Comments about how people have used Calflora Updated 4/15/2003.
Land Management and Conservation (Private Firms)
Rubus parviflorus - thimbleberry.
Jeanette Weisman , Biologist, Tetra Tech, Inc. San Francisco
I use your database on a daily basis in my work as a botany consultant, as a
plant hobbyist, and when I was still in college, I used it regularly in my
course work. The Calflora database is an invaluable resource for
professional, student, and amateur botanists throughout the world. Shutting
it down would be like closing the Library of Congress. There are few places
in the world, and certainly on the Internet with so much botanical data.
Lindsay Herrera,
Staff Botanist,
LBJ Enterprises, Eureka
I am a botanist working for Jones & Stokes in Sacramento, CA. Even though I can not support financially at this time, I think the online Calflora/photos data is great. It helps with color photos of many California plants and also pertinent geographical /habitat data.
Rob Weiss,
Botanist,
Jones & Stokes,
Sacramento
I am working for a company
called Pope and Talbot, which operates in the south eastern
part of British Columbia, Canada. Pope and Talbot is a
forest company and we are currently educating our employees
about the rare plant and animal species that are living on
the lands that Pope and Talbot operates. I am preparing a
series of field cards, meant to help forest workers to
gather biological inventory of rare species.
In researching the biology of various plant
species, I came across the oceanspray photo on your site...
Jennifer Heron
My husband and I own a small biological and planning consulting business. We have found Calflora to be invaluable during report preparation and general research. As we are a business that performs, among other things, botanical field surveys, our application of the Calflora data would not be considered to be either a specifically environmental or educational use.
Danielle V. Zalusky, Land Use Planner,
Steve Zalusky, Biologist,
Northwest Biosurvey,
Cobb, Calif.
Land Management and Conservation (Government Agencies)
Calflora has been a very important tool for me. I turn to it right after the Jepson Manual when I'm trying to learn more about a species. It has helped me to know about historical occurrences based on herbarium collects. It also helped Jennie and me find a population of Hulsea brevifolia right by a road in Yosemite. This has made it easy for us to train our employees and check on phenology. Before that we went all the way to the Sierra NF to see it during training. It has probably reduced expensive trips to herbaria to gather information. I appreciate the care in documenting sources of information and limits of reliability.
Margaret Willits,
District Botanist,
Mi-Wok Ranger District,
Stanislaus National Forest
We have used Calflora in the following ways:
1. To assist graduate students and other researchers seeking information about the distribution of species or other habitat variables.
2. As part of a Howellia aqualitis (rare plant) inventory we are doing this year, queried CALFLORA to get information on distribution.
3. As part of phase 1 of a Conservation Strategy, queried CALFLORA for range-wide distribution of rare plant species that are known to the Lassics Botanical Area.
Lisa Hoover, Botanist, Six Rivers National Forest
My most extensive use of Calflora was in the building of the plant component of
SASI.
I relied very heavily on the taxonomic, distribution, lifeform, and habitat data it contains.
Aaron J. Bilyeu,
Wildlife Biologist/Data Analyst,
Sierran Provinces Assessment and Monitoring,
Sierra Nevada Conservation Framework
I am the lead botanist on staff for the Shasta-Trinity National Forest, which encompasses over two million acres of northwestern California. The land management programs for which I am responsible include rare plant conservation, noxious weed treatment, and vegetation restoration following wildfire and other disturbances.
I have used Calflora extensively to get the information I need to make informed decisions about the best use of taxpayers' money to promote native plant conservation on public lands. My office is in Redding, far from any university with a good herbarium; so I rely heavily on on-line resources to get accurate information about plant distributions in this part of California, as well as on a larger scale for appropriate context.
In the last two years I used Calflora to update our rare plant sensitive species list, to choose noxious weed treatment and prevention priorities for our noxious weed strategy, and to construct a list of suitable grass species for restoration use in specific geographic areas and on particular substrates on the Shasta-Trinity NF.
I was dismayed to see Calflora suspended. As our budget gets smaller, and travel funds diminish, I will rely more and more on on-line information in lieu of site visits to herbaria. Calflora has been a marvelously complete and convenient tool for my work as a public servant. I am hopeful that reliable funding can be found for Calflora's operation.
Julie Kierstead Nelson,
Forest Botanist
I can say unequivocally that all the bio staff here use Calflora
extensively and gratefully. Our Landscape folks use it too.
Daniel, Caltrans
I am putting together (slowly) a native plant use guide for governmental/public entities specifically for San Diego County, specifically aimed at landscapers (rather than gardeners, botanists...) to encourage (insist on?) native plant use in public projects. I wondered whether anyone in your organization was familiar with a similar publication already in print for any area which I could model.
