Nov-Dec 2006 Sego Lily Newsletter, Utah Native Plant Society

8/9/2019 Nov-Dec 2006 Sego Lily Newsletter, Utah Native Plant Society

1/12

November 2006 Volume 29 No. 6

The Badlands at Factory Butte (page 5)

Top: Factory Butte in 1978, photo byDave Wallace. Above: Wrights fish hookcactus (Sclerocactus wrightiae), photo byDorde Woodruff

Also In This Issue

Chapter news and events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2USFWS revises candidate plant list . . . . . 3Noteworthy discoveries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

New to Utah: Cypripedium montanum

in Summit CountyA new umbel in Barnies Garden

On the naming ofSclerocactuswrightiae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Utah plant families: the mistletoes(Viscaceae) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10


2/12

2

OfficersPresident: Mindy Wheeler/Bill GrayChairman: Susan GarvinTreasurer: Celeste KennardSecretary: Therese Meyer/Dave Wallace

CommitteesHorticulture: vacant (for the moment)Conservation: Bill King/Tony FratesEducation: vacantInvasive Species: Susan GarvinCommunications: vacant

Chapters and Chapter PresidentsCache: Steve RippleEscalante (Garfield Co): Allysia AngusManzanita (Kane Co): Walter FertigMountain (Summit Co): Mindy WheelerPrice (Carbon Co): Mike HubbardSalt Lake: Kipp LeeSouthern (Washington Co): Margaret MalmUtah Valley (Utah Co): Celeste Kennard

Sego Lily Editor: Walter Fertig ([email protected]).Articles, photos, and illustrations from members arewelcome and encouraged. The deadline for the

January 2007 Sego Lily is 15 December 2006.

Website: For late-breaking news, the UNPS store,the Sego Lily archives, Chapter events, links to other

websites (including sources of native plants and thedigital Utah Rare Plant Field Guide), and more, go tounps.org. Many thanks to Xmission for spon-soring our website.

For more information on UNPS:Contact Bill King (582-0432) or Susan Garvin (356-5108), or write to UNPS, PO Box 520041, Salt LakeCity, UT, 84152-0041 or email [email protected]

Chapter News & Events

Escalante (Garfield County): In September2006 the Escalante Chapter hosted a talk by DustinRooks, range specialist for Grand Staircase-Escalante NM, on the topic of "The Birds and Bees ofPenstemon Evolution". The talk was well receivedand much appreciated by the chapter.

In early October the chapter set up a table at theEscalante Canyons Arts Festival-Everett Ruess Daysto provide native plant references and seek new

members. This event also helped with chapter fund-raising as members donated time, baked goods andcanned goods for sale. By all accounts the event wasa great success.

The October 2006 meeting featured a talk entitled"Planting Design 101" by Allysia Angus, landscapearchitect for Grand Staircase-Escalante NM andchapter chair. The presentation concluded withhands-on exercises where members produced asmall scaled planting plan of their own to take home. Allysia Angus

Manzanita (Kane County): The Chapters fallplant sale on 23 September generated a large turn-out for the Kanab Farmers market. Special thanksto Janett Warner of Wildland Nursery and MerrillJohnson of Great Basin Natives for bringing a selec-tion of trees, shrubs, and wildflowers for sale and fordonating a percentage of their proceeds to the Kanabchapter. - Walter Fertig

Mountain (Summit County): The location ofPark City heritage garden has changed from its origi-nal site in Park City to the Summit County Library atKimballs Junction, located just off Kilby Road. Takethe Park City exit at Kimballs Junction, turn righton Kilby Road, and then take the first left (acrossfrom McDonalds). The library is the first buildingon the left. Areas have been planted at the northeastand southeast entrances.

Overzealous weed pulling by Park City Munici-pal Garden crews and water control problems at theformer location led to the move. The garden has not

yet been relabeled until it has a chance to improveand recover. If you would like to help, contact DaveGardner ([email protected]). Tony

Frates

Salt Lake: During the Utah State Fair, Dr. PaulZuckerman held a wildflower photography exhibit inthe horticulture building at the UT State Fair Park.The exhibit was well-received by hundreds of peopleand featured native wildflowers of the WasatchFrontKipp Lee

Southern (Washington County): Thanks toUNPS member Barbara Farnsworth, Springdalesnew Community Center is a shining example of us-ing natives for landscaping. At last springs Earth

Day celebration, Springdale had the proposed land-scape plans for the Community Center available forpublic review. Barbara look. She discovered thatthe contractors landscaper (in Salt Lake City) hadplanned to fill the landscape with Pampas Grass,Red-hot Pokers, and non-native trees that were defi-nitely not her favorites. So, being a Springdale resi-dent, she suggested that native plants would bemuch more appropriate in Springdale than water-intensive non-native plants. She spoke so eloquentlythat they appointed her to plan and eventually toaccomplish the landscaping.


3/12

3

So she got busy with her books and checked intowhat was available and appropriate for the area andcame up with HER plan, which was readily accepted.

