Ready or not, 2025 is now upon us. . . and there is lots to be done here in Shasta Chapter territory! Mid-January will be busy indeed! Our Chapter Board meeting will be on January 9 (all members are invited to attend, of course!), followed by our Chapter membership meeting on January 16 (always open to the general public!). Sandwiched between the meetings, we’ll have a Matson-Mowder-Howe Celebration Garden work day on the 10th, a hike along Battle Creek and up to Coleman Forebay on the 11th, and a plant propagation session at the Shasta College nursery on the 12th.
On the conservation front, there’s been overwhelming support for establishment of the Sáttítla (Medicine Lake Highlands) National Monument—President Biden is expected to sign off on creation of the new national monument in the next few days. But there are still plenty of letters to write on other, locally significant projects—see our article on the proposed international export of one million megatons of wood pellets annually from our local forests.
For education, we continue to provide scholarships for college students and graduate students. One of our recent scholarship recipients just completed a gap year in Argentina and is now starting at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Our next round of scholarships will be awarded in May—details are posted on our website, and we’ll soon be sending notices to all of our local high schools and junior colleges. And for your own personal edification, be sure to read David Ledger’s article on one of our unassuming and often overlooked native plant species.
Although not yet on our calendar, we have grand plans for later in the spring, with some grassland/vernal pool exploration in the line-up. And if we continue to get rain (currently at 150% of normal in the Redding area), it should indeed be a fantastic spring! See you in the great outdoors! ~Don Burk, President
