunteer hours: 100 hours)Newsletters reach our members six times per year, and are prepared by Shasta Chaptermember Laurie Burk. Events and meetings are the main focus, and informative articlesare included when space allows. Cost borne by the Chapter in 2011 was approximately$950. Estimated time for all writing, editing, and distribution of the newsletter: 80hours annually. Member Greg Lockett maintains our website with current informationon Chapter activities at www.shastacnps.org (20 hours annually).Education (Total approximate member volunteer hours: 120 hours)Our message is primarily that of public education. Most of our efforts support this goal.• Scholarships (Approximate member volunteer hours: 66 hours)The Shasta Chapter awards annual $1500 scholarships to local high school studentswho are advancing their education by pursuing 4-year life science degrees. Onescholarship was granted in 2011 to a student attending University of California, LosAngeles. Member Jay Thesken coordinates the Scholarship Committee and isjoined by members Tom Engstrom and Margaret Widdowson in decision making.• Acorn Grants support the efforts of elementary and high schools to educate theirstudents on the value of native plants. Native plant gardens and after-school specialplant programs carry our message to children and youth. Member Donal Joniocontributes approximately 50 hours annually to this program.4

• Oak Tree Grants support the efforts of non-profit public groups with planting andeducation projects. Donal Jonio also coordinates this program.Invasive Exotic Chapter Committee (Approximate member volunteer hours: 15hours)Attendance at Shasta County Weed Management Area meetings by member JayThesken; written correspondence in support of weed management projects.Conservation (Approximate member volunteer hours: 40 hours)Although our Conservation chair position was not filled during 2011, Shasta Chaptersupported conservation groups around the north state, from the Horsetown-Clear CreekPreserve and Audubon Society, to the Turtle Bay Museum, which includes theMcConnell Arboretum and Gardens. Horsetown-Clear Creek is situated on a historicstagecoach route and gold-mining site, and is a citizen-initiated and supportedpreservation effort, in which a few individuals have inspired the community to reclaimthis botanically interesting area. Chapter members give funds and provide fieldtrips andlectures for these conservation groups.TOTAL VOLUNTEER TIME: From the above activities, Shasta Chapter membersdonated at least 2,600 hours of volunteer service in 2011.Shasta Chapter Officers for 2011:President: Ken KilbornVice-President: Robin FallscheerSecretary: Margaret WiddowsonTreasurer: Terri Thesken5

CHAPTER OVERVIEW:SIERRA-FOOTHILLS CHAPTER2011 ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTPrepared by: Robert W. Brown, Chapter PresidentWe are requesting a subvention.Our “Growing Natives” seminar proved successful again with nearly 90 attendees. Wechanged the format to a whole day with lunch provided with the admission fee. We weremore successful with memberships attributed to this event than last year with 6 newmembers in 2011 compared with 2 in 2010. We continue to feel that our seminar provides ameans of providing native plant horticultural information to our community as well asproviding contact with individuals that we have not historically served. All of these folkshave shown their desire to protect the native flora that we find in our area and to utilizenatives in their home landscapes and gardens.We continue to struggle to maintain our membership levels and to attract new members inour area. Our source of new members is almost exclusively from contacts made during ourplant sales and our seminar. A small percentage of our membership continues to beresponsible for nearly all of our chapter activities and we have had little success in attractingnew or different members to shoulder some of these activities.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES:1. Board Meetings: We hold seven board meetings a year (we have a summer hiatus andno meetings in January and December) that are usually attended by seven to twelveofficers, various committee chairs, and others. These are scheduled before our regularmembership monthly meetings.2. Field Trips: During calendar 2011 we offered thirteen fieldtrips to the followinglocations with participation ranging from 3 to 25+. Most were 4-6 hour day hikes heldon generally a Saturday with a few on Sunday. Another couple of trips were mostly caroriented with several stops and a little walking.Location County Prep Hours Leader ParticipantsHunter’s Valley Mt. Access Mariposa 2 6 Haas/Mendershausen 10Hogan Dam area Calaveras 2 6 Steve Stocking 12Merced Canyon Mariposa 3 5 Judy/Barry Breckling 9Deer Creek Tuolumne 3 7 Margaret Willits 12Trumbull Peak Tuolumne 2 6 Jennie HaasCalaveras Big Trees Calaveras 1 Steve Stocking CancelledShuteye Peak Fresno 4 8 Joanna Clines 7Long John Meadow Tuolumne 2 6 Scott Brush 14Sequoia NF/Kings Canyon Fresno 1 5 Steve Stocking 4

