Stop and Smell Our Local Wildflowers

Do you like to explore our community by foot or bike? Have you ever wanted to learn more about our local flowers?

The Belmont Parks and Recreation, in partnership with Girl Scout Cadette Troop 30888, is pleased to announce a new wildflower catalog now posted at all trailheads along Water Dog Lake Park.

Over this past year, four girls from Girl Scout Troop 30888, have been working hard on their Silver Award project. The Girl Scout Silver Award is the highest award a Girl Scout Cadette can earn with a focus on leadership and leaving a lasting impact on their local communities.

Taking Root
The scouts, along with their friends and families, would take local hikes and runs, and would come back with pictures of the beautiful flowers they’d see along the way, but had no way to identify them. This created the basis for their project, and they went from there.

The girls then went down to the City of Belmont Parks and Recreation Department and met with Park Manager, Mr. Daniel Ourtiague. After the girls pitched their idea, Ourtiague was elated. The Belmont Parks and Recreation had been wanting to do something similar for quite some time, but had never had the time or resources—until the girls came along. They were excited to help their local Parks and Recreation department while also learning more about the flora in the area.

The Girl Scouts then spent many hours hiking through the different Water Dog Lake trails, taking pictures of the different flowers they came upon. They then went back and researched and identified all the plants they could, met with local botanists from the Ladera Garden and Gifts nursery and even drove down to Livermore to meet with flower enthusiast Maryann Hannon who put together a catalog similar to what they were aiming for, to help identify the rest.

The Catalog Blooms
After the research was completed, the girls compiled and designed a colorful, informative catalog of more than 40 local wildflowers including scientific name, history, blooming season and other interesting facts. The girls also met and collaborated with Daniel Ourtiague at several points throughout the process before finalizing the printed catalog.

Did you know the California Pearly
Everlasting blooms mid-summer to
early fall and it’s petals spread out to
reveal a cluster of seeds?

So next time you are on a walk, hike, run or bike ride on any of Water Dog Lake trails, don’t forget to pick up this new catalog and enjoy learning about our local wildflowers!

For additional information:

City of Belmont Parks and Recreation Department:
30 Twin Pines Park
Belmont, CA 94002

Daniel Ourtiague, Park Manager
dourtiague@belmont.gov
For more information visit: http://www.belmont.gov/parksandrec

Girl Scouts of Northern California:
Girl Scouts of Northern California serves a diverse membership of 49,000 girls and over 31,000 adult volunteers in a nineteen county area from Gilroy to the Oregon border. Girl Scouts builds girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place. For more information visit: www.GSNorCal.org

The Girl Scout Silver Award is an award where a Girl Scout Cadette works to complete a series of leadership challenges and an extensive service project in her community. It takes a minimum of 50 hours of preparation, planning and work to accomplish the Silver Award goals a girl sets for herself. For more information on the Silver Award visit: www.GSNorCal.org/en/about-girl-scouts/badges-and-awards/silver.html