SPRING PROGRAMS 2018
January: Henderson - no meeting scheduled. Have a Happy New Year and we will see you next meeting!
February 1: Reno – Our first meeting of the year features Alison Agneray, Ph.D. student with the UNR Ecology, Evolution, and Conservation Biology Department and recipient of our Margaret Williams Research Grant. The title of her presentation is "A summer of seeds: the kickoff to a native plant research project."
February 5th: Henderson - Stefanie Ferrazzano, Biologist with Clark County Desert Conservation Program, will present her talk entitled "The Clark County Desert Conservation Program’s land reserve units: current conditions and restoration goals."
March 1: Reno – Jan Nachlinger, NNPS Outgoing Program Chairperson and botanist will present a program on the flora (and fauna) of Antarctica entitled "Antarctica: Flora of a Continent and its Islands, It's not just about the Penguins."
March 5th: Henderson - Laura Eisenberg, who recently retired as Horticulturist and Nursery Manager at Springs Preserve as well as Urban Forester at Nevada Division of Forestry, will present her talk "The George T. Austin Herbarium: Mining data to reveal more of the fascinating behaviors of Nevada's butterflies and the habitats that support them."
April 2nd: Henderson - Bob Cosburn, long-time member of American Penstemon Society and devoted "Pent-Spotter", will present his talk "Penstemons We Have Known and Loved in Southern Nevada: Adventures Chasing Down Penstemons Within 50 miles of Las Vegas."
April 5: Reno – Shannon Swim will discuss her work at the UNR seed bank. A tour of the greenhouse on Valley Road will follow.
May 3 – Great Basin Brewery Beer & Science Series, Great Basin Brewery’s Taps & Tanks Production Facility, 1155 S. Rock Boulevard, Suite #490, Reno.
On the first three Thursdays of May (May3, 10, and 17) from 5:30 -7:30 pm we will present a series of public talks about native plants and pollinators as part of the Great Basin Brewery Beer & Science Series. These talks will be held at Great Basin Brewery’s Taps & Tanks Production Facility. Here is a schedule for the talks on each of the three nights:
Thursday, May 3: The Buzz About Bees
• 6:00: Jake Francis, UNR, Northern Nevada’s Backyard Bees
• 6:20: Dr. Felicity Muth, UNR, What Do Bees Think About?
• 6:40: Dr. Anne Leonard, UNR, Helping Our Native Bees
Thursday, May 10: Monarch Mysteries
• 6:00: Cynthia Scholl, Nevada Bugs and Butterflies, Western Monarch Threats and Conservation
• 6:20: Dr. Beth Pringle, UNR, Milkweeds of the Great Basin
• 6:40: Julie Koop, Nv. Monarch Society, Creating Habitat for Monarchs
Thursday, May 17: Powerful Partnerships
• 6:00: Dr. Sarah Barga, UNR, Under the Shrubs - Overlooked Components of Great Basin Plant Communities
• 6:20: Gabriela Rios-Sotelo, UNR, Bats - The Unsung Heroes of Pollination
• 6:40: Dr. Matt Forister, UNR, Insects and Global Change
Taps & Tanks is at 1155 S. Rock Boulevard, Suite #490, Reno, NV 89502.
For more information, contact our Vice President Sarah Kulpa at vicepresident@nvnps.org.
May 5 – Day at the Museum at the University of Nevada, Reno, 10:00 am to 4:00 pm. We need volunteers to help staff the Nevada Native Plant Society booth at the UNR Biggest Little Pollinator Garden in the courtyard of the Fleischmann Agriculture building. Contact Shannon Swim at shannonswim@gmail.com. This year’s Reno observance of Pollinator Day will be on Saturday, May 5 from 10:00 am to 4:00 pm, and coincides with UNR’s Day at the Museum when nine museums on campus will be open to the public. The Biggest Little Pollinator Garden is adjacent to the Fleischmann Agriculture building which houses the Museum of Natural History. The Society will have an information booth in the Fleischmann Ag quad next to the garden. Our program this year will focus on outside outreach and activities.
