Greetings!
Out here in Carson City, since my last post we have done a ton of new things. I am glad to be able to identify so many plants of this area now, and testing out my latin skills with names of species! A few highlights from the last few weeks have included continuing to monitor for rare plants, specifically Ivesia webberi. One day several of us headed north to Plumas Station to look at a known population that had been mapped out in years prior. We parked the truck, took a hike and the search began! Fortunately, it didn’t take too long to find the appropriate location, and along the way stopped a few times to take in the beauty of the surrounding mountains and blooming flowers. Particularly from that day, what stands out in my head are the Balsamorhiza sagittata dotting the hillsides with an ever bright yellow color. Next along the walk, we noticed a ton of Castilleja chromosa in bloom. Several patches grouped together in clumps of yellow, orange and red- a nice reminder that this region is full of color and teeming with life.
Another recent and memorable day for me was taking a trip to the University of Nevada Herbarium in Reno. We took our specimans that have been collected this season for further verification. Upon arriving to the herbarium, a childlike sense of elation and excitement came over me as I just glanced at the huge libraries of decades old specimans perfectly intact. We spent the day comparing our samples with those that had been previously collected, reading species descriptions and characteristics, staring through a dissecting lense and learning a ton of new botany terminology. Slow at first, the identification eventually quickened and became almost like a game. I was most impressed by the collections made over one hundred years ago, still in great condition. I enjoyed reading the descriptions and little notes that had been jotted down about the species and location, almost like a snapshot in time.
As we wrap up another week here in Carson, I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend in the mountains and preparing for a week long MIM (Multiple Indicator Monitoring) training that begins on Monday.
Be well,
Andrew