Olympic Peninsula Chapter
Washington Native Plant Society
August-October 2013 Newsletter
To promote the appreciation and conservation of Washington’s native
plants and their habitats through
study, education and
advocacy
Quinault fawn lily
Erythronium quinaultense
Special Event
David Douglas: A Naturalist at Work by Jack Nisbet
Unitarian Fellowship, 2333 San Juan Avenue, October 8th 7:00 pm
David Douglas is one of the most famous explorers, naturalists, and botanists ever to work in North
America and specifically the Pacific Northwest. Little did Jack Nisbet know that his book, The Collector,
which chronicles the travels, experiences and life of David Douglas would not only inspire the people
who read it, but would be the foundation for a traveling museum exhibition in Spokane, Tacoma and Seattle. The Collector was followed by an illustrated collection of essays which provide a context for Douglas’s work and relate his work to the modern landscape. Who better to tell us about a famous naturalist of
the 19th century than a famous naturalist of the 21st century? Spokane based author, Jack Nisbet has
taken his story across the state, and we are fortunate to have him visiting Port Townsend on October 8.
His book about David Douglas has received wide acclaim and was named as a book of the year by the
Pacific Northwest Bookseller’s Association. His in-person rendition is even better. Here is one of the
many positive reviews of his book, The Collector.
"Jack Nisbet's brisk, thrilling account allows us to walk, ride and paddle along with David Douglas, the
tireless 19th-century Scotsman whose name is attached to Cascadia's iconic fir. Nisbet takes us on the
ultimate naturalist's tour of a largely untamed, unnamed, and unknown Northwest, land of giant salmon,
circling condors, and 14-inch pine cones. What nature-lover doesn't wish they could see the region as it
was when explorers first arrived? Well, here you go." - Knute Berger, author of Pugetopolis
This event is sponsored by the Olympic Peninsula Chapter of the Washington Native Plant Society in cooperation with the Adult Learning Program of the Unitarian Fellowship. We also appreciate assistance of
the Port Townsend library and financial support from Humanities Washington; and the perseverance of
Dixie Llewellin to make this event possible on Tuesday, October 8 at 7 pm at the Unitarian Fellowship Hall at 2333 San Juan Avenue.
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Scheduled Events
Hurricane Ridge to Klahhane Ridge and Switchback Trail; Wednesday August 7. Meet at 9 am
at the Olympic National Park Visitor Center. We plan to drop off cars at the Klahhane Switchback Trail and
start hiking from the Hurricane ridge visitor center parking lot. We will walk the ridge trail ~3.0 miles to
the Switchback Trail junction; then ascend 1 mile to the ridgetop for the view and to see endemic Campanula piperi; then descend on the Switchback Trail for a total of approximately 7 miles. A car shuttle will
provide return transportation to Hurricane Ridge. Wildflowers should be near their peak, including some
additional Olympic endemics. Limit 12. Contact Sharon Schlentner at [email protected] 360-3799810 or Dan Post [email protected] 360 -554-0417 to sign up.
Colonel Bob Lookout; August 19-23 overnight at Lake Quinault. The plan is to car camp at
Lake Quinault the week of August 19-23. and then hike up to the lookout the following day (a long
hike). Come for all or part of the trip. Since no reservations can be made Wendy is planning to arrive
Monday August 19 to secure a couple campsites. Two cars are permitted at each campsite which probably
also means two tents per site. For more info Contact Wendy McClure 360-779-3820 or [email protected].
Mink Lake Meadows; Thursday, September 5, 2013: Meet at the trailhead at Soleduck Hot Springs
area NLT 9:30 am. This is a medium difficult hike of 7.5 miles (or more if we like) with 1450 feet elevation gain. We will see a nice mountain lake with more potential to see otters than mink. Botanically, the
wetlands (sedges included) are the main feature, both at the lake and one mile beyond. We have also seen a
herd of elk in the meadow on most occasions. See hiking books for full description. Soak in the Hot
Springs after for those who are so inclined. Contact Fred Weinmann at [email protected] or
379-0986 to sign up or for further information.
September Program
The Great Cactus War told by Terry Domico; Tuesday, September 10, 7:00 at the Port
Townsend Marine Science Center at Fort Worden in the Natural History bldg.
Terry Domico will tell the story of the greatest plant invasion in human history. At its peak it forced thousands of Australian people off their land and out of their homes. Even though the prickly-pear scourge was
fought with fire, spades, bulldozers, ploughs, and poison, the effort had little impact upon its advance
across the landscape. Like heroes in some science-fiction story, a group of self-taught scientists searched
the world for a biological “enemy” that could help them in their battle against the “green octopus.” They
were stunningly successful, but in an ironic twist of fate America is now threatened by Australia’s
“solution.”
