Located in the southern Central Valley, the San Joaquin Desert is the smallest, least recognized and most imperiled true desert in North America, with less than 40% of its original area remaining. The desert was not formally described until 1995 and didn’t gain recognition by the scientific community until 2011. The San Joaquin Desert is floristically distinct with 37 near-endemic and 40 strict- endemic plant species. Nearly half of the species are imperiled and listed as endangered, threatened, rare or watch status.
This presentation will delve into why it took so long for the San Joaquin to be recognized as a desert, how it is both climatically and floristically similar to the Mojave Desert and what we can do to conserve what little of it remains.
Ryan O’Dell has been a Natural Resource Specialist with the BLM Central Coast Field Office for 14 years. His primary duties include rare plant survey and endangered plant species monitoring and recovery in the central Inner South Coast Ranges and San Joaquin Desert.
How to attend: Most of our lectures take place Wednesday evening at 7:30pm. Our talks are live- streamed simultaneously to Zoom and YouTube. To view talks, watch our YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/c/CNPSSantaClaraValley (no registration needed) or join on Zoom by registering at the Zoom link provided in each lecture’s description. Recordings of past talks can also be viewed on our YouTube channel.
Sat Aug 31 @ 8:00AM - 10:00AM Lake Cunningham Native Garden |
Sat Aug 31 @ 9:00AM - 11:00AM Community Work Day at the Native Plant Garden in Kirk Park |
Fri Sep 06 @ 9:00AM - 12:00PM Friday Edgewood Restoration |
Sat Sep 07 @ 8:00AM - 10:00AM Lake Cunningham Native Garden |
Sat Sep 07 @ 9:00AM - 11:00AM Community Work Day at the Native Plant Garden in Kirk Park |
Tue Sep 10 @ 7:00PM - 08:30PM Conservation Committee |
Fri Sep 13 @ 9:00AM - 12:00PM Friday Edgewood Restoration |
Sat Sep 14 @ 8:00AM - 10:00AM Lake Cunningham Native Garden |
Sat Sep 14 @ 9:00AM - 11:00AM Community Work Day at the Native Plant Garden in Kirk Park |
Thu Sep 19 @ 7:00PM - 09:00PM CNPS SCV Board Meeting |