Archive for September 2020

In Memory of Don Guyot

In Memory of Don Guyot, post by Dennis Plank

Don Guyot, Intrepid South Sound Plant Rescuer at work.  Photo by Andy Hopwood

Don Guyot, Intrepid South Sound Plant Rescuer at work. Photo by Andy Hopwood

 

Don Guyot resized

 

Don's original work upon which the background above was derived.

Don’s original work upon which the background above was derived.

 

The following image and text was found on the Guild of Bookworkers website.  Don was a past Vice-President at Large in that organization.  The description of the image is from Don and I suspect most of the short bio was  also as it has the feel of his writing.

Anatomy of Gray, Don Guyot

Anatomy of Gray, Don Guyot Western marbled paper executed using Colophon Water Color Marbling Inks on carragheenan medium and transferred onto Rives Lightweight gray paper; number one in an edition of six, meant to be exhibited side by side to show consistency of imaging. The degree of consistency exhibited on one’s marbled paper is the degree of mastery of the craft the marbler may claim. Since the viewer of this piece will not have the advantage of seeing the remaining five, they will be left wondering whether this particular marbler achieved the mastery sought. Having the full advantage of seeing all six sheets of the edition, the marbler can truly say that he shares in their wondering. 70 x 48 centimeters. Created 1994.

Don A. Guyot was born in 1944. Following college, Don Guyot completed a master’s degree in librarianship and began working at the Seattle Public Library. Intending to become a rare book librarian he completed a second master’s degree in ancient Greek history at the University of Washington. After becoming interested in and diverted by hand bookbinding, he left librarianship and opened a repair bindery in Seattle. He learned to marble paper largely on his own because he could not find the papers he wanted to use in his business, and began teaching workshops throughout the country. In addition to Western-style marbled papers, he also excelled in the art of suminagashi, an ancient Japanese technique of decorating paper by floating inks on water.

You are welcome to leave memories of Don as comments to this post.  Comments are not intuitive.  There’s a place at the top of the screen where it will either say “no comments on this post”  or will list the number.  Click on it to get to the comments screen.

 

Working with Partners for Fish and Wildlife-A First Impression

Working with Partners for Fish and Wildlife-A First Impression, Post and photos by Sabra Noyes

Although living most of her life in Washington, Sabra had no idea about prairies in Washington until she retired and bought a farm, Rosefield, not too far from Glacial Heritage Preserve. She never ceases to be amazed by the complexity and interdependence of life on the prairie.

Working with Partners for Fish and Wildlife-A first Impression

After reading a previous post, “Partners for Fish and Wildlife: Voluntary Habitat Restoration on Private Lands” by Nick George, US Fish and Wildlife Service, I decided to investigate further. Habitat restoration on my farm could use some help.

Starting in 2011, with help from Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) and Center for Natural Lands Management (CNLM), returning the land to what it once might have been prior to 1850 became my vision and never-ending labor of love. The woodlands, riparian, and savannah areas are progressing nicely and don’t require much tending. But the prairie – YIKES!

In some places, it does look a bit like a prairie:

An area starting to look like a prairie, photo by Sabra Noyes.

An area starting to look like a prairie, photo by Sabra Noyes.

But overall, there is a range of non-native vegetative nightmares. Where it is wetter, reed canary grass

Reed Canary Grass, photo by Sabra Noyes.

Reed Canary Grass, photo by Sabra Noyes.

 and where it is a bit drier, rat tailed fescue:

Rat-tailed Fescue, photo by Sabra Noyes.

Rat-tailed Fescue, photo by Sabra Noyes.

This is a non native invasive annual whose dead leaves smother everything. Then there are all the usual suspects of tansy, broom, thistles, and broad leaf grasses. Perhaps a bit unusual is that in some areas, the native Roemer’s fescue is just too happy

Roemer's Fescue that's gotten a bit carried away, Photo by Sabra Noyes.

Roemer’s Fescue that’s gotten a bit carried away, Photo by Sabra Noyes.

 It grows so lushly it chokes out all the forbs. Could FWS come to the rescue and help this wannabe prairie?

I contacted Nick and scheduled a site visit. He was here for three hours, most of which was spent walking the land. He wanted to know what my objectives (restoring the prairie) were and then we discussed what actions could be taken. Some actions are relatively simple, such as stopping the growth of non-prairie trees; this maple

A Maple on the Prairie, photo by Sabra Noyes.

