Riparian & Wetland Plant Identification
Taught by David L. Magney

This is an intensive introductory/intermediate course on riparian and wetland plant identification and ecology. It is geared towards anyone who wants or needs to improve their knowledge and skills about riparian/wetland plants. Emphasis will be given to southern California species and habitats; however, information learned in this class will be readily applicable throughout California and elsewhere. Common and rare species will be covered. The class will include classroom presentation and exercises, and field excursions, primarily into the Ventura River, a dynamic free-flowing southern California river. We will spend at least half the time in the field

Measuring and Monitoring Plant Populations

Using classroom and field exercises, the workshop will focus on the role of plant population monitoring for adaptive management. Participants will learn how to develop good management objectives. Topics cover principles of sampling and several sampling designs, field techniques for measuring vegetation, analyzing monitoring data and presenting results. Participants will receive a copy of the BLM-published book, Measuring and Monitoring Plant Populations, by Caryl Elzinga, Dan Salzer, and John Willoughby, a notebook of all materials covered and a CD with additional materials to help with monitoring programs.

California Rangeland Monitoring
Jennifer Buck-Diaz, CNPS, Vegetation Ecologist
University of California Cooperative Extension, and Chance Ranch, Merced

Please join the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) for a one or optional two-day workshop

• Day 1: Maintaining grassland biodiversity and field site visit. Half day lecture / half day field.
• Day 2: Grassland vegetation sampling using the Relevé method. All day field survey training

California grasslands are incredibly rich in herbaceous plant species; however, most areas are labeled and mapped as "non-native grasslands". We know less about this vegetation than most other California habitats. CNPS has launched an initiative to better understand and conserve California's grassland vegetation. This workshop will focus on results of an NRCS-funded project titled: California Rangeland Monitoring in Central Valley and Carrizo Plain Grassland Habitats.

Two local field visits will help develop skills in field plant species identification and train participants in both the CNPS Relevé field sampling protocol and the NRCS Natural Resources Inventory method.

Vernal Pool Plant Taxonomy
Taught by Carol Witham, and Jennifer Buck-Diaz
UC Davis and vernal pools at the following locations in Solano, Sacramento, and Yolo Counties: Jepson Prairie, Tule Ranch, Valensin Ranch, Rancho Seco, and Howard Ranch.

This three-day course is a combination of laboratory and field studies of the taxonomy of vernal pool plants with a focus on difficult genera. The first day will take place in the UC Davis Center for Plant Diversity where instructors will cover the distinguishing characters of several difficult genera in a lab setting. The following two days will be spent visiting hard pan and clay pan vernal pools with many rare and common vernal pool species. Participants should become more efficient and effective at vernal pool vegetation assessments, floristic surveys and rare plant surveys as a result of taking this course.

Please join the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW), and Aerial Information Services (AIS) for a three-day, vegetation mapping workshop - a three-day combination of field and computer exercises in fine-scale vegetation mapping.

Target Audience: Professional botanists, ecologists, resource managers, GIS and vegetation mapping specialists. Participants should have an initial understanding of the subject matter and of GIS.

Workshop Objectives:

• Learn about vegetation sampling, classification, and photo interpretation
• Practice creating a vegetation map using Geographic Information Systems
• Collect reconnaissance samples to support the fine-scale mapping using the 2nd edition of a Manual of California Vegetation classification
• Practice techniques of photo interpretation, delineation, and attribution
• Validate a vegetation map through accuracy assessment. 

The last day to cancel your registration and receive a refund (minus bank processing fees) is Jan 2, 2013. After Jan 2, we will not be able to refund your registration fee regardless of personal or professional emergency.

This course combines an introductory evening lecture and two field-days with exercises in fine-scale vegetation sampling

Target audience: Professional and student botanists, ecologists, resource managers, and conservationists.  Participants should have an initial understanding of the subject matter and basic plant identification skills.  This course focuses on sampling plant communities using the CNPS-DFG combined vegetation rapid assessment/relevé method.

Course description: The course will be a combination of lecture and field exercises in vegetation sampling with a focus on collecting data using the CNPS-DFG combined vegetation rapid assessment/ relevé method.  We will discuss applications of fine-scale vegetation sampling, classification and mapping, how to document rare natural communities, and how vegetation information fits into planning documents.

