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Memories of White Branch
by Marcia Cutler, 1999 Annual Meeting Chair

Emerald Chapter began planning the 1999 Annual Meeting in the spring of 1998, and decided to go to the High Cascades, to add a Friday field trip and to try and make the weekend very affordable. Rhoda Love coined our motto "Get high the last summer of the millennium" and we were off and running. We found that group camps in the McKenzie Bridge area had precious few openings and felt lucky to score Camp White Branch, with its CCC built lodge and 17 acres of old growth, waterfalls and meadows, for the end of July. We worried about flowers being all dried up by then and about not having White Branch's minimum 50 registrants (and many other things). But we advertised early and wide, and planned enthusiastically and by the end of June, we began to worry about the snow gate never opening and whether all the registrants would find a mattress, a parking space and enough food and how we would ever manage to register 120+ people between 3 and 6 p.m. Friday.

The big weekend approached, the snowgate opened (the day before!), the weather warmed up, the sun shined, Bruce Newhouse and his wonderful field trip leaders were able to reschedule the high mountain trips, Gail Baker and helpers filled the lodge with beautiful flowers donated by Kelly O'Neill, Justin Harris and other Emeraldites set everything up, Sylvia Giustina's crew registered all the attendees without the dreaded 'crunch' occurring, and even the mosquitoes stayed away from the Camp! (but not, I hear, some of the field trips.)

We had four half-day field trips on Friday and Charlene Simpson put together a social with a walk to the White Branch waterfall, a cold buffet, a delightful Botany Sing-a-long with Emily Fox, and a dynamite Cascades flower slide show by Phil Warner and Dale McBride. On Saturday we had several field trips, a spinach lasagna banquet, new state officers induction, honoring of the Fellows Kenton Chambers and Wilbur Bluhm, and an exciting slide-illustrated talk by William Sullivan. Sunday brought some half-day field trips and the State Board meeting.

Many people worked many, many hours for us. The White Branch staff provided everything we asked for and more - we were especially grateful for all the yummy food and the fresh fruits and vegetables. We had 145-plus attendees, which broke the previous Annual Meeting record, we covered our expenses and people found a profusion of flowers on the field trips, including ones they'd never seen before.

I asked the Emerald Board, the Annual Meeting Committee and the field trip leaders to jot down their favorite memories and here are some of them. If these memories inspire any of you to write something, please send them to me and I'll put them together for "More Memories of White Branch."

Charlene Simpson, Emerald: "The astonishing attendance (broke all prior Annual Meeting records); the many new faces; the gorgeous weather; outstanding programs and enthusiastic audience response both Friday night and Saturday night; the accommodation and graciousness of Camp personnel."

Rhoda Love, Emerald: "I most enjoyed a quiet Saturday afternoon in the shade chatting with a most amusing man and brilliant conversationalist, our retiring Bulletin editor, John Robotham. John didn't reveal his age but remembers seeing Lindbergh when the latter returned from his history-making non-stop flight across the Atlantic. John saw his first lady slipper orchid in 1930. He recalls a large pickerel which got away circa 1934. He was with the U. S. Air Corps, stationed in Brazil during WWII. For 40 years he was a librarian at the New York Public Library. He implied to me that many librarians have an impressive capacity for drink. He retired to Oregon in 1990, joined NPSO in 1992 and was Bulletin editor for 6 years from '93 to '99. Quite a guy!"

Gail Baker, Emerald: "Emily Fox and her botanical repertoire entertained the crowd on Friday evening (with a Calypso orchid song sung to a calypso beat and a revival of Herm Fitz's song "The Four Important Parts of a Flower" among many others. Dining room floral displays, supplied by Kelly O'Neil, added to the festive atmosphere."

David Wagner, Emerald, Quaking Aspen Swamp field trip leader: "I was with the group that went into Quaking Aspen Swamp. The high point of the day was certainly the discovery of big patches of sundews, Drosera rotundifolia. We were happy to find it on the north side of the pond, so one doesn't have to wade the stream to see it. Another thing we noticed that might be of interest was the presence of what appeared to be Cypripedium montanum stems, the tops eaten off by deer. We couldn't be sure that they were the orchid because the flowers were gone. And because the flowers were gone, we discussed the idea that one of the reasons the lady slipper has become rare is because the increasing deer population of the last century has led to the decline of orchids they like to eat."

