A Publication of the Wyoming Native Plant Society

March 2006, Volume 25, No. 1

Posted at www.uvvyo.edu/vvyndd/wnps/wnps_home.htm

In this issue:

Have We Got the Mosses 1

Yellowstone Herbarium Moves 3

Herbarium Database of Grasses 3

Annual Meeting - See you in Pinedaie! 4

International Rock Garden Conference 5

What's a Tree to Do? 6

One Long Year for Yermo 7

Species and Ecosystem Assessments 8

Have We Got the Mosses!

Contrary to a recent statement issued by
the Wyoming Tourism and Travel Division (Casper
Star-Tribune, 5 March 2006; front page), Wyoming
is endowed in mosses, even to the point of local
abundance! The most current published checklist
(Eckel 1996) recognizes 315 species and varieties.

Now and then, agencies as well as vascular
plant botanists and ecologists need a reminder of
what they don't know. Bryology (study of mosses)
is in that domain for most of us. I tried to include
moss species in a study of peatlands in the Snowy
Range (Medicine Bow Mountains). In the first test-
run site, I quickly ran out of known moss genus
names and relegated one exquisite, extensive, mat-
forming moss to the descriptive name of "falcate-
hairy". Not to be outdone, another botanist in the
group suggested that it resembled a sea cucumber
with its tubular, inflated appearance, and the "sea
cucumber" common name proved easier for the
rest to remember. Later ID attempts took it to
Paludella squarrosa, and verification by a real
bryologist came back with exciting messages.

Paludella squarrosa is a circumboreal
species collected less than 10 times in the Rocky
Mountains of the U. S., and is recognized on lists of
rare mosses in Colorado and Montana. It was
reported once in Wyoming (Lawton 1971; in Eckel

Paludella squarrosa. Illustration by Patricia Eckel.
Wyoming Native Plant Society appreciates the
permission of the Flora of North America Association to
reprint the Paludella illustration from Volume 27 of the
Flora of North America North of Mexico, due to appear
this year as the first of the three bryophyte volumes.

1996), also known from Michigan, New York and
Vermont. What does this mean for the species in
Wyoming? ...It means that we need to launch a
Wyoming list of moss species of potential cowcerw,
as a preliminary collection of such questions, and a
framework to apply answers. Stay tuned. BH

Reference

Eckel, P. 1996. Synopsis of the mosses of Wyoming. Great
Basin Naturalist 56(3): 197-204.

WNPS News

2006 Scholarship Winners : The 2006 Markow
WNPS Scholarship winners are Nancy Bockino
(University of Wyoming) who will test hypothesized
relationships between pine bark beetles and fire in
lodgepole pine; Robert Harms (University of
Nebraska) who is undertaking the first floristic
survey thesis of Wyoming lichens, in the Snowy
Range; and Adam Rollins (University of Arkansas),
doctoral candidate who will conduct the first study
of myxomycetes in eastern Wyoming and their
ecology in the greater grassland biome. These
studies are awarded $300. The project merit
(soundness and significance) of all submissions
were outstanding. Thanks go to all who apply...
and to all in WNPS who support scholarships.

Wyoming Native Plant Society
P.O. Box 2500, Laramie, WY 82073

WNPS Board - 2005-06

President: Bonnie Heidel 742-9523

Vice President: Laura Hudson (2005) 745-8236

Vice President: Lynn Moore (2006) 472-3603

Sec.-Treasurer: Ann Boelter 745-5487

Board Members: Mike Evans, 326-8217

Curtis Haderlie (2006) 690-4381

Katherine Zacharkevics (2005)

The 2006 Board officially takes over at the annual meeting.

Newsletter Editor: Bonnie Heidel (Laramie;
bheidel@uwyo.edu)

Teton Chapter: PO Box 82, Wilson, WY 83014 (Joan
Lucas, Treasurer)

Bighorn Native Plant Society: PO Box 21, Big Horn, WY
82833 (Jean Daly, Treasurer)

New webmastermind: Melanie Arnett (Laramie;
arnett@uwyo.edu)

Treasurer's Report : Balance as of 8 March: General
Fund: $1249.50; Markow Scholarship Fund:
$1184.00. Total Funds: $2433.50.

