HSU Botany Club

04/26/2022

If you were part of the Botany program before 2008 you likely heard the name Dr. Walker (AKA Dr. Death). The campus greenhouse has been named in his honor and is adorned in rare conifers from around the world he brought back from his travels.

He just made news again with an enormous grant to the greenhouse. I hope all of you get to spend some time with him as I did.

Cal Poly Humboldt’s Dennis K. Walker Greenhouse boasts one of the largest teaching collections of living plants in California. Now, thanks to a generous gift from the facility’s namesake, Professor Emeritus Dennis K. Walker (‘60, Botany), the iconic campus facility will get an injection of TLC...

03/24/2022

Here are a few pictures of vernal pool plants at my base I'm most often working at.

I'm posting these because I want you all to develop an ability to know these species at ALL of their life stages. There will be opportunities to do surveys within these basins and I will require the contractor to know these species as well as I do.

Semper phyte!

01/23/2022

Native plant sale at Mission Trails Regional Park.

01/21/2022

I started some Calchortus seeds 35 days ago in the fridge and they have just started to germinate!

Can't wait for these to get big enough to flower and get them into the native plant garden where I'm doing most of my work.

I suspect they're C. weedii.

The soil in the bag is just vermiculite and perlite. I generally use that because it doesn't usually allow fungi and bacteria to flourish in the bag as it's in the fridge.

01/17/2022

A native plant sale will be happening next weekend at the Mission Trails Park Visitor Center.

All trails at Mission Trails Regional Park (MTRP) are open, but please continue to practice social distancing when possible. The Kumeyaay Lake Campground has reopened for overnight camping (weekends only), and reservations can be made on through the Campground’s webpage.

01/17/2022

One of my new year's resolutions is to restart the Club page.

When I started in the botany field I had a goal of obtaining a permanent spot in the USNPS or USFS as a botanist. After a lot of years of traveling across the west, doing temp jobs and being despondent about the lack of botany knowledge in most people I finally got what I've been hoping for.

But with an unexpected twist because I am now a United States Marine Corps Botanist. If you're wondering f why the heck they need a botanist suffice it say that there are a lot of endangered plants on military bases and the the USMC must still adhere to federal laws protecting them.

I'm finally able to utilize the broad range of my skills learned at HSU, so I hope to keep advocating for those skills here with posts.

I remember when I came to HSU and restarted the club with several other botany majors we had a little humor calling it Phyte Club.

Phyte on!
Ron Clark
Civilian USMC GS-0430 Botanist

09/09/2019

Another Environmental Planner position this time in Sacramento with the Department of Conservation.

**YOU MUST INCLUDE A STATEMENT OF QUALIFICATIONS TO BE CONSIDERED FOR THIS POSITION.**Under the general direction of the Staff Services Manager II, Division of Land Resource Protection (DLRP), the Associate Environmental Planner/Environmental Planner plans and carries out the details of difficult an...

09/09/2019

Environmental Planner position open in San Bernardino County (district 8 )

Under the direction of a Senior Environmental Planner, the Environmental Planner is expected to assist in the coordination of and/or perform environmental planning, analysis, and evaluation work of studies and associated documents for projects of lesser complexity/responsibility. This work includes...

09/01/2019

A new paper on the origin of photosynthesis is quite intriguing and could change the ideas of its first appearance on Earth.

Structures inside rare bacteria are similar to those that power photosynthesis in plants today, suggesting the process is older than assumed.

08/15/2019

The next California Invasive Plant Council symposium is on the horizon, if you can go I recommend it highly.

This year it will held mid October in Riverside

Join us in Riverside! Gather with colleagues from across the state to network, learn, and celebrate our hard work. We will be meeting at the Riverside Convention Center and staying at the historic …