The fast-paced lightning talks session is not to be missed! Each five-minute talk presents an exciting idea intended to spark discussion amongst conference attendees.
SESSION CHAIRS Kristen Nelson, Bryce King
California Native Plant Society, Sacramento, CA, United States
Kristen Nelson
California Native Plant Society
Kristen is currently the Rare Plant Program Manager at the California Native Plant Society, overseeing and coordinating field-based projects across the state. She holds a B.S. in environmental management and a M.S. in biology, both from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo. She has worked as a professional botanist and ecologist across private, government, and non-profit sectors. Kristen has also worked in pollinator conservation and loves to propagate native plants as a hobby.
Bryce King
California Native Plant Society
Bryce King is a Lead Field Botanist with the California Native Plant Society who previously acted as a laboratory assistant at the UC Davis – USDA Agricultural Research Service laboratory and as a Scientific Aid for the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. He graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2021 with a BS in Forestry and a minor in Biology. He currently assists with vegetation mapping of the Transverse and Peninsular ranges of California along with collecting data to improve the Manual of California Vegetation classification system.
He has a special fondness for the estuarine and marshland habitats found around where he grew up in the San Francisco Bay area, along with the incredible diversity found within the Central Coast near his alma mater.
L1.1 Enhancing Biodiversity Values and Resilience in the Mojave Desert’s Southern Amargosa Basin: Implementing Alkali Wetland Restoration
Holly Fischer1, Naomi Fraga2
1Amargosa Conservancy, Shoshone, CA, United States. 2California Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA, United States
Description The Amargosa Basin is world renowned for its biodiversity, having the largest concentration of endemic species in the United States. Springs, seeps, and a shallow groundwater table fed by a deep groundwater aquifer form alkali wetlands that support at least 17 rare and endemic plant species in California. Three of these are listed under the Federal Endangered Species Act: Amargosa niterwort (Nitrophila mohavensis), Ash Meadows gumpant (Grindelia fraxinopratensis), and spring-loving centaury (Zeltnera namophila). As a part of the larger collaborative effort of the Southern Amargosa Restoration Working Group (SARWG), the Amargosa Conservancy and the California Botanic Garden are initiating a new project to ameliorate threats to alkali wetland plants and ecosystems including the federally endangered Amargosa niterwort. This project will secure 50 seed collections of alkali wetland plants and 10 collections of culturally important plants to support restoration and the enduring connection between people, plants, and place. Ongoing hydrological monitoring will support critical data gathering necessary for Amargosa niterwort recovery. This project will ensure that several rare alkali wetland vegetation types have the materials for restoration and are sufficiently inventoried to be conserved and restored. The Cultural Seed Bank Partnership centers the interconnected nature of people, plants, and place and the 30x30 strategy’s core commitment to strengthen tribal partnerships. In this presentation we will discuss the multiple facets of this project including progress conducted thus far.
Presenter Bios
Holly Fischer
Amargosa Conservancy
Holly Fischer is the Restoration Program Manager at the Amargosa Conservancy with a background in geology and environmental conservation. She received her B.S. in geology from NC State University and her M.S. in geoscience from the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. While studying for her masters, Holly worked in a soil lab and was introduced to the world of engineering geology. She stayed on the engineering side of geology for a few years, working with drill crews, engineers, and hydrologists, before making the move to Nevada where her work shifted focus to environmental conservation. She also gives impromptu geology lessons while hiking with friends on the public lands throughout Nevada.
L1.2 Restoring Relationship: Native Stewardship and the Return of Cultural Landscapes
Austin Stevenot
River Partners, Modesto, CA, United States
Description For thousands of years, California Native people have stewarded and shaped landscapes to support biodiversity and abundance. Using intentional fire, selective harvesting, and cultivation practices, Native communities sustained vibrant populations of culturally significant plants. These practices not only supported human communities but enhanced ecosystem health. This presentation will focus on traditional management techniques used to cultivate species such as sedge, deergrass, soaproot, and oak, and how reciprocal relationships with land ensured the continued propagation of these vital resources. Through cultural fire, seasonal gathering, and plant tending, Indigenous people influenced everything from plant morphology to distribution across the landscape.
Today, many native stands of these culturally significant plants are degraded or lost due to colonization, fire suppression, land conversion, and disconnection from traditional caretakers. However, Native communities are reclaiming this knowledge and restoring these practices. This presentation will highlight real-world examples of collaborative restoration projects that center Tribal leadership, including replanting efforts, cultural burns, and land return efforts.