By-Laws vote reminder : Voting is open on the proposed
WNPS By-Laws amendment up until the time of the
annual meeting on July 15. See the December issue for
submitting your vote by mail as a proxy vote. New
members are also being sent the December issue and
encouraged to vote.

(The friendly WNPS post-office-box-picker-uppers who
moonlight as botanists invite you to send mail-in votes in
spring rather than in summer.)

Contributors to this issue: Bonnie Heidel (BH), Adam
Siepielski (AS), Jennifer Whipple (JW) and hosting
Pinedale members. Comments, as always, are welcome!

Annual Meeting : Now is the time to plan I Mark
July 15-16 on your calendar and see the
announcement on p. 4.

New Members : Please welcome the following new
members to WNPS: Derek Artz (Columbia, SC);
Judy Biscan (Shaker Heights, OH); Bobbi Holder
(Cody); Mark Hughes (Cheyenne); Alison King
(Pinedale); Mike Kintgen (Littleton, CO); Lance
McNees (Morgan, UT); Daryl Mergen (Colorado
Springs, CO); Vicki Regula (Laramie); Brad Rogers
(Buffalo); Estelle Ruben (Casper); Bettina Sparrowe
(Daniel); and Kathi Squires (Wilson).

Message from the President

Does it make sense to feature a moss on
the cover of Castillejav^\\er\ Wyoming Native Plant
Society (WNPS) currently has one bryologist
member? Does it make sense to offer a Wyoming
Native Plant Society scholarship to support the first
documentation of myxomycetes in eastern
Wyoming grasslands when WNPS has two
mycologist members? Will native plant gardening
articles alienate taxonomists or taxonomy articles
disenfranchise gardeners? ... What about weeds?
What about everyone else?

Every WNPS matter represents a wrestling
match. The Information Age that buries us In news
and data isn't going to bring us balance or bring us
any closer to the plant life around us. If we want
to learn about our surroundings, tread outside the
realm of familiarity, and grasp a greater community
in the spectrum of member botany interests, then
WNPS needs to be open to the phenomenal
breadth of native plant life in Wyoming.

As I write this, a snow plow zips past my
window, and I wish that this issue presented simple
promises of spring flowers that affirmed what we
already know. Yes, spring flowers will come,... and
a whole lot more. BH

Nomadic No More :

YELLOWSTONE HERBARIUM MOVES!

By Jennifer Whipple

The Yellowstone National Park herbarium
(YELLO) has settled gratefully into its new home in
the newly completed Heritage and Research
Center. The new facility is located in the Park
adjacent to the school in Gardiner, Montana.
Previously, the herbarium was housed in the
Yellowstone Center for Resources in Mammoth,
with the herbarium cabinets squeezed into a small
room that also doubled as my office. There was
almost no room for examining specimens let alone
actually processing specimens.

Even though botanists have been collecting
in Yellowstone since before the Park's
establishment, all of the specimens ended up at
major herbaria or at the home institution of the
collectors. H.S. Conard began an extensive
collection in Yellowstone in 1924 to 1926 which
was the nucleus for the current collection.
Additional collectors added material especially
Herma Baggley during the 1930's and Ray Davis in
the early 1950's. The arrival of Don Despain
precipitated a period of intense collecting
associated with producing a vegetation map for the
park. At the time of Don's arrival in 1972, the
herbarium collection was part of the museum
collection, and stored in the building that is now
the Albright Visitor Center in Mammoth. Since
access was difficult, Don orchestrated the eventual
separation of the herbarium from the museum

collection, and the location of the herbarium in a
large room on the third floor of the Administration
Building. The need for more office space resulted
in the herbarium moving first into a smaller room in
the Administration Building, and then in 2000 into
the building housing the Yellowstone Center for
Resources. After being the nomad collection, the
herbarium is now in permanent quarters for the
foreseeable future.

