Chapter meetings and evening programs are held on the 3rd Thursday of each month from March through October, beginning at 7:00 pm. Our monthly meetings are held at the Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, 1601 North San Francisco St. Monthly field trips are usually on the following weekend, and are announced via email and the Arizona Daily Sun. These events are free and open to the public. Unless otherwise announced, meet for carpooling to field trips at 8:30 a.m., at the OneAZ Credit Union parking lot at the southwest corner of Beaver and Butler. Bring sun and/or rain protection, water, snacks, lunch, and a car or gas money for carpooling. For more information about field trips, email Barbara Phillips at bagphillips@yahoocom.
JOIN OUR CHAPTER E-LIST
Join Our Chapter E-list: If you would like to receive reminders and announcements about field trips and meetings via e-mail, send a note to Sue Holiday to be added to the list. Stay informed by joining us on Facebook.
Usually the most up-do-date information about upcoming chapter events can be found on our Facebook page.
| Name | Role | Contact |
| Kirstin Phillips | President | KPhillips@musnaz.org |
| Melissa Amberson | Chapter Contact | azmelissa@yahoo.com |
| Sue Holiday | Email Distribution | naris123@cs.com |
| Barbara Phillips | Hike Information | bagphillips@yahoo.com |
Want to get involved? We've got just the thing!
Northern Arizona University, Deaver Herbarium
We are looking for dedicated volunteers to help mount pressed specimens for the permanent collection. No experience necessary, training will be provided. No reply needed, just show up and join a fun group.Work sessions will take place every first and third Friday of the month at 1:30 to 3:30pm in the Deaver herbarium in the Biological Sciences Bldg on 617 S, Beaver Street. The herbarium is located in room 314 on the south side of the third floor.
Next Sessions:
Parking near the NAU campus is very difficult, but the Mountain Line #10 bus stops right in front of the building. For more information visit the Deaver website or contact session organizers Gisela Kluwin or Vera Markgraf
Museum of Northern Arizona
The Museum of Northern Arizona is looking for dedicated volunteers to assist in the curation of herbarium specimens including identifying specimens, mounting pressed specimens, filing pressed specimens into the herbarium, and georeferencing specimens. The Museum is also looking for volunteers to help plant, weed, and prune the native plants in the Colton Research Garden, at the Colton House, and around the Museum grounds. For more information, please contact Museum botanist, Kirstin Phillips.
The Arboretum at Flagstaff
Our Southwest Butterfly House is open Wednesday-Monday from 10:00-4:00. We are looking for volunteers to assist staff on weekends Shifts are 10:00-1:00 and 1:00-4:00. Training and resoures are provided. Contact Volunteer Coordinator Shannon Benjamin at Shannon.benjamin@thearb.org or 928-774-1442 ext. 127.
Grow Flagstaff Seed Library
The Grow Flagstaff Seed Library is looking for volunteers to help create seed packets to add to the growing seed library. For more information, please contact Jackee Alston.
Plant Atlas Project of Arizona
here are several plant ongoing plant atlas projects in northern Arizona. The Plant Atlas Project of Arizona (PAPAZ) is a statewide partnership between the Arizona Native Plant Society, Grand Canyon Trust, Desert Botanical Garden, Northern Arizona University, Museum of Northern Arizona, and the U.S. Forest Service to document the diversity and distribution of Arizona’s flora. For more information, see the Plant Atlas Project website or contact Kirstin Phillips.
Weed Warrior Activities
The AZNPS Flagstaff Chapter will join forces with the Grand Canyon Trust, Master Gardeners, and other local organizations to tackle the enormous weed problem along Fort Valley Road between the Fire Station, Trust’s headquarters, Pioneer Museum and the Museum of Northern Arizona.
Invasive plant species tend to be aggressive, to outcompete native plants for resources and space, and to decrease biodiversity. Diffuse Knapweed, Kochia, Bull Thistle (below), Cheatgrass and many other species are present throughout our project focus area. Together we can work to remove them and increase the chances for native grasses and flowers to flourish. There has already been major improvement at the Pioneer Museum, and native species are filling in among the native grasses. However, there is still more work to do. Details about these projects are on the Grand Canyon Trust’s website. Please come out and join local weed warriors and plant enthusiasts for one or all three workdays of weed removal, exercise, and fun. Please contact Dorothy Lamm with questions or just register at the website. See you there.
