Tamarack Lake (off Mt Rose Highway)
On Sunday July 27th we will be heading up Mt Rose Highway to explore the area around Tamarack Lake. This hike will follow an informal trail from Mt. Rose Highway up to Tamarack Lake, we will explore the area around the lake, including a wet area at the south of the lake. We will follow the Tamarack to Galena Trail back down to the highway. There are some moderately steep sections with loose rocks on the way up.
We should see a variety of plants including: Veratrum californicum, Eriogonum marifolium, Eurybia integrifolia, Penstemon gracilentis. Castilleja nana, Plantanthera dilitata, Arnica sp., Delphinium sp., Lupius breweri and more.
Sunscreen, insect repellant and water recommended. We will probably spend about threes hours exploring this area – unless of course we find something extra special in which case it could take longer!
Carpooling is highly recommended as we will be parking on a pullout along Mt Rose Highway. Meet in the Galena Creek Visitor Center parking lot at 9:00am, we will plan to head up the highway at 9:15am.
Directions from Galena Creek Visitor Centre: https://maps.app.goo.gl/HCZiWzEMe8TgjqT76
Destination: https://maps.app.goo.gl/UcJzD9qehLvuZvbK9

Tahoe meadows Interpretive Loop Photo Trip
On Saturday August 2nd, we will be embarking upon the always-fascinating Tahoe Meadows Interpretive Loop. This is a beautiful area with huge ecological diversity and this will be prime time for experiencing the wild flowers.
We will plan on meeting at 9am at the Tahoe Meadows Trailhead (39.312980, -119.892204).
For folks that would prefer to carpool, we will meet at the Galena Creek Visitor's Center at 8:30am.
It is a roughly 1.3 mile loop on level ground, however, despite it's length, we plan to be walking between 2-3 hours given the immense number of fascinating plants that can be seen here. Among (many) others, we hope to see Veratrum, Sambucus,,, Erigeron, Lupinus, Ligusticum, Erythranthe and Aquilegia genera.

Eriogonum Society Meeting 2025
Save the date for the 2025 Eriogonum Society Meeting in beautiful Bishop, California, with its abundance of buckwheats. With the Sierras to the west, White Mountains to the east, and volcanic features to the north, Bishop has a wide range of habitats that support some impressive Eriogonum diversity plus close relatives like Dedeckera, Oxytheca, and Chorizanthe.
The eriogonum Society has a new website: https://eriogonum.community Registration information can be found here: https://eriogonum.community/meetings/annual-meeting-2025-bishop-california/
They will not be offering lodging this year and rooms in Bishop fill up fast in the summer, so make your reservations soon.
Windy Hollow Field Trip
Save the date for a day trip to Windy Hollow off Hwy 44 in CA. NNPS member Michael Hagebusch will share one of his favorite places to botanize. Details nearer the time.

No Name Trail Field Trip
We are cancelling this field trip due to the presence of sheep in the area. The sheep are introduced into the area for fine fuel control, sadly they have eaten most of the plants we were hoping to see and degraded the edges of the trail.

Fallon Sand Dune Field Trip
First meeting place. Meet at 7:15 at Salomon Ct. west of Vista Blvd., north of I-80 . This is the first stop light north of the freeway entrance, turn right on Salomon Ct. Anyone wishing to carpool can leave their cars here. We plan on leaving at 7:30.
Second meeting place. Meet at 8:45 at the Fallon Nugget parking lot on SW corner of Maine Street and Highway 50 (this is called Williams Ave. in Fallon) in downtown Fallon. We will leave here at 9:00. Destination is the sand dunes north on Fallon on highway 95. After the dunes we will proceed north and then west through the Hot Springs Mts. This part will be about 15 miles on dirt roads, some of which are two-track. A high clearance vehicle is necessary for this part but 4-wheel drive is not. Here we will see 4 Nevada endemics, Penstemon arenarius, Astragalus porrectus, A. lentiginosus var. kennedyi, and Eriogonum lemmonii. We will also look for the endemic Atriplex phyllostegia. Round trip through the Hot Springs Mts. totals about 160 miles from Reno. Bring lunch, hat, water, sun block, and bug spray. On 12 May the areas near Fallon were mosquito city.