The new facility has a designated room for
the herbarium storage proper, with tables down the
center of the room beside the rows of cases along
the walls. Additionally, the herbarium preparation
room also has room to work and examine
specimens. My office is even in a separate room,
directly adjacent to the herbarium prep room.

What an improvement! Now we are actively
processing specimens and adding to the collection
which numbers approximately 9000 specimens at
this time. These specimens primarily represent the
vascular plant flora of Yellowstone. There are also
bryophyte and lichen collections, and a fungi
collection primarily collected by Kent McKnight in
Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks.

The herbarium is available for anyone who
is interested in seeing or using the facility. Please
call ahead to make an appointment with me at 307
344-2226 or write to Jennifer Whipple, National
Park Service, P.O. Box 168, Yellowstone National
Park, WY 82190 |jennifer_whipple@nps.gov].
Remember, botanists are in the field most of the
summer, so the best time to utilize the facility is in
the off-season. Come visit and enjoy all of our
space! JW

Herbarium Database of Grasses

A new, web-accessible database of grasses of western South Dakota and eastern Wyoming,
including the Black Hills and Bearlodge Mountains, is now posted by the Black Hills State University
Herbarium: http://www.bhsu.edu/artssciences/asfacultv/mqabel/ ; then go to "Database" (Card et al.
2006). There are 208 grass species represented in a compilation of information from 15 herbaria
(including RM) and over 10,000 specimens. It currently includes information searchable on species, county
and collector; with information on locality, habitat, collector and date.

Reference

Card, Curtis, Elke Kuegle, Elaine Ebbert and Mark Gabel. 2006. A database of the grasses of western
South Dakota and eastern Wyoming including the Black Hills and Bear Lodge Mountains. Black Hills State
University, Spearfish, SD.

3

-See you in Pinedale!

2006 Wyoming Native Plant Society Meeting

Pinedale, Wyoming
July 15 & 16, 2006

This event will be based at Fremont Lake Campground (Bridger-Teton NF), assembling at
9:30 am on Saturday, July 15 for tours. A wild food foray will be held Friday night and a Saturday
Dinner Social hosted locally on Saturday night. The May newsletter will provide a map of tours
and more information. All events are open to all members and non-members at no cost.

Pinedale accommodations are limited in summer so plan ahead! This announcement
contains camping and lodging information. An exciting slate of events are in-the-making, and a
pre-registration to survey member interest is at the bottom of this page. Please send your pre-
registration form in to Pinedale organizers as soon as possible. Look for details in the May issue.

Guided Tours:

The Mesa Tour, featuring plants of the sagebrush steppe.

The Kendall Warm Springs Tour, featuring usual & unusual riparian plants.

The Fremont Lakeside Tour, examining a diversity of native plants, with the other eye and ear

cocked toward birding

The Soda Lake Tour, featuring the aspen community
Workshops and Other Activities:

Painting, learn the basics of painting flowers and landscapes.

Native Plant Cultivation, the easy, the hard, and the impossible
Edible Plant Foraging, get pointers, then gather condiments for Saturday night supper.

Campfire Dinner Social, hosted by the Sage and Snow Garden Club

WNPS Business meeting

If you are interested in attending please pre-register by sending the info below to: kail@wyoming.com

or to WNPS, PO BOX 932 Pinedale, Wyoming, 82941

Name: Phone:

Address:

Email:

Please CIRCLE the two top tours you are interested in taking (above). Please CIRCLE any of the workshops
you are interested in taking. Please note if you want to purchase one of the available Fremont Lake

campsite reservations for July 15-16 (see next page).

Please indicate any other interest in participating:

Camping options:

A very limited number of camp sites are now reserved for WNPS members at the USFS Fremont Lake
Campground, 3 miles north of Pinedale, for the nights of July 14-15 (Fri-Sat). These spots cost $33 each for the two
nights. For details on the spots and to pay for them, please contact Carmel Kail ASAP at 367-3058 or
kail@wyominQ.com .

