Winter 2007 ♦> SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) A Landscape Toolbox for Effective Sagebrush Management BY Karen Colson Healthy, intact sagebrush ecosystems are considered one of the most endangered and neglected ecosystems in the United States and are undergoing rapid loss as fire, inappropriate grazing management, and invasive species transform them permanently into annual grasslands. These changes are resulting in alarming downward trends in sagebrush habitat and associated wildlife populations. The future of sagebrush ecosystems is largely dependent on how effectively land managers prioritize and manage habitat at larger, landscape scales. Given limited resources, it is essential that management efforts target areas that will benefit the most. Land managers have embraced a landscape-scale philosophy and new methods are being developed, however there is currently no coordinated system for integrating these new approaches with existing management methods. Land managers routinely conduct field monitoring, but these data are limited in their ability to be generalized to larger landscapes. Remote sensing imagery can characterize broad vegetation types but lacks specificity needed for site specific management. Recognizing this urgent conservation need, The Idaho Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (TNC), with the help of private and public partners, is developing a set of tools, the Landscape Toolbox, which offers a means to achieve practical, on- the-ground conservation at landscape scales. Continued on page 3 By Any Other Name, Would Raphanus sativus Smell as Sweet? Adventures in Latin-ish BY Rich Drick To know something definitively is power. To look at a plant and give its scientific name, the family it belongs to, and to know exactly where it fits in the web of life is an exhilarating feeling. Getting to that knowledge however can often take some work. I love keying plants, but am not a highly trained botanist. I did not spend years in school studying morphology, and do not own a microscope. But, I have begun to feel familiar with plant keys, and now enjoy the process of getting to the scientific name of a plant. If you’re like me and find yourself on nature walks, or even in your own backyard asking “what is that little plant?” then you might enjoy keying as well. It’s not impossible to do: time and patience are the biggest skills needed, as well as the ability to deal with what can read like gibberish. Continued on page 4 In this Issue: A Landscape Toolbox for Effective Sagebrush Management 1 Plant Key Enthusiasm 1 President’s Message 2 INPS News 5 Managing Public Lands , by Karl Holte 6 Conservation History and the NREPA, by George Wuerthner. 7 SMBFF: the ‘new botany’ 9 Crossword Puzzle! Werd. 10 Chapter News 12 Check out Sage Notes in color on the INPS website: http ://w w w . idahonativeplant s . or g/ {Articles contributed to Sage Notes reflect the views of the authors and are not an official position of the Idaho Native Plant Society} - 1 - Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) Dear INPS Members, ‘Tis the season of year when people and organizations evaluate the happenings of the past year and look forward to the next. INPS people have accomplished numerous good things this past year. One major accomplishment was the hiring of an editor, Dylan Levy-Boy d, for Sage Notes. The thing to remember is that Sage Notes is YOUR newsletter. The content of the newsletter is dependent upon each chapter doing its part by contributing news and articles on time. Pahove Chapter, as usual, put on an outstanding performance in hosting the Rare Plant Conference. The schedule for the RPC is changing. See the notice within this newsletter. The first Native Plant Appreciation Week in Idaho was proclaimed by Governor Otter. Some chapters had activities highlighting the week. Plans are moving forward for next year. NPAW will be April 27-May 3, 2008. Each chapter is requested to have at least one special activity during this week. These activities will be posted in the February issue of Sage Notes. So, don’t forget to send in your event to be listed. There are many activity suggestions on the WNPS web site. The annual meeting at Craters of the Moon had the largest attendance for an annual meeting within recent years. Kinnikinnick Chapter is lead chapter for the 2008 meeting. They have arrangements well in hand. The annual meeting is your chance to meet together in a wonderful natural setting with people from other chapters. Mark your calendars for this outstanding event. Kinnikinnick Chapter designed a stationery template that was adopted by the board for use by state officers and all the chapters. Each chapter can customize the template for their own use. There have been a lot of accomplishments during the past year, but more activities have yet to be finished. The Bylaws Committee has been working diligently to remove inconsistencies within the bylaws and to make the bylaws easier to work with. Their proposed changes will be published in Sage Notes prior to the annual meeting so you can read and discuss these changes ahead of the meeting. The membership committee has a number of issues to be resolved. The nominating committee has been contacting potential INPS officers for the 2008-2009 year. The many committees of INPS have been keeping the society functioning for the good of all. Each person is a vital cog in the machinery that keeps INPS going. Each one of these committee people deserves a large thanks. The number of people willing to serve on committees indicate that the INPS is a healthy, growing organization. Let’s keep it that way by volunteering to assist with whatever talents you have. You do not have to have a degree in botany or biology in order to help. Sometimes people are needed just to stuff envelopes or to make phone calls. Let’s all work together to make INPS better for next year and all coming years. Please do your part when asked to be a member of a committee, whether at the local or state level. Wishing you and yours a very happy holiday season and a new year filled with health, joy, peace and lots and lots of native plants. Cheers! Janet Benoit INPS President - 2 - Winter 2007 ♦> SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) Continued from page 1 ( Landscape Toolbox) Information needs for determining shrub steppe condition, as well as the technologies used to gather it, can vary depending on scales of interest and the metrics used. A successful strategy for multi- scale assessment should account for these information needs, capitalizing on strengths and accounting for weaknesses of many different methods. The Toolbox’s three main components - multi-scale landscape assessment, cumulative effects and restoration analysis, and landscape visualization tools - are unique in that they will build on existing efforts that are currently in development or operation elsewhere, merge them with new innovative approaches, and place them in a user-friendly framework designed to be used by TNC and public and private partners. The Landscape Toolbox is being field tested in two high priority Idaho landscapes: the Owyhee Uplands in southwest Idaho and the Big Desert area near Craters of the Moon National Monument in south-central Idaho. A technical advisory team, composed of individuals with a range of professional skills and perspectives, is helping guide the general execution of the project by providing technical guidance and ensuring that the Toolbox is scientifically rigorous and ultimately meets user needs. The final step of the project will include creating tutorials and training both public and private land managers in implementing the Landscape Toolbox. The project was initiated in June 2007 with the formation of the advisory team