Join us on Thursday, February 26 from 12-1 pm at La Kretz Garden Pavilion for another installment of Botany Brown Bag. Dr. Andy Kleinhesselink will give a talk titled “A Scrap of Nature: Rediscovering UCLA’s Native Plants on Sage Hill.”
One-hundred years ago, UCLA began constructing the Westwood campus on 419 of acres of open pasture, riparian, and coastal scrub habitat. Within 40 years, nearly all of that open space and most of the native species were gone, replaced by lawns, buildings, and parking lots. Nevertheless, a few small patches of natural habitat and about 50 native plant species survived. But which native species were lost? And which species should we attempt to bring back? Dr. Andy Kleinhesselink, the Managing Director of Sage Hill, will describe how he uses herbaria collections, historical photos and other data to piece together a more complete picture of campus’ past biodiversity. He will discuss how this history guides our plans for restoring Sage Hill, and how we can use the story of biodiversity on campus to bring lessons about conservation and restoration to life for UCLA undergraduates.
Make sure to bring your lunch!
This event is free and open to the public, no RSVP required!