The goal is to reframe conservation to include Native voices, leadership, and land care methods that have proven effective for millennia. This session will empower land stewards, scientists, and educators to build relationships with Tribes and integrate Indigenous knowledge into restoration and land management. Growing the movement together means honoring those who have always cultivated it.
Presenter Bios
Austin Stevenot
River Partners
Austin Stevenot, Northern Sierra Mewuk and Director of Tribal Engagement for River Partners, is a passionate advocate for Indigenous land stewardship. His work at the newest State Park, Dos Rios, exemplifies a powerful intersection of ecological restoration and cultural revitalization.
L1.3 A Prescription for Success? Spatial Analysis of Prescribed Fire Effects on Woody Shrub Encroachment in California’s Coastal Prairie
Killian T. Cook1, Jannike Allen1, Devii Rao2, Henri Brillon1, Xiangyu Ren3, Bo Yang3
1San José State University, San Jose, CA, United States. 2University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources, Hollister, CA, United States. 3University of California, Santa Cruz, Santa Cruz, CA, United States
Description Frequent fires historically maintained California’s coastal prairies. Without fire, woody plants encroach on these landscapes, including the native shrub Baccharis pilularis (coyote brush). Coyote brush is a fast spreader and a fierce re-sprouter, posing difficulties to land managers looking to control it. Managers prescribe fire to curb coyote brush encroachment, though its efficacy is limited by narrow burn windows and discontinuous fuels. We monitored three prescribed fire units treated with fire alone or additional mastication pre-treatments to examine differences in fire behavior and effects.
We obtained visible-spectrum drone imagery of our three prescribed fire units before mechanical treatment and immediately following prescribed fire. We used spatial analyses to quantify the impact of our treatments, measuring proxies for fire occurrence and behavior: ash presence and color, and changes in shrub canopy cover or color. To achieve this, we trained a supervised, object-based classification model that accurately detected changes for masticated areas (ash presence) and un-masticated controls (consumption of shrub canopy, browning due to radiant heat, or no change, as well as ash presence).
We present this method to better understand the benefits and limitations of prescribed fire in coastal prairie restoration, which may help land stewards make more effective use of the various management techniques at their disposal.
Presenter Bios
Killian T. Cook
San José State University
Ian Cook is a second-year MS student at San José State University studying prescribed fire ecology. With a background in biology from UC Berkeley and several years of parks maintenance guiding his perspective, he hopes to work toward more proactive, ecologically informed fire management across California's Coastal Prairie. His current work combines in-situ observation with remote sensing to assess the impact of prescribed fire and other treatments on woody shrub encroachment in these landscapes. When not working, Ian is likely taking pictures of his cats.
L1.4 Evaluating the Effect of Maternal Drought Stress on Seed Germination in California Native Plants
Katie Debbas
University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, NA, United Kingdom. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, United States. California Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA, United States
Description Despite California's recognition as a global biodiversity hotspot, drought threatens to undermine the stability of its diverse plant communities. With drought projected to increase in frequency and severity in California, it is necessary to consider the implications of severe drought in conservation and management decisions. Seed banking is an ex-situ approach that preserves biodiversity through long-term storage of live genetic material for ecosystem restoration and research. The interactive effects of maternal environmental stress and life cycle characteristics on offspring seed viability represent a knowledge gap for California native flora. This study used seed collection and germination data to look at the transgenerational effect of drought on seed viability. The effect of drought and trait interactions on germination was analyzed through three main statistical models. These looked at how maternal drought impacted the viability of seeds, whether life cycle differences accounted for differences in seed viability alone, and how a combination of life cycle differences and maternal drought impacted seed viability. The results showed that there was no significant impact of drought on seed germination, without considering life cycle. The effects of maternal precipitation varied by life cycle: perennial plants produced more viable seeds under drought stress, while annual plants produced more viable seeds under high precipitation. The difference in seed germination responses between annual and perennial plants to maternal drought was statistically significant, illustrating the importance of trait-based analysis. While a multitude of factors influence seed viability and plant resilience, this knowledge can help inform seed collections in the future.
Presenter Bios
Katie Debbas
University of Edinburgh
Katie Debbas is a PhD student at Cornell University whose interdisciplinary research combines design thinking with ecological science to address biodiversity conservation challenges. With a master's degree in ecology and extensive field and laboratory experience in plant conservation, she brings both theoretical knowledge and practical expertise to understanding conservation implementation barriers in California. Her current research focuses on developing integrative approaches that support ecosystem resilience and effective conservation management strategies.
