Washington Native Plant Society Study Weekend, 2020 Descriptions of Field Trips and Workshops Beginning with Saturday, June 6th Choosing from the weekend’s events: This year we have an exciting new opportunity: In addition to field trips, we are offering three half-day workshops designed to help our members advocate for native plants - one on Saturday and two on Sunday. They are in the list below and you can sign up for them just like you would sign up for field trips. So, if you sign up for a half day trip that is specifically marked, and you are returning to the Lazy F, you should be back in time for an afternoon’s advocacy workshop. Please note the start times for these workshops and keep in mind that they are typically two hour events. The botanical drawing workshop however is three to five hours depending on how long individual participants wish to stay. When deciding on a Sunday activity, keep in mind that many drivers may elect to go directly home without returning to the Lazy F. So, if you plan to ride with someone else to Study Weekend, be sure to speak with your driver about planning your trip home, and how it may affect the choice of the Sunday activity. Photo by Ben Legler Name of Workshop: 101: Advocacy; How to be WDNR LIDAR Aerial View of the Mounds an Advocate for Native Plants Leaders: Becky Chaney, WNPS Conservation Trip Title: 102: Mima Mounds, Umptanum Road Chair and Josh Morris, Seattle Audubon Trip Leader: Ed Lisowski Duration: 2 hours Duration: Half day, Saturday Beginning: 2:00 pm (Saturday) 3 miles Number of Participants: 60 Distance: Elevation gain: 300 feet Difficulty: easy Have you ever wondered what you can do Driving Time: 30 minutes personally to help protect Washington’s native Number of Participants: 12 plants? Where do you start? This workshop is for you! Becky and Josh provide an interactive, Note: This trip can be combined with the start-to-finish how-to for the WNPS native plant advocacy workshop 101. advocate, covering steps necessary to advocate individually and on behalf of WNPS. This The Manastash Mima mounds were workshop explores how to keep abreast of documented by CWU Geography professor threats to native plants and the opportunities to Martin Kaatz in 1959. LIDAR (light detection and protect them, complete and submit a WNPS ranging) is a remote sensing technology that Information Sheet, take action, and follow-up can be used to create topographic resolution on outcomes. We’ll also discuss the new WNPS especially useful for remote sensing of Mima policy on ‘direct action advocacy.’ This mounds. The WDNR LIDAR portal creates bare workshop is relevant for all WNPS members, earth and vegetation canopy views. regardless of your advocacy experience or specific advocacy interests. Roald Fryxell has noted distinctive plant communities in such areas: Artemisia tridentata /Agropyron spicatum association of Daubenmire is restricted to the more mesic mounds and the Artemisia rigida/Poa secunda association occurs on intermound areas with shallow soil and prolonged periods of drying. Expect to see shrub-steppe vegetation associated with the Mima mound field. Photo by Jane Ely Photo by Keyna Bugner Name of Workshop: 104: Botanical Drawing Trip Title: 103: Osborn Point Meadows Leader: Crystal Shin Trip Leader: Keyna Bugner Duration: 3 to 5 hours 9:00 am (Saturday) Duration: Half day, Saturday Beginning: Number of Participants: 11 Distance: about 2 miles Elevation gain: less than 200 feet Learn and practice the basics of botanical drawing. Difficulty: easy Botanical drawing requires careful observation, Driving Distance or Time: 1 hr., 10 min. measurement, attention to details, and Number of Participants: 12 understanding in some basic plant morphology. We Note: No restrooms, NW Forest Pass required. will learn and practice the unique requirements of botanical drawing and also learn about pencil drawing techniques. Botanical drawing can help you Note: This trip can be combined with the understand plants and develop eyes to see details. advocacy workshop 101. You can choose to draw a single leaf, a leaflet, a single flower head or a whole plant, depending on We will explore the meadows at Osborn Point which your drawing experiences and interests. All levels are is located on South Cle Elum Ridge in Kittitas County. welcome. Attendees may opt out at 2:00 PM or The plant list includes 163 species found along FS earlier in order to attend the advocacy workshop. road 3350 past Osborn Point to its junction with FS road 3352 near Taneum Point. Crystal Shin, A Botanical Artist and Natural Science Illustrator – Crystal studied botanical illustration at This area is the only known location of Lomatium Gage Academy of Art and the Center for Urban knokei. It is a narrowly endemic species of apparent Horticulture, and earned Scientific Illustration critical conservation concern on seasonally wet soils. Certificate from University of Washington. She