Author: ksseeds-admin

By Mark Freeman Medford Mail Tribune February 11. 2016 Monarch butterflies tagged last year in Southern Oregon found in California A monarch butterfly tagged last year in Medford, known as monarch A2045, is shown Feb. 3 in Bolinas, California. Courtesy photo Robert Coffan stood next to a patch of milkweed at Coyote Trails Nature Center in Medford last September feeling a little choked up about all that had transpired to bring him and monarch butterfly No. A2045 to this point. The milkweed where Coffan found two caterpillars three weeks earlier had just been planted earlier that year, and it lured a female monarch that produced those caterpillars, which Coffan and his wife, Simone, raised at home until they became butterflies. Now, this royal monarch sporting a little white tag with its official number on it — A2045 — was about to go to work, flying away toward a winter colony in who-knows-where. “It was kind of touchy-feely,” Coffan says. “All of these things came together, and it was me that had it for release.” For monarch A2045, who-knows-where turned out to be Bolinas, Calif., in Marin County just north of San Francisco. That’s where he and his distinctive tag were spotted not once but twice this winter, providing an important cog in a new citizen-science experiment that is trying to shed light on when and where Pacific Northwest monarchs migrate during their fascinating life cycle. “When I heard it was discovered, instead of feeling all emotional, I was proud,” says Coffan, a member of Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates. “When you think he made it 312 miles, and that sticker I put on him was still on.” Coffan’s monarch was one of eight released last fall in Southern Oregon that turned up this winter in California roost trees, providing the lion’s share of raw data collected this year on monarch migration by Washington State University professor David James. The Southern Oregon monarchs were among 20 tagged butterflies that were identified in winter roosts this year, and were among 40 tagged monarchs identified after release since James began the study in 2012. “Having eight recaptures is extremely high,” James says. “It’s remarkable. This year’s been an extremely productive year for citizen-scientists in Southern Oregon.” While eastern monarchs are famous for their long migrations, much less is known about Pacific Northwest monarchs, whose populations, locations and life cycles are tied to milkweed. Adult females lay their eggs in milkweed, and the ensuing caterpillars dine solely on milkweed before forming a chrysalis, from which they emerge as the royal-looking orange- and black-winged butterfly. Monarchs produce four generations annually, each one making a portion of the migration between Washington and Idaho through Oregon and down to California and even Mexico. At least, that’s the conventional wisdom, James says. “Up until now, it’s all been theory and assumptions,” James says. “It’s all anecdotal.” James launched his unfunded study in 2012, relying on monarch fans and Washington State Penitentiary inmates in Walla Walla, Wash., to tend milkweed plots and rear the monarchs to adulthood. James supplies the small, white, adhesive stickers that sport a specific number and a website address that volunteers put on a wing before release. “Butterflies are not as fragile as people think,” he says. “You just hold the butterfly and stick it on.” Buoyed largely by the inmate butterflies, James’ group tagged and released 2,000 monarchs in 2012, 1,000 in 2013 and 2,000 in 2014. Wintering monarchs are viewed regularly throughout California. Those who spy them, catch them or look at them through a camera lens can see the bright stickers, record the data and report when and where they are “recaptured.” Since 2001, Linda Kappen has been growing milkweed for monarchs at the Applegate School, where she is an education assistant. She long wanted to get into monarch tagging and hooked up with James in 2014. She now leads a cadre of monarch-taggers who sent 966 of almost 3,000 tagged monarchs that flew into the skies of the Pacific Northwest in 2015. Of the eight recaptures, one included a monarch tagged at Applegate School that ended up at a middle school in Boonville, Calif., 227 miles away, records show. Coffan’s A2045 was seen in Bolinas on New Year’s Day and again last week. “Without Linda Kappen and those volunteers down there, all this recovery wouldn’t have happened,” James says. James is starting to get enough data to draw some patterns, and the research likely will prove most of what scientists have assumed about monarch migration into and out of the Pacific Northwest. “It’s great to get the definitive evidence,” he says. Coffan and the rest of the Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates are more than willing to help, one patch of milkweed and one monarch sticker at a time. “We’re just completely amazed that what we’re doing here is making a stir and making a difference,” Coffan says. “We’re affecting things. It’s amazing.” Reach Mail Tribune reporter Mark Freeman at 541-776-4470 or mfreeman@mailtribune.com. Follow him on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MTwriterFreeman. Where are they now?Out of 966 monarch butterflies tagged and released last fall in Southern Oregon, eight have been identified on their wintering grounds in California. Following is a list of the butterflies, where they were released, where they were located and the distance they traveled. The data was compiled by David James, a Washington State University entomology professor, who is conducting a monarch migration study.1. Released Sept. 9 in Medford. Found Oct. 28 in Cayucos, Calif. (498 miles)2. Released Aug. 19 in Talent. Found Nov. 28 in Bolinas, Calif. (302 miles)3. Released Sept. 26 in Medford. Found Jan. 1 in Bolinas, Calif. (312 miles)4. Released Oct. 4 in Talent. Jan. 1 in Bolinas, Calif. (302 miles)5. Released Oct. 5 in Applegate. Found Oct. 23 in Boonville, Calif. (227 miles)*6. Released Aug. 19 in Applegate. Found in Santa Cruz, Calif. (375 miles)*7. Released Aug. 19 in Applegate. Found in Santa Cruz, Calif. (375 miles)*8. Released Sept. 17 in Applegate. Found in Pismo Beach, Calif. (535 miles)*Discovery date unavailable  

