White Pine Chapter - Idaho Native Plant Society

The following is a list of events sponsored by White Pine Chapter or in collaboration with other organizations because our members have an interest.

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Thursday, January 24, 2013, 7:00 p.m. White Pine Chapter
Speaker: Dr. Penny Morgan, Professor, UI College of Natural Resources,
Director of the Wildland Fire Program
Topic: Fire Ecology: Past, Present and Future
Location: 1912 Center, Great Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

Penny was born, raised, and educated in the West. Her current research focuses on some of the broad challenges facing people in the West: How will changing climate influence fire occurrence and severity? Where, when and why do fires burn severely? How do bark beetles affect crown fire hazard in forests and burn severity? What drives landscape dynamics, and how can we best manage landscape change? How does vegetation recover following large fires, and how does post-fire management affect weeds and other vegetation regrowth? She is committed to helping people understand and use science in natural resources management.

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Thursday, February 7, 2013, 7:00 p.m. Meeting jointly sponsored
   by Palouse Prairie Foundation and White Pine Chapter
Presenters: Public presentations from concerned members of Palouse Prairie Foundation,
    White Pine Chapter INPS,
    Paradise Ridge Defense Coalition, and others
Topic: Highway 95 Realignment: Possible Impacts on Palouse Prairie and Native Plants
Location: 1912 Center, Fiske Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

Public presentations and discussion of the proposed realignment of Hwy 95, and how it might affect native flora and fauna. Organized by Palouse Prairie Foundation and White Pine chapter, INPS.

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Tuesday, February 12, 2013, 7:00 p.m., White Pine Chapter Meeting
Presenter: Derek Antonelli, Calypso Chapter president, Idaho Master Naturalist Program
Topic: Hager Pond Ecology Study
Location: 1912 Center, Great Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

Derek Antonelli of the Idaho Master Naturalist Program will present highlights and findings of a 2012 plant ecology study at Hager Pond (Lake) in North Idaho. A study was initially conducted as research for a doctorate thesis by a WSU student in 1952. That study was repeated by professional IDFG botanists in 1992. The property’s owner, Archie George, wanted to see a follow-up study in 2012, 60 years after the initial study. IDFG approached the Idaho Master Naturalist Program to see if they could take it on as a volunteer project which they agreed to do. Twenty-seven volunteers put in 64 days of field work on the project. White Pine chapter has held previous field trips to this fen with its floating mats of vegetation and plans to schedule one this summer.

Additional reading: From Bursik and Moseley of the Conservation Data Center 1995 Ecosystem Conservation Strategy for Idaho Panhandle Peatlands

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Thursday, February 28, 2013, 7:00 p.m. Palouse Prairie Foundation meeting
White Pine Chapter invited
Speaker: Karen Trebitz
Topic: Camas: The Plant That Fed Nations
Location: Neill Public Library, Edith Hecht Reading Room, 210 N. Grand Ave., Pullman WA

Karen will present a study of the historical use and cultural value of camas to Inland Northwest Indians, its destruction by settlers, and some efforts in restoration.

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Thursday, March 7, 2013, this is a full day workshop beginning at 9:30 a.m.
North Idaho Rare Plant Regional Working Group (RWG)
Location: BLM/USFS office, Coeur d'Alene, Idaho
Chairman: Derek Antonelli, president of Calypso Chapter

If you have not received information and are interested in attending, contact Derek Antonelli.

For more information, send email

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Thursday, March 21, 2013, 7:00 p.m. White Pine Chapter Meeting
Speaker: Michael Mancuso of Mancuso Botanical Services
Topic: Only in Idaho - a tour of plant species found in Idaho and nowhere else in the world
Location: 1912 Center, Fiske Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

What do the moist forests of the Clearwater Mountains, desert shrub habitats of the Owyhees, rugged canyons of the Salmon River drainage, and the rocky alpine of the Sawtooths all have in common? They all provide an address for plant species found in Idaho and nowhere else in the world. Get introduced and hear a few stories about some of the more than 60 plant species native to Idaho and nowhere else in the world.

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Wednesday, April 17, 2013, 7:30 p.m. White Pine Chapter / Palouse Audubon Joint Meeting
Speakers: Jerry Cebula and Sarah Walker
Topic: Plants, Flowers, and Birds of a Northern Trek
Location: 1912 Center, Great Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

In June 2012, Jerry and Sarah made a round trip from Moscow, Idaho to the Arctic Ocean—the delta of the Mackenzie River—driving through British Columbia, Yukon, and into Northwest Territories, including 450 miles of gravel roads on the Dempster Highway. They travelled through parts of Beringia, a far-north region of Asia and North America which was an ice-free grassland-steppe during the last ice age, providing a refuge for tundra plants, animals, and even humans. The program is a visual journal of their trip, emphasizing plants and flowers and birds. It is free and open to the public and is co-sponsored by Palouse Audubon Society and the White Pine Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society.