and the initial development of multi-scale landscape assessment and cumulative-effects analysis tools. Development of these first two components will be completed by December 2008. Work on the landscape visualization tools will run from early 2008 through mid-2009. Validation of the full Toolbox and development of documentation and training materials will take place in 2009, with implementation, training workshops, and user support beginning in the first half of 2010. For additional information contact Karen Colson at The Nature Conservancy: (208) 350- 2213. -3 Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ♦> A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) Continued from page 1 ( Adventures in Latin-ish) This fall I spotted an interesting plant while working in the Picabo valley, in a sagebrush steppe community. With beautiful intricate white flowers, it was distinctive. It was too late in the year for the plant to have any leaves, but there were seedpods and a few flowers left on the plant. I assumed from the four-petal flower structure and the seed pods that the plant belonged to the Cruciferae (mustard family), but I knew nothing else. I picked the best specimen I could find and brought it home to look up - from the start of the family key. Keying a plant is not an impossible task. That being said, it does take some effort and the right resources. I love my copy of Hitchcock and Cronquist, a better key to plants in our area I do not know of, but it can still be difficult to read. To keep the Flora of the Pacific Northwest to a size that is reasonable, apparently meaning an edition that can be lifted without the aid of mechanical hoists, many words are abbreviated. Flower becomes fl, plant becomes pi, glabrous glab, leaves lvs. Now I know that this does not sound too complicated, but it can make sentences very confusing, such as “St lvs neither aur nor cordate-claspsing” meaning, stem leaves neither auriculate nor cordate-clasping. Too many of these abbreviations can make you feel as if the whole key was written in Latin, not just the plant names. This often brings me to my next problem. Once I have flipped to the front of the key to see what all the abbreviations mean, I often have to turn to the glossary or a terminology book with pictures to see what those words mean. Now the more plants I key the fewer terms I have to look up. For instance, siliques I now know refer to the fruit of the Cruciferae family, but nearly every step of the way for me involves looking up a term in the terminology book. Once you know what the term means you are not home free either. Take hairs for instance. Many plants have hairs such as stellate and veluntinous, and there are more, many more. Many of these are miniscule, and deciding what type of hairs your plant has with only a hand lens can range from difficult, involving eye strain, to nearly impossible, with slight cases of near blindness by the time you’re done. Since so many of the things that make one plant different from another are hard to see I end up guessing - guessing a lot! Which brings me to the final tool for plant keying - the “internets”. Often I will simply have to guess if the hairs are branching, or if there are three to five stamens rather then seven, so once I have made my best guess I look up the plant to see if I am right. More often than not the buzzer sounds: WRONG! I’m sent back to the key and to try again. In the case of my dainty mustard, the flower and the fruits got me about half way through the key before I had to answer a question about the leaves. No problem except that none of the plants I found had any leaves. So I had to guess. Were the leaves (aka lvs) generally bipinnatifid or biserrate? I had no clue and had to pick one. Then the next question: were the leaves deeply biserrate or only slightly? I guessed again. After several wild guesses I wound up at a genus, a few questions about the flowers, thank god and I had a species, so I looked it up. . . not even close. I would have to go back and choose differently on the leaves several times before I wound up with the correct identification. There it was on the web, in all of its glory - an introduced weed from Europe. Yes it’s true, I may have not found a rare plant indigenous to our area. Still I learned a lot, and now I move through the key a little easier then I did before. It’s likely that the skills and knowledge I have are no greater then your own. Don’t be afraid to key that interesting flower you find on your next nature walk. With a few tools; a reference guide, internet access and some time, I bet you will learn to know your plants true names as well. I also learned an important lesson, next time I’ll key a plant with leaves. -4 Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) INPS News special Notice The Idaho Native Plant Society would like to announce a modification to the Annual Rare Plant Conference (RPC) schedule. INPS has decided to hold the conference every other year rather than annually. This change will become effective for 2008. There will not be a RPC in 2008 . The next conference will be held in 2009. A notice is being sent to conference participants from the last two RPCs. Please share this schedule change with any others who may have an interest in the RPC. It is important to note that the goals and objectives of the RPC will not change, just the conference schedule. INPS looks forward to seeing you at the RPC in 2009! zoos IMHO NATIVE PLANT SOCIETY ANNUAL. MBBTIN^ Mark your calendars now, June 20 through June 22, 2008, and be ready to enjoy a weekend camping, under the trees on the banks of Lake Pend Oreille, with a wonderful group of people. You will have an opportunity to experience the wild mountains of northern Idaho in all their glory - snowcapped peaks, meadows of wildflowers, and mountain lakes, and maybe even a nice waterfall in a secluded corner. We have members of the Friends of Scotchman Wilderness who are also members of our chapter (Kinnikinnick) who love to discuss this wonderful area. Look for more details in the next issue of Sage Notes. R£IAA.iiA,der£: • When zoos rolls In, please renew your INPS mendoersh Ip. • Native Plants Appreciation week, will be April zj- - May 3, zoos. - 5 - Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) Cheat Grass, Fires, Grazing and Natives - How to manage our public lands? Dr. Karl Holte writes a letter to the Idaho State Journal A recent Idaho State Journal poll asked, "Are you in favor of increasing grazing on public lands to reduce range fires?" The premise that overgrazing reduces the chances of range fires is wrong for multiple reasons. 1) Public range lands are now overgrazed, but we are still having range fires. 