Rare Care staff, volunteers and agency partners convened in June in the southeastern corner of the state for Rare Care’s annual monitoring weekend. Our goal was to help US Forest Service assess the impact of the 2021 Lick Creek wildfire on sensitive plant species. Located on the northeastern flank of the Blue Mountains, the Lick Creek area has some of the highest concentration of rare plants on the Washington side of the mountains. It is also known for its spectacular landscape of conifer-capped mountains and steep basalt canyons covered with bunchgrasses and wildflowers. Wildfires are a defining ecological disturbance in this ecosystem, with lightning-caused, stand-replacing fires recurring every 150-500 years.

Alicia McMurchie

Over three days, 24 participants generated 26 monitoring reports for nine species. Everyone saw and learned to identify Yeti phlox (Phlox solivaga), a recently described species endemic to the area. It was heartening to see its robust populations thriving with no evidence of fire damage. We also found large populations of Snake River fleabane (Erigeron disparipilus), Blue Mountains beardtongue (Penstemon pennelianus) and mountain butter cup (Ranunculus populago). Numbers of Arthur’s milk-vetch (Astragalus arthurii) seemed low, but we were late for this species. Spalding’s catchfly (Silene spaldingii) numbers were also low, but we may have been early for this species. The same was true for the one population of sagebrush lily (Calochortus macrocarpus var. maculosus) we documented. Searches for broadfruit mariposa lily (Calochortus nitidus) and Scouler’s catchfly (Silene scouleri spp. scouleri) proved unsuccessful. Weed encroachment was noted in some areas, and these areas will need to be revised in coming years to monitor their spread.