In 2014 the White House released the Presidential Memorandum-Creating a Federal Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and Other Pollinators, which directed the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Interior — who, in turn, direct the United States Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Managment (BLM) — to issue a much-needed document, Pollinator-Friendly Best Management Practices for Federal Lands. According to the Forest Service, “This document will guide federal land managers to effectively and efficiently use available resources and engage public and private partnerships in taking action for the conservation and management of pollinators and pollinator habitat on federal lands.” In other words, pollinator health and conservation are now considered a high priority for federal land managers.

The meadows pictured above are examples of healthy meadow ecosystems full of flowering native plants that are excellent habitat for native pollinators.

This is good news for pollinators in the Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion, where public land surrounds our valleys, canyons, communities, and homes. Those of us who are intimately tied to this landscape and appreciate the “pollination services” that our native bees, butterflies, hummingbirds, beetles, moths, and other insects provide, could see some critical improvements in land management to improve pollinator health. With the recent occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge, public lands grazing has been more widely discussed, and for good reason. Public lands grazing can have damaging impacts to native plant communities, in turn, negatively impacting pollinator populations as well. When wildflowers are eaten down by grazing livestock, or mountain meadows are trampled by stationary cows, pollinator food and habitat is diminished.

Public lands grazing is highly subsidized, and the current fees for 2016 have only increased slightly. The price is calculated through a formula based on per animal unit month (AUM). The BLM gives the definition of an AUM as “the amount of forage needed to sustain one cow and her calf, one horse, or five sheep or goats for a month. In 2012 the price was $1.35 per month; in 2015 the price was $1.69, and in 2016 the price will now be $2.11 per month. The grazing fees charged on public land are substantially lower than those charged on private land, but the real price of public lands grazing should also include the associated impacts to native plants and pollinators.   Many nature lovers, ecologists, scientists, and environmentalists have worked for years to reform the public lands grazing system. The Klamath-Siskiyou Ecoregion is lucky to have Felice Pace, a longtime public lands advocate, directing the Project to Reform Public Lands Grazing in Northern California. This on-the-ground monitoring of 14 different grazing allotments in the Klamath-Siskiyou has pushed for reform to protect high mountain meadows, the willow flycatcher, clean water, elk habitat, intact streams and springs, and now pollinators! With the Pollinator-Friendly Best Management Practices (BMPs) public lands grazing should now undergo a more thorough analysis to protect pollinator habitat. The Pollinator-Friendly Best Management Practices for Federal Land now give the following specific recommendations for livestock grazing:

Now is a great time to plant native seeds! Each native plant species has its own specific germination requirements, but many native seeds require a cold/moist stratification period to break the natural dormancy of the seed and trigger germination in the spring. If the seed you are looking for requires cold/moist stratification, then fall through early winter is the best time to plant.