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Sunday, April 28, 2013, Pam Brunsfeld's Class Field trip to the Grande Ronde River
Meet: UI Steam Plant Parking lot on 6th at 11 a.m. to arrange carpooling
INPS White Pine chapter members are invited to accompany Pam Brunsfeld and her class on a field trip to the Grande Ronde River. The class will be collecting specimens as part of their course requirements.

This is always a popular trip to see what's blooming at lower altitudes. It will be a shorter trip than in the past.

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Saturday, May 4, 2013, 8:15 a.m. White Pine Chapter Field Trip
Tour of riparian/wetland/forest restoration project near Deary, Idaho
Co-leaders: Trish Heekin, Latah Soil and Water Conservation District and Craig Hatley, property owner
Meet at 8:15 a.m. to arrange carpooling, Eastside Market Place, Moscow, ID (south side of the parking lot)
During part of the tour 4WD vehicles with high clearance will be required.

Participants can also meet us in Troy at 'The Filling Station' coffee house by 8:35 a.m. or at the 'Crossroads' gas station, east side of Deary, at the intersection of Highways 8 and 3 by 9:00 a.m. Please park adjacent to businesses, rather than in business parking lot.

The tour is on Hatley family land about 3 miles east of Deary, and is timed to see rare Leiberg's tauschia, Tauschia tenuissima, in bloom. Craig Hatley has granted White Pine Chapter access to see the continuing habitat improvements that the late George Hatley, beloved by our chapter and throughout the Palouse, began in the 1940s as erosion rehabilitation. He was assisted by his wife Iola and later, by son Craig. The multiple restoration projects moved ahead in 2007. Craig plans to lead the tour and Trish Heekin will assist. Carpooling will be necessary. The trip will last until mid-afternoon.

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Thursday, May 9, 2013, 7:00 p.m. Palouse Prairie Foundation Meeting, White Pine Chapter co-sponsoring
Presenter: Nan Vance, retired plant scientist for the Forest Service Pacific Northwest Research Station
Topic: Friends and Robbers: Flowering Plants of the Intermountain West and Their Insect Visitors
Location: Gold Room, Gladdish Community Center, 115 NW State Street, Pullman WA

The last decade of Nan's research tenure was working in native plant restoration, conservation and studying the pollination ecology of certain species including the Cypripedium orchids and Brown's peony (Paeonia brownii). The Native Plant Society of Oregon (NPSO) journal, Kalmiopsis, has an article she wrote about the peony. More information on her talk will be forthcoming.

The Kalmiopsis article can be read by clicking on Finding Brown's Peony A Sweet Attraction.

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Tuesday, May 14, 2013, 7:00 p.m. White Pine Chapter Meeting
Speaker: Don Childress, past president, Kinnikinnick Native Plant Society
Topic: Landscaping with Native Plants
Location: 1912 Center, Great Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

Don has been active in the Master Gardener program especially emphasizing using native plants in landscaping. He is also one of the contributors to the Landscaping with Native Plants book produced by KNPS. Don will share some of his successes and the unexpected challenges of landscaping with natives that he experienced landscaping his own property. Don't miss this timely program.....it will help ensure great results with new acquisitions from our Plant Sale the following Saturday!

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Saturday, May 18, 2013, 8:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m., White Pine Chapter Native Plant Sale
Setup: Friday, May 17, 2013. 4:30-7:00 p.m.
Location: 1912 Center, Arts Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

Our chapter Plant Sale will feature plants from this area. There will be Palouse Prairie natives and also plants one is more likely to find in the woodlands nearby. Although most plants will be perennial forbs, there will be some annuals, shrubs and even a few trees. You will be able to find plants for each of the special areas of your landscape - shade, sun, moist, rock garden or xeric conditions. Many plants are especially important to wildlife providing nectar, seed, nesting material, nesting and roosting sites.

Help us publicize the sale by announcing it at other meetings and by printing and posting a poster publicizing the event.

2013 White Pine chapter Plant Sale Poster: Plant Sale poster (1-page color 500KB 8.5x11" PDF)

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Tuesday, May 28, 2013, Whelan Cemetery, PPF Field trip, White Pine invited
Leader: Dave Skinner
Leave from Office Depot in Moscow at 5:15 p.m., Dissmore's in Pullman at 5:30.
Trip is limited to 12 people.