After the contractor had things ready (including awatering system), a number of Velvet ash trees wereplanted, along with native shrubs. In front of the

building, where a flagpole had been planned (butwas not needed, as there was already another one onthe property) went a lovely Redbud. Barbara even

planted a few other things on her own.Then she called on her fellow Vipers

(Volunteers in Parks - a group of native plant enthu-siasts who help with the revegetation work in ZionNP - most of whom are members of the Manzanitaand Southern Chapters) to help plant about 750 na-tive grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs in front of and

beside the building. These plants were all propa-gated in Zions greenhouse.

The Springdale Community Center houses a newlibrary, as well as meeting rooms, and promises to bea very busy place. This winter Barbara will be label-ing individual species in the landscape. Good

advertising for natives! - Margaret Malm

Utah Valley: The Utah Valley Chapter has two on-going weekly activities while the weather permits.

Weeding and working on the Wasatch Heritage gar-den (1040 N 900 E in Provo) takes place every Tues-day afternoon around 3:30 PM. Our "Plants andPreschoolers" hikes are still going on each Thursdayat 10 AM. Contact Celeste Kennard (801 377-5918 [email protected]) for more details if a hike at a lei-surely pace and lots of exploring sounds fun to you.

We will hold a propagation workshop at RockCanyon Trailhead Park in Provo on October 28, 10

AM until noon. Please bring your seed collections ofUtah native plants. Seeds for some plants are alsoavailable from UNPS. We will clean seeds and plantthem so members can grow them outside at homethrough the winter. The plants can be donated backto the chapter for the plant sale in May or planted atmembers homes. The chapter will donate bookplanters and potting medium to those who donateseeds and plants back to the chapter. Those whokeep all their plants need to pay $5.00/tray (72 cellrootrainer) for supplies on the day of the workshop.

The workshop will be by reservation only. Pleasecontact Robert Fitts ([email protected] or 801-796-8631) or Susan Garvin ([email protected]

or 801-756-6177) for more information. If you cancome to Pleasant Grove to help us prepare for the

workshop on any evening that week, please callASAP. Celeste Kennard & Susan Gar vin

Attention UNPS Members: We are updatingour database so members will get timely delivery ofthe Sego Lily and other notices of UNPS events.Has your phone, street address, or e-mail addresschanged in the last year or so? If it has, please dropus a note (PO Box 520041, Salt Lake City, UT 84052)or e-mail ([email protected]). Bill Gray

USFWS Revises Candidate Plant List

On 12 September, 2006, the US Fish and WildlifeService (USFWS) published a revised list of animaland plant species being considered as candidates forpotential listing under the Endangered Species Act.Since the list was last updated in 2004, the USFWShas added 7 new species as candidates, removed 10,and elevated the status of 24 others (either as pro-posed or officially listed as Threatened or Endan-gered). Currently 279 plant, vertebrate, insect, mol-lusk, crustacean, and other invertebrate species fromthe US and abroad have candidate status (of which140 are vascular plants). USFWS considers speciesto be candidates if sufficient information is availablefor proposing them as Threatened or Endangered,

but such an action has not yet been taken in light ofhigher priorities for listing. Candidate species do notreceive formal legal protection under the Endan-gered Species Act, but are frequently afforded extraattention by state and federal land managementagencies.

Three Utah plant species have been dropped fromthe Candidate list, largely because they do not meetsome or all of the USFWSs 5 criteria for listing(threatened destruction or modification of habi-tat/range, overutilization, disease/predation, inade-quacy of protection, or other). These include theHorseshoe milkvetch (Astraga lus equisolensis) en-

demic to the Duchesne River Formation in UintahCounty Utah and adjacent Colorado, Aquarius paint-brush (Castilleja a quariensis) from Boulder Moun-tain and vicinity in SC Utah, and Rabbit Valley gilia(Gilia orAliciellacaespitosa), known only from Na-

vajo Sandstone cliffs in the vicinity of Capitol Reef.Grahams beardtongue (Penstemon grahamii) of theUintah Basin remains on the list, though it was re-cently proposed for listing as Threatened. WhiteRiver beardtongue (P. scariosusvar. albifluvis) alsoremains as a Candidate, but its status is unchanged. Walter Fertig


4/12

4

Noteworthy Discoveries

New to Utah: Cypripedium montanumin Summit County

by Mindy Wheeler

Above: Cypripedium montanum by M. Wheeler.

Is it simple chance that a rare orchid shows up inthe yard of a Utah Native Plant Society member? Inthe midst of doing the regular yard work in earlyJune trying to make the yard look somewhat wildand native, yet placating the neighbors with someform of order- I found this little gem hiding under-

neath a spruce tree. Very interesting, particularlysince the suburban street is a mere 15 feet away andthe neighbors well manicured lawn about 10 feetaway! Native populations of this orchid are consid-ered critically imperiled in the state of Wyoming andrare in many other western states. A truly nativepopulation has not yet been recorded in Utah.

The running theory regarding the presence of thisplant is that it was embedded in the root ball of thespruce tree when it was brought in for landscapingabout 10 years ago. This plant can have long dor-mancy and requires a mycorrhizal fungal associate.

Why this year? It is possible that it may have flow-

ered in previous years, but it is not often that I getthat deep into yardwork! It may also be possiblethat my relatively new drip irrigation system pro-

vided just the right conditions for this plant to feelthat this was the year. Apparently, many nurseriesor plant distributors sell laboratory propagatedspecimens of this plant.