Saint Mary’s Pass Tuolumne 1 6 Bob Brown 3Sweetwater Mountains Mono 1 12 Pat Stone 6Dana Plateau Tuolumne 5 16 Colwell/Brush 9Reynolds Creek Tuolumne 1 8 Jennie Haas 7Fall Colors Multi 1 8 Pat Stone 83. Programs: We have our meetings in our local county library community room which asa non-profit we are permitted to use at no cost. We have refreshments and advertise thatour meetings are open to everyone. We typically give our speakers an honorarium thatconsists of their choice from our book and publication selections or pay them a speakingfee. Attendance varies from 12 to over 45.4. Newsletter: Our chapter newsletter is published eleven times a year with our editorreceiving content including photos from our membership. Another person prepares thelabels and additional volunteers prepare, apply the labels and then sort the newsletters formailing. Our yearly cost for printing was approximately $1300 and for postage about$900.5. Public Outreach Events: We routinely have members attending and “tabling” mastergardener, garden club meetings and other group events with literature and occasionallynative plants for sale in Tuolumne, Calaveras and Mariposa counties.6. Education Efforts: Our educational chair spends many hours delivering materials andmaking presentations to most of the elementary schools within our four county area. Heis also responsible for distributing chapter donated books to libraries in our area. Wehad individuals serve as judges at local science fairs and continue to sponsor native plantgardens in several school settings with donations of time, money, books and plants. OurEducation Chair also gave talks/presentations to Master Gardeners, garden clubs,community organizations, and other groups where he also passed out CNPS literatureand handouts. We award a yearly $1000 scholarship to a local resident who is entering afour year college or university.7. Conservation: As part of an ongoing effort, several of our chapter members haveattended ongoing meetings and reviewed documents pertaining to the off highwayvehicle policy review that has been underway within the Stanislaus National Forest formore than a year. We have attended meetings, testified and provided written proposalsand rebuttals during the public input sessions and have attended stakeholder meetingswith the forest supervisor and her staff. We’ve had representatives attend meetingswithin Yosemite National Park regarding the Merced River corridor studies that arebeing formulated and are under various public reviews. We made significantcontributions to the CNPS sponsored Conservation meeting and the CAL IPCconference.

8. Work Parties: We had no work parties of our own, but did have several membersparticipate with other groups and their efforts in planting natives in school gardensettings and public sites as well as weeding invasive plants in several public park areas.We also had members volunteer numerous hours to maintain and expand the localMaster Gardener’s demonstration garden area.9. Legislative Activity: We have several of our members who regularly communicate withvarious legislators both at the state and federal level on environmental and native plantissues confronting our area.10. Plant Science – Rare Plant Program: We continue to pay an annual rental fee of $700to protect acreage where Brodiaea pallida, Chinese Camp Brodiaea, grows and check onthe population periodically. One of our members also helps to maintain literature on atrail within the Red Hills BLM area of critical concern that is home to several species onthe CNPS rarity list. We contributed monies to replace and expand signage at DeltaCollege’s11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: Our chapter sponsors both a spring and a fall plantsale as well as maintains a growing area where some plants are grown and others are“grown on” for future plant sales. We currently sponsor no wildflower show.12. Horticultural Seminar: We expanded our “Growing Natives Seminar” to a full dayformat with a lunch served. This year it was attended by almost 90 people. Of thoseattending a large percentage again had had no prior contact with our chapter or CNPS.We were more successful in recruiting new members this year and attribute at least sixnew members to this effort. We have decided that we will continue this on an annualbasis.13. Other Activities: These activities would include the work of our officers and activitychairs such as: treasurer (64 hours), our merchandise person (85 hours), the work tomaintain our growing area (4 people 90 hours), scholarship committee (3 persons, 6hours), president (95 hours), hospitality ( 4 persons, 30 hours), and various people givingpresentations to other organizations (6 persons, 24 hours), and other miscellaneousactivities.Volunteers and Hours MatrixActivityPersons Frequency Hours Total HoursBoard Meetings 8 7 1 56Field Trips 9 11 128Programs 7 7 10Newsletter 5 11 145

