07-26-16 Field Note

07-26-16 Field Note

July 26, 2016

Jeff Clarke's field note details a juvenile bull moose, sandhill cranes, weevil hotels, and summer blooms.

Knapweed removal, root weevil survey, mullein control, milkweed, berries

Knapweed seed heads were on the verge of blooming last week. The field crew visited Baldy Summit for the third consecutive year, and weed whacked all the knapweed before their seeds formed. We plan to weed whack the Summit for seven years with hopes of major seed reduction.

We attempted to weed whack around the native plants. Most native plants that were whacked had already senesced.

crew visited 27 locations where they had released knapweed root weevils over the past four years. We looked at the roots of 1,650 knapweed plants and found signs of weevil larvae in 58% of the roots. We also surveyed 300 knapweed roots in areas where we typically collect the mature insects. We found that 69% of those roots were infected. At the end of the month, we will collect more root weevils and relocate them to knapweed patches where we do not find weevils.

Several plants that we surveyed had three or more weevil larvae in their roots. One crew member referred to some of the large infested roots as “weevil hotels.”

Mullein started to bloom last week. The field crew cut and pulled as much mullein as they could before it produced seeds.

Eight hard-working folks from JUMP hauled and installed two buck and rail fences around at risk aspen groves. The areas they protected had several stunted aspen suckers that were browsed for several years. The whole JUMP crew didn’t stop working until the job was done! We really appreciate their hard work!

A juvenile bull moose found his way from the river bottom, up through the Orchard House lawn, and over the mountain.

annual sunflowers started their seasonal display two weeks ago. As their show fades, hardened discs will feed birds, ungulates and rodents.

I've come across few dense patches of wild licorice root on the ranch. The pictured patch is located in the Northeast corner of the Clubhouse Floodplain and boasts the most seeds every year.

Forthe last three years, we harvested bulrush from this area and transplanted them to the new pond. Every year the patches rebound with more shoots. We will transplant several more plants from this same area at the end of August.

Thewild rice that we planted last year started to produce seed again this year. We attempted to get more of that same seed however, there wasn’t any available due to a poor 2015 seed crop. We planted a different variety this spring and have not seen any recruitment. I’ll attempt to re-order the successful seed again this fall

Berries ripened over the past few weeks.

I visited the willow cutting project to check on their health and vigor. Most of the trees looked great, however, we’ve begun to see some signs of wilt in a few low lying areas. The trees may die in the wetter locations.

Jesse mowed several of the wheat-filled fields in the lower elevations. The sand hill cranes took notice right away. Turkeys, ducks and geese will soon take advantage of the easier pickings.

Milkweed bloomed.

The milkweed longhorns took notice!

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