Whatever the reason, it has been a complete sur-prise and joy to regularly visit this plant in the front

yard!

A New Umbel in Barnies Gardenby Bill Gray

The Salt Lake Chapter was planning a picnic inCity Creek Canyon, so a few of us decided to checkout one of the rare plants known from the canyon,

Angelica wheeleri . This is a close relative of thecommonAngelica pinnata , but about twice the sizeand very localized and rare. After obtaining GPScoordinates from Ben Franklin's database at theUtah Heritage Program, we took off looking for thepopulation known from near the top of the canyon.

We didn't locate it first time around, but one of thegroup said he had noticed a tall parsley-type plantmuch farther down, so we decided to look for that onour way back. We found it, exactly where the data-

base said one of the populations ofAngelica wheel-eri should be.

Trouble was, we started having doubts about it as

we looked at photographs and compared them withpictures of authentic Wheeler's Angelica. The morewe looked the less they resembled each other. It wasmore like celery than Angelica. Then Robert Fittssuggested Lovage (Ligusticum officinale), a Euro-pean pot herb that fitted in every way that wecould check. Next day I went back up the canyon tolook more closely, and to see if I could find more.There was only the one small patch about (6 feet

wide by six feet long, but ten feet tall), sandwichedbetween the road and the stream. GenuineAngelicawheeleri was later found at the higher location, sothere was no doubt about their being different. Toour knowledge, this is the first documented occur-

rence of the plant naturalized in Utah.So how did lovage get there? Presumably some-

body planted it; but City Creek Canyon was ownedby Brigham Young from the earliest days, and notopened to settlers. Young deeded it to the Cityshortly before his death. This particular little stretchof canyon is called "Barnie's Hollow", so we are try-ing to locate information on him and other possiblesources. Over the years I have encountered manyother stray plants that might be from early settlers'gardens where there is nothing else to suggest thatanybody lived there. In City Creek alone there arelovage, privet, lilac, apple trees and a non-native

hawthorn tucked away in odd places. While walkingthe foothills and canyons it is always worthwhile tonote these little signs of earlier times, and to try andimagine life a hundred years ago.

Have you made a notable botanical discovery inUtah? This could be a new species for the state, acounty distribution record, or a significant rangeextension. Attain fleeting botanical fame by submit-ting your noteworthy discovery to the Sego Lily([email protected]).


5/12

5

The Badlands at Factory ButteBy Dorde Woodruff

Recently Utahn Cindi Everitt was having dinner ata restaurant in the Rhineland. An Icelandic womancame over to her.

I dont usually do this, she said, but I heard yousay youre from Utah, and Ive really wanted to knowis Factory Butte real?

When assured that it was, she said it was so other-worldly, she really thought it had to be somethingmade in Hollywood.

Cindi also tells of a striking, huge mural of FactoryButte; no attribution, just the mural, placed high upon a wall of the Amsterdam airport.

To those from elsewhere, our exotic Utah scenery iseven more strange and unusual than it is to us. Ongoogling Factory Butte images, over 300 come upfrom all over the world, some from travelers but a sur-prising number from art-oriented professionals.

In the last decade or two a noisome conflict has de-veloped between the OHV riders that enjoy the Fac-tory Butte area and those who enjoy a subtler appre-ciation of it. As we know, many more people are rec-reating in the desert than ever before. But with mar-keting of successful small four-wheeled off-highway

vehicles, (ATVs), has come an explosion of riders.Anyone whos tried riding a dirt bike cross-country

knows it takes a certain amount of strength and cour-age. Its not easy. Four wheelers are do-able for amuch greater spectrum of folks. Riders claim that theMancos Shale in the Factory Butte area, also known asthe Caineville Badlands, is especially fun to ride.

In their 1982 Henry Mountains Planning AreaManagement Framework Plan (MFP), a precursor tothe upcoming and long-delayed draft of the RichfieldDistrict Resource Management Plan (RMP), the BLMdesignated all 640 acres of Section 14, T28S, R9E, eastof Factory Butte, as a riding area (see

www.ut.blm.gov/ planning/ HENRYMFP .PDF for thewhole 615page document, or Friends of FactoryButte, www.factory butte.org/ documents.html forselected excerpts). But while asking riders to be con-servative, they closed or restricted only a few specialareas, such as the Bull Creek Archeological District,South and North Caineville Mesa, and No Mans Mesa.The riders expanded everywhere.

Now thebadlands scenery viewed by thousands ofpeople traveling highway 24 each year is marred bytracks most of the way between Hanksville and CapitolReef. Take a ride nine miles up the Factory ButteMine Road to a wide, barren, and austere TununkShale basin south of the San Rafael Reef, and tracksdescend off the steep hillside and cross the basin, rightpast the sign that says Designated Route; motorcycleuse restricted to designated routes ONLY; cross coun-try travel prohibited.

Knife-edge ridges SW of North Caineville Mesa near Fac-tory Butte. John Dohrenwend photo.

When I was the most active in motorcycling (in the1970s and 80s, starting with the gas crisis when a ve-hicle getting 60 miles per gallon had much allure)

you couldnt get riders to be political. But now theleaders of Utahs politically active OHV organizationthe Utah Shared Access Alliance (USA-ALL) have bytheir own testimony gone to the Sierra Club school ofpolitical activism, sending out press releases, urgingtheir members to write officials, and originating law-suits.

