Taxonomic Foray (March 20-23 2004)

The California Biodiversity Center provided sponsorship for the9th Spring Outing; Botanical Excursion; Foray, Retreat, and Escape to the Environment (SO BE FREE). This event was Sponsored by the Bryolab, UC Berkeley. This year the foray was being held at the Hastings Reserve. Hastings is a Biological Field Station of the University of California, Museum of Vertebrate Zoology and Natural Reserve System.

To further its mission of fostering collaborations between the Berkely Natural History Museums and the UC Field Stations the CBC offered a mini-fellowship to cover food costs for all students attending.

Ecology and Management of California Grasslands conference (April 2004)

This conference, sponsored by the CBC, brought together perspectives of over 130 people from throughout the many grassland settings in the state to both compare research findings and explore the scientific basis for management decisions. It provided a forum to foster discussion about research needs, and improve communication and collaboration both among scientists and between scientists and managers.

The conference featured over 30 oral presentations, 16 posters, and four panel discussion sessions on such topics as grazing, soils/nutrient cycling, community ecology/grassland invasibility, restoration, and genetics.

History of California Seminar Series (Fall 2004)

The aims of the seminar series are to bring faculty and other interested locals together in an informal setting to overview and exchange ideas on all aspects of the history of California so as to identify possible areas for interaction between researchers, to identify possible gaps in our knowledge and to identify useful areas for review papers etc.

• Planning meeting (attendance 8)
• Connie Millar from the USDA Forest Service Pacific Southwest Research Station in Albany led the first meeting on 'Plant and Environmental History in the Sierra Nevada' at 6pm on Weds. Oct 20 in 2063 VLSB on the Berkeley Campus (attendance = 16). A follow up discussion was held on 11-10-04
• Kent Lightfoot spoke on Dec 1 on Long-Term Human Interactions with the California Environment, with a more focused view on the greater San Francisco. A follow up discussion was held on 12-8-04
  

Grass Foray to Tom's Point in Marin County (6 November 2004)

Jeff Corbin led a California Biodiversity Center Biological Foray, to a native coastal grassland at Tom's Point. Tom's Point is a private nature preserve that is not open to the public. It boasts one of the best remnant native-dominated coastal prairies in California. Other notable habitat types include coastal scrub, mudflat, and dunes. The tour included a discussion of the ecology of California grasslands, the experimental plots that Jeff and Carla D'Antonio maintain at the site, and tips for identifying some of the most common plants in coastal ecosystems. There were 18 particpants including 2 professors from UC Berkeley, several grad students, an attorney, several students from Sonoma State and the new fire ecologist at Pt. Reyes.