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  Rare Care is working with the National Park Service to conserve rarealpine plants that may be vulnerable to extirpation due to global climatechange. Under this project, Rare Care is collecting seeds from popula-

tions of rare and endemic plants on national parks for long term storage inthe Miller Seed Vault. By banking seeds of wild plant populations now,

the NPS is safeguarding against the loss of the genetic diversity repre-sented in the populations today and at the same time collecting the ge-

netic material needed for restoring populations of these species once theimpacts of global climate change are better understood.

Over a two year period, Rare Care will collect seeds from rare plants inOlympic National Park, Mt Rainier National Park, and North Cascades Na-tional Park. In 2007, successful collections were made of Cotton’s milkvetch( Astragalus cottonii ) from Olympic National Park, green keeled cotton-grass(Eriophorum viridicarinatum ) from North Cascades National Park, and Mt.Rainier lousewort (Pedicularis rainierensis ) and obscure Indian paintbrush(Castilleja cryptantha ) from Mt. Rainier National Park. Additional collectionswill be made in the 2008 season.

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Washington Rare Plant Care & Conservation ♦ University of Washington Botanic Gardens

3501 NE 41st Street, Box 354115, Seattle, WA 98195-4115 USA ♦ 206 616-0780

http://depts.washington.edu/rarecare  ♦  rarecare@u.washington.ed

Rare Care staff and volunteers gath-ered at the Yakima Canyon for the firstever group monitoring weekend in June.The focus for the weekend was a rare en-demic plant called the basalt daisy(Erigeron basalticus ). This cliff-dwellingplant occurs only in a 20-square-mile areaalong the Yakima River and a couple of its tributaries. It grows in crevices onbasalt cliffs where few other plants occur.

Because of its narrow distribution, smallnumber and size of populations, and veryspecific habitat requirements, this daisy isa candidate species for listing under theEndangered Species Act.

Goals for the monitoring weekendwere twofold. First, we wanted to censusall known populations of the basalt daisy

because the US Fish and WildlifeService needed updated population

data for its status review. The lasttime basalt daisy populations were in-

ventoried was in 2000. Second, we

wanted to provide an opportu-nity for volunteers from acrossthe state to meet one another,and an opportunity for newer

volunteers to gain experience by workingwith long-time Rare Care volunteers.

The basalt daisy was an ideal focalspecies for a group monitoring weekend.Because it grows on cliffs, there was nothreat of plants being trampled by a smallgroup of surveyors. Also, its narrow geo-graphic range meant that it was logisti-cally feasible to visit all known popula-tions in a single weekend. There are 10

known populations ranging in size fromfewer than 50 to 6,000 individuals. Twoof these populations were first reported tothe Natural Heritage Program after the2000 census; thus, no population dataexisted for them prior to our survey.

Estimating the size of the basalt daisypopulations proved to be challenging.Many of the cliffs where it grows couldonly be viewed from a distance; therefore,surveys were completed using opticalequipment. But estimating the populationsize using binoculars was difficult. For

instance, the surveyor typically could notget close to the plant to make sure it wasin fact a basalt daisy and not some other

(continued on page 2

Rare Care takes an in-depth look at the basalt daisy

Rare Care staff

Sarah Reichard, Ph.D.,

Director

Wendy Gibble,

Program Manager

Ellen Kuhlmann,

Seeds of Success

Project Manager

Jennifer Youngman,

Program Assistant

Science Advisory Board

Peter Dunwiddie, Ph.D.

John Gamon

Russell Holmes

Art Kruckeberg, Ph.D.

Regina Rochefort, Ph.D.

Ted Thomas

(continued on page 4)

Fall/Winter

2007

Vol II No 2

College of Forest Resources

Erigeron basalticus

Ex situ conservation responds to global climate change

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View the photographs in this newsletter in color at http://courses.washington.edu/rarecare/Links.htm. 

Rare Care counts all known daisy populations in one weekend

FEATUREATUREATURE PPPLANTANTANT:How do you distinguishErigeron basalticus?

Although there are nearly200 species of Erigeron world-wide, there are only two otherspecies in Washington thathave lobed leaves like Erigeron basalticus , making this a rela-tively easy daisy to identify.Both E. compositus and E. salishii  have tri-lobed leaves like E.basalticus ; however, neither spe-cies occurs in E. basalticus habi-tat. E. basalticus also differsfrom these two species in thatthe flowers are born on leafystems, whereas most leaves of E. compositus and E. salishii arebasal and the flowers are bornon naked stems or stems with afew, reduced leaves.

white-flowered, mat-forming plant, suchas roundleaf alumroot (Heuchera cylin- drica ), which also grow on the cliffs.Also, it was difficult to keep track of which plants have already been countedas a surveyor scanned a cliff with bin-oculars. This was particularly true atsites with large populations.

Rare Care volunteers were up fortackling these challenges. On the firstday, they convened at one of the moreaccessible sites to study the plantthrough binoculars and spotting scopes.Surveyors had an opportunity to studythe plant up close at the base of a cliff.

They also practiced using a samplingtechnique to estimate the population sizefor sites that had too many plants tocount individually. This technique in-volved counting a subset of the plants ina given number of binocular views, andthen averaging the count over the areaof the cliff where the plants occurred.