Why is this place so special to tourists, photogra-phers, geologists, and so forth? Its the largest and

best developed badlands on the Colorado Plateau, byfar. A happenstance of geologic history made it soathin deposit of shale (Blue Gate member of the Man-cos), recent uplift (geologically speaking), resistantsandstone on top of the shale (Emery member of theMancos), and a large, new, active drainage system,

with erosional stability followed by rapid downcutting.Badlands like this are fragile. The very same rapid

erosion that forms these dramatic steep hill, dendriticdrainages, and striking sandstone-capped mesas also


6/12

6

In a good spring the cracked clay is carpeted with flowerssuch as Cleomella palmeriana (upper left) and Phacelia de-missa. Andy Godfrey photo.

leads to relatively rapid loss of these features, finallycutting them down to a featureless plain. Natural ero-sion here is 10 times as fast as along the FremontRiver west of Capitol Reef NP, and 100 times as fast asin Utahs West Desert.

So what does this mean to plant lovers? If youveever seen these badlands in a good spring, you wontforget the awesome sight. 2005 was one of thegreatsprings. Drifts of Palmers cleomella, Cleomellapalmerianacovered acres of basins. Natural bouquetsof posies emerged amongst the polygonal cracks of thecrust. In some places Eriogonum inflatum, BottleStopper, proliferated, or the large yellow flowers ofthat tough pioneer Common Sunflower, Helianthus

annuus, made a contrasting statement to the blue-gray shale. Yellow-flowering clumps of Broom Snake-

weed, Gutierrezia sarothrae and pink-flowered Fre-mont Buckwheat shrubs, Eriogonumcorymbosum,

bordered roads in the fall.The most important plant items politically are the

threatened Pediocactus winkleri, Winklers PlainsCactus, and endangered Sclerocactus wrightiae,

Wrights Fish Hook Cactus, which grow scatteredthroughout the area in favorable places.

Physical properties of the clay are more importantthan the chemical ones of abundant salts and high pHin making this a difficult environment for plants. The

clay when wetted by rain swells up and seals quickly,preventing deeper penetration of moisture. Thusplants are successful in flatter areas where rain canstand longer, indrainages, and at the edges of roads.Cacti, with their shallow, wide-ranging roots and grab-

water-quick-and-store-it strategy, are one of the bet-ter-adapted kinds of plants. The Mancos in its differ-ent locations supports more endemic plants than anyother stratum on the Colorado Plateau.

On roads and trails in the Mancos, experienceddrivers know that since water doesnt penetrate well, if

you wait a while after a rainstorm until the sun comesout and dries that thin wet layer, you may be able tocontinue on. Or maybe not. The BLMs Tim Fingergot stuck 14 miles from the highway on the west

branch of the Factory Butte Mine Road, and had towalk out.

OHVs always cause some degree of erosion. Itscritical to know how much. But there are only twostudies of OHV-caused erosion in the Factory Butte

area, one with few replications and one preliminary.Andrew Godfrey was a student ofwell-known ge-

ologist Charlie Hunt. With other students, Huntbrought Godfrey to the Henry Mountains and turnedhim loose to seek the dissertation subject of hischoice.Godfrey chose the Mancos, and continued studying itfor the rest of his life.

In 1980 Godfrey installed two sets of sedimenttraps (large soil pits) in the Factory Butte riding areaand a precipitation monitor west of Factory Butte aspart of a studyfor the Richfield Office of the BLM. Ineach set of pits one was fenced to keep riders away,and the other left unfenced; they were monitored

twice a year. Godfreys data haventbeen publishedup to now or peer-reviewed. Recently Richard Grauchof the USGS in Colorado (the lead scientist of a studyon the Mancos in the Gunnison area) began collabo-rating with Godfrey. Due to Godfreys untimely de-mise last summer, Grauch is nowwriting up this workas best he can for a guidebook on the geology of cen-tral Utah to be published by the Utah Geological Asso-ciation in 2007.

The best available summary of Godfreys work onthe effect of OHVs in the area is his expert witnesstestimony for the defense in a suit brought by theSouthern Utah Wilderness Alliance (SUWA). Godfreysaid that from this study and his other work on the

Mancos, he considered that the effects of off-highway

BLM Colorado Plateau hydrologist George Cruz, left,and the late Andy Godfrey, r ight, with precipitationstation. Ben Everitt photo.


7/12

7

vehicles (OHV) use in the Factory Butte area aretransitory in nature. . . these effects are short-lived.He testified that hed seen the surface crust reform inas little as a couple of days after rain, and that tracksshould all disappear within two to five years(www.usa-all.com/docs/ GOD-FREY_WITNESS_REPORT.PDF). The BLM now hasphotographic evidence, however, that tracks may re-main at least six years and some longer.

