At over 10,000 feet, Relay Peak boasts a beautiful and unique landscape from any in the Lake Tahoe Basin. As you climb the slope on the rocky service road, the change in plant communities is striking, going from lodgepole pine forest to alpine fellfield quite rapidly. Near the peak, most plants are herbaceous and low-growing, and whatever trees or bushes grow have gnarled and twisted branches.

The reason for my visit to this singular place was to look for plants on LTBMU’s sensitive plants and watch list, of which there are 43 in total. Although it required a short hike up a somewhat steep trail, we were fortunate to find two of them. Tahoe draba (Draba asterophora var. asterophora) is a succulent member of the family Brassicaceae, and it grows only here and on a couple of the surrounding mountains. The other rare plant found was Austin’s milkvetch (Astragalus austiniae) from the family Fabaceae, which has a wider range but is still limited to the high peaks of the northeastern Sierras.

Better still, while at Relay Peak, we discovered several seed collection target species. One of these is Solidago multiradiata, a clumping, yellow-flowered member of Asteraceae. Another was the very cute, purple-flowered Brewer’s lupine (Lupinus breweri). The lupine is the population we will likely collect from because there is a lot more of it and it will probably be more useful for revegetation projects.

To my surprise, whitebark pine was growing along the ridge of the mountain nearly to the peak. My cointern and I chose a trunk of one of these as a candidate for future cone collection. This candidate tree was one of the tallest and healthiest, and it had many second-year cones, indicating that it has good potential for seed production. In whitebark pine, mature cones are rarely found with seeds still intact, as they are coveted by many animals as a food source. Clark’s nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) is especially important in opening the closed cones and dispersing seeds. Because of this, however, a cage will be put up around this tree to safekeep the cones. In later years, tree climbers will visit the tree and collect them.

Now that most of our target species are past their flowering period and starting to seed, we will begin seed collection very soon, which I am very excited about.

Now that I am well settled in my forest and becoming more experienced with the botanical landscape of the region, my co-intern and I have begun conducting more in-depth scouting of target species for seed collection. Although I get nervous hearing that interns at other forests have already been collecting seed, LTBMU seems to be unique in that a lot of its native plants will begin seeding within the next month or two.

One species that I have been seeing a lot is Anderson’s thistle (Cirsium vulgare). This Asteraceae member has bright pink flowers and is mildly spiny. It also grows from one to a few stems, whereas the invasive bull thistle (Cirsium vulgaris) is generally much more highly branched. The majority of the populations I have seen are in the process of flowering, with only a few individuals in each beginning to seed. Interestingly, some of the largest populations I have visited are growing in an area burned by the Caldore Fire in 2021, which was among the largest known in California.

A target species that has become one of my favorites is Eriogonum wrightii. This low growing, silver-leafed member of the family Polygonaceae likes dry and rocky areas. Its small white flowers and small, matting habit make it, in my opinion, a very adorable plant.

Other collection plants we have scouted include squirreltail (Elymus elymoides), spreading dogbane (Apocynum androsaemifolium), Brewer’s lupine (Lupinus breweri), and heart-leaf milkweed (Ascelpias cordifolia, which showed signs of possible monarch butterfly herbivory). Besides that, I have been enjoying the amazing views whenever I get the chance.

Driving up from the Central Valley of California, I was struck by the rapidly changing landscape as I wound my way up Highway 50. Already, I knew I was lucky to work here for the next several months. Not only was I met with gorgeous views, I noticed a remarkably cooler temperature, feeling grateful to escape the almost-one-hundred-degree heat back home.

Lake Tahoe is nested within the Tahoe Basin, surrounded by peaks on all sides. At about 6,500 feet above sea level, the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit is where I will employ, hone, and develop my skills as botanist.

Almost immediately, I began exploring the flora of the Lake Tahoe region, expanding my collection of iNaturalist observations. Being at a such a high elevation, this area can support plants unique from the lower, hotter, and drier areas to the east and west. Some of my favorite sightings of native plants include Scouler’s St. John’s wort (Hypericum scouleri), white bog orchid (Platanthera dilatata), Washington lily (Lilium washingtonianum, although it was not in bloom), and Oregon checker mallow (Sidalcea oregana). The majority of these were found growing in meadows or along streams. The Washington lily, however, inhabited a very sunny and dry slope.

A lot of my time in the field so far has been spent remediating introduced species invasion to reduce their impact on native flora and their habitat. One of the particularly prolific species is bull thistle (Cirsium vulgare). Bull thistle tends to grow in damp areas–in the vicinity of streams or in wet meadows. The preferred treatment for this weed is manual pulling, with a hori-hori making sure to take as much of the thick taproot as possible. If a plant begins bolting or flowering, the inflorescence has to be cut, bagged, and tossed in the garbage. Its sharp spines make leather gloves absolutely necessary. A native look-alike species, Anderson’s thistle (Cirsium andersonii) looks extremely similar, and I spent some time learning to distinguish the two. For one, the flower head is vase-shaped in bull thistle and cylinder-shaped in Anderson’s. The leaves on bull thistle are much rougher and its stems grow spines. It is also very helpful that Anderson’s thistle usually grow in drier locations, so the two species often don’t overlap.

Toward the end of the month, me and Kendall, my co-intern, have begun preliminarily checking out seed collection sites, and I am especially looking forward to doing more work with the whitebark pine. I hope there is much to update about this in the future.