Volunteer Opportunities

Native Plant Horticulturalists/Gardeners Wanted The California Native Plant Society (CNPS, Sacramento Valley Chapter) is seeking volunteers to help with the management of the Native Plant Demonstration Garden at the Old City Cemetery on Saturday and/or Sunday mornings from until noon. Interested folks should contact Sabrina Okamura-Johnson at 916-929-7896 or via e-mail soj@surewest.net and Mitchell Alford at 916-399-9457 or via e-mail phytophinder@bcglobal.net.

 

Native Plant Demo-Garden @ Old City Cemetery.    Saturdays and Sundays   9am until noon ( Rain cancels) Wear a hat, long shirt and boots (or sturdy tennis shoes). Also bring gloves, gardening tools and knee pads if you have them. Please RSVP Mitchell (916-399-9457) Friday evening for Saturday gardening or RSVP Sabrina (916-929-7896) Saturday evening for Sunday gardening.

 

Sacramento Tree Foundation  We are looking for volunteers to help do a sample tree inventory in the City of Elk Grove. The sample inventory will provide the City with a cost-benefit analysis of their urban forest based on the value of the benefits the trees provide and the cost of management and maintenance.  It will also provide street tree canopy percentage, species diversity, age distribution, and overall health and condition of the urban forest.   This study is being conducted as part of the Greenprint .  The Greenprint is a regional urban forest initiative that Elk Grove and 24 other cities and counties are participating in.  For more information, please visit our website www.sactree.com or feel free to contact me!        Connie M. Gallippi   Greenprint Program Director   Sacramento Tree Foundation  201 Lathrop Way, Suite F Sacramento, CA 95815 916.924.8733 ext. 119  fax 916.924-3803  cell 916.871.2945  connie@sactree.com 

 

Wildflower Weekend  Saturday & Sunday, Early April.  All jobs are vital to the success of Wildflower Weekend. We need help Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.   To help at the Exhibit – botanist/biologist, membership information, exhibit & booth set up, and/ exhibit take down, book & poster information, greeter, cashier –  If you can help out 2, 4, or 8 hours, please contact Chris Lewis at 916 482-5282. To help at the Plant Sale – set up Friday, plant information, organize/price plants, cashier, please contact Betsy Weiland at 916 488-3894.

 

National Parks need your Help!  I was fortunate to be able to attend a meeting sponsored by the National Parks Conservation Association.  There were several National Park Service retirees in attendance.  They spoke passionately about what this rewrite attempts to do.  Both groups are trying to get the word out about the current rewrite of the National Park Service Management Policies.  Our national parks have been called ‘the best idea America ever had’ and described by our current president as “America’s gift to the world”.   The NPS retirees started a website devoted to stopping the rewrite.  Please go there and write a letter to Bernard Fagan, National Park Service and to your governmental representatives.   www.NPSretirees.org  --Chris Lewis, President, SacValley CNPS

 

Longview Oaks Update:  Recruiting Volunteers for a New Field Season!   Longview Oaks is a 7-acre open space parcel within Del Paso Regional Park that is owned by the City of Sacramento.  The City has partnered with CNPS to restore the site, which is located in the upper portion of the Arcade Creek Watershed.  Urban development has removed precious riparian habitat and severely degraded water quality in Arcade Creek, creating high flood flows that result in severe erosion and bank undercutting.  We have the opportunity to create a vision for this beautiful parcel and provide stewardship to the resources both on site and downstream.

In past years, dedicated CNPS volunteers have planted several blue and valley oak seedlings, and with much care and attention a large majority of them are thriving.  A number of vernal pools were also created on site.  These pools have ponded wonderfully this winter and appear to support a diversity of hydrophytic vegetation.  In addition, the site contains several very large oak trees, a seasonal drainage, and many species of native wildflowers.

We are recruiting volunteers to help us create and implement a vision for Longview Oaks.  In addition to idea people, we will need people interested in helping with a botanical inventory of the site.  Other tasks might include noxious weed removal, installing bird and/or bat boxes if appropriate, or planting and maintaining additional native plant species.  As you can see, we’re in the early stages of planning so thoughts and suggestions are appreciated!

If you are interested in finding out more about Longview Oaks or are interested in sharing your energy and creativity by becoming involved, please contact Deborah Stout 

 

Sac Valley CNPS ALWAYS NEED VOLUNTEERS!! From pulling weeds to setting up chairs for the meeting, if you have time, we need you. Please checkout many of the volunteer opportunities below and contact the appropriate person that is identified or send an e-mail to any one of us on the SacValley CNPS board for more information about any of our various committees you might be interested in working with, or let the Chapter President know if there is a special project or outreach program you’d be interested in developing for the chapter.

 

POSTER SALES CHAIRPERSON NEEDED Do you love botanical art and understand the importance of botanical illustration in educating and inspiring the public? If you want to help insure that CNPS botanical posters and artwork continue to be a vital part of our Chapter's public education, outreach and fundraising efforts please contact me about serving as our Chapter Poster Sales Chair. — Chris Lewis, (916) 482-5282

 

EVENT PROGRAMS IN NEED OF VOLUNTEERS:

FALL PLANT SALE Volunteers are still needed to help w/pre-sale set up, cashiering, horticultural advise, and sale tear down. If you can help, you will be rewarded with a free t-shirt. For more info contact Lorraine Van Kekerix at 916 457-2674.

WILDFLOWER WEEKEND Volunteers are needed to help w/planning and organization efforts of the 3rd Annual "Wildflower Weekend". Please contact Chris Lewis: 916 482-5282 if you'd like to help in this coming year.

 

ONGOING PROGRAMS:

NATIVE PLANT DEMONSTRATION GARDEN Join our Demonstration Garden Chair and other volunteers in managing and maintaining our Chapter's native plant Demo-Garden at the Sacramento Old City Cemetery at Broadway and Riverside Boulevard. We need help from folks with a variety of gardening and horticultural skills to help with maintaining weed free aisles, inventorying, tracking and mapping the native plants in our garden area; overseeing Sheriff work crews, and battling weeds in our plots.

 

SACRAMENTO WEED WARRIORS Join the Sacramento Weed Warriors and help eradicate noxious weeds along the American and Sacramento Rivers and other community drainage sheds.

 

LONGVIEW OAKS RESTORATION PROJECT Join our restoration volunteers in improving the ecology at Longview Oaks and other neglected open space areas in our community.

 

MATHER FIELD VERNAL POOL RESTORATION PROJECT  Join the preservation chair in a variety of volunteer efforts to preserve the vernal pool habitat at Mather Field.

 

COMMITEES:

Field Trips  We need more field trip leaders and organizers! Contact Tony Loftin, 916 448-3230, Hikingtony@earthlink.net, if you would like to be involved in organizing and leading a field trip.

Rare Plant Surveys  The chapter is involved in conducting rare plant surveys in our chapter area and can always use more volunteers to complete these surveys. For more volunteer info please contact Kristie Haydu, 916 899-9227, pickleberry26@hotmail.com

Poster Sales Chair  Our chapter is in need of someone to manage our poster sales. This is an important fundraising and public educational position in need of leadership. Please contact Chris Lewis if you would like to fill this position.