The BLM asked retired USGS geologist JohnDohrenwend, now an adjunct professor at the Univer-sity of Arizona, to do a preliminary study of erosion inthe Caineville Badlands (preliminary because the fullstudy wasnt funded). Dohrenwend explained thatsediment traps arent a good way to study this.Factors affecting water erosion include slope steep-ness, slope aspect, soil integrity, soil permeability,landscape position, vegetation cover, water speed anddepth (to name just a few). Consequently this

would require construction of a large number of sedi-ment traps in many diverse and widely distributedareas. Not just two replications.

Dohrenwend used twelve 50-meter-long transects,eight on undisturbed hillslopes, and four along heavilydisturbed hillslopes. He found that out that on theseslopes the OHVs caused accelerated erosion four timesthe already fast rate in the area. As an effect, he pre-dicted a big contribution of this erosion to be found ina runoff of salt into the Fremont River, drains easterlyalong the southern border of the area(www.factorybutte. org/documents/dohrenwend Re-port.pdf). But river measurements dont show this.Not all slopes are as heavily impacted, nor were shal-lower slopes measured in this preliminary study.

Soil scientist Lisa Bryant of the BLM State Officesaid that the methodology of Dohrenwends study is

appropriate. The data from both of these studies isgood, she says, and they are pieces of the puzzle.Bryant is describing local soils and formally describingthe soil pits, which hadnt been done.

The BLM is deciding what to do in the next fieldseason to follow up on these two studies. Bryantpoints out that although there are several studies ofthe Mancos in other areas, notably the Gunnison areain Colorado and around Moab, the Mancos isnt ex-actly the same everywhere.

Opponents of dirt bike riding call them ORVs, OffRoad Vehicles, but riders and others call them OHVs,Off Highway Vehicles. More dirt riding is done on

roads and trails than cross-country, but cross-countryriding, especially when inappropriate, is more visible.Careless environmentalists tar all riders with the same

brush. Hopefully that attitude is fading.As with skiing or horseback riding, the skillful OHV

rider takes great joy in the sport. But some riders seemto lose much of whatever outdoor ethic they had whenthe power of easy transportation to wild places isavailable. They dont seem to be able to see the bigpicture, that the BLMs mandate for multiple usemeans any use should be socially acceptable and sus-tainable. USA-ALL spokesmen, members, and

A heavily-used slope, transect 9 in Dohrenwend study.John Dohrenwend photo.

sympathizers tend to make incendiary statements notbacked up by facts, and like the worst practices of en-vironmentalists resort to regrettable name-calling anddemonizing.

USA-ALL spokesmen said:On the Endangered Species Act, that it: would oneday take away our public and even private land for theimagined benefit of insects and weeds. It should beclear that the ecomongers dont give a hoot about thecacti here or anywhere else.

On plants: the Factory Butte lands are void ofvegetation.

On scenic values: One would think that the envi-ronmentalists would happy [sic]to leave this wastedscrap of land for our use.

On accelerated erosion: baseless claims of vehi-cle-induced erosion.

Sympathizers are worse:

Who, besides environmental weirdos, care [sic]about a stinking cactus? Kill the cactus, let peopleenjoy the open space!

Just more desert land in Utah that nobody willever do anything with. It's desert!! It is the most use-less land around. If it was my child I would give it upfor adoption; it's good for nothin! Heaven forbid weput some tire tracks on this God Forsaken already uglyas can be land and actually enjoy it! (KSL comment

board on BLM Restricts Off-road Travel on FactoryButte Badlands, see www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=505232&comments=true for a variety of reactions).

Seems like Utah schools arent doing a very thor-

ough job of environmental education.The more sensationalist of the media like SaltLakes Channel 4 and the Las Vegas Review Journalall too often swallow this whole. Deadline-dominated,quick-and-dirty journalism at its worst, referring tothose who worry about whats happening at FactoryButte as extremists who would fence off all wildlands have long complained that those vehicles arenoisy despoilers, cutting trails that encourage ero-sionas though erosion isnt what gave these landstheir distinctive character in the first place (Las VegasReview Journal).


8/12

8

Tiny young Sclerocactus wrightiae. With the hazards thisspecies faces, its heartening to find a good stand of juve-niles. D. Woodruff photo.

On the Naming ofSclerocactuswrightiae

I was privileged to work informally with Dr.Lyman Benson for several years. With so littleknown about U.S. cacti when he wrote his book(The Cacti of the United States and Canada ), it wasa tall order to cover all of North America. Conse-quently he appreciated the help of people who wereknowledgeable about their local cacti. I remarkedto him once that I thought plants should be namedafter some characteristic of their own. When henamed S. wrightiae after me, he either forgot that

or did it anyway. Naming a species after the personwho reported it was his common practice, his wayof thanking those who helped him. Dr. Benson wasa kind, quiet, generous man, but very determined.He did things his way, but was quick to agree whenhe found that someone else knew more about aspecies than he did. The name Wright is from myfirst marriage, from when I contacted Dr. Bensonin 1960, and when I gave him the plants in 1961.

He wrote "San Rafael Ridge" meaning the areaof San Rafael Reef as the type locality, meaning to

be vague to discourage collectors. As I recall, how-ever, within a year collectors or dealers had it, al-

ways avid for a new or rare species. Ironically, thetype locality is at the edge of its range, and in mylong-term experience it's easier to find it elsewhere.Back then not nearly so many people went to the

back-country of the Colorado Plateau, but evennow in some of its range you would have to make amajor walk out if your vehicle quit.- Dorde Wright Woodruff

Or suggesting that S. wrightiae, which was firstreported in the early 1960s and seen on the Mancos inthis area not too long after that, was somehow onlyrecently discovered around Factory Butte just in timeto force an appeal for closure (Paul Foy, in an A.P.story used in newspapers around the world).

