Rich O'Neil wrote this article to inform people about the Kern River Bike Path. He asked me to submit it to local environmental newsletters - Andy

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While riding the Kern River Bike Trail, several bicyclists have asked me, "What are you building now along the Bike Path? What are you spending our tax dollars on now? What a waste. It will only be vandalized!" My answer was and is the following: "The Kern River Bike Trail is not the only bicycle and/or river feature in Bakersfield. And it not built and owned by bicyclists only. The Bicycle trail as we know it today is a feature or element of the Kern River Parkway Master Plan. It is a multi-use trail once only 1 mile long, then 3 miles long then, 8 miles long and now 32 miles long. It is part of a Parkway of over 6000 acres, 8 lakes, 8 parts, many square miles of wildlife habitat, 40 miles of horse trails. 5 miles of jogging trail, and of course our beloved 32 mile class I bike path stretching from the Mouth of the Kern River Canyon southwesterly to Lake Buena Vista. We (the Citizens of Bakersfield; City Government, Bike Path Committee, the Kern River Parkway Committee and the Kern River Parkway Foundation) are currently building an 8 acre preserve along the Bike Path called the Uplands Projects. We are planting 700 trees, 3/4 mile of nature path and a horse trail. When riding by, you will be able to see seven observation decks rising above the river flood line which contain 21 kiosks that describe local history, water use, railroad/industry use, recreation use(including bicycles), plant life, and animal life in and throughout the 35 mile Parkway. Our Bike Trail was built with both pedestrian and bicycle funding and is being maintained by both private donated and tax supported funding. We have used hundreds of thousands of volunteers hours to build these parks, paths, rest areas, and tree plantings that shade the path , and now a nature trail. The City of Bakersfield is the greatest , so give our government some kudos. Thank those orange shirts, Good humans wear them . Write to a City Councilperson and thank them also. Lastly ,be courteous and be safe. Keep helping to make Bakersfield a better bicycling Community.. Rich O’Neil, President, Kern River Bike Path Committee 706-1096 or write PO Box 1861 Bakersfield 93302.

Greetings,
I thought this might be of particular interest to those who live at higher elevations, but also to those of you, who just want to get some more ideas about converting your landscape into a more native, lower maintenance, less water used, area. Lisa Pracchia is president of their club, and a member of our chapter of CNPS.

Anyone who wants to carpool, please contact me. We can meet at the Tuesday Morning parking lot at Oswell and Auburn, in the northeast. We need to allow about 1 1/2 hours to get there, but it is above the heat, and that can be a plus! If you want to drive there on your own, I can send you a may. Hope to see you there. Dorie

Subject: Friday May 20th Garden Club Meeting Reminder
Hello Gardeners,
This is your friendly reminder. The May Bear Valley Springs Garden Club meeting is Friday, May 20th, at 2 PM at the Equestrian Center Club House. Anna Smith, local expert gardener and landscape designer, will be our featured speaker. Anna's talk is called "High Maintenance to Low Maintenance Gardening". If you're like me, understanding how to make your garden look just as beautiful but with a lot less work is a welcome topic. Included in her approach is the use of more drought resistant and native plans.
Hope to see you there. -Lisa

Hello Treasure Hunters!

Here is the latest list of treasure hunts to join this spring and they are taking place all over California. If these don't fit your schedule let us know and we can work on putting you in touch with a group in your area that would like to go on a hunt. Also, if you have some experience with plant surveys we can send you out on your own. There is so much to see this year and it's time to start exploring-every hike can be a treasure hunt! RSVP to treasurehunt@cnps.org for more details.

Friday to Sunday, May 13-15th Silurian Hills, Valjean Hills and Avawatz Mountains- North of the Mojave National Preserve. We'll look for Desert Bear Poppy (Arctomecon merriamii), Androstephium breviflorum, Mojave Milkweed (Asclepias nyctaginifolia), Camissonia boothii and Purplenerve springparsley (Cymopterus multinervatus). Join us Friday afternoon/Friday night or even Saturday morning on this car camping trip.

Saturday and Sunday, May 21-22nd Trip led by Duncan Bell, 2010 Grand Prize winner of the Rare Plant Treasure Hunt into the unexplored areas.

Friday to Sunday, May 27-29th Trip to Kingston and Clark Mtns and the Ivanpah Valley We'll look for Mojave milkweed (Asclepias nyctaginifolia) and many others. Overnight camping trip, come Friday afternoon or Saturday morning.

STATEWIDE TRIPS:

Saturday, May 14th Pine Hill Preserve, near Folsom, CA. Help us re-locate some historic populations of Packera layneae (Layne’s ragwort) and Helianthmum suffrutescens (Bisbee Peak rush-rose), as well as search for new populations in this botanical preserve.

