Description: Join Docent Linda on a walk on the nature trail and discover how many ways common plants can help families live. The 1-mile Nature Trail winds through beautiful oak woodland. We will hike rain or shine. This program is a joint effort with the Redbud Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and the Placer Nature Center. 

The Placer Nature Center is a 5-acre preserve in the Sierra Foothills that is home to many species of wildlife and native plants. Placer Nature Center delivers community-based, volunteer supported environmental education programs to children, families, schools, and community groups.

For more information on the Placer Nature Center, please visit their website: http://placernaturecenter.org.

Length of Trip: approximately 1 hour, includes activities for children and families.

Level of Difficulty: Easy to Moderate. Can be slippery on wet trails during the winter.

Warning! Watch out for ticks, poison oak, and rattlesnakes.

Bring: Water, snacks, insect repellant, hat for sun protection, windbreaker, and other hiking essentials.

Location: 3700 Christian Valley Road, Auburn, CA 95602.

To RSVP, please sign up at https://goo.gl/forms/zdhDBN06FO1BqhMt1.

Drop-ins are also welcome!

Questions? Email nativeplanthelp@redbud-cnps.org or call Placer Nature Center at 530-878-6053.

Meet at 631 Coyote Street (Tahoe National Forest office) from where we will carpool.

This workshop will focus on the techniques and ethics of collecting plants for submission to an herbarium. Participants will begin the process of creating herbarium specimens in the field, learning how to collect different types of plants, which data and details to document, and how to best present and preserve these collections for archiving what grows here. Also, we get to learn the plants of our area and engage in the artistry of creating the plant specimen.

Please bring a lunch and water, and wear clothing and footwear appropriate for hiking short distances on and off trail. You will need a small note book and we will provide plant presses and digging implements (please bring your own equipment if you have it).

This workshop is appropriate for individuals with a working knowledge of botanical practices and principles.

Donation of $10-20 suggested.

RSVP Required at https://goo.gl/forms/EXCpPZqFqIjglh6D3.

Meet at Day Use area, which is the first parking lot after entering the Park.

Learn the plants and natural history of the Bear River, Native American cultural uses and ways, and the threats that would be posed by constructing the Centennial Dam. We will be hiking at a site along the Bear River that is within the proposed Centennial Reservoir inundation zone. The hike will be led by Richard Marks, natural historian, and Josie Crawford, botanist.

At the Park’s average elevation of 1,800 feet exists a diversity of plant life, from willows and alders at the river’s edge, to towering ponderosa pines and Douglas firs along the hiking trails.

It’s likely a bit early in the season to confirm the rare Brandegee’s clarkia or Humboldt’s lily in flower, but we will visit their potential habitat, and may see their leaves. We will search for Cantelow’s lewesia leaves on rock crevasses.

We will likely see flowering bleeding hearts, hound’s tongue and trillium, as well as sedum, giant chain fern, and blue elderberry large enough to host the federally threatened valley elderberry longhorn beetle.

Drinking water is not available at the Park, so bring your own water. We also recommend you bring a hat and snacks.

RSVP is optional but recommended. We can contact you in the event of changes if you sign up at: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf8mtZhu1VpJNhoaELaVkkcVNjIdarCwGOcedmpMv_bMPYI5A/viewform.

Description: We will visit a population of Stebbins' Morning-glory (Calystegia stebbinsii), a federally-listed endangered plant species that grows only in Nevada and El Dorado Counties. Our tour of the Nevada County managed land will include areas of recent vegetation treatments using hand clearing and low intensity fire. These treatments are intended to establish new populations of Stebbins’ Morning-glory. The chaparral habitat surrounding the Stebbins' Morning-glory is also is home to six other rare species: Sanborn’s Onion, Sierra Brodiaea, Mother Lode Yampah, Chaparral Sedge, California Flannel Bush, and McNab Cypress.

Trip leaders Denise Della Santina and Karen Callahan were managers for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife grant to preserve the Stebbins’ Morning-glory and its habitat. Denise is the Restoration Ecologist for Sierra Streams Institute and Redbud Chapter’s Conservation Chairperson. Karen is the Rare Plant Chairperson for Redbud Chapter.

Difficulty: easy.

Duration: 3 hours.

Bring: Water, snacks, hat for sun protection and other hiking essentials.

Directions: Meet at the parking lot for Sammie’s Friends Animal Shelter at 14647 McCourtney Road. From the Nevada County Fairgrounds drive about 4 miles south of Grass Valley on McCourtney Rd. The Animal Shelter driveway is a left turn just before the Nevada County Transfer Station. Parking space is limited and carpooling is advised.

Meeting Time and Location for Carpooling: Meet at 8:45 am at Raley’s, Pine Creek Shopping Center, 692 Freeman Lane, Grass Valley. Important: check the Redbud web pages for updates and details about the meeting place.

Registration is optional but recommended: https://goo.gl/forms/WZsFJiYoMTxMeQ8g2.

Contact info: Please contact Karen at 530.272.5532 if you have questions.