Planting and seeding in the prescribed burn area in upland grassland and oak savanna habitat at the Sampson Creek Preserve.

In November Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds (KSNS) took part in a major native planting project for monarch butterfly habitat on the Sampson Creek Preserve outside Ashland, OR, near Emigrant Lake. The Sampson Creek Preserve is managed by the Selberg Institute as a nature preserve that encompasses nearly 4,800 acres of undeveloped grasslands, woodlands and forest. The preserve was a former cattle ranch and long-term cattle grazing has had an impact on the herbaceous native plant community in what is otherwise a stunningly beautiful and highly valuable habitat that borders the Cascade-Siskiyou National Monument. The Selberg Institute is taking steps to combat invasive species and restore the native plant diversity on the preserve.

Planting native plants for monarch butterfly habitat in the riparian area at the Sampson Creek Preserve.

The Sampson Creek Preserve planting is part of a larger project partially funded by a $193,786 grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Monarch Butterfly Conservation Fund. A coalition that included the Selberg Institute, Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Forest Service, BLM, and Lomakatsi Restoration Project secured the grant in order to do restoration work on a wide variety of sites in southwest Oregon, and across a large geographic area. Sites include Forest Service land in Agness, BLM/TNC land on Table Rocks, Forest Service land in Butte Falls, private land in the Colstein Valley and Ashland areas, as well as the Sampson Creek Preserve. This landscape-scale project is likely the largest effort to restore western monarch butterfly habitat in the West.

Planting native milkweed and other native herbaceous plants into the prescribed burn area at the Sampson Creek Preserve.

The overall goal of the project is to restore monarch butterfly habitat on 300 acres in southwest Oregon. The Sampson Creek Preserve portion of the project includes 40 acres of restoration within riparian habitat as well as upland, grassland habitat with an oak savanna component. Twenty acres of the grassland and oak savanna had a prescribed burn in the fall prior to planting and seeding. With help from KSNS, Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates (SOMA) and the Selberg Institute designed and implemented the planting and seeding at the Sampson Creek Preserve.

The planting at the Sampson Creek Preserve included a wide-variety of community partners, organizations, and volunteers: Pollinator Project Rogue Valley, Southern Oregon University students, SOMA, BLM botany interns, KSNS, the Selberg Institute, local monarch and pollinator advocates, and retired BLM and Forest Service staff, all pulled together to make it happen!

Maia Black, Executive Director of the Selberg Institute, mixing and planting seeds collected by Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds in the prescribed burn area.

Custom, site-specific seed mixing of native seeds collected at the Sampson Creek Preserve for seeding into the prescribed burn area.

Over the last two years KSNS has collected seed from various habitat types at Sampson Creek Preserve for growing out nursery stock and direct seeding. We collected seeds from 48 native species in 2017. See the full list here: 2017 SCP Seed Collection List

We took care to collect ethical amounts of seed from various collection locations on the Preserve to ensure the long-term viability of existing native plant populations. We collected, dried, and cleaned the seed, returning the seed to the Selberg Institute for the current monarch butterfly restoration work, and future restoration needs. It is important for local, genetically appropriate, site-specific native plant seed to be used for habitat restoration to ensure genetic diversity and local adaptation. We commend the Selberg Institute for their commitment to using local native plant seeds for their projects.

Over 7,000 native plants were planted for monarch butterfly habitat at the Sampson Creek Preserve, with a good portion of the seed used for the nursery-grown plants collected on-site at the preserve by Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds. The majority of the plants were milkweed for monarch caterpillars, but there was also a large, diverse selection of native nectar plants for adult monarchs planted as well. This work will benefit monarchs, but it will also benefit many other species of pollinator and wildlife at the preserve.

Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum), Tolmie’s cat’s ear (Calochortus tolmiei), Harvest brodiaea (Brodiaea elegans) seed collected at the Sampson Creek Preserve by Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds.

If you are interested in contracting Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds seed collection services for a project, please contact us early, as our summer seed collection season fills up fast!

Give the gift of native wildflowers this holiday season.

Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seed Gift Certificates are now available.

Plant now for springtime seed germination!