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Saturday, June 1, 2013, 9-12 a.m. UI Arboretum Associates Plant Sale
Location: Ice Rink, Latah County Fairgrounds

Check out the UI Arboretum website for more information and a Plant List PDF.
UI Arboretum.

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Tuesday, June 4, 2013, Kramer Prairie PPF Field trip, White Pine invited
Leader: Tim Hatten
Leave from Office Depot in Moscow at 5:15 p.m., Safeway in Pullman at 5:30.

Please arrive on time.

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Thursday, June 6, 2013, 7:00 p.m. Palouse Prairie Foundation Meeting
co-sponsored by INPS White Pine Chapter
Speaker: Timothy D. Hatten, Ph.D. and member of the PPF Board of Directors
Topic: Bee fauna of Palouse Prairie: Survey of native bee pollinators (excluding bumblebees) in a critically-endangered, fragmented ecosystem.
Location: 1912 Center, Fiske Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

Bees are dominant pollinators in the northern hemisphere, providing both pollination services for commercial crops and wild plants. Declines in bee species, populations and habitats have raised red flags about conservation of this important group. In many regions where habitats are disappearing or being degraded, such as the Palouse Prairie, little is known about the bee community. A pitfall trap study conducted in 2002-2003 for ground beetles yielded considerable by-catch of bees. The composition of this by-catch will be discussed during this presentation, as will distribution patterns by prairie remnant providing the most in-depth look at the bee community of this ecosystem to date.

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Tuesday, June 11, 2013, Pitt Cemetery PPF Field trip, White Pine invited
Leader: Dave Skinner
Leave from Office Depot in Moscow at 5:15 p.m., Dissmore's in Pullman at 5:30.

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Weekend, June 21-24, 2013, INPS 2013 Annual Meeting in Boise Idaho
in conjunction with American Penstemon Society

Read about it in the February issue of Sage Notes or on the INPS website www.idahonativeplants.org
2013 Annual Meeting Announcement
2013 Registration Form

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Saturday, July 13, 2013, Steptoe Butte PPF Field trip, White Pine invited
Leader: Dave Skinner and Tim Hatten
Leave from Office Depot in Moscow at 1:00 p.m., Cougar Depot in Pullman at 1:15.

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Weekend, July 27-28, 2013, White Pine Chapter Field Trip & Camp-out
Fish Creek Campground, Square Mountain (Gospel Hump Wilderness), and Salmon River canyon grasslands
Leader: Mike Hays, Botanist, Nez Perce National Forest

Mike Hays, long-time member of our chapter, has organized a diverse and wonderful event in subalpine forests and lush grassland, with verdant camping in between. It takes place south, and southeast of Grangeville (Grangeville is about 100 miles south of Moscow on State Route 95). The road (FR 221) to Fish Creek Campground is suitable for all cars, but the drives to Square Mountain and to the canyon grasslands are steep and rocky, so cars with good clearance and ruggedness are advised. Mike says “A Subaru Outback is probably fine, but the family sedan or most vans would not be a good idea.”

Saturday
Meet at 7:00 a.m., south end of Eastside Marketplace, Moscow. Drive about 8 miles south of Grangeville on FR 221 to NFS Fish Creek Campground, where Mike will meet us at 9:30 a.m. $6 per night fee, $2 per extra vehicle parked in the spur. You will need to leave Moscow earlier if you wish to set up camp before the group leaves the campground for Square Mountain around 9:45 a.m. Fish Creek Campground

We will carpool in appropriate vehicles from Fish Creek Campground to Square Mountain (8,020 ft.) in the Gospel Hump Wilderness to see subalpine communities and the endemic Idaho Douglasia. Along the way there will be a number of dry to moist meadow communities ranging from saturated subalpine bogs to dry, thin-soiled basaltic grasslands. (This portion of the trip may be partly within the Square Mountain Research Natural Area?) There is a good chance we will see broadfruit mariposa and other canyon grassland species in some of these grassland islands within the general spruce/fir forest. Gospel Hump Wilderness

Sunday
We will drive about 1.5 hours from Fish Creek to Mud Springs ridge above the Salmon River. Here we will see some very diverse and lush grassland communities that contain the threatened species, Spalding’s catchfly. After the drive we will hike approximately one mile to the Spalding’s catchfly site. Almost all of this hike will be on an old road or trail. If there is time and interest we may also look at some diverse grassland communities and some rock gardens in the basalt at Cow Creek Saddle.

We will try to provide a bit more information on hiking gradients, and distances on the Square Mountain hikes. Come prepared for cool as well as hot weather and biting insects. There is water at the campground, a pavilion with bonfire area, and handicap-accessible vault toilets.