Or using inflammatory, misleading headlines: "Off-roading banned in Utah area" But the closure was arestriction not a total ban. This same headline ap-

peared in the Houston Chronicle; Guardian Unlim-ited, UK; CBS News, LA Times; Leading The Charge,

Australia; etc.The riders are very good about the Leave no

Trace ethic other than the tracks. On a recent visit toSwingarm City, the principal riding area and the onethat remains open, also popular for camping, there

was no trace of litter whatsoever.SUWA and the Friends of Factory Butte finally did

find a way to convince the BLM to make a seriousmove, after failed efforts by both factions. On April 1stof last year, they submitted a 40-page petition to Sec-retary of the Interior Gale Norton for emergency clo-

sure of the Factory Butte Area. It cited many reasons:accelerated erosion, possible runoff of toxic seleniumand other air and water pollution, riders on privateland, visual effect on travelers and tourism, needs ofphotographers, and damage to vegetation includingthe listed species, all carefully documented. It citedcautions by BLM personnel on excessive use by OHVsin previous documents, and legal reasons for action(see www.suwa.org/library/001_Factory ButteClo-surePetition_FINAL.pdf).

The BLM asked its Resource Advisory Council fora recommendation, forming a subcommittee. Theymet over a period of months and had three field trips,one each with geologists Andy Godfrey and John

Dohren-wend, and a longer one to cover the wholearea. In the end, they couldnt agree on a recommen-dation, though they did submit viewpoints. USA-ALLpulled back from any compromise.

The BLM has been surveying the listed species foryears, but they did fieldwork this time focused on theFactory Butte area. Damage to S. wrightiae from theOHVs was documented, in addition to the usual dam-age the species suffers from being smashed or up-rooted by cows or horses, mining or other industrialactivity, road-building, beetle borers and other herbi-

vory, seed-eating by insects or other animals, theft,and drought. With no particular means of long-

distance dispersal of seeds, sometimes you wonderhow the species survives at all. I started looking atSclerocactus in 1960, and my early impression wasthat populations were more numerous and widespread

before white settlement; recent monitoring only con-firms that conclusion.

In reply to the petition, on April 7, 2006, Richfieldarea manager Cornell Christensen replied that al-though the other impacts werent proven sufficientlyadverse over the whole area to justify closure, the pro-tection legally required for listed plants did justify aclosure, to be in effect until the new RMP takes effect.


9/12

9

An 11-page documentdetailed the BLMs response tothe items of the petition: www.suwa.org/library/BlmResponse_ FactoryButtePetition.pdf. Of all thepetition items, they chose to act on behalf of thelisted cacti; the law is clear.

After review by Washington, the emergency clo-sure order was placed in the Federal Register onSeptember 20 (www.ut.blm.gov/factorybutte/ fed-eral_register. htm). It restricts the riders to a 2602-

acre play area that includes most of the smaller onesuggested for voluntary use in the 1982 MFP, anddesignated roads and trails. The BLM urges riders tocontact it with suggestions, including routes for ad-ditional trails. They will keep the riding away fromthe visual corridor of highway 24, and ban it betweenthe highway and the river. They found funds for in-frastructure such as fencing.

Despite USA-ALLs claims that Factory Buttewas the last open riding area left and that riders haveno place left to go, Utah State Parks website

www.state parks.utah.gov/ ohv/where.htm lists 28Open Areas and Trail Systems; the main Paiute ATV

Trail alone is 275 miles long, with over 1000 miles ofmarked side trails and more than 1500 miles of sideforest roads and trails. From all over the U. S. andeven from abroad, 650 ATV riders and some motor-cyclists converge on Richfield every fall for the an-nual Rocky Mountain ATV Jamboree, with a choiceof 69 different rides during the event.

Naturally, riders dont like to face being barredfrom places they enjoy. But as with all of us, more

Factory Butte with fall-blooming shrubs. D. Wood-ruff photo.

users of the outdoors means the pie is split intosmaller pieces. Dirt roads we used to drive on that

were decent are now terribly washboardy due to in-creased visitationthat maintenance doesnt keep up with. Favoritecamping places are now illegal, wood gathering is pro-hibited, or open fires banned even if you bring yourown wood. Places you once owned when you wentthere, together with the plants and the animals, are no

longer so unused.The Richfield RMP is expected in December,

though it possibly may be delayed even more. Earliermanagement plans and their fallout showed theagency it had to be careful of what it promised to do,such as monitoring. Its totally dependent on Con-gress to appropriate funds. No funds, no monitoring.

