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Forrest M. Mims III
By far the most exciting part of editing The Citizen Scientist is sharing with you the latest discovery by an amateur scientist.
Recently I spotted news stories about David Gowen, an amateur botanist who discovered two previously undescribed species of plants at Lime Ridge Open Space near downtown Walnut Creek, California. It didn't take long to track down an article and a full account of the discovery on the Save Mount Diablo web site. Save Mount Diablo issued a very detailed media release about Gowen's discoveries that included this brief biography about Gowen that I hope you will read:
Figure 1. David Gowen, discoverer of the Lime Ridge Navarretia and the Lime Ridge Woollystar, is shown here with a Navarretia specimen. Photograph by Scott Hein.
"David Gowen is a retired carpenter who lives in Oakland and spends much of his time botanizing. Although he’s 62, you’d never know it. About 6’, wiry and fit, he smiles all the time and looks about 45 or 50—and hikes fast up steep slopes whether there’s a trail or not. Only his wavy grey hair and sun weathered skin hint at his age. He is positive and enthusiastic and at the same time humble and shy.
"A Southern California native who moved to the Bay Area in 1965, his life has been characterized by succeeding obsessions centered on the outdoors. He collected snakes as a kid, raised hawks and bird watched, which led to hang gliding, became a runner and triathlete, then stumbled on botany, 'Plants were just another reason to be outside wandering around looking at things,' said Gowen. He’s an amateur botanist associated with the California Native Plant Society (CNPS) but is by any measure an expert and a professional. He went on his first CNPS hike, at Mt. Diablo around 1990. 'I’d lived here thirty years and had never been to Mt. Diablo. It was incredible, that it was so rich and so close.'"
Figure 2. Lime Ridge Navarretia (Navarretia gowenii) and Lime Ridge Woollystar (Eriastrum sp. nov.). Photograph by Scott Hein.
Amateur astronomers have long excelled at discovering new comets and asteroids. There was a time when all new plants, fungi and animals were discovered by amateur naturalists, and David Gowen has proved that more such discoveries are just waiting to be made, sometimes right under our feet.
For full details about Gowen's discovery, see the feature story in this installment of The Citizen Scientist. 
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