$5.00 (Free to Members) VOL. 44, NO.1 • JANUARY 2016 FREMONTIA JOURNAL OF THE CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY CAN WE CREATE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE? CONSERVCONSERVATIONATION AT CALIFORNIA’S EDGE THE CONSORTIUM OF CALIFORNIA HERBARIA THE RUSSIAN WILDERNESS: A LEGACY CONTINUED VOL. 44, NO. 1, JANUARY 2016 FREMONTIA V44_1_cover.pmd 1 12/19/15, 10:52 AM CALIFORNIA NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY CNPS, 2707 K Street, Suite 1; Sacramento, CA 95816-5130 FREMONTIA Phone: (916) 447-CNPS (2677) Fax: (916) 447-2727 Web site: www.cnps.org Email: [email protected] VOL. 44, NO. 1, JANUARY 2016 MEMBERSHIP Copyright © 2016 Membership is open to all. Membership form is located on inside back cover; California Native Plant Society dues include subscriptions to Fremontia and the CNPS Bulletin Mariposa Lily . $1,500 Family or Group . $75 Bob Hass, Editor Benefactor . $600 International or Library . $75 Beth Hansen-Winter, Designer Patron . $300 Individual . $45 Plant Lover . $100 Student/Retired/Limited Income . $25 Brad Jenkins, Mary Ann Showers, and Carolyn Longstreth, Proofreaders CORPORATE/ORGANIZATIONAL 10+ Employees . $2,500 4-6 Employees . $500 7-10 Employees . $1,000 1-3 Employees . $150 california Native Plant Society STAFF Monterey Bay: Brian LeNeve Dan Gluesenkamp: Executive Director Mount Lassen: Catie Bishop Aaron Sims: Rare Plant Botanist Napa Valley: Gerald Tomboc Protecting California’s Native Flora Becky Reilly: Events Coordinator North Coast: Larry Levine Since 1965 Caroline Garland: Office & Sales Coord. North San Joaquin: Jim Brugger Disclaimer: Daniel Hastings: Vegetation Field Asst. Orange County: Thea Gavin The views expressed by authors pub- Danny Slakey: Rare Plant Treasure Hunt Redbud: Denise Della Santina Riverside/San Bernardino: Katie Barrows lished in this journal do not necessarily Proj. Coord. Sacramento Valley: Glen Holstein reflect established policy or procedure of Greg Suba: Conservation Program Dir. CNPS. San Diego: David Varner Jaime Ratchford: Associate Vegetation San Diego: Marty Foltyn Ecologist San Gabriel Mtns.: Orchid Black Jennifer Buck-Diaz: Vegetation Ecologist San Luis Obispo: David Chipping Julie Evens: Vegetation Program Dir. Sanhedrin: Allison Rofe Laureen Jenson: Acctg. & HR Coord. Santa Clara Valley: Judy Fenerty North Coast Shasta Kendra Sikes: Vegetation Ecologist Statewide Chapters Santa Cruz County: Deanna Giuliano Mona Robison: Rare Plant Program Mgr. Sequoia: Vacant Sara Taylor: Vegetation Field Lead Shasta: Ken Kilborn Bryophyte Chapter Shanna Goebel: Administrative Assistant Sierra Foothills: Vacant Mt. Lassen Stacey Flowerdew: Membership & Dev. South Coast: David Berman Tahoe Coord. Tahoe: Brett Hall Sanhedrin Redbud Willis L. Jepson: Mary Frances Kelly-Poh Sacramento Dorothy Milo El Dorado King Young Napa CONTRACTORS & CHAPTER STAFF Yerba Buena: Ellen Edelson Baker Valley Willis Linn Bob Hass: Fremontia Editor Jepson Sierra Foothills BOARD OF DIRECTORS Marin East Mack Casterman: E. Bay Conserv. Analyst Bay North San Joaquin Mark Naftzger: Webmaster Steven Hartman: President Yerba Buena Santa Clara Vern Goehring: Legislative Analyst OPEN: Vice President Valley Nancy Morin: Treasurer Santa Cruz County Sequoia Bristlecone Carolyn Longstreth: Secretary Monterey CHAPTER COUNCIL—CHAPTERS & Bay Alta Peak DELEGATES Gordon Leppig: Director Gabi McLean: Director Alta Peak: Joan Stewart Jean Robertson: Director San Luis Obispo Kern Baja: César García Valderrama Christian Sarabia: Director Mojave Bristlecone: Stephen Ingram Michael Vasey: Director Channel Islands: David Magney Channel Islands San Gabriel Steve Windhager: Director Mtns. Dorothy King Young: Nancy Morin Carol Witham: Director Riverside – San Bernardino East Bay: Lesley Hunt Marty Foltyn: CC Representative Los Angeles – Orange Santa Monica Mtns. County El Dorado: Susan Britting Bill Waycott: CC Representative Kern County: Dorie Giragosian San Diego South Coast LA/Santa Monica Mtns.: Betsey Landis CHAPTER COUNCIL OFFICERS Marin: David Long Orchid Black: CC Chair Milo Baker: Liz Parsons Larry Levine: CC Vice Chair Baja Mojave Desert: Timothy Thomas OPEN: CC Secretary California MATERIALS FOR PUBLICATION CNPS members and others are welcome to contribute materials for publication in Fremontia. See the inside back cover for submission instructions. Staff and board listings are as of January 2016. Printed by Modern Litho: www.modernlitho.com FREMONTIA VOL. 44, NO. 1, JANUARY 2016 V44_1_cover.pmd 2 12/19/15, 10:52 AM CONTENTS SAVE THE PLANTS, SAVE THE PLANET, SAVE OURSELVES: CAN WE CREATE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE? by Emily Brin Roberson ............................. 