UPDATED INVENTORY: Check out our current inventory! We offer over 100 species of regionally-adapted native trees, shrubs, and perennial plants from around the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion, with an emphasis on small seed lots, a large diversity of species, and flowering herbaceous plants for pollinator habitat and conservation. Our seeds can be used in a variety of applications, including native plant gardens, habitat restoration, pollinator gardens, rain gardens, drought tolerant gardens, or wildlife plantings. A pdf of our current inventory is now available. The inventory list includes botanical and common names, photos, price per individual seed packet, and information about whether or not we have larger quantities available. Inventory quantity varies according to species. We typically harvest less than a pound of any given species of seed, unless contracted to collect large seed lots. Packets containing small seeds contain about 1 gram of seed (approximately a tablespoon of seed), but packets with larger seeds are generally 2-3 grams of seed, depending on the size of the seed. Custom seed packets with a specific seed quantity are available upon request . Download inventory by clicking here.

ECOTYPE INFORMATION: Using well-adapted, regionally and ecologically appropriate seed is a key component of a successful habitat restoration project. Information regarding, origin, ecotype or elevational zone of our seed is available upon request.

HOW TO PLACE AN ORDER: Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds is a small business, run on the side of many various projects and work commitments. We are small, and still run off the old fashioned honor system. Someday we may have an updated website with a shopping cart, lots of information, and the ability to accept credit cards, but for now it works this way: Contact us at klamathsiskiyou@gmail.com or 541.890.1483 with a seed request. If you know the species and quantity you are looking for that makes things easy. If not, we can make recommendations for your site/project and we will verify seed quantity availability and get back to you. When you settle on your order, we will give you an invoice preview via email for your approval. Once approved, we will send you the seeds in the mail and you can send a check made out to Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds.

        SHIPPING: Shipping is generally 50 cents per packet of seeds, but may vary depending on the bulkiness or shape of larger seed, or the size of the order. Shipping cost will be included on your invoice preview prior to approval and shipping. Good luck with your native plant garden, pollinator garden, or habitat restoration project! Thanks, and Happy Planting! -Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds

        POST UPDATE: There has been a great response from the original post! Many people have contacted me with their monarch experiences. The following nine new photos have been submitted! Thanks for sharing your photos everyone!

 

                 

    Back to the original post: Information on the specific species of native plants that the western population of monarch butterflies uses for nectar is not well known. There are individual observations, photos, and generalized butterfly plant lists, but so far there isn’t a compilation of specific information on the use of monarch nectar plants. The Xerces Society is working on compiling a list of observed/documented monarch nectar plants for fourteen regions throughout the continental U.S. At the moment, Xeces says their most complete lists are for the eastern part of the country, but they have now started reaching out to folks on the west coast to get similar data for the western monarch population. Due to the current dearth in information, Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds has made an initial attempt at compiling observed/documented monarch nectar plants native to the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion of southern Oregon and northern California. This effort has been created through personal observation, observations by folks involved with Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates, extensive research to find photos, and correspondence with the Xerces Society, naturalists, botanists, native plant gardeners and fellow monarch enthusiasts.

All plant species included in this blog post are native to the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion. Many observations of monarchs using these plants have occurred outside the region, but it is a safe assumption, that if a monarch uses these species in a different part of the Western U.S., that it will also use the same species in the Klamath-Siskiyou as well. For this reason, we are including observations from outside this region as long as the plant is native here. Please let Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates (SOMA)  know if you have observed an adult monarch butterfly using a native plant as a nectar source. Help us expand this list and expand our understanding of the monarch’s habitat. Email me at klamathsiskiyou@gmail.com, or Tom Landis from SOMA, at tdlandis@aol.com, to give us your observations. We are compiling this list to help citizen science inform land managers regarding the conservation and restoration of monarch nectar sources. The list will also be used by backyard gardeners, schools, parks and other community groups to identify the best species to use for monarch butterfly plantings and “waystations.” Together we can help advocate for ecologically appropriate plantings with the most useful and beneficial native plants for monarch butterfly habitat restoration and waystations. If you have a photo of a monarch nectaring on a native plant, please share, as that is the best way to document use. Check out the recent radio interview with folks from Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates (SOMA) on the Jefferson Exchange. Suzie, from Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds took part in the interview, along with Tom Landis from SOMA, and Linda Kappen from the Applegate School monarch project .  Listen to the interview here.

