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Plant Life in California’s Deserts

May 14, 2022 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

California Desert Plants
California Desert Plants

For the past 15 years, Philip Rundel, has been developing this book through his long-term relationship and travels in deserts of the Southwestern United States, northern Chile, and Southern Africa. His vision is now a reality. California Desert Plants: Ecology and Diversity is a new book written by Philip Rundel, Robert Gustafson, and Michael Kauffmann that explores plant life in California’s deserts. Published Backcountry Press, it describes traits and strategies that allow plants to survive in some of world’s harshest environments. In addition to describing major desert habitats, the book includes over 400 photographs to complement the text.

Philip Rundel, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of California Los Angeles is a desert ecologist with extensive experience in arid and semi-arid landscapes all around the world. He would be the first to admit that California’s deserts are his favorite—and his new book goes a long way to showing why.

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MarineBio.Life Features Allison Poklemba

April 27, 2022 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

marinebio.life

In this podcast Kara Muzia, an ocean enthusiast and marine biologist interviews Allison Poklemba. They dive into the wonderful world of seaweeds! Allison shares how plants have fascinated her from a young age, why her move across the country for university was the financially responsible choice, and how she incorporated both botany and herbalism into her career. Allison puts a few different species of kelp on highlight including bull kelp and wakame. She shares how kelp can actually devour cancer tumors, how a walk on the beach can also be a walk in a medicine cabinet, and some fun ways to cook with sea vegetables.

Listen to the Podcast
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Nature’s Archive features Michael Kauffmann

April 26, 2022 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

Nature's Archive

Michael Hawk, the creator of Nature’s Archive, featured Michael Kauffmann a few weeks back. They discussed the many things that make conifers such an amazing group of plants including their evolutionary history, what makes them different from other trees, and gives us a special look at the amazing diversity of conifers in his area – the Klamath region of far northern California. This deep dive reveals many interesting ecological processes that likely can be generalized to other regions and other plants. It’s truly fascinating.

Listen to Michael on Nature’s Archive
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Calling All Humboldt County Photographers

April 8, 2022 by Backcountry Press 7 Comments

We are working with First 5 Humboldt to develop a hiking guide for kids and families. We would love to feature your photos of these landscapes and people visiting these places!

We want your photos!

Both with and without people (kids and families).

Submit Photos Here With Your Google Account

Don’t have a google account? email mk@backcountrypress.com

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Magnificent Five-needle Pines of Western North America

December 5, 2021 by Backcountry Press 2 Comments

How well do you know them? Take a “quiz” to test your knowledge about this amazing group of pines!

Our upcoming 2-part webinar will explore the natural history of six closely related five-needle pines of western North America, and dive into the amazing factoids mentioned below in the “quiz.” Here’s what we have in store for you:

  • Part 1 on 12/9: Intro to conifers, intro to pines, sugar pine, and whitebark pine
  • Part 2 on 12/16: Limber pine, bristlecone pine, foxtail pines, and 5-needle pine conservation

Giving Back: 50% of your $15 class registration fee is being donated to the Whitebark Pine Ecosystem Foundation, a science-based non-profit dedicated to counteracting the widespread decline of all 5-needle pines throughout the Rocky Mountains, Pacific Northwest, and Northern Sierra Nevada.

Are you ready? Here’s your quiz…

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Forest Mushroom Class Pairings

October 17, 2021 by Backcountry Press 2 Comments

Part 1: Kombucha In The Mist

We’re kicking it off by pairing Part 1 with a beverage that you can watch develop with a culture of your very own — or just pick up a bottle from your neighborhood market: Kombucha! For best effect, pour yourself a sparkling glass and sit outside on a misty autumnal evening listening to the trees drip, the moss plump, and the fungi fruit.

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The Vivid View of Ken Jarvela

September 17, 2021 by Backcountry Press 1 Comment

Once you get on a roll with a painting, its like you have free license to be part of the mountains. It’s an odd feeling.

Ken Jarvela
Ken Jarvela

Ken Jarvela is one of our favorite local artists. His work captures the wildest plants, rocks, sky and these are the subjects we love.

He grew up in Bayside, California alongside Humboldt Bay and, today, is one of the region’s premier landscape painters. His ability to capture light with vivid brushstrokes using subtle color palettes is, in our opinion, unparalleled. He loves the challenges of tough subjects including majestic redwoods, mountains with low winter sun, and wild rivers weaving through boulder fields.