Posted on Apr 29, 2021
Our online meeting on April 20, 2021 included a talk by Ashley Hall: “Yellow Bluestem: An Encroaching Invasive Grass”. View it here.
Posted on Apr 17, 2021
All talks are at 7pm on the third Tuesday of the month. Email FlagstaffAZNPS@gmail.com for the Zoom link and password.
April 20: Ashley Hall – Yellow Bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum): An Encroaching Invasive Grass Webinar
Yellow Bluestem (Bothriochloa ischaemum) is a perennial grass introduced to the United States from Europe and Asia in the early 1900s as a way to control erosion and as a forage species. In the past several years, this species has become an emerging invasive in Arizona, negatively affecting the habitats it invades in many ways including Our meeting schedule is set for the season. economically, environmentally, and/or ecologically.
Ashley Hall received her B.Sc. in Rangeland Ecology and Management with a minor in Geographic Information Systems from the University of Arizona (UA) in 2009 and a M.Sc. 2011. After finishing her M.Sc., Ashley began working for UA Cooperative Extension (UACE) as a Research Specialist for the Cooperative Rangeland Monitoring Program assisting the Bureau of Land Management in establishing a vegetation monitoring protocol. She is currently UACE Faculty working in Gila and Pinal Counties, focusing on Rangeland Management and Animal Science programming.
May 18: Jesse Mike – Dine Native Plant Program
June 15: Dr. Judith Bronstein – Binders full of Women: Female Scientists in The American Naturalist, 1867-1917
In this talk, Dr. Bronstein looks at the women who were publishing in a leading biological journal, The American Naturalist, in the first fifty years of its publication (1867-1917). How did they enter science, and under what conditions were they able to persist, either as professionals or as publishing amateurs? What lessons can we take away for how to increase diversity in science today?
Judie Bronstein is University Distinguished Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at University of Arizona. She served as the first (and, to date, only) female Editor-in-Chief of The American Naturalist, the oldest still-publishing scientific journal in the United States. She has a strong interest in the history of science.
The lesser long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris yerbabuenae), Mexican long-nosed bat (Leptonycteris nivalis), and the Mexican long-tongued bat (Choeronycteris mexicana) undertake long-distance migrations from south-central Mexico to the southwestern United States. Following a corridor of seasonal food availability, these bats play important ecological roles as pollinators and seed dispersers throughout their ranges. While these bats feed on many species of plants throughout their ranges, Palmer’s agave (Agave palmeri) is among one of the most important food sources in the summer portion of their range. As part of a landscape-scale project to better understand summer habitat and inform management for these bat species, I mapped the distribution of Agave palmeri at multiple scales and assessed summer habitat quality via plant density and potential nectar production. This information can help managers better protect important foraging grounds for these bats and identify potential restoration sites for Agave palmeri. Rachel Burke is a biologist based in Las Cruces, New Mexico. She has a master’s in Fish, Wildlife, and Conservation Ecology, as well as in Applied Geography, both from New Mexico State University. She currently works as a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management and has spent several years conducting botanical surveys and ecological monitoring across the Chihuahuan Desert. When not working, she can be found cultivating native plants in her garden, making pottery in her basement, or hiking with her dogs.
August 17: Kate Watters –Creating a Pollinator Garden: Backyard Beauty, Biodiversity, and Resilience
Kate is a farmer, floral designer, writer and visual artist who is wild about plants. She makes her livelihood from Wild Heart Farm, a one-acre oasis in Rimrock, next to Beaver Creek. She grows flowers, medicinal herbs, and pollinator habitat, and hosts plant gatherings. She worked in service to wild plant communities for 20 years in the Grand Canyon and across the Colorado Plateau, always aware and curious about plant/pollinator interactions. Kate has developed land-based artist
residencies and workshops and co-curated exhibits with scientists and artists to advocate for pollinators and public lands. To follow her entrepreneurial and artistic adventures arising from the soil visit: www.wildheartfarmaz.com and www.katewattersart.com.
September 21: Liza Holeski – Plant defenses against herbivores
October 19: Wynne Brown – Sara Plummer Lemmon, 19th Century Artist and Botanist
Posted on Mar 20, 2021
After recently completing a project to process the herbarium backlog at the Museum of Northern Arizona, Botany Collections Manager Kirstin Olmon Phillips will discuss some of the interesting findings. Learn about several new county records, historical ethnobotanical collections from the 1920s, and some fun plant biographies.
See what your chapter has been up to!