A Maple on the Prairie, photo by Sabra Noyes.

 should look like this one:

Dead Maple on the prairie, photo by Sabra Noyes.

Dead Maple on the prairie, photo by Sabra Noyes.

 A standing snag that provides nesting cavities and insects preferred by prairie birds

A much more complex action, and a bit daunting to me, is to do a controlled burn across the area.

We then sat down and discussed the Partners Program and how it works:

is my objective a program fit for FWS, or are there other agencies such as NRCS or the Conservation District that can better help? 

can my objective be met with technical assistance from FWS, or will I also request financial help?

if I request financial help, am I prepared to do a 50/50 cost match? Nick explained that the landowner can do an “in-kind, or sweat-equity” contribution to help reach that 50% match.

and if I do enter into a contract with FWS, am I prepared to hold the contract for 10 years and allow annual monitoring for the first three years?

At the end of the visit, I let Nick know that I was interested in obtaining FWS Partners Program assistance for a burn of the prairie. He agreed to investigate it further. He will gather more information on whether a burn is the best solution and how it could be accomplished. Then there is the matter of how much funding his agency receives for the program, and where my project ranks with respect to other proposed projects.  Should I make the cutoff, it will then be a matter of signing a contract that clearly states the requirements and obligations of each of the parties involved.

Even if the “Partnership” goes no further than the initial site visit, it was time very well spent. Nick is highly knowledgeable, enthusiastic, and a good communicator. I know I can call on him in the future for guidance and tossing around restoration ideas. I’ll keep this blog informed as to the progress of my request for Partners Program assistance.

Spring Fling

Spring Fling, Post and photos by Ivy Clark

Lauren ‘Ivy’ Clark studied the hybridization of Castilleja levisecta and C. hispida in restoration sites for their Masters thesis at the University of Washington before becoming a restoration technician for the Center for Natural Lands Management.

Spring Fling

Summer is full on these days, toasty and dry. Bet you didn’t think back in mid-winter you would be missing the rainy cloud-cover, as you have to regularly water the yard and dodge mosquitoes? As the natural landscape dries out and you battle to keep the horticulture green and spry, how about a look back to the fresh spring and lush blooms we had that are now going into seed? What we see senescing now was a mere baby bud a few months ago. They grow so fast don’t they?

Chocolate Lily just getting started, photo by Ivy Clark

Chocolate Lily just getting started, photo by Ivy Clark

Recognize this little distinct gem? The single flower starts plain and green but that trio whorl of leaves is a dead give-away for a young chocolate lily (Fritillaria affinis). The green tepals (not quite petals not quite sepals) would develop into the checkered chocolaty brown, almost purple, for which it is named. They later turn into interesting multi-ribbed seed pods, turning upright from the nodding flower.

Chocolate Lily in full bloom, photo by Ivy Clark.

The nodding chocolaty flowers of Fritillaria affinis in midbloom on Glacial Heritage. Photo by Ivy Clark.

 

Sickle-keeled Lupine, photo by Ivy Clark

Sickle-keeled Lupine, photo by Ivy Clark

The brand new stubby bright green stems of sickle-keeled lupine (Lupinus albicaulis), emerging among last year’s woody stems. It is a mere hint of the Fabaceae grandeur that it will grow to be.

Like so many youths, the columbine (Aquilegia formosa) looks a little awkward as a bud,

Columbine in bud, photo by Ivy Clark

Columbine in bud, photo by Ivy Clark

but quickly develops into the complex drooping star structure best viewed from below and backlit by a crystal blue sky.

Columbine in full bloom, photo by Ivy Clark

Columbine in full bloom, photo by Ivy Clark

For those familiar with Little Shop of Horrors, don’t fear the little cutleaf Microseris (Microserus laciniata). It is a bit Audrey II yes (“Feed me!”), or perhaps like a Paleolithic dandelion, but it is a stellar pollinator-feeding, mid-season bloomer and prairie staple. Look for fluffy globes more dense than the common dandelion seed heads out there now. And feel free to make a wish for more natives as you blow them off the stem.

Cut-leaf Microseris, photo by Ivy Clark

Cut-leaf Microseris, photo by Ivy Clark

 

Pacific Lupine and Golden Paintbrush, photo by Ivy Clark

Pacific Lupine and Golden Paintbrush, photo by Ivy Clark

This is just what we botanists call a sexy plant picture. Purple of the Pacific lupine (Lupinus lepidus) in a tiered spire before the endangered golden paintbrush (Castilleja levisecta) burning yellow columns. They have complementary colors (remember your color wheel?) and very different leaves but are both delights on the prairie. Sometimes they grow and line up just right for you where you have to drop whatever you were doing and take a picture!

