NEWSLETTER

March - May 2010

Upcoming Monthly Programs

Monday, March 1 - Doors open 7:15 Program starts 7:30 pm

The Annenberg Project at Lower Point Vicente
Speakers: Melani Smith, Principal, Melendrez Design Partners
Darren Shirai, Associate and Design Lead, Melendrez Design Partners
Location: South Coast Botanical Garden

The Companion Animal Center is designed to dovetail with the natural environment at Lower Point
Vicente and enhance the Point Vicente Interpretive Center (PVIC). Site design will incorporate best
management practices for storm water management, including capturing and treating onsite runoff in
retention areas and bio-swales, and using permeable paving as possible and practical to minimize runoff.
The dry creek bed envisioned as a focal point within the "eco-canyon" area will serve both as an
interpretive area, and function as a storm water management area when the site is wet. Planting will
complement and evoke the natural setting of the site by featuring native and drought tolerant local plant
materials. Please join us for an insider's look at a significant local project.

Monday, April 5, 2010 - - Doors open 7:15 Program starts 7:30 pm

Ocean Friendly Gardens Program
Paul Herzog, Surfrider Foundation, OFG Program Coordinator
Location: South Coast Botanical Garden

Surfrider Foundation has launched a comprehensive and integrated program of classes and hands-on
workdays known as the Ocean Friendly Gardens ("OFG") Program. Local classes are co-sponsored by
West Basin MWD and are free to the public. The OFG program is designed to educate and assist people
in creating sustainable landscapes that foster healthy soil; utilize native plants, permeable groundcovers
and water retention features to prevent urban runoff; and provide wildlife habitat and natural beauty. Paul
will discuss local pilot installations, including several California Native Plant demonstration projects.
Monday, May 3 - Doors open 7:15 Program starts 7:30 pm
Palos Verdes Peninsula Land Conservancy: Update on Fire Recovery, Restoration and Vegetation
Mapping Projects
Lily Verdone, Conservation Director
Leslie Buena, Stewardship Associate

In our May meeting, we will be updated on the PVPLC, including on how the native plants are recovering
from the 2009 fire. Join us for this interesting discussion on our local native plants are responding.

Location for Program meetings: South Coast Botanical Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Boulevard, Palos
Verdes Peninsula, classroom closest to the garden entrance.

Acquisition of Upper Filiorum Property

By David Sundstrom

On December 7, 2009, the South Coast Chapter Board of Directors voted to contribute $10,500 from the
operating account towards the acquisition of Upper Filiorum, the last remaining available open space to
complete the Palos Verdes Nature Preserve.

The purchase price for the 191-acre property is $6.5 million. The California Coastal Conservancy will
provide $5.5 million, and the City of Rancho Palos Verdes will provide $600,000. The balance of
$400,000 must be raised by the community.

Acquiring the land will allow the Three Sisters, Portuguese Bend, and the Forrestal reserves to be linked,
forming a contiguous 950-acre corridor for wildlife habitat. For more information on the conservancy,
please see their web site: http://www.pvplc.org

Point Vicente Native Plant Garden

Scenic Gardening Day

March 20 (and other dates to be determined) – 9:30 am - noon
Point Vicente Interpretive Center - 31501 Palos Verdes Dr. W., Rancho Palos Verdes

Our native plant garden at the Point Vicente Native Plant Garden in Rancho Palos Verdes is maintained
by volunteers. Join us in sprucing up this lovely garden overlooking the ocean with other members of our
chapter. We had lots of winter rain and the plants are ALL growing like crazy - including the weeds.
Bring your gloves, sunhat, and small tools (e.g. clippers and weeders) and perhaps a bucket or bag to
hold weeds and trimmings for greenwaste. We have found that an old screwdriver works particularly well
for weeding - the notched-end dandelion pullers are also useful. Dressing in layers can be a good idea
out there with the ocean breezes. We can count on the whale watchers being there to give us blow-by-
blow announcements.

If you are interested in volunteering at this garden overlooking the ocean and would like to be on our
email distribution list, please send email through our web site to be forwarded to Barbara Sattler.
http://www.sccnps.org/

Other dates to be determined. Check our website for updates.

 Local Sites and Activities

George F Canyon
http://www.pvplc.org/land/georgefcanyon/
• March 6 - Saturday Morning Bird Walk – 9 am. Open to all levels of birders. A slow easy walk
through the canyon to learn about the local birds and the native plants they use. Binoculars
provided. Free.
• March 6 - Saturday Afternoon Nature Walk: All things natural and native are pointed out and
explained. Certified Guides lead the walk. Open to all ages. Free.
Located at the corner of PV Drive North and PV Drive East in the city of Rolling Hills Estates.