Public Outreach 6 12 1 50Education Efforts 3 Multi 55Conservation 4 Multi 42Work Parties 3 Multi 10Legislative Activity 4 1 1 4Rare Plant Program 1 2Plant Sales/Shows 26 2 204Hort. Seminar 24 222Other Activities 21 Various 394Grand Total 1322

CHAPTER ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTCHAPTER NAME_Willis Linn JepsonYEAR: 2011NAME AND POSITION OF PERSON PREPARING REPORT: Steven Goetz,Acting PresidentWE ARE__X_/ARE NOT______ REQUESTING A SUBVENTIONOVERVIEW OF CHAPTER - Please describe the main interests of your board andmembers. What are your chapter’s special strengths and accomplishments?The Jepson Chapter’s strengths are horticulture-related. We have an active propagationand plant sales committee. Our major accomplishments include generating sufficientrevenue and volunteers to provide basic maintenance for the Forest Deaner Native PlantBotanic Garden. The Chapter also strives to provide educational programs at generalmembership meetings.CHAPTER ACTIVITIES - please describe the activities sponsored by your chapter,the number of people who attended (both members and non-members), and theapproximate number of volunteer hours required to organize these activities. Do notinclude hours attending programs or field trips except for those persons leading ororganizing them.1. Board Meetings: # of meetings/year/volunteer hours for officers, chairsEight Board meetings: 1/10/11, 2/15/11, 4/11/11, 5/10/11, 6/14/11, 9/13/11, 10/11/11,11/8/11.• Acting President and Vice President, Steven Goetz, 280 Hours• Recording Secretary, Janet Mackey, 163 hours• Correspondence and botanic Garden Chair, Norma Deaner, 366 hours• Treasurer and Plant Sales Chair, Sue Wickham, 160 hours• Membership, Mary Frances Kelly Poh, 101 hours• Plant Propagation/Past President, Becky Mannion• Conservation, Ted Swiecki2. Field Trips: # of trips: Please list locations/destinations/participants per trip,volunteer hoursPage 1 of 7

None.3. Programs: # of program meetings: Please list subjects and speakers/ # ofattendees per meeting/expenses (i.e. room rental, speaker fees, hospitality supplies)Seven General Membership meetings, room rental at Presbyterian Church is $30/meeting.Speaker dinner is about $15/speaker. 21 hours. Schedule follows:January 24, General Membership MeetingTopic: Jepson Prairie, Our National Natural Landmark.Speaker: Ben Wallace, Conservation Project Manager of the Solano Land TrustLocation: Heritage Presbyterian Church, 1400 E. 2 nd Street, BeniciaMr. Wallace presented the results of 10 years of monitoring that volunteers have doneat Jepson Prairie and invited all to become docents at the Prairie. Docent trainingbegins in February and covers the plants and invertebrates that live in the vernal pools.The docents provide tours of the pools for a limited number of months and are trainedby UC-Natural Resource Reserve System.Attendance: 25 personsFebruary 28, General Membership MeetingTopic: Climate Change Vulnerability Ranking for California Endangered PlantsSpeaker: Brian L. Anacker, CA Department of Fish & Game, Biogeographic DataBranchLocation: Heritage Presbyterian Church, 1400 E. 2 nd Street, BeniciaBrian Anacker presented new work on ranking the vulnerability of California’s rareand endangered plants to climate change. The new system will enable resourceagencies to predict which species will be early victims or hardy survivors of climatechange, and help inform policy and management responses.Attendance: 20 personsMarch 28, General Membership MeetingTopic: Solano County Agriculture and Native Plant Communities Jim Allan, CountyAgricultural CommissionerLocation: Solano County Cooperative Extension Office, 501 Texas Street in FairfieldDescribed what the agricultural commissioner does and how it supports preservationof native plants. Reported on emerging significant issues such as the impactof genetically modified crops on local plant communities, potential strategies tocontrol these impacts, the potential impact of invasive plants and diseases on localplant communities and strategies to control these impacts.Attendance: 8 personsApril 25, General Membership Meeting/Co-sponsored by Benicia Public LibraryTopic: Native Plants for the GardenSpeaker: Laura A. Hanson, The Watershed NurseryLocation: Benicia Public Library, 150 East LPage 2 of 7