After seed dispersal, the Lupinus lepidus is still green but with curly-cue brown seed pods that have flung the brown hard lentil-like seeds outward. The mechanical dispersal is simple and fun to try to catch. You can hear the little popping sounds as the pods slowly dry tighter and tighter until they snap apart and twist under the sudden release.

Lupinus lepidus, photo by Ivy Clark

Lupinus lepidus, photo by Ivy Clark

 

Young Yarrow plant, photo by ivy Clark

Young Yarrow plant, photo by ivy Clark

Awe, look how cute and little those flower buds are! Like a fuzzy little puppy, yarrow (Achillea millefolium) is just starting to produce the “million” tiny leaves and nearly as many flowers, for which it is named- “thousand leaves”. Well, maybe not really a thousand, or million, but you know how taxonomists can exaggerate. And you may have heard of its healing properties, hence the genus named for Achilles of Greek myth whose soldiers used the plant to tend their battle wounds.

Yarrow starting to bloom, photo by Ivy Clark.

Yarrow starting to bloom, photo by Ivy Clark.

Recently yarrows have been going to seed, crispy brown frilly cups of tiny seeds ready to grow new clumps of healing gray fluff.

Yarrow in seed, photo by Ivy Clark

Yarrow in seed, photo by Ivy Clark

One of the first wildflowers spotted on Glacial Heritage preserve this year was the shooting star (Dodatheon hendersonii). A well named genus, meaning “of the twelve gods”, these plants and close relatives are just gorgeous and interesting. The flowers start out upside down to utilize dangling bee pollinators.

Shooting Star in bloom with unpollinated flowers. Photo by Ivy Clark.

and then they turn upright to the blue skies after pollination. So if you see small brown cups with little ridges on the rim, upright instead of downward like falling stars, that’s actually their mature fruits. Who says plants don’t move? They can even reposition their fruits. See the mid-spring photo showing the fading flowers pointing skyward and the recently pollinated ones starting to turn. And don’t forget to note the cute lush succulent round leaves anchoring the long flower stalks. I always want to pet their smooth sleekness.

Shooting star showing pollinated flowers pointing up, photo by Ivy Clark.

Shooting star showing pollinated flowers pointing up, photo by Ivy Clark.

 

Solidago simplex in bud, photo by Ivy Clark

Solidago simplex in bud, photo by Ivy Clark

 

Goldenrod in bloom, photo by Ivy Clark.

Goldenrod in bloom, photo by Ivy Clark.

And so the beautiful season seems over and the prairies may look dried and dead and unappealing. But like the “amber wave of grain” we know so well, if you look a little closer, or perhaps a little broader at the full landscape of clear blue sky and hints of mountains aloft, then you can see the beauty still in the senescence season of the prairie. It’s sprinkled with color here and there too and not devoid of birds or other creatures. Take a moment to enjoy the shades of brown, like a sepia photograph, and shake a few native seed pods to give the plant dispersal a hand.

 

 

Bats on the South Sound Prairies

Bats on the South Sound Prairies, Post by Greg Falxa, photos as attributed.

Greg is a member of Cascadia Research Collective and has partnered with
CNLM on bat projects since 2006. He coordinates the bat station for
Prairie Appreciation Day.

Bats on the South Sound Prairies

Most of the nine species of bats in western Washington are nightly visitors to our south Puget Sound prairies. The inventory of bat species on the prairies are essentially the same as in nearby forest, riparian and urban habitats, although their preferred habitat may vary throughout the annual cycle. For mammals of their size they are extremely mobile, with most species traveling from a few to many miles each evening to their favored foraging locations. Being so mobile allows bats to day roost in one habitat – like agricultural buildings, or hollow snags – and “commute” in the evening to a completely different habitat to forage.

