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Bulletin of the Native Plant Society of Oregon

Dedicated to the enjoyment, conservation, and study of Oregon's native vegetation.

September 1998

Volume 31 · Number 9

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In This Issue

• State News
• Chapter News
  • Blue Mountain
  • Corvallis
  • Emerald
  • High Desert
  • Klamath Basin
  • Mid-Columbia
  • North Coast
  • Portland
  • Siskiyou
  • South Coast
  • Umpqua Valley
  • Willamette Valley
  • Wm. Cusick
• NPSO News
  • President's Message - Michael Fahey
  • The Cheahmill Chapter
  • NPSO Items for Sale
  • Book Review - Wilbur L. Bluhm
  • Keith Chamberlain In Memory - Barbara Robinson
  • A Volunteer's Story - Susan Yamanaka
  • Conference on Ecological Restoration
  • Mt. Pisgah Needs Volunteers
  • Announcing the Asteraceae Checklist

We held a Board meeting in La Grande, Oregon on August 8, 1998. At this meeting, we approved the formation of a new chapter of the NPSO, in McMinnville, Oregon. It will be known as the Cheahmill Chapter. The name is taken from an Indian tribe that occupied the area in earlier times. Heather Laub, our secretary, will be leaving to visit Australia for six months and will not be available for the next Board meeting. I am seeking a volunteer to take notes at our next Board meeting which is scheduled for late January or early February in Corvallis, Oregon.

Mike Fahey, President

As noted above, a new chapter of the Native Plant Society of Oregon, the Cheahmill Chapter, has been formed. It will hold its first meeting on Thursday, September 24, starting at 7 P.M., at the McMinnville Water Reclamation Facility in McMinnville, Oregon.

At this meeting, Ed Alverson, Willamette Valley Stewardship Ecologist for The Nature Conservancy, will present a lecture/slide show on the "Ecological History of the Willamette Valley," focussing on Willamette Valley prairies, restoration and conservation planning.

The Chapter's president is Kareen B. Sturgeon, Professor, Biology Department, Linfield College. She can be reached at 1135 Winterwood Loop, McMinnville, Oregon 97128. Her telephone number is ( policy). Or one can contact her by fax at ( policy), and by e-mail at ksturg@linfield.edu.

Oregon's Rare Wildflower Poster depicts Punchbowl Falls and three of the Columbia River Gorge's endemic wildflowers. Text on the back describes the natural history of the Gorge and the mission of the NPSO. Available from Stu Garrett, 21663 Paloma Dr., Bend, OR 97701 ( policy). Individual may order posters at $12 each, plus $3 per order for shipping. Posters are mailed in tubes. Chapter treasures may contact Stu for wholesale prices to chapters.

NPSO Window Stickers are decals with NPSO's trillium logo in green over an opaque white background, for use inside car windows. Available from Stu Garrett, $1, minimum order five.

NPSO's Original Wildflower Poster depicts 13 Oregon wildflowers in a striking artist's rendition. Soon to be a collector's item. Available from Stephanie Schulz, 84603 Bristow Rd., Pleasant Hill, OR 97455, $5 each, plus $3 per order for shipping. Posters are mailed in tubes.

Conservation and Management of Native Plants and Fungi: Proceedings of an Oregon Conference on the Conservation and Mangement of Native Vascular Plants, Bryophytes, and Fungi. Edited by Thomas N. Kaye, Aaron Liston, Rhoda M. Love, Daniel L. Louma, Robert J. Meinke, and Mark V. Wilson, with a foreword by Reed F. Noss. Available from NPSO Conference Proceedings, 804 Jefferson Ave., La Grande, OR 97850. ( policy). $20 plus $5 for shipping for the first copy, $2.50 for shipping, each additional copy.

Propagation of Pacific Northwest Native Plants, by Robin Rose, Caryn E. C. Chachulski, and Diane L. Haase. Oregon State University Press, Corvallis, 1998 (101 Waldo Hall, Corvallis, OR ( policy)). Illustrations. Index. viii + 248 pages. $21.95 (softcover).

From Acer to Xerophyllum, 135 species are presented in this treatment on propagation of Pacific Northwest native plants. The species are treated as forbs, grasses, shrubs, or trees.

The authors are staff of the Nursery Technology Cooperative, Department of Forest Sciences, Oregon State University. As such their interest is in providing information on natives since "native plants have been increasingly recognized as a crucial component of forest management...."

However, information in this book will be useful to nursery growers and other horticultural professionals, restorationists, reclamationists, wildlife and plant ecologists, environmental consultants, and landscape architects producing or using native materials, and to the serious amateur interested in propagating, growing, and using Pacific Northwest native plants.

The first chapter, on general propagation techniques, is co-authored by Tom Landis, Western Nursery Specialist, USDA Forest Service, Cooperative Forestry, Portland, Oregon and Diane L. Haase. The chapter's authors provide an overview, with suggestions, of seed and vegetative propagation, including techniques of seed collection, cleaning, and storage, presowing seed treatments, seed sowing and covering, stem and root cuttings, layering, division, graftage, micropropagation, and salvage.

Succeeding chapters address propagation specifics of individual species. In all, 29 forb, 21 grass and sedge, 58 shrub, and 27 tree species are discussed in considerable detail.

Format for the treatment of individual species is practical, useful, and often comprehensive. The discussion of each species begins with a detailed description of the plant. This is followed with information on the species' habitat and geographic range. Finally, a discussion of seed and vegetative propagation techniques, based upon literature searches, is provided. Line drawings for most species are useful with plant identification.

