WHO WE ARE

The Sanhedrin Chapter of the California Native Plant Society comprises the inland part of Mendocino County and all of Lake County, within the ancestral lands of the Yuki, Cahto, Wailaki, Northern, Eastern, Southern and Central Pomo peoples, among many others.  To learn more, visit the Native Land digital map. 

 

While the active core members generally reside in the 40-mile long inland valley corridor between Hopland to the south and Willits to the north, we welcome engagement from the larger chapter area.

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The chapter is named for Sanhedrin Mountain, one of the tallest peaks in the Mendocino National Forest, with views of the Pacific Ocean, the Bay Area and even Mount Shasta, far to the north. 

 

Chapter Focus

Our members are composed of land managers, plant scientists, plant enthusiasts, horticulturalists, and gardeners.  Our chapter focuses on offering field trips and educational programs, native plant gardening education, volunteering for restoration and rehabilitation of native landscapes, providing information about local native plant communities, rare, threatened or endangered plants to relevant parties. 

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Chapter History

The first CNPS activities occurred several years before the Sanhedrin Chapter was formed when Lucille (Lou) McKinney of Ukiah, a member of the Milo Baker Chapter, organized and advertised Milo Baker field trips in Mendocino County. This drew the Mendocino and Lake County wildflower lovers out of their own backyards and woods and into the wider realms of botanical diversity—from redwood forest, through mixed oak and conifer woodlands, along the riparian corridors of the Russian and Eel rivers, into the chaparral scrub and vernal pools of the Mayacamas Mountains and then higher onto some of the loftiest peaks in the northern inner coast ranges: Hull, Sanhedrin, Anthony, and Snow. When sufficient interest and momentum was attained as a result of these flower outings and mushroom forays, it was decided to organize a new CNPS chapter north of Sonoma County and this became Sanhedrin, named for the dominant peak east of Highway 101 between Ukiah and Willits.