Greetings from Lakeview! I write today in the midst of a town festival. Although Lakeview is small in size, it’s large in celebration. Today’s festival is called Occupy E Street. The entertainment list boasts a car show, BBQ, and several local vendor booths. The streets are buzzing with people and the music choices are an auditory delight. Today is a lovely day off, yet I find myself continuing to think about plants.

So far we have made 26 SOS collections. It has been a successful few months of SOS work as well as other tasks performed for the BLM office. Another one of my favorite collections has been of Eriogonum heracleoides (parsnipflower buckwheat).

A mix of Eriogonum species at Sagehen Butte. Heracleoides has an orange top in this photo at its current stage in the life cycle.

What makes this species differ from its counterparts is the whorle of oblanceolate leaves surrounding the middle part of the stem.

View from Sagehen

This is a photograph of another expanded view from Sagehen Butte. In the distance Camas Creek runs through the valley and Fish Creek rim is off in the far left center.

Next I would like to take you to one of my (and Kayla’s) favorite places in Lake County. Introducing:

The Devil’s Garden

The Devil’s Garden is an ominous basalt bed north of Lakeview. Here we collected Chamaebatiaria millefolium (desert sweet) aka fern bush.

We also spent two days here caving for signs of bats and potential bat habitat. An issue for bats in the northeast to central United States is called white-nose syndrome. This is a fungus responsible for impacting the lives of millions of hibernating bats in this country. Healthy potential bat habitats are pertinent to the livelihood of this species.

Here Kayla and another tech climb out of a cave that was surveyed on our first outing.

In other news, Crater Lake National Park is only 113 miles from Lakeview, so we took an impromptu trip a few weeks ago to visit beautiful Crater Lake.

A view of the lake and Wizard Island from the rim of Crater Lake.

Crater Lake formed from the eruption of Mount Mazama around 7,700 years ago and created this amazing caldera. Today it is filled with fresh rainwater and has no entry from any other water sources like creeks or streams. It is one of the freshest bodies of water in the world.

The excursion was an experience of a lifetime. I recommend this site to anyone who has the chance to visit.

This time, I leave you all with a cute photo of a horny toad that Kayla and I found in the field.

Until next time,

Erin