Below are  photos taken by Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds. These plants are all native to this bioregion, and have all been observed as monarch nectar plants, but unfortunately, we just don’t have a monarch in all the photos…yet! Observations of monarchs using the native plant species below are included in the photo captions. Oregon false goldenaster (Heterotheca oregona) was observed by Kristi Mergenthaler as a monarch nectar plant, but I don’t have a photo to share for this observation. Milkweeds are shown at the end. It appears to me, that even when a monarch is presented with multiple choices for nectar plants, if there is milkweed growing in the area, it prefers to nectar on the milkweed. Milkweed is not only the exclusive larval host plant for the monarch, it is also a preferred nectar plant for the adult butterfly.

It may be an old-timer, but this Clipper seed cleaner still does the job. Leather straps, wood, and metal is all this antique electric seed cleaning machine is made of. Modern materials augment some missing parts, but the authentic feel remains. Clipper seed and grain cleaners have been manufactured by the A.T. Ferrell Company, Inc. since 1869. The one that I’m using to clean native seeds from the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion (pictured above), is thought to be from the 1920s.

The Clipper seed cleaner has many different wooden-framed screens to clean various sizes and shapes of seed. The machine oscillates the screens and a fan blows the chaff to separate it from the seed. Many native seeds can be cleaned using the Clipper, but some still need to be cleaned the real old-fashioned way: by hand.

October is the month to finish cleaning, processing and packaging seed from this year’s harvest. The Clipper will be running steadily, helping clean native seeds to be used for habitat restoration, pollinator gardens and native plant landscaping this fall and winter. Please stay tuned for our final inventory list which will be posted soon.

Right now the native seed harvest is going strong as many species ripen and the summer fades into fall. Fall is a wonderful time of year to get out for a seed collecting backpacking trip — the mosquitoes are gone and the crowds have died down for the season. Fall colors have already begun to show a little here and there, especially the soft pink of dogwood. Colorful berries are cheerfully ripening on trees, shrubs and herbaceous plants. Some species have produced prolific crops this year, despite the drought, while others are holding back their bounty for another year. As a seed collector, the hard part is beating the birds to the berries!

Just this past week I was picking seeds in the high country of the Siskiyou Mountains in snow flurries for about twenty minutes! This week it’s supposed to be in the nineties in the valleys. Such swings in the weather are typical for the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion in the fall, and it helps the seeds ripen up fast.

As the seed picking season begins to wind down in late fall we will have a complete inventory list. For now we are prioritizing seed picking excursions and cleaning the seed when we have some spare time. Contact us if you have something in particular that you are looking for. Enjoy the last warm days of summer! And the beauty of our wonderful late season flowers, some examples of which are seen below.

Long before valley-bottom fields, grasslands and open areas in the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion were covered in non-native and invasive star thistle (Centaurea solstitialis) or dyer’s woad (Isatis tinctoria), some were covered with the dainty, yellow, daisy-like flowers of the native common tarweed (Madia elegans). Tarweed is an annual wildflower in the sunflower family. In the Klamath-Siskiyou it occurs in grasslands and open forest, typically at mid to low elevation. It flowers in summer and early autumn, from northern Oregon through the California Floristic Province and Great Basin Province south to Baja California. The flowers curl up during the daytime, opening late in the day and remaining open until the middle of the next morning. (An explanation of why can be read in this SF Gate article.) The foliage exudes fragrant oil, and the plants are sticky, hence the common name tarweed. It is an often-overlooked native plant that deserves more respect and attention. The seeds of tarweed are eaten by many birds and small mammals, such as mourning doves, quail, blackbirds, finches, Oregon juncos, California horned larks, western meadowlarks, American pipits, sparrows, towhees, mice, ground squirrels and chipmunks. Being a late bloomer, tarweed is an important late nectar source for butterflies, bees and other beneficial insects.