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Forest Mushrooms of the Pacific Coast

August 28, 2021 by Backcountry Press 1 Comment

A five-part fall webinar series

Join Maria Morrow and Christian Schwarz for a comprehensive introduction to the forest mushrooms of California and the Pacific Northwest. Over the course of this series we’ll cover foundational topics ranging from the fundamentals of mushroom identification to basic fungal biology. We’ll also discuss the fascinating complexities of the bigger picture: Patterns of ecology, evolution, and biogeography. The series will close with opportunities for field excursions with the instructors and community-science challenges to participate in over the course of the upcoming years!

  • Part 1: Introduction to Mushrooms – October 19th
  • Part 2: Mushroom Ecology along the Pacific Coast – October 26th
  • Part 3: Forest Pathogens of the Pacific Coast – November 2nd
  • Part 4: Mushroom Explorations – November 9th
  • Part 5: Gaps in our understanding / Future Directions / Threats and Changes in the coming decades – November 16th

All webinars will be recorded and available for viewing for three months after purchase.

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Franklin’s Bumble Bee

August 24, 2021 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

Bumble bees (Bombus spp.) are an important group of North American wild pollinators. However, in the latter half of the 20th century, concern has arisen because of a noticeable declines in many species’ populations—due to a variety of factors including pesticides and diseases from managed bees.

Decline of the world’s rarest bumble bee

The Klamath Mountain endemic Franklin’s bumble bee (Bombus franklini) was named in 1921 for Henry J. Franklin, who authored the bumble bees of North and South America (1913). The Franklin’s is even more vulnerable than other Bombus species due to its restricted range—confined to Siskiyou and Trinity counties in California; and Jackson, Douglas and Josephine counties in Oregon. This is considered the smallest range of any Bombus species in the world.

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Cryptic Carnivores

August 9, 2021 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

Sticky trap carnivory discovered in western false asphodel (Triantha occidentalis)

The botanical world is being rocked by a new lineage of carnivorous plants described by Qianshi Lin et al. (August 2021)! Previous to this discovery scientists have recognized only 11 independent origins of plant carnivory—and now there is a 12th. This cryptic carnivore secretes a digestive enzyme from its annual flower stalk to supplement upwards of 2/3 of its diet.

western false asphodel (Triantha occidentalis) in the Klamath Mountains of northwest California.

Carnivorous plants have adapted to grow in places where nutrients are deficient. In western North America this often means peatland bogs. While carnivorous plants generate some energy from photosynthesis they supplement by trapping and consuming animals like insects and other arthropods.

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Wildflowers of California’s Klamath Mountains

May 9, 2021 by Backcountry Press Leave a Comment

AVAILABLE NOW!

Including the Marble Mountain, Russian, and Trinity Alps Wilderness areas

Wildflowers of California’s Klamath Mountains
Area covered by this guide.

Wildflowers of California’s Klamath Mountains features flowering plants found within one of the most biodiverse temperate mountain ranges on Earth. This photographic collection is representative of the most common, beautiful, and unique plants across this amazing region.
• 629 species, subspecies, and varieties of wildflowers
• Over 800 full color images organized by flower color
• Localized, detailed species descriptions
• Destinations to find flowers throughout the year

The Klamath Mountains are a fascinating and botanically diverse area situated at the the crossroads of the Coast Range, Modoc Plateau, Sacramento Valley, Cascade Range, and Sierra Nevada the Klamath Mountains and hold representative species from each. Combine that with their attendant geology, topography, and climate, and the floristic diversity is second to none for a temperate region.

  • Wildflowers of California's Klamath Mountains eBook
    Wildflowers of California’s Klamath Mountains eBook
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  • Wildflowers of California's Klamath Mountains paperback + eBook
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Botanical Tales of the Pacific Crest Trail

February 9, 2021 by Backcountry Press 1 Comment

The Making of a “Super-Naturalist”

by Matt Berger

Over two PCT thru hikes I took tens of thousands of plant photos, figured out each plants’ identity, and uploaded these observations to citizen science websites. Getting to this point was a process that I took one step a time. Now, I’m ready to share what I’ve learned with others who walk in these same steps along the PCT and are wondering what all the plants are along the way – the tall and the small, the showy and the “wallflowers,” the commonplace and the rare. Let me share a bit with you about how I got here…

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Perfect Pairings For Klamath Natural History

January 5, 2021 by Backcountry Press 4 Comments

Since we could certainly all use a bit more fun in our lives, it was recommended to us that each session in the Klamath Mountains Natural History winter webinar series feature its own pairing — food and/or bev.