2) In the long run, more grazing reduces and kills native grasses and allows sagebrush and weedy plants to increase. The result is disastrous fires which destroy the top layers of soil, the cryptogamic crust, young native plants, etc. Such fires and overgrazing: Increases erosion Kill out native species useful to wildlife such as sage grouse, elk, deer, pronghorns, and many species of birds and other useful pollinators; Increase weeds such as cheatgrass, tansy mustard, yarrow, and many thistles; (ed: Karl is yarrow a weed, or a weedy species?) Increase costs to taxpayers for reseeding grasses, usually non-native species such as crested wheatgrass which grows in clumps which allow erosion instead of the more uniform coverage of native grasses and plants. A) B) C) D) Tumble mustard, cheatgrass and Russian thistle prevail near troughs on the Berger BLM ( 3/23/2007 - photo D. Levy-Boyd ) The net result is a range with value basically to domestic livestock only. Thus, public lands are no longer multiple use lands, but "cow-lands." Example: Curlew grasslands in the past 40 years have become primarily useful only to domestic livestock and have exhibited a marked reduction of wildlife. More grazing will result in the deterioration of one of America's most valuable resources - a productive topsoil. Read history: Major civilizations have declined or ceased to exist because topsoil has been lost and forests cut down. Fires are natural in cycles of approximately 80 years. Overgrazing has shortened the cycle and increased weeds such as cheatgrass which burns more readily at a time when native grasses are most vulnerable. Cheatgrass has become dominant in many areas, such as south of Boise in the Mountain Home area, where the landscape is virtually covered with only cheatgrass. Another result is lowering of the water table because rain and snow melt are not held back by native vegetation and thus do not soak in to replenish the water table. Rapid runoff causes more erosion which in turn causes sedimentation of creeks and streams. This can be observed on public lands throughout southern Idaho. These thoughts were re-enforced this past week as I sat among cow pies on an eroding mountain ridge in southern Idaho on very heavily overgrazed public land. It made me wonder how the elk, deer, and other wildlife were going to survive the winter with native grasses so overgrazed by domestic livestock that it appeared a lawnmower had gone through the area. The creek banks below were eroding away as a result. Obviously, more grazing on public lands is not going to prevent wildfires, may create conditions more conducive to fire, and would cause many other problems as well. Karl E. Holte - 6 - Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) Guest Opinion, 11-15-07: George Wuerthner's On the Range NREPA: Local Interests and Conservation History By George Wuerthner (ed’s note: George Wuerthner was the keynote speaker at the 2007 Idaho Rare Plant Conference. NREPA is the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. If you’re unfamiliar with the NREPA see http://www.wildrockiesalliance.org/issues/nrena/index.htn for background) What do the Grand Teton National Park, Yellowstone National Park, Glacier National Park, Grand Canyon National Park, and Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument all have in common? Besides their common designation as national parks and monuments, all these conservation areas were initially opposed by local people. After the creation of Yellowstone NP in 1872, the Helena Gazette opined “We regard the passage of the act as a great blow to the prosperity of the towns of Bozeman and Virginia City....” Montana’s Congressional representatives were so opposed to the park that they introduced bills into Congress every session for twenty years to undesignate the park. When these attempts to dissolve the park failed, they tried other mechanisms to eliminate the park, including an attempt to split off the northern part of the park so a railroad could be built. To justify removing this area from the park, Montana’s delegate characterized the Lamar Valley as “wholly unattractive country,” hence not worthy of park protection. Others proposed damming the Yellowstone River just below Yellowstone Lake for hydroelectric power. This too was prevented — but only by the intervention of dreaded “outsiders” from the Eastern United States. When President Teddy Roosevelt established the Grand Canyon as a national monument in 1908, Arizona’s Congressional delegation successfully prevented any federal funding for the park operations and tried unsuccessfully to legally challenge Roosevelt’s monument designation. In 1910 when Glacier National Park was created, the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce went on record opposing the park designation, fearing the park would preclude oil and gas and logging operations. Locals submitted a petition to the federal government in 1914 to dismantled the park, arguing: “... that it is more important to furnish homes to a land-hungry people than to lock the land up as a rich man’s playground which no one will use or ever use.” In 1943 when Franklin Roosevelt designated 210,000 acres in the Tetons as a national monument, folks in Wyoming predicted Jackson would become a “ghost-town.” In fact, the Wyoming delegation introduced legislation to undesignate the park. Jackson now is home to more than 16,000 “ghosts.” And even the creation of our national forest system was largely opposed by western interests who wanted to see these lands available for unrestricted development and exploitation. In 1907 Senator Fulton of Oregon added an amendment to the Agricultural Appropriation Bill barring President Teddy Roosevelt from creating any additional national forests in six Northwest states. Roosevelt, knowing he could not veto such important legislation, signed the bill into law, but not before he created another 16 million acres of national forest by Presidential fiat. Today most residents of California, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington are grateful that local interests did not prevail and Roosevelt set aside these lands as national forests. In 1980 when President Ji mm y Carter signed into law the Alaska Lands Bill (ANILCA) he was strongly opposed by the entire Alaskan delegation who, like all previous boosters of the West, predicted wreckage and ruin to the local economy if lands were protected from exploitation. So strident was local opposition that residents of Fairbanks burned Carter in effigy to protest park creation. The towns of Eagle and Glennallen each proclaimed opposition to the parks and even offered to shelter anyone from federal authorities who was willing to violate new park regulations. Undaunted, Carter signed ANILCA into law setting aside more than a hundred million acres of federal land as new parks, wildlife refuges, wild and scenic rivers and wilderness areas. Among other things ANILCA established 10 new national parks, including Gates of the Arctic, Lake Clark, and Wrangell-St Elias and expanded three other existing parks (Glacier Bay, Katmai, and Denali). Most Americans — and even many Alaskans — now celebrate these parks and other protected lands as the - 7 - Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) Crown jewels of our national park system. They say history repeats itself when people do not learn from the past, and certainly this appears to be the case once more as seen in the recent flap over NREPA, the Northern Rockies Ecosystem Protection Act. Montana Senator Max Baucus was quoted as saying “Montanans don’t take kindly to people on the East Coast telling us how to manage our lands.” (Uh, Max, these are federal lands owned by all US citizens). Despite Baucus’ implied message that once again “outsiders” from the East Coast were imposing something on poor westerners, he conveniently overlooked the fact that NREPA was created by conservationists in the region and its chief sponsor, the Alliance for Wild Rockies, is a Montana-based group. Barbara Cubin, Wyoming’s Congressional representative called NREPA a “147 -page assault on our Western way of life.” She bemoaned that local input and control would be slipping away. Local control, of course, means resource exploitation of public resources for private gain. Montana Congressman, Denny Rehberg, opposed NREPA because he considered it a “top- down” measure rather than a locally-generated proposal. Rehberg favors local “cooperative” approaches like the Blackfoot Challenge and the Beaverhead-Deerlodge Partnership in Montana as the right way to designate wilderness. Of course, Rehberg is enamored with “partnerships,” “collaborative” and other so-called local approaches that are compromises because they usually wind up advocating for the continuation of logging, ORV use, and mining on most of the