Laura Hanson, Principal Vegetation Ecologist and Production Manager for WatershedNursery, talked about the many values of using local California native plants in ahome garden. She showcased a series of plants that provide aesthetic appeal, habitatto local critters, low water use and low maintenance.Attendance: 30 personsMay 23, General Membership MeetingTopic: California's Oaks: Threats and Opportunities".Speaker: Dr. Ted Swiecki, Phytosphere ResearchLocation: Heritage Presbyterian Church, 1400 E. 2 nd Street, 7 PMDr. Ted Swiecki discussed threats to California's native oaks posed by introduced andnative pests and diseases, as well as land management practices. He also discussedactions that can be used to counter these threats and restore oak woodlands. Inaddition, the speaker provided updates on sudden oak death research, gold-spotted oakborer, and local oak restoration projects.Attendance: 25 personsSeptember 26 General Membership MeetingTopic: Native Plants for the GardenSpeaker: Bert Johnson, Tilden Botanic GardenLocation: Heritage Presbyterian Church, 1400 E. 2 nd Street, BeniciaMr. Johnson described the benefits of using native plants in your home garden andhighlighted some of the plants available at the Jepson Chapter Fall 2011 Plant Sale.Attendance: 17 personsOctober 24 General Membership Meeting, co-sponsored by Benicia Public LibraryTopic: California’s Milkweeds: their beauty, chemistry, and friendsSpeaker: Dr. Gene Thomas, Solano Community CollegeLocation: Benicia Public LibraryDr. Gene Thomas drove about 10,000 miles over three years to photographCalifornia's milkweeds. He entertained membership with photographs, explained theirchemical properties, reactions and phenomena, and described how the plant interactswith insects that pollinate and eat them.Attendance: 40 personsNovember 28 General Membership MeetingTopic: Annual Business Meeting, Potluck & Member Slide ShowLocation: Heritage Presbyterian Church, 1400 E. 2 nd Street, BeniciaAttendance: 7 persons4. Newsletter: # of issues/year/# of volunteer hours to edit/distribute/annual cost6 newsletters annually. 67 hours/ Annual Cost $500.5. Public Outreach Events: # of events: Please describe the nature ofevents/volunteers hours/public contactsPage 3 of 7

• San Francisco Bay Flyway Festival, listed as Co-Sponsor Feb 11-13, 2010. Noestimate available on participants. 32 hours.• Vallejo Earth Day, April 16, no estimate available on participants, 8 hours• Solano County Fair, August 3-7. County Exhibit Booth. No estimate available onparticipation. Hundreds of people posted their favorite County open space on the map.8 hours• The Forrest Deaner Native Plant Botanic Garden 2011 Photo Competition. July 16,2011, 29 entries. 30 individuals attended the award ceremony at the Garden. 38 hours.6. Education Efforts: special outreach to teachers or students, grants to gradstudents; in-service training for teachers; donation of education materials toschools; curriculum development/#volunteer hrs./project.$250 to Solano Community College students and $50 to State CNPS to subsidize studentattendance at the 2012 Conservation Conference. Provided 20 copies of the Fire issue ofFremontia to Fire Science instructor at Solano Community College.7. Conservation: # of volunteer hours/most important issues the chapter hasworked on/types of conservation activities (review documents, attend hearings, etc.),coalitions/cooperators with whom you workedPrepared poster for the 2012 Conservation Conference, entitle “Sure, Let’s Build a NativePlant Botanic Garden”. 61 hours.8. Work Parties: # of work parties/nature of project(s)/ # participants/ volunteerhours• Earth Day Event at the Botanic Garden, co-sponsored by California State ParksFoundation, PG&E, Benicia State Parks Association and Benicia Tree Foundation,April 16, 2011, 270 volunteer hours.• Co Sponsored Benicia High School Tree Planting Event with the Benicia TreeFoundation, April 22, 2011. 80 Trees planted, half were native species (oaks). 12hours (does not include # of non-CNPS participants)• Weekly Propagation Work Days: 36 hours.• Weekly Botanic Garden Work Days: 975 hours.• Latter Day Saints work party at the Botanic Garden: 30 people. 90 hours• Solano County Probation Department work parties at the Botanic Garden, variousdates, and 64 hours.• Life Technologies Corporate Volunteer Day May 20, 28 employees, 112 hours9. Legislative Activity: what issues or bills did your chapter work on/type of contact(i.e. visits to legislators, written communication, letters to the editor, petitions,press conferences) legislative contacts with reps and staff/#volunteer hours.Page 4 of 7

