California Native Plant Society - Los Angeles / Santa Monica Mountains

10/15/2026

Staying safe

📢 We're cancelling our upcoming Trippet Tree Care Event on October 17th due to the red flag warning in effect 6am Thursday-8pm Saturday across the western Santa Monica Mountains recreational area. 🚨

Stay safe & follow future events at https://rcdsmm.org/volunteer-events/

If you're looking for guidance on how to get red flag ready, visit https://rcdsmm.org/wildfire-resilience/wildfire-defense-videos/

10/14/2026

Fyi

Did you know that some Californian orchids engage in the art of deception? The Fairy Slipper orchid, Calypso bulbosa, relies on native bees for pollination. However, it offers no nectar reward to its pollinators, instead luring them in with its ornate labellum and sweet scent.

Calypso bulbosa can be found in Northern California forests in the late winter and early spring. If you want to learn more about Calypso and other California-native orchids, sign up for CalBG’s orchids class on October 24! Dive into the world of orchids with this introductory class that will explore orchid biology and introduce the native orchids of California and the western states. Participants will have the opportunity to dissect orchid flowers, learn about basics of orchid cultivation and conservation, and ask any orchid questions on their mind.

🌸 Introduction to California Orchids
📅 Saturday, October 24
🕘 1-4 PM
📍California Botanic Garden, 1500 N. College Ave., Claremont, CA
🎟️ Sign up today at https://www.calbg.org/event/introduction-to-california-orchids-1026.

10/14/2026

Don’t gut CEQA

10/14/2026

Fyi

Get your hands dirty for a great cause!

Join SFVAS and our partners, Friends of the Los Angeles River (FoLAR) and the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), for our monthly Habitat Restoration efforts in the Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve.

We gather to work, w**d, and help restore this vital habitat.
After the work is done, enjoy an Audubon guided bird walk!

📅 October 24 | 🕗 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM
📍 Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve, 6350 Woodley Ave, Van Nuys, CA 91436

Volunteer walk leaders always needed!

10/14/2026

Fyi

⚠️ Park Closure Notice - UPDATED ⚠️

Parks within Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area will be closed Thursday and Saturday, October 15-17. The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning based on weather and fuel conditions. This closure applies to lands managed by California State Parks, National Park Service, Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy, and Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority.

Learn more about the coordinated closure protocol for red flag warnings in the press release: https://www.nps.gov/samo/learn/news/park-agencies-establish-coordinated-closure-protocol-for-red-flag-warnings.htm

10/14/2026

Fyi

No Meeting Thursday the 22nd!
Meeting this month has moved to October 29th in Altadena.
Program: From Burn to Bloom: Rethinking Resilience Through Relationships presented by Shawn Maestretti and Leigh Adams.
Location: The Hub 2333 Lake Ave , Altadena, CA 91001
Those with allergies should be aware that the Hub is dog friendly.
7 pm: Social
7:30 – 8:45 pm: Program
To Join via Zoom:
https://cnps-org.zoom.us/j/86854467070?pwd=UPcO4bABC5mlRCJS7vqBuqaFYT3415.1
Or go to https://zoom.us and enter meeting ID: 868 5446 7070
Passcode: 216326
Or by telephone: +1 720 707 2699
meeting ID: 868 5446 7070
Passcode: 216326
More info: https://chapters.cnps.org/sgm/event/october_program/

Note: We endeavor to record all programs when the speaker allows; however, due to possible unforeseen circumstances, we cannot guarantee it. Recordings of past programs are available via YouTube from our website recorded meetings page, Generally it takes roughly one week for new programs to be posted.

10/14/2026

Fyi

Join us for the first meeting of the 2026-27 LAMS season, featuring Alex Carillo, PhD, with his presentation:

“ExFAB: a Biofoundry for the Study of Extreme and Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria”

Monday October 19, 2026

Sparr Heights Community Center
Glendale, CA

Mushroom ID — 6:30 PM
Main Talk — 7:30 PM

Bring in any specimens (or photos of specimens) for identification and discussion.

• This event is free and open to the public!

• Talk will be livestreamed on our YouTube channel (link in bio) starting around 7:30 PM on the day.

———

Program:

ExFAB: a Biofoundry for the study of Extreme and Exceptional Fungi, Archaea and Bacteria

The ExFAB biofoundry seeks to develop automated workflows to discover, phenotype, and prototype biology from extreme and exceptional fungi, archaea, and bacteria. Dr. Alex Carrillo will be talking about a breadth of projects that have been run through ExFAB. These projects involve bacteria, yeasts and filamentous fungi.
Several stories highlight research on yeasts and filamentous fungi, including a study of a common yeast's tolerance to heavy metals and the development of high-throughput methods for phenotyping solid cultures of sporulating and non-sporulating filamentous fungi.

Bio:

Dr. Alex Carrillo is the Lead Scientist for the ExFAB project at the University of California, Riverside. He earned his PhD in Microbiology from University of California, Riverside studying G-protein signaling in the filamentous fungi Neurospora crassa. His work used large-scale phenotyping with statistical clustering analysis to potentially uncover previously unknown enzymes involved in signaling pathways.

10/13/2026

Fyi

Join us LIVE this Thursday, October 15, at 9 am to talk with us about biodiversity! 🐛🐝🦋🦋

CNPS Education and Horticulture Director Lila Higgins and Michelle Fullner of Michelle Fullner will talk about biodiversity in our cities and towns. That’s the focus of CNPS’s Biodiversity in Urban Gardens Project. Learn why it’s important and how you can make a difference today!

Drop your questions in the comments now, and we’ll try to get to as many as we can live. Set a reminder so you don’t miss it 🌱

📅 Thursday, Oct. 15, 9 AM
📍 Live right here on CA Native Plant Society
This initiative is funded in part by the Gordon
and Betty Moore Foundation.

📸: Lila Higgins
🐝: Yellow-faced Bumble Bee (Bombus vosnesenskii)
🌿: Manzanita spp.