We will also find species of Eriogonum, Penstemon as well as Sidalcea oregana var. oregana. worked as a primary illustrator on the second edition of “Flora of the Pacific Northwest” at the University Participants on this trip may be back in time for all or of Washington Herbarium from 2015 to 2018, part of the afternoon’s advocacy workshop. generating 882 new illustrations. She works in graphite, pen and ink, color pencils, and watercolor. Photo by Richard Droker Photo by Ben Legler Trip Title: 105: Camas Meadows Natural Area Trip Title: 106: Cowiche Canyon Lichen Walk SOLD OUT Trip Leader: Katherine Glew, Richard Droker Leader: David Wilderman, Joan Ponzetti Duration: Full Day, Saturday Duration: Full day, Saturday Length: 5-6 miles Distance: 3 miles Elevation gain: Minimal Elevation gain: 300 feet Difficulty: Easy Difficulty: Easy Number of Participants: 12 Note: Discover Pass needed Driving Distance or Time: 1 hour, 20 min. Number of Participants: 12 Cowiche Canyon Trail is a 5-6 mile out and back walk Driving Distance or Time: 1 ½ hours located near Tieton, Washington. The trail follows the Cowiche Creek with spectacular views of basalt The nearly 2000-acre Camas Meadows Natural Area cliffs. This area is a fabulous example of shrub- Preserve is located off of Hwy 97 between Blewett steppe landscape, made up of grasslands, sagebrush, Pass and Cashmere, Washington. The site is situated and oak woodlands in a geologically unique basin within the Wenatchee Our objective will be to admire and identify some of Mts. -- a floristically diverse part of the east the many species of lichens, foliose (leafy, including Cascades supporting a number of endemic plants. umbilicate) and crustose (crusty, almost 2- The flat floor of the basin has extensive areas of dimensional) forms, particularly those growing on seasonally wet meadows and aspen groves with basalt (mafic volcanic rock). In addition we will camas (Camassia quamash ssp. breviflora), Mule’s- discuss the ecological importance of lichens in ears (Wyethia amplexicaulis), bistort (Bistorta eastern Washington and their role in air quality. bistortoides), elk thistle (Cirsium scariosum), and many others. Surrounding slopes support mixed Crustose genera that we will be viewing conifer forest, riparian habitats, and rocky openings include Asplicillia, Caloplaca, and Lecanora. Foliose hosting a variety of interesting plants, such as genera will include: Cladonia, Leptogium, and mountain lady slipper (Cypripedium montanum) and Umbilicaria. See plant list at: Oregon anemone (Anemone oregana). Occurring https://www.wnps.org/plant- here are large populations of two locally-endemic lists/list?Cowiche_Canyon&County=Yakima&ListID=6 plant taxa - the Wenatchee Mts. checkermallow 59 (Sidalcea oregana var. calva) and Wenatchee larkspur (Delphinium viridescens). Photo by Ben Legler Trip Title: 107: Cowiche Canyon and Snow Mountain. Photo by Richard Droker Trip Leader: Terri Knoke Duration: Full day, Saturday Trip Title: 108: Giant Ripples on the Columbia Distance: 3.5 miles Trip Leader Clay Antieau, three Assistants Full day, Saturday Elevation gain: 100-200 feet Duration: Distance: Up to 3 miles Difficulty: Moderate Elevation gain: Minimal Number of Participants: 12 Difficulty: Easy to moderate Driving Distance or Time: 1 hour. Number of Participants: 12 1 hr., 15 min. We will drive from Lazy F Ranch, via I-84 and SR-12 Driving Distance or Time: West, to the upper Cowiche Canyon Trailhead on Note: EXTRA COST: $20/person at the ferry. Scenic Drive, in Yakima. Once there, we will meet Cy Philbrick, Education and Community Outreach West Bar is a gravel point bar on the Columbia River person for Cowiche Canyon Conservancy. He’ll give along Lake Wanapum near Trinidad. Unusual, huge us a brief overview of the 35 year history of how the current ripples were created by the last of the conservancy was formed, what they’ve achieved catastrophic Bretz floods from Glacial Lake Missoula. from grassroots advocacy and what new projects lay This landform is considered the largest and best ahead. I will talk about the importance of example of giant current ripples on Earth and has conductivity for migration and how CCC lands are not been fully explored botanically. This trip will only part of the work in this area and that a recent record the flora of dunal, wetland, scabland, and DNR land purchase will enhance the north/south riparian habitats found on and near West Bar. corridor that the Arid Lands Initiative identified as a critical pathway. Also, the recent land purchase by For this exploration, participants will carpool from CCC and the newly proposed wildflower trail at the the Lazy F Camp to Crescent Bar Resort in Trinidad. Canyon. We will make a short circuit around the From Crescent Bar Resort, participants will then be crest, dropping briefly into one of the populations of ferried across Lake Wanapum to West Bar by Lomatium columbianum.