Rare Plants of Western San Diego County

Workshop Length : 2 days - Jan 10-11, 2012

Presenters: Fred M. Roberts & Michelle Balk

Fred Roberts is a botanical consultant with 25 years of field experience surveying rare plants in southern California. A graduate of U.C. Santa Barbara, Fred was the assistant curator of the Museum of Systematic Biology, managing the herbarium during the 1980’s and worked as a botanist for the U.S.Fish and Wildlife Service during the 1990’s. He is an author of several botanical books and is the Rare Plant Chair or co-chair for the Orange, San Bernardino/Riverside, and San Diego Chapters of CNPS, in addition to regularly participating in the decision process regarding additions and subtractions from the CNPS Rare Plant Inventory. Fred has taught botanical classes for the San Diego Natural History Museum, Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, and the CNPS education program.
Michelle Balk has over ten years of experience as a biological consultant in southern California, especially in San Diego County, much of her work involving rare plants. She earned a B.S. in Zoology from Iowa State University and a M.S. in Biology (emphasis in ecology and evolution) from The University of Akron (Ohio). Her thesis work involved life history research on lizards, but upon moving to Southern California, she rapidly converted to botany and has never looked back. In addition to her consulting duties, Michelle has taught several botany classes on the Southern California flora through Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and the CNPS education program.

Class Goal

Introduce students to a wide diversity of rare plants in San Diego County, stressing distinctive characters, distribution, and their habitat.

Workshop Content

This course will focus on the identification and ecology of sensitive plants of the coast, foothills, and mountains of San Diego County. Emphasis will be placed on endangered, threatened, and CNPS List 1 and 2 species. Key characters used in identifying easily-confused species will be presented, and specific distributions and habitat preferences will be discussed. The course will include an extensive photo presentation and a field trip to local rare plant populations to provide course participants with first-hand experience of sensitive plants of San Diego County. Participants will receive a detailed handout summarizing information presented in class.

Outline of Major Topics

Introduction and overview
References and tools (including the CNDDB, Rare Find, and the Consortium of California herbaria), and for identification and where to find sensitive plants.
Identification of rare taxa (nomenclature, taxonomy, and distinguishing characteristics) and an overview of coastal and montane sensitive plant species in San Diego Country (extending over two days).

Field Trip Location

A half-day field trip (weather permitting) will introduce students to selected sensitive species in their natural environment. The field trip will visit a number of nearby sites in the vicinity of San Diego (exact locations to be determined based on conditions of the winter flora).