The last day to cancel your registration and receive a refund (minus bank processing fees) is June 28, 2012. After June 28, we will not be able to refund your registration fee regardless of personal or professional emergency.

Reduced or waived fees: Two or more spaces are available through our Work Exchange Program for this workshop. These are awarded on a first come/ first serve basis.

Rare Plant Survey Protocol - A Scientific Approach
with Heath Bartosh, Aaron Sims
Mount Diablo, Walnut Creek vicinity

This classroom and field course is designed to approach rare plant surveys using the best scientific information available. This scientific approach is built on conducting proper background review and literature searches, evaluating ecological information, assessing annual phenology, appropriate study design based on the scale of the survey area, survey execution, and adequate documentation of rare plant populations encountered.

Measure and Monitoring Plant Populations

Using classroom and field exercises, the workshop will focus on the role of plant population monitoring for adaptive management. Participants will learn how to develop good management objectives Topics cover principles of sampling and several sampling designs, field techniques for measuring vegetation, analyzing monitoring data and presenting results. Participants will receive a copy of the BLM-published book, Measuring and Monitoring Plant Populations, by Caryl Elzinga, Dan Salzer, and John Willoughby.

Legends of the Fall: exploring the clandestine

James M. Andre and Tasha La Doux
UC Granite Mountains Desert Research Center, Mojave National Preserve, eastern Mojave Desert

Few botanists journey out in the late summer or early fall in search of colorful blooms of California’s desert plants. Yet the early fall bloom in the eastern Mojave Desert can be more reliable than the more popular spring blooms.  Approximately 10% of eastern Mojave annuals are considered “summer annuals”, species that germinate following the monsoonal cloudbursts of summer, grow rapidly, and complete the life cycle before temperatures decline sharply in fall.  In addition, many perennial species flower in early fall, particularly those of the Asteraceae, Poaceae, and Polygonaceae.  This course will introduce botanists to the ecology and taxonomy of the diverse flora of early fall in the eastern Mojave Desert, with special emphasis on rare or unique species. 

Vegetation Rapid Assessment/Relevé Workshop
Ocean Song, Sonoma County
Instructors: Julie Evens and Deborah Stout

This course will be a combination of lecture and field exercises in vegetation sampling, with a focus on collecting data using the CNPS/ DFG combined vegetation rapid assessment/ relevé method. We will discuss applications of fine-scale vegetation sampling, classification and mapping, how to document rare natural communities, and how vegetation information fits into planning documents.

Introduction to Riparian/Wetland Plant Identification
Ventura River and Casitas Springs Community Center

Instructors: David Magney with Cher Batchelor and David Brown

Course Description: This is an intensive introductory/intermediate course on riparian and wetland plant identification and ecology. It is geared towards anyone who wants or needs to improve their knowledge and skills about riparian/wetland plants. Emphasis will be given to southern California species and habitats; however, information learned in this class will be readily applicable throughout California and elsewhere. The class will include classroom presentation and exercises, and field excursions, primarily into the Ventura River, a dynamic free-flowing southern California river. We will spend at least half the time in the field. Participants who pass a test at the end will receive a certificate of completion.

Attendees will learn:

• How to identify many riparian tree and shrub species, as well as herbaceous species,
• Tips to remembering the challenging willows
• How to use identification keys
• Plant description terminology (Latin and Greek)
  

Measuring and Monitoring Plant Populations
John Willoughby
Hell’s Half Acre, Grass Valley
April 25-27, 2011

Using classroom and field exercises, the workshop will focus on the role of plant population monitoring for adaptive management. Participants will learn how to develop good management objectives Topics cover principles of sampling and several sampling designs, field techniques for measuring vegetation, analyzing monitoring data and presenting results. Participants will receive a copy of the BLM-published book, Measuring and Monitoring Plant Populations, by Caryl Elzinga, Dan Salzer, and John Willoughby.

The fourth annual two-day workshop on sampling and classifying vernal pool vegetation will be held Monday, 11 April and Tuesday, 12 April in and around Davis, Dixon, and Sacramento. This particular offering is not funded by CNPS, but CNPS is encouraging attendance. A few places are left at a registration fee of $300-350.

