Welcome to Sulfur Canyon! An area carved out by time and grazed by cattle in various areas… So majestic!!! ^_^

Welcome to Central Washington! A land carved out by the mighty Missoula floods 13,000-15,000 years ago. The landscape of sagebrush and basalt may look a little hostile, but with a closer look you can see this area is rich in life and diversity! Our journey takes us to an area called Sulfur Canyon. This land was named after some of the hot springs located in the region. Small ravines are found all over the landscape. These areas provide shelter and ideal growing conditions for a variety of small trees, shrubs, and many forbs. Some of the sagebrush found in the ravine have access to deep soils. This allows the sagebrush to reach heights of over six feet tall! Many deer, small mammals, birds, and rattlesnakes love to live in these small linear oases. Just be careful where you step, there is always something that might surprise you in this area…

Point and case. When you are traveling through the talus slopes or rocky areas along the streams, you may see a lot of rattlesnakes (Crotalus viridis). I will name this one Big Hungry Joe.

Let us move to the top of the Sulfur Canyon area. You probably expected a vast canyon with shear drop offs, fortunately for us we only have small ravines to cross. No large canyon to pass through this time! Most of the land that covers Sulfur Canyon is called Biscuit and Swale grassland steppe. Ha, I saw that look you gave me. Yes, biscuit and swale grassland steppe. This is an unusual type of habitat. Notice how there are islands of sagebrush surrounded by lithosol soils? The “vegetative islands” contain deeper soils that allow forbs, grasses, and shrubs to easily grow in. The surrounding lithosols have very shallow, rocky soil. These areas make suitable habitat for the Washington Ground Squirrel (Spermophilus washingtoni…Genus recently changed to Urocitellus) and Pygmy Rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis). These creatures can easily make homes in the deeper soils and form colonies that are protected by the brush vegetation above!

Some biscuit and swale range in this area. You can’t really see it, but there are lithosols and isolated pockets of tall sagebrush.

Lithosol soil with a variety of forbs and grasses! A biscuit can be seen 75 feet away.

We have been getting a large amount of rain lately, so the forbs are absolutely thriving! Let us look closely at the forbs growing in the lithosols. These types of soils are very hostile for many types of large plants to grow in, but many other plants adapted to dry, hot, rocky soils can thrive for a few weeks. As you can see, the common plants that are flowering now are Eriogonum thymoides, Lomatium macropcarpum, Lewisia rediviva, and Talinum spinescens.

Lewisia rediviva: Bitterroot!

This is amazing!!! I never seen that much bitterroot in my life! You are very lucky to see all of these plants blooming. This would make a fantastic SOS collection when they go to seed!! Extra bonus, you get to see a biscuit mound in the background!

Let us head northwards to the Grimes and Jameson Lake area. The sagebrush steppe in this area appears to be very healthy. There are some thick patches of Bromus tectorum, but overall this area contains good sage grouse territ….. (rattling intensifies)

WATCH OUT!!!! Wow! That was a close one! Another rattlesnake. O_O We will just watch our step as we make our way to the lakes…We should also call this rattlesnake, Jörmungandr.

Hey! We are next to a Golden Eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) nest!! Let’s check it out! Recently, there has been a lot of golden eagle activity in the area. Both of the adult golden eagles are soaring around the area looking for food. The little white fuzzball you see is named Boo. This eaglet is about four to five weeks old and loves to walk around the nest like Godzilla. In the afternoon, one of the parents come by and shelters Boo from the harsh sun. Hopefully, this little one would grow into an adult and become successful at life.

The little fuzzball in the middle, Boo, is exploring the vast world of its nest.

By Grimes and Jameson Lake, you can see a variety of wetland wildlife. Mainly, waterfowl and yellow headed black birds (Xanthocephalus xanthocephalus) are the most common birds to see. You may hear a Sora (Porzana carolina) or a Snipe (Gallinago delicata) if you are lucky!! One problem this wetland is facing is the amount of weeds that are found in the area. Dalmatian toadflax (Linaria dalmatica), knapweed (Centaurea spp.), and various bromes are the pesky ones to control. This is a very beautiful area to look for forbs and to go fishing, but you might want to check your shoes for Bromus seeds. They love to travel! >_>;;

Yellow Headed Blackbirds found near a rural farm in the area.

Dalmatian toadflax all over the freakin’ place!! D:

One moment! Let me get the JUNO GPS system out. One of my jobs is to record locations of weeds throughout the Wenatchee Resource Area. This data collection is for the NISIMS (National Invasive Species Information Management System) project and will help with future restoration efforts. Dalmatian toadflax is not a really good plant to have around in abundance…..(rattling intensifies)

Another close call! That rattlesnake did not want us approaching its home! O_O…okay seriously let us head away from the talus slopes…

Sulfur Canyon and the surrounding region has many diverse plants and animals as you could see. The BLM in Wenatchee are making efforts to promote sage grouse restoration  and to reduce long term grazing. The area that we are in is going through a few range land health evaluations to help with the assessment of the overall area. In the future, we are hoping that rare animals like the pygmy rabbit, greater sage grouse and the Washington ground squirrel will thrive here and spread to parallel allotments to increase their populations.

BLM Legends reviewing range land health guidelines in order to help write various future reports.

I hope you enjoyed this short tour of Sulfur Canyon! See you next time!

And now….. Your Moment of Zen….