Each year, members of APS gather to catch up, renew friendships, share photos and information on penstemons, and most importantly visit new places to SEE PENSTEMONS in their natural habitat. As one of the highlights of society membership, the annual meetings are anticipated throughout the year. Here we include information about upcoming meetings, as well as historical information on past meetings.
UPDATED 7/05/22
American Penstemon Society Annual Meeting 2022
Lupita Wesseler, 2022 Annual Meeting Arrangements Chair
Randy Tatroe, 2022 Annual Meeting Arrangements Co-Chair
Join us in Central Oregon – Friday, July 8th – Sunday, July 12th
The 2022 annual meeting is scheduled for Friday, July 8th through Sunday, July 10th with three field trips Saturday and Sunday and optional two post-meeting tours scheduled for Monday, July 11th. Activities will be based out of the Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond, Oregon. We are looking forward to gathering with our membership in the emerging post-covid environment. It has been a mild winter here in Central Oregon. Recent precipitation gives us hope for a decent wildflower season this summer. We have some exciting keynote speakers lined up for our meeting and field trip leaders with local knowledge of the area and lots of enthusiasm for Penstemons and outdoor adventures.
The Region
The central Oregon communities of Bend and Redmond lie in the transition Zone between the East Cascade Forest and the eastern High Sagebrush Desert. Thirty miles west of Bend is the Cascade Mountain Range, dividing Oregon into a wester wet side - typified by the Oregon Coast and Willamette Valley - and an eastern dry, desert side which lies in the rain shadow of the Cascade Range.
Geology: The Cascade Peaks developed from subduction of the Juan de Fuca plate under Oregon and Washington giving rise to the Three Sisters, Broken Top and Mt Washington, Mt Jefferson, and to the north Mt Hood. Isolated mountains like Mt Bachelor and Black Butte developed from related volcanic activity as did hundreds of cinder cones and lava flows spread throughout the area.
Local History: Bend started as a Deschutes River Crossing for early wagon trains heading to the Willamette valley. In the early 1900s, the community developed around the logging industry when Shevlin-Hixon Co. and Brooks-Scanlon sawmills were built. Thousands of acres of virgin ponderosa pine timber were logged and transported to the mills by railroad, down the Deschutes River, and by logging trucks. The last mill closed in 1983 and is now the site of the Old Mill Shopping District. Today Bend is primary destination for recreation with all forest amenities of the beautiful Cascade Mountains.
Field Trips (more details on the 2022 Field Trip page)
Saturday, July 10th and Sunday July, 11th Field Trip Options
All Saturday, Sunday, and Monday field trips will depart from the Deschutes County Fairground parking lot. We encourage participants to carpool to minimize the vehicle impact associated with field trips. Attendees will choose one of the three field trips listed below with Penstemons located in the areas. The same field trips are available Saturday and Sunday.
- Field Trip 1 - Cascade Lakes Scenic Byway - Mount Bachelor, Sparks Lake, Devil’s Garden (P. davidsonii var davidsonii, P. humilis, P. euglaucus, P. humilis subsp. humilis, P. procerus, P. rydbergii, P. rupicola, P. fruticosus var. fruticosus.
- Field Trip 2 -Black Butte/Metolius River (Metolius River Preserve, Camp Sherman) – P. peckii, P. euglaucus, P. humilis subsp. humilis, Penstemon humilis var. cinereus, P. fruiticosus var. fruticosus, P. richardsonii subsp. Dentatus, P. speciosus.
- Field Trip 3 - Ochoco Mountains (Lookout Mountain/Big Summit Prairie) (P. rydbergii, P. gardnerii var. gairdneri, P. speciosis, P. fruticosus var. fruticosus, P. roezlii, P. richardsonii subsp. Dentatus, P. speciosus.
Monday, July 11th Optional Fieldtrips
- Field Trip Option 1 - Tombstone Pass (Iron Mountain)
- Field Trip Option 2 - The Island/ Tam-a-láu Trail at Cove Palisades State Park
P. rydbergii and Cascade Mountains -View of South Sisters, Broken Top and Mt Bachelor from Davis Lake, Oregon
Travel to Redmond
Redmond can easily be reached via air (Roberts Field, Redmond Municipal Airport) or ground transport. Vehicle rental is available the airport. You can also fly into the Portland International Airport, rent a car and drive three hours (145 miles) southeast on US Highway 26 to Redmond. Portland International Airport is served by several major US airlines.