public land base, and ultimately protect less land from exploitation than landscape-scale and ecologically-driven proposals like NREPA. People like Rehberg and other advocates for such collaborative or compromise approaches to wildlands protection never acknowledge that the starting point for compromise was passed decades ago. The vast majority of the United States is already committed to industrial uses, and we are now fighting over the last little scraps of wildlands. Conservation history has shown repeatedly that invariably future generations will not complain that we protected too much land; rather they will wonder why we protected so little. What is clear from any review of conservation history is that in nearly all cases even local people come to value the designation of conserved lands after the fact. If you were to ask the Kalispell Chamber of Commerce what is most distinctive and valuable about Kalispell’ s location, they would tell you its close proximity to Glacier National Park. And when Newt Gingrich and his Republican majority shut down the federal government in 1995, Arizona volunteered to pay the salaries of Park Rangers so that Grand Canyon NP could remain open. And though residents on Washington’s Olympic Peninsula opposed establishment of Olympic NP and continuously sought to open up the park’s forests to logging, most residents of the Olympic Peninsula today realize that the park’s trees have far more value standing upright in the forest than if they had been cut for two-by- fours. The take-home message I get from a broad reading of conservation history is that local opposition to anything worthwhile is to be expected. Trying to accommodate entrenched local interests invariably weakens protective measures and typically reduces the effectiveness of conservation efforts. Imagine what we would have had if civil rights activists had tried to work with southern racists to hammer out a “collaborative” agreement on civil rights. If they were lucky, they might have gotten modest accommodations such as allowing African Americans to sit anywhere on buses, but it is doubtful that we would have the sweeping changes that enactment of the 1964 Civil Rights Act created, such as ending discrimination in employment as well as segregation in schools and other public places. As citizens and conservationists we ought to learn from these history lessons and look beyond parochial regional interests to advocate what is in the best long term interest of the nation and that best preserves our collective natural heritage. We might not get all what we advocate for, but in conservation, as in civil rights, we ought to strive for what is ultimately best for the land and nation, not what is politically acceptable now. In 1935, Bob Marshall, on founding the Wilderness Society wrote: “We want no stragglers. For in the past far too much good wilderness has been lost by those whose first instinct is to compromise.” This is advice that many in the West’s conservation movement would be wise to remember when they attempt to work with “local interests” to protect wildlands. Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) - 9 - Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) I offer a change of pace for Sage Notes. This issue includes a crossword puzzle which may... or may not... find itself as a consistent contribution to future publications of Sage Notes. But in the meantime, take some time and test your knowledge of Idaho geography. As with any good quarterly crossword puzzle, there is a theme and hopefully a new theme will be represented each publication. As the inaugural puzzle, I felt that it would be good to expose everyone to the State and the cities, towns, and counties where we live, the mountains we climb, the rivers we float, and where each of our respective chapters fits into all of it. So grab your Gazeteer, put on your puzzling hat, and pour a refreshing beverage. I hope that you enjoy and please address all corrections or mistakes to: itsmvfirstone@aol.com . Have a great winter! -Chris Colson - 10- Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) ACROSS 1 . 4. 5. 7. 8 . 10. 13. 14. 15. 18. 22 . 24. 25. 28. 29. 31. 33. 35. 36. 37. 38. 40. 41. 43. 44. 45. The southwest chapter of the Society. Established in 1864, its county seat is Idaho City. Southeast Idaho chapter of the Society. The Wood River flows through this county. Home of the Snake River Plains Herbarium. This city is situated along the Kootenai River. The pass Lewis and Clark used to cross the Bitterroot Range from Montana into Idaho. The “Palouse County” of Idaho. Sharing the common name of Arcstaphylos uva-ursi , the Society’ s most northern chapter. Home of Carex aboriginum. Valley historically referred to as “Broad Valley” by Native Americans and “Pierre’s Hole” by furtrappers. Combines with the Lochsa River to form the Clearwater River. Otherwise known as the “River of No Return”. Mountains named after two Hawaiians that roamed into them, never to be seen again. The city of Coeur d’Alene is situated within this county. Idaho’s only National Monument. Home of the Annual Harmonica Festival: Yellow , Idaho. The county seat of Valley County Goodale’s Cutoff, after breaking off from the Oregon Trail, entered this county. The first county created following Idaho’s admittance to the Union. Nearest town to Idaho’s largest western red cedar. This county was named for the buttes that rise up from the Snake River Plain that historically served as a landmark for trappers. Society chapter based out of Coeur d’Alene. Society chapter named after the state tree of Idaho. First name of the U.S. Senator who served as the floor sponsor for the Wilderness Act and the Wild and Scenic Rivers Act, and was instrumental in the establishment of the Sawtooth and River of No Return Wilderness Areas. The dominant geologic substrate of the Snake River Plain. DOWN 1. City named after a Chief of the Shoshone-Bannock tribes who donated land to the Railroad where the city is now situated. 2. Old-growth cedar and botanical area east of Clarkia. 3. This county was actually named after a State senator as opposed to the explorer. 4. Describes a river, lake, county and National Wildlife Refuge in southeast Idaho. 5. This river flows generally west eventually issuing into Chatcolet Lake. 6. Deepest river gorge in North America. 9. This county used to contain Gooding and Minidoka counties. 10. City named after Hugh, 13 th of 16 children of Sir William Bovill of London; Lord Chief Justice of the Court of Common Pleas. 1 1 . Northern Idaho town named after a gymnosperm. 12. This county was named after the daughter of legislative representative H.C. Riggs. 16. Home of the Ray J. Davis Herbarium. 17. Idaho’s only National Preserve. 19. Remote mining town just south of the Sawtooth Wilderness Area. 20. Twin Falls chapter of the Society. 2 1 . Idaho ’ s only National Park. 23. Town that shares the same name as the genus for Tupelo. 24. This mountain range originates at Mica Peak in the south and runs north across the Canadian border. 27. Our most central chapter of the Society. 30. Sand dunes of southwestern Idaho. 32. Aboriginal tribe of central Idaho. 33. The French version of this word means “land with short and thick grass”. 3 3 . Idaho ’ s first State Park. 35. Idaho’s only National Grassland. 35. Including a “Big” and “Little”, these rivers both become subterranean as the flow into the “Sinks” on the Snake River Plain. 