A Big brown bat nursery colony in a barn on Littlerock Road (Photo: G. Falxa)

A Big brown bat nursery colony in a barn on Littlerock Road (Photo: G. Falxa)

This mobility works out well for bats feeding on insects over the prairies, because most of our prairies are a bit short on suitable roosting structures. For daytime roosting, bats generally need dark, secluded locations that are safe from predators and meet certain temperature conditions, like structures that don’t get too hot on our nice sunny days. Species that form small colonies like California bats (Myotis californicus) might find this in old decadent trees or snags, while species that form colonies of hundreds of bats, like Little brown (Myotis lucifugus) or Big brown (Eptesicus fuscus) bats will typically find the conditions they need in barns, bridges, or attics of buildings. During the June and July pupping season, the nursery colonies need additional amenities for the 4 to 6 weeks that the pups cannot fly. A warm roost with extra safety from humans and predators like cats and raccoons can be hard to come by for a large group of pregnant bats, so when a suitable location is found it tends to be used every year by the colony. The juxtaposition of the South Sound prairies with agricultural and forest lands, and JBLM, creates a good environment to support bats that can roost near the prairies and include the prairies in their foraging options.

A Silver-haired bat netted (then released) at JBLM (Photo: G. Falxa)

A Silver-haired bat netted (then released) at JBLM (Photo: G. Falxa)

Depending on the insect hatch on a given day, an individual bat may forage along a tree-lined creek or at the forested edge of a prairie, or both habitats in a single night. Some species, like the Yuma bat (Myotis yumanensis) will focus nearly all of their foraging low over open water, usually a lake like Capitol Lake or Black Lake, but during the mid-summer months many can be seen flying low over the Black River, which is almost lake-like along various stretches, including adjacent to Glacial Heritage Preserve. Most species of bats avoid foraging in the open prairie, probably because it is more exposed to being hunted by owls and raptors than forest edges. However, our 3 largest species – the Hoary bat (Lasiurus cinereus), Silver-haired bat (Lasionycteris noctivagans), and Big brown bat – can be regularly heard or seen in the prairie sky. Using ultrasonic bat detectors placed at the prairies over the past 12 years we have documented nearly all of the 9 bat species in this region, and the only species not yet recorded at the prairies – Fringed myotis (Myotis thysanodes) – has been recorded less than 2 miles from Mima Prairie in the Capitol Forest.

A roosting Townsend’s big-eared bat (Photo: R. Davies)

A roosting Townsend’s big-eared bat (Photo: R. Davies)

Shortly after the Mima Creek Preserve was acquired, the discovery of a lone female Townsend’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) in an out building led to a 2-month investigation to locate its nursery colony. This species is relatively rare, and no colonies were known in the Black River watershed. By radio-tagging and tracking several individuals in sequence (each radio tag lasted 3 weeks) we finally located a colony of approximately 100 Townsend’s in the attic of a little used building near the Chehalis River. They were foraging and occasionally roosting all along the Black River drainage, feeding in the canopy of trees along forest – prairie boundaries.

Nursery box installed at Wolf Haven (Photo: G. Falxa)

Nursery box installed at Wolf Haven (Photo: G. Falxa)

Little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus) have occupied the bat box structures that have been constructed and erected at glacial Heritage, Wolf Haven, and various JBLM sites. For the past 10 years CNLM’s Sanders Freed has worked with me to develop bat house designs that are effective in this region. With support from US Fish & Wildlife, JBLM, and CNLM, we’ve experimented with designs to be used as a “nursery box” for the female bats to have a safe place to have their pups and get them to their volant stage, at about 6 weeks of age. The “evolved” design was installed at Wolf Haven in 2012 and has had over 400 adult bats in it the past few years. The bat house sits on the edge of the prairie forest interface, which is likely one of the reasons it is has been a success.

It is important to remember that each species has different habitat and roosting needs, and that a bat box built for one species may be wholly unsuitable for another. The photo below helps illustrate this – Sanders Freed is shown constructing a bat roost structure designed for Townsend’s big-eared bats, located near Muck Creek at the edge of the JBLM Artillery Impact Area. Townsend’s never use the crevice-type of bat boxes, favoring abandoned cabins, roomy attics and similar spaces.

Construction of the “Bat Temple” at JBLM (Photo: G. Falxa)

Construction of the “Bat Temple” at JBLM (Photo: G. Falxa)

In addition to habitat loss (both foraging and roosting) a concern for our bat populations has been the arrival of white-nose syndrome from the eastern U.S. In 2016 we discovered bats infected with the fungus that causes the disease which kills bats, primarily in the winter during hibernation. So far it appears to be affecting bats in the Cascade mountains and foothills, and has not yet been detected in Thurston County.

Links:

Some bat videos at local points of interest:

https://www.youtube.com/user/batsalot/videos

Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife:

https://www.wdfw.wa.gov/bats

Western Bat Working Group:

http://www.wbwg.org