You may drive to Redmond from the east or west via Oregon State Route 126 or from the north or south via US Highway 97/197.
Lodging
Please make your own reservations for lodging. Early booking is encouraged.
Summer tourism and vacation planning activity is heating up and lodging and car rental reservations are competitive during the summer months. There is also a large event, Overland Expo PNW scheduled at the Deschutes County Expo Center the same weekend of our annual meeting, which is expected to draw many people from out of the area. Book your lodging and car rental reservations soon. Bend and Sisters are alternative lodging locations and a about a 20-minute drive from Redmond.
Motels Near the Fairgrounds
Best Western Plus Rama Inn, 2630 SW 17th Pl, Redmond, OR, (541) 548-8080.
Comfort Suites Redmond Airport, 2243 SW Yew Ave, Redmond, OR, (541) 504-8900.
Super 8 by Wyndham, 3629 SW 21st Pl, Redmond, OR, (541) 548-8881.
Hampton Inn Redmond Bend Airport, 3901 SW 21st St, Redmond, OR, (541) 527-1948.
Redmond Vacation Rental Options
Camping Options – The camping at the Deschutes County Expo Center is reserved for Overland Expo PNW . You may be able to reserve onsite RV and tent camping at the fairgrounds through Overland Expo by purchasing an event ticket through their event portal. Visit links below for other camping options.
Additional RV camping near the Fairground:
Desert Terrace Mobile Estates, 5063 S Hwy 97, Redmond, OR, (541) 548-2546
Big Country RV, 2795 S Hwy 97, Redmond, OR, (800) 584-9019.
Nearby campgrounds:
Smith Rock State Park (https://smithrock.com/#intro).
You may search the internet for other camping options near Redmond.
Meals
Cost for meals associated with the Friday reception and the Saturday evening banquet are included in the registration fee. All other meal arrangements are the responsibility of attendees. Pack a lunch and carry it with you on the Saturday, Sunday, and Monday field trips. Most field trips involve travel into somewhat isolated areas (high clearance vehicles not required). It is critical that you begin each field trip with enough food and water for an all-day excursion.
Welcome Reception
On Friday afternoon, beginning at 5 pm, we will host a welcome reception at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds Middle Sister Conference Room. The welcome reception will include a presentation on the flora of central Oregon given by one of our local botanical or resource specialist. Banquet The annual meeting banquet and business meeting will be held at the Deschutes County Fairgrounds Middle Sister Conference Room on Saturday evening. A reception will start at 6 pm with the meal served at 7 pm. Following the meal, we will conduct a short business meeting and then be treated to a keynote speech by one of our local knowledgeable botanists.
Schedule
Please find the meeting schedule on it's own page here.
Registration
To register for the meeting, fill out the online registration form and make payment through the APS website. To access the online registration form, click here, and follow the instructions to pay using a credit/debit card. Alternately, download and print the registration form here, fill in the appropriate information, and send the form along with a check for registration fees to:
Lupita Wesseler
2841 NE Shepard Road
Bend, OR 97701-5825
Email questions to:
Note: You must be a member of the American Penstemon Society to attend the annual meeting. If you are not a member and wish to attend, please fill out and submit the online registration form on the membership page.
Keynote Speakers
Maret Pajutee worked on the Sisters Ranger District for over 25 years, starting as a fire lookout and then working in sustainable forestry, watershed restoration, recreation management, post-fire rehabilitation, and invasive and rare plant species management. She worked on ecological studies and surveys of the rare endemic Peck’s penstemon to assemble known information and update management strategies for this fire evolved species, found only in the Sisters area. Maret also served as a team leader of public land partnerships addressing controversial issues such as old growth management, name changes to meet Tribal Trust Responsibilities, and recreation management to protect Wild and Scenic River values. She retired as a District Ecologist for the Sisters Ranger District of the U.S. Forest Service in 2016. She continued to serve on the Forest Service National Collaboration Cadre until 2020. In 2020, she was appointed by the Governor to the Oregon Conservation and Recreation Fund Advisory Committee which provides a new way to fund conservation and sustainable recreation in Oregon. She has a Master’s degree in Entomology and a Bachelor’s degree in Zoology from Oregon State University. She lives across from a fire lookout in Sisters Oregon with her husband Rod Bonacker.
