Janel Johnson, a botanist with the Nevada Natural Heritage program, will be the featured speaker at Monday’s Democratic luncheon. Having earned a bachelor’s in botany at Oregon State and a master’s in rangeland ecology from Montana State, Johnson began her labor of love 15 years ago at the Natural Heritage program of the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. From the road, Nevada might appear to be an endless sea of sagebrush, greasewood and creosote bush, but in reality it’s the 10th most botanically diverse state in the nation. Between and among Nevada’s more than 300 mountain ranges are springs and wetlands, sand dunes and unusual soils that are home to almost 3,000 species of native flowering plants, 150 of which can be found no place else on earth. Thanks to Nevada’s varied topography, wildflowers can be found in bloom here year-round. When weather permits, Johnson and her colleagues go off-road and on foot into remote corners of the Silver State to locate, study, document and photograph these natural treasures, some of which are on the State Forester’s list of protected species because they’ve been found to be in imminent danger of extinction. At Monday’s luncheon, Johnson will narrate a select sampling of these photographs. This event is scheduled for 11:30 a.m. Monday in the banquet room of Carson City’s Round Table on Retail Drive just off College Parkway. Sponsored by the Democratic Men’s Committee, these luncheons help to defer recurring expenses at Carson City’s Democratic HQ. Suggested donations of $5 or more gratefully accepted but aren’t required. All are welcome. For information, contact Rich Dunn at 775-434-8783 or richdunn@aol.com.
