SLO Vets Hall

CHAPTER MEETING June 6th 2019 - Thursday - 7:00 pm
7:00 social, 7:30 program
Veteran's Hall, Grand Avenue at Monterey, San Luis Obispo

Reed Kenny, MS Candidate, Cal Poly, CNPS McLeod Scholar, Floristic Survey of Halter Ranch, San Luis Obispo County,
California

Halter Ranch, a portion of which is a working winery, is approximately 2,000 acres in size and has areas of intact oak woodland, grassland and manzanita chaparral. Located in northern SLO County near Adelaida, it includes portions of the historic MacGillivary Ranch, which hasn’t been surveyed by botanists since 1984, and additional areas that may not have been surveyed at all. This talk will summarize the results of this season’s field surveys.

With Dr.’s Matt Ritter and Dave Keil, Cal Poly.

Paul Excoffier, MS Candidate, Cal Poly, CNPS McLeod Scholar, Climate Change and San Joaquin Woollythreads (Monolopia congdonii)

San Joaquin woollythreads, Federally-listed as Endangered, was historically found throughout the rain shadow of the southern Coast Ranges. However, the current range of M. congdonii has been greatly reduced by habitat loss. Current conservation strategies for M. congdonii focus on conserving extant populations and re-establishing populations within its historic range. However, climate change represents a key unknown in determining if these strategies will be successful. This talk will discuss work in progress on testing the performance of M. condonii and other winter annual species under simulated future climates and investigation of its seed longevity.

With Dr. Nishanta Rajakaruna, Cal Poly, and Ryan O’Dell, Bureau of Land Management.