Nan C. Vance, PhD, Research Plant Physiologist Emeritus, USDA Forest Service. A plant physiologist/ecologist and leader of the Biology and Culture of Forest Plants Team, Pacific Northwest Research Station, Nan also served on the graduate faculty in the Department of Forest Science, and Plant Physiology Program at Oregon State University. Over 20 years she presented and published 40 papers in the physiological ecology, restoration biology and pollination ecology of native forest and prairie plants of the northwestern U.S. Now, as a retiree perennially in the field, she enjoys exercising her curiosity and lifelong devotion to plants and insects in the wild. She tries to relay the natural phenomena of their interactions and relationships and their beauty through photographic communication.
Carrie Gordon retired in 2017. She was the Forest Geologist on the Ochoco National Forest and Crooked River National Grassland, U.S. Forest Service, headquartered in Prineville, OR.
In 1977, Carrie received her BA in Geology from Central Washington State College (now Central Washington University), Ellensburg, Washington. After working in central Washington, northern Arizona and the Oregon central coast range for the Forest Service, Carrie moved to central Oregon in 1992. She is a Registered Geologist i n the States of Oregon and Washington. She is also an Oregon Master Naturalist, through the OSU Extension program. Carrie has had a life long fascination with the land and the rocks, listening to the stories they tell.
Field Trip Leaders
David Miller - Volunteer with the Deschutes Land Trust will lead a hike to the Metolius River Preserve. David Miller is a retired electrician whose hobbies include classic guitar, writing fiction, and the study of native plants. He was a docent for six years at the Regional Parks Botanic Garden and more recently at the Audubon Canyon Ranch in California. Since moving to Sisters he has been fascinated by the flora on both sides of the Cascades. He likes to enliven his wild plant tours with stories, history, Indian uses, principles of botany, and even some evolutionary theory. He is currently working on a novel called The First Bird.
Brad and Christina Mead - Received their bachelor’s degree in Botany from Oregon State University. They have both worked careers surveying for rare plants and controlling invasive weeds. Brad currently works as an Invasive Program Manager for a public utility district, and Christina works as a botanist for the Forest Service. In their spare time they enjoy botanizing and working on their native plant landscaping at home.
Charmane Powers -Retired in 2020 from the U.S. Forest Service, where she served as a ranger district botanist in Bend, Oregon, protecting rare plants, chasing weeds, and her favorite: doing native plant restoration work. Prior to that, she worked on several bird-related projects, including surveys for breeding Upland Sandpipers, a field season at a Nature Conservancy preserve where she monitored nesting Sandhill Cranes, three seasons surveying/monitoring Spotted Owls, and banding birds in remote places in SE Oregon. Since retiring she has continued her passion for plants by volunteering with botanical projects on public land as well as on the private reserves of the Deschutes Land Trust. She received a Bachelor of Science degree from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Washington, where she focused on birds and native plants.
Jill Welborn - Grew up in the Pacific Northwest and loves to share her love of plants and the Ochocos with others. She holds an M.S. in Botany from the University of Wyoming and has done botanical work in New Mexico, South Dakota, Wyoming, and Oregon. She served as Paulina Ranger District Botanist for the Ochoco National Forest from 2014 to 2021. She is a member of the High Desert Chapter Native Plant Society of Oregon and recently led a spectacular hike in the Ochoco scablands surrounding Big Summit Prairie.
Geri Wildenberg is a new member of the American Penstemon Society. Originally from Wisconsin, Geri retired to Bend after completing a 33-year career as a Department of Army Engineer and adjunct college professor. Along with skiing, hiking, and fly-fishing, she has held a life-long passion for birding and gardening. Geri has developed an interest in native plants since moving to Central Oregon, especially those which attract hummingbirds. She looks forward to learning more about Penstemons and the role they play in supporting hummingbird populations. Geri and her husband Joe live in Tumalo with their dog, Jake. They make trips “back east” to visit family as often as they can (when they are not in the mountains or on the water!)
Additional information
See the links at the bottom of this page for additonal information.
Documents for the meeting will be uploaded and updated to the website