Also the plan is being checked in Washington tomake sure it conforms to U.S. District Judge DaleJudge Kimballs decision this summer that the agency,under the current administrations rush to drill, hadnot been conforming to law in regards to oil and gasleasing (see www.suwa.org/library/ 080306TribArti-

cle _O&GCourtWin.pdf).Its important to read the draft RMP and makecomments; the riders certainly will. You can ask Rich-field Assistant Field Manager and planner FrankErickson (425-896-1532; Frank_Erickson @blm.gov)to mail you a notice, or just review it online. The Pre-ferred Alternative for OHV use at Factory Butte is ex-pected to be similar to what is specified in the Emer-gency Closure; the BLM would be grateful for supportof what they think is the best solution.


10/12

10

Utah Plant Families:

The Mistletoes (Viscaceae)

By Walter Fertig

A persons opinion about mistletoes varies depend-ing on their holiday spirit, hobbies, or occupation.

Yuletide revelers appreciate the mistletoe for its role

in promoting holiday cheer (and the opportunity forsocially acceptable public kissing). Birders recognizethe value of mistletoe as an important winter foodsource for overwintering songbirds. Foresters, how-ever, take a more dismal view towards mistletoes be-cause of the reduced growth and vigor of commercially

valuable trees infected with these plants.Mistletoes are parasitic or partially parasitic

(hemiparasitic) herbaceous plants that grow from thestems of other woody species. In our area, mistletoehosts are mostly conifers (especially pines and juni-pers), but across their range these plants can also in-fect oaks, acacia, mesquite, eucalyptus, and even co-lumnar cacti. The mistletoe habit has been adopted by

members of four closely related plant families foundthroughout the world, but best developed in the trop-ics. The families differ in floral morphology and fruitand inflorescence characters. Only one family, the

Viscaceae, occurs north of Mexico (although 7 speciesof the related Loranthaceae occur in Puerto Rico).

Like many other parasites, mistletoes have a greatlysimplified body plan. Most of a mistletoe is found be-low the bark of its host. Specialized, fungus-like stemscalled cortical haustoria grow just beneath the bark inthe food-transporting phloem tissue of the host. Root-like stems called sinkers diverge at right angles fromthe haustorium into the outer layers of sapwood or

xylem. The haustoria and sinkers help anchor themistletoe into the stem and allow it to tap into itshosts food and water pipelines. Depending on thespecies, bushy aerial stems emerge through the barknear the site of the original infection or sprout periodi-cally along the length of the host branch as it elon-gates.

In our species, leaves are essentially absent or re-duced to small, opposite scales. Outside of Utah, mis-tletoes often have well-developed green leaves that arecapable of photosynthesis. At least 35 species in Aus-tralia even produce leaves that mimic the size andshape of their host plants, usually eucalyptus. Non-photosynthetic and fully parasitic mistletoes usuallyhave yellow, brown, or orangish stems.

In the Viscaceae, flowers are small and unisexual,and lack showy petals to attract visually-oriented birdor insect pollinators (as found in tropical mistletoes ofthe Loranthaceae family). Our Utah mistletoes havesessile or short-stalked yellowish to green fleshy flow-ers borne in a spike-like, scaly inflorescence at the tipof aerial stems. The flowers have a perianth of 3 or 4tepals which are all similar in shape, size, and texture,unlike the distinct sepals and petals typical of mostflowers. Staminate flowers have 3 or 4 pollen-

Above: Juniper mistletoe (Phoradendron juniperinum)differs from most species in its genus by lacking fully devel-

oped leaves. This is the most abundant mistletoe species inUtah, occurring widely a cross the Colorado Plateau andWasatch Front and primarily para sitizing Utah juniper(Juniperus osteosperma). Photo by W. Fertig.

producing stamens, matching the number of tepals.Fruit-producing pistillate flowers have 2 or 3 tooth-like tepals and are either paired or whorled at each

branch of the inflorescence.Two of the eight recognized genera of Viscaceae

occur in Utah. The largest genus worldwide isPhoradendron (literally translated from the Greek as

tree thief) with about 200 species, of which only twooccur in the state. Juniper mistletoe (P. juniperinum)is the most widely distributed of the states mistletoesoccurring commonly across the Colorado Plateau andthe Wasatch Front (but largely absent from the UintaBasin). This species primarily parasitizes Utah juni-per (Juniperus osteosperma), although it may occa-sionally be found on Common juniper (J. communis).The related Acacia mistletoe (P. californicum) is muchrarer in Utah and found only in the Beaver DamMountains west of St. George. Acacia mistletoe isunique among our Utah species in parasitizing woodyangiosperms, especially Catclaw acacia (Acacia g reg-

gii), mesquite (Prosopis sp.), and rarely creosote bush(Larrea tridentata) or Fremont cottonwood (Populusfremontii). Both of our species are leafless, but otherPhoradendron species in North America have broadgreen leaves and are at least partially photosynthetic.

