Local Chapter Programs

Central Puget Sound

Central Washington

March Program: Yakima Area Wildflowers: Cowiche Canyon and Snow Mountain Ranch, presented by David Hagen

David will provide a visual feast of native wildflowers found in the immediate area of the city of Yakima, particularly on land conserved by the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy, Cowiche Canyon and the Snow Mountain Ranch.

David Hagen has photographed in Cowiche Canyon for over 20 years and at the Snow Mountain Ranch since it was purchased by the Conservancy in 2005.  His photographs have been published in numerous national, regional, and local publications including Cowiche Canyon and WNPS calendars.  David has been on the Board of Directors of the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy since its inception in 1985. 

Columbia Basin

Columbia Basin Programs

Koma Kulshan

February Program: Naming Nature, by Dr. Carol Yoon.

Join Dr. Carol Yoon to learn about how and why we name living things. Drawing from her book Naming Nature: The Clash Between Instinct and Science, she will discuss the science of naming living things and the evidence that there is a human instinct for naming the living world. Carol is a biologist turned science writer who has been writing for the New York Times since 1992. She moved to Bellingham in 1997 when her husband, Merrill Peterson, got a job teaching biology at Western. www.carolyoon.com

March Program: Recent Activity at the University of Washington Herbarium, Burke Museum

The University of Washington Herbarium documents the diversity and distribution of plants in the Pacific Northwest. Join Herbarium Collections Manager David Giblin as he will present an overview of his recent fieldwork activities, as well as discuss several ongoing Web-based projects he is leading that target both professional and amateur botanists. David has been the Collections Manager at the University of Washington Herbarium since 2002. He received a Master's Degree in forestry from the University of Washington, and a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Missouri. He conducts field work throughout Washington, and has also collected in Idaho, Montana, and Oregon.

www.washington.edu/burkemuseum/collections/herbarium/index.php

Yukon Adventure, Mostly Plants

Bob Lemon and Annie Prevost would like to share our Yukon Territory adventures with you Friday March 19th at 7 pm.

In June 2008 we traveled for two weeks in the Yukon. It was a good time to catch things in bloom. The highlight of our trip was a day on Keno Hill, a 6000’ high glacial refugia which has a rich concentration of tundra plants. Those who saw the movie “Into the Wild” know the young man possibly died of plant poisoning in the wilds of Alaska. He may have eaten  Hedysarum mackenzii, wild sweet pea, thinking it was Hedysarum alpinum, Eskimo potato. See pictures of both Hedysarums, flowers and pods. We’ll start with desert, coffee and tea.

Reach us from Britton Rd. From Lake Whatcom come up until the road flattens. Turn L on Hillspring St.  (look for the second of two left turn lanes there). Then L on Levitt. We are about ½ block further on the left.

From the Mt. Baker Highway come up Britton Rd. and turn R on Hillspring Rd. ). Then L on Levitt. We are about ½ block further on the left.

Northeast Washington

February Program: Pleistocene Flood Geology of Eastern Washington, by John Buchanan, EWU Geology Department.

March Program: Plants and Plant Communities of the Channelled Scablands, by Diane Stutzman, BLM Botanist and Desert Jewels Nursery.

Okanogan

Annual Meeting of the Okanogan Chapter

WE NEED four or five Kind Volunteers to provide desserts.

Preferably desserts not requiring forks. Please respond soon if you can do this.

Everyone else, please bring the beverage of your choice. Alcohol is allowed in the meeting room. No potluck dinner this year; dessert only.

WE NEED YOUR DIGITAL PHOTOS for this meeting by Friday 2/19/10

Everyone loves seeing each other's favorite native plant images. Email your choicest (ten maximum) in JPEG format to Joyce, magpie@methownet.com. High-resolution images project the best; you can send them in more than one email to make individual transmissions less cumbersome. 

Or you could save them on a disk and make arrangements with Joyce via email, or snail your disk to P.O. Box 1085, Winthrop, WA 98862. We can return your disk at the annual meeting. We won’t give images away or use them without your permission. Be prepared to make a very short comment on each image - for instance location, date, and species.... or you can ask our gurus to identify mystery species. 

By request, this year we'll show photos only from those in attendance. 

Agenda:

Treasurer's report

Minutes of last meeting

Election of officers

These are the current officers:

Joyce Bergen, President

Dana Visalli, Vice-President

Karen Edwards, Secretary

Ann Henry, Treasurer

Our chapter seeks a new President; please respond if you are interested, or if you can suggest someone. 

Field Trip Calendar

We'll start to plan our calendar of native plant outings for the season. Bring ideas for hikes you would like to do, as a participant or as a leader. Hike leaders need not be botany experts; they need only be willing to organize logistics. We always need ideas for outings to take in the late months of the season when valley floor plants are desiccated. 

Program - Members' Photos

Olympic Peninsula

The Olympics, A Natural History, by Tim McNulty.

Tim McNulty is a poet, essayist, and nature writer extraordinaire. His compelling style of writing and teaching brings alive the wonders of the Olympic Peninsula through his recently updated edition of Olympic Natural Park: A Natural History, University of Washington Press, 2009.

Salal

San Juan Islands

The Winter Meeting of the San Juan Islands Chapter will happen alongside the San Juan Master Gardeners' Native Plant Sale and will include a native plant propagation workshop. Everyone is welcome!

South Sound

List of Chapter Programs

Suksdorfia

Ongoing work on oak monitoring project and discussions with Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife.

Wenatchee Valley

Get Ready for Spring! Social

Enjoy savory hors d'oeuvres with wine, beer or soda. View a large collection of regional wildflower guides.  Look at an array of pressed bisquitroots (Lomatiums). Refresh your memory of our local spring wildflowers by viewing colorful photos and websites. Hear about upcoming wildflower walks and take home a species list.  This is a chance to get acquainted with other members.

March Event.

Film about Rachel Carson

March Program.

Wendy Gibble will talk about our area's rare plants.