California Conservation Garden and Native Plant Program

The Native Plant Program (NPP) at the UCSC Arboretum & Botanic Garden was featured in the NEWS! On November 17, 2022, the extensive California seed collecting & preservation work of Lucy Ferneyhough, NPP Program Manager and Alex Hubner, NPP Horticulturist and Garden Steward was showcased in the Mercury News.

See full article here


Interactive Ecology Internship https://vimeo.com/136939981
Internship Agency Sponsor: Brett Hall, California Native Plant Program Director
brett@ucsc.edu  (831) 212-4853
Pre-Internship Survey  |  Post-Internship Survey | Resources

 


california native plants

Interactive Ecology interns will participate in fieldwork and building plant collections through seed germination, propagation, nursery work, and planting. All-day field trips to local wild areas will focus on plant communities and techniques involved in vegetation mapping, classification, habitat assessment, and surveys.

We will have discussions and pose questions about conservation and land management, ecology & evolution, and goals for the Arboretum native gardens. There will be assigned and optional readings. All participants will keep a journal. Photography, illustration, art and using GPS and smartphone technology will be encouraged (e.g. ESRI Collector).

The Interactive Ecology internship will also explore, more broadly, the gardens and collections in the Arboretum with room for individual participants to diverge into areas of special interest.

 


 Prerequisites: Outline the skills and background information necessary to participate in this internship.

  • Attention to detail
  • Basic knowledge about California floristics
  • Ability to use online and hard-copy resources (e.g., online search tools and websites, library books, journal articles, etc.) to research characteristics about plants
  • Ability to critically think and compile information from various sources
  • Enthusiasm about learning about different plants/vegetation, doing plant/vegetation research, data entry and quality control of data, and synthesis of information
  • Basic understanding of field data collection techniques and Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

If you have not previously applied, fill out and submit the Pre-Internship Survey.

For more information, contact Brett Hall: (831) 212-4853 or brett@ucsc.edu

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RESOURCES


Five Rare Plants of the Pine Hill Preserve: Improving Germination Success.  Nicole L. Jurjavic, Rob Thoms, Brett Hall, et. al., 2018. (pdf)

California Plant Rescue: Conserving botanical diversity through collections, monitoring, and research.  
Stacy Anderson, Cheryl Birker, Holly Forbes, et. al., 2018. (pdf)

"Cross-lineage hybridization in the genus Arctostaphylos (Ericaceae)"
, by Eric Van Dyke, Reed College Bio 332 (May 2017).

Effective Wild Life Corridor: Keeps deer out, but lets other creatures in.

California Chapparal InstituteThe best source of accurate information about native shrub land communities and California's most extensive ecosystem.

Friends of the Chico State Herbarium

The Jepson Herbarium, University of California, Berkeley. Recent News from the Jepson Herbarium: Revision 4 of the Jepson eFlora is now online.

Videos from the 2017 Northern California Botanists Symposium, 9-10 January. "DIVERSE ENVIRONMENTS: HOW PLANTS SUCCEED IN NORTHERN CALIFORNIA." Stephen Rosenthal, Santa Clara Chapter, CNPS Past President, was the videographer. Symposium was sponsored by Northern California Botanists.

1. Carex xerophila – a new sedge hiding in the chaparral.
2. New bryophyte discoveries in California: The frontier remains.
3. Cryptic host-specific diversity in the newly resurrected parasitic genus Aphyllon.
4. Chaparral seed banks: Not just for plants anymore.
5. Soil seed banks of native and exotic forbs in restored and reference northern coastal prairies.
6. Response of soil seed banks to drought in California annual grasslands.
7. Soil seed banks of a federally listed Threatened annual plant, Camissonia benitensis.
8. Collaboration and adaptive management precludes federal listing of Tahoe yellow cress.
9. A place for plants in FERC licensed hydropower projects.
10. Year of the Monkey: A rare “super bloom” for Carson Valley Monkeyflower.
11.To create a botanic garden
12. Biogeographical wanderings in the Streptanthus howellii Alliance.
13. Pinus ponderosa: A checkered past obscured four species.
14. In search of alpine rarity: A “Rare Plant Treasure Hunt” in Yosemite National Park.
15. Fear and loathing in the Sierra Nevada: Confronting a wicked problem.
16. Pines and pine bark beetles in California: A legacy of diversity and damage.
17. Gallwasps on California Oaks.
18. Flies—the forgotten pollinators.
19. Influence of coastal fog on endemism on the Central Coast of California.
20. Lichens in the mist: Investigating California’s fog lichens.
21. Impact of historic drought on the population dynamics of a fog-influenced coastal forest.
22. Varied species responses to fog in the coast redwood ecosystem.
23. Influence of Summer Fog on Patterns of Plant Diversity.
24. Jepson Prairie Preserve: 35 years of conservation, research, and public education.
25. The spicebush and the wasp.
26. Calflora, a tool for botanists and plant enthusiasts.
27. Carbonate substrates: Plant associations and climate impacts.
28. Gabbro and beyond.
29. Some questions we need answered about California plants and climate change.


"Pinus ponderosa: A checkered past obscured four species." By Ann Willyard, et.al. American Journal of Botany, 104(1):1-21, 2017. Recent genetic studies separate out local Santa Cruz Ponderosa Pines, like those in the Arboretum, as Pinus benthemaniana.


"Fostered by Fog", a recent article in UCSC's online journal Science Notes, uses the example of 'maritime chaparral' to explore the collaboration among the Arboretum's Native Plant Program, UCSC and the California Native Plant Society in preserving threatened native California plants. The article is written by Amy McDermott and beautifully illustrated by Yvonne Byers.


The late Bob Haller and his work on Pinus ponderosa var. pacifica (one of the Arboretum’s mascot species for the NPP): "John Robert (Bob) Haller, (was a) renowned California Botanist, inspirational teacher, and mentor to so many of us. Bob was international recognized for his work on pines but may be most remembered for the way he joyfully shared his love of the natural world with the rest of us - inspiring generations of botanists and avid naturalists." Read more.


Now available: Information about the Arboretum's California Province Garden, including plans and maps:lupin