42. Small town north of Sweet. Answers on page 19. - 11 - Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) Chapter News Calypso Chapter PREVIOUS EVENTS A slide program by Dr. Fred Paillet, "Alaskan Tundra and a Side Trip To Siberia" was attended by eight Chapter members and 3 guests at the Oct. 3, 2007, meeting. As much of the interior of Alaska was NOT covered by the last Ice Age, buffalo and horses populated the Alaskan plains. We experienced the empty countryside, lichens and prostate plants that turn green under the summer’s perpetual sun. We saw pictures of glacier avens, with its flowers that last 2-3 days after blooming, Siberian phlox, Alaskan iris, arctic lupine, eight petaled dryas, mountain avens, the provinical flower of the Northwest Territories, and three inch tall Frigid Arnica, Wooly Lousewort, and Dwarf Fireweed. Cottonwood trees exist on the Northern Slope of the Brooks Range. These trees have not been examined for age, but are thought to be very slow growing and very old. Bird species shown were ptarmigan, American golden plover, arctic tern, northern shrike, northern hawk owl, all of which are ground nesters. The musk oxen, which went extinct in the 1930's in Alaska, has been reintroduced from Greenland. Grizzly bears were sighted from a distance. The Siberian part of the program showed an area south of Lake Baikal, where the Siberian pine, or white cedar, ( Pinus corrienses ) grows abundantly. The remoteness and rural countryside of Siberia is vastly underdeveloped. Dr. Paillet explained the camping/hiking requirements. He has been a guide for the Sierra Club to these locations in Alaska and Russia, and is available should anyone choose to visit these sites for a field trip in the future. PROGRAM SCHEDULE The Calypso Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society meets on the first Wednesday of March, April, May and October. The Chapter schedules field trips during the spring, summer, and fall. March 5, 2008: Next meeting. April 27, 2008: Tentative hike of Tubbs Hill. 1 p.m., in conjunction with Native Plant Appreciation Week, (April 27, 2008-May 3, 2008). A display on wildflowers could be set up at the Coeur d’Alene Public Library, prior to this event, to generate more interest in the Chapter's activities. April 12, 2008: Tentative field trip to Fishtrap lake/Hog Canyon (Sagebrush habitat), near Spokane, Washington, carpooling from Walgreens in CD A, at 9 a.m. Kinnikinnick Chapter PREVIOUS EVENTS Mushroom Field Trip by Ann Wimberley On September 16, mycologist Larry Evans led a group of 15 people on a mushroom field trip cosponsored by the Kinnikinnick chapter of the Native Plant Society and the Friends of Scotchman Peaks Wilderness. Participants came from as far as Spokane. The event began with Larry’s slide show and presentation on mushrooms at the Scotchman Peaks Coffee House in Clark Fork. Because the fall rains had not cooperated in appearing before that date, the Ross Creek Cedars were the site of the hunt. Despite the drought, an amazing 31 varieties of mushrooms were found and keyed out by the group. A young Boletus ra/raMw(Boletaceae) (photo Ann Species list from Ross Cedars Mushroom Hike: Polypores Ischnoderma resinosum Fomes annosum Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) fomentarius Fomitopsis pinicola Polyporus elegans Stereum hirsutum Pycnoporus alboluteus Ascomycete Hypomyces on Bolete Lycoperdon perlatum pyriformis Laccaria laccata sp Omphalina ericitorium Boletus mirabilis Russula densifolia subnigricans Lactarius rufus deliciosus/rubrilactea olympianus Xerampelina cauticinalis Armillaria mellea Chroogomphus tomentosus Hypholoma ( Naematoloma ) fasiculare Floccularia albonariapes Inocybe lacera Pluteus cervinus Mycena alcalina epipterygera Nolanea vernalis Leptonia sp 1 sp 2 Agaricus meleagris (group) SEE THE NEW HABITAT SIGNS AT THE ARBORETUM Sylvia Chatburn, Arboretum Committee Chairwoman, installed the final habitat sign at a celebration on Friday, August 10. The ceremony was held to showcase the beautiful signs and to thank the many folks who made this dream a reality. Phil Hough, President of the Kinnikinnick Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society, welcomed the assembled guests and shared the vision and mission of our chapter. Lois Wythe, a founder of the Kinnikinnick Chapter, shared the history of the North Idaho Native Plant Arboretum, recognizing the tremendous contributions of folks from rural areas as well as Sandpoint, in cooperation with the city and Bonner County Historical Museum, to establish the arboretum in Lakeview Park. Sylvia Chatburn recognized the large group of folks who donate their time and talent on an ongoing basis to continue the healthy growth and progress of the Arboretum as well as those who made this project possible. Specifically, the Idaho Community Foundation (ICF), through a grant, donated $500 which purchased the metal signs and plywood backing. Sylvia donated wood for the frames. Arlis Harvey cut and peeled gorgeous cedar logs for sign posts donated by Nancy Low. Ken Haag did the heavy lifting and digging for all the post holes. The smiles and laughter of the volunteers spoke of their pride and excitement over this joint venture. Local residents Richard and Donna Hutter represented ICF. Richard is on the ICF board and presented information about the foundation and encouraged membership, which is $25 and supports worthy endeavors in Idaho. Donna is on the grant committee and helps determine grant recipients. It was an honor to have them share their enthusiasm for our project. ^^ichar^n^Donn^lutte^nh^C^p/zo/^^^^/^ Sandpoint Mayor, Ray Miller, spoke to the group, expressing appreciation for the Arboretum and for the dedicated work of our volunteers. Janet Benoit, President of the statewide Idaho Native Plant Society, praised the accomplishments of our active chapter and advocated for the appreciation and protection of our native plants. With cameras clicking and folks applauding, Sylvia assembled and installed the final sign. Come out to see the ten new habitat signs at the Arboretum. Three additional signs, still to be placed at the Mickinick Trail, Lake Pend Oreille Trail, and WaterLife Discovery Center, all highlight the native plant landscaping installed and maintained by our Landscape Committee. And, stay tuned! Sylvia and her crew have plans for future signage next year! Loasa Chapter PROGRAM SCHEDULE Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) December 20: Holiday Parte chez Lois Rohay, call (208) 735-1205 for details. January 17, 2008: Minding the Mushrooms of Southern Idaho by Dylan Levy-Boyd Pahove Chapter Pahove Chapter hosts monthly presentations from September through April on 3 rd Thursdays of each month. Newcomers are always welcome. We look forward to seeing all of you at our many exciting upcoming events! Pahove’ s point of contact is Karen Colson; direct chapter correspondence to her at trilliumkc at msn.com . PREVIOUS EVENTS We had a wonderful turn out for our Pahove Chapter 2007-2008 season kick-off meeting and annual pizza party at the Idaho Botanical Garden. Julia Rundberg, Director of the Idaho Botanical Garden, was our guest speaker and introduced us to some upcoming garden projects. This was followed by a relaxing stroll through the Lewis and Clark native plant garden which concluded with an incredible sunset overlooking the Treasure Valley. Our October monthly meeting was equally as popular and featured a fantastic talk by Stew Churchwell of Native and Xeric Plants. Stew discussed the challenges and the benefits of native landscaping. Stew’s presentation was followed by a Q&A session which provided attendees the opportunity to ask this local restoration professional all those questions they’ve been wondering about! PROGRAM SCHEDULE November 7: Conservation Committee Meeting The Pahove Chapter holds monthly Conservation Committee meetings. In addition to tackling challenging conservation issues and supporting a number of exciting Pahove Chapter events and activities, we also have lots of fun socializing and talking about native plant conservation. The group is open