Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge

On Thursday, we toured Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge with Steve Barclay, Refuge Manager, Andrew Pettibone, Biologist and Rachael Portwood, Refuge Manager Trainee. While we were visiting, an international class from Colorado State University had also stopped at the refuge. The class consisted of protected area managers from 14 different countries in Central and South America. It was very interesting to hear some of their questions for Steve.

Browns Park is 13,000 acres in size and was founded in 1965 to mitigate the effects of the Flaming Gorge Dam that was installed upriver on the Green River.  Since the dam was installed, the wetlands no longer flood naturally, so water is pumped into the wetlands in the spring and sometimes in the fall to provide habitat for migratory birds. The wetlands are also burned periodically, allowed to dry out and then disced with a tractor in order to break up the roots of aggressive wetland species such as bulrush and cattails. This treatment favors a more open wetland of grasses and sedges.

Much work is done with cottonwood restoration at the refuge. Cottonwood nurseries are created by flooding and scarifying an area, then shaking the seed onto the bare ground. After about five years, the trees are transplanted into a hole drilled by an auger 6-8 feet deep in order to plant the tree as close to the water table as possible.

The refuge had some interesting historical sites, including the well-maintained Old Ladore schoolhouse built around 1911.

After our tour, we explored Irish Canyon, an area to the north on BLM land. The limestone contained in the canyon provides a favorable habitat for rare plants. We were particularly excited to see Penstemon yampaensis.

 

Steve Barclay giving an overview of Browns Park NWR.

 

Hog Lake, a wetland burned in 2013.
 

Ephedra viridis growing on a volcanic shale bluff.
 

Townsendia incana at Irish Canyon.

Penstemon yampaensis at Irish Canyon.

McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area

On Wednesday, we made the long drive from Moab to Browns Park National Wildlife Refuge in Colorado. We made several stops along the way to break up the trip. The first stop was a nice overlook of the Colorado River, where we saw Oenothera caespitosa, Mirabilis linearis and a possible Gaillardia hybrid between G. pinnatifida and G. aristata.  Next we stopped at Cisco, a ghost town just off of I-70.

At McInnis Canyons National Conservation Area, we visited several interesting sites. The first was another Colorado River overlook where Echinocereus triglochidiatus grew in large mounds, sometimes sheltered under large Ephedra viridis. Denver Botanic Garden also has a site where they monitor about 50 plants of Sclerocactus parviflorus. These plants were moved from about 50 miles south to observe the effects of transplanting this cactus. With oil and gas development, it may be necessary to transplant plants from the affected area in order to salvage the population. The cactus at this site were caged in order to distinguish them from the native cactus and to protect against herbivory.

As we left McInnis, we found a population of the rare Amsonia jonesii, which was growing along the washes on either side of a rock face. We also saw a Mahonia fremontii covered with berries!

 

View of the Colorado River outside of Moab.
 

Oenothera caespitosa

 

Cisco, Utah
 

A transplanted Sclerocactus parviflorus.
 

Mike thinks this clump of S. parviflorus is hundreds of years old!
 

Amsonia jonesii
 



Amsonia jonesii following the wash along the rock face.

Mahonia fremontii

 

Arches and Canyonlands National Park

This morning we met Mary Moran, a biological technician with the National Park Service who focuses on vegetation and water resources in Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. We began our tour by taking a hike through Lower Courthouse Wash on the south side of Arches. The trail follows a canyon with riparian habitat. Along the trail, Mary pointed out several strategies that are used to control invasive species, such as salt cedar, Tamarix ramosissima and Russian olive, Elaeagnus angustifolia. The Tamarisk beetle, introduced by the county beginning in 2004, has had a significant impact on Tamarix through feeding on the leaves and stems. Successful control of Elaegnus has been achieved by girdling the trees or cutting them down completely, stacking the brush in a pile and returning in the winter to burn the pile.

Mary also told us about the importance of biological soil crust, a mixture of cyanobacteria, green algae, lichens and mosses. Together these organisms act like a glue to hold the soil together and prevent erosion, which is especially important in exposed, windy desert environments. Over time, the organisms add nutrients to the soil through nitrogen fixation and organic decomposition. Crusts build soil structure over time, paving the way for vascular plants to colonize the area.

Next, Mary accompanied us on a driving tour of Arches and Canyonlands, where we enjoyed scenic vistas and interesting plants.



Eriogonum inflatum, which we saw at the Gunnison Gorge, was alive and showing its inflated stems at the trailhead.

Mary leads the group through Lower Courthouse Wash.
 

 

Biological soil crust


 

Double arch
 

 

Fraxinus anomala, single-leaf ash

Canyonlands National Park

 

Mesa Verde National Park

On Monday, we met George San Miguel, Natural Resource Manager of Mesa Verde for a tour of some of the botanically interesting areas of the park. The first place we stopped at had montane chaparral on one side of the road and pinyon-juniper woodland on the other side. Chaparral is a dense brush dominated by two shrubs here, Amelanchier utahensis and Quercus gambelii. The important distinction between these two is that chaparral is fire-adapted, and shrubs resprout after a fire. Pinyons and junipers are killed by fire however, and are believed to be a remnant population from a moister, cooler climate in the past. Fires have occurred many times in Mesa Verde's past, with the largest being in 2000, when 23,000 acres burned.

