Dylan Layfield: Vascular Flora of Sand Canyon

Dylan Layfield will give a presentation on the “Vascular Flora of Sand Canyon”. This canyon is located to the north of Grapevine Canyon and south of No Name Canyon. Sand Canyon has diverse plant species due to its long stretches of continuous water in both the Main Fork and South Fork of the canyon. In addition, elevations ranging from 2,800 ft to 7,989 ft allow for unique transition zones between the Mojave Desert, the Great Basin, and the Sierra Nevada. Sand Canyon is one of the larger and less-traveled canyons in the eastern Owens Peak Wilderness.

As an avid hiker and explorer, Dylan put this talent to use in the extensive Sand Canyon watershed, where he began his independent floristic project in 2020. The plants in this area of the Owens Peak Wilderness are not well documented, with most collections concentrated near the base of the canyon and on the northeastern aspects of Spanish Needle. Dylan’s presentation covers the history of Sand Canyon, previous collections, and some of his favorite plants growing there.

Dylan graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt with a BS in Environmental Science and Management (emphasis in ecological restoration). He became extremely interested in plants and soils during his time at Humboldt and seasonal jobs with the Forest Service. Currently, Dylan works as a Natural Resources Specialist on NAWS China Lake, where he has spent many hours studying, cataloguing, managing, and remediating ecosystems for native plants and animal species such as the Joshua tree and the federally listed Inyo California Towhee.