A couple days these last few weeks I was able to survey in a creek and a little bit in a spring-fed meadow. Because of this I have gotten to see some really cool plants that I don’t often see in the rest of the forest, which is much drier. An orchid sighting always brightens my day so I have included some photos of these cool water loving species.

Since my last post I have surveyed areas where there are fuels reduction projects and have also been revisiting legacy polygons of rare plants. Legacy polygons are locations of rare plants that were inferred before the era of GPS. These polygons have little to no information associated with them, so the goal of the revisits is to see if the plants are they, see if the population is accurately mapped, and then take notes about the area and what plant species are associated with the population.

My colleague and I are planning on doing a final print of the invasive plant guide for the Southern California mountains by late August or early September so we are working on final edits, touching up the design, and getting comments from fellow botanists.

This is the stream orchid Epipactis gigantea that is found throughout California. It was all along the creek that we surveyed as well.

Epipactis gigantea

The orchid Platanthera dilata var. leuchostachys that is found in wet places.

The adorable Mimulus primuloides. The leaves are covered in dew.

It is probably Botrychium minganense, but it has yet to be keyed out.

I was so excited when I found this Botrychium!

This federally threatened Castilleja cinerea was so crimson up in the higher elevation area I surveyed yesterday (about 9000 feet).

The Forest Service sensitive plant Boechera parishii.

HUGE (possibly) puffball mushroom!

The federally endangered Eremogone ursina that is endemic to the San Bernardino mountains.

The Forest Service sensitive Sidalcea malviflora ssp. dolosa that is found in wet meadows and streams.

Thanks to a snowy winter and relatively wet June, the huckleberries are out in full force around Missoula. While I’m partial to the wild Maine blueberries (being a New Englander at heart), I’m certainly loving the added lunch snack.

The summer is flying by, as it always does. I’ve continued to work on a wide array of projects at Missoula’s BLM office. This past month I’ve conducted forest inventory, helped cage whitebark pine cones, and monitored for the sensitive plant botrychium paradoxum. A camping trip and more forest monitoring is planned for August.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the past month:

Caging whitebark pine cones

Elk harem

Blanketflower, Gaillardia aristata

Enjoying soaking up new skills and spending my days in fields of indian paintbrush!

I spent last the past week surveying vegetation on Patos Island, the northernmost island in the San Juan Archipelago.  The 200 acre island is owned by the BLM and managed in conjunction with Washington State Parks.  Patos is home to one of four lighthouses in the San Juans (two of which are owned by the BLM) which was constructed in 1893 and has since guided ships traveling between the US and Canada.  Patos island, called isle de Patos by Spanish explorers, is translated to island of ducks, this name coming from a stone structure closely resembling a duck head and body on the eastern most point of the island.

The Namesake of the island, stone duck at Toe Point, Patos Island.

Patos Island is a popular spot for kayakers and boaters visiting the lighthouse, camping at its 7 pristine campsites, and exploring its 1.5 mile trail around the island.

Boats anchored in Active Harbor, Patos Island

Patos is a charming though challenging spot for a botanist.  As one of the wetter sites in the San Juans, it supports a vigorous plant community.  It supports novel species that grow only occasionally in other parts of the islands.  Among the prettier species are Tiger Lily (Lilium columbianam) White Fawn Lily (Erythronium oregonum), Red Huckleberry (Vaccinium parvifolium), Douglas Maple (Acer glabrum), Paper birch (Betula papyrifera), and Black Cottonwood (Populus tremuloides), Garry Oak (Quercus garryana) and, my favorite, California broomrape (Orobanche California var. californica).

Bluff with Garry Oak, Toe Point, East Patos Island

Patos also has an abundance of plants common elsewhere in the islands.  Walking from the shoreline to an interior transect, I was frequently confronted with a wall of shrubs (Salal, Nootka Rose, Baldhip Rose, Trailing Blackberry, and Oceanspray) that was more than 200 meters thick and 3 meters tall.  Upon reaching the interior, I found an undergrowth plant community dominated by 2 meter sword fern.

Despite obstacles and shrubbery, I completed 7 transects across the island using the AIM (Assessment, Inventory and Monitoring) strategy.  Transects were in woodland, forest, maintained grassland, and coastal bluffs. Outside of my transects, I began a plant list on the island and documented several invasive species that had penetrated the thick forest vegetation.  I found a marsh in the middle of the island as well as a garry oak habitat on the eastern shore.  Oh, and I took lots of pictures.

I hope everyone is enjoying their internships and the areas they are based out of.

Jennifer McNew

Sunset and Lighthouse at low tide

Mussels found all along Patos Island at low tide

Sunset on Canada. Isn’t Canada photogenic?