to all, and includes a mix of seasoned native plant professionals and enthusiasts as well as beginners. Newcomers are always welcome so please come join us! Monthly meetings are held on the 1 st Wednesday of each month. Contact Chris Colson for more information (chris.colson@tetratech.com). Where : The Front Door Northwest Pizza and Tap House, (meeting held in the back room) 105 South Sixth Street (in downtown Boise) When: 6:30 p.m. November 15: Grand Canyon's River and Desert Plants Come join us for a virtual tour down the breathtaking Colorado River, as Lisa Hahn, botanist and ecologist with the Idaho Conservation Data Center, presents a slideshow of common and not so common plants encountered along her 226 mile trip down the mighty Colorado River through Grand Canyon National Park. You don’t want to miss this one! Where: MK Nature Center Auditorium, Idaho Fish and Game 601 South Walnut Avenue (Behind Fish and Game Headquarters). When: Presentation begins at 7:00 p.m. ~ Open Board Meeting at 5:30 p.m. December 6: Pahove’s Annual Holiday Gathering You definitely want to mark your calendars for our annual festive pot luck dinner and our always popular and entertaining plant exchange game (Details to follow). Sah-Wah-Be Chapter 2007 has been another stellar year for INPS Sah- Wah-Be chapter participants. Our Southeast Idaho membership has grown to 134 plus another 150 or so “interested but unpaid” individuals who also receive our emails. The May to September field trips had 15- 40 people participating. First-Monday-of-the-Month meetings are held October through April with speakers and slide shows highlighting some aspect of native plants and habitats, from home gardens to deserts to mountaintops. Below are some highlights of this year’s activities, plus a schedule of upcoming events. We welcome participation from all interested people. PREVIOUS EVENTS April 28, 2007: An invitation to again participate in the annual Pocatello Environmental Fair gave our chapter an opportunity to advertise the Native Plant Society and its efforts to educate the public about native plants and their habitat requirements. We also bannered “Native Plant Appreciation Week,” proclaimed by Gov. C. L. Butch Otter for observance Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) April 29 through May 5. We set up a table among ~30 other groups who had information about various aspects of enhancing, protecting, and “greening” our environs. Interest was strong in the handouts about INPS, xeriscaping, and other information about native plants. We gave away little pots of native plant seedlings and had blue flax seeds for children to plant. As you can see from the look on this little fellow’s face, he thought that was great fun! JMi /k love field trips in the rain, do love the conviviality and food of a good potluck! April 30, 2007: Early in the season though it was, a trip to Linda and Wendell Johnson’s acreage, named Hurricane Hill, showed that a warm spring generates many native plants in bloom or greening up nicely. Marijana Dolsen spotted gum weed flowers and told us that Europeans use them, in small quantities, for stomach ailments. Also blooming were foothills death camas, Indian paintbrush, and desert evening primrose. On a north-facing slope were young mule’s ear, sticky purple geranium, lupine, stickseed, and hound’s tongue. In an area mowed annually were pearly everlasting, western groundsel, yarrow, yellow prairie violet, dwarf waterleaf, prairie star flower, woods rose, wild onion, spring beauty, orange globe mallow, and sagebrush buttercup. Higher above the sagebrush, bitter brush, currants, and arrowleaf balsamroot were Oregon grape, yellow bells, and one lovely chocolate lily. May 5, 2007: In USFS land up Mink Creek Road south of Pocatello nestles Cherry Springs picnic and nature trails area. The week prior to the May 5 field trip was gloriously warm and sunny, but snow and rainy weather this Saturday deterred all but eight or nine slicker-clad intrepid walkers. Only a few plants were blooming yet along the spring flow of Mink Creek, as the asphalted paths are quite heavily shaded. Horsetail is thick here, and it is always amazing to see this plant growing right up through the asphalt! One plant found in bloom was a lovely campion, also called catchfly. A potluck at Holtes afterwards drew 19 people who, although they don’t May 7, 2007: The rainy weather had subsided, and this Monday evening trip to a mountainous area higher up Mink Creek Road (named Porcelain Pot - nobody seems to know why!) yielded an abundance of native plants greening up or in full bloom. Four species of buttercups dotted the hillside - alpine, horn-seed, Jove’s, and sagebrush buttercups. The group was interested to note the differences between arrowleaf balsamroot, bigleaf balsamroot, and mules’ ears or northern wyethia, all of which were found in this area. Botanist Karl Holte pointed out that over the last 20 years, bigleaf balsamroot has become more prolific and is found now at lower elevations than ever before. When he first began field-tripping here 40 years ago, it was rare to find that species in southeastern Idaho except at quite high elevations. A virtual carpet of small-flowered blue-eyed Mary and pink microsteris covered the hillsides. Leafy bluebells, popcorn flower, and bright yellow wallflowers were scattered among thick patches of sagebrush, gray and green rabbit-brush, and mountain laurel. Over the ridge in a still-moist pocket at the edge of the forest were a few lingering spring beauty flowers. A total of 92 species were listed on this trip. May 21, 2007: Boundary Trail lies just below the Pebble Creek Ski area a few miles from the little gypsum-mining/cement-making community of Inkom. Always a popular field trip, this area yielded a list of 95 different plants, shrubs, and trees, most of which are natives. Winter 2007 ♦> SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) June 2, 2007: Wendy Velman, BLM botanist and SWB member, led several carloads of adventurers out through the Arco Desert to Big Southern Butte, a rhyolite dome complex which formed about 300,000 years ago north and west of Pocatello. Starting on the north side, a very rough 4x4 road brought us up through a relatively lush canyon with many plants and shrubs in bloom, into an area of limber pine, and thence to the top of the butte some 2500 feet above the Snake River Plain at an elevation of 7560 feet. An observation tower at the very top had unfortunately been badly vandalized and was now closed to public access because of all the broken glass. The vistas from the top were far and fabulous! Butterflies flitting in the sunshine mistook many of us for flowers, and settled on arms and hands, much to the delight of the recipients. June 4, July 2, and August 6: Again this year three field trips were made to the Justice Park area of Scout Mountain, located approximately 15 miles south of Pocatello, thus allowing us to see the seasonal progression of blooming plants. Everything seemed to be maturing earlier this year. On the early July trip everyone was surprised to find fireweed and goldenrod showing their colors, as they usually don’t bloom until August on the mountain. The boggy area along the stream sported an abundance of white bog orchids, yellow monkey-flowers, and pink pyrolas. Chokecherries and thimble berries were not mature yet, but some berry munching proceeded anyways. The poisonous baneberry, foothills death camus, buttercups and monkshood were avoided, of course. Testing the name of antelope bitterbrush, Greg Nelson tasted a bit of it, coughed a lot, and confirmed that it was indeed very bitter. Trip leader Ruth Moorhead, an avid birder as well as a botanist, also pointed out a sapsucker, a raven, robin, cedar waxwing, a Swainson’s