A unique feature is the list of references, in sidebars adjacent to the text, for each species. The references include both scientists and field practitioners. Should one wish to pursue further information the listing of each reference is in sufficient detail to do this. A glossary, defining terms used in the text, and with some illustrations, and a limited list of general references are included. The index provides easy search for specific plants, either by botanical or common name.

Above all, this is a practical reference manual for use in propagation and production of Pacific Northwest native plants. The plant descriptions will help in verifying a species. Information on habitat and geographic range is applicable to the ultimate use of these plants.

This book could be even more useful if its scope was broadened to include horticultural, landscape, restoration, reclamation, and other interests as well as those of forestry. This would expand the number of Northwest natives having use potential for additional purposes. Inclusion of additional species in each of the four categories, especially of forbs and adding bulbous plants, would be helpful.

Wilbur L. Bluhm, Willamette Valley Chapter

Keith Chamberlain, founder and long-time president of the Mid-Columbia Chapter of NPSO, died quietly on the night of July 10 in his home near Mosier after a long illness. The devoted care of his foster son Don Marsh

allowed him to remain at home for his last year and a half. Born in Mosier August 13, l913, Keith earned a degree in agriculture from Oregon State U.and worked for Luhr Jensen in Hood River until he retired. He had a great

fascination with science and was knowledgable in many areas. For instance he studied geology at P.S.U. and later taught geology at Columbia Gorge C.C. He and his wife Mary were also enthusiastic artists.

An excellent self-taught botanist with an interest in plants all over the Northwest, Keith will be remembered by many of us for the wonderful field trips he led. He was an avid outdoorsman and loved to explore out-of-the-way places. He was not fond of trails, and a hike with him was often an adventure to places unknown where he had stumbled on an unusual

flower. On one exploration on The Dalles Mt. he rediscovered the rare buttercup Ranunculus reconditis, which was thought to be extinct. On his eightieth birthday he said he wanted to show me a good flower spot high on the northeast slope of Mt. Hood, and he easily cross-countried up the mountain with me trying to keep up. Some of Keith's favorite places were

Hellroaring Meadows and Little Mt. Adams, Grassy Knoll, South Prairie Bog, the ridge west of Dog Creek Falls, the Shaniko and Deschutes area, Bald Butte, and the Kreps Ranch property west of Catherine Creek in the Gorge.

Keith was generous with his knowledge through his field trips, and through

beautiful slide shows in which we saw his skill as a wildflower photographer. He was also very generous in other ways. Throughout his

life he contributed archeological and fossil finds to O.S.U. and other institutions. For instance, he was the first to find a buffalo skull in Eastern Oregon, showing there had in fact been some buffalo in the area, and this was donated to a university. He had inherited about half a mile of Columbia River shore east of Mosier, and was delighted to sell it to the

Forest Service and see it become public land when the Gorge Scenic Act was passed. Two years ago he donated an extensive collection of books including a complete set of Hitchcock, and also some unusual Indian artifacts, to the new Columbia Gorge Discovery Center. His eagerness to contribute to the world enriches us all, and he will continue to be an inspiration to all that knew him.

Barbara Robinson, Mid-Columbia Chapter

Have you enjoyed a trip to New Zealand lately? Are you familiar with the plants of Durango, Mexico? Go around the world without leaving Oregon. Volunteer at the OSU Herbarium and you will see specimens galore without breaking a sweat. I learned how to prepare museum mountings in about an hour and saw species I'll never have a chance to see otherwise. It's soothing. It smells great. And everyone is kind and helpful. Call Barbara Wilson at ( policy) to volunteer.

Susan Yamanaka

Willamette Valley Chapter

The Northwest Chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration will hold a conference, "Ecosystem Restoration: Turning the Tide," in the Sheraton Hotel, Tacoma, Washington, on October, 28-30, 1998. There will be pre-conference short courses and field trips on October 27. If registered by September 23, the fee is $185 for SER members, $225 for non-members. Late fees are: $225 (member), $265 (non-member). Other fee options are available. For a free brochure, with registration details, call ( policy), or ( policy).

The Mt. Pisgah Arboretum in Eugene needs volunteers to act as nature guides for elementary school children in fall ecology tours at the Arboretum.

If you love nature and would enjoy sharing that love with children, come help support this vital program. Volunteers receive free natural history training and educational materials and are required to lead a minimum of one morning tour per week (October 1 - November 13).

Orientation begins September 10. For information or an application, call the Arboretum's Education Manager, Fran Rosenthal, at( policy).

ANNOUNCING THE ASTERACEAE CHECKLIST! We are pleased to announce the Oregon Vascular Plant Checklist: Asteraceae. Composed by Kenton Chambers and Scott Sundberg, it is a compilation of all native and naturalized Oregon plants in the sunflower family. Have you just keyed a difficult yellow composite and you wonder if it is know from Oregon? Now you can look it up in the Checklist and find out if your plant is confirmed from the state. Perhaps you've just discovered a new state record, or maybe you just took the wrong key lead! And to help you find the new names of familiar plants, we also have provided a cross-reference list with the Flora of the Pacific Northwest. This checklist is a major step towards developing a comprehensive Flora of Oregon. Please send a request for your copy to the address in the box. Your donations help cover the cost of printing and mailing, and are greatly appreciated by this volunteer project. Those who have previously contributed to the Flora project may include an additional donation, but it is not required. Please send checks to: Dr. Scott Sundberg Dept. of Botany and Plant Pathology 2082 Cordley Hall Oregon State University Corvalis, OR 97331-2902

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Last Modified September 25, 1998