Six Utah species belong to the genusArceuthobiumor the dwarf mistletoes. These taxa occur exclusivelyon conifers; each species typically specializes on oneor two specific hosts. With the exception ofA. ameri-canum andA. douglasii, most of the other dwarf mis-tletoe species are remarkably similar in gross appear-ance and were, at one time, considered phases of a


11/12

11

Above: Pinyon dwarf mistletoe (Arceuthobium divarica-tum) is the most common of the dwarf mistletoes in Utah,ranging widely across the state wherever its primary host,Two-needle pinyon (Pinus edulis) grows. Illustration by W.Fertig.

single species,A. campylopodum (found to the west ofUtah). Identification of dwarf mistletoes is aided bytheir host specificity, though in rare circumstancesone species may occur on the typical host of another.In general, though, our major conifer species eachhave their own particular dwarf mistletoe:A. abieti-num on White fir,A. americanum on Lodgepole pine,

A. cyanocarpum on Limber and Bristlecone pines, A.divaricatum on Two-needle and Singleleaf pinyon,A.douglasii on Douglas-fir, andA. vaginatum on Pon-derosa pine or Engelmann spruce. With the exceptionof Pinyon dwarf mistletoe (A. divaricatum), most oftheArceuthobium species in Utah have fairly re-stricted ranges or are otherwise infrequently collected,

perhaps because field botanists are looking for plantson the ground rather than perched on the branches oftrees and shrubs.

Our two genera of mistletoes differ primarily infruit structure and their mode of seed dispersal. Spe-cies ofPhoradendron produce white, pinkish, or red

berry-like fruits that resemble tiny beach balls andwhich are readily consumed by birds. Within eachberry is one or two extremely sticky seeds. The seedsare either excreted on a branch (with a dollop of or-ganic fertilizer) or smeared on a stem by a birds beak

as it tries to dislodge the seed from the tasty fruit pulp.(The word mistletoe comes from an Anglo-Saxonterm for dung twig.) Arceuthobium taxa have dis-tinctly bicolored ovoid berries that explosively dis-charge their single seed 15-50 feet (at a speed of 60miles per hour). Recent studies by Canadian botanistCynthia Ross have shown that dwarf mistletoes slowly

build up water pressure in their fruits for over a year

until the pressure becomes so great that the fruit wallbursts. As with Phoradendron, these seeds are vis-cous (it is the visc-aceae after all) and stick to anysurface they contact.

Masses of mistletoe stems are sometimes calledwitches-brooms due to their fanciful resemblance tothe flying vehicle of choice for practitioners of witch-craft. These structures can be important as nestinghabitat for songbirds, raptors, and squirrels and canprovide forage for deer and elk. However, not all

witches-brooms result from mistletoe infection. Rustfungi and amoeba-like microbes called phytoplasmascan infect the phloem of a tree and cause broom-likegrowths similar to mistletoe.

Since ancient times, humans have been fascinatedby the peculiar habit of mistletoe arising from thestems of other plant species. In Europe, the tradi-tional Christmas mistletoeViscum album was thoughtto have been sent to Earth by a special envoy of thegods, the Mistletoe thrush (a winter migrant from Af-rica that feeds extensively on mistletoe berries). Manycultures across the globe thought mistletoes possessedspiritual power and medicinal value, especially forpromoting fertility. Mistletoes have often been con-sidered omens of good fortune and were frequentlyhung indoors during winter for some color and to fos-ter positive spirits. Over time, this tradition may have

morphed into the practice of hanging a sprig of mistle-toe over the door at Christmas time. According toNorwegian tradition, a man should remove one berryfor each kiss stolen from a woman until all the berriesare gone (and the kissing must cease!)

Very few foresters are likely to feel particularly ro-mantic about mistletoes. Dwarf mistletoe infectionsare especially deleterious to western conifer speciesused for commercial timber harvest. Each year anestimated 3.3 billion board feet of timber is lost tomistletoe (for perspective, total timber harvests in1996 were 15.5 billion board feet. 13,600 board feet oflumber goes into a typical 2000 square foot home).Mistletoe infestation reduces the vigor of the host tree,damages wood, increases susceptibility to droughtstress, attack from pine beetles (genus Ips)and fire.Fire suppression and high-grading (harvesting large,healthy trees but leaving infested ones) over the pastcentury has probably increased the abundance ofdwarf mistletoe in many western forests.

Complete control of mistletoe is unfeasible and un-desirable in our western forests, given the value ofthese plants to wildlife. Besides, without mistletoe,how would shy people work up the courage for a holi-day kiss?


12/12

12

Utah Native Plant Society

PO Box 520041

Salt Lake City, UT 84152-0041

Return Service Requested

Utah Native Plant Society Membership

__ New Member __ Renewal__ Gift Membership

Membership Category __ Student $9.00 __ Senior $12.00

__ Individual $15.00 __ Household $25.00 __ Sustaining $40.00 __ Supporting Organization $55.00 __ Corporate $500.00 __ Lifetime $250.00

Mailing ___ US Mail___ Electronic

Name _________________________________Street _________________________________City ______________________ State ________Zip ___________Email ___________________

Chapter _______________________________

__ Please send a complimentary copy of the Sego Lilyto the above individual.

Please enclose a check, payable to Utah Native PlantSociety and send to:

Utah Native Plant SocietyPO Box 520041Salt Lake City, UT 84152-0041

Join or renew on-line at unps.org

Want to see the Sego Lilyin color? Or read late breaking UNPS news and find links to otherbotanical websites? Or buy wildflower posters, cds, and other neat stuff at the UNPS store? Go

to unps.org!

Nov-Dec 2006 Sego Lily Newsletter, Utah Native Plant Society

Documents

Transcript of Nov-Dec 2006 Sego Lily Newsletter, Utah Native Plant Society