thrush, and a duck in silhouette. In August, despite the 100-degree temperatures of most of July, many flowers were still flourishing, including an abundance of bog orchids and monkshood. The heat and drought had thwarted the normally lush growth of sticky purple geraniums and other flowers, however. June 11, 2007: The 33 people who showed up for a field trip to the McCammon University Pond area were disappointed that rain clouds and lightning foreshortened the trek through patchy sagebrush and wildflowers. Even so, lush vegetation, especially around the pond, was a pleasant change from the austerity of last fall’s field trip here. June 15, 2007: The state meetings of INPS at Craters of the Moon National Monument campground were well attended; a dozen or more attended from SWB. Although the lava flows and cinder gardens were not in as full bloom as we might have wished, buckwheats, sego lily, bitterroot, and dwarf monkeyflowers could be found, each with its own elbow-room, or more appropriately for plants in arid areas, root-room to allow adequate absorption of meager water supplies. Sah-Wah-Be chapter is looking forward to hosting the state meetings in 2009. klimulus lewisii (Scrophulariaceae) (photo D. Levy- ' hoyd) June 23, 2007: Four carloads of native plant explorers followed Karl Holte to the Palisades Dam area and on the roads along Jensen Creek and Bear Creek. We were astounded by the mass of summer flowers covering the hills and valleys, with 115 plant species, native and otherwise, identified along the way. July 9, 2007: The University of Idaho Aberdeen Research and Extension Center hosted a group of Sah-Wah-Be members on a tour of their applied research on use of native plants in low-water landscapes. Researcher Steve Love pointed out that their two acres of test trials of native plants allow evaluation of native wildflowers, shrubs, and trees for adaptation to southern Idaho. Steve and several students collect seeds in various locations and watch over the field trials for 2-6 years. Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) July 16-17, 2007: The 4 th annual field trip to Steens Mountain in SE Oregon, led by Dr. Karl Holte, was again a great success, drought, heat and too many mosquitoes notwithstanding. Fifteen people from Pocatello, 3 from other Idaho locations, 2 from Oregon, and 2 from Indiana headquartered at the Malheur Field Station southeast of Burns, amid the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, convoyed. On Saturday and again Sunday the group travelled up the Steens Mountain Foop Road, climbing to almost 10,000 feet elevation. The route traverses through arid sagebrush at the base, various vegetation zones including juniper, mountain mahogany, and subalpine grassland, up to dramatic vistas of mountain lakes. The Steens are visually fascinating with many unusual and in some cases unique wildflowers found nowhere else in the world, as well as dramatic volcanic terrain. During our two-day adventure 203 species of forbs, grasses, shrubs, and trees were documented, representing 52 families. Favorites of everyone were the elusive Clarkia flowers, four kinds of Mimulus, and the mountain-top balloon milk- vetch. The Oregon Natural Desert Association (ONDA) describes Steens Mountain as follows: “Visible throughout Southeastern Oregon, Steens Mountain is the crown jewel of the Oregon High Desert. This massive fault block mountain, the largest in the northern Great Basin, soars a vertical mile above the adjacent Alvord Desert. Repeated glaciations have carved deep 2000’+ valleys throughout the mountain. Home to elusive bighorn sheep, elk, pronghorn, sage grouse, and threatened redband trout, the Steens also harbor the largest stand of aspen trees in Oregon.” Our group did not encounter any large game, but we did find grouse near the top of the mountain. A Gorp website adds, “Pressure under the earth’s surface thrust the [30- mile-long fault] block upward some 20 milli on years ago. The tilting of the block resulted in a steep eastern face, with a gentler slope on the western side of the mountain. During the Ice Age, glaciers carved several deep gorges into the peak. They also created depressions where Fily, Fish, and Wildhorse lakes now stand.” Fily Fake was a favorite stopping point, where Karl once again waded out among the water lilies edging the lake to retrieve specimens of the Nuphar lutea ssp. polysepala, commonly known as yellow pond-lily, spatterdock, Indian pond lily, or Wakas. The catch, Nuphar lutea spp. polysepala (Nymphaeaceae) / August 11, 2007: On a Saturday excursion to popular Big Springs campground south and east of Fava Hot Springs, a couple dozen plant enthusiasts enjoyed a wander along the Portneuf River and through wooded areas and open meadows. August 18, 2007: On a pleasant Saturday, Rose Fehman, U.S. Forest Service botanist, led a group of six cars to the Minnetonka Cave area in beautiful St. Charles Canyon northwest of Bear Fake. After picnicking by Blue Pond Spring, we put on our jackets and traversed 896 stairs in the brisk 40 degree temperature of Minnetonka Cave to see a half-mile of fascinating stalactites, stalagmites, and banded travertine in the nine rooms. After the cave tour, Rose led us on a hike down the mountain on an dirt trail edged by Douglas fir, quaking aspen, and end- of-the-season plants such as chokecherry, serviceberry, and rattlesnake plantain. Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) On the way home, all celebrated this varied, fun, and interesting excursion with ice cream treats ! August 25, 2007: On a beautiful Saturday morning, 13 SWB members attended a Native Seed Collecting workshop at the Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake City. In the classroom we learned how and when to harvest seeds to assure optimum success in storing and subsequently propagating native plants. Then we toured the gardens and were allowed to collect seeds from the wide variety of plants growing in these extensive and quite spectacular gardens. The staff instructed us in collecting seeds from agastache, globe mallow, sulphur buckwheat, penstemons, bee balm, milkweed, evening primrose and many others. After lunch docents divided us into smaller groups and toured us more extensively, explaining the history of the gardens and plans for expansion. The docents were also very knowledgeable about the plants and their growing needs - a worthwhile place to visit, any time of the year! September 10, 2007: The West Fork of Mink Creek is one of the most beautiful and easily accessible trails in the Pocatello area and is a favorite of many. The semi-sheltered trail along a running creek supports a healthy diversity of plants. We were surprised at this time of year to find at least a dozen different plant species looking fresh and in bloom. Even scarlet gilia, normally a sign of summer, waved its red blossoms and showed no sign of fall whitening or spotting. Hairy mulleins were abundant, some taller than we were, still showing a few yellow flowers. A dogwood by the creek even sported a white flower or two. Elderberries were sweet and juicy, hawthorns their usual bland apple flavor, and a few plump chokecherries had been missed by the birds. Masses of very tall fireweed were wearing their white seed fluff like crowns, as were the wild clematis. Some goldenrod was still in flower, but was fading. Geranium leaves had begun turning an orange-purple these cooler fall days. Flower season is drawing to a close. October 1, 2007: Our terminal field trip scheduled for September 15 was snowed out! The first indoor meeting of our fall/winter season was appropriately a discussion of seeds and served as follow-up to our August seed collecting class at Red Butte Gardens. Steve Love of the Aberdeen Plant Materials Center, an