Madrona Marsh
http://www.friendsofmadronamarsh.com/naturecenter.htm
• March 6 – Torrance Environmental Fair – 10 am – 3 pm
Located at 3201 Plaza del Amo, Torrance

Gardena Willows Wetland Preserve

http://gardenawillows.org/
• Tours on the 2nd Sunday of each month, 1-4 pm
• Volunteer workdays 3rd Saturday of each month, 8-11 am
• May 22, Saturday – 10 am – 3 pm - Environmental Fair at Arthur Johnson Memorial Park
Located at 1200 W. 170th Street, Gardena, CA (park at the Arthur Johnson Memorial Park/South Park
and the entrance gates are on the south)

Bixby Marshland
http://www.lacsd.org/about/wastewater_facilities/jwpcp/bixbymarshland.asp
• Tours on the 1st Saturday of each month, 8 am to noon.
Located northwest of the Joint Water Pollution Control Plant (JWPCP) near the intersection of Figueroa
Street and Sepulveda Boulevard in the City of Carson

South Coast Botanic Garden

http://www.southcoastbotanicgarden.org/
• Saturday April 17 - 50th Anniversary Celebration - Open House & Spring Plant Sale - 9 am – 5 pm
South Coast Botanical Garden, 26300 Crenshaw Boulevard, Palos Verdes Peninsula

Point Vicente Interpretive Center

http://www.palosverdes.com/RPV/recreationparks/PointVicenteInterpretiveCenter/
• March 6 – Whale of a Day
Located at 1501 Palos Verdes Drive West, Rancho Palos Verdes

Long Beach Honors Earth Day at the Aquarium of the Pacific

http://www.aquariumofpacific.org/newsevents/eventsdetail/earth_day/
• April 24, 25 – Saturday, Sunday, 9 am – 5 pm
Located at 100 Aquarium Way, Long Beach,

Theodore Payne Garden Tour

http://www.theodorepayne.org/Tour/
• April 10, 11 – 10 am – 4 pm
Two-day, self-guided journey through 50 of the most beautiful and inspiring native landscapes in the Los
Angeles area.
 Orache: Wild Culinary Green Past, Present and Future
By Ivan Snyder, Ethnobotany Chairman

I visited the Dominguez Channel in search of a particular native plant reported to occur there. The
channel is a water course stretching from the city of Hawthorne near Los Angeles International Airport to
the Port of LA in Wilmington. I didn’t find the plant I was looking for, but instead found something even
more exciting. Orache (Atriplex patula var. hastata or synonym A. triangularis) is abundant there even
after the winter’s flood swept through the channel. I first learned of this plant in a book I have, Flora of the
Santa Ana River and Environs, which tells this native plant is a good culinary green. It certainly is. I have
been researching native plants to find a good green suited to growing in a window garden. Orache is
perfect.

I told David Sundstrom about my discovery. David, who is on the board of our South Coast Chapter
CNPS, was involved with native plantings along the Dominguez Gap, which is a similar flood channel in
Long Beach. He replied it is inspiring that I discovered this plant which is probably one of the few
authentic remnant plants in the area. Usually a report of something new turning up in the channel is grim
news. These water systems are artificially bounded flood control channels fed by street runoff. They are
super massive convergences of street gutters which carry every sort of waste imaginable out to sea,
including that ball your kid lost. Or as seen on TV, even your kid.

Orache is of special interest to me as an Ethnobotanist. This wide ranging plant has a long history of
association with man, eaten as greens and grain. The plant was used by the California Indians until
historic times. In Northern Europe the plant is an archaeophyte. Seed has been recovered from Ertebolle,
the site of an ancient village dating back to pre-agricultural times. The seed, more extensively used in the
past, tastes the same as non cereal grain Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa) available in health food stores.
A cultivated European sister species Garden Orache (A. hortensis) developed as a result of the selection
for greens. Garden Orache was a popular culinary green in Europe but lost favor to Spinach (Spinacia
oleracea) later imported from Asia. This is why we are not familiar with Orache today. I guess people just
like that acid taste. I prefer Orache as it does not have the oxalic acid of Spinach which interferes with the
absorption of calcium.

A testament to Orache’s ever faithful companionship is seen in the conditions in which it has volunteered
to grow in our flood channels. This led me to a prophetic vision of a possible future for Orache. Though
not by design, the channels act as vast automated biomass conversion systems. NASA-Ames Research
Center has been developing a model Contained Life Environmental Support System or CELSS for
window gardens in outer space. The system is designed to recycles waste via hydroponics for producing
food and air. Orache is a natural candidate for CELSS and wins out over Spinach for space missions
because of the oxalic acid issue. Orache, our old friend, could very well accompany us to the final
frontier.

Window gardening fresh wild greens for nutrition is appealing. Since Orache grows naturally in moist soils
it can be grown by hydroponics. Plants which can be grown this way are easy to keep. Regular house
plants tend to dry out and die when I go away on vacation. This one I can set in a deep tub of water and it
will not suffer from root rot. A home CELSS is fun to think about, but my landlord would object. I use
Miracle-Gro fertilizer instead.

