New Mexico’s Voice for Native Plants y of New Mexico t ie newsletter c o S of the t lan Native Plant Society e P v i t of New Mexico Na APRIL, MAY, JUNE 2012 Vol. XXXVII No. 2 Annual Conference in Alamogordo: August 9–12, 2012 100 Years of Landscape Change Throughout its history, Alamogordo has helped the nation the oldest zoo in New Mexico. Additional attractions in- move from the slow pace of the Old West into the computer- clude the nearby Lincoln National Forest; the National So- ized frenzy of the space age. This is one reason Alamogordo lar Observatory in Sunspot; Trinity Site on the White Sands was chosen to be the site of the International Space Hall of Missile Range; Alamogordo Founders Fame, now known as the New Mexico Museum of Space Park, with a mural and bronzes; Tu- History. Many countries have contributed artifacts and ex- larosa Basin Historical Museum; the hibits of man’s conquest of space to the museum, located on Toy Train Depot and Museum; and the side of the mountains overlooking the beautiful Tularosa the Clyde W. Tombaugh IMAX Dome Basin. The most prominent feature to be seen from this spot Theater. is White Sands National Monument, the most popular at- Our Banquet Keynote Speaker, traction for visitors. Twelve miles south of Alamogordo is David Lee Anderson, is a native of Oliver Lee Memorial State Park, with its Chihuahuan Desert Utah. He earned his bachelor’s in sci- Garden, Riparian Trail, Dog Canyon Recreational Trail, and ence in plant taxonomy from Utah the restored Oliver Lee Ranch House. About 30 miles north State University in 1963; received a Keynote Speaker of Alamogordo is the Three Rivers Petroglyph site, with master’s degree in range ecology from Dave Anderson over 21,000 petroglyphs and partially reconstructed Native Brigham Young University in 1974, and a PhD in range sci- American dwellings. ence from New Mexico State University in 1989. He worked The Alameda Park Zoo was established in 1898 and is Continued page 18 See full details on pages 9–12. Registration form on page 13. Inside This Issue 2 From the President ❖ 2 NPSNM Election of Officers ❖ 3 Notes from Cindy (Your Administrative Coordinator) ❖ Revision of NPSNM Bylaws Proposed ❖ Thank You to NPSNM from UNM Herbarium ❖ In Memoriam: Dee Alton Umberson ❖ 4 Who’s Who at NPSNM ❖ 5 Contributions to the Jack & Martha Carter Conservation Fund ❖ 6 Conservation Corner: New Mexico’s Best-Kept Secret ❖ 7 NPSNM Steps Up to Education Role ❖ 8 Enchanting Wings in Your Yard ❖ 9–12 NPSNM 2012 Annual Conference Program ❖ 13 Annual Conference Registration ❖ 14 Chapter Activities & Events ❖ 16 Overview of Compositae in New Mexico ❖ 18 A New Friend: The Sterculiaceae Family ❖ 19 Membership ❖ 20 NPSNM Election Ballot 2 New Mexico’s Voice for Native Plants http://npsnm.unm.edu From the President by Tom Antonio On February 11, 2012, the Board of Directors of the • Asombro Institute for Science Education. Deserti- Society met at Sevilleta Wildlife Refuge for our annual fication and Restoration: Teaching Students with winter meeting. The minutes and budget are posted on a Real Conservation Project. The majority of the the NPSNM website, but I will summarize some of the board voted to fund the project for the requested significant points. The Society is on sound financial $600. footing, with an unrestricted funds balance of $124,442 and • Aaron Kauffman, adjunct faculty member, Santa Fe a restricted fund (the Jack and Martha Carter Conserva- Community College. Phytoremediation of Urban tion Fund) balance approaching $40,000. The board unani- Runoff with Native Plants. The majority voted in favor mously approved the budget for 2012. of funding the purchase of native plants for the project This year we will begin a series of native plant work- for a total of $500. shops organized by Bob Sivinski, to be held at various lo- cations around New Mexico: a cactus family workshop in • Dr. William R. Norris, professor of ecology and evolu- Albuquerque, a Tree and Shrubs of New Mexico workshop tionary biology, Western NM University. Curation and in Farmington, Silver City, and Albuquerque, and an aster Data Basing of Bryophyte Specimens in the Dale A. family workshop at Sevilleta. Please see this newsletter and Zimmerman Herbarium (SNM) at Western NM Uni- the website for dates and instructions on registering. versity. The majority voted in favor of funding the grant Speaking of the website, Cindy Roper, our Administra- for the requested $938.52. tive Coordinator, has been working hard and we will soon • David J. Griffin, Mesilla Valley Audubon Society. Native have a standalone website. The new domain name will be Riparian Plant Restoration at Broad Canyon Ranch made available once the site is up and running. State Park. The majority of the Board