This week things started to heat up, literally and figuratively speaking. Spokane and surrounding areas got their first taste of the 80’s, and away from low overnight temperatures. With the increase in temperatures comes the increase in flowers! The most eventful part of the week was most definitely Wednesday and Thursday! While much of the office was attending a training on the newest GIS update, Kim had me go out to check on a rare plant, Cryptantha spiculifera (CRSP4), a plant that is federally classified as sensitive, and is rare in Washington. Kim had given me 2 UTMs to go check out in Odessa and forms to go along with them in case I did locate CRSP4.

The day started out pretty well, as I managed to make it to the first UTM without much trouble (I think I’m finally getting the internal compass all sorted out), but didn’t strike any gold. After checking, double checking, triple checking (ok, maybe too much checking, but I wanted to make sure I didn’t miss this plant that I’d never seen before), I decided to head to the second location – off trail. Man, was I testing my internal compass and Garmin skills that day! So, onward I trekked through the sagebrush, heading west with the sun closely following my trail. Unfortunately for me, my off-trail adventure would soon come to an end, I’d hit the section line and could not cross into private lands to continue to head west. Off I went to reach the trail to head to my second UTM. It was a good thing that fence was in my way and our land ended, because as I headed to the trail, I stumbled upon a new site of CRSP4! I did a happy dance!!! Unlike my first trip to spot CRSP4 in Juniper Dunes, I’d struck (botanic) gold! I took down my GeoBOB data, made sure I recorded the site on my Garmin and continued on.

Crypantha spiculifera

As I reached the trail, my jaw just dropped. I kept stumbling onto CRSP4 every hundred feet or so. I was hopping from one side of the trail to the other, recording CRSP4, and beaming with pride. Time was escaping me, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it to the second site that day, but that was just a good reason to come back on Thursday. SDO bound I went to tell Kim about all the gold I had struck. I’d sent her a brief message previewing the surprise I had for her. When I got back to the office, Kim had already told just about everyone in the training about my discovery, and was as happy as I was about the new sites I had discovered.

Fast forward to noon on Thursday, I was nearly to site 2 when I ran into another fence! Lucky for me, I could hop right over it without worry of leaving public lands! Unlucky for me, I didn’t hop high enough and got hooked by the barbed wire! After maneuvering myself free, I was soon faced with an unexpectedly steep slope and a huge population of CRSP4! It was jaw dropping to see so many of them! I took my data and walked a quarter of a mile more to site 2. I had a strong feeling that there wasn’t any CRSP4 given the landscape, but wanted to double check –  my gut feeling was right. It was way past lunch time and my stomach was beginning to rumble; I took that as a sign to head back to the rig to enjoy by masterfully prepped PB&J before heading back to the office to fill out my data forms. It looks like the next few days will be stormy in Spokane, so I guess it’ll be a good time to catch up on that training I was talking about…

Until next time,

V