(reprint from Jan/Feb 2001 Sego Lily Vol. 24 no. 1)
The Sego Lily In Its 20th Year: A Look Back


By Tony Frates
Utah Native Plant Society

In January of 1982 the UNPS newsletter first proudly displayed the words:

T H E  S E G O  L I L Y

So it is with this issue of The Sego Lily that the publication begins its remarkable twentieth year.

Our logo on that issue for still several months to come and which had been the official UNPS symbol over the prior several years was a beautiful drawing of Penstemon utahensis by the indefatigable (and even then legendary) Kaye Thorne. She would later design the first “Sego Lily” logo which remained in use from the June/July 1982 issue through the end of 1986; the masthead which has then remained in continuous use ever since was designed by the talented Lisa McClanahan.

That was certainly not however the first UNPS newsletter. Since the society’s first meeting on September 30, 1978 (see Stan Welsh’s opening remarks, the full text of which is on our web site at http://www.unps.org and which was published in the March 1979 newsletter and again later in the Sept/Oct 1998 issue), the very first newsletter (we’re talking Vol. 1 No. 1) was dated November of 1978. And some newsletters, mostly concentrating on threatened and endangered plant species had been circulated in 1979 and 1980 (although my collection only contains four or five newsletters from 1979 to 1980).

It was the fall of 1981. Since the beginning of the field season that year, no newsletter had been sent out. Dick Hildreth, director of the State Arboretum and a founding father of the organization (who I first met in the winter of 1980-81 in his cozy greenhouse behind the Park Building at the University of Utah) was chairman of the board. Duane Atwood was vice president. Barbara Halliday was the president and Glen Halliday, her husband, was the treasurer. Dave Anderson then of Native Plants Inc. was secretary. Pam Poulson, whose long- time and tireless service to UNPS later as a chapter/state president and as a chairperson/board member which has been matched by only a very few others (Dick and Duane are two of the few exceptions along with Dick Page who was a board member at this time), was then the photography committee chairperson.

In an Executive Committee meeting held at Barbara’s house in November of 1981 (which in addition to Barbara and Glen included as far as I can remember Dick and possibly Duane and Dave as well as myself), we recognized the critical nature that the newsletter played in maintaining the vitality of the organization. For many members it is/was, their only tangible benefit. Absent a strong base of members, UNPS would likely not be able to accomplish its conservation centered goals. Therefore an informative, interesting newsletter with a greater variety of content and a regular system of circulation was essential we felt to the organization’s survival.

Further we felt that the newsletter needed a name. We all had our own ideas (none of which I don’t believe included the obvious) but felt that we needed to exempt ourselves and so in the December 1981 newsletter we had a “name the newsletter” contest.

In choosing the winner (I can’t even remember what the other proposed names even were), it was self-evident what the name should be. The contest winner, Helen Shields (who I believe was the wife of Lester Shields, the Salt Lake chapter president of the time, who recently passed away) said it best as published in the January, 1982 newsletter:

“Not only is the Sego Lily one of the most beautiful of flowers, but out state flower, and becoming a rare and endangered plant - particularly around Salt Lake City.”

When a logo was being selected for the then unnamed newsletter and for letterhead, the Sego Lily wasn’t even one of the four finalist plants that members had apparently voted on (see the March 1979 newsletter). But clearly the name “Sego Lily” would identify the newsletter as really nothing else could even though technically it was not an endangered or threatened plant species.

As the society actively embarks on its 23rd year of existence, the newsletter has successfully recorded and communicated the thoughts, activities, and accomplishments (and setbacks) of its botanist and non-botanist members and has been the fabric holding us together regardless of the level of our individual involvement. And it will continue to do so. It is in that sense perhaps one of the greatest overall/single achievements by UNPS over the past twenty-plus years.

As I have attempted to cursorily re-review all of these newsletters (other than those that I have to my dismay lost or misplaced over the years) in my search part for references and to identify potential articles for inclusion on our web site, I was struck by the sheer wealth of information these newsletters represent. Who would have thought in those pre-Internet days how valuable some of this information might become.

(In 1981, the mention of surfing might conjure up The Beach Boys, PC meant “professional corporation,” and chatting was something that you did in a hallway with friends; the word processor that Barbara Halliday used in 1981-1982 involved the kind of dedicated word processing software that was a one trick pony which only ran on a specific hardware platform and which could be afforded usually only by large corporations, law firms and government agencies, and had names like Wang, Dictaphone, NBI, CPT, Lanier and Redactron. How times have changed.)

It was further recognized by the original UNPS board (Dick Page, Art Holmgren, Walt Miller, Duane Atwood, Stan Welsh, Elizabeth Neese, Dick Hildreth, Mike Alder, Ed Schlatterer and Bob Thompson) that the newsletter could serve as a source document for recommendations of candidate plant species under the Endangered Species Act as well as identify “sensitive” plant species in general that various government agencies should take into account in their management plans and other actions. (UNPS in fact was formed due to a growing concern for the protection of rare plant species.)

And in fact, the newsletter (especially from lists published in the 80’s) has served that purpose as well. As one example, the Sego Lily was cited as a reference in support of a US Fish & Wildlife Service action (see http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-SPECIES/1999/October/Day-20/e27187.htm).

The newsletter has also served in its more recent history as a place to publish articles that have appeared nowhere else often relating to studies that UNPS has funded. The sheer ability of UNPS to be able to fund studies relating to, for example, rare plants, was not possible until member and other activities (for example poster sales) in part made this even possible.

While there have been many, many authors of articles who have made countless contributions to the content of our newsletters, we must recognize the ultimate heroes who have served as a combination newsletter editor, publisher, author, designer, organizer, stapler, copier, mailer and more. Typically this has fallen on the shoulders of one, more rarely two, people. It typically involves the greatest amount of work of any UNPS job or activity. Without the work of these people, UNPS may well have not survived. These individuals have further typically carried on other roles both before, during and after their stints as editors in chief. (Further, the torch that Jo Stolhand and Larry/Therese Meyer have carried with respect to the newsletter for the past decade is truly remarkable.)

I’ve attempted to outline here those people who have served as the person responsible for getting out the newsletter (more glamorously called the newsletter editor!) or who was the de facto person who got the newsletter out even if they didn’t carry that official title. I have gleaned this from past newsletters and from what I can remember; this may therefore likely be an incomplete or otherwise imperfect list. I apologize in advance for missing anyone however I will be updating this list and attempt to maintain it in the future our web site at http://www.unps.org. If you have any addendums or corrections, please E-mail me or call me at 277-9240.

Time period				Newsletter editor(s)
1978-1980				Kaye Thorne
1981					Kaye Thorne and Elizabeth Neese
late 1981-1982                          Barbara Halliday
1983					Jennifer Harrington
1984					Kathy Mutz
1985					Pam Poulson
1986					Karen Milne
1987-1988				Lisa McClanahan  
1989-1990				Janet Williams
1991-early 1996                         Jo Stolhand (late 1992 Janet Williams)
early 1996-Feb 2001*                    Larry and Therese Meyer
Mar 2001-present*                       Mindy Wheeler and Paula Mohadjer*

Please consider helping UNPS continue its mission in this new century by volunteering to assist with the newsletter and carrying on this vital role.

*Denotes a change since this article was initially published. Larry and Therese Meyer produced their last newsletter with the Jan/Feb 2001 issue and passed the baton to fellow board members Mindy Wheeler and Paula Mohadjer.

Copyright 2001 Utah Native Plant Society