General Workshop and Registration Information

Colorado Native Plant Society Workshops are enjoyable learning experiences that include a lecture and hands-on interaction with plant material. Some workshops may also include a short field trip. Our presenters are industry professionals who have direct knowledge of their subjects and a desire to share it with others.
Workshops usually begin at 9 a.m. and end sometime between 2 and 3 p.m. and are held in various locations, usually along the Front Range of Colorado. We suggest that participants bring a lunch and any other materials as noted for each workshop.

In addition, individual chapters offer workshops and field trips. See the Chapter web pages for information.

Payment is required at the time of registration.  You can directly register for each CoNPS Workshop online using your PayPal account or any major credit cards.   If you would prefer to pay with a personal check made payable to “CoNPS”, please download the Workshop Registration Form, fill it out and mail it, along with your check, to CoNPS, c/o Linda Smith, 4057 Cottonwood Drive, Loveland CO  80538.

The fee for attending a workshop is $25/session for members. Non-members must join CoNPS to register for a workshop. We hope you will join us and enjoy these workshops with us. Click for membership details. The registration fee is non-refundable.

Participation is often limited and registration is processed in the order received. If the workshop has already been filled, you will be notified, your check will not be deposited, and you will be added to the waiting list if that is what you desire.

If you choose to mail in your registration form, please contact Linda Smith to make sure there is room available. If you choose to register online, you don't need to do so.

Cancellation Policy:
If you cancel one week before the workshop or earlier, we will refund your money, or you can choose to apply that money to another CoNPS workshop. If you cancel less than a week before the workshop, no refund is guaranteed. If we have a waiting list and someone else can attend, your money will be refunded. Or, as always, you can apply the money toward another workshop. If the workshop is cancelled for any reason, we will reschedule the workshop or mail you a refund.

** Contact Linda Hellow, CONPS Workshop Coordinator, for updated schedules, meeting times and places, and fees.
conpsworkshops@gmail.com

The 2012-2013 workshops are being organized by the CoNPS Workshop Committee: Linda Hellow of Centennial, Workshop Coordinator; Colleen Cunningham of Golden; Jeff Jones of Woodland Park; Steve Olson of Pueblo West; and Denise Wilson of Golden. If you have suggestions for future workshops, please contact Linda Hellow at conpsworkshops@gmail.com . Please check the website periodically for updates and additional workshops.

2013 CoNPS Workshops

Aquatic Plants

One-Day Workshop:  Choose Saturday, February 23 (Full) or Sunday, February 24 (Full), 2013, 9am to 3pm 
Location:  Jefferson County Extension Office, Golden, CO 
Presenter: Denise Culver
Cost: $25

Dive into the murky depths of Colorado's aquatic plants. We will explore the major aquatic families, such as pondweeds, water milfoils, hornworts, duckweeds, buttercups, burreeds, bladderpods, etc. We will look at major identifying characters, ecology, and discuss how to collect aquatic plants.

Denise Culver has been a botanist/ecologist for more than 20 years and is an ecologist for the Colorado Natural Heritage Program. She has recently published the Field Guide to Colorado's Wetland Plants: Identification and Ecology. She was also the president of the Northern Chapter of CoNPS.

Sagebrush of the Gore Range

Saturday, March 16, 2013, 9am – 12:30pm
Location:  Colorado Mountain College, Edwards, CO
Presenter: Bernadette Kuhn
Cost: $25

Join us as we examine the various characteristics of this aromatic plant. We'll thoroughly review sage morphology and taxonomy and help you through the steps toward accurate identification. Bernadette will bring many samples for close-up examination. Bring your hand lens! We'll also have microscopes available.

Bernadette Kuhn is a botanist with the Colorado Natural Heritage Program and has a master's degree in Botany, Taxonomy and Systematics from the University of Wyoming. She is also the vice president of CoNPS.

Any notes for the organizer?

Contact Phone Number

Demystifying Grasses

One-Day Workshop: Saturday, February 2 (FULL) Sunday, February 3, 2013, 9am to 3pm (FULL)
Choose Saturday or Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Location: Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge in Commerce City
Presenter: David Buckner
Cost: $25

David has been giving grass workshops for more than 15 years and is prepared to help anyone decipher a glume from a lemma or a spike from a panicle. His method for learning the grass family doesn't dwell too long on taxonomy. Rather he'll walk us through grass ecology and morphology, showing us how to break the family into readily accessible tribes. From there, identification of major genera will come very quickly. This workshop is a great introduction for those who want to learn the grass family and helpful to anyone who needs a bit more confidence in grass recognition.

