California Lichen Society

03/05/2026

Tonight!

02/18/2026

We all know that fungi are an integral part of the lichen world. A new article beautifully weaves the two together, while highlighting their importance, conservation issues, and great moments during our January Annual Meeting in Lake County. Additionally, some of our rock star CALS members, like .lichenology, .kellman, Valerie McFarlane, .known.time, , and others!

Check it out https://apnews.com/article/fungi-environment-climate-researchers-conservation-ff486602bb02b7e9f2c2e80edd6e3ce7?utm_source=copy&utm_medium=share and share widely!

01/26/2026

How cute are these California Lichen Society Annual Meeting attendees??! 🥺

01/25/2026

Some awesome haiku, lo-ku poetry time atop a lichen covered rock at the Annual Meeting yesterday.

01/24/2026

The gathering is happening!!!

01/07/2026

Registration for our Annual Meeting is now open! https://www.tixtree.com/e/2026-annual-meeting-and-field-trip-california-lichen-society-4d8d1684ac1c

Our annual meeting will be at the McLaughlin Reserve near Lower Lake, California. The main events will be on Saturday, January 24. We will explore the Reserve for lichens during the day, followed by an evening social, potluck dinner, meeting, and guest lecture.

In addition to the main events on Saturday, we will hold a pre-meeting field trip on Friday, January 23, at 10 am near Calistoga on private property with a promising lichen flora; details will be included in the pre-event email. Sunday, January 25, those who wish to stick around can explore parts of the Reserve that we don't get to on Saturday.

Hope to see you there!

lichens algae cyanobacteria California communityscience symbiosis

01/05/2026

Registration is now open for the annual meeting! We hope you can join us at the McLaughlin Reserve, near Lower Lake, California, on January 24. Camping is available on site.

by California Lichen Society

12/03/2025

We are thrilled to announce that the California Lichen Society will be hosting our annual meeting in January. Please make plans to join us for a symbiotically good time of lichenizing, learning, and socializing with other lichen enthusiasts! Everybody is welcome, even if you are new to lichens!

Dates: January 24 (main field trip followed by an evening session including a potluck dinner, lecture, open board meeting, and other festivities), with additional optional field trips on January 23 and 25.

Location: The UC McLaughlin Reserve near Lower Lake, California (Lake / Napa Counties)

More details to follow in the coming weeks. Event is open to the public, but advance registration is required. Admission is by sliding scale fee, with a free option for those who need it. Registration will open in December.

We hope to see you there!

05/20/2025

We have organized a short morning excursion to Tilden Park in Berkeley on Saturday, June 7th to explore and collect some lichen specimens and then take them to the Jepson Herbarium at UC Berkeley the same afternoon to try our hands at identifying them using microscopy and simple chemical tests. We are lucky to have Dr. Klara Scharnagl leading the event!

More info and registration at https://www.tixtree.com/e/tilden-park-lichen-walk-and-ucb-jepson-lab-session-a11d980c2d34.

Limit 15 participants.

03/30/2025

The California Lichen Society offers small grants to support research pertaining to the lichens of California. No geographical constraints are placed on grantees or their associated institutions, as long as their research or activities are connected to California lichenology. The grant application process is very straightforward; except for the letters of support, it is possible to complete an application in two hours or less. Required information includes project title, description, time frame, budget, academic status, and two letters of support. Please see the Grants Program section of our website (link in bio on IG) https://www.californialichens.org/resources/cals-grants-program.

Applications are reviewed anonymously by members of the grants committee based on completeness, technical quality, consistency with CALS goals, intended use of funds, and likelihood of completion. Grant proposals received by November 1 each year will be considered for that year’s grant cycle. All grants are partially dependent on member contributions; therefore, the amounts of these awards may vary from year to year. This year, CALS offer up to four grants of $1500-$2000.

Obligations of recipients: 1) Acknowledge the California Lichen Society in any reports, publications, or other products resulting from the work supported by CALS. 2) Submit an article to the Bulletin of the California Lichen Society. 3) Submit any relevant rare lichen data to California Natural Diversity Data Base using NDDB’s field survey forms.

Please email proposals/applications or questions to the committee Chair at [email protected] by Nov 1 of the current calendar year. The grants Chair is Rikke Reese Naesborg.

01/25/2025

The California Lichen Society’s annual meeting is underway! We are going to try to live stream Dr. Jessi Allen’s keynote address at 8pm tonight—tune in to hear about rare lichen population genomics and conservation!

12/30/2024

Rejoice! Registration is now open for the California Lichen Society's annual meeting and field trip.

Register here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/2025-california-lichen-society-annual-meeting-and-foray-tickets-1123022503539

The field trip will be from 10 am-3 pm near Los Osos, and the evening session, including a potluck dinner and a research talk by Dr. Jessi Allen, will be in Paso Robles.

We will also have optional field trips on Friday the 24 and Sunday the 26--details coming soon.

Please note that space is limited for the evening session, so please register soon to be sure you get a spot.

We look forward to seeing you in a few weeks!

Big thanks to Althouse and Meade, Inc. for co-sponsoring this event!