Terry Domico, a naturalist who worked over 20 years for Smithsonian, is the author of six internationallypublished books on nature. Two of his titles (WILD HARVEST: Wild Edible Plants of the Pacific Northwest and NATURAL AREAS OF THE SAN JUAN ISLANDS) are of special interest to people living in western Washington.
Help Needed!
Study weekend 2014 will be hosted by our chapter and held at Naturebridge on Lake Crescent on the
weekend of July 25-27, 2014. This is a big project for our small group, and this is an excellent opportunity
to get involved with our chapter. Currently, we are looking for trip leaders and places to go, or workshops
you could present. This next month is an excellent time to explore new trails in the highlands and familiarize yourself with favorites. If you would like to lead or co-lead a hike, have an idea for what would be a
good trip or workshop, contact Sharon Schlentner [email protected] 360 379-9810 , Wendy
McClure [email protected] 360-779-3820 or Dixie Llewellin at [email protected] 360385-6432.
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Botanical Salmagundi
Botany Washington the last week in June brought together over
60 botanists from across the state to Sun Lakes State Park for
the study and enjoyment of the plants of central Washington.
Our field trips took us from shrub-steppe to riparian to streamside wetlands. One of the featured plants right adjacent to our
camp was the giant helleborine, Epipactis gigantea (see photo).
This species is no longer listed by the Washington Natural Heritage Program as rare in Washington, but it continues to be a delight to find in a variety of habitats. It is well known to flower in
July on the Spruce Railroad Trail at Crescent Lake and I have
seen it growing on logs in fresh water tidal areas of the Columbia River.
We were treated to a presentation on the current taxonomy of the genus Mertensia by Dr.
Mare Nazaire and were wowed by the discussion of vernal pools in Washington by Curtis
Bjork. We vowed to return to central and eastern Washington next year specifically to experience our vernal pool heritage. Botany Washington was cosponsored by WTU (the University
of Washington Herbarium at the Burke Museum) for the second year in a row. Our thanks to
David Giblin, Collections Manager and the herbarium for their support. Also, the event could
not have happened without the tremendous organization of Bill Brookreson, Catherine
Hovanic and all the field trip leaders. Our hearty thanks to them. In addition to the fine botanizing, I have heard more than one comment about the high quality of the food at this event. I
agree.
Washington Native Plant Society Study Weekend closed out the end of June with a superb
event at the Cispus Learning Center located smack dab between Mt. Rainier and Mt. Adams.
Over 160 botanists from across the state were housed and fed by our hosts, the South Sound
Chapter. It would be hard to find a finer base camp for botanizing the slopes of both mountains. Our founding members of the Society were well aware of this as they held the very first
Study Weekend at Cispus in 1979. The location provided convenient access to a spectrum of
habitats and ecological settings, from the recovery zone of Mt. St. Helens to the old growth at
the Grove of the Patriarchs at Mt. Rainier to the diverse flora in the immediate area of the Cispus Camp. Some things had changed and some were different than in 1979. The most obvious
change was created by the eruption of Mt. St. Helens in 1980. The old growth forests of Mt.
Rainier remained the same except perhaps for the increase in number of visitors on the trails.
More subtle, and noted by some botanists but not at all by the plants, were the many plant
names which have been changed since 1979. Approximately 15% had new or revised names
by my rough calculations.
In addition to the field botany, we were treated to a presentation by David Biek describing
how he and Susan created the Flora of Mt. Adams and an excellent summary by Dr. John
Bishop of plant and insect interactions in the recovering habitats of Mt. St Helens. The South
Sound Chapter did a fine job of organizing the conference. Our thanks to Bill Brookreson, Pat
and Dan Montague, and the many others from the South Sound Chapter who helped out; and
to field trip leaders from across the state who led the enlightened to the botanical promised
lands. Stay tuned for details about Study Weekend 2014 which is being planned for the
last week in July at Crescent Lake.
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On the local scene, our chapter sponsored it’s first Native
Plant Tour de Flora organized by Dixie Llewellin and Matt
Berberich with lots of help from all. Six gardens were featured.
It was a great success and there have been requests for a follow
up next spring.
In early June several determined Olympic Peninsula Chapter members
made a pilgrimage to the Olympic Mountain foothills in search of one of the
rarest and most beautiful (see photo) plants in our state's flora. This species
is the Quinault fawn lily, Erythronium quinaultense, a plant which was
named by botanist, G.A. Allen in 2001.
