WhatIdentify . can youUnderstand do to help?the ESA. 1 Jessica’s aster (Symphyotrichum jessicae) photos: gerry queener You may have a Palouse Landowners will not face rare plants Prairie remnant on restrictions of their activities 2 Palouse goldenweed (Pyrrocoma liatriformis) photo: gina glenne your land if: on their property under 3 Palouse thistle (Cirsium brevifolium) photo: trish heekin the • The area has never federal or state laws if any 4 Broadfruit mariposa (Calochortus nitidus) photo: gerry queener been cultivated. Palouse Prairie plants are, 5 Spalding’s catchfly (Silene spaldingii) • It is steep and rocky or should become listed close-up photo: steve wirt; full photo: janice hill alouse with native wildflowers under the Endangered 6 Douglas’ clover (Trifolium douglasii) photo: janice hill and bunchgrasses (some- Species Act (ESA). If a P rairie times near hawthorns landowner is receiving 7 Arrowleaf balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagittata) photos: gerry queener or ponderosa pines). federal funding for an common plants 8 Prairie smoke (Geum triflorum)photo: gerry queener • Your habitat patch activity, the federal agency 9 Douglas’ brodiaea ( grandiflora) Pa treasure has some of the plants will work with U.S. Fish photos: gerry queener shown in this pamphlet. and Wildlife Service to 10 Sticky purple geranium on your land determine possible effects (Geranium viscosissimum) Ask for help. to listed plants. photo: gerry queener Contact one of the 11 Upland larkspur (Delphinium nuttallianum) agencies listed in Learn more! photo: gerry queener this pamphlet. • Palouse Prairie fescue (Festuca idahoensis) • A conservation Foundation: illustration: clay fletcher professional will www.palouse help you identify prairie.org plants and learn what can be done to protect • If you wish further For morelatah information soil and water about conservation conservation district and funding: your site. information about moscow, id - 208-882-4960 palouse conservation district • Conservation actions Palouse Prairie plants, pullman, wa - 509-332-4101 may include careful their habitats, and how palouse rock lake conservation district control of invasive plants to conserve them, please st. john, wa - 509-648-3680 idaho department of fish and game, clearwater region and planting of native contact a conservation lewiston, id - 208-799-5010 species on your land. planner at an agency department of fish and wildlife st. john, wa - 509-648-3680 • State, federal and listed in this pamphlet. usda agricultural service center local technical assistance, These agencies can farm service agency/natural resources conservation service colfax, wa - 509-397-4301 as well as funding, are provide helpful u.s. fish and wildlife service available to help you upper columbia river office, spokane, wa - 509-891-6839 resources for you. snake river office, boise, id - 208-378-5243 with your stewardship

DAHO of Palouse Prairie rare I

cover photo: trish heekin F I E S M a private landowner guide H plants and habitats. landscape photos: janice hill & GA PRINTED MARCH 2008 the Palouse Prairie a treasure on your land

Private landowners in were replaced by agricul- Residential development and southeast Washington and tural crops because the soils invasion by weedy plants further Idaho’s Panhandle know offered great farming threaten these remnants, reduc- rare plants their rolling hills of deep potential. By 1900, over ing their size and making them fertile soils and colorful 90 percent of the Palouse less connected. This isolates grassland meadows are Prairie had been converted remaining rare wildflower plant called the “Palouse Prairie.” populations and their pollinators 3 to agriculture. Today, less 1 At one time, native bunch- than one percent of the from one another. grasses such as Idaho fescue, historic prairie plant system 6 bluebunch wheatgrass, exists, in small patches Landowners who have remnants prairie junegrass, Sandberg called “remnants” that with sensitive and rare plants on bluegrass and dozens of occur on ground that is too their property own a treasure! different wildflowers rocky and steep to cultivate. blanketed the landscape. Remnants show a high If you own a Palouse Prairie 4 5 2 Low-growing shrubs, degree of plant and insect remnant with some of these especially snowberry and diversity, and their soils are plants, and you are interested rose, were also common. complex and carbon-rich. in helping to conserve these common plants An important Native The remnants are vital to valuable resources, there are American food source, a variety of species, such ways you can become a steward. the camas bulb, bloomed as grassland nesting birds By choosing to conserve your purple-blue across the low, and pollinating insects. treasure, you may be eligible for seasonally wet meadows Palouse Prairie remnants funding and technical 8 10 and swales. These historic contribute to the overall assistance for the restoration, “Palouse Prairie” plant health of this unique place. management and protection 7 communities eventually of Palouse Prairie remnants. 9 11