Date: Sun, 25 Jun 2000 08:36:49 -0700 From: Ivan Snyder <bioexp@juno.com> To: cp@opus.hpl.hp.com Message-Id: <aabcdefg1898$foo@default> Subject: CP World Conference Aftermath
Greetings all Phytocarnivorologists of the planet Earth,
I attended the conference and have now returned to my home world and have
resumed my regular routine of running naked here on the endless warm
beautiful beach of Hermosa. Susan Farrington told about the conference
proceedings and of her field trip to Del Norte County, so I'll tell about
what I did. I heard that some went north and others went northeast. Sorry
I could not meet up with everyone else. Sorry I missed the rendezvous
with Rondeau at Butterfly Valley and the Darlingtonia 'Othello' sight
studies with Barry Meyers-Rice. I hope their trips went well.
I travelled to the conference with my other celebrity friends Ed Read and
Robert Gibson. At the conference I met many new people and was greeted by
many people I had corresponded with over the years. Sorry I was not able
to get to know more of you better, I am usually more animated, but there
I was brain dead from lack of sleep and sensory overload. It was good to
match up the names with faces. I was surprised that Jan Schlauer for
instance was not the big jerk I imagined he would be. On the last night
after the conference we left Robert with Barry's group and Ed and I went
to visit Bill Baumgartle's home and collection across the bay. Bill has
these overwhelmingly large greenhouses packed full of CP and orchids and
also has a manmade creek flowing through his yard to a pool filled with
CP. The next day we drove to Mendocino County for camping and hiking.
The Mendocino coast is a marvelous place to visit. Redwood and pine
forest run from the mountains to the rocky picturesque shore. Most
interesting about the area for the CP nuts are the unique CP environments
of pygmy forest bogs scattered about hidden in the woods. I find these
sights especially interesting, and the mix of pine, Sphagnum and lichen
scent is very pleasing. Here there are natural dwarf species of pine and
cypress on ashen colored sand. Ed and I were shown two new sites led by
Craig Gardner of Ukiah. We had not seen the sites along Summer Lane and
Mitchell Creek. I discovered another new isolated site myself having
Drosera rotundifolia while trail blazing through the woods. Many of you
will know of the Albion Bog with all its introduced non-native CP. I feel
this area would have been a great place for the other conference
attendees to visit if it were more open to the public with more parking
and easy access. We need to get rid of the non-natives and leave only D.
rotundifolia and Darlingtonia, maybe add some D. anglica. There are
boardwalks through pygmy forest at other locations; it would be nice to
have one at the Albion site.
Other activities we had in Mendocino included boating on Lake Cleone with
its abundant Utricularia gibba and hiking along a forest trail in Van
Damme State Park. We feasted on a multitude of wild berries while hiking.
A new berry new to me was a species of blackberry with ripe fruit ranging
in color from yellow to orange to red. The plants were free-standing
bushes, some with no thorns. I always find something new of interest to
study on my nature walks. I expect Ed will have some nice photos to show
from this trip. Heading south towards home again we stopped by to visit
Peter's greenhouse at California Carnivors, an outstanding sight as
always.
Ivan Snyder
Hermosa Beach
California
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