L1.5 Seed Conservation Strategies for Rare Alpine Plant Taxa in California
Maria Jesus1, Naomi S. Fraga1, Cheryl Birker1, Scott Eliason2, Emily Griffoul3, Alexandra Seglias4
1California Botanic Garden, Claremont, CA, United States. 2US Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Region, Fawnskin, CA, United States. 3Betty Ford Alpine Gardens, Vail, CO, United States. 4Denver Botanic Gardens, Denver, CO, United States
Description Rare alpine plants may be especially vulnerable to warming temperatures and reduced snowpack associated with climate change. Seed banking is an important strategy to support the persistence of these species in the wild, but more work is needed to assess the status of these taxa in conservation seed banks and to develop a prioritization strategy to guide future collecting efforts. The goals of this project were to develop a comprehensive list of rare alpine plant taxa and to evaluate associated seed collections to guide strategic seed collection efforts. The comprehensive list was developed through an iterative process involving multiple data sources and expert input. Prioritization criteria included rarity, alpine endemism, and the quantity and quality of seed collections from California. The final list consists of 141 minimum-rank taxa and 80 taxa have at least one seed collection. Fifty-eight taxa appear to be endemic to the alpine and subalpine zones and 50% (29 of 58) have seed secured in conservation seed banks. Strategic seed collection efforts began in 2025 with the goal of securing 32 collections of the highest priority taxa.
Presenter Bios
Maria Jesus
California Botanic Garden
Maria Jesus is a Conservation Botanist with California Botanic Garden and volunteers as the Conservation Chair for the CNPS Bristlecone Chapter. She has an MS in Botany from Claremont Graduate University where she completed a floristic inventory of the southern Inyo Mountains.
L1.6 Helping Save California’s Endangered Plants Through Conservation Genomics
Chris Baysdorfer, Randy Davis, Weilun Tan, Flint Mitchell
The Green Biome Institute, California State University East Bay, Hayward, CA, United States
Description Genomically profiling California’s endangered plants is one more tool available to scientists and botanists to help expand rare, healthy, plant populations. This talk will highlight: the results of sequencing over 150 of California’s endangered plants, how all data is freely available in the National Center for Biotechnology Information (NCBI) databases and Green Biome Institute website, and how any California Native Plant Society (CNPS) member, field botanist, or botanical garden researcher with 1B.1 endangered California plants can access DNA sequencing for free!
Presenter Bios
Randy Davis
The Green Biome Institute, California State University East Bay
Randy Davis is the past Co-Founder and VP of Research and Development of DNA sequencing company Genia Technologies. He is Author or Co-Author on over 20 patents focusing on molecular detection and is an early investor or member of a half dozen biotech start-ups. Since 2019 Randy has been a Co-Founder and Advisor to the Green Biome Institute at CA State University East Bay working to genomically profile California's rare and endangered plants.
L1.7 Tiny Pollinators, Big Impact: Plant-Pollinator Dynamics in California Vernal Pools
Lynn M. Breithaupt, Dr. Jason Sexton
University of California, Merced, Merced, CA, United States
Description Vernal pools, embedded within California’s grasslands, are biodiversity hotspots that sustain a diverse assemblage of rare and endemic flowering plants. These plant communities depend on pollinators for successful reproduction, seed set, and to maintain long term habitat stability and resilience. Yet pollinator populations are declining globally due to habitat loss, agricultural intensification, pesticides, and climate change - the same pressures that have caused a decline in vernal pool habitats. Despite their importance, pollinator communities in vernal pool landscapes remain poorly understood, with little known about their diversity, abundance, or seasonal dynamics.
To address this gap, I’ve conducted two years of surveys of a vernal pool flowering plant community and visiting pollinators within a protected reserve in California’s Central Valley. Plant diversity and flowering phenology were recorded throughout the growing season, with complimentary pollinator sampling and identification. A diverse assemblage of native bees and wasps were documented, including sweat bees (Lasioglossum, Halictus), Andrena bees (Andrenidae), orchard mason bees (Osmia), and Chrysidid wasps (Chrysididae). These taxa represent a wide range of life histories and nesting strategies, underscoring the ecological value of vernal pool–grassland mosaics in supporting pollinator guilds. Preliminary results indicate strong seasonal shifts in both plant and pollinator communities in response to climate variation, with synchrony between plants and pollinators maintained across seasonal cycles. This study emphasizes that effective restoration must conserve not only rare plants but also consider the pollinators that ensure their long-term resilience.
