We have recently been doing a lot of surveying for Eriogonum robustum, a rare buckwheat that only grows on altered andesite soils and is only known from the Virginia Range in western Nevada and from one other area near Reno. It’s pretty country, and the soil type really stands out because of its color and because it’s sparsely vegetated, and often the vegetation is unusual for the area. You don’t often see tree species like jeffrey pine and especially white fir and western white pine in the area otherwise.

We also recently did some surveying for another rare buckwheat, Eriogonum diatomaceum. It only grows in diatomaceous earth, and it is only known from diatomaceous deposits in Churchill Narrows in western NV. We did some surveying in Mineral County, NV, and though we didn’t find any E. diatomaceum, we did come across some huge mining pits. Part of me was bothered by them because huge areas were completely torn up and deeply excavated. It’s public land. It belongs to everyone, but mining interests were allowed to destroy it to get what they wanted and then leave the rest of us with a permanently altered landscape. But at the same time…it looked really cool. Dune-like mounds of white, diatomaceous earth bordering white, canyon-like pits that might have beautiful, exposed strata. Was it worth it? Plants are growing all over it, so it’s not like it’s barren and sterile, and maybe what was there before was a lot less interesting. But then maybe what was there before was amazing, and it was ruined partly so that house cats can more conveniently go to the bathroom indoors (diatomaceous earth is used for cat litter, among other things). I’ll never know.