Also, I was thrilled to find your site, which helps me check my research.
Christina Simokat
Just wanted to let you know that we printed out the pages of your SOD
Calflora guide and are using it as general host information at our upcoming
training session March 13 on Sudden Oak Death recognition, etc.
It looks great and is good info for people
trying to work on SOD.
Susan J. Frankel,
USDA-Forest Service, State and Private Forestry,
Vallejo
We need printouts of the fact sheets with range map and photos for the 25 or so host species for Phythophthora ramorum for an upcoming series of training sessions.
Karl Buermeyer,
Sudden Oak Death Regional Coordinator,
UCCE Santa Cruz County
I am in the process of reviewing a report that
evaluates data we collected during
exotic plant surveys of disturbed areas in Sequoia, Kings Canyon and
Yosemite.
As part of the report, the author pulled in Calflora distribution maps so we could
provide the statewide context to park managers as they establish exotic
plant control priorities and approaches. We will provide the report in
hard copy to the Park Service and include the Calflora maps (as small
images in tables). I also want to provide it on
CD with hyperlinks in the document to tables, figures and appendices to
make it easier to navigate.
Peggy Moore,
USGS Western Ecological Research Center,
Yosemite Field Station
The Calflora database has a number of useful features, but I mainly access the photo database and the occurrence database. Before going out on a trip (usually a project visit) to deal with a plant that I have never seen before, I always try to check the CalPhoto database first to see a photo of the plant. When trying to understand the distribution of a plant, or whether a plant I have found is significant, I always search the Calflora occurrence database. The distribution map provides easy visualization of the plant's distribution, and more detailed information can readily be found in the occurrence tables, organized by counties. The database's information is particularly satisfying because a large number of the records are based upon herbarium specimens. I find the Calflora database to be a great complement to the California Natural Diversity Data Base, and it occasionally has specimen-based records that are not in CNDDB. Searches are quick and easy to perform, and a synonym database is also available. Within seconds, the database provides distribution information that practically speaking is unobtainable otherwise.
Gene Cooley, Plant Ecologist, Central Coast Region (North),
CA Department of Fish and Game
I've looked at the the weeds occurrence data (georeferenced by lat lon) by decade of observation. Are spatial patterns meaningful in the sense of describing the extent of weed species over time? I suspect both spatial and temporal bias may exist in the sample because these data are from a non-directed search.
My aim is to get a statewide picture of the areal progression of invasive species over time.
James G. Spero, Fire Economist ,
Fire and Resource Assessment Program,
California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection,
Sacramento
Land Management and Conservation (Restoration Projects)
Vaccinium ovatum- huckleberry
Calflora has been a great resource in my efforts to learn to ID the natives in our watershed and other nearby areas. I know I use it several times a week. I've been using it, also, to generate a more user-friendly update to our plant/habitat species table for the watershed.
I have a background in computer database work, so I really appreciate how complex and extraordinary your work is. I've checked lots of online native-plant resources, and the speed, ease of use, and completeness of Calflora is unequalled.
Karen Paulsell
I have just found your database useful in trying to find grass, rushes, or
sedges for a restoration project with a riparian flat and adjacent slopes
that are subject to occasional flooding with slightly brackish water (the
urban site's contours are due to fill).
Susan Schwartz,
Friends of Five Creeks
I am very interested in one of your pictures of Nymphoides peltata, which we might want to use for a King County (state of Washington) project that teaches volunteers to recognize noxious and invasive water weeds. It looked as if the photos might be available for this kind of project as long as we put the appropriate credits, which we would do.
Sally Abella,
King County Lake Stewardship Program
Land Management and Conservation (Development and Construction)
"Development" has often been responsible for pollution, noise and the destruction of beautiful places. It has often caused harm to plant and animal species as well as existing human communities. It is our position that new development can and must do precisely the opposite. It can help to restore damaged environments. It can be cooperative and harmonious with the natural world of which we are a part.
Calflora is an important resource for us in this work. One of the strategies we look to in creating an environmentally healthy development is use of a native landscape-- a landscape that is naturally adapted to the place where it is, that works harmoniously with the climate, animals, plants and geology of the area. One of the benefits of such a landscape is that because it is adapted to the way things are, it does not consume a lot of external resources, such as water and energy, for its creation and maintenance. Currently landscaping consumes more than half the water used in a typical home. A native landscape also maintains the habitat of native animals.
We were greatly pleased and excited to discover the Calflora database. It provided a sorely needed resource for our work. For example, by simply listing the area where we are working, we could immediately get a list of the plants native to that area. Better yet, this list was accompanied with photographs of most of the plants. It told us whether the plant was a tree, shrub or grass and provided links to other information about them. This constitutes an extremely valuable tool for us. It is of great importance to this community and the local environment. We believe it is of importance to many others in related activities from homeowners who currently have little resources or opportunities for using native plants in their gardens to landscapers, contractors and developers. We expect that the database will have significant impact on our work and that we will use it with frequency.
