CHIHUAHUAN DESERT NATIVE PLANT
CONSERVATION INITIATIVE - 2004

"I am the camera" exercise

 

FREE Native Plant Conservation Workshops: April 2004

Throughout April 2004 the Carlsbad Caverns/Guadalupe Mountains Association will sponsor the second-annual free programs for the public focusing on native plant conservation. With trailside workshops taking place each weekend, visitors and amateur and professional naturalists, artists, and writers will be converging at the park to participate in interactive workshops lead by professionals, to learn more about park flora, from wildflowers to desert cacti. In addition to its many caves, the Carlsbad Caverns National Park preserves one of the few protected portions of the northern Chihuahuan Desert ecosystem. The desert reveals, upon close examination, complex natural processes that yield an astounding abundance and diversity of plant and animal life. The area is vital habitat for approximately one thousand species of flowering vegetation. From the upper reaches of Walnut Canyon Drive where the red, tri-lobed Woolly Paintbrush and White-Eyed Phlox thrive, along the extensive Visitor Center Nature Walk with its profusions of Claret-Cup Cacti and deep into some of the most picturesque canyons in the Chihuahuan Desert Region, participants can look forward to exciting hands-on activities suitable for most ability and fitness levels. All events are free, except the college credit field course. Space is limited, so advance registration is advised. For the latest updates and to register, please contact Paula Bauer at 505-785-3131 or via e-mail at paula_bauer@nps.gov.

Claret Cup
Gary Whelpley ©2003,
KODAK Ambassador Program

Schedule of Events for April 2004

NATIVE PLANT CONSERVATION WORKSHOPS

All workshop participants should meet at the entrance of Carlsbad Caverns NP (CAVE) Visitor Center at 8 AM and each workshop should last about 2 – 3 hours unless otherwise noted.
Be sure to bring plenty of water (1 - 2 quarts minimum), snacks, adequate sunscreen, proper hat and clothing, and rugged shoes. For comfort, participants may consider bringing a lightweight, backpacking-type stadium seat or birding stool with a shoulder strap. These items will help make your experience more relaxed and enjoyable. Don‚t forget your own art supplies, camera, writing materials, etc. All activities are free, except for the "Interdisciplinary Native Plants Study Group", and will take place above ground at Carlsbad Caverns National Park, unless indicated otherwise.

 

Drawing Workshop

•Which Cactus is this? Saturday, April 10, adults and teens, 2 hours: Learn about the region‚s diverse cacti, how to tell them apart, their habitat and behavior. Tips and discussions on field identification for beginners to professional botanists. Find out what those Latin/Greek scientific names mean and why they are applied to specific flora. Even find out what those native plants are that look like cacti, but are not. Prepare to share and compare your knowledge and experience or just bring your inquisitive mind. Facilitator: Dave Ferguson, Curator, Rio Grande Botanical Garden, Albuquerque, NM. (This workshop is filled)

Opuntia imbricata
Donald Davidson © 2003

•INTERDISCIPLINARY NATIVE PLANT STUDY GROUP Saturday, April 17, 8 am through Sunday April 18, 3pm: One credit, undergraduate-level field course in cooperation with New Mexico State University-Carlsbad. This weekend-long intensive session will be held at the "Ship of the Desert" in Guadalupe Mountains National Park. Attending biology, creative writing, journalism, and visual art students and professionals will participate in workshops geared toward sharpening their creative, perceptual and technical skills as well as learning new ones from the instructors and each other. (Meals provided for weekend--please let us know dietary restrictions at least 2 weeks ahead. Limited to 20 persons.) Advanced registration required. Tuition, park overnight fees, and meal costs are $139 total. Registrants will be provided full directions to workshop locations. Facilitators: Rick Wiedenmann, MA, Biologist, NMSU; Sandra Lynn, MA, Creative Writing Instructor, NMSU, Dobie Paisano Fellow and author of Where Rainbows Wait For Rain-The Big Bend Country; and Donald Davidson, BA, NPS Traveling Artist Wildflowers Project, Blue Mountain Fellow, Botanical Illustrator and Project Director.

Yucca above Bat Cave Entrance
Rosie Dempsey © 2003

•Sketch Hike for Earth Day Thursday, April 22: All ages, 2 hours: Enjoy seeking out and drawing the botanical treasures throughout the park. The beginner to the advanced will enjoy this opportunity to explore their creative talents in order to achieve greater understanding of floral anatomy and native plant habitat. Learn drawing tips and techniques. Facilitator: Donald Davidson.

Carlsbad High School student's drawing
of native member of Asteraceae family

•Lore of the Native Plants of the Chihuahuan Desert Saturday, April 24, 2 hours, all ages: Learn stories about the plants of the Chihuahuan Desert, such as their strategies for survival in the desert, their uses by Native Americans, and their surprising traits. Facilitator: Emily Buehler, Folklore contributor to Canyons and Caves.

"Evening Primrose"
by Eddie Gonzalez ©2003, National Park Foundation

•Wildflower Photography Sunday, April 25, all ages, 2-3 hours: Optimize the use of your camera for making the highest quality images with a better understanding of botanic forms in mind. Facilitator: Kenneth Ingham.

• Wednesday School Visits April 7, 14, 21, 28; for Eddy County, NM Public Schools‚ 5th through 12th grades: Tips and techniques for drawing flowers. Facilitator: Donald Davidson. Contact Ranger Frosty Bennett at 915-828-3251 ext. 118 to arrange an "Artist School Visit" to your classroom.

Note: All workshop participants should meet at the entrance of Carlsbad Caverns NP (CAVE) Visitor Center at 8 AM.

Desert Verbena
Eddie Gonzalez © 2003, National Park Foundation

Background:

The 2004 CAVE Native Plant Conservation Initiative is directed by Donald Davidson, a botanical illustrator whose contributions appear on the National Park Service's Celebrating Wildflowers website, www.nps.gov/plants/cw/watercolor/index.htm and the Chihuahuan Desert Network, as well as in The High Country News, and the Newsletter of the Native Plant Society of North America. He is also a 2002 and 2003 Native Plants Society of New Mexico Grant recipient. A traveling exhibition of his watercolors of the native plants of the Chihuahuan Desert was curated and exhibited by the Centennial Museum at the University of Texas at El Paso in 2003 and will travel to the Museum of the Big Bend at Sul Ross University, Alpine, Texas for display, September-November 2004. He has served as both an Artist-in-Residence and Volunteer-In-The-Parks in twelve National Parks since March 1999.
This program has been made possible since 2002 through the generous support of the New Mexico Native Plant Society, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, National Endowment for the Arts, National Park Foundation, KODAK Ambassador Program, and Carlsbad Caverns/Guadalupe Mountains Association.

 New Mexico Prickly Pear
Opuntia phaeacantha
Donald Davidson © 2003

 
Celebrating Wildflowers: Traveling Artist Wilflowers Project