Lobbied against state budget cuts for state parks. Attended two City Council meetings toadvocate for City funding of water supply to the Botanic Garden should the state closeBenicia State Recreation Area (BSRA).10. Plant Science – Rare Plant ProgramLynch Canyon Open Space, Solano County, Saturday, May 14 th , 2011, 9:00AM. Thisproperty owned by the Solano Land Trust is home to a wide diversity of wildlife andvegetation types, but it has never been systematically surveyed for rare plant species.Hiked some of the preserve’s 9 miles of trails through oak woodlands, grasslands, andwetland meadows in search of rare plants and documented what was found.11. Plant Sales/Wildflower Shows: does your chapter have a plant sale? wildflowershow?/#volunteer hrs./ how many people attended each event/do you grow yourown plants, if so %/any interesting/useful ideas to shareWe grow most of the plants we sell. 155 volunteer hours.• May 7 Sale, 68 customers who made purchases.• October 15 sale, 71 customers who made purchases. October sale held in conjunctionwith the Benicia Tree Foundation’s Annual Arbor Day festival in City Park, Benicia.12. Other Activities:• Sponsored the Solano Resource Conservation District (RCD) grant for a communitybasedhabitat restoration project in Vacaville’s 260-acre Centennial Park. The city andthe RCD propose to restore the riparian environment along Horse Creek by controllinginvasive species and planting native trees, shrubs, and perennial forbs in a 140 footwide corridor along the southern tributary and a 205 foot wide corridor along thenorthern tributary. Nearly 3,000 native plants, 370 pounds of native seed, and 40,000rhizomatous sedge and rush plugs will be planted. Also, a 6,600 foot long biking andhiking loop trail will be installed along the restored creeks to connect with an existingbike trail. The Jepson Chapter Board of Directors agreed to become actively involvedin this proposal by helping the RCD recruit volunteers and educating the community inthe benefits of this exciting project. Grant awards will be announced by the CaliforniaResources Agency in 2012• Sponsored the RCD grant to fund a state Urban Greening project along Alamo Creek.The project proposes to revegetate eleven sites along a four-mile stretch of the AlamoCreek bike path using native plants. The sites are currently either barren or dominatedby invasive annual grasses and thistles. Some sites are experiencing significant erosion.The revegetation project will use native trees, shrubs, forbs, grass, sedge and seeds ofnative wildflowers and grasses. These plants will serve to filter pollutants and sedimentfrom storm water. They will also increase ground water infiltration, reduce erosion andcontribute to carbon sequestration. The project will also be a cooling and pleasingvisual effect along the bike path, increasing its usage by the community. At two of thesites, demonstration gardens will be installed encouraging and educating thePage 5 of 7

