November Membership Meeting – All About Oaks

The November general membership meeting will be Thursday November 7 and will feature Zarah Wyly on Kids, Conservation, and Endangered Oak Species. An optional mini-keying workshop on oaks will be held before the meeting; bring your copy of Keil’s Vascular Plants of San Luis Obispo County, headlamp, hand lens, and dissecting tools, although we’ll have some extra supplies available and printouts of the Fagaceae key. The schedule is 6-7 pm for the keying workshop, 7-7:30 for social gathering and light refreshments, then the formal business meeting and speaker program will start at 7:30 pm. General membership meetings and this workshop are open to everyone.

Zarah Wyly is an ecologist, certified arborist, and acorn and oak gall enthusiast. She leads the Learning Among the Oaks program for the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County. Beginning with how local oak woodlands are a rich landscape for youth environmental education, Zarah will share how curiosity and wonder are used to help local students learn to love and protect these special places. Next, she will discuss the impact strategic local conservation has on the protection of oaks in SLO County. She will also provide an overview of the Red List of Oaks, which California species are of conservation concern, and an update on some of the efforts being made to ensure oak species are secured for generations to come.

photo from Zarah Wyly, school children learning about oak forest ecology in the Learning Among The Oaks program at the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County