By using a combination of in-class lectures, discussions, handouts, and hands-on field work, attendees will learn new methods of sampling vernal pool vegetation and classifying the vegetations to association, alliance, and order levels. These methods were developed by a team of researchers who conducted a state-wide survey of vernal pool vegetation over the past decade. EPA and CDFG, among other agencies, are promoting the use of these techniques by agency staff and consulting companies.

The workshop will be led by Drs. Ayzik Solomeshch and Michael Barbour of UC Davis. For more information, contact them at aizsolomeshchucdavis.edu and/or mgbarbourucdavis.edu or call Dr. Barbour via his home phone, 530-795-2009.

California Rangeland Monitoring

Please join the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), Defenders of Wildlife, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) For a one or optional two-day workshop

• Day 1: Maintaining grassland biodiversity and field site visit. Half day lecture/ half day field.
• Day 2: Grassland vegetation sampling using the Relevé method. All day field survey training at Tejon Ranch.

Instructor: Jennifer Buck-Diaz, CNPS, Vegetation Ecologist

Course Description: California grasslands are incredibly rich in herbaceous plant species; however, most areas are labeled and mapped as “non-native grassland”. We know less about this vegetation than any other major California ecosystem. CNPS has launched an initiative to understand and conserve California’s grassland vegetation. This workshop will focus on results of an NRCS-funded project titled: California Rangeland Monitoring and Mapping, Focusing upon San Joaquin Valley and Carrizo Plain Grassland Habitats.

Two local field visits will help develop skills in field plant species identification and train participants in the CNPS Relevé sampling protocol

Rare Plants of the Central Valley, UC Davis

Instructors: Carol Witham with assistance by CNPS Rare Plant Botanist, Aaron Sims

Course Description: Many view the central valley as a place to get through. No so for John Muir when he first visited the area in 1868 he described it as ‘all one sheet of plant gold”. Since Muir’s time, the central valley has been invaded by a plethora of European annual grasses that have displaced much of the great displays of annual forbs. However, from intertidal mudflats in the delta to the oak savanna-ed foothills, the central valley habitats are refugia for many native species including a large number of rare, threatened and endangered plants.

This one day laboratory course will focus on identification of the rare plants of the Sacramento Valley. While much of the emphasis will be on vernal pool taxa, we will also explore those of the grasslands and riparian areas. Participants will learn characters used to distinguish the rare species beyond those used in the typical dichotomous plant key. Specific microhabitat for the species will also be discussed. Participants will receive numerous handouts to aid their future rare plant survey work.

Field-Based Rare Vegetation Sampling/Mapping Workshop
East Riverside County

Vegetation Mapping Workshop
CNPS, CDFG, & AIS
University of Redlands and the Potrero unit of the San Jacinto Wildlife Area
Dr. Todd Keeler-Wolf, John Menke, and Julie Evens

Participants will learn about vegetation sampling, classification, and photo interpretation in this hands-on workshop presented jointly by CNPS, the California Department of Fish and Game, and Aerial Information Systems. In field and computer lab exercises you will practice creating a vegetation map using Geographic Information Systems, collect reconnaissance samples supporting an existing vegetation classification, and practice techniques of photo interpretation, lineation, and attribution. You will also learn how to validate a vegetation map through accuracy assessment.

Plant Taxonomy Teacher Training
Regional Parks Botanic Garden (the birthplace of CNPS), Wildcat Canyon Drive Tilden Park, Berkeley
Dr. Glenn Keator

Hours: 10 am – 4:00 p.m. both days

If you have ever dreamed of teaching a plant taxonomy class but never had the time to develop the curriculum, this is the opportunity for you. Course is for people interested in teaching a plant taxonomy course at the junior college or extended education level.

Potential teachers should have taken one or more semesters of Plant Taxonomy or Systematics and have field experience in California floristics. This teacher training will not teach plant taxonomy but how to teach a course using the syllabus provided by Dr. Glen Keator.

There will be a mixture of indoor classroom time and time in the garden. Course materials are designed to teach a semester or quarter length class at a junior college or extended education program.

There is a tremendous need in California for courses in plant taxonomy and plant identification. This is an opportunity to earn extra money and provide a needed service to people of all ages that are interested in learning more about plant taxonomy in California.