community on the benefits of native plants in home landscaping and the environment.The Chapter will support this project by helping to recruit volunteers for plantpropagation and the planting of the restoration sites. Involving volunteers, includingschool children, will help educate the community on the benefits and pleasures ofnative plants. Solano RCD is seeking a $522,000 grant from the state’s UrbanGreening Program to build this project. Grant awards will be announced in mid 2012.• Chapter Council Meetings. Sent representatives to four Chapter Council meetings andrelated membership and fundraising committees.Please share your main concerns for your chapter. What are the major challengesor problems facing your chapter? Is this an ongoing situation, has it improved orgotten worse, what steps did you take to address the problem and did they help?• It is a lot of work to provide services to our membership, such as programs for ourmembership meetings. We have not had a committee chair for programs for manyyears, so it has become the responsibility of the Chapter President or Vice President.We have monitored the meetings of other chapters to see if we could obtain leads forprograms. This is how we got a speaker for our April 2012 meeting. We seek newrelationships with other organizations interested in conservation of our naturalresources. We got a speaker in January 2012 meeting from our Resource ConservationDistrict and a speaker tentatively for our March 2012 meeting from the CaliforniaRangeland Coalition for which we also are considering seeking the Solano Land Trustas a co-sponsor to give the Chapter more exposure to the Trust’s membership. We stillneed programs for February, May, September, and October.• Solano County has many conservation issues to address. We have developed a 5-yearstrategic plan to help guide our activities and allocate our resources. We also have aone-year action plan to help guide the Board for 2012. We will not be able toimplement the one-year action plan unless more of the Chapter membershipparticipates. Participation of members in Fairfield and Vacaville is low in proportionto the County population. Most of our active members are in the Benicia/Vallejo area,which is where we have most of our outreach activities. It has been difficult toestablish outreach activities in the Fairfield/Vacaville area. We have been trying torecruit a newsletter editor for three years, unsuccessfully. So we have recently reducedthe publication schedule of the newsletter from bi-monthly to quarterly. The Boardwill be discussing further downscoping the one-year action plan if there isn’t moreinterest among Chapter membership to implement it. We don’t want to overtax ourBoard members and committee chairs.• Our Botanic Garden development is hampered by the uncertain future of the BSRA.We cannot compete for grants if the state is proposing to abandon BSRA. In 2011 weinitiated an appeal to our membership to raise funds to help maintain the operation ofthe garden. We raised almost $1500 through this appeal. We need a replacement forthe volunteer who currently manages the garden’s maintenance and volunteerworkforce. The City of Benicia has proposed an agreement with the state to operateBSRA for two years, but it is contingent on the state paying the city to take over BSRAPage 6 of 7

operation during this two-year period. The draft Memorandum of Understandingbetween CNPS and the City of Benicia proposes that the City provide water to thebotanic garden and access to the garden and the BSRA maintenance yard. This shouldprovide in-kind resources (i.e. water, security, supplies, parking, restrooms) to maintainthe status quo for the botanic garden, but it will not help provide the personnel neededto maintain the garden – this is the Chapter’s responsibility.Page 7 of 7

YERBA BUENA CHAPTER2011 ANNUAL ACTIVITIES REPORTPrepared by Linda Shaffer, chapter vice-presidentFebruary 22, 2012FINALWe ARE requesting a subvention. Our membership as of 12/31/11 was 431.OVERVIEW OF CHAPTERThe Yerba Buena chapter area includes San Francisco City and County as well asnorthern San Mateo County. It differs from many of the other state chapters in that itsfocus is on issues and challenges peculiar to urban areas that are also centers ofbiodiversity. Examples: how to preserve native plant habitats located in the midst ofredevelopment projects; and how to protect such habitats in city parks, given the manyconflicting ideas residents have about how they wish to use their open space and parks.The chapter’s special strengths and accomplishments include----long time support, in the face of continual opposition, for the creation andmaintenance of natural areas within the city’s parklands, including maintaining a plantspecies list for all natural areas in SF and the development of a locally significant specieslist;----on-going collaboration in a program to preserve butterfly populations by establishinghost plant corridors; and---- current and ongoing efforts to work with other environmental organizations toestablish more connectivity between various plant and animal habitat areas in city parks.The chapter also produces and distributes 4 issues per year of a high qualitynewsletter.TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS FOR ALL ACTIVITIES: 5385.5[Board meetings, 359; Board duties, 1419.5; Field Trips, 218 ; Programs, 153.5;Newsletter, 275; Outreach events, 1290.5; Educ. Events, 0; Conservation, 1670]CHAPTER ACTIVITIES IN 20111. BOARD MEETINGS:11 meetings (every month except December)average time per attendee per meeting, including 30 min. travel, 3 hoursaverage attendance in 2011: 10 officers and/or board members per meetinga) Total volunteer hours officers and chairs spent attending board meetings: 359(including travel hours reported by 2 board members above the included 30 min.)Total attendance: 108 Total hours @ 3 hrs per meeting: 324Additional travel time (> 30 min.): 35b) Hours spent by Officers and Committee Chairs on board duties and activities in2011, but not included in other reports (self-reported): 1419.5

