Photo taken August 2, 2024, by Don Burk.
It’s been another of our new-normal summers: excessively hot with a tinge of smoke serving as a constant reminder that fire season is far from over. Whether it is heat, smoke, or simply a lack of volunteers, the Shasta Chapter has mostly been lying low for the summer. We have no field trips scheduled for August or September. If you’d like to help fill this void, pick a destination and serve as the coordinator—you don’t need to be a plant expert! Please contact us at shastacnps@gmail.com to volunteer!
The good news is that our nursery operation has been thriving despite the summer heat! Thanks to our first-ever Shasta College student intern, we’re propagating lots of new stock for our fall plant sale. See Propagation Update: August 2024 for more info.
Looking forward to September, we expect to have a general membership meeting, possibly featuring an ethnobotany talk. We are still working on event arrangements and will provide the details on our blog, which will be announced via our September Firecracker eblast.
And if you do need a dose of botany before our next Shasta Chapter event, there is still plenty happening, even on the valley floor. While spring may be the peak season for our wildflowers, summer is the peak season for weeds (as you may have guessed from our photo selection)! Find a summer-wet habitat and you are likely to find previously un- or under-reported weeds! ~Don Burk, President