Dr. Glenn Keator has been teaching plant taxonomy for many years at Bay Area Junior Colleges and has offered to provide his curriculum to other people that would be interested in teaching a plant taxonomy course in their region. He authored the book, California Plant Families, west of the Sierran crest and deserts, 2009, UC Press, which will serve as a text for the course.

Three-day combination of lecture/lab/ and field exercises. Participants will learn about vegetation sampling, classification, and photo interpretation in this hands-on workshop presented jointly by CNPS, the California Department of Fish and Game, and Aerial Information Services. In field and computer lab exercises you will practice creating a vegetation map using Geographic Information Systems, collect reconnaissance samples to support the 2nd edition of a Manual of California Vegetation classification, and practice techniques of photo interpretation, delineation, and attribution. You will also learn how to validate a vegetation map through accuracy assessment.

Vegetation Rapid Assessment / Relevé Workshop
South Lake Tahoe
Instructors: Julie Evens and Deborah Stout

This course will be a combination of lecture and field exercises in vegetation sampling, with a focus on collecting data using the CNPS combined vegetation rapid assessment/ relevé method. We will discuss applications of fine-scale vegetation sampling, classification and mapping, how to document rare natural communities, and how vegetation information fits into planning documents.

Rare Plant Treasure Hunt
Trip Leader Training and Treasure Hunt
Tahoe National Forest

This trip should be amazing and beautiful. We will be looking for Erigeron miser (starved daisy), Ivesia sericoleuca, Eriogonum umbellatum var. torreyanum and the carnivorous sundew-Drosera anglica.

• Target Audience: The California Native Plant Society is putting together a special treasure hunt and training for anyone interested in becoming a Rare Plant Treasure Hunt Trip Leader. If you have some botanical field experience (whether professional or not) and would like to lead a group of any size on a trip this year or next then please join us.
• Location: Tahoe National Forest-Donner Pass to Sage Hen Hills. Meet at CNPS headquarters, 2707 K Street, Ste 1 Sacramento on Sat morning at 8 am to carpool or at the Kingvale Shell Station at 10 am (South of exit 171 off Hwy I-80). Please bring all supplies you will need for camping and surveying. More camping site details to come.
• Cost: If you chose to camp, there may be a small charge for our group campsite.
• RSVP: Reply to Amber Swanson by Jul 27th at aswansoncnps.org or at http://www.meetup.com/Rare-Plant-Treasure-Hunt.
  

First evening presentation followed by two field days. This field-based workshop will focus on regional endemics of the Eddys, Scott, and Trinity Mountains, within the triangle circumscribed by the towns of Redding, Mt. Shasta, and Weaverville. This landscape is not only geologically and topographically complex, but is also very old. We will see many rare plants that are confined to ultramafic (“serpentine’) substrates, and will also see rare plants that are generalists. Habitats we will visit include Jeffrey pine/incense cedar woodlands, mixed conifer-oak forests, extensive rock outcrops, and Darlingtonia wetlands.

First evening presentation followed by two field days interspersed with lab identification exercises. California is rich in wetland ecosystems. They are found across all geographic regions of the state where a combination of topography and hydrology result in saturated conditions at least part of the year. The valleys and rugged terrain of eastern Mendocino County are an ideal location for the study of wetland systems commonly found across the state. These include perennial streams, ponds, and marshes, as well as small intermittent tributary streams, vernal pools, seeps, and springs. This workshop will include field trips to the Hopland Field Station and Little Lake Valley north of Willits to observe plant communities and soil characteristics of different wetland types, and the influences of topography and hydrology. Plants of the sedge (Cyperaceae), rush (Juncaceae), and grass (Poaceae) families are well-represented in this region and will be the focus of the class. Participants will have the opportunity to identify difficult plants during scheduled day and evening lab sessions.

Two-day combination of lecture and field trips. This is an intensive and pragmatic 2-day course on plant community identification, sampling design, and ecology. The course also reviews general plant community attributes and the relationship between vernal pool communities and rare species occurrence, conservation, restoration priorities, as well as vegetation mapping. The course is designed to accommodate consultants or agency staff individuals with diverse backgrounds who want or need to improve their knowledge of, and skills with, vernal pool vegetation and habitats. The class is being designed to specifically accommodate the needs of the California Department of Fish and Game and the USDI Fish and Wildlife Service.