The Calflora database can provide very significant benefits to our communities and to the architects, builders, developers, homeowners and landscapers who build them. It provides resources that are in many ways analogous to the type of resources that are provided by the USDA and USGS. We would like to see the Calflora Database become a long term, basic public resource. We strongly believe that it deserves significant long term financial support.
Huck Rorick, Executive Director, Groundwork Institute
I just made a donation to Calflora on behalf of the Mayacamas Mountain
Audubon Sanctuary, here in Sonoma County. I was on a nature hike up
there today, and talking with a number of members, no one seems to be
aware of your existence. I am the construction manager of a pipeline
project through their "forever wild and free" sanctuary (The Geysers
Project), and your website has been a valuable resource to me as an
amateur naturalist in conjunction with my efforts to understand the
environmental impacts of the project.
Mark Matthews
I am using
your site to plant a new homesite at 5000 feet elevation in a subdivision
which requires the planting of only indigenous plants. Your database
tremendously expands the creative potential of our landscape.
Richard Whitten, MD
Fresno, CA
Academic Reasearch and Education
Barbara A. Holzman, Ph.D. Geography and Human Environmental Studies, San Francisco State University
I recently got a paper published in PNAS using the CALFLORA database. I am not aure if you keep a file of manuscripts using your data, but I have attached a copy.
Thanks for the good work!
Eric Seabloom,
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis,
Santa Barbara
I am a graduate
student, and have used Calflora to assist in the planning of collecting
trips, and to ascertain the distribution, ecological amplitude, and
other
attributes of the Apiaceous plants I have studied for the last three
years
in the Western United States.
Duane McKenna,
Harvard University
Museum of Comparative Zoology
The Calflora database was (and hopefully still is/ will be) an excellent
source of information. I am an assistant professor of biology at Colorado
State University. Because of the difficulty of doing botanical field work
in a different state than the one in which I live (namely, in San Diego
Co., California) I relied heavily on this site for botanical information.
Specifically, I have used the site to identify where specific plant species
are found (counties, habitats, elevation) and the source of the plants
(native, naturalized, non-native, invasive, etc.). I have then been able
to narrow down which plant species will be useful for me to address
specific research questions. These data are likely available in other
forms (e.g., possibly in Jepson), but the searchable interface of Calflora
cut what would be several hours of digging for information into several
minutes of pleasant online work. I also have used Calflora to survey which
species in a genus of interest are found in a certain county, and I have
made use of specific collection information to try to track down sites
where I will be able to locate the plants. Again, access to this
information is invaluable to me as someone who does not live in the area
and thus lacks local knowledge and contacts. I am sure Calflora is just as
useful (maybe even more so!) for people living in California.
Shanna Carney,
Assistant Professor of Botany,
Colorado State University
I'm in the process of putting together a web page for a Sonoma State
conservation class. I was wondering if there exists any historical data,
current info about conserving
Eriophyllum latilobum (san mateo woolly sunflower),
or range maps.
Lisa Dunwoody
Your website is absolutely stunning! If only I had known about it sooner. I can't believe how much information is availble from your site-- specimems, locations, links to relevant literature and even the pages pertaining to the chosen plant! Amazing. I'm a graduate student in forest ecology here at Cal and, although I should be doing nothing but work right now, your website has distracted me in the most productive way. I will never again have questions about California flora that no one around me can answer. Thank you for a truly excellent job. I will convince my labmates to help support your hard work.
Leda Kobziar
I am a 2nd year student of Horticulture at Kwantlen University College. As I was researching weeds, I came across your website via 'Backcountry Rangers'.
An excellent resource for my studies that I wish I had known about earlier.
Janette Giffin
The Calflora Database
has been an invaluable resource to me. I am working on a genus of plants
(Orobanche) that are difficult to find and rarely collected or even
reported. It is essential to my project (treatment of Orobanche for Flora
of North America) to learn of new localities and to see a gallery of photos
from different localities displaying the morphological variation in each
Orobanche species. Photos are especially helpful for this group as they
are succulent and hence make lousy herbarium specimens. Through Calflora
photos & associated information,I have learned of new localities and also
met some valuable collaborators. Another way the Calflora photo gallery is
valuable to me is to look up a photo of a plant I am reading about that I
have never seen, the photos being an informative addition to line drawings
found in Jepson. Since I am out of state, I do not have a library of
California wildflower guides to assist me in that regard, this online
resource bridges that gap.
