lege and the Forest Service for helping make this possible,

and for the support of the Utah Native Plant Society.

Canyon in the Wasatch Plateau area of the Manti-La Sal

National Forest. We are looking forward to exploring the

classroom gathering area. Participants will be responsible

for bringing their own bedding and food, while the orga-

nizers will take care of permitting and providing collect-

ing supplies and instruction. Thursday and Monday will

primarily be travel days. On Friday, Saturday, and Sun-

use of additional features—particularly in scheduling au-

tomated report delivery to our chapter presidents and of-

ficers, in INPS event management and in direct

communications with our members. CIVICRM is inte-

• Idaho Botanical Garden, Daniel Murphy: Eriogonum Collection at Idaho Botanical Garden

• Mighty Monarch Conservation Group, Perky Smith-Hagadone: Native Milkweed Perpetual Propagation

• Rachel R. Renne, Yale School of the Environment: Investigating Perennial Forb Microsites in Big Sagebrush

Erika Stewart

(ISU). She says her interest in native plants started in

second grade when she remembered learning about milk-

science at the University of Idaho. Her senior thesis fo-

cused on using native plants on campus. After gradua-

tion, she spent several years working as a field technician

and crew lead doing rare plant surveys, riparian restora-

tion work, and fire recovery monitoring. She never had a

botany course, so she had to teach herself how to key

plants and identify them.

plants led her to graduate school. As a PhD student, she

is doing research for the Idaho Transportation Depart-

versity’s Biology Graduate Student Association and re-

cently served as the graduate representative on the ISU

Biology Department’s Tenure and Promotion Committee.

She also volunteers hosting summer camps for kids.

Elizabeth Mandala

ogy and conservation at Idaho State University (ISU).

She says, “Since taking my first plant identification class

Threatened under the Endan-

gered Species Act in 1994 be-

cause of threats from timber

harvest, weed encroachment,

populations (Lichthardt and Pekas 2019), one of which

occurs in Princeton, Idaho, in oxbow ponds in the flood-

plain of the Palouse River. Even though water howellia

was delisted, threats to Idaho’s small number of popula-

tions are ongoing. One significant threat to water how-

ellia habitat, including the Princeton location, is

encroachment by invasive weeds such as reed canary-

grass (Phalaris arundinacea).

Conservation District (Latah SWCD) to continue INHP’s

past water howellia monitoring on the Princeton site

(Element Occurrence (EO) 4) and nearby Harvard site

(EO 1) (Figure 2). (An EO is an area of land in which a

species or natural community is or was present.) Water

howellia and reed canarygrass frequency and water depth

data were collected at these sites for a decade by partners.

The newest data are currently being analyzed but old re-

ports are available (see Lichthardt and Pekas 2019).

simply break-off, initiating a new colony. Silver-tipped

moss is especially common on sidewalks around the

world. Even though sidewalks are harsh sites on which to

establish and grow, these “tough guy” mosses take advan-

tage of such extreme habitats.

stage or growth form of mosses that appear as green

threads, more characteristic of algae. The key is rapid

asexual establishment during the short periods favorable

for growth. This adaptation facilitates growth and estab-

lishment in a water-limited environment.

are extremely important in deserts, sagebrush steppe,

alpine, and many other habitats around the globe. In

spite of their prevalence, many researchers have

“biocrust blindness” and never even see these minute

face (Serpe et al. 2006). The seeds may germinate, but

the root radical cannot reach the soil before the seed

dries out (Serpe et al. 2008). Mosses can decrease fire in-

tensity or act as natural fuel breaks in sagebrush steppe

habitats (Condon et al. 2023). They act much like a gar-

dener’s mulch, increasing water infiltration and decreas-

ing soil moisture evaporation. •

* Note: Selaginella is not a moss (it's a vascular plant), but is included because it can superficially look like a moss.

of botanists, Master Naturalists, and other volunteers

converged on the shaded plaza of the Idaho Botanical

Garden to arrange tables, vases, flowers, and labels in

what, at times, seemed organized chaos but which ulti-

mately resulted in an amazingly fast and efficient set-up,

ready to be admired by Mother’s Day visitors to the Gar-

den. Volunteers reconverged at the end of the show,

quickly clearing the tables, repacking vases in newspaper,

and schlepping boxes back to cars.

Volunteer coordinator

extraordinaire Helen

Harrington. Photo by

Nancy DeWitt.

Maybe a hot, rocky landscape. A gray, empty, volcanic area where nothing grows and

plants can't survive. Well, it turns out a lot of plants can survive in this desert in