avid seed collector himself, elaborated on what we had learned in Salt Lake City about how and when to collect seeds and how to clean and store them properly for later propagation. He and several members brought seeds to share and take home. Steve discussed seed dispersal mechanisms through birds, insects, and wind. He showed us his “seed scouting backpack” and its supplies: flora books, GPS, paper bags and envelopes for containing and labeling seeds, plant collection checklist for recording plants, GPS locations, elevation, date collected and any other notable data. He noted that multiple trips often need to be made to a collection area - in June when most are in bloom and readily identifiable, late July or August to collect from plants previously selected, and later if the seeds are not yet ripe for collection. Steve showed how to effectively remove seeds from their pods or ovaries, and how to use kitchen sieves to sort seeds from chaff. He suggested Googling “plant propagation data bases” for a wealth of information on storing seeds properly. This very informative meeting was topped off with a chili potluck and much sharing of experiences with seeds. November 5, 2007: “Bats, Bees, Birds and Butterflies Beget Blossoms” was Penny Fazio’s title to an informative talk about pollen and pollination. Penny pointed out that pollen in the air causes some of us with allergies to despair, but without those glorious yellow grains of life, there would not be blossoms on our favorite native plants to enjoy and subsequent production of seeds. Penny had charts and posters and pollen under microscopes to show us variations in shapes, sizes, and types of pollinators that do the work. She discussed some of the plants Astragalus whitneyi var. confusus (Fabaceae) {photo A. Holte) ' AkVfW *ts. Winter 2007 ❖ SAGE NOTES ❖ A Publication of the Idaho Native Plant Society Vol. 29 (4) that bats, bees, birds, and butterflies frequent - for their own benefit to gather nectar and pollen for nourishment, and for the benefit of other plants they pollinate by going from one to another. Penny showed us her homemade bat house and had handouts available on how to make your own, plus how to make a bee condo, and even how to host a pollinator-friendly “dinner party.” Drawing upon her work in pollination for her undergraduate research project, her wealth of information and enthusiasm inspired the audience. Penny Fazio Plant lists are available from almost all of the field trips Sah-Wah-Be chapter enjoyed this past year. To obtain a copy, email ardvsholte at cableone.net . UPCOMING EVENTS Jan, Feb, and Mar. meetings are at 7:00 pm in the Idaho Museum of Natural History classroom, ISU. Check your mail/email/newspaper for more details on each event. December 2: Christmas Potluck at Holtes, 1506 N. Mink Creek Road, Pocatello; 4:00 pm. January 7, 2008: The 21 Latest Noxious Weed List Additions; by Alan Crockett. February 4, 2008: Landscaping with Native Plants, Shrubs, and Trees; by Robert Pittman. March 3, 2008: Photos of field trips, vacations, favorite native plants and wildflowers; by various volunteering members. White Pine Chapter Contact chapter presidents Nancy Miller (208-882- 2877) or Janet Campbell (208-882-6409) for news and upcoming events. Wood River Chapter Contact chapter president Tess O’Sullivan (208-788- 1378) for news and upcoming events. Answers to Crossword ACROSS DOWN 1 Pahove 1 Pocatello 4 Boise 2 Hobo 5 SahWahBe 3 Clark 7 Blaine 4 Bear 8 BSU 5 St. Joe 9 Bonners Ferry 6 Hells Canyon 13 Lolo 9 Lincoln 14 Latah 10 Bovill 15 Kinnikinnick 11 Fernwood 18 Indian Valley 12 Ada 22 Teton 16 ISU 24 Selway 17 City of Rocks 25 Salmon 19 Atlanta 28 Owyhee 20 Loasa 29 Kootenai 21 Yellowstone 31 Craters of the Moon 23 Nyssa 33 Pine 26 Selkirk 35 Cascade 27 Wood River 36 Gem 30 Bruneau 37 Fremont 32 Nez Perce 38 Elk River 33 Palouse 40 Butte 34 Heyburn 41 Calypso 35 Curlew 43 White Pine 39 Lost 44 Frank 42 Ola 45 Basalt April 7, 2008: Annual Chapter Meeting and dinner, year in review, election of officers, brainstorming 2008 field trips and events; location to be announced. Idaho Native Plant Society P.O.Box 9451 Boise, ID 83707 ADDRESS SERVICE REQUESTED Non Profit Organization U.S. Postage Paid Boise, ID Permit No. 688 Sage Notes is published four times a year in February, May, September, and December by the Idaho Native Plant Society, incorporated since 1977, under the laws of the State of Idaho. Editor, Dylan Levy-Boyd. Newsletter ads: personal ads $2; commercial ads $5 for 1/8 page, $8 for 1/4 page, $15 for 1/2 page, and $25 for full page. Ads should be sent with payment. Submissions: members and others are invited to submit material for publication. Articles in any form, even hand-written, are welcome, as is art work. Please provide a phone number in case there are questions. Material will not be returned. Send submissions directly to the editor, Dylan Levy- Boyd, 506 Center St. West, Kimberly, ID 83341, or . Submission deadlines are January 8, April 1, August 1, and November 1. Officers: President, Janet Benoit; Vice President, Eric Wilson; Secretary, Lois Rohay; Treasurer, Jody Hull. Calypso Chapter, P.O. Box 331, Careywood, ID 83809. President, Bob Lee; Vice President, Roland Craft; Secretary, Phil Hruskocy; Treasurer, Janet Benoit; Newsletter, Phil Hruskocy. Kinnikinnick Chapter, 206 N. 4 th Ave., PMB 162, Sandpoint, ID 83864. President, Phil Hough; Vice President, Ken Haag; Secretary, Konrad Dahlstrom; Treasurer, Marilyn George; Conservation, Carol Jenkins; Programs, Carol Jenkins; Newsletter*, Adrienne Lilly; Lield Trips*, Molly O’ Reilly. Pahove Chapter, PO Box 9451, Boise, ID 83707. President, Cyndi Coulter; Vice President, Bill Addington; Secretary, Gillian Crymes; Treasurer, Jody Hull; Conservation, Chris Colson. Sah-Wah-Be Chapter, 146 South 17 th Avenue, Pocatello, ID 83201. President, Janet Bala; Vice President, Mel & Barb Nicholls; Secretary, Linda Johnson; Treasurer, Catalina Steckbauer. White Pine Chapter, PO Box 8481, Moscow, ID 83843. President, Janet Campbell & Nancy Miller; Vice President, David Pierce; Secretary, Sonja Lewis; Treasurer, Nancy Sprague; Conservation, Juanita Lichthardt. Wood River Chapter, PO Box 3093, Hailey, ID 83333. President, Tess O’Sullivan; Vice President, Carol Blackburn; Secretary, VACANT; Treasurer, VACANT. Loasa Chapter, 340 E 520 N, Shoshone, ID 83352. President, Kelvin Jones; Vice President, LaMar Orton; Secretary, Lois Rohay; Treasurer, Steve Paulsen. The Idaho Native Plant Society (INPS) is dedicated to promoting interest in native plants and plant communities and to collecting and sharing information on all phases of the botany of native plants in Idaho, including educating the public to the values of the native flora and its habitats. In keeping with our mission, it is the intent of the INPS to educate its membership and the public about current conservation issues that affect Idaho’s native flora and habitats. Membership is open to anyone interested in our native flora. Send dues to Jody Hull, INPS Treasurer, Box 9451, Boise, ID 83707. Website address: IdahoNativePlants.org. Category 2007 Annual D Patron $35 Individual $15 Household * $20 Student $8 Senior Citizen $8 Name Address City/State Zip Telephone E mail Chapter affiliation? (check one) Calypso (Coeur d’Alene; please include $6 newsletter dues) Kinnikinnick (Sandpoint; please include $10 for Kinnikinnick Journal) Pahove (Boise) Sah-Wah-Be (SE Idaho) White Pine (Moscow) Loasa (Twin Lalls) Wood River (Ketchum-Sun Valley; please include $7 chapter dues) None. Those who do not live near a chapter are encouraged to join. We can put you in touch with other members in your area, and can coordinate with you on any state level activities you may wish to be involved in. * Household memberships are allocated two votes