Ecology of Mosses and Liverworts
Instructor: Sean Robinson
June 27th through July 1st, 2011

Adirondack Wetland Plants and Plant Communities
Instructor: Jerry Jenkins
August 11th – 15th, 2011

Fantastic Fungi of the Adirondacks
Instructor: Rick Van de Poll, Ph.D.
August 16th – 19th, 2011

For details about the courses and costs .

The first one is May 30, 2011 at 2pm.

Contact Gail Brill for more information (gailbrilldesign@gmail.com)

based out of Ithaca (Tompkins Co.), led by David Werier. Co-sponsored with the Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University.

(grape fern and moonworts) workshop based out of Ithaca (Tompkins Co.), led by Art Gilman. Co-sponsored with the Bailey Hortorium, Cornell University.

ITHACA, NY (February 21, 2011) — Do you love spending time in the forests, meadows and other natural areas of the Finger Lakes region?  Do you care about preserving the integrity of the natural world and do you want to share this love with others?  If so, consider joining Plantations’ Natural Areas Academy.

The year-long Natural Areas Academy (NAA) consists of dozens of expert-led workshops, field trips, and directed stewardship opportunities designed to provide participants with the knowledge, tools, and skills needed to support efforts in preserving our treasured natural resources. Utilizing Plantations’ Natural Areas as outdoor classrooms, the NAA aims to foster the conservation of natural areas and rare and declining species and their habitats by demonstrating essential stewardship methods, cultivating environmental literacy, and encouraging interactive experience with the natural world.

“With their newly gained expertise, the Natural Areas Academy participants will also help to mentor the next generation of scientists, teachers, environmental stewards, and leaders, thereby fulfilling a vital role in the long-term preservation of our natural heritage, our world, and ultimately, our place in it,” stated Todd Bittner, director of the Cornell Plantations Natural Areas,

Participants in the NAA are expected to work towards the program’s goals over the course of a year.  After the completion of at least eight of the workshops and field trips, plus 40 hours of participation in directed stewardship activities, academy members will receive their Natural Areas Mentor certification and may continue to participate in the NAA as a mentor for no cost. The first NAA workshop will be for a mandatory orientation, and will be held on Saturday, March 12, beginning at 9:30 AM.

Participation in the NAA requires a non-refundable $100 application fee.  To learn more or to enroll online, please visit us at .  Enrollment closes at midnight on March 11, 2011.

Cornell Plantations is the botanical gardens, arboretum, and natural areas of Cornell University, and is a member of Ithaca’s Discovery Trail partnership. Plantations is open to the public year-round, free of charge, during daylight hours. The Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center is open Tuesday-Saturday from 11am to 4pm.  For more information call 607-255-2400, visit cornellplantations.org, and find us on Facebook at facebook.com/cornellplantations.

Intermediate Bryology will be offered by Dr. David Wagner on the University of Oregon campus on March 21-23. The objective of this workshop will be a fairly intensive practice using the contemporary keys pertinent to the area. Most of the time will be spent in the teaching lab, with an afternoon excursion on the first day for field experience. Time will be available for participants who bring personal collections to work on them under expert supervision. Tuition is $300. Contact Dr. Wagner for more information (541-344-3327 / davidwagner@mac.com).

The 16th Annual SO BE FREE foray will be held in the lower elevations of the northern Sierra Nevada Mountains near Quincy, California on March 23-26.  The area offers great sites for montane coniferous, mixed coniferous-hardwood forests; canyon oak forests; rocky outcrops; and chaparral, all in the steep North Fork of the Feather River canyon.  There will be flat trails and roadside areas to visit for easy access.  Bryophyte diversity will span from California’s spring ephemerals, bryophytes of springs, streamlets, and rivers to the great diversity found on rocky outcrops.  Beginning bryologists are welcome, and they are planning some special activities for beginners, as well as serious fieldtrips  that will be exciting for the hard-core. for more info.

An Introduction to Bryophytes will be offered by Dr. Stephen Timme in the botany lab on the Pittsburg (Kansas) State University campus on April 2-3. It is designed to provide an introduction to basic characteristics and techniques for identification of some of the more common species found in the prairie, oak/hickory forests, and rock outcrops in the central U.S.  Techniques will include the proper use of the microscope, free-hand sections, terminology, and making semi-permanent mounts. The workshop will be topped off with a field trip. Contact Dr. Timme for more information (417-658-5473 / slt@pittstate.edu).

The University of Florida, Department of Botany and The Kampong of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, in collaboration with Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden, will offer an intensive, in-residence course/workshop on the systematics of tropical plants, in Coconut Grove, Florida, from July 6 – July 29, 2011.

Instructor:  Dr. Walter S. Judd (Course Director, Department of Biology, 220 Bartram Hall, PO Box 118525, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611-8525; e-mail: wjudd@botany.ufl.edu; phone: 352-273-1983; fax: 352-392-3704).

I took this course back in the early 1980s and it is one of the best courses in plant taxonomy that you can find.  It’s an intensive course but it takes place in one of the most beautiful areas in the country, surrounded by tropical and subtropical vegetation. Dr. Judd does a superb job and the field trips go to some of the most interesting natural areas of southern Florida. – Steve Young