All other campground sites at Fremont Lake and vicinity are available on a first-come first-serve basis
(includes Flalf Moon Lake, and Elkhart Park), all within 15 miles of Pinedale. Fremont Lake Campground offers 54
campsites, Flalf Moon Campground has 17 sites, and Trails End Campground at Elkhart Park has 14 sites. Pit toilets,
picnic tables, fire rings, and campground hosts are provided at each of these three campgrounds. Potable water is
provided at Fremont and Trails End Campgrounds, but not at Flalf Moon Lake Campground. Most of these campsites
cannot be reserved in advance, so campers should get to these campgrounds as early as possible on Friday. Pinedale
members are willing to help hold available campsites, with prior arrangements.

Informal, dispersed camping sites (lacking all amenities) are available throughout the Forest at no cost. For
information on camping rules and opportunities on the Forest, contact the USFS-BTNF Pinedale Ranger District at
367-4326 or see their website at www.fs.fed.us/btnf/offices/pinedale

Some RV and other improved camping sites are also available (first-come first-serve) though the Bureau of
Land Management. For more information, call the Sublette County Visitors' Center at 367-2242. Ask to have the
"Better Than Yellowstone "b'cochu'ce and the "Wyoming Public Lands Recreation Opportunities" mailed to you.

Other Lodging Options:

Through March 31, the Chambers Flouse B&B in Pinedale will hold rooms for Wyoming Native Plant Society
members, for the nights of July 14-15 (Fri-Sat). Rates run between $65 and $115 per night. Reserve your room by
calling The Chambers Flouse at 367-2168. For information on other lodging establishments in the area,
check http://www.pinedalechamber.com/lodging.htm , or call the Sublette County Visitors' Center at 367-2242.

Accommodations In Pinedale during July are very hard to come bv and get booked full early, so please don 't delay.

The previous weekend is the Green River Rendezvous, with pageant, parade and rodeo, so consider coming a week eariy!

THE HORTH AMERICAN ROCK C^ARDEN SOCIETY
INTERNATIONAL INTERIM ROCK CjARDEN PLANT CONFERENCE

2006

Alpines in All Directions: Plants of the
Western Cordilleras

The three-day trips will roam far afield, to areas
(and states!) not visited during past Annual Meetings:

- Ruby Mountains, eastern Nevada

- Cedar Breaks, southern Utah

- Snowy Range, southern Wyoming

- Teton Mountains, western Wyoming and Bear
River Range, northern Utah

The North American Rock Garden Society
(NARGS) will be sponsoring the International Interim
Rock Garden Plant Conference, which will be hosted by
the Wasatch Chapter. The Conference will run from
Friday, July 21st through Wednesday, July 26th, and will
be based at the Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort in
Snowbird, Utah. The announcement is posted at
http://www.nargs.org/IIRGPC.html .

A double-barreled format is offered consisting of
both a lecture series AND three-day field trips. The
lecture series is at Snowbird, with knowledgeable and
entertaining speakers who will educate you about the
plants and the ecosystems you will see in the field.
Speakers include such noted authorities as Noel
Flolmgren, James Reveal, Sean Flogan, Rick Lupp,
Loraine Yeatts, and others.

Of special interest to Wyoming Native Plant
Society (WNPS) members, a five-day post-conference
fieldtrip around Wyoming includes opportunities to
rendezvous in Riverton at the culmination of the
expedition, visiting the Wind River Range on July 31.
This trip is already full, but WNPS members can join the
Riverton Rendezvous). For information on the late
morning Riverton Rendezvous, July 31, contact: Joyce
Fingerut [alpinegarden@comcast.net].

You do NOT have to be a member of the North
American Rock Garden Association to attend. Complete
registration information and fee information is posted at:
http://www.nargs.org/IIRGPC.html with details about
the speakers and fieldtrips; or contact the WNPS editor if
you do not have internet access and would like the email
posting mailed to you.

5

Whats a tree to dd>

Interactions between nutcrackers,
squirrels, and bird-dispersed pines

By Adam Siepielski

(Editor's note: The following article highlights doctoral
thesis research conducted with the support of the 2005
Wyoming Native Plant Society scholarship.)