Once, while picking tarweed seed, I discovered that there was a particular green caterpillar found in abundance in the large tarweed patch. After research I learned that the owlet moth (Heliothodes diminutiva) uses tarweed as it’s host plant, eating the reproductive organs (i.e flowers) of the plant as it grows, sometimes sterilizing the plant entirely. Tarweed seeds were also historically used as food by the local indiginous people; documented use of tarweed is known for the Hupa, Takelma, and Shasta tribes. Examples of how tarweed seeds were historically used include:

• Seeds parched and pounded into flour.
• Seeds roasted with hot coals, pounded or rolled into flour.
• Pulverized seeds eaten as a dry meal.
• Seeds used to make pinoles, where seeds were roasted and eaten alone or mixed with manzanita berries, acorns and pine nuts.
• Ground tarweed seeds mixed with ground hazelnuts and camas.

Many people are familiar with the use of camas and acorns as indigenous food sources; however, small seed crops, such as wild grass and tarweed, were also vitally important to the indigenous diet. The Klamath-Siskiyou tribes developed extensive land management practices to enhance all wild crops they relied upon. Techniques such as burning, pruning, tilling, weeding, and selective harvesting were most likely used. Additionally, the act of harvesting itself helped spread seeds for subsequent crops.

In 1841, Titian Ramsay Peale of the Wilkes Expedition, traveling through what is now Ashland, OR, wrote in his journal, “Indian signs were numerous, though we saw but one, a squaw who was so busy setting fire to the prairie and mountain ravines that she seemed to disregard us….She had a large funnel shaped basket which they all [women] carry to collect roots and seeds in.” It is assumed that this woman probably was burning to obtain tarweed or grass seeds, or at least to enhance their future growing conditions. George Riddle, who settled in southern Oregon in 1851, described in his book, History of early days in Oregon, tarweed gathering among the Takelma-speaking Cow Creek Indians along the South Umpqua River: “During the summer months the squaws gather various kinds of seeds of which the tar weed was the most prized…. When the seeds were ripe the country was burned off. This left the plant standing with the tar burned off and the seeds left in the pods. Immediately after the fire there would be an army of squaws armed with an implement made of twigs shaped like a tennis racket with their basket swung in front they would beat the seeds from the pods into the basket. This seed gathering would only last a few days and every squaw in the tribe seemed to be doing her level best to make all the noise she could, beating her racket against the top of her basket. All seeds were ground into meal with a mortar and pestle.”

Consider encouraging this wildflower if it already exists on your property or in your area, or plant some seeds for the future. As an annual it is really easy to grow from seed and self sows in open soil! The historical and ecological value of tarweed could enhance your own land or local ecosystem. Tarweed would be ideal for gardeners or restoration practitioners attempting to mimic a native prairie and/or grassland landscape. Tarweed seed is best planted in late winter to allow for a deep root system to develop before summer; however, in a garden setting infrequent summer watering will be tolerated by this species .  

Provided below is a list of Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds currently in and available for 2015-2016. This list is just a few of the species that ripen early, but there will be many more to come! All seed stock from 2014-2015 will now be discounted to $3 per packet in order to make way for this season’s harvest. Please contact me for discounted seed availability at klamathsiskiyou@gmail.com. Enjoy the summer, but look forward to fall seed planting! -Klamath-Siskiyou Native Seeds Seed Availability: Please contact us and let us know what species and quantity you are interested in. Pearly everlasting – Anaphalis margaritacea