Stu Garrett, High Desert, Newberry Volcano (nee Mt. Bachelor) field trip leader: "My memory is of a nearly cloudless view of the Cascades, the Crater Lake area, Hart Mountain, the Fort Rock Valley, the Blue Mountains, the Deschutes Basin, and the Three Sisters from the summit of Paulina Peak. Another highlight was finding a new species to add to the list in Newberry Meadow (a Sisyrinchium) and seeing rare Botrychiums at the Meadow and on The Dome. All of this with an enthusiastic and knowledgeable group!"

Bruce Newhouse, Emerald: "As field trip coordinator, my biggest memory has to be the snowpack. As the time drew nearer and nearer, we all had doubts, but just couldn't believe it would be a problem. Then after we did our reconnaissance the weekend before the meeting, we found it was true: four trips had to be instantly rescheduled -- after months of work getting everything in place, and having overflowing registration for the trips! Thanks to flexible trip leaders, and flexible meeting attendees, everything went smoothly, and we found a couple of great new sites for additional future trips, too."

Sylvia Giustina, Emerald : "I was surprised and pleased that registration flowed with such unanticipated ease given the numbers. Thinking it over, I attribute it in good part to the fact that name tags were printed in advance. Hence there was no bottle neck at the registration table with people writing out their own tags -- a belated, much deserved thanks to Justin Harris for the hours he put in on this project. I thoroughly enjoyed Wilbur Bluhm's field trip to the potholes. The varieties of flowers in the fen, i.e., swamp with running water as opposed to stagnant water, was both unexpected and illuminating for my gardening purposes: Pedicularis groenlandica, Viola palustris, Kalmia microphylla, Habenaria saccata and even Dodecatheon jeffreyi. Wilbur's expertise and genteel manner put the icing on the cake as well as adding some essential ingredients to the cake itself."

Marcia Cutler, Emerald: "The weather, the people (old friends and new), the flowers, the mountains, the entertainment, the camp, the food, the field trips - the polite arguments about the Monroe Maple - I loved it all! I especially remember walking in the woods and swimming in the pool in the dark, and listening to Rhoda Love and Henrietta and Kenton Chambers swap stories poolside Saturday afternoon."

Rare Plants of the Willamette Valley: Summer Intern Report
by Diana Fodor

This Summer the interns with the Oregon Plant Conservation Biology Program had the honor of becoming acquainted with many rare and endangered plants. Coming from all over the country to Corvallis, Oregon we were primed to climb mountains and wade through dark forests thick with ferns, mosses, and lichens. It was more then we expected when we came upon the pure white phantom-orchid, Eburophyton austiniae, deep within the moist coniferous forests of the southern cascades. We were awed to see the bizarre bogs of insectivorous cobra pitcher plants, Darlingtonia californica, growing alongside delicate white and yellow lady slipper orchids, Cypripedium californicum, in the Illinois Valley. The native plants of Oregon gave us beauty indescribable and moved our hearts. None of us expected many of these plants would be ones that grew in the open prairie lands of the Willamette Valley, but there are many rare plants to be found there. Of all the places we went this summer, spending time in the open, lumpy, and snaky prairie lands of the Willamette Valley was the biggest surprise.

When I began my journey from Michigan to Oregon in late April, I was anticipating the mountain peaks and the rocky beaches that make Oregon so different from my home. I did not expect a lot of our work to be in the most populated portion of the state, the Willamette Valley. The rare plants in here exist on the remaining remnants of prairie lands that once covered most of the region. The valley is the driest land mass west of the cascades because it lies in the rain shadow of the coastal mountain range. The most common plant communities are oak woodlands, coniferous forests, grasslands, shrub communities, and riparian forests. At the beginning of the nineteenth century most of the valley was open prairie and oak forest. The land had been kept open by annual burning by native peoples to maintain habitat for wild game and edible plants. Todayís rare prairie plants were all once more common in the valley a hundred or more years ago. We can only imagine the magnificent floral displays that once carpeted the valley floor every spring. The plant communities that exist in the Willamette Valley today are very different from those of the recent past, with the exception of a few native fragments.

