President’s Message, August 2023

Happy August!

It is definitely the dog days of summer. The heat finally got to us so we threw the dogs in the car, traveled up in elevation towards Lake Siskiyou, and went on a fairly short and easy hike to Cedar Lake, Lower Cliff Lake, and finally Cliff Lake with the clearest water I have ever seen. It was beautiful and there was such a diversity of trees: Port Orford cedar, red fir, western white pine, Jeffrey pine, sugar pine, lodgepole pine, and incense-cedar to name a few.

Port Orford cedar branchlet. A. Henderson. — Scale-like leaves of Port Orford cedar, *Chamaecyparis lawsoniana.*
Photo taken July 29, 2023, by Amy Henderson.

As we walked along the Forest Service road, we came across a large red fir that had recently fallen across the road. The tree was cut and a very thoughtful dendrochronologist labeled the tree rings with years of historic events—the tree was a seedling in 1553! If trees could talk, that one probably would have had some tales to tell.

Cut red fir. A. Henderson. — Cut red fir with some of its rings identified. This tree would have been 470 years old when it was cut.
Photo taken July 29, 2023, by Amy Henderson.

The trail still had many blooming plants to enjoy—too many to name all of them, but we were able see Penstemon, Eriogonum, pond lily (Nuphar sp.), little prince’s-pine (Chimaphila menziesii), sneezeweed (Helenium sp.), pitcherplant (Darlingtonia californica), orchids, and blue-eyed-grass (Sisyrinchium sp.).

Pitcherplant, A. Henderson. — Pitcherplant, *Darlingtonia* sp.; yellow spikes of California bog-asphodel, *Narthecium californicum;* and white hastingsia, *Hastingsia alba,* all growing at the lake edge. Photo taken July 29, 2023, by Amy Henderson.

Take the dogs, kids, or just yourselves and go explore the trails in our area. We will see you in September and, until then, keep on botanizing!
~Amy Henderson, President