As more people join the botany survey crew here in Stanislaus forest our crews are filling out, leaders are getting organized, and we are getting ready to attack our surveys with full force! As the early season species we are surveying for disappear, we are starting to see a whole new wave of wildflowers. The last two weeks we have been seeing Clarkia species beginning to bloom, Eriophyllum nubigenum, and finding more Peltigera gowardii in streams.

The last two weeks have been dominated by mandatory trainings for the Forest Service as well as special trainings on soil profiling, habitat classification and orienteering. In the next week or two we will get more trainings on GIS and data analysis so we can begin to sort through the data we have been collecting.

Orobanche uniflora: hard to spot, but not uncommon

Eriophyllum nubigenum: Yosemite wooly sunflower

as the timber sales go through we will be seeing more logged slopes like this one here in the rim recovery area

Peltigera gowardii

-Emily Wells