Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
ERIC WHITE My name’s Eric White.
I’m the lead climbing ranger on Mt. Shasta
For the Shasta-Trinity National Forest
MELLEN COLBERG My Name’s Mellen Colberg.
I work for the botany department
Here in Mt. Shasta Ranger District
For the Shasta-Trinity National Forest
JOHN GAME I’m John Game. I grew up in England, but
I’ve lived in California
Berkeley, for the last 30 years
And I’m a vocational botanist
DON FARRAR I’m Don Farrar. I’m at Iowa State University.
I’m a botanist.
And I’ve been working with the Forest Service in Summertime,
Identifying rare plants.
ERIC WHITE It’s a very small plant. Very rare, and it was first
found on Mt. Shasta in 1941.
By Dr. William Bridge Cooke.
DON FARRAR And it was in a folder that was listed as
“Unidentified”
They weren’t sure what it was.
ERIC WHITE As you can see it’s a very small plant.
Um. Four centimeters,
so a little less than two inches…and…he only found a few plants,
but he was able to take a sample.
Since then, it hasn’t been reported on Mt. Shasta
DON FARRAR The area from Crater Lake up to Bend, and
that general area
Is the only place that it has been known…prior to this…and um…
So this is extremely significant.
It says that at least at one time, it was much more wide spread.
And um…we’re going to try to determine the relationship between this plant,
and the Oregon plants.
It’s possible that this is resulted from spores that have blown down from Oregon
It’s also possible that it was the other way around
that maybe these were the plants that spores from here traveled to Oregon
to start that population.
So, it’s a botanical mystery, and uh…we’re starting to unravel it.
JOHN GAME So, I’ve had some interest in rediscovering
it.
And last year, a year ago, I came up here, with two colleagues from Berkeley.
And Eric and the two colleagues and me went up to where we thought it was
and we sassed out the area.
We didn’t find it, but we felt we sort of found out where
the area where it was found.
And then, we’ve been planning to come back but we wanted a wetter year.
Last year was particularly dry. This year was a bit wetter.
ERIC WHITE You know the last few years it’s become
quite a treasure hunt looking for this plant.
Something that small on a mountain this big, it’s like a needle in a haystack.
JOHN GAME And I’ve always been very interested in
ferns, since I was a kid.
And I’ve become particularly interested in these Moonworts,
partly through getting to know Don Farrar, but for a number of reasons
I’ve been very interested in Moonworts in California.
DON FARRAR So we put together this big trip for this
summer,
and then Eric and his folks found it
Before we ever got out here.
MELLEN COLBERG I was invited by Eric to go look for Botrychium.
And not knowing what exactly which Botrychium I was looking for at the time [laughs]
Um, and took the invitation cause I always love looking for them.
It’s a great treasure hunt.
And so, off we went with two rangers up Dillard Canyon…up to the spur.
2,000 foot vertical climb and up and over several little valleys
we spent our whole day just meandering, looking for this plant um…
and mainly focusing on associated species and color
is really what I could focus on because it’s so small.
DON FARRAR And yesterday we went up and we found a few
more plants and
I’m very pleased to say that that’s what it is…
And it’s a phenomenal find.
JOHN GAME It was quite a long walk.
It seemed to be a little longer this year than last year
But I think that might be cause I’m a year older.
It’s kinda dry up there. Um, very rocky
There’s no trail. It’s steep.
It’s not technical climbing, but it’s steep.
And it’s really a great place because you get views
of the whole of the Northwest of California from up there.
You see all of the Marble Mountains and the Siskiyous, and the Trinity Alps
Mount Eddy which has all kind of rare plants on it
is right across the street so to speak.
MELLEN COLBERG We’re looking around at the ground and
sure enough I see this gray-green color.
I see the associated species the flax and the pine
And there it is.
I move aside a senecio that has the grey-green color and behind it
Is the Botrychium,
the same color as the senecio, but hiding behind it up against a rock.
Um end of the day we’re like ready to go home, tired
But, we found that. And then I just looked at the slope…aspect…
Looked down hill there it is again
Went down there,
found another population
So, pretty happy. Pretty excited,
um but it’s a lot of work.
It’s a needle in a haystack.
DON FARRAR And this was the only species I have not seen
to this date.
So, this has been a real treat for me.
And of course the discovery is just an outstanding event.
It’s quite something.
[ music ]