Another remnant population in the park is Douglas-fir, Pseudotsuga menziesii. It is found in a moister valley and reflects a time when the climate of the park was more similar to the Rocky Mountains.

George showed us a few rare plants in the park. Chapin Mesa milkvetch, Astragalus schmolliae, is endemic to the Chapin Mesa in Mesa Verde and is a candidate for the endagered species list. Another endemic to the area is Mesa Verde stickseed, Hackelia gracilenta. We found a few flowers of this plant. McDougal's indian parsley, Aletes macdougalii, was not in flower when we saw it, but still made a charming clump growing in a rock face. He also took us on a special tour of the Square Tower House, which is closed to the public. We later took a tour of Cliff Palace, the largest cliff dwelling in North America.

After leaving Mesa Verde, we wound our way northwest through the Paradox Valley and Manti-La Sal National Forest, to see Arctostaphylos patula, before arriving in Moab, Utah.

George describing the montane chaparral.

Remnant population of Pseudotsuga menziesii.

Astragalus schmolliae in seed.

Aletes macdougalii marked with a flag so it doesn't get pulled out on accident in this non-public area.

 

 

Climbing down into Square Tower House.

Square Tower House

 

Hackelia gracilenta

 

 

Vladimir before our Cliff Palace tour.

 

 

Cliff Palace

 

Mancos Shale Badlands/Million Dollar Highway

On Sunday, we headed north from Montrose to the Gunnison Gorge National Conservtion Area. This area features the unique Mancos Shale Badlands, which are hills, nearly barren of plant life, made of shale that washed out from the Black Canyon of the Gunnison. This was our first taste of a very arid environment. Denver Botanic Garden monitors the endangered endemic Eriogonum pelinophilum here. Its common name is clay-loving wild buckwheat and it does in fact grow in a very thick clay. We also saw another species of Calochortus here, C. nuttallii. It blooms in May however, so we only saw seed pods. The dominant shrubs were Atriplex sp. and Chenopodium sp.
 
While some of Gunnison Gorge is set aside as a conservation area, some is also open to recreational vehicles. The tracks of vehicles crisscrossed the hills, which definitely poses a threat to plants in the area.

We also searched nearby for Sclerocactus glaucus, the Colorado hookless cactus. While we didn't end up finding it, we did see some other interesting species in the pinyon-juniper woodland.

The last leg of our travel included the Million Dollar Highway, a stretch from Ouray to Silverton. It has very dramatic scenery, including the Red Mountains. We then traveled through Durango to spend the night at Mesa Verde National Park.

Mancos Shale Badlands

 

Vladimir holds an Eriogonum inflatum, an annual in this habitat, which has inflated stems during its growing season.

Calochortus nuttallii seedhead

 

A colorful desert tapestry at Gunnison Gorge.

 



A horny toad, probably my favorite reptile!

 

Eriogonum pelinophilum, a little past its prime.

 

Ephedra viridis, mormon tea, in a pinyon-juniper woodland.

 

 

Mirabilis multiflora, Colorado four o'clock

 

 

M. multiflora flowers, only about 25% of flowers produce viable seed.

 

Saxifraga bronchialis, yellowdot saxifrage, near a cascade along the Million Dollar Highway.

 

High iron content in the soil provides the color of the Red Mountain peaks. 

 

A sneak peak for the next blog: A view from Mesa Verde National Park!

Mexican Cut Preserve

Today we returned to the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory to meet the Science Director, Jennifer Reithel. Jenny escorted us to Mexican Cut Preserve, which is not open to the public. The Nature Conservancy owns this 960-acre preserve, but the land is managed by RMBL. We hiked up to the cirque, a flat area created by glacial erosion, which contains 20-30 ponds at around 11,000 ft. The ponds have never contained any fish, but do have populations of eastern tiger salamanders. It's very unusual for salamanders to be found at high elevations. Also unusual is that some of the salamanders remain in a larval form, but are still able to reproduce. We passed through a moist meadow and woodland before reaching the pools, so were able to see a diversity of plants. We also learned from Jenny that Erythronium grandiflorum seed pods are edible! They have a slightly sweet taste. Hopefully we don't run out of snacks or our collected pods might be next!

In the afternoon, we left Crested Butte to travel southwest to Montrose. We detoured along Jack's Cabin Cutoff and stopped in sagebrush steppe where Calochortus gunnisonii was dotting the landscape with its delicate white flowers. We also discovered mountain ball cactus, Pediocactus simpsonii and yellow owl's-clover, Orthocarpus luteus, which is a hemiparasitic plant.

A chilly stream crossing at the beginning of our hike. This clearing was the former site of a mining town.

Mimulus guttatus, seep monkeyflower, grew by the edge of the stream.

 

 

This Helianthus species has extrafloral nectaries which attract ants. The ants provide some protection to the plant by keeping seed predators off the flower.

 

 

View of a pool at Mexican Cut.

Eastern tiger salamander

 

A very nice rose-colored Castilleja.

Looking out across Mexican Cut, with debris and railroad tracks from an old mine in the foreground.

 

 

Mike Bone wins the Mexican Cut strongman competition.

 

Marmot at RMBL

 

Pediocactus simpsonii