Saturday, May 7. Peconic Family Fun Day at the Children’s Museum of the East End. This is the first year we’ll be at this event.

Saturday, June 5. Using Native Grasses In Landscaping & Habitat Restoration: A Hands-On Primer. Cosponsored by the Long Island Native Grass Initiative & SoFo. 10:00 at Vineyard Field. Presentation followed by planting session.

For the entire newsletter .

Here is the introduction at their website:

Welcome to the International Year of Forests, 2011 (Forests 2011) Web site, a global platform to celebrate people’s action to sustainably manage the world’s forests. The United Nations General Assembly declared 2011 as the International Year of Forests to raise awareness on sustainable management, conservation and sustainable development of all types of forests.

Here, you will find information regarding events being organized throughout the International Year as well as interactive web tools and resources to promote dialogue on forests. Tell us how you plan to celebrate “forests for people” during 2011, so that we may showcase your stories and initiatives through this website.

Access the website .

PENNSYLVANIA RARE PLANT FORUM

9:30 AM-about 2:30 PM

Saturday, 9 April 2011

Jennings Environmental Education Center

12 miles north-west of Butler, on PA Route 528 just west of Route 8

40.9° N 80.1° W, Elevation 350 m

All people interested in the conservation of Pennsylvania’s native flora are encouraged to attend this meeting. The Rare Plant Forum is a function of the Vascular Plant Technical Committee of the Pennsylvania Biological Survey, and for over thirty years has served in an advisory role to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for issues related to the conservation of the native flora of Pennsylvania. In addition to discussing proposed changes to the list of Plants of Special Concern in Pennsylvania (POSCIP), there will be a few related presentations. This is an excellent opportunity to connect and work with other botanists, amateur and professional, who share your interest in the flora of Pennsylvania.

It is fitting for us to meet at a facility named for Otto E. Jennings, late Curator of Botany at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and early advocate of native plant conservation. If you know of people who might be interested in attending, especially in NW Pennsylvania or adjacent parts of Ohio and New York, please extend this invitation to them.

The proposal form is in an Excel spreadsheet, downloadable at www.paconserve.org/256. Related documents such as the definitions of the status categories and the minutes from past meetings are also available here. Please start working on your proposals right away, as John Kunsman and I will need some lead time to help gather the data. Please submit your proposals by 4 March. Proposals will be posted to the above url shortly after I receive them, and a summary will be distributed at least a week before the meeting along with an agenda.

Presentations

You are encouraged to consider presenting on recent work you have done related to the conservation of the flora of our region. One of the advantages of holding the Rare Plant Forum is the opportunity to share the results of our work. This can increase the value of your work by allowing others to build upon it. It also encourages collaboration and minimizes duplication of effort. Email or call me with the subject and how much time you would like.

There will be time on the agenda for un-premeditated announcements, but it helps me plan if I have some idea how many there will be, so let me know if you can.

Dinner on Friday

Some of us will be having dinner on Friday at North Country Brewing in Slippery Rock. Let me know (sgrund@paconserve.org) if you would like to join us; I will make a reservation.

River Running!

Some of us are going to take advantage of the spring thaw on Sunday to explore a local stream, probably Wolf Creek. WPC owns land at Wolf Creek Narrows where we can take out and botanize. It is one of the best spring wildflower sites in the Commonwealth. Some experienced whitewater enthusiasts might brave Slippery Rock Creek Gorge. Email me if you are interested.

Camping

We have reserved the Muskrat Cove group camping site at Moraine State Park for Friday and Saturday (http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/moraine/moraine_mini.pdf). This will be primitive camping with water, but no hot water. The cost will be $10/night divided between everyone who camps. Please contact Kelly Sitch at c-ksitch@state.pa.us if you are interested.

See you soon! – Steve

Steve Grund

Chair, Pennsylvania Rare Plant Forum

Botanist, Pennsylvania Natural Heritage Program

Western Pennsylvania Conservancy

800 Waterfront Drive

Pittsburgh, PA 15222

sgrund@paconserve.org

(412) 586-2350

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).

All are welcome to the 2011 NYFA annual meeting which will take place at the

The 2011 meeting will feature a presentation entitled by Rob Naczi of the 91��Ƭ�� Botanical Garden.

The most recent Flora for northeastern North America is Gleason & Cronquist’s Manual of Vascular Plants of Northeastern United States and Adjacent Canada (1991). Great advances in botany in the past two decades have made the time ripe for its revision. Particularly compelling justifications for revision are 1) improvements in understanding relationships among families and genera; 2) continued taxonomic discovery in the region at the specific and infraspecific level; and 3) field discoveries of an increasing number of non-native species that have become established in the region, including invasive plants. The goals of this project are to produce a compact, one-volume Manual intended for field use, similar to Gleason & Cronquist, as well as to create an accompanying online Flora. The online Flora will expand on the contents of the Manual by including discussions, photographs, citation of literature, etc. The region of coverage for the new Manual is the same as for Gleason & Cronquist, a vast area of northeastern North America: the entirety or portions of 22 states of the U.S.A. (CT, DE, IA, IL, IN, KY, MA, MD, ME, MI, MN, MO, NH, NJ, NY, OH, PA, RI, VA, VT, WI, WV) and 5 provinces of Canada (NB, NS, ON, PE, QU). The total area covered is ca. 860,500 mi2, which is equivalent to 29% of the area of the 48 contiguous states of the U.S.A. The botanical scope of the new Manual is the same as its predecessors: all vascular plants growing spontaneously and established in the geographic area covered. Included will be an estimated 5000 species and 200 families of vascular plants (ca. 25% of all North American species and ca. 65% of all North American families). Relative to Gleason & Cronquist, several innovations distinguish the new Manual, including collaboration by a team of taxonomic and floristic experts, and inclusion of etymologies of generic names and specific epithets, conservation status for each species, morphologic synapomorphies for families, and new identification tools.

In addition, find out more about what NYFA is doing including a review of the 2011 field trip and workshop schedule. There will also be time to mingle and talk with others interested in the flora of 91��Ƭ��.

Don’t miss out on this exciting and interesting event!

When: Thursday April 7^th 12 Noon – 1:30 PM

Where: At the at the

Registration: Registrations for the meeting are being accepted through the .

Cost: The meeting is free but registration for the NENHC is strongly encouraged.

Details: Lunches are offered through registration to the NENHC, or you can bring your own lunch.