Activities

September 13 @ 4:30 pm - 8:00 pm. This banquet will start with a happy hour in late afternoon at the Rancho El Chorro Outdoor Campus Auditorium in San Luis Obispo. We will then continue with the potluck format. This year, in lieu of a fee, the chapter Board of Directors will be requesting donations to the chapter’s Malcolm McLeod Scholarship Fund. We may also hold a silent auction to increase the scholarship funds our chapter can sponsor in future years. Check the June newsletter for additional details. Volunteers will be needed to organize and run the silent auction, and to set up and break down on the day of the event. For more Information: https://cnpsslo.org/event/2025-cnpsslo-banquet/

May 31 @ 9:30 am - 2:00 pm. Unlock the mysteries of grass identification! Improve your plant keying skills! Local botanists will lead a classroom-based workshop aimed at helping biologists improve their plant keying skills. Participants will learn grass identification traits and learn to key grasses to family, genus and species. This workshop will be held at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. This is an intermediate-level workshop – working knowledge of plant terminology and dichotomous keys are pre-requisites. Participants who have not had a field botany class or equivalent experience, or who need to brush up, should read pages 34-54 in Vascular Plants of San Luis Obispo County, California, by Dr. David Keil, watch basic botany videos (e.g., Michigan Nature Association Botany for Beginners, University and Jepson Herbaria Mini-workshop #3), and practice using a dichotomous key. Advance registration required, $35 (waivers available upon request, if needed). Registration will be available in early April. Questions? Contact workshop coordinator Mindy Trask (workshops.cnps@gmail.com) or visit our website for more information. Class will start promptly at 9:30 so plan to arrive early to give yourself enough time to find parking, walk to the classroom, and check in. For campus visitors, parking is designated in Parking Structure 131 located off Grand Avenue via Pacheco Way and requires a visitor parking permit. The permit is $12.00 and can be purchased at the pay station, or by a cell phone application ParkMobile ZONE 40100. The pay station in Parking Structure 131 is located on Level 1 just outside the exit. Your vehicle license plate will be required to purchase a permit. More information about parking at Cal Poly can be found here. The map provided below is for directions to the classroom only. Check the links above to get directions to the parking. Plan on a 10-minute walk from the parking garage to the classroom in the Fisher Science Building #33, Classroom #354 which is near North Perimeter Road and Village Drive. We will take a 45-minute lunch break. We encourage you to bring your own lunch; although there are lunch options on campus, it may be time consuming considering walking time. Venue: Cal Poly SLO – Fisher Science Building, 1 Grand Avenue, San Luis Obispo, CA 93407 United States.

June 7 from 10:00 am - 12:30 pm. Join us for a hike in the hills behind Cambria to see the rare Arroyo de La Cruz manzanita, Arctostaphylos cruzensis, as well as two other manzanita species. Initially, we will walk through tall grassland, then up into the Monterey Pine forest where we will spend most of our time. This is a 3-mile hike with a 400 ft. elevation gain taking 2.5 hours and located in the Cambria Pines Ecological Reserve. Afterwards, we can reconvene at Sandy’s Deli for lunch and browse the Friends of Fiscalini Ranch Preserve store next door. We will gather in the parking lot of the old Santa Rosa School House. For carpooling from the City of San Luis Obispo area, meet in the Santa Rosa Park parking lot at 9:00 am. Bring water, snacks, sunscreen, hat, sturdy shoes, and dress in layers for changing weather. Please register and sign a liability waiver at the link: https://cnpsslo.org/event/cambria-manzanita-hike/