Ahart Herbarium

Ahart Herbarium presents
All Things Botanically Related (Series)

Botanical Areas of the Siskiyou Crest

Presented by Suzie Savoie & Luke Ruediger
Co-owners of Siskiyou Ecological Services and Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds, Authors & Volunteers with the Siskiyou Crest Coalition

Thurs, June 19, 2025
7pm - 8pm

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The Siskiyou Crest has one of the highest concentrations of officially designated botanical areas on National Forest lands in the country. Along the ridges, slopes and canyons of the Siskiyou Crest, from Mt. Ashland to the Smith River, are 31 officially designated Botanical Areas that recognize concentrations of rare species, exceptionally rich and diverse floras, or plant communities rarely found in an undisturbed condition. These Botanical Areas form a network of biodiversity hotspots along the California-Oregon border and provide habitat connectivity between the Cascade Mountains and the Coast Range. This presentation will take you on a photographic exploration of these unique Botanical Areas and highlight many of the rare and endemic species that grow in each area. Botanical Areas have been designated with the goal of protecting and enhancing exceptional botanical values, but further protections are needed to safeguard this biodiversity into the future.

Luke Ruediger grew up in southwest Oregon, exploring the region’s unique habitat and terrain at an early age. Fascinated by the region’s beauty and diversity, Luke has long worked to preserve, restore, and protect the ecological integrity of the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains through environmental activism and land stewardship. Luke is the author of The Siskiyou Crest: Hikes, History & Ecology, a hiking and natural history guide to the Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon and northwest California. He also writes a blog about the Siskiyou Mountains and other regional land-based topics, The Siskiyou Crest: Observations, Comments & Perspectives. Luke is Executive Director of Applegate Siskiyou Alliance, a non-profit dedicated to the conservation of the Applegate River watershed and Siskiyou Crest region in southwest Oregon and northwest California, and he runs the Siskiyou Office of Klamath Forest Alliance, where he acts as the Siskiyou Conservation Director monitoring public land management activities, running campaigns and advocating for habitats throughout the Klamath-Siskiyou Mountains. Luke is also a native seed collector and co-owner of Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds with his wife, Suzie.

Suzie Savoie is co-owner of Siskiyou Ecological Services and Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds and is co-author of Native Pollinator Plants for Southern Oregon, and an editor of The Siskiyou Crest: Hikes, History & Ecology. Suzie provides native seed collection services, online native seed sales, and native plant consultation for southwest Oregon and northwest California. She helped create the local film, Sagebrush to Sea: A Journey Across the Siskiyou Crest. Suzie is an avid hiker, backpacker, gardener, native plant enthusiast, and off-grid homesteader. She has worked with, volunteered for, and been on the board of numerous conservation organizations in the region. For 21 years she has been using native plants for gardens and habitat restoration on her property in the Applegate Valley, and she enjoys helping others do the same. Suzie lives at the base of the Red Buttes Wilderness with her husband, Luke.

Luke and Suzie are volunteers and supporters of the Siskiyou Crest Coalition. Siskiyou Crest Coalition Mission Statement: The Siskiyou Crest is a regionally significant habitat connectivity corridor linking the Coast Ranges to the Cascade Mountains along the Oregon-California border. The region contains deeply-rooted cultural traditions, world-class biodiversity, important watershed and fisheries, unique geology, old-growth forests, spectacular scenery, vast backcountry habitats, and significant recreational resources. The Siskiyou Crest Coalition (SCC) works to protect and promote these values for future generations through advocacy, education, stewardship, and permanent habitat protections..

All Things Botanically Related - Past Presentations:

Altered fire regimes threaten rare cypress species in Northern California

Presented by Kyle Merriam
Ecologist, USDA Forest Service, Sierra-Cascade Province

Thurs, May 15, 2025
7pm - 8pm

Check back soon for presentation recording 

Baker cypress (Hesperocyparis bakeri) and Macnab cypress (Hesperocyparis macnabiana) are rare serotinous conifers found in scattered, isolated populations in northern California. These cypress species depend on high severity fire to reproduce, and populations require at least 30 years to accumulate enough cones to replace the parent generation after a fire. Altered fire regimes, including a recent increase in the frequency of high-severity fire, pose a serious threat to both species of cypress.

Kyle Merriam

Over half of both Macnab and Baker cypress populations have burned in the past 15 years and are now comprised primarily of immature seedlings. Four Macnab cypress and one Baker cypress population have been extirpated due to repeated fires that killed immature seedlings before they produced cones. Neither species of cypress has protected status at the federal or state level and over half of Macnab cypress groves occur on private land. In this talk we will review the status and distribution of these two rare conifers and discuss efforts to protect and conserve these two iconic, fire adapted species in northern California.

Kyle Merriam has been working as an ecologist since 1997, including positions with the US Fish and Wildlife Service, the US Geological Survey, and the US Forest Service. She has worked in the Sierra Cascade Ecology Program, serving the Modoc, Lassen, and Plumas National Forests, since 2005. As part of the Regional Ecology Program, Kyle’s career has focused on providing the best available ecological science to help inform natural resource management.

Check out more previous presentations in the All Things Botanically Related Series >>(opens in new window)

California Phenology Thematic Collections Network

Ahart Herbarium is actively photographing specimens in the collection and linking the images to the collection information for each species. This information is accessible through the California Phenology Thematic Collections Network (www.CCH2.org(opens in new window)). Through a National Science Foundation grant, the Herbarium will be imaging over 30,000 specimens in the collection which will be similar to the one here. Collectively, over 23 different herbaria and collections across California will be located on CCH2. Check out the website!(opens in new window)