Mid-May (follow-up email will give a firm date) Lynch Canyon, Solano County. Join the Solano Land Trust and help them perform an initial survey of their Lynch Canyon site for rare species. We'll be on the lookout for Calochortus pulchellus (Mt. Diablo fairy-lantern), Balsamorhizza macrolepis var. macrolepis (big-scale balsamroot), Sidalcea hickmanii ssp. viridis (Marin checkerbloom) and others.

Mid-May (follow-up email will give a firm date) Sonoma Land Trust, Sonoma County. Join the Sonoma Land Trust and help search for rare plants on one of their properties just north of Sonoma.

Sunday, May 22nd Join the Mt. Lassen Chapter of the CNPS to visit a part of the Mendocino National Forest called Salt Creek Saddle and nearby China Gulch, where we'll be looking for 8 different rare species.

Saturday and Sunday, June 11th and 12th Walker Ridge, Lake-Colusa County boundary. About 30 rare plants occur on this site proposed for a wind-power generation facility. CNPS and other organizations have petitioned the BLM to designate this site as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern. Help us protect it by gathering more accurate information about the rare species found in this area.

For photos and more info. you can visit: www.rareplanttreasurehunt.blogspot.com or www.flickr.com/photos/rareplanttreasurehunt/.

KINGS COUNTY FLORA

You can download the flora, all 8 pages, from the Sespe Institute's website: http://sespeinstitute.com/, along with other interesting stuff, like terrestrial snails.

California Invasive Plant Council: Map the Spread to Stop the Spread

In 2006-2008 Cal-IPC mapped the existing distribution of all species in the Cal-IPC Inventory by county and Jepson floristic region. In 2010-2011 we’re continuing to map at a finer resolution (7.5 minute USGS quadrangles). The keystone of this effort is to gather a group of local botanists and land managers and map their expert knowledge. We’re seeking input from CNPS volunteers with strong botanical skills and a regional knowledge of invasive plant distribution. Come participate in our data gathering meetings!

Our meetings have been informative and collaborative, with palpable excitement about the final mapping products. The outcomes of this project will enable users to answer questions like: What's here, What's on the move, What's on the way, What’s ripe for eradication and What’s ripe for containment.

To participate, please contact your chapter's invasive species or conservation coordinator (if applicable) or email mapping@cal-ipc.org. Visit www.calweedmapper.org for more information.

GOLDEN TROUT WILDERNESS BOTANICAL WORKSHOP Flora and Natural History of the Southern Sierra July 3 – 9, 2011

Location: Golden Trout Wilderness Camp
Instructors: Tim Thomas, Pam McKay and Paul Collins
Workshop Organizer: Susan D'Alcamo

Don’t miss this amazing botany workshop that will teach us about the flora and natural history of the Golden Trout Wilderness, Cottonwood Lakes Basin and the John Muir Wilderness. Spend the week exploring high Sierra alpine habitats. Daily guided hikes and interpretive talks will be led by our experienced trip leaders. Lectures, slide shows and an opportunity to key plants with dissecting scopes will fill the evenings. We will see an abundance of wildflowers in alpine meadows and encounter endemic plant species while taking in the incredible Sierran vistas. Plant, animal and bird lists will be provided.

The camp is at 10,000 ft., three miles from trailhead parking. Pack animals can be arranged to get your gear into the area. Sleeping tent cabins are dormitory style with canvas cots and 4-6 people in each tent. A central cooking and dining log cabin is used for eating and gathering. An outdoor wash stand is available for brushing teeth and washing. Showers with hot water are available at certain times. Meals are provided, but guests must carry in their own sleeping bags and personal belongings. You may also set up your own tent.

Cost: $525.00 (includes meals from Sunday dinner through Saturday lunch)

For information, brochure, and registration contact: Susan D’Alcamo: sdalcamo@calacademy.org

Registration deadline: March 15, 2011

INSTRUCTORS
Tim Thomas has been a naturalist for the Golden Trout Camp for over 30 years. He has been an instructor at the Community College level teaching plant identification, plant geography, ethnobotany, conservation, and has been a contributor to several local floras in Southern California. He has been a preserve manager for The Nature Conservancy, a park ranger for the National Park Service, a botanist for the Fish and Wildlife Service, and an independent biological consultant. He is currently president of the Mojave Chapter of the California Native Plant Society.
Pam MacKay has been a naturalist for the Golden Trout Camp for over 15 years. She is a professor of biology at Victor Valley Community College in Victorville California, where she teaches population and environmental biology, botany, plant identification, microbiology, and tropical natural history courses. She was the founding president of the Mojave Chapter of the California Native Plant Society and is the author of the popular ‘Mojave Desert Wildflowers, a color photographic guide to over 300 rare and common desert plants.
Paul Collins, the vertebrate collections manager at the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, will be our Camp naturalist.  He has 30 years of experience at the Camp and is an excellent birder, bat specialist, and will run a small mammal trap line [catch and release] in the local meadows.  He has worked extensively on the California Channel Island with the Island fox, small mammal issues and recently on reintroduction issues with the Bald Eagle to the northern island group.