Other acquaintances of mine in the Washington Native Plant Society, Central
Puget Sound Chapter are also fans of Calflora, we wish there was a website
like it for Washington state.
Alison Colwell, Seattle
Non-academic Education
CHristopher Hobbs L.Ac.
As a Master Gardener and member of the Horticultural Committee of the
California Native Plant Society I am frequently asked to give talks and
write articles for local groups on California native plants. While I use as
far as possible my own photographs, I have supplemented these with
images from your site, whether the whole plant, or details of flower, fruit etc. I have
found them always to be of excellent quality. Thus, the Calflora website
serves not only me but the many people I talk to each year.
In addition, I am still learning to identify some of the less common flora,
and here too, good quality, color photographs are invaluable.
Alison Shilling
I am involved in many professional endeavors as a young biologist. Calflora has served me well in
all of those endeavors, in creating aesthetically pleasing brochures, informative and detailed
papers, and for illustrations. I would not have been able to do many of the things I desired to do
without Calflora. I do not have access to a camera, a digital camera, or for that matter a large
university library with a photocopy machine. I telecommute with an avian research institute, work
full-time for a shoestring budget non-profit, and am actively involved with my local watershed
group.
San Francisco League of Urban Gardeners
uses Calflora for its native plant nursery brochures.
San Gregorio Environmental Resource Center
uses Calflora for its quarterly newsletters.
Point Reyes Bird Observatory
Central Coast Riparian Bird Monitoring Project
uses Calflora for its outreach materials.
Nicole Salgado, San Gregorio
Photography
Larry Blakely Bishop, CA
I wanted to let you know how useful the CalPhoto database was recently.
The Redbud Chapter of CNPS (Nevada and Placer Counties) was asked
earlier this year to present a talk to the Colfax Gardening Club
regarding gardening with native plants. The CNPS chapter president
asked my wife and I to give the talk.
The talk was scheduled, serendipitously, the day before the Redbud
Chapter Fall plant sale at the Grass Valley campus of Sierra College.
Weeks before, we were determining exactly what we would present and
found a nice plant list at the Redbud Chapter site, entitled "Ideas for
Designing with Native Plants."
A botanist, my wife was
familiar with the Calflora site and it turned out to be exactly what we
needed, pictures to associate with the planting site recommendations in
the plant list.
We had pictures for everything from shade
tolerant species, to plants that provide spring color or fall color, and
ofcourse, deer resistant species. The Powerpoint slideshow came
together nicely with over 100 slides in all. The garden club seemed to
enjoy the topic and they were very pleased by the photos with plenty of
'ooohs' and 'aaahs' as pictures were shown.
The presentation would not have been such a
success without the photo database on the Calflora website.
And we were asked to conduct a repeat performance to the Meadow Vista
Garden Club who have native planting projects at local parks.
Paul Lake
Electronic Library
I have been very impressed with your site and will be recommending that other members of the NSW Biodiversity Information Working Group examine it. You have performed the seemingly impossible by assembling a comprehensive collection of species descriptions, photographs and occurrence data all on the one site.
In particular, I am interested to know what is the structure of the Calflora occurrences database ie are the constituent databases arranged in a distributed fashion and all queried by the system or has the data from participating institutions all been centralised in the same database?
Philip Gleeson, Project Leader Biodiversity Information, Geographic Information Systems Group, National Parks and Wildlife Service
Congratulations from Barcelona!. Your Web site the best model of what we wish to have here.
Thank you very much for your open mind and site.
Josep M. Montserrat
I am a Assoc.Prof.Dr. from Ankara University, Science Fac.Biology Dept. in Ankara. I would like to prepare a site related to Turkish Endemic and Threteaned plants in Turkey until a couple of weeks. I would like to use some of your site plant image
(Approximately total 50-60 different family and genera). I really appreciate you and your team.
Dr.Resit Ilarslan
If it wasn't for Calflora, and your wonderful database and webpages, I
could never have gotten to the point where I am today botanically. Also,
the "master list flora of southern california" project by Jane Strong and
myself would have been much more difficult, if not impossible, without the
rich database you made freely available.
Tom Chester
We utilize many links to Calflora on our Southwest Exotics Plant Information
Clearinghouse web-site and Southwest Exotics Management Program (SWEMP).
Janice Busco
SWEMP Assistant, USGS Southwest Biological Science Center,
Colorado Plateau Field Station,
Flagstaff, AZ
We are currently in the early planning stages of establishing an online flora for British Columbia, and as part of that project I would like to have a link that would allow the user to directly jump to the relevant Calflora page for that species. We are a non-profit, up to now volunteer labor, years of work ahead of us, looking for any guidance, kind of group.
Brian Klinkenberg, Editor,
Cartographica,
Department of Geography, U.B.C.