Nature Center e-newsletter #6

April 29, 2006

In the month-plus since the last e-newsletter, spring has sprung for certain here. Wildflowers are blooming prolifically, many seasonal birds have returned, sunshine has started to be more common than rain, and numbers of visitors on the trails have also started to increase. All members should have received a short print newsletter in the beginning of April, alerting them to upcoming tour dates, including the first one, which occurred on April 16. Members should also have received by now--or will soon receive, depending on how fast the US Postal Service carrier pigeons are flying--the Lost Valley Annual Digest 2006, which features the Nature Center on pages 18 through 24. It includes a trail map developed this month, which has also been engraved on signs posted near each major trailhead. For those who miss the old Talking Leaves, an ecophilosophical botany- (or some might say navel-) gazing article is included; for those more interested in pictures and hard facts, there are photos of our creek restoration project, eco-forestry activities, and various plant species. Map and literature holders have now been erected at two locations, on the most easterly and westerly trailheads. They currently hold copies of the Digest, brochures, and maps; eventually, they will hold species lists, trail guides, and other materials too.

The abundance of herbaceous plants putting up leaves and/or blooming over the last five weeks has coincided with increased focus on our plant species list. We've put out a dozen or so additional tree and shrub species signs, but many dozens of herbaceous plant signs, which are on removable stakes, much shorter and thinner than the woody species' rebar mounts. Most of these herbaceous species signs have been placed along the first section of the Creek Trail, through the restoration area, where species diversity is greatest and where the signs are easiest to monitor and move around as necessary. Many of these species (most of them currently flowering) seem to come in pairs of similar but different plants: large smilacina (Maianthemum racemosum) and little smilacina (Maianthemum stellatum), twisted stalk (Streptopus amplexifolius) and Hooker's fairybells (Prosartes hookeri), miner's lettuce (Claytonia perfoliata) and candyflower (Claytonia sibirica), western trillium (Trillium ovatum) and giant trillium (Trillium albidum). I've noticed many other examples, among both herbaceous and woody plants, of species that seem easiest to learn by comparing and contrasting them with one another, and I've placed the signs accordingly. In preparation for Lost Valley's Permaculture for Kids Summer Camp (see www.lostvalley.org [0] for details) I've created a tentative list of forty such pairings, each illustrating a different principle (once in final form, that material will be sent to members).

Many other plants have also been blooming spectacularly: camas (Camassia quamash), fairy slipper (Calypso bulbosa), striped coralroot (Corallorhiza striata), checker lily (Fritillaria affinis), wood violet (Viola glabella), giant fawn lily (Erythronium oregonum), and others including woody plants such as red flowering currant (Ribes sanguineum) and the nonnative sweet cherry (Prunus avium).

I've discovered an interesting fact about one of our most common resident animals, the blacktail deer (Odocoileus hemionus ssp. columbianus). They may not be able to spell their own scientific species name (even I can't, without a book in front of me), but they appear to be able to read. At the very least, they can read "Liliaceae - Lily Family" on plant identification signs. Apparently that means "choice eating." In the case of almost every lily I've listed above (with the exception of the checker lily--knock on wood--the fawn lily, and twisted stalk; but including also the tiger lily--Lilium columbianum--not yet blooming), my first try at placing an identification sign near the plant was followed, often within less than twenty four hours, by consumption of the flower and often much of the plant by a large herbivore. On subsequent attempts, I have had greater survival rates, sometimes by adopting a strategy of placing the sign several feet from the plant in question. To be fair, I've noticed that the deer are also eating the tops off of other, unsigned specimens--but certainly not at as great of a rate, and I wonder if it's because they'd "read about that species somewhere." On balance, I'm hoping that our deer's literacy does not endanger species diversity here--as has happened, some claim, wherever humans have become literate.

Just to present another theory: land steward Rick Valley says that deer "key in" on novelty--they notice something new in the environment, which will lead them to notice something else next to it. But Rick has not yet been able to prove that the deer can't, in fact, read, or that they don't at least recognize the curves, straight lines, and dots in the word "Liliaceae" when engraved in white letters on a black sign.

Please join us at one of our tours in May (Wednesday, the 10th, and Sunday, the 28th). Here, again, is a complete list of upcoming tour dates as currently scheduled (the previously announced October 29 date has been canceled). More events and workshops will be added--check www.lostvalley.org [0] for up-to-date info., and we'll keep you informed about additions.

Lost Valley Nature Center Tours, 2006
Wednesday, 5/10, 1-2 pm, 4-5 pm
Sunday, 5/28, 12:30-2 pm, 4-5:30 pm
Wednesday, 6/14, 1-2 pm, 4-5 pm
Sunday, 6/25, 1:30-3 pm, 3:30-5 pm
Wednesday, 7/5, 1-2 pm, 4-5 pm
Sunday, 7/30, 12:30-2 pm, 4-5:30 pm
Wednesday, 8/16, 1-2 pm, 4-5 pm
Sunday, 8/27, 12:30-2 pm, 4-5:30 pm
Wednesday, 9/13, 12:30-2 pm, 4-5:30 pm
Sunday, 10/1, 1:30-3 pm, 3:30-5 pm
Wednesday, 10/18, 1-2 pm, 4-5 pm
Sunday, 11/12, 12:30-2 pm, 4-5:30 pm
Wednesday, 11/29, 1-2 pm, 4-5 pm
(General Lost Valley tours are also offered, from 2-4 pm, on all dates above except 6/25 and 10/1.)

Once again, happy spring!

Chris