To order a gift certificate just send us an email at klamathsiskiyou@gmail.com

After wildfire come wildflowers: A boon for pollinators

BY SUZIE SAVOIE

Published: Winter 2017 Applegater Newspaper

People who hiked the Boundary Trail through the Red Buttes at the headwaters of the Applegate River after the 1987 wildfires reported massive floral displays on the Siskiyou Crest within the burned area. After the 2012 Fort Complex Fire, which also burned in the Red Buttes, I saw for myself the same thing: more wildflowers than anyone had seen in decades—and happy pollinators, too. The diversity and color of wildflowers responding to the Fort Complex Fire was truly staggering. Before the fire, much of the area was covered in dense stands of montane chaparral. The Fort Complex Fire burned in a natural mosaic of high-severity fire in the montane chaparral, burning off large patches and encouraging a lush growth of wildflowers where the chaparral had once been. The wildflowers benefited from the wildfire. After the Fort Complex Fire, wildflowers were blooming at the base of burned-off woody shrubs, responding to the lack of shrubby competition. Typically, before the fire, bluehead gilia (Gilia capitata) was seen only in the occasional rocky bald, but after the fire it carpeted the Boundary Trail in a spectacular display. Indian paintbrush (Castilleja spp.) and Oregon sunshine (Eriophyllum lanatum) bloomed in abundance—some areas were so thick with blooming Oregon sunshine that you could see the golden-yellow hue from miles away. Parish’s nightshade (Solanum parishii) also appeared more abundantly. This species is strongly fire-adapted and often associated with chaparral habitat. Considered relatively rare in Oregon, this species is more abundant in California. Chinese houses (Collinsia spp.) were found in dense masses on thin, rocky soils throughout the fire-affected area; however, it was phacelia (Phacelia spp.) that stole the show. Where stands of montane chaparral were consumed by high-severity fire, the area was transformed into flower fields dominated by phacelia. Over the next couple of years, we are likely to see the same amazing wildflower response within the fire-affected areas of this year’s Miller Complex Fire, which burned throughout the headwaters of the Applegate River as well as in the Red Buttes Wilderness. The majority of the Miller Complex Fire in the Applegate watershed burned at low to moderate severity, but some places, such as Azalea Lake in the Red Buttes Wilderness, did sustain some high-severity fire effects in the fire-adapted lodgepole pine forest. The trail into Azalea Lake will surely be a carpet of wildflowers within a couple of years, and it will be a boon for our native pollinators, creating colorful pollinator habitat out of the ashes. Wildfires are a natural and necessary part of the ecosystem in the Siskiyou Mountains. Because the flora is fire-adapted—having evolved with natural lightning-caused wildfire and indigenous burning over millennia—many species of wildflowers respond positively to wildfires and often produce larger plants and more abundant flowers. Wildfires can rejuvenate the landscape. Many plant species need the heat of fire to reproduce or their populations will dwindle. For example, knobcone pinecones can remain closed for 80 to 100 years without fire, and rare Baker’s cypress seeds are also released from their cones from the heat of wildfire. Intense heat can break down seed coats and clear away competing vegetation, allowing wildflower seeds to germinate and the plants to thrive and grow. Recent studies have shown that chemicals from charred wood in the soil following wildfire also stimulate seed germination and plant growth. The seeds of many wildflower species can lie dormant in the soil for decades and then germinate by the millions following wildfire. The plants may have been there long ago, but the area has since turned into chaparral or forest; after a fire the seeds finally have the right opportunity to germinate. Wildfires enhance the world-class biodiversity in the Siskiyou Mountains. The massive floral displays following wildfires are not only beautiful but are also bountiful feasts for hungry pollinators reliant on nectar and pollen from wildflowers for food. Wildfires can increase the available food for native bees, butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, and other pollinators. I look forward to continuing my exploration of the fire-affected areas in the Miller Complex Fire over the next couple of years. The flowers are going to be bee-eautiful! Suzie Savoie, Conservation Chair, Siskiyou Chapter Native Plant Society of Oregon  

An abundance of wildflower species growing along the Boundary Trail in the Red Buttes following the 2012 Goff Fire, part of the Fort Complex Fire.