Botanical Foray (March 25-28 2006)

From the Bryolabs at the University of California, Berkeley, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas
Southern Oregon University...
ANNOUNCING: The Eleventh Annual !! **** SO BE FREE 11 **** March 25 - 28, 2006
UC Sedgwick Reserve, Santa Ynez, California
organized by Lloyd Stark, Amanda Heinrich, and Brent Mishler

Founded in 1996, SO BE FREE is a series of West Coast forays started by the Bryolab at UC Berkeley, but open to all botanists. The main focus is on bryophytes, but we also encourage experts on macroalgae, mushrooms, lichens, ferns, and flowering plants to come along. We welcome specialists as well as generalists, or amateurs who are interested in an overview. It is held each spring, associated with Spring Break at universities.

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.

Botanical Foray (March 20-23 2004)

The California Biodiversity Center provided sponsorship for the 9th Spring Outing; Botanical Excursion; Foray, Retreat, and Escape to the Environment (SO BE FREE). This event was Sponsored by the Bryolab, UC Berkeley. In 2004 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.

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.

Botanical Foray (March 19-22 2005)

The California Biodiversity Center provided sponsorship for the 10th Spring Outing; Botanical Excursion; Foray, Retreat, and Escape to the Environment (SO BE FREE). This event was also sponsored by the Bryolab, UC Berkeley; The Southern Oregon University Herbarium; and the Northwest Botanical Institute. In 2005 the foray was held at the Oregon Institute of Marine Biology (OIMB), Charleston, Oregon, and included a mix of Californian and Oregonian botanists.

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.