These prairies consist of wetland and upland prairies. The wetland prairies are seasonally flooded and dominated by tufted hairgrass. The upland prairies consist primarily of well drained soils and native bunch grasses. They were both kept open by the fires of the Kalapuya people. Their fires cleared tree seedlings, brush, and many grasses. Since European settlers arrived in the valley in the mid-eighteen hundreds, the fires have been suppressed. The suppression of fire allowed tree seedlings to take hold and forest areas to encroach on prairie lands. The annual fire cycle of the Kalapuya people was interrupted by disease introduced from abroad by the settlers. The settlers also brought farming, livestock grazing, and, more recently, urban development and exotic weed plants. Today, prairie lands have become a rare ecosystem in Oregon.

There are at least ten extremely rare plant species in the Willamette valley. Many exist in such small populations that they were believed to be extinct until remnant populations were rediscovered. The Willamette Valley has so many rare plants because it has a high ecological diversity and has sustained large losses of habitat.

Bradshawís lomatium, Lomatium bradshawii, Nelsonís sidalcea, Sidalcea nelsoniana, white topped aster, Aster curtus, and the three colored monkey flower, Mimulus tricolor, are all rare plants of Willamette Valley wetland prairies. Bradshawís lomatium is a member of the parsley family and grows nowhere else in the world except the wet open areas of the Willamette Valley and southwest Washington. Nelsonís sidalcea is also endemic to the Willamette Valley and adjacent coast range. It is highly susceptible to herbicidal spray and was once common in the valley. The white topped aster was abundant from the Willamette valley to Vancouver Island in British Colombia. It was thought to have gone completely extinct till it was rediscovered in 1978 in Oregonís native grass lands. The beautiful three colored monkey flower, once common in the valley, is also now a rare treat to see in bloom from late May to June.

Other rare prairie plants include the Willamette Valley daisy, Erigeron decombens var. decumbens, Kincaidís lupine, Lupinus sulphureus ssp. kincaidii, shaggy horkelia, Horkelia congesta var. congesta., Howellís montia, Montia howellii, the peacock larkspur, Dephinium pavonaleum, in the southern valley, and white rock larkspur, Delphinium leucophaeum in the northern valley. The white rock lark spur is only found near the Columbia and Willamette rivers and the peacock larkspur is endemic to meadow lands around the Willamette. Both are listed as in danger of extinction. The Willamette Valley daisy was once very common on the heavy soils of grasslands and prairies. It was thought to be extinct due to habitat destruction from agriculture and development in 1934. The plant was rediscovered in 1980 outside Eugene, Oregon, and is now listed as endangered.

I have been lucky to see many plants that may not be around in the future. I was also very lucky to meet and be part of a group of people who are working hard to find a way to make a future for these plants. Habitats have changed rapidly in the last century for many prairie species. We should not be slow to help them for they are part of an ecosystem which is our home too. Thanks to Tom Kaye, Kelly Amsberry, Kendra Mingo, Cormac Collier, Seth Bond, Mitchell McGlaughlin, Matt Hadley, Oregon Department of Agriculture, and The Oregon Native Plant Society.

Friends of the Oregon Flora Project

Highlights of the October State Board Meeting

October 2, 1999, Cordley Hall, OSU, Corvallis

by Rhoda Love, Secretary

The Board met on a gorgeous autumn day at Oregon State University. Many thanks to Esther McEvoy of Corvallis Chapter for securing the meeting room and providing drinks and delicious snacks.

The meeting got under way at 10:00 am sharp under the gavel of Bruce Newhouse, President. Twelve voting board members and a visitor were present. Also present were Scott Sundberg, Oregon Flora Project Coordinator, and Robert Meinke, Kelly Amsberry and Steve Gisler of the Oregon Department of Agriculture Rare Plant Program.

Treasurer pro tem Mike McKeag has shifted NPSO finances to an electronic format. He could not be present at the meeting, but sent a detailed explanation and spreadsheet of the current state of the Society's finances. An analysis of the data shows that income is up and expenditures down from the forecast for the year, indicating that the Society is presently in excellent financial health.

Bob Meinke, Director of the Oregon Department of Agriculture Rare Plant Program and his graduate students, Kelly Amsberry and Steve Gisler, were invited guests. Bob reviewed the history of the State Rare Plant program since its inception in 1988, and answered our questions about its operation and funding. The Board was impressed with the group's on-going research program, but respectfully requested that NPSO receive more frequent updates from the ODA program via Bulletin articles, or in-person reports at our meetings.

