Wasn’t it just last month I was saying that roads were flooded, we were concerned with getting stuck in mud, etc? Well, that was short lived. With the close of May, came the start of fire season. It wasn’t much longer after that the fire crew started on and reminders about how not to start wildfires were sent out. “Summer” is here.
While fires aren’t ideal, the drier weather means that the road I’ve been so (im)patiently awaiting to open is accessible! After 3 months of being flooded, I can now cross Telford Road to explore the northern half of our land! It is such a contrast to Telford South! South is more of a scabland like habitat.
The North Telford Road landscape is still dry, but it gets more water – as you can imagine, seeing as the road was flooded the first 3 months of my internship! The first day I got out there to explore I was so happy. Sticky geranium was everywhere, and there were more Rocky Mountain Irises, so you’d either find a bright pink or a deep purple depending where you were looking. I found a trail and decided to follow it to see where it would lead, hopefully not to the cattle, which were on a grazing rotation in a nearby allotment. Along the trail, I was pleasantly surprised with a gorgeous Penstemon which I had seen scarcely scattered along Telford South, but was growing in abundance in the Northern half. I brought it back to the office to ID. After giving it a go, I keyed it out to Penstemon gairdneri, Gairdner’s Penstemon. I took it over to my mentor’s cube and had her verify; she was pretty surprised that I had found it. She told me that as far as she had been aware, this species wasn’t known to be in the area (score another one for the budding botanist)!! It has been an unusually wet spring/summer for the northwest, and the last 10+ years have been decently dry, so it’s a great time to be an intern out here. I knew I’d be returning to Telford North plenty of times this season. I found thin-leafed owl clover (Orthocarpus tenuifolius), another one of my target collection plants out there, as well as a ton of ragged robin (Clarkia pulchella), which I’ve grown quite fond of as of late.
Ragged Robin (Clarkia pulchella)
After the workshop, I returned to summertime Spokane. Temperatures are nearing or in the 90s every day, and fires have broken out in central Washington. Hoping all the firefighting crews and red-card volunteers stay safe out there! For all my fellow interns – don’t forget to stay hydrated. Heat stroke can happen very quickly and isn’t any fun!
After getting caught up on my emails and going ons in the office, I went back out to collect seed just to make sure my first collection would be sufficient (and hopefully enough to request excess back to use for sagegrouse habitat) I stumbled upon a moose! Yes, you read that correctly, I found a moose in Spokane in July walking amongst the sage! I was ecstatic because I love moose and it was the first one I’d seen in person – they’re definitely not a part of the Indiana landscape! I attempted to snag a decent picture but I was too far away for it.
That same week, I returned to the location of my moose sighting to scout for new plants and found another surprise! This time it was one of the botanical nature! I found poppies growing naturally in Eastern Washington! Another unusual find! I brought the sample of Blindeyes (Papvera dubium) back to the office to show my mentor. After talking it with her, she thinks the poppies are either part of an old homestead (likely the Miller Ranch that is on our land) that has stuck around. Even though they’re introduced and uncommon, it was a cool find.
Blindeyes (Papaver dubium)
Until next time,
V Cancino