David Buckner has a doctorate in plant ecology and has 41 years of professional experience in applied plant ecology, plant taxonomy, reclamation, soils and statistics. Presently he is senior plant ecologist for ESCO Associates Inc. His work has taken him from high mountains to plains during development of reclamation plans for government and private industry and the long-term study of plant community relationships. And grasses are very often central to these relationships. 

Native Plants and Insects Workshop

Saturday, April 27, 2013, 9am to 3pm  (FULL)
Location:  Butterfly Pavilion, Westminster, CO
Presenter: Amy Yarger, Director of Horticulture
Cost: $35  (Please note price change)
Plants and insects have complicated, often surprising, relationships. This workshop, co-sponsored by and located at the Butterfly Pavilion in Westminster, will cover identification of many Front Range insect species, the distinction between specialist and generalist insects and the impact that native plants and restored habitats can have on invertebrate diversity. We'll spend some time outside in the Butterfly Pavilion gardens and the adjacent Big Dry Creek open space, so please come prepared for unpredictable April weather.

Amy Yarger has worked in the public horticulture field since 1996.  She received a bachelor's degree in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine and then went on to study plant-animal interactions at the University of Michigan. Her work at the Butterfly Pavilion, where she has been a horticulturist since 2000, touches on many of her passions: plants, insects, habitat conservation and science education.

Colorado Mosses

May 18-19, 2013; Two-Day Workshop (FULL)
Saturday Workshop, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at a Boulder location
Sunday Field Trip, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at a trail to be determined
Presenters: Ron Wittmann, Bill Weber and Paula Lehr
Cost: $25

Let's take a break from the wildflowers and spend some quality time in the amazing world of bryophytes. On Saturday you'll learn how to shift gears from the more familiar methods of looking at flowering plants to those used for mosses. Dissection microscopes will be available for an up-close look. Then on Sunday we'll but our identification skills to use as we venture out to a local trail for a hands-on explore. Be sure to bring a lunch, water bottle, hand lens and all-weather gear!

Ron Wittmann and Bill Weber are the authors of Bryophytes of Colorado: Mosses, Liverworts, and Hornworts , among other books you're probably familiar with.

Birds, Bees, Flowers and Food: Exploring Colorado’s Pollinators

One-Day Workshop and Field Trip:  Choose Saturday, June 22 or Sunday, June 23, 2013, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.,
Location:  Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks, Cherryvale Administrative Building, Boulder, CO
Presenter: Megan Bowes
Cost:  $25

A worldwide pollinator crisis has been prominent in news headlines, but it’s not simply beekeepers and farmers who depend on the pollination services of the European honey bee and a whole suite of native pollinators. Pollinators enable the reproduction of native plants, which maintain the basis of most food webs—as well as the production of one out of every three bites we humans consume at the dinner table. This workshop will describe the process of pollination, how to identify the reproductive parts of a plant, as well as the roles birds, bees and many other insects play. We will also learn about the practical steps we can all take to improve native pollinator populations on our lands. The second half of this workshop will be in the field. Please dress appropriately and bring your Colorado Flora Eastern Slope and hand lens.

Megan Bowes is a Plant Ecology Technician with the City of Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks Department and the Chair of the CoNPS’ Horticulture and Restoration Committee. She’s been a CSU Extension Native Plant Master Instructor for 5 years and has had a passion for plant-insect interactions since first working in the garden industry two decades ago.

Register for June 22, 2013 Workshop

Register for June 23, 2013 Workshop

Any notes for the organizer?

Contact Phone Number

Draba on Boreas Pass

One-day Workshop – Saturday, July 13, 2013, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (FULL)
Location: South Park Ranger District Office, Fairplay, CO
Presenters: Sheila Lamb, Steve Olson
Cost: $25

If you've never taken a close look at this tiny alpine genus, now is your chance. We'll look at specimens in the classroom before we hike up to find them in the wild. Sheila will share her local key and give us plenty of tricks to distinguishing the various hair types displayed by the taxa in this challenging genus. In the afternoon we'll hike to 11,000 feet on Boreas Pass and the hunt will begin! We will likely be treated to views of several rare species outside of the Draba clan, as well. Be sure to bring your hand lens, lunch and all-weather gear. Steve Olson has been with the Forest Service for 21 years, presently as the Forest Botanist at the Pike-San Isabel National Forests and Cimarron-Comanche National Grasslands. His degree is in zoology and he'll look at most anything that doesn't get out of the way fast enough! Sheila Lamb has worked for the USDA Forest Service at the South Park Ranger District for 20 years where she is the Natural Resource Specialist overseeing the range, botany, wildlife and noxious weed programs. She has a botany degree and loves living in South Park amid one of the grandest botany displays on earth.

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