6 days Ago By Todd R. Hansen
VALLEJO — Volunteers of the Solano County chapter of the Native Plant Society work in anonymity at a 650-square-foot nursery behind the sliding gate of the Vallejo Flood and Wastewater District facility. "We have been here since 2002," said Pam Muick, the current president of the Willis Linn Jepson Chapter, which was formed sometime in the 1990s. Prior to 2002, it was based at the Benicia State Recreation Area.
They recently used a $13,000 grant toward some work on the nursery structure that added some space and capacity, and are replacing a small metal shed with a new storage container with help of a $10,000 grant. Steven Goetz, a past society president, wrote the grants. However, neither grant covered the cost of the projects for which they were awarded.
The rehabilitation work was closer to $30,000 and the new storage container closer to $13,000. The plant society relies heavily on its plant sales and donations to cover the costs related to its nursery and other activities. It's annual budget is usually around $20,000.
"Obviously, 90% of our budget goes to our nursery," Muick said. The Flood and Wastewater District does not charge them for the space, and provides their water for free. It has a mission to promote the use of native plants for public works projects, and has worked with a number of agencies, nonprofits and other organizations.
The chapter then educates residents on how to not only plant and maintain native plants in their backyards, but to develop full ecosystems to benefit all life, from insects to birds. The work has expanded in the county, from the State Recreation Area in Benicia, to Lake Dalwigk in Vallejo, an infiltration pond area in Dixon, the Jepson garden at Peña Adobe, "and we are working on establishing native plant gardens on school campuses," Goetz said. It is involved in field trips to the open spaces of the county, and distributes information on native plants at its sales as well as a host of other events.
One of the truly important programs of which it is a part is to make every nursery phytosanitary so the plants do not spread diseases. A number of troublesome diseases, including sudden oak death, had their beginnings in a nursery. And rarely do they have more than 30 volunteers, and the number is usually closer to 12.
However, the local chapter has 120 members. Statewide, there are about 13,000 members in the native plant societies. A crew of six volunteers on Monday morning were getting ready for Saturday's plant sale in Benicia, 10 a.
m. to 2 p.m.
, at the Heritage Presbyterian Church, 1400 E. Second St. The society sells close to 2,500 plants each year, and are hoping to increase that number.
"And that does not include all the cuttings. We have a lot of plants that are growing," said Barbara Reiley, the nursery manager for the past 10-plus years. The nursery features about 150 species of plants that are native to California, and close to two dozen that are native to Solano County.
"That is more than any other native plant chapter," Reiley said. There are 36 chapters in the state. The local chapter is named after Willis Linn Jepson, the "Botany Man," whose written works are still keen resources for anyone wanting to learn about the state's flora and fauna.
Supervisor John Vasquez showed off "The Trees of California," published in 1923, during a recent presentation in which the Plant Society and the Solano Resource Conservation District were honored as part of a recognizing April as Native Plant Month in Solano County. The "Flora of California" is considered Jepson's masterpiece, and is still the leading academic work on regional flora ever produced in this country. "It owes its great merit to the wealth of field observation, ecological and geographical data, profuse illustration, and careful documentation of observations and ranges by citation of specimens, as well as to the eminently sane taxonomic judgment.
Because of its general usability, his manual has long enjoyed a popularity in the West comparable only to that of Gray's Manual in eastern North America. Jepson's voluminous publications will necessarily serve as the basis for all future work on the rich California flora," the obituary states. Jepson, co-founder of the Sierra Club, was born on Aug.
19, 1867, at Little Oak, near Vacaville. His parents had settled in the area about a decade earlier. He died on Nov.
7, 1946, at his Berkeley home. For more information or to donate, go to www.cnps.
org/chapters/jepson ..