Seed dispersal strategies are an important
facet of the natural histories of plants. Most plants
benefit from seed dispersal by having their seeds
moved from the immediate vicinity of the parent
plant, thereby reducing the chances of seed
predation and competition with their siblings, among
other benefits. Limber pine {Pinus flexilis) is among
the 20 pine species that rely on birds, namely Clark's
nutcrackers {Nucifraga Columbiana), to disperse
their seeds. Unlike most pines, bird-dispersed pines
lack the wings on the seeds that slow their descent
to the ground allowing them to be dispersed by
wind. If you watch a group of nutcrackers in the fall,
you will see them using their bills to shred the tough
cone scales or reach between open cone scales of
limber pine to remove the seeds. During the fall an
individual nutcracker will bury up to an estimated
98,000 seeds a year! Nutcrackers rely on these
seeds throughout the winter and spring and into
early summer as a resource for themselves and their
offspring. However, many buried seeds are not
retrieved by nutcrackers and some may germinate
into new trees before beginning the cycle anew.

The interaction between nutcrackers and
limber pine is an example of a mutualism. Both
nutcrackers and the trees benefit from the
interaction. Trees provide nutcrackers with a
nutritious food while the nutcrackers disperse the
seeds. But there are costs. Many of the seeds are
eaten, and in some years no cones are produced.
Hence the interaction is very dynamic. Nutcrackers,
however, are not the only animals that eat the seeds
of limber pine. In fact, the most important seed
predator of limber pine is likely the pine squirrel
{Tamiasciuruss\i^.), which are common to many of
the coniferous areas throughout the Rockies
(including much of Wyoming) and Sierra Nevada.

Like nutcrackers, squirrels remove large numbers of
seeds each year from limber pine and other conifers.
Unlike nutcrackers, however, squirrels are a seed
predator, not a seed disperser— the pines do not
benefit from having their cones harvested by

squirrels. Because squirrels do not provide a benefit
like nutcrackers, this creates a conflict of interest
where both nutcrackers and squirrels coexist with
these conifers.

Trees that minimize cone harvest by pine
squirrels while maximizing seed harvest by
nutcrackers will produce the most seedlings. These
trees have a reproductive advantage and therefore
come to represent more and more of future
generations. This is simply how natural selection
causes populations to evolve over time. One of the
most important functions of conifer cones is to
protect seeds, thus what you might expect is that
where pine squirrels occur seeds are well-defended
by larger cones. Where pine squirrels are absent,
such well-defended seeds are not necessary. Thus,
in regions where pines squirrels are absent we
expect that trees that invest less in seed defenses
should be more attractive to nutcrackers and have
more of their seeds dispersed. Over time these trees
producing more seeds and allocating less to
defenses should increase in the population. I have
measured tree preferences of both pine squirrels
and nutcrackers, which is a method to measure
natural selection exerted by these animals, and not
surprisingly they strongly prefer to forage on trees
with less-defended cones.

If you look at limber pine cones from
mountain ranges in the Great Basin where squirrels
have been absent for 10,000 or more years, and
compare these cones to limber pine from throughout
the Rockies (i.e., along Happy Jack Road in
Wyoming) or Sierra Nevada where squirrels are
present you will notice they are very different (see
Figure 1). Cones in the Great Basin are much
smaller, with thinner cone scales, than cones in the
Rockies or in the Sierra Nevada, but even though
the cones are smaller they have twice as many
seeds. This makes sense when we consider the
preferences of squirrels (as seed predators) and
nutcrackers (as seed dispersers), and is a wonderful
example of how natural selection influences conifer
cone structure.

These patterns are also replicated in
another related bird-dispersed pine, whitebark pine
{Pinus albicauli^, which occurs throughout the
Rockies (i.e., along Togwotee Pass in Wyoming),
and Sierra Nevada, which further supports the
hypothesis that these

6

pines are evolving in response to the balance of
natural selection exerted between nutcrackers and
pine squirrels.

