Cactus & Succulent Society of America

2009 CSSA Convention in TUCSON

• Home
• Why Come?
• About Tucson
• Your Hosts
• Latest News
• Calendar
• Speakers
• Special Events
• The Hotel
• Sales
• The Plants
• What else?
• Registration
• FAQ
• ContactPost Convention trip to Sonora

 

 

 

 

April 16 - 23, 2009

Sonora’s Seaside Deserts & Tropical Thornscrub

CSSA Post-Convention Tour - April 16-23, 2009

 

An amazingly large cardon, Pachycereus pinglei, in the Sonora Desert © ASDM photo by Mark Dimmitt / ASDM Sonoran Desert Digital Library

The CSSA Field Trips Committee has organized a fabulous 8-day tour of Sonora, Mexico immediately following the 2009 Tucson Convention. Here are some of the details.

 ·    Botanical guides will be Matthew B. Johnson, Research Specialist and Curator, University of Arizona Desert Legume Program and author of Cacti, Other Succulents, and Unusual Xerophytes of Southern Arizona; and George Montgomery, Curator of Botany at Tucson’s Arizona Sonora Desert Museum.

·    This program is personally produced by Mary & Piet Van de Mark of Baja’s Frontier Tours – www.bajasfrontiertours.com - who pioneered learning vacations in the Sonoran Desert beginning in 1966. Tucson convention attendees are encouraged to sign up for this trip by October 1, 2008, as after that date it will be open to all CSSA members.

·    Registration is limited to just 19 participants. Registration will be on a first-come, first-served basis.

·    Travel through Sonora will be in comfortable new air-conditioned passenger vans, rear seats removed for luggage and no more than two people per seat. Radios connect the vans for questions and instruction en route.

·    The price is $2895 per person double occupancy; single occupancy private room is $475 additional.

Included

·      All comfortable lodging, transportation roundtrip from Tucson, botanical guides.

·      All breakfasts and lunches (many lunches afield); opening and closing banquets.

·      Travel/medivac/trip cancellation insurance.

·      A $200 donation to CSSA in the name of each participant.

·      Plant list and field handouts.

·      BFT’s helpful Personal Items List and a Suggested Reading List.

 

Not Included: Personal items; alcoholic beverages; five dinners; tips for waiters, maids, drivers and guides.

All participants must be CSSA members or associate members, with dues paid for 2008 and 2009.

Mexico prohibits the collection of its natural resources without proper permits. Therefore, collecting of plant materials, including plants, cuttings, and seeds, is prohibited on this trip.

Reserving now: Send name, address, email, and phone of each participant, along with your check (made out to Baja’s Frontier Tours, please) for the $300 per person deposit, to: Baja’s Frontier Tours, 6060 E. Calle Ojos Verde, Tucson, AZ 85750. (If you are not attending the convention, but would like to be placed on a waiting list in case space is available, send only contact information at this time.)

NOTE: Registration for this tour will be handled directly by Baja’s Frontier Tours.

Do not send tour registration fee with convention registration.

IMPORTANT: Please note that registration for this trip will be opened to all CSSA members October 1, 2008. Therefore, if you intend to attend the convention and participate in this trip, you will have a better chance of having a seat in the van if you send in your reservation before October 1. 

Trip Questions? For more information on logistical details of this trip, call Piet & Mary at Baja’s Frontier Tours: 520-887-2340, or email piet@bajasfrontiertours.com or go to: www.bajasfrontiertours.com

 

Botanical Questions? For more information on botanical aspects of the trip, or matters relating to CSSA, contact Field Trips Committee Chair Dan Mahr at dmahr@entomology.wisc.edu or phone 608-837-9340.

Sonora’s Seaside Deserts & Tropical Thornscrub

CSSA Post-Convention Tour - April 16-23, 2009

 

Daily Itinerary and Partial Plant Listing

 

Please note: for each stop below, only previously unseen plant taxa are listed. Plant sightings are likely, but not guaranteed, depending on time, weather, and local conditions. April 15th  is the last day of the Tucson convention.

 

April 16th – Day 1 - Welcoming banquet and trip orientation this evening at Inn Suites Tucson. Night in Tucson.

April 17th – Day 2 - Depart Tucson for Sonora, Mexico. Stop en route for tourist visas. Lunch en route to Hermosillo. Afternoon plant exploration in the Hermosillo area (Pachycereus schottii, Stenocereus thurberi Carnegia gigantea, Fouquieria splendens, F. macdougalii, Bursera fagaroides var. elongata, Bursera laxiflora,  Cylindropuntia spp., Opuntia spp.). Night in Hermosillo.

 

April 18th – Day 3 - Depart Hermosillo and drive west to the Sea of Cortez at Kino Bay, then north to the isolated Sonoran population of Boojums. Full day of plant exploration with picnic lunch afield (Fouquieria columnaris, Pachycereus pringlei, Bursera hindsiana, Bursera microphylla, Jatropha cinerea). Night in Hermosillo.

April 19th – Day 4 - Travel south from Hermosillo to Navojoa. Plant exploration and lunch in the Guaymas area en route (Agave colorata, Echinocereus llanuraensis, Ferocactus emoryi, Hechtia montana, Peniocereus marianus). Night in Navojoa.

April 20th – Day 5 - Travel from Navojoa to Alamos. Lunch in field and full day exploration of Sonora’s Tropical Thornscrub (Ficus spp. (at least 4 taxa), Agave angustifolia, Bursera grandifolia, Jatropha cordata, Pachycereus pecten-aboriginum, Stenocereus montanus, Pilosocereus alensis). Night in Navojoa. 

April 21st – Day 6 - Morning exploration of organ pipe forest south of Navojoa (Cylindropuntia thurberi, Ferocactus herrerae, Ibervillea sonorae, Pereskiopsis porteri, Stenocereus alamosensis, Pedilanthus macrocarpus) with lunch in field. Travel north to our seaside hotel on the Sea of Cortez. Night in San Carlos.

April 22nd – Day 7 - Morning exploration of nearby Nacapoule Canyon. Lunch in field. Afternoon plant exploration of San Carlos area (Agave chrysoglossa, Agave colorata (fortiflora), Ficus palmeri, Fouquieria diguettii, Jatropha cuneata, palms (3 taxa), Euphorbia ceroderma). Another lovely seaside night in San Carlos and our departing banquet.

April 23rd – Day 8 - Depart San Carlos hotel for Tucson. Lunch en route. International Border Crossing at Nogales (passports required). Our exact arrival time in Tucson at the end of this day is unpredictable, as it depends on border crossing expediency on re-entering the United States. Tour ends. Hotel is not included; we will provide participants with information regarding additional hotel reservations, as needed.