Chapter Meetings This Spring

Posted on Feb 26, 2023

Tuesday, April 18, 7:00 PM: Gayle Gratop, Susan Holiday, and Patti VanTuyl.
Gardening with High Elevation Native Plants
There are many benefits to gardening with native plants, including increasing biodiversity in your yard, conserving water, and providing food and habitat for local pollinators. This presentation will cover the basics of incorporating native plants into your garden. Learn how to choose the best plants for your environment, find out where to get them, and hear some expert tips on how to become a successful
native plant gardener from Gayle Gratop of UA Coconino County Cooperative Extension and Master Gardeners Sue Holiday and Patti Van Tuyl.

Tuesday, May 16, 7:00 PM: Debbie DeWolf Allen. The Brothers Boutelou and the
Grass They Barely Knew: A Journey into Botany, History, Exploration, and Two
Remarkable Men
Botanical names can be challenging to pronounce and to spell, yet they hold a treasure trove of meaning.
Latin plant names often describe a distinctive characteristic of the plant, but sometimes they honor a person: some mysterious, unknown figure from the past who must have some importance in the botanical world.
In this talk by Debbie Allen, we delve into the origin of the name Blue Grama Grass, Bouteloua gracilis. Blue grama is native to the Southwest, and it is charming, distinctive, and easy to identify. The origin of the genus name, Bouteloua, takes us back to a tale that intertwines two Spanish gardeners from the late 1700s, an enlightened king of Spain, an expedition to explore the New World, and some remarkable botanical drawings that were lost for almost 200 years. Come take a fascinating journey that encompasses botany, history, exploration, and a tale of two exceptional men.

Chapter Meeting: March 21, 2023

Posted on Feb 26, 2023

Tuesday, March 21, 7:00 PM: Carrie Cannon. Plants of the Mojave Desert and
Traditional Tribal Uses

Although the desert may seem devoid of life, it is actually home to hundreds of unique species. Some are only visible or appear alive for a short time, while others grow for hundreds of years; many are found
nowhere else on Earth. Participants will learn about many traditional tribal plant uses, plant life that makes North American Deserts unique, and how the Mojave Desert stands apart from the rest of America.

Carrie Cannon is a member of the Kiowa tribe of Oklahoma and is also of Oglala Lakota descent. She has a B.S. in Wildlife Biology and an M.S. in Resource Management. She began working for the Hualapai Tribe of Peach Springs, Arizona, in 2005, where she began the creation of an intergenerational ethnobotany program for the Hualapai community. She is currently employed as an ethnobotanist for the Hualapai Department of Cultural Resources. She administers a number of projects promoting the intergenerational teaching of Hualapai ethnobotanical knowledge, working towards preservation and revitalization to ensure tribal ethnobotanical knowledge persists as a living practice and tradition.

Rachel Burke presents: “Mapping nectarivorous bat habitat from the nectary up”

Posted on Jul 22, 2021

Rachel Burke – Mapping nectarivorous bat habitat from the nectary up; implications for Agave conservation in the southwestern U.S. From a Flagstaff chapter presentation in July, 2021.

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 assess 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.