This work highlights the importance of taking
a broad perspective on how organisms interact in
nature. It also emphasizes why protection of
numerous areas is important, because the ways
organisms interact with each other do not occur in
the same way in every location, and this interaction
diversity itself is equally important to conservation
as are the species themselves. AS

Suggestions for further reading :

banner, R. 1996. Made for each other: A symbiosis of

birds and pine. Oxford University Press, New York.

About the author: Adam M. Siepielski is a PhD candidate
in the Department of Zoology and Physiology at the
University of Wyoming. He can be reached via email at
asiepiel@uwyo.edu

Figure 1. Photograph of a limber pine cone from the
Rocky Mountains/Sierra Nevada (left), where pine squirrels
are present; and of a limber pine cone from the Great Basin
(right), where pine squirrels are absent.

Photographs by Adam Siepielski.

One Long Year for Yermo

On March 5, 2005, an opal-hunting frenzy
was launched by release of a 12-page Wyoming
Geological Survey report on gem-grade opal
deposits along the "Central Rim" in Fremont
County, WY (Hausel and Sutherland 2005). The
boom escalated with newspaper publication of the
primary townships of opal resources (Farquhar
2005). The same terrain bears abandoned claims
on other minerals that have resurging interest.

Twelve months and many mining claims
later, the biggest botanical treasure remains in
limbo. The site of the only population of Yermo
xanthocephalus {(Aesext yellowhead) is near the
area of the latest boom, and lies entirely on Bureau
of Land Management (BLM) lands.

Yermo xanthocephalus^^s designated as a
Threatened species under the Endangered Species
Act on March 14, 2003, with later designation of
critical habitat for 360 acres almost exactly a year
later (March 16, 2004.) Critical habitat designation
does not pre-empt mineral development.

A mineral withdrawal proposal was initiated
last spring, but has yet to be submitted to the BLM
national office and thus for publication in the
Federal Register. The Lander BLM Field Office may
submit the requisite mineral report, environmental
assessment and briefing paper to the BLM state
office in Cheyenne by the end of March, from
where it will be forwarded on to the BLM national
office in Washington D.C.

The process to withdraw the mineral estate
takes up to six months once it reaches the national
BLM office, so the withdrawal is unlikely to happen
any earlier than next fall. (From information compiled
by B. Heidel and others).

References

Hausel, W.D. and W.M. Sutherland. 2005. Geology -
Opal Deposits of Granite Mountains, Central
Wyoming. 2005. Wyoming Geological Survey,
Laramie, WY. Posted at:
http://www.wsgs.uwyo.edu/metals/

Farquhar, B. 2005. Opal rush swamps officials. Casper
Star Tribune, March 10, 2005.

7

Species and Ecosystem Assessments

Check out the Species Conservation Project
of the U.S. Forest Service - Rocky Mountain Region
r http://www.fs.fed.us/r2/proiects/scp/j in coming
months for a flurry of species conservation
assessment and ecosystem assessment reports
being posted. The last of over 200 plant and
animal assessments will be completed in 2006,

The Wyoming Native Plant Society, established
in 1981, is a non-profit organization dedicated to
encouraging the appreciation and conservation of
the native flora and plant communities of
Wyoming. The Society promotes education and
research on native plants of the state through its
newsletter, field trips, and annual student
scholarship award. Membership is open toHH^H^H
individuals, families, or organizations with

inforoch in \A/\/nminn^c flr\r:a Momharc

predator of limber pine Is likely the pine squirrel
{Tam/asc/urussjpjp.), which are common to many of
the coniferous areas throughout the Rockies
(including much of Wyoming) and Sierra Nevada.
Like nutcrackers, squirrels remove large numbers of
seeds each year from limber pine and other conifers.
Unlike nutcrackers, however, squirrels are a seed
predator, not a seed disperser— the pines do not
benefit from having their cones harvested by

cone structure.

These patterns are also replicated in
another related bird-dispersed pine, whitebark pine
{Pinus albicauli^, which occurs throughout the
Rockies (i.e., along Togwotee Pass in Wyoming),
and Sierra Nevada, which further supports the
hypothesis that these

6