Come join us for our first meeting back after the long summer: on Thursday, September 18, 2025! As the days shorten in a prelude to fall, Shasta Chapter shakes off its summer-hibernation daze and jumps back in the saddle with a plethora of activity!
Just in time for prime gardening weather, we have a double-header on tap—all about pollinators! Pre meeting, Heather Bortolussi will lead us in an activity called, An Introduction to Nature Journaling. This will be followed by a short membership meeting with a few announcements, before our guest speaker, Shasta Chapter CNPS member Doug Mandel, takes the floor with his presentation entitled, Attracting Pollinators. To accommodate both presenters so that neither feels rushed, we will begin earlier than usual: 5:30 PM for Heather’s nature journaling activity, and 6:30 PM for the Chapter meeting and Doug’s presentation.
Photo taken May 28, 2024, by Doug Mandel.
Did you know that approximately 75% of the world’s flowering plants, and about 35% of the world’s food crops, rely on animal pollinators, like bees, to reproduce? If we did not have pollinators, we would lose about three-quarters of the plants on Earth. The food web would collapse. Doug will talk about what brings pollinators to pollinator gardens, plants being a big part of this, and will have informational handouts available.
Doug Mandel joined the ranks of the University of California Certified Master Gardeners in 2004. He began his Master Gardeners volunteer service at the Turtle Bay Nursery and later served on the Turtle Bay Arboretum Council for many years. He is a longtime member of the Shasta Chapter of the California Native Plant Society, including several years on the Executive Board. In 2015, he earned his UC Naturalist Certification through a collaborative program involving Yosemite National Park and UC Merced.
In 2023, Doug launched his latest endeavor: founding the educational nonprofit Ghost Pine Native Plant Nursery. Today, he wears many Ghost Pine Native Plant Nursery volunteer hats: running the online nursery; surveying and maintaining trails as a Whiskeytown NRA Trail Steward; managing and maintaining the Matson-Mowder-Howe Celebration Garden at the Carter House Gallery in Caldwell Park; and inspiring others about successful gardening for a healthy environment through digital outreach, workshops, and presentations. His vision is to steward gardeners toward a sustainable and equitable environment for all life on Earth.
Pre-meeting, the workshop activity to introduce nature journaling, with a focus on pollinator partnerships, will begin at 5:30 PM. Heather will lead our group outside to find pollinator-related subjects, which attendees will then try sketching or writing about. You are welcome to bring your own journal, paper, or anything to write on, as well as any writing or art utensils. However, there will be plenty of art supplies and paper for you to use!
Heather Bortolussi is a GrizzlyCorps fellow serving with the Western Shasta Resource Conservation District for a second year. Originally from Massachusetts, she moved to Redding last fall after graduating from UMass Amherst with a BS in Environmental Science. As a hopeful human who cares deeply about the people and places around her, Heather is on a winding journey trying to find her role in creating a future that is sustainable and just. After many bumps and dead ends in her academic career, she has found herself on a path that brings creativity, art, wonder, and community into science. Since moving, Heather has been in awe of the biodiversity and vast landscapes of California; she is grateful for and curious about the seemingly endless abundance of unknowns as she explores her new home!
Photo courtesy of Heather Bortolussi.
Please join us in observing and learning all about the busy pollinators that are so vital to all life on Earth! That’s 5:30 PM for the pre-meeting activity and 6:30 PM for the Chapter meeting and presentation, on Thursday, September 18, 2025. Venue and time details are below. See you there! ~Shasta Chapter CNPS
The meeting venue
With sincere gratitude to McConnell Arboretum & Botanical Gardens, Shasta Chapter CNPS continues to meet in the new Turtle Bay Nursery Classroom, 1125 Arboretum Drive, Redding. There is lots of free, paved parking just steps away from the classroom building, and nice, curbed sidewalks. To get there, from North Market Street, turn east onto Arboretum Drive. Veer right at the first opportunity (so you don’t end up at Turtle Bay Elementary School!), and drive a short way to the “curvy” parking lot to the east of Arboretum Drive.
The Nursery Classroom is just inside a large wrought-iron double gate, which is just north of the entrance to the botanical gardens proper.
Photo taken August 30, 2024, by Don Burk.
The meeting time
For this September’s pre-meeting activity (An Introduction to Nature Journaling), please be ready to go no later than 5:30 PM. Our short Chapter meeting and announcements will begin at 6:30 PM sharp, followed directly by our speaker’s presentation (Attracting Pollinators). Please join us!