SO BE FREE  #14

March 24 - 27, 2009  

Central Sierra Nevada near Oakhurst, California

Organized by Paul Wilson, Brent Mishler and Jim Shevock

The 2009 SO BE FREE was held in the lower elevations of the central Sierra Nevada. We were based at Calvin Crest Conference Center near Oakhurst, California. Calvin Crest is at 5,000 ft elevation, and has great facilities (www.calvincrest.com), with bryophytes right on the grounds there for the picking. Calvin Crest is completely surrounded by the Sierra National Forest. Field trips also ventured out to lower elevations near Bass Lake, and to the foothills at San Joaquin Experimental Range and San Joaquin River Gorge. These areas offered great sites for montane coniferous forest, oak woodland with rocky outcrops, chaparral, and gorges of all sizes cut through granite by swiftly flowing waters. Bryophyte diversity spanned a life-strategy range from California's spring ephemerals to the brown mosses of continuously wet sites. The wildflowers were great, too!

On the left are some photographs by Joanna Clines.