Of course it’s a bad idea to eat anything directly from the unclean flood channels. But it’s still fun to
botanize wherever one can. Do go for a bike ride along the channels if you get a chance, and keep an
eye out for any native plants amongst all the other junk. As always, no telling what surprises we might find
in the most unexpected places.
 Dog Gone It

Sheepdog Successful in Finding Rare Plant

by Kayla Gunderson

(Reprinted with permission from ECONEWS: www.yournec.org)

Rogue, an intelligent Belgian sheepdog, knows a lot of tricks. He can roll over, sit, play dead, and he
loves steak, but his finest trick is locating the rare Kincaid Lupine, which is vital to the endangered
Fender’s blue butterfly in Oregon’s Willamette Valley.

Rogue, named after the Rogue River in Oregon, is four years old. Dave Veseley, executive director of the
Oregon Wildlife Institute, purchased the canine with dog sports in mind, such as agility competitions.
But he soon realized that Rogue had a knack for conservation work.

That isn’t the only thing that Rogue enjoys, though. “Rogue has demonstrated versatility and is a great
ranch dog,” said Veseley. Rogue was destined for greatness, since both his parents are championship
herding dogs, and he has won several agility competitions.

Vesely has trained Rogue to search out and find the threatened flower, Kincaid Lupine. The lupine is
important to the survival of the Fender’s blue butterfly because it is the only host for the butterflies’ eggs.
The butterfly lays its eggs on the leaves of the small purple flower and as the larva grows it eats the
leaves.

The butterfly is on the verge of becoming extinct, which is why saving the Kincaid Lupine is vital to the
ecosystem in the Willamette Valley. However, researchers discovered that finding the lupine was tedious
and time-consuming because of rough terrain and the fact that the flower can only be surveyed when it is
in bloom and is easily identifiable.

Greg Fitzpatrick, an ecologist for the Nature Conservancy, thought that if a person can teach a dog to find
drugs and missing people, then why can’t someone teach a dog to find endangered plants. Fitzpatrick
then contacted Vesely and pitched him his idea about using dogs for conservation. Rogue had already
been trained to find Western pond turtles, so this was not new for him.

Vesely, Fitzpatrick, and Alice Whitelaw, co-founder of the Working Dogs Foundation in Montana, decided
to form a team. Vesely began to train Rogue and two other dogs to find the lupine in 2008. It took
approximately 100 hours of training before they were ready to sniff out the lupines.

Vesley tells Rogue to “search,” and that’s when Rogue does his job. He puts his nose to the ground until
he discovers a lupine and then he patiently sits by it with his ears alert. Vesely then yells, “good boy” and
tosses the one thing that Rogue waits for, steak. “Rogue absolutely loves this work,” said Vesely.

The conservation work that these dogs are accomplishing is profound, and the possibilities of using dogs
for various conservation activities are encouraging.

Vesely’s conservation team is now writing a paper about their findings, and they continue to look for more
funding for the project. They hope that their work will allow the Fender’s blue butterfly to be taken off the
endangered species list.

Looks like proof that you can teach old dogs new tricks each and every day.

(Thank you to ECONEWS for letting us reprint their article from their April 2009 issue. Visit their web site
at: www.yournec.org to view further issues of ECONEWS.
 South Coast Chapter Website Enhancements
http://www.sccnps.org/

Visit our website to see all the updates which provide more information and make the website even easier
to use. Special thanks to our webmaster David Sundstrom.

Each species on our Plant List is now hyperlinked to the Calflora reference site. One mouse click dis-
plays the plant profile, and second mouse click displays the CalPhotos image portfolio for the plant.
Please give it a try at http://www.sccnps.org/local-plants-suitable-for-gardening

Back issues of our Chapter newsletter for the years 1988-2008 are now available on the web site. Also
the feature articles are indexed. Discover quite a bit of interesting history about our Chapter! Please see
http://www.sccnps.org/newsletter-archives

Several members have submitted photos to replace the stock images used for the website launch last
summer. Thanks for Ann Dalkey, Ivan Snyder, and Richard Dickey for their artistic contributions!

Renew Online

Renew your CNPS membership online using a credit card. As an option, set it up to renew
automatically year after year. It is quick, easy, convenient, and reduces renewal mailing costs.
http://www.cnps.org. Click on the JOIN button

South Coast CNPS Chapter Officers

Please welcome our new board members Anne Eli Kershner and Rosalie Preston.

Board Members

President: David Berman

Vice President / Webmaster: David Sundstrom
Secretary/Treasurer: Lynn McLeod
Chapter Council Delegate / Spring Garden Tour: Loretta Rose
Demonstration Projects Chair: Anne Eli Kershner
Gardena Willows Liaison: Rosalie Preston
Horticulture Co-Chair/Plant Sale Coordinator: Ric Dykzeul
Horticulture Co-Chair/ Point Vicente Garden: Tony Baker
Membership Chair: Cindy Kondon
Outreach Chair: Griselda Sasayama
Past President: Barbara Sattler

Chairs
Madrona Marsh Liaison: Carol Roelen
Newsletter: Christine Martin
Rare Plants, Ethnobotany: Ivan Snyder