2. FIELD TRIPSJanuary San Bruno Mountain Saddle & Bog - 14 participants, 6 volunteer hoursFebruary San Pedro Valley County Park Hazelnut Trail- 2 participants, 10 volunteer hoursBayview Hill, 18 participants, 5.5 volunteer hoursMarchAprilMayJuneJulyAugustRancho Corral de Tierra - 13 participants, 16 volunteer hoursSan Bruno Mountain Ridge Trail - 11 participants, 17.5 volunteer hoursPoint Molate Grasslands - 38 participants, 6 volunteer hoursRancho Corral de Tierra - 13 participants, 3 volunteer hoursSan Bruno Mountain Radio Road - 10 participants, 6 volunteer hoursSweeney Ridge - 5 participants, 13.5 volunteer hoursPedro Point Headlands - 5 participants, 12 volunteer hoursSeptember Yerba Buena Island - 8 participants, 12.5 volunteer hoursClaremont Canyon Butterflies - 16 participants, 5 volunteer hoursGlen Canyon Spiders - 11 participants, 3.5 volunteer hoursOctoberSan Francisco Geology - 8 participants, 19 volunteer hoursSan Bruno Mountain Dairy Ravine & Cable Ravine- 21 participants, 6.5 volunteerhoursSUMMARYNumber of trips: 15Total number of participants: 97Total number of volunteer hours by field trip leaders: 142Volunteer hours by Field Trips Chair: 76Total volunteer hours for Field Trips: 2183. PROGRAMSThe chapter presented 11 programs (one each month except January).All were held on the first Thursday of the month in the San Francisco County Fair Bldg.,Golden Gate Park, 9 th Ave. & Lincoln Way, San Francisco.Speakers are paid no fees (they are taken to dinner).Room rental charge: $60 per program; $660 for the year.Hospitality supply costs: $173.43 total, of which $145.35 was covered by attendeedonations, so Net Cost was $28.08List of ProgramsFeb. 3, 2011: Maritime Chaparral, Wildfire, and Conservation Challenges alongthe Central California Coast.Speaker: Mike Vasey. Attendance: 69

March 3, 2011: Open House & Slide Show in collaboration with SustainabilityFair.Organizer: Margo Bors Attendance: Approx. 50April 7, 2011: A Visual Tour of San Francisco’s Native Wildflower AreasSpeaker: Margo Bors Attendance: 55May 5, 2011: Annual picnic and tour of Arthur Menzies Garden of California NativePlants, San Francisco Botanical Garden at Strybing Arboretum.Tour leaders: Jake Sigg, Don Mahoney, Ted Kipping, & Terry Seefeld.Attendance: Approx. 25June 2, 2011: Plant Demographics in San Mateo and Santa Clara CountiesSpeaker: Toni Corelli Attendance: 47July 7, 2011: Green Fire: Aldo Leopold and a Land Ethic for Our TimeSpeakers: Steve & Ann Dunsky, film makers Attendance: 31August 4, 2011: Diamonds in the Rough: Discovering San Francisco’s NaturalAreasSpeaker: Lisa Wayne Attendance: 41September 1, 2011: The Once and Future Wetlands: Will Estuarine TidalWetlands Survive Climate Change?Speaker: Dr. Tom Parker Attendance: 33October 6, 2011: A State of Change: Forgotten Landscapes of CaliforniaSpeaker: Laura Cunningham Attendance: 51November 3, 2011: Progress and Challenges in the Understanding and Management ofSudden Oak Death in California 10 Years After its DiscoverySpeaker: Dr. Matteo Garbelotto Attendance: 30December 1, 2011: Annual Members' Slides and Potluck Supper,Organizer: Margo Bors Attendance: 23Total attendance for the 11 programs: 455Total volunteer hours for all 11 programs: 153.5(includes contacting & making arrangements w/speakers (or being speaker),and set-up & breakdown of meeting space)4. NEWSLETTER4 issues per year115 volunteer hours for writing, compiling & editing160 volunteer hours (total) for mailingTotal volunteer hours to produce, edit & distribute: 275Annual cost for printing, stamps, and mailing labels: $32235. PUBLIC OUTREACH EVENTSWeed Day at the Capitol, Sacramento. March 16, 2011. Yerba Buena provided 4 ofthe approximately 20 attendees.Volunteer hours involved, 65