Brilliant. And why not.

So what pairs well with endemic salamanders, limestone caverns, or the last glacier in the Klamath Mountains?

I don’t know either, and that’s why I asked our presenters for their expert recommendations.

Part 1: Intro to the Klamath Mountains + The Last Glacier

The Glaciertini (Photo credit: Mike van Hattem)

I present to you the Glaciertini: a fine drink to accompany the first session in this 10-part series where Justin Garwood tells the story of the Klamath Mountains’ Last “tini” Glacier. It also happens to be the signature cocktail of his research team. Per his and colleague Mike van Hattem’s instructions:

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Where are the Klamath Mountains?

December 5, 2020 by Backcountry Press 1 Comment

I thought it was just the Klamath River?

or…

Are they in Klamath Falls?

Where are the Klamath Mountains
Klamath Mountain Geomorphic Province

These are common questions we hear and we understand the confusion. The name “Klamath Mountains” may not be part of your everyday speak, but if you love all those spectacular mountains and rivers between Ashland and Crescent City, Redding and Eureka, Mount Shasta and Brookings, then it turns out you LOVE the The Klamath Mountains.

The Klamath Mountains are one of the Earth’s most important temperate mountain ranges. These mountains are a hotspot for biodiversity due to the complex interactions, across millions of years, of biotic and abiotic factors. The area has a central location and continuity with other mountain ranges along the Pacific Slope of western North America. Across this landscape, a mosaic of habitats mix at a crossroads of five biotic regions including the Cascades, Coast Ranges, Great Basin, Central Valley, and Sierra Nevada. Many major rivers of the region also connect the ranges aquatic ecosystems to the productive Pacific Ocean.

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Humboldt’s flying squirrel

October 22, 2020 by Backcountry Press 2 Comments

Glaucomys oregonensis

Until recently, mammalogists classified two species of flying squirrels in North America. But, in 2017, a third was added with the formal description of the Humboldt’s flying squirrel (Glaucomys oregonensis). Though slightly smaller and darker, this cryptic species was once considered to be part of the northern flying squirrel (G. sabrinus) group but genetic studies and an in depth look at the penis bone changed that. Northern flying squirrels inhabit the boreal coniferous forests of the northeastern U.S., Canada, and Alaska as well as relictual habitat in the higher elevations of the Appalachian and Rocky mountains. The Humboldt’s flying squirrel is a specialist of the Pacific Slope’s coastal forests from southern California’s sky islands, north through the Sierra Nevada, Klamath Mountains, Coast Ranges, and Cascades in conifer and mixed-conifer forests.

Range of the North American flying squirrel species from National Geographic.
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Nuggets of knowledge we soaked up from @sheriff_wo Nuggets of knowledge we soaked up from @sheriff_woody_pct on the Botany Road Trip to the Intermountain West:

1. Rare plants tend to grow in clusters with other rare plants.

2. When choosing to except a hitch or not, feel more comfortable if a couple is offering the ride. Couples, generally, don’t murder people.

3. If it looks onionish but doesn’t smell a onionish, don’t eat it. It may kill you.

4. Studying satellite imagery for interesting soil types and rocky outcrops is a great way to hunt for rare plant locations.

5. Look more closely at the tiny plants you step over.

6. Penstemon is the most diverse genus that is endemic to North America!

Part 2 of our 3 part journey featured 12  of them, including this gorgeous King’s Beardtongue (Penstemon kingii) from Utah.

This evening Part 3 takes us to the southeast to meet, among others things, loads of carnivorous plants. Sundews, flytraps, and pitcher plants — oh my!

#botanyroadtrip #botanizing #botanist #nativeplants #rareplants #carnivourousplant #penstemon

https://backcountrypress.com/product/botany-road-trip/
✉️These envelopes are ready to roll! If you ✉️These envelopes are ready to roll! 

If you preordered your copy of CALIFORNIA DESERT PLANTS we’ll be sending it off this week!

Books arrive from our favorite printer tomorrow — printed in the good ol’ U S of A, of course 🙌

We’ve extended our Preorder Sale until then! Check it out at our link in profile… just one more day to get the eBook for free with your paperback 📕 

#independentpublishing #desertplants #californianativeplants #naturenerds #botanizing #fieldguide

https://backcountrypress.com/product/california-desert-plants-paperback-ebook/
We have 2 winners for our Botany Road Trip! 🎉 We have 2 winners for our Botany Road Trip!