Garden Tour
We have the opportunity to visit the dryland garden of John Weiser. The garden will be available for viewing from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm. The fence at the garden gate has a sign that reads 'High Desert Haven'. Plan on street parking only.
This garden was first started twenty four years ago and features many dry land plants from around the world. You will see Yucca, Cacti, and Agave forming the backbone of the planting, filled in with an assortment of native and exotic herbaceous perennials. Note worthy are the collections of Eriogonum and Penstemons both great Western North American genera.
Copy and paste this link for a preview of the garden. https://www.flickr.com/photos/sierrarainshadow/albums/72157608573082260/
If you wish to visit John’s garden email emhwynn@gmail.com for the address.

Red Hill Field Trip
Leader John Weiser. On this excursion we will explore the altered andesite terrain of Red Hill. These hills and slopes just north of the TMCC campus feature an assortment of six perennial Eriogonum species all found within a few hundred feet of each other. I know of no other place that this occurs. Of special note is the species Eriogonum robustum, a local endemic restricted to the scattered altered andesite locations of the Eastern Sierras. We will also see a wide assortment of high desert adapted plants. The slopes of these hill are quite steep in spots so plan accordingly. A walking stick may be of use to help with balance.
We will start the hike at 9:00 am and meet at the round parking area adjacent to the intersection of Dandini Blvd. and Spectrum Blvd. In north Reno. https://maps.app.goo.gl/SGpNFuK9t4vQ5njdA

Tom Cooke Trail Field Trip
What a beautiful spring we have had! And with that, some truly amazing wildflower blooms! Join us on May 19th for a walk along a local favorite: Tom Cooke. These expansive hiking trails adjacent to Mayberry park have a plethora of fascinating plants, especially during the springtime! This is a roughly 3.5 mile loop which is rated as fairly easy after the first 1/4 mile. This will be a great introduction to common (and uncommon) native plants of our region with a diverse mixture of high desert favorites and riparian heavyweights.
Some of the flora we are likely to see include Asclepias, Calochortus, Allium, Salvia, Sphaeralcea, Layia, Prunus, Lupinus and many others.
Weather looks to be quite nice, if not a bit on the warm side. Please ensure you bring plenty of water, solid footwear, hiking poles (if desired), and sunhat/sunscreen. We will meet at the Tom Cooke Trailhead parking lot at 9am and will depart at 9:15am. Overflow can be found in the neighboring streets if necessary.

Celebrate Washoe Valley
We will be part of the event to educate, inform and engage the community about the beauty and preservation of the Washoe Valley held at Washoe Lake State Park. Stop by and chat with us about the native vegetation in the area.

Riparian Plants of the Truckee River.
Nevada Native Plant Society & Trash Panda Permaculture will be combining forces to learn about and steward some of the prominent riparian plants in our area. While we are unlikely to find anything truly uncommon, it will be a nice introduction to one of our most important habitats of our area.
In addition to our typical botany, we will also have a strong focus on the current and historical ethnobotanical uses of many of the plants we will find there. Due to the heavily impacted nature of the Truckee we will also be identifying (and removing!) a number of non-native/invasive plants including Whitetop / Lepidium spp.
One unique aspect of this particular field trip is that, about halfway through, we will be taking about 15 minutes to help clear out some of the Whitetop / Lepidium sp. that is currently invading portions of the trail and crowding out our natives. While it can easily be hand-pulled, bring gloves or tools if you would like. Bags will be provided. It will also be a led walk unlike the more "wandering" ones we sometimes host 😉 !
Some plant genera we may see include:
(Native) Maianthemum, Asclepias, Ribes, Rosa, Equisetum, Populus, Lemna, Apocynum, Salix, Sambucus, Artemisia, Berberis, Prunus, Urtica, and Achillea
(Non-Native) Elaeagnus, Solanum, Saponaria, Lathyrus, Vinca, Lepidium, Verbascum, Tragopogon, Cichorium, Dipsacus, Rumex, and Conium
We will meet at the Oxbow Parking lot at 4:55pm and will depart at 5:05 sharp! The field trip will officially end at 6:30pm but folks are more than welcome to stay afterward to hang out and talk plants.
Recommended items to bring are: water, proper clothing/footwear, sun hate and/or sunscreen, notebook/pen and gloves/tools (if needed).
Registration is appreciated and can be done here - https://forms.gle/m8f9RDvMpbRgTpZ49

May Arboretum Plant Sale
We will be at the Plant Sale on Saturday May 11th to share our love of native plants and try to answer all your questions!