San Francisco Flower and Garden Show, San Mateo Event Center. WE – SA Mar.23-26, 2011, 10 am – 7 pm & SU Mar 27, 2011, 10 am – 6 pmVolunteer hours involved, four 2/12 hr shifts at booth (2 hr shifts on SU), sharedamong 35 volunteers from 4 Bay Area chapters (YB, SCV, EB, and MA)Volunteer hours for Yerba Buena chapter, 219[201 org. + 8 shifts @ 2.25 hrs = 18]Annual Native Plant Garden Tour -- April 10, 2011 11 AM – 3 PMNumber of gardens included: 18 private (6 new) and 2 publicNumber of people visiting at least one garden: 273Total number of documented garden visits: 699Total volunteer hours by committee, hosts, & others: 364Summer Gardening Fair at the San Francisco Botanical Garden in Golden GatePark. August 6, 2011 from 10AM-3PM.Cost for table, $35Volunteer hours, 38.5Annual Native Plant Sale, Miraloma Park Improvement Club. Oct. 22, 2011, 1-5 PMVolunteer hours involved, 548[398, preparation + 150 at event (25 volunteers@ 6 hrs. each)]Other Outreach throughout year, 56Total volunteer hours for all outreach events: 1290.56. EDUCATION EFFORTSNone in 2011.7. CONSERVATIONWed. Restoration work parties 1013Glen Park work parties 261NAP work parties 49Other work parties 85America’s Cup EnvironmentalCoalition liaison 12Additional hours by Conservation Chair 250Total volunteer hours, conservation 1670Significant accomplishments/ issues in 2011Accomplishments:***A bright spot is the ongoing restoration of the fountain thistle, Cirsium fontinalefontinale, on Caltrans' ROW land at the intersection of Highway 92 and I-280. This is a

joint project between our chapter and the Santa Clara Valley Chapter, with somevolunteers from East Bay Chapter. It began as part of the GGNRA Endangered SpeciesBig Year in 2008, and has been continuing ever since, twice yearly. Our volunteers(average, about 15 per work party) are loyal and charged up. We have pretty mucheliminated the pampas grass. There were at least 2000 clumps initially; these weredrastically reduced by Caltrans' spraying, and we have been doing the follow up. Weshould give it the coup de grace this year. In the absence of the pampas grass, thefountain thistle exploded--from about two dozen to near 10,000 plants.***We managed to get $200k from the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (PUC)for management of the grassland-shrubland above the Laguna Honda Reservoir site. Weare following up with PUC and will be watching as the program is implemented on theground.***We had several meetings of a coalition of San Mateo County environmentalorganizations to interface with San Mateo County Parks to help it in its severely stressedpark system. County Parks has suffered disproportionately in the current budget climate,due to the fact that it has no dedicated funding source. We also want County Parks to bemore welcoming of volunteers.***And, we continued our cooperation with Nature in the City in the highly successfulGreen Hairstreak project, which involves many neighbors in hands-on planting of hostplants, and maintenance for movement between populations of the Green Hairstreakbutterfly.Issues:***The chapter continued its multi-year collaboration with other environmentalorganizations in support of the (Significant) Natural (Resource) Areas Program (NAP) incity parks and open spaces. 2011 was an important year in this saga: 5 plus years after itwas ordered, a Draft EIR prepared under CEQA -- to evaluate the Management Plan forthis innovative program -- was released for public comment. The comment period endedin October; it is expected that the Final EIR will be released in autumn, 2012.The ongoing challenge for the chapter in 2012 will be to help organize support forcertifying the EIR, and for FINALLY seeing official approval and adoption of theManagement Plan. This will not be easy. There is opposition to the idea of establishingand maintaining Natural Areas in parks, much of it coming from various small but veryvocal (and organized) constituencies. (There is even one candidate running for a cityoffice on a platform that includes opposition to the Natural Areas Program!)***A new issue in 2011 is connected to San Francisco’s successful bid to host theAmerica’s Cup Yacht Race in 2013, with preliminary events in summer 2012. Many ofthe prime viewing areas for spectators are in parklands, raising issues of protectingsensitive habitat. The chapter is a member of a coalition of environmental organizationsworking with race organizers and city officials to ensure that protection measures areadequate and contain sufficient accountability.