🎉 Congrats to @jordankwalkerart & their tagged pal @epooleart! Many thanks to all who entered!

There’s still a spot for you if you’d like to join us this evening when @sheriff_woody_pct takes us on a plant tour of California’s 3 Deserts!

The virtual tour is rich with hiking tales (you find weird things wandering around in the desert), floral eye candy, astounding biodiversity and copious tips for plant ID, and features 137 species!

🚘 Find your pass at our link in profile

Featured desert flower: Lilac Sunbonnet (Langloisia setoissima ssp. punctata)

#botany #roadtrip #rareplants #biodiversity #mojavedesert #sonorandesert #greatbasindesert #joshuatreenationalpark #anzaborrego  #desertplants @californianativeplantsociety #californianativeplants 

https://backcountrypress.com/product/botany-road-trip/
🏵 G I V E A W A Y 🏵 @sheriff_woody_pct & @ba 🏵 G I V E A W A Y 🏵
@sheriff_woody_pct & @backcountrypress are teaming up for a Botany Road Trip – and you’re invited!

If you love Botanizing and Road Trip Adventures (& the legendary stories no one saw coming when they set out on said adventures), then this virtual plant-centric road trip is for you!

Hear Matt’s captivating tales as he introduces you to a TON of fascinating plants he encountered on an epic year long road trip in this 3-part webinar series.

🏵 We’re giving away FREE PASSES and copies of our new book “CALIFORNIA DESERT PLANTS” (featuring loads of Matt’s photos) for you and a pal!

THE DETAILS

• 3 evenings beginning April 30th | 6-8pm PT (All sessions will be recorded. Plant lists included.)

• $35 class fee, pre-registration is required

• 10% donated to the @californianativeplantsociety

💰 Limited Scholarships are available for BIPOC, students, and/or those experiencing economic hardship. We don’t want $ to be a barrier to participation.

THE LINEUP:

4/30 | All 3 California Deserts

5/7 | The expansive Intermountain West

5/15 | The swamps of the Southeast

🏵 W I N Y O U R S 🏵

TO ENTER:

1. Like this post and follow @backcountrypress & @sheriff_woody_pct

2. Tag one friend per comment below. Comment as many times as you like. Each is an entry.

3. Share this post in your story for an extra entry (be sure to tag us!)

4. We’ll pick a random winner at 9pm PT on Friday, 4/29. You and your tagged pal will both win passes & books!

If you just can’t wait and want to save your spot NOW, tap LINK IN PROFILE to find your way there -- and see all the details!

#botany #roadtrip #nativeplants #storyteller

https://backcountrypress.com/product/botany-road-trip/
We're late to the party 🥳 Apparently it's Calif We're late to the party 🥳 Apparently it's California Native Plant Week and, luckily, we have a brand new book of beloved #californianativeplants to celebrate with!

From Joshua Tree Woodlands,
to Palm Oases,
to Succulent Scrub,
to Alkali Sinks,
to Sand Dunes and more... 

This photo-filled field guide takes you through the Sonoran, Mojave, and Great Basin Deserts of CA introducing you to an incredible variety of plants and their adaptations to life in diverse desert habitats.

This beauty is currently printing and will be shipped out in mid-May. Pre-order yours by May 1st and we'll send you the eBook for FREE now!

🏵 Find it at our Link In Profile

#californianativeplantweek @californianativeplantsociety @latimesplants

#californiadesert #deathvalley #deathvalleynationalpark #anzaborrego #joshuatreenationalpark #greatbasin #mojave #mojavedesert #sonorandesert #cactus #biodiversity #botany #ecology

https://backcountrypress.com/product/california-desert-plants-paperback-ebook/
Join us right here on Sunday 4/10 at 6:30pm PT whe Join us right here on Sunday 4/10 at 6:30pm PT when @backcountrypress will be LIVE with plant explorer and botanical storyteller Matt Berger @sheriff_woody_pct!

For the last year Matt’s been hitting the trail and the road (hard, mind you) seeking out unusual plants in unusual places. 

He’s seen magnificent, fascinating, surprising, weird, grotesque, and even creepy things along his Botany Road Trip zigzagging the U.S.

❓What questions do you have for Matt?

💥 Comment with yours and we’ll be sure to ask him!

Hop on the Live at the 🔔 link above to catch the answers!

#botanyroadtrip #rareplants #botany #botanist @californianativeplantsociety
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