19 May 2010, Mountainside Conference Center, Mammoth Lakes, CA
See www.sercal.org/conference.htm

A Manual of California Vegetation, Second Edition :
Overview and Relationship to Conservation and Management
Instructors: John Sawyer, Professor Emeritus at Humboldt State University; Todd Keeler-Wolf, Senior Vegetation Ecologist at California Department of Fish and Game, Biogeographic Data Branch;
Julie Evens, Vegetation Program Director at California Native Plant Society.

The long-awaited second edition of A Manual of California Vegetation is now available. This workshop will provide an overview of the additions and changes in the manual, including new vegetation types recognized or redefined across many habitats. We also will discuss the new components of the vegetation descriptions and how you can use this book. Conservation and management are main themes of these descriptions. Time, weather and location permitting, we may take a walk to view some vegetation types described in the new manual.

Workshop registrants will have the opportunity to purchase a copy of the Manual at the list price of $ 82 + Tax. The instructors will have boxes of books available for people to buy and to borrow during the workshop. Julie Evens will also have CNPS order forms for purchase of books by credit card, check or cash.

Maximum # Registrants: 30
Registration Fee: $110 SERCAL or CNPS Member / $135 Non-Member Includes Hosted Lunch

* All net proceeds from this workshop will go to CNPS *

One-day of lecture followed by two days of field trips to Redwood Creek watershed in Marin and Delta/Central Valley riparian field sites (vicinity of the Cosumnes preserve). Please join CNPS and Stillwater Sciences for a three-day, riparian ecology and restoration workshop in Davis. This workshop will include a day of lecture and discussion that provides a conceptual framework for riparian ecology and the natural processes that sustain riparian systems (day 1). The remaining days will include at-site lectures and field visits to riparian areas within a one to two hour drive of Davis. In the field, we will see how riparian systems function from the source waters to the river mouth, and visit restoration sites that demonstrate a broad range of approaches and techniques. The strengths and concerns associated with each will be discussed, as well as the practical challenges (and solutions) that arise in the planning, implementation and monitoring phases of riparian restoration and management.

Three-day combination of lecture and field exercises. Using classroom and field exercises, the workshop will focus on the role of plant population monitoring for adaptive management. Participants will learn how to develop good management objectives Topics cover principles of sampling and several sampling designs, field techniques for measuring vegetation, analyzing monitoring data and presenting results. Participants will receive a copy of the BLM-published book, Measuring and Monitoring Plant Populations by Caryl Elzinga, Dan Salzer, and John Willoughby.

Three full days of field and laboratory exercises. Participants will acquire a higher level of knowledge and confidence in identifying vernal pool plants both in the laboratory and in the field. They will learn characters used to distinguish species beyond those used in the typical dichotomous plant key and gain field identification skills to make participants more efficient and effective at vernal pool vegetation assessments, floristic surveys and rare plant surveys.

Three-day combination of field exercises and lectures. The California Native Plant Society (CNPS), the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG), present a Vegetation Rapid Assessment workshop in the Carrizo Plain. The course will be a combination of lecture and field exercises in vegetation sampling. The course will focus on collecting data using the CNPS Rapid Assessment protocol. We will discuss applications of fine-scale vegetation sampling, classification and mapping, how to document rare natural communities, and how vegetation information fits into planning documents.

Two field days. Overview and field studies of rare plants and vegetation of eastern San Luis Obispo County. Emphasis on field identification, habitat characteristics, conservation status, and management concerns. Potential stops include sites in the Carrizo Plain, Temblor Range, Caliente Range, eastern La Panza Mts., Cuyama Valley, etc, depending on phenology, mud, and logistics.

Three days of field trips out of San Quintin, interspersed with lectures, with a day of travel between San Diego and San Quintin, on each side of the workshop. Bus travel will be arranged between San Diego and San Quintin and is included in the price. The workshop price includes 4 nights in hotels but does not include meals. Passports are required now for travel to Baja.

Authors/Instructors: Todd Keeler-Wolf, John Sawyer, Julie Evens

The authors will debut the greatly expanded second edition of A Manual of California Vegetation. They will provide an overview of additions and changes to the manual, including new vegetation types recognized or redefined across many habitats. You will learn how to use the new manual, in the field as we traverse a variety of vegetation types in the Sierra Nevada, as well as its uses for conservation and management.