Woodland madia – Anisocarpus madioides

Deltoid balsamroot – Balsamhoriza deltoidea

Tolmie’s cat’s ear – Calochortus tolmiei

Large Camas – Camassia leichtlinii

Common camas – Camassia quamash

Western thistle – Cirsium occidentale

Hound’s tongue – Cynoglossum grande

Umbrella plant – Darmera peltata

Shooting star – Dodecatheon hendersonii

Oregon sunshine – Eriophyllum lanatum

Henderson’s fawn lily – Erythronium hendersonii

Wild hybrid fawn lily – Eyrthronium citrinum x hendersonii

California poppy – Eschscholzia californica

Fern leaved lomatium – Lomatium dissectum

California lomatium – Lomatium californicum

Large fruited lomatium – Lomatium macrocarpum

Silver lupine – Lupinus albifrons

Bicolored annual lupine – Lupinus bicolor

Indian warrior – Pedicularis densiflora

Western buttercup – Ranunculus occidentalis

Golden current – Ribes aureum

Henderson’s triteleia – Triteleia hendersonii

Monarch butterflies have been making their way through the Klamath-Siskiyou for over a month now. They have made their way from their overwintering grounds on the southern California coast along their ancient migratory path. On April 18, 2015 I saw the heartleaf milkweeed, or Asclepias cordifolia (ASCO), in full bloom in the Kangaroo Roadless Area, south of the Red Buttes Wilderness, and just above the Klamath River. With this first sight of the season of blooming milkweed I knew that the monarchs would soon be on their way. I was not sure, however, if monarchs use ASCO within the Klamath-Siskiyou range, as I hadn’t come across any literature to show it does (that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist, I just hadn’t seen any). I had a mission: find and document proof that monarchs use ASCO plants in the Klamath-Siskiyou bioregion. ASCO populations tend to be more scattered and remote than the more familiar showy milkweed (Asclepias speciosa) and narrowleaf milkweed (Asclepias fascicularis) that are common in the lower elevations and valley bottoms of northern California and southern Oregon.

Just a week later, on April 29, 2015 I observed the first monarch eggs laid on a showy milkweed patch in my garden. The monarch chose to lay her eggs on the less mature and smaller plants within my milkweed patch. As the eggs hatched I have brought the tiny caterpillars into a rearing cage to allow them a safe place to develop. Once they emerge from their chrysalis as a butterfly they will be tagged for monitoring purposes and released back to their wild migration. Currently I have 18 caterpillars in the rearing cage. They eat milkweed endlessly and need to have the cage cleaned of their “frass” a couple times a day. They are so much fun to watch and observe. I have given 12 caterpillars to two other monarch advocates associated with the group Southern Oregon Monarch Advocates, who are helping make sure the vulnerable caterpillars have a secure place to mature. I needed the help, as raising caterpillars is no easy task. Out of the 104 eggs initially laid there have been 30 caterpillars to make it. Predation is a very serious issue for monarchs, with wasps being a very big threat—well, besides human threats, but that’s another story. To see more you can watch my Youtube video of the caterpillars moving around on milkweed plants within the rearing cage.

On May 15, 2015 I visited the Kalmiopsis Wilderness where I observed another patch of flowering ASCO. This patch was quite extensive, but it was also isolated; I didn’t observe any ASCO anywhere else on an overnight backpacking trip in the area. I searched the ASCO up and down for any signs of eggs or caterpillars and didn’t find any. Because I knew that monarchs had already started to lay eggs I was disappointed not to see use of this big ASCO patch.

The Upper Applegate Valley of southern Oregon also has some isolated plants of ASCO. I was able to visit a couple of these plants and they too were devoid of any monarch activity. At this point I was starting to doubt that monarchs use ASCO plants. On June 4, 2015 I finally found what I had suspected: monarchs do use Asclepias cordifolia in the Klamath-Siskiyou area! I was able to document through photo and video monarchs ovipositing on ASCO in the Dakubetede roadless area in the Little Applegate Valley of southern Oregon, an area that the BLM has identified as “an area with wildland characteristics.” I knew of a population of ASCO located on and near a rock outcrop on a south-facing spur ridge. The rock outcrop is surrounded by sloping grassland with oak woodland and mixed conifer forest nearby. Check out the Youtube video I made about this experience by following the link below. Youtube video: Monarch butterflies use heartleaf milkweed (Asclepias cordifolia) in the Klamath Siskiyou

When I posted my Youtube video I noticed that someone else had just posted a video showing that monarchs use ASCO in the Sierras, near Emigrant Gap. That video was posted on May 31st, 2015 and can be viewed here. My hunch was right: Monarchs use ASCO plants as they migrate through the mountains, in between stops at milkweed patches in the valley bottoms. This milkweed species that is adapted to a more rocky, exposed and mountainous habitat sustains the monarch through the mid- to high-elevations along its ancient migratory path. Plant milkweed in your garden or yard for monarch butterfly recovery. Wild patches have become more rare and should be protected!