Spend the day with botanist and RSABG Herbarium Curator Steve Boyd, and explore three post fire sites of different ages in the San Bernardino Mountains. Wildland fires occur somewhere in southern California every year and often cause great economic damage. Our Mediterranean-type scrub vegetation depends on fire as part of the natural cycle of regeneration, and nowhere is this more dramatically expressed than in chaparral. Although the landscape may appear to be a charred wasteland following a fire in chaparral, the stage has been set for a series of successive vegetative events. In the first season following a fire, seedlings of a wide variety of annuals become established. Among the most familiar “fire flowers” include California poppy, chia sage, popcorn flowers, and phacelias. In the years to follow, annuals decline as transitional subshrubs dominate, then by year ten the characteristic chaparral scrub vegetation recovers. Look forward to a lively discussion on fire ecology in the chaparral. Plant lists will be available to participants. Transportation for the trip will be provided by RSABG.

Steve Boyd, Herbarium Curator, RSABG
$70 ($84 nonmember)
Limit: 10 participants
Code: 082NAT104