voted to fund the The board adopted new amendments to the Policies in requested $500. Effect and also proposed revisions to the Society’s bylaws (see facing page). Let me extend thanks to Renee West and • Liz Block, volunteer garden project manager for New Wynn Anderson for all their hard work on these documents. Mexico Rails-to-Trails Association. Trestle Recreation The board also voted to fund the following five conser- Area Native Plant Garden Project. The Board voted to vation grant proposals: fund $300 for their purchase of native plants. ❖ Native Plant Society of New Mexico Election of Officers The election for officers of the Society takes place May 1– annual state meeting. The two-year terms begin then. The June 30, 2012. Results will be announced August 9 at the Nominating Committee of the Board of Directors has nomi- Board of Directors meeting held in conjunction with the nated these candidates: President: Renee West member for 12 years. Co-Director, Paleoethnobotany Currently Vice President of NPSNM and former News- Lab, Museum of NM, Office of Archaeological Studies. letter Editor. Chief biologist at Carlsbad Caverns Na- Membership Secretary: Lolly Jones tional Park. Albuquerque Chapter. Currently Membership Secre- Vice President: Barbara Fix tary. NPSNM member for over 14 years. Santa Fe Chapter. Landscaper in Santa Fe, 1985–pres- Treasurer: John White ent; previously practiced law (JD, 1971, Stanford Law El Paso Chapter. Former President of the NPSNM and School). NPSNM member for over 20 years. former Chair of the Finance Committee. Recording Secretary: Pam McBride Albuquerque Chapter. Currently Recording Sec re tary. Past president of the Albuquerque Chapter, NPSNM Election ballot on back page http://npsnm.unm.edu New Mexico’s Voice for Native Plants 3 Notes from Cindy Revision of NPSNM Bylaws Proposed (Your Administrative Coordinator) The Board of Directors of NPSNM has reviewed the Society’s • NPSNM is finally up and running with PayPal as our bylaws and proposed to revise them to meet current needs. online payment service. You can make donations to the To review them, please see the Society’s website, http:// Carter Conservation Fund or renew your membership npsnm.unm.edu. If you have concerns with the proposed (or join!) through the PayPal links inside our website. revision, contact vice president Renée West at keywestern@ ❖ You will also be able to sign up for the upcoming work- hotmail.com. The new bylaws will take effect June 1. shops. If you continue to get notices through Network For Good, please disregard them. Dee Alton Umberson, • If you’re curious about what goes on “behind the cur- December 2, 1920–November 24, 2011 tain” at NPSNM, the minutes to our meetings are posted It is with great sorrow that the Otero chapter of the Na- on the administrative page of the state’s website. tive Plant Society of New Mexico announces the passing • This is our first issue delivered primarily via email. By of one of its longtime members. the time your fourth issue arrives this year, we should Dee, his wife Nona, and their two daughters lived in be able to report on how much this change is saving the Alamogordo while Dee worked as a civilian supporting Society. Air Force electronics programs. He retired from Hollo- • You may notice slight changes to our state website over man Air Force Base after 27 years of service. Dee and the next few months while we convert it to a stand-alone Nona moved to Roswell in 2000. Dee had lifelong inter- site (taking it off of the UNM server). Kindly bear with est in photography, gardening, cactus, and all native New us. The structure and content should not change notice- Mexico plants. He made countless friends through the ably. But the conversion will ultimately give us much years, sharing his enjoyment and knowledge of plants and more freedom and many more options with the site. cactus. His expertise in cactus was widely recognized. He Wishing you all a fabulous Spring! ❖ presented a wonderful workshop on growing cacti at the Annual State Meeting in Alamogordo in 2004. We thank him from all our hearts for all his contribu- tions during his lifetime. ❖ Thank You to NPSNM from University of New Mexico Herbarium Dear Tom, Thank you for the recent gift of $500 to the Friends NPSNM in 2010 went into mounting materials, but it also of the UNM Herbarium from the Native Plant Society of allowed other parts of our budget to be used to hire under- New Mexico. These funds are vital to the function of our graduate and graduate students to learn herbarium tech- facility especially during difficult financial times at the Uni- niques and keep the data entry for all new accessions mov- versity. As you likely know the UNM Herbarium is used by ing along, just passing 125,000 specimens.