Presenter Bios
Lynn M. Breithaupt
University of California, Merced
Lynn Breithaupt is a third-year PhD candidate in the Sexton Lab at the University of California, Merced, and a lifelong resident of California’s Central Valley. She earned her A.S. in Horticulture from San Joaquin Delta College and her B.S. in Organismal Ecology and Evolution from California State University, Stanislaus. Her research focuses on drought-driven plant adaptations and the complex interactions between plants and pollinators in seasonal wetland ecosystems. Outside of her academic work, she serves as Chairperson of the Vernal Pool Recovery Implementation Team with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, media and outreach coordinator for the Northern San Joaquin Valley chapter of the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), and volunteers for citizen science initiatives such as the Xerces Society Bumble Bee Atlas Program. As a first-generation student from a low-income household, she is passionate about inspiring other Central Valley students to pursue their dreams in science and conservation.
L1.8 Accelerating Rare Plant Conservation Via Data Sharing: A Case Study From California’s Channel Islands
Heather E. Schneider1, Denise Knapp1, Isabela L. Borges1, Sean Carson1, Selena Vengco1, Benjamin Brandt2, Morgan Ball3
1Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Santa Barbara, CA, United States. 2Green Theory Studio, Flagstaff, AZ, United States. 3Wildlands Conservation Science, Lompoc, CA, United States
Description Plant conservation is complex and multifaceted and is often hindered by funding timelines and piecemeal efforts conducted by disparate organizations. Data sharing across regions and disciplines can accelerate conservation by creating opportunities for large scale analyses and prioritization exercises and providing insights from the past. Data sharing is often hindered by a lack of common data collection practices and systems via which to share data. With a goal of advancing collaborative conservation, we created a data sharing system for California’s Channel Islands: the California Islands Biodiversity Information System (Cal-IBIS). This tool houses data for all life forms across the archipelago in an online portal and now includes detailed rare plant data. Simultaneously, we are developing standardized field survey protocols. The rare plant data can be used not only by island partners, but also outside collaborators and agency partners conducting research or developing species status assessments and recovery plans. Future plans include expanding Cal-IBIS to tackle other priority topics such as restoration and invasive plant management. By sharing data and standardizing collection practices, we are moving toward more effective conservation across these unique and vulnerable islands. Cal-IBIS provides a blueprint for information sharing in other conservation regions.
Presenter Bios
Isabela L. Borges
Santa Barbara Botanic Garden
Dr. Schneider is the Director of Conservation and Research at Santa Barbara Botanic Garden. She oversees a team of more than 20 scientists working to conserve California’s native plants and habitats using a genes-to-ecosystems approach. Dr. Schneider’s work focuses on rare plant conservation and includes conducting applied research, informing and implementing rare plant recovery actions, managing the Garden’s Conservation Seed Bank, and advocating for the protection of California’s native plants. Prior to joining Santa Barbara Botanic Garden, Dr. Schneider earned her doctorate in botany from the University of California, Riverside, worked as an ecologist for the US Geological Survey, and was a postdoctoral scholar at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
L1.9 A Long-term Sticky Situation: Insects Entrapped in Alpine Plant Herbarium Specimens (Hulsea algida) Offer a Creative Approach to Studying Global Change
Zoe M. Wood
University of California, Davis, Davis, CA, United States. White Mountain Research Center, Bishop, CA, United States
Description Windblown (aeolian) transport of nutrients, contaminants, and other supplements may contribute significant inputs to isolated ecosystems. Alpine ecosystems receive large quantities of insect inputs from the aeolian zone in the form of fallout when strong upslope wind currents carry and deposit arthropods from non-alpine regions, or in single-species influxes from dispersing or migrating populations. Sticky plants have glandular trichomes which often entrap this small-insect fallout, and herbarium collections offer a unique opportunity to explore how insect carrion loads on these plants vary over time and space. Here, I harness insects preserved on sticky leaves in herbarium collections of Hulsea algida, an alpine perennial plant that grows on talus slopes above 9,000 feet.
In this preliminary study, I counted all insects preserved on herbarium specimens of H. algida deposited at UCD and UC Berkeley (n=40 specimens). Specimens were collected between 1974-2015 in the Sierra Nevada and White Mountains. Insect fallout was common on the specimens, with the most common taxa being Thysanoptera. This study serves as a proof-of-concept that sticky plant specimens might be used to encapsulate changes in insect communities over decades. Where lack of quality data remains a major obstacle to monitoring insects over several decades of global change, herbaria may allow for a better understanding of how larger trends can be tracked in remote alpine systems.