Washoe State Tree Nursery Tour
Join Washoe State Tree Nursery Director Cory King for a tour of the facility. If you are interested in this, please reach out to RSVP. We are planning on meeting at the nursery at 9am. It should be a great time learning about how many of our natives are propagated and the general in's and out's of this wonderful resource. RSVP to emhwynn@gmail.com
Location: 885 Eastlake Blvd, New Washoe City, NV 89704
map link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/E7huCAW5s5r1sBvL9

May Monthly Meeting
"Advancing conservation through information: Rare plant and program updates from the Nevada Division of Natural Heritage" Join us as we learn about the latest happenings at the Nevada Division of Natural Heritage, including recent research, good news from the rare plant world, and current projects from Jamey McClinton, Administrator of NDNH.
Attend an In-Person meeting:
Northern Nevada, Reno_ on the University of Nevada, Reno campus in FA 300G on the 3rd floor of Fleischmann Agriculture. Social hour begins at 6:30 pm. Parking tends to be limited to the street.
Southern Nevada, Henderson_ on the College of Southern Nevada campus. Social hour begins at 6:30 in the herbarium, Bldg A, RM A125; the talk begins at 7 pm in Bldg C, RM C230. Parking is available in the College Drive lot.
OR : Register in advance for the Zoom meeting here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZUldu-grz4uHNCHGtxiMameoyNsC0knFEfh

Hoge Road Field Trip
We will be meeting at 9:30am at Ben's Fine Wines and Spirits (located next to Bonanza Casino) at 4794 N Virginia St, Reno, NV 89506. https://maps.app.goo.gl/wJX5drVdZpPqxFcw5 Once we arrive, we plan to leave at 9:45am sharp to carpool up to the trailhead. It is only about a mile but the road is quite bumpy. We will plan to be out there for a few hours and cover a couple miles.It should be prime time to see a number of great plants including: Lithophragma, Astragalus, Plectritis, Lomatium, Phlox, hopefully Fritillaria and many others. Recommended items to bring are: water, proper clothing/footwear (check weather!), snacks, notebook/pen, camera/phone for photos.

Reno Earth Day
Come find visit with us at Reno Earth Day. Reno Earth Day will be at Idlewild Park on Saturday, April 20, 2024, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. The event features nearly 300 exhibitors, performers on four stages, and a 21+ area with the largest stage. All waste is collected and separated for recycling and composting. Actual Earth Day is on Monday, April 22, 2024.

TMCC Earth Day
TMMC EARTH DAY. We will have a table at this event. Come visit us to learn about Nevada’s native Plants. Thursday, April 18, from 9 a.m.–Noon at the V. James Eardley Student Services Center in the Red Mountain Building at the Dandini Campus.
Lower Thomas Creek Trail Field Trip
Join us to see early spring wildflowers and learn about the land use legacies of the Lower Thomas Creek / Arrowcreek Open Space area. We will be meeting at the Thomas Creek Trailhead parking lot on N Timberline Drive, 39.3935970472697, -119.83812800981285, at 9:30am. If you wish to carpool meet at Doughboy’s Donuts in South Towne Crossing off Damonte Ranch Parkway before 9:15 am.
Bring bring water, lunch etc. Dress for the weather. The trip could last up to 4-5 hours depending on what we find and how far we roam. We will walk a max of 3-4 miles, the terrain is uneven in many places.

April Monthly Meeting
"New Home for the Wesley E. Niles Herbarium"
Meet Marcus Hooker, the new Collection Manager, and learn about the past, present, and future of the Wesley Niles Herbarium.
You may attend the Reno in-person meeting on the UNR campus in FA 300G on the 3rd floor of Fleischmann Agriculture. Social time begins at 6:30 pm, the meeting starts at 7pm.
You may attend an in-person meeting at the College of Southern Nevada in Henderson; social hour begins at 6:30 in the herbarium, Bldg A, RM A125 ; the talk begins at 7 pm in Bldg C, RM C230. Parking is available in the College Drive lot.
OR register in advance for the Zoom meeting here:
https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIpcOyqrj0uGN0dVdGy3qVixAO_r9kJAAqA
After registering, you will receive a Zoom confirmation email with the link to join the meeting. You will receive a registration email to view the program recording following the meeting.