2 At the CNPS 2015 Conservation Conference, three keynote speakers explained that conservation of plant diversity—and of the biosphere in general—cannot be achieved without also addressing social and economic inequality. CONSERVATION AT CALIFORNIA’S EDGE by Evan Meyer, Jorge Simancas, and Nick Jensen .......................................................................................................... 8 Northwest Baja California, Mexico, contains some of the most intact stands of coastal vegetation in the southern California Floristic Province but is facing serious threats to its wild landscapes. A POWERFUL RESOURCE FOR PLANT CONSERVATION EFFORTS: THE CONSORTIUM OF CALIFORNIA HERBARIA REACHES TWO MILLION SPECIMENS by Staci Markos, Richard L. Moe, and David Baxter ....................... 16 The Consortium of California Herbaria (CCH) has helped bring herbaria into the 21st century and join the global effort to share data that was formerly stored only in collections. CNPS members play an important role in the CCH, and by doing so contribute to conservation and education efforts focused on the California flora. REVISTING JOHN SAWYER AND DALE THORNBURGH’S 1969 VEGETATION PLOTS IN THE RUSSIAN WILDERNESS: A LEGACY CONTINUED by Melissa H. DeSiervo, Erik S. Jules, Michael E. Kauffmann, Drew S. Bost, and Ramona J. Butz ..................................................................................... 20 In 1969 Humboldt State University (HSU) professors John Sawyer and Dale Thornburgh conducted over 200 vegetation surveys cataloging the plant diversity of the Klamath Mountains in an area known as the “Miracle Mile.” Forty-five years later a group of graduate students and colleagues at HSU resampled the plots to examine how this biodiversity hotspot may be changing due to a warming climate and fire suppression. HONORABLE MENTIONS FROM THE BOTANICAL ART AND PHOTO- GRAPHY CONTESTS: CNPS 2015 CONSERVATION CONFERENCE ...... 26 THE COVER: Researchers from Humboldt State University camp out next to Little Duck Lake in the Russian Wilderness to resurvey vegetation plots first established by John Sawyer and Dale Thornburgh in 1969. The lake is located within the “Miracle Mile” that contains the highest diversity of conifers recorded in the world (18 species). Photograph by James Adam Taylor, 2014. VOL. 44, NO. 1, JANUARY 2016 FREMONTIA 1 V44_1_book.pmd 1 12/17/15, 12:22 PM Water purification, Arcata Marsh. Arcata uses restored and constructed native wetland communities to help filter contaminants and treat the city’s wastewater before discharge into Humboldt Bay. The marsh, which is on the Pacific Flyway, has hosted over 300 bird species. Photograph by Leslie Scopes-Anderson of the Arcata Marsh and Wildlife Sanctuary. SAVE THE PLANTS, SAVE THE PLANET, SAVE OURSELVES: CAN WE CREATE A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE? by Emily Brin Roberson t the 2015 CNPS Conserva- seem outside the scope of native and our planet. Runaway overcon- tion Conference in San plant supporters and researchers: sumption, population growth, cli- Jose, three of the Progress 1) the fact that human population mate change, toxification of air, soil and Promise presenta- growth and overconsumption are and water, and loss of biological di- tionsA were notable for the unusual rapidly destroying the environment, versity were all cited as leading to a themes they shared. They and 2) the need to fundamentally seemingly inevitable demise of the called upon CNPS to ac- restructure our societies and econo- human race and many other spe- knowledge and act upon mies if we are to avoid adding our- cies. All three speakers asserted that problems that might selves to the list of species whose only profound changes to our imperilment or extinction we have economy and society can avert the Illustration from op-ed by caused. coming disaster. Douglas Tallamy from the Acclaimed science fiction writer I interviewed these speakers to New York Times, March 11, Kim Stanley Robinson, distinguished explore their ideas and seek guid- 2015, symbolizing the central author and ecologist Paul Ehrlich, ance about how native plant enthu- role of plants to the web of life. Permission to reprint courtesy of and celebrated botanist Peter Raven siasts can fight the trends that are Courtney Wotherspoon, spoonstudio.com/ all presented grim and sobering endangering our planet, our flora, index.html. analyses of the state of our species and ourselves. 2 FREMONTIA VOL. 44, NO. 1, JANUARY 2016 V44_1_book.pmd 2 12/17/15, 12:22 PM OVERPOPULATION and nearly every other species CONSUMPTION, GROWTH, to eat sunlight, by creating the AND INEQUALITY All three speakers stressed that nourishment that drives food there are simply not enough re- webs on this planet. As if that The speakers all stressed that sources to support continued popu- weren’t enough, plants also pro- population stabilization alone can- lation growth. Paul Ehrlich wrote duce oxygen, build topsoil and not stop the demise of the