Presenter Bios
Zoe M. Wood
University of California, Davis
Zoe is a PhD Candidate in the Graduate Group of Ecology at UC Davis, studying plant-insect interactions on Pacific Hulsea in the White Mountains and Sierra Nevada. Zoe uses a range of approaches in her work, including historic collections, field experiments, and volatile organic compound sampling, to investigate this charismatic alpine plant. Zoe is also a film photographer and recipient of the Sacramento Public Library Artist-in-Residence Grant, where she created and shared original zines about hiking and leaf-mining insects. During the field season, you can find her working at the White Mountain Research Center or scrambling off trail to look for her favorite plant in its rocky habitat.
L1.10 Virtuous Circles: Building Bridges for Native Plants, Wildlife, Property Owners, Government Agencies, and Local Communities
Jacob Lang1,2, Dr. Barbara S. Goto2, Dr. Amanda J. Zeller3
1Emerson College Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, United States. 2Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy, Pasadena, CA, United States. 3Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA, United States
Description This presentation will address the progress, challenges, and goals of establishing native plant and wildlife corridors in megacities like Los Angeles, while focusing on the need to build cohesive networks among property owners and government agencies in a collaborative approach that unites stakeholders and transcends municipal boundaries. Today when more than 55% of the world’s population resides in urban areas, the need for increasing connectivity between an interdependent network of native plants, wildlife, local communities, and government agencies is essential for fostering thriving ecosystems. Educational outreach is critical for dispelling misperceptions among residents, and effective data sharing is necessary for undoing the disparate treatment urban conservation organizations receive from the state.
The research involved in this presentation was led by Amanda J. Zellmer (Occidental College) and Barbara S. Goto (Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy). It focuses on the eastern edge of the Rim of the Valley Corridor, an area of Los Angeles surrounded by Griffith Park, the Verdugo Mountains, San Gabriel Mountains, and the San Rafael Hills. Of nearly 29,000 unique land parcels extending across 22 jurisdictions within this area, 5,461 parcels were evaluated, and 40 different types of stakeholders were invited to participate. To promote this research and encourage residents to conserve these areas, local schools were led on field trips, volunteer restoration events were held on acquired properties, and an internship program for high school and college students was established to provide hands-on training in urban wildlife corridor conservation and research.
Presenter Bios
Jacob Lang
Emerson College Los Angeles
Jacob Lang is an affiliated faculty member of Emerson College Los Angeles where he teaches courses on urban ecology, nature and society, and the art, history, and culture of Southern California. He is the co-author of The Gottlieb Native Garden: An Intimate Wildlife Journey, and cherishes his time spent outdoors, particularly California’s myriad wilderness areas. You can find him most weekends in the Channel Islands, High Sierra, Mojave Desert, or San Gabriel Mountains, depending on the weather.
L1.11 Fine-Scale Classification and Mapping of the Klamath Mountains Ecoregion Vegetation Communities
Annie M. Allen, Dr. Lucy Kerhoulas, Dr. Rosemary Sherriff
Cal Poly Humboldt, Arcata, CA, United States
Description Situated between the northern California Coast and the northern Sierra Nevada - Southern Cascade ranges, the Klamath Mountains Ecoregion (KME) is known for its dramatic topography, complex geological history and high levels of biodiversity and regional endemism. The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) Vegetation Classification and Mapping Program (VegCAMP) recognizes the KME as a top priority for fine-scale vegetation classification and mapping to aid in conservation, climate resilience, and land management. The goal of the Klamath Mountains Vegetation Project is to collect vegetation data, develop a vegetation classification, and map vegetation communities within California's KME. This is a collaborative project between CDFW’s VegCAMP, the California Native Plant Society (CNPS), Cal Poly Humboldt, and the Bigfoot Trail Alliance. Sampling in this region began in the summer of 2023 and continued through 2025. Field crews have performed over 2,370 surveys using the CDFW-CNPS protocol for the combined vegetation rapid assessment and relevés, and collected over 1,000 herbarium voucher specimens. The collected data will be used to produce maps and vegetation community descriptions that will be made accessible to the public as a resource for land management. This presentation summarizes the results of this three-season field effort, examines the distribution of survey sites across the KME’s complex terrain, and highlights some of the vegetation communities that have been sampled.
Presenter Bios
Annie M. Allen
Cal Poly Humboldt
Annie is a Vegetation Ecologist and graduate student at Cal Poly Humboldt in the Natural Resources- Forestry, Fire, and Wildland Sciences program. Her personal research is on cattle grazing impacts on fen and wet meadow vegetation communities and their environmental drivers in the Klamath Mountains Ecoregion, so tune back in to a later conference for her results!
Thank you to our 2026 sponsors!
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The mission of the California Native Plant Society is to protect California’s native plants and their natural habitats, today and into the future, through science, education, stewardship, gardening, and advocacy.
DateSaturday, February 7