Scott Sundberg, Coordinator or the Oregon Flora Project, housed at the OSU Herbarium, thanked NPSO for its on-going financial and volunteer support, and gave us a detailed picture of the progress of the Oregon Vascular Plant Checklist, the Oregon Flora, and the Oregon Atlas. There have been some exciting recent botanical finds in the state. Five species that have not often been seen in Oregon or are new to the State have recently been reported. A species of Potentilla was found on Fuji Mountain; a member of the bog-bean family was found in Linn County; species of Galium and Baccharis came in from southern Oregon; and a St. John's wort has been reported.

The Flora Project hosted an excellent workshop on the genus Salix in September with willow expert George Argus. Dr. Argus annotated all the willows in the Oregon collection while he was in Corvallis Approximately 45% of the Checklist is done. The Atlas is moving forward and distribution maps for selected species may soon be available on the internet. Field work to gather additional lists for the Atlas will, it is hoped, be stepped up in the next field season. Friends of the Oregon Flora has raised approximately $8,000 for the Project to date. Several chapters reported that they have joined the "Igo Challenge." (See your September Bulletin.)

Dan Luoma is heading the Nominating Committee to choose candidates for officers and at-large board positions for the year 2000. All Chapters are asked to begin at once to recruit candidates for state offices and at-large board positions. Send names during the month of November to Dan at luomad@fsl.orst.edu

Kareen Sturgeon has asked the Board to study the issue of Field Trip Safety. She presented a number of ideas for providing more information to field trip participants and making trips safer. This topic will be revisited at the January Board meeting in Portland. Chapters are asked to send their reactions to Kareen's suggestions to that meeting. (Chapter Presidents, please see details in the minutes of the October Board Meeting.)

Wilbur Bluhm has agreed to lead a trip to the new "Oregon Garden" under development near Silverton. The date for the trip will be Saturday, November 13. The Garden is still in the preliminary stages, but has received a large grant from a Native American group to develop a Willamette Valley white oak community. See the front page of this Bulletin for specifics of time and meeting place.

Seven chapters sent reports and all those reporting have exciting programs and field trips under way. Several report that they have taken up the "Igo Challenge" to raise funds for the Flora Project.

Current membership of NPSO state-wide is 947 members.

The next Board meeting will be on January 22 in Portland place to be announced. Mark your new Y2K calendars now!

The genus Penstemon is the largest genus of flowering plants native to North America only. Long time NPSO members Robin and Ken Lodewick of Eugene provided a great service to botanists and wildflower lovers in1994 when they published their Descriptive Key to Oregon Penstemons in Kalmiopsis. That key contained all 46 Oregon penstemons, and 2 species in closely-related genera. In previous years, they produced other publications for the American Penstemon Society: a field identifier, nomenclatural history, and early versions of keys. The new key contains all 272 species, and an additional 15 species which are in closely related genera -- most were included in the genus Penstemon at one time or another.

The Introduction discusses Penstemon biology, taxonomy and biogeography, and introduces the reader to the keys which follow. The book contains two types of keys: a Quick Key, which contains only one or two features in each couplet, and a Descriptive Key, which contains several additional features useful in confirming an identification. Identification features were selected that are easiest to learn and to see with a 10 power hand lens. Although the key is probably more detailed that a beginner would want to try, with a little patience and practice looking at the different shapes of anther sacs and how they open (and a few other features), nearly any budding botanist or wildflower enthusiast should be able to master the basics. The Lodewicks point out that their key is not meant to be an authoritative work for identification, but should be used as a tool, and followed up with a confirmation in a botanical manual. (Northwest Penstemons, by Dee Strickler, has full descriptions and excellent photographs that will help identify species in our area.)

The Lodewicks are true Penstemaniacs, from their ability to quote detailed features and locations of numerous species by memory, to their home landscaping which has contained over 100 species of penstemons over the years, they have an obvious passion for these stunning and varied flowers.

Key to the Genus Penstemon is self-published, and is available for $15 postpaid from the Lodewicks at 2526 University St., Eugene, OR 97403.

Saturday, November 13, 9-11 A.M.: Ecology of Mt. Pisgah Arboretum ‚ Past and Future. To celebrate the Springfield-Eugene Museum Consortiumís new publicity brochure, we are offering the public a free tour of the Arboretum with Tom Bettman, a member of the Board of Directors. Meet at the Visitor Center at 9 A.M.

NPSO Membership Form: print, clip and mail

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