May 7th: Henderson - Gail Brandys, University of Nevada Master Gardener and Native Plant Propagation Committee in conjunction with Nevada Division of Forestry will present "How to transform your yard into a Certified Wildlife Habitat (and lessons learned from Nevada's hummingbirds)"
May 10 – Great Basin Brewery Beer & Science Series, Great Basin Brewery’s Taps & Tanks Production Facility,
5:30 -7:30 pm. Tonight’s topic is Monarch Mysteries. Details above.
May 17 – Great Basin Brewery Beer & Science Series, Great Basin Brewery’s Taps & Tanks Production Facility, 5:30 -7:30 pm. The topic of the final talk on native plants and pollinators is Powerful Partnerships. Details above.
May 18 – Annual meeting and potluck, Old Washoe City at the Washoe Zephyr Gardens. This property is the site of the 150+ year-old historic Washoe County Jail. John and Nancy Strickland have developed extensive gardens and rent this property out for weddings, meetings, and other social functions. We will get together from 5:30-7:30 pm. Bring food to share, utensils, and beverages of your choice. washoezephyrgardens.com You can drive through Pleasant Valley on US 395 or take the Davis Creek Exit #50 from I-580. Please RSVP to Charlene Duncan at cirsium. down@gmail.com or (775) 530-7458.
May 26 – Open garden tour of John Weiser’s dry-land garden. Come visit John’s beautiful garden anytime between 10:00 am to 5:00 pm. His garden features many native species of mountain, desert, and steppe plants from across the west with extensive collections of Penstemon, Eriogonum, and cacti. Many will be in bloom! John will be available to answer any questions and he hopes to inspire you to include native plants in your landscapes. His Flickr page features garden photos through the years: https://www. flickr.com/photos/sierrarainshadow/ albums/72157608573082260. 485 O’Brien Way, Sparks, NV. Map: https://goo.gl/maps/D5PmvcCTUzS2 Contact John Weiser at johnpweiser@ yahoo.com or (775) 331- 4485.
June 4th: Henderson - Dr. Lawrence Walker, Professor of Plant Ecology at University of Nevada, Las Vegas and Fred Landau, Research Associate at University of Las Vegas, will introduce their new book "A Natural History of the Mojave Desert
June 21- Flight of the Butterflies Screening. Join us on Thursday, June 21 at 7 pm to help us celebrate National Pollinator Week. Patagonia Outlet Reno (130 South Center St. Reno NV) will be showing the documentary film, Flight of the Butterflies, which tells the amazing story of the annual Monarch butterfly migration. Come to this free event and learn all about why butterflies and pollinators in general are so important to our natural world.
July and August, 2018: Henderson - Summer Break! No meetings scheduled. Enjoy the rest of the summer.
FALL PROGRAMS
September 6: Reno – Temitope Israel Borokini: Ivesia webberi; tougher than you think. Phenology of I. webberi and the role of climate change, community diversity in the species’ known locations and its adaptation potentials in a highly stochastic environment.
September 10th: Henderson (PLEASE NOTE change in date from the 3rd due to Labor Day holiday) - Todd Esque, Research Ecologist with USGS will present "Searching for Joshua Trees from Space...and from a Little Closer"
Oct. 1st: Henderson - Kobbe Shaw, Executive Director with Tortoise Group will present "Wild Tortoise Conservation Through Captive Tortoise Management"
October 4: Reno – Ann Pinzl, Archives Chair for NNPS and long time member, will give a program on Endemism, Madagascar Style (and a bit more). My view of a big, fascinating island, with emphasis on its biota, especially botanical.
November 1: Reno – Jake Francis, Native Bees and review of nutritional ecology of plant-pollinator relationships.
Nov 5th: Henderson - Tiffany Pereira, graduate student in School of Life Sciences at UNLV, will present "Evaluating Long-term Change in Soil Seed Banks, Fertile Islands, and Rare Plant Communities in the Eastern Mojave Desert"
December 3rd, 2018: Henderson - Annual Holiday/End-of-Year Potluck. Please bring a dish/dessert/etc. We will convene to celebrate the end of the year and share your best photos of native/unusual plants from 2018 (20-30 best pics/person please). Compile your photos on a USB drive, and we will project them on the screen for all to view. Also, if you have live/dried plant specimens that you need help identifying, or you have an unusual species that will stump us all, please bring them along. We will also have a native plant seed exchange: bring native seeds that you have (responsibly) gathered over the past year. Coin envelopes / ziploc bags will be provided for folks to take home seeds.
