Photo taken January 16, 2025, by Don Burk.
After a month of January sunshine, we are finally getting back to a “normal” wet winter here in Shasta Chapter territory. Good for the rivers, good for the fish, and good for our upcoming spring field trips!
The big national event for the month is the Super Bowl—so we have not one, but two events scheduled for Super Bowl Sunday, February 9! Join us for a short hike on Blue Gravel Mine Trail, or at the Shasta College Nursery for a shrub propagation session. Both events will be over well before kickoff time! And if you have to party all day long on Super Sunday, then plan to join us the following Sunday, February 16, for a short hike in the Boulder Creek and Churn Creek watersheds in the City of Redding.
In other news, it is once again time for our college scholarship offerings to take the forefront. Applications for high school seniors and junior college students moving to a four-year university for a botany-related degree need to apply by May 2 for our $2,000 scholarship. Those seeking support for graduate-degree botanical research must apply by March 14 for the Shasta Chapter-supported Northern California Botanists $1,500 scholarship.
On the conservation front, the Shasta Chapter has joined the State CNPS and other groups in opposition to a proposed wood pellet fuel project that would cut our local forests to create wood pellets that would be shipped overseas to be burned to produce electricity. Other local topics that we are following include the City of Redding’s natural area vegetation management and the Hawes Farm amusement center expansion.
With all the potential threats to our local forests and oak woodlands, it’s good to know that there are dedicated conservationists trying their best to ensure the survival of our vegetation resources. Join us at our February 20 meeting, where Alicia Herrera will talk about Point Blue’s cutting edge experiments to conserve blue oak diversity in the face of drought and climate change. See you there, or in the great outdoors! ~Don Burk, President
Photo taken January 16, 2025, by Don Burk.