Eventually we located two or three plants
which had finished blooming in an area
which had been recently subjected to disruptive forest practices. We continued higher, crossing from Grays Harbor to Jefferson County as we did so. Our motorized travel was halted
by dozens of silver fir, hemlock and Douglas fir trees which
had fallen across the road. We continued on foot for a mile or
so and were rewarded by many plants in full bloom with their
pink flowers. Our long day was not in vain!
Another local trip worth mentioning is our visit to the Robbinswold property owned by the girl
scouts and used as a summer camp. The camp and property is managed by Jim Messmer, representing the middle generation of three generations of WNPS botanists. Lou Messmer, Jim's father
is a charter member and appointed fellow of the WNPS; and Jim's children are active botanists.
The camp property includes nearly a square mile of diverse habitat--old growth trees, wetlands, a
lake, and a mile of Hood Canal waterfront. We recorded over
100 species on our part-day visit and there surely are many
more. One could not help but be impressed by the meadow of
Carex aperta and the size (7 foot DBH) of the old growth
Douglas fir. In a follow-on noticing Jim sent us a photo of the
phantom orchid, Cephalanthera austiniae. This adds to the
known locations of this interesting and unusual (but not listed
as rare) plant on the east side of the Olympic Peninsula. It is
also known from the Toandos Peninsula and from Seal Rock
Campground
on Hood Canal. Ann and I relocated the Seal rock
Robbinswold group
plants in late June.
On July 10 we cooperated with staff from the North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC) to inventory their newly acquired property in the vicinity of the former Three Crabs restaurant at Dungeness. This site is mostly a salt marsh where circulation has been limited by various land use
actions of diking and channelizing. There are also buildings, diked channels and roads on the
site. NOSC is embarking on a massive and amazing restoration project to restore circulation to
the marsh, remove buildings and roads from property, and grade existing uplands back to levels
which will support salt marsh. We look forward to helping with this project as it progresses toward the monitoring phase.
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Note on the taxonomy of our most common species of Juncus: Whenever we encounter
Juncus effusus, its related species or subspecies, on field trips, a discussion ensues about which
species we have and how to distinguish them. Help has arrived! Research botanist and friend
of our Chapter, Peter Zika has recently published a synopsis which considers our most common species. Its title is: A synopsis of the Juncus hesperius group (Juncaceae, Juncotypus)
and their hybrids in western North America. Brittonia, 65(2), 2013, pp. 128-141. Send me
or Peter an email to receive a pdf version of the paper.
Eifert Mural Puzzles are Ready!
The puzzles produced from the Eifert mural
mounted at Fort Townsend State Park are ready
for purchase. The cost is $15.00 and all profits
go to the Olympic Chapter of the Washington
Native Plant Society. This is the first puzzle
produced from one of Larry Eifert’s murals that
sports the WNPS logo. Get one for yourself
and several for presents. They will be available
at the monthly events as while as at the scheduled hikes. You can also contact Ann Weinmann at [email protected] or
360-379-0986.
Thank you for the great response to our request for receiving a digital version of the newsletter. For anyone who would like to change to digital
please email Ann Weinmann at [email protected]. Also please
remember to keep both your membership and email up-to-date.
The next newsletter will be for November, 2013 through January, 2014. Submit information in proper format (see above examples) no later than 20 October, 2013. Include details including time, place, and the name and contact information for the coordinator/
leader of the event. Send input to Fred Weinmann at [email protected].
Chapter Apparatus:
Chair: Sharon Schlentner: 360-379-9810; [email protected]
Vice Chair : Dixie Llewellin 360-385-6432 or [email protected]
Treasurer: Dan Post 360-554-0417; [email protected]
Secretary: Ann Weinmann 360-379-0986; [email protected]
Newsletter: Fred Weinmann: 360-379-0986; [email protected]
Board members: Wendy McClure, Eve Dixon, and Linda Landkammer
Web site: Dixie Llewellin (go to wnps.org and click on the link to Chapters)
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Olympic Peninsula Chapter
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Please remit by check payable to WNPS and mail to:
Washington Native Plant Society
6310 NE 74th St., Suite 215E, Seattle, WA 98115
Phone: 206-527-3210 or 1-888-288-8022; email: [email protected]
.Olympic Peninsula Chapter, WNPS
c/o Fred Weinmann
242 Cedarview Drive
Port Townsend, WA 98368
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