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Weekend, September 6-8, 2013, Friends of the Clearwater / Palouse Sierra field trip
Coordinators: Brett Haverstock, Al Poplawsky, Tim Hatten

Join Friends of the Clearwater and the Palouse group-Sierra Club on September 6-8 at Aquarius Campground on the North Fork Clearwater River for 3-days of swimming, hiking, fishing and exploration of rare coastal disjunct species. The event is free and open to the public, however, there is a $7 fee per campsite. The Aquarius Campground has potable water, as well as bathrooms, and sites are on a first-come, first-serve basis. There is no reservation system for the campground. Participants are encouraged to bring their own food and camping gear.

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Thursday, September 26, 2013, 7:00 p.m., White Pine Chapter Meeting
Presenter: Fred Rabe, University of Idaho Professor Emeritus, Ecology
Topic: Ecology of Aspen, Beaver Ponds and Trout in the Rocky Mountains
Location: 1912 Center, Great Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

Several years ago Dr. Rabe, assisted by Juanita Lichthardt, held a White Pine INPS workshop at Hagar Lake to study peatland plants and invertebrates there. In 2010, he enlisted the help of Friends of the Clearwater and Elisabeth Brackney to catalog the subalpine peatland biota of 49 Meadows in the Panhandle National Forest. This 2-day workshop received funding from INPS ERIG program and the Mountaineers Foundation. FOC and Elisabeth Brackney supported Fred in writing a formal proposal, which the Forest Service accepted as the first step towards Research Natural Area designation.

At the 9/26 program, Fred will describe changes that occur in an ecosystem once a stream is dammed by beaver, a keystone species: more precipitation storage (think global warming), and enhanced growth of native trout populations due to ample invertebrate biomass. He will also discuss the direction of plant succession after beaver abandonment, which has occurred at 49 Meadows and other wetland sites in Northern Idaho. His previous research in Colorado (aspen capital of the west) studied how the growth and condition of brook trout in beaver ponds is affected by aspen density.

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Sunday, October 20, 2013, Chapter Field Trip followed by the White Pine Annual Meeting
1:30 - 3:30 p.m., White Pine Chapter Field Trip Virgil Phillips Farm County Park
4:00 p.m to 6:30 p.m. Chapter Annual Meeting 1912 Center, Great Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)
Field Trip Leader: Lee Ann Eareckson, Moscow High School Teacher and advisor of MHS Environmental Club

Sunday afternoon October 20, meet for a fall walk at Virgil Phillips Farm County Park, approximately 5 miles north of Moscow on the west side of Highway 95. Our guide, Lee Anne Eareckson, helped develop the park's vision and will be there to describe park history and features.

The Annual Meeting will begin at 4:00 p.m. in the 1912 Center Great Room. Bring your ideas for 2014 and let us know how you can help make it another fine year!

At 5:00 we'll enjoy pizza and a salad/dessert potluck. The chapter will provide the pizza with both meat and vegetarian options. Please bring a salad or dessert if you are able. RSVP to whitepine.chapter@gmail.com so we will have an approximate count for which to order pizza.

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Tuesday-Thursday, October 22-24, 2013, Rare Plant Conference in Boise Idaho
For more detailed information about the conference, registration and schedule please visit the INPS state website www.idahonativeplants.org

To print and post a poster publicizing the event please click on Rare Plant Conference 2013 (1-page color 8.5x11" PDF)

The Rare Plant Conference, now in its 26th year, is a gathering of professional and lay botanists, native plant devotees, and wildflower enthusiasts from across Idaho and elsewhere. Everyone interested in rare plants is encouraged to attend.

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Thursday, November 14, 2013, 7:00 p.m., Palouse Prairie Foundation and White Pine chapter co-sponsored meeting

Presenter: Tiana Luke, WSU Research assistant working with Dr. Linda Hardesty
Topic: Silene spaldingii of the Channeled Scablands: Demography and Ecological Implications for Monitoring
Location: 1912 Center, Fiske Room, 412 East Third St., Moscow, Idaho (between Adams and Van Buren)

Silene spaldingii is a threatened plant occurring in eastern WA, OR, adjacent ID and western MT. In the channeled scablands of eastern Washington, the Bureau of Land Management has been monitoring the species since 1995, but the procedure had statistical limitations. In 2012, a new, more statistically valid monitoring method was implemented, consistent with the protocol recommended by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for the species throughout its range. This would allow comparison between populations, which is not possible now. The impacts of weather on plant characteristics were determined from the original long-term data. Precipitation is an important influence, but not the only one. Initial results from the new monitoring method indicate that the methodology is sufficient and provide a number of new hypotheses about the species.