NICE, Calif. – On Wednesday, April 13, a special program entitled “Why is our region a hotspot of botanical diversity?” will be presented at the Rodman Slough Preserve Nature Education Center at 6350 Westlake Road.

The program will start at 6 p.m. and because of limited space at the center, reservations are being requested. This can be accomplished by calling the land trust office at 707-262-0707.

If you asked the average person on the street where the nearest global biodiversity hotspot was, what answers would you expect? Maybe the Brazilian rainforests? Indonesia? Well, how about California and, even more specifically, right where we are living, in Lake County?

In our region, a unique climate and a complex geologic history result in tremendous variation in how moisture, temperature, soil types and soil nutrients come together.

These factors govern how plants distribute themselves across the landscape, and provide opportunities for the evolution of species that associate with unique conditions.

The end result is that we are living in one of the 25 locations across the globe that together comprise only 1.4 percent of the earth’s surface but contain 44 percent of vascular plants and 35 percent of vertebrate species on the planet.

Cathy Koehler, executive director of the Lake County Land Trust and co-director of the McLaughlin Reserve, will give an overview of the processes that have lead to California, and our small corner of it in particular, being one of these amazing hotspots of biodiversity.

We hope you can join us.