The Metro-Denver Chapter welcomes everyone, members and non-members, to attend its free programs and field trips.  Monthly programs are on the fourth Tuesday of each month at 7 p.m. at the University of Denver, Olin Hall, 2190 E. Iliff Avenue, Denver, Colorado. The University of Denver’s Biology Department is sponsoring the Metro-Denver Chapter 2009-2010 programs.

 

Click for a map of the location of Olin Hall.

 

For more information email Jannette Wesley or call her at 303-969-2131.

 

 

2010-2011 Programs

 

 

Tales from the Uttermost Ends of the Earth: Ushuaia to Barrow

September 28, 2010, 7 p.m.

Presenter: Leo P. Bruederle, Ph.D., Integrative Biology, University of Colorado Denver
Location: Denver Botanic Gardens, Gates Hall

 

The genus Carex (Sedge Family) includes at least six species that exhibit a “bipolar distribution” — a discontinuous range in the extreme northern and extreme southern hemispheres.  Since the 1800s, Scientists have puzzled over this biogeographic pattern, which has been observed in at least 20 other genera.  In 2010, I traveled from Tierra del Fuego to the North Slope of Alaska to collect plant tissue for molecular genetic research addressing this phenomenon.  Carex magellanica, C. capitata, and C. microglochin, all of which occur in Northern North America, extending south in the Rockies to Colorado, and southern South America, are the focus of this collaborative research with colleagues at the Canadian Museum of Nature. 
 
Leo received a Masters in Botany from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee and a Ph.D. from Rutgers.  He recently stepped down as Chair of the Department of Integrative Biology at UC Denver to spend more time on his research, which emphasizes the systematics of species rich genera, including cryptic species.

 

Mount Evans Bryophytes

October 26, 21010, 7 pm
Presenter: William Weber, Ph.D.,
Location: Denver Botanic Gardens, Gates Hall

 

Mount Evans is widely appreciated as a safe haven for special vascular plants. Bryophytes, however, account for nearly half the species in the flora and are equally exciting. Among Mount Evans mosses and liverworts, there are many disjuncts from polar regions and a several extreme rarities.  He will comment on the history of bryology in the region, the importance of mosses in alpine ecosystems, and will introduce a few of the “cast of characters.”

William Weber  is Professor Emeritus at the University of Colorado at Boulder, and former curator of the University of Colorado Museum Herbarium.  He is the author of numerous highly acclaimed books on the flora of the West.  William Weber and Ronald Wittmann are the authors of Bryophytes of Colorado: Mosses, Liverworts, and Hornworts. 2007. Pilgrims Process Inc. and the forthcoming 4th edition of Colorado Flora.

 

History and Future of the USDA NRCS Plant Materials Program
November 30, 2010, 7 pm

Presenter: Christine Taliga, Plant Materials Specialist
Location: Denver Botanic Gardens, Plant Society Building

 

Christine Taliga’s talk is about the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), Plant Materials Program, formerly know as the Soil Conservation Service.  The talk will include an overview of some of current research efforts and review the history and the future outlook for the agency. 

Christine Taliga, received her B.S. in environmental science with a minor in botany from the University of Iowa.  She began her career with NRCS and Conservation Districts in Iowa in 1991, where she has held various technical positions and was elected as Soil and Water Conservation Commissioner (1996-2001).
 Her professional experience also includes consulting as restoration plant ecologist through which she conducted plant inventories, planned and implemented wetland mitigation plans, native restoration plans and monitoring protocols, as well as, prescribed burns for hire (the first such program in Iowa).  She has also held appointments at the University of Iowa as research botanist, greenhouse manager and teaching assistant for several botany courses.   She also served as treasurer and secretary for the Iowa Native Plant Society from 2005 to 2010. 
 
Christine, her husband John and daughter Anna, continue to own and operate a small farm in Iowa, where they explore the potential of utilizing perennial crops and which they have been working to restore to native vegetation since 1999.

 

 

The Historic Role of Fire in Forest and Grassland Ecosystems

January 25, 2011, 7:00 pm
Presenter: Tom L. Thompson, Forester
Location: Denver Botanic Gardens, Plant Society Building

 

Tom L. Thompson is a forester and the past president of the Society of American Foresters.  He will speak about the historic role of fire in ecosystems and particularly focus on the historic understanding and use of fire in managing forests and grasslands.  He will discuss the challenges of using fire today, especially those caused by excessive fuel buildup, insect and disease mortality, shifts in climate, and interface with human development. 

 

Tom Thompson recently retired as Deputy Chief of the U.S. Forest Service in Washington, D.C.; he also served Deputy Regional Forester in the Rocky Mtn. Region from 1989-2001. Mr. Thompson, a native of Colorado, was with the Forest Service for 37 years and is a graduate of Colorado State University.

 

Clear Cutting at Roxborough State Park: Monitoring Re-growth

February 22, 2011, 7:00 pm
Presenter: Vickey Trammel, Biologist
Location: Denver Botanic Gardens, Plant Society Building

 

Vickey Trammel will present the results of her 2 year field study at Roxborough State Park.  She organized 20 volunteers to monitor 50 meter square plots on a two acre clear cut site.  The park clear cut the site as part of a fuels mitigation effort.  The citizen scientists watched each site to record their observations on the presence of plant species and to gather data on the soil moisture and soil temperature.   Vickey will report on the research conducted on the site as well as her efforts to involve volunteers in this ongoing research project.

 

Vickey Trammel is past president of the Metro Denver Chapter of the Colorado Native Plant Society.  She recently retired from teaching biology at Arapahoe Community College.

 

Propagating Penstemons

March 22, 2011, 7 pm
Presenter: Bob McFarline, President of the American Penstemon Society
Location: Denver Botanic Gardens, Plant Society Building

 

There are over 275 recognized species of penstemon, and all of them are native to North American from Alaska down to Guatemala.  A large majority of these plants are quite garden worthy and the list seems to grow annually.  Most species are propagated from seed because it is so easy.  However, most do quite well from cuttings.  In fact, most of the hybrids must be propagated vegatatively in order for the plant characteristics to be accurately reproduced.

There are a large number of variables to consider when propagating different species of penstemon.  The talk will cover the author's experience in treating the various items such as gathering seed in the wild, gathering seed in the garden, seed life, stratification, soaking seed, planting soil mixture, germination times, sunlight effect of seedlings, watering, relative ease of propagating by species, etc.

Bob is retired from a long career in engineering and software management.  He attended Stanford University and worked in California, Saudi Arabia and Colorado.  He became interested in plants in general and Penstemon in particular after his retirement in 1992.  He is a longtime member of the American Penstemon Society and is currently serving as President.  He, along with Hugh MacMillan, is a founder of the Eriogonum Society which was established in 2009.

 

Grow Native

April 26, 2011, 7 pm
Susan Smith, President of the Front Range Wild Ones
Location: Denver Botanic Gardens, Plant Society Building

 

Discover the unexpected joys of gardening with native plants. Whether you want a formal perennial bed or a relaxed wildflower meadow, you can create beautiful landscapes with natives.

 

Susan Smith has been an environmental educator for 18 years and is President of Front Range Wild Ones, a non-profit promoting native landscaping.

 

 

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Unless otherwise indicated, photographs on this CoNPS web site are by Al Schneider, www.swcoloradowildflowers.com,   and may not be used for any purpose without his expressed permission. Email him.