Rare Care staff and 13 volunteersvisited 10 sites in 2 days, using foot, carand boat to complete the surveys. Inaddition to estimating population size,they recorded information on the daisy’shabitat characteristics, plant speciesgrowing with them, invasive plantscompeting with the daisies, and growthstages the plants were in (phenology). 

Data collected during the weekendsuggest that the basalt daisy populationsizes were generally comparable orgreater to previous estimates. Five sitescontained between 1,800 and 5,000 indi-viduals; two of these sites had more than

twice the number previously estimated.Two sites held less than 30 individuals,which represented a decline since the2000 survey. Both of these populationshave shown large fluctuations in sizeover the 19 years for which data areavailable. Finally, at the two new sites,Rare Care documented population sizesof 166 and 325 individuals.

An intensive survey effort such asthis provides a detailed picture of thestatus of the daisy’s populations at onemoment in time. What about the futurehealth of these populations? Rare Care’ssurveys did not reveal obvious evidenceof imminent threat to the basalt daisy.

Because this plant grows on cliffs, it isnot vulnerable to ground disturbancessuch as grazing or recreational use. Fewplants can survive the stressful condi-tions of its habitat, so competition byinvasive species does not appear to be amajor threat. Finally, there appears to bevery little development occurring adja-cent to the cliffs, and many of the sitesare located on state or federal lands. Fu-ture development could potentially be athreat if herbicides are applied to landwhere groundwater sources originate, orif irrigation works are built that affectthe amount of groundwater seeping intothe ground and through the cliffs.

All of these factors will be consid-ered as the US Fish and Wildlife Serviceevaluates whether to list this plant un-der the Endangered Species Act. A Can-didate Notice of Review currently beingdrafted by the USFWS Wenatchee officeis expected in the near future.

(continued from page 1)

Top left, Rare Care volunteer Phelps

Freeborn uses a spotting scope to

count E. basalticus (photo by Jenni-

fer Youngman); Right, close-up of 

E. basalticus by Richard Ramsden;

Bottom, E. basalticus grows on cliff 

faces such as this one (photo by

Lee Ellis). 

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Seeds of Success updateSee a world in the smallest of seeds, and heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hand,and eternity in an hour.  –William Blake (paraphrase by Ellen Kuhlmann)

RARE

PLANTFall/Winter

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Vol II No 2R

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CALENDARLENDARLENDAR 

OngoingSeed cleaning in the Miller

Seed Vault, Seattle

Tuesdays, Feb. 26 - April 1,plus Saturday, April 12, 2008Plant Identification course with

field trip to Deception Pass, UW

Botanic Gardens

Sat., March 1, 2008Rare Plant Monitoring Training,

Seattle

Sat., March 29, 2008Navigation Training for Rare

Care volunteers, Seattle

Sat., April 5, 2008Rare Plant Monitoring Training,

Wenatchee

Sun., April 6, 2008Rare Plant Seed Collecting 

Training, Wenatchee

Sat., May 17, 2008Rare Seed Collecting Training,

Seattle

Seeds of Success, the US arm of theKew Millenium Seedbank Project, hasbeen moving full steam ahead this year(for background on this program, see ar-

ticle in Washington Native Plant Soci-ety’s Douglasia, Winter 2007, vol. 31#1). Rare Care was fortunate to haveEllen Kuhlmann lead this project againthis year. Collections in 2007 rangedfrom seeds so small they resemble fleafeces (that of alumroot, Heuchera micran- tha ) to relatively large seeds such as thoseof bracted lousewort (Pedicularis brac- teosa ). Volunteer Marie Hitchman re-marked that she had never in twentyyears of botanizing looked closely at the

flowers or fruits of devil’s club(Oplopanax horridus ) until she participatedin the seed collection for this species. Sheenjoyed the challenge of figuring out howto gather seed without being stuck by theplant’s prickles, and found the red berriesto be quite beautiful.

The devil’s club collection was justone of seven collections made for the Mil-lenium Seedbank Project. An additionalfour collections were made for the USSeed Extractory in Bend, Oregon for usein restoration projects on federal lands.

The collections included several fromthe south Puget Sound prairies, where

favorable spring conditions results in abumper crop of seeds. Rare Care collectedseeds of crown brodiaea (Brodiaea coro- naria ) and western buttercup (Ranunculus 

occidentalis ) for the Millenium Seed Bank

and seeds of the composite cutleaf silver-puffs (Microseris laciniata ) for the BendSeed Extractory.

The Seeds of Success team is proudto be contributing local seed to thisworldwide project, and looks forward toanother collection season in 2008. If youwould like to volunteer for the Seeds of Success project in 2008, contact RareCare at rarecare@u.washington.edu.

Rare Care is recruitingWho do you know that

might make a good rare plantmonitor? Transportation andplant ID skills are necessary.Applications are now beingaccepted for 2008. They’re

online at http://depts.washington.edu/rarecare/RarePlantMonitoring.htm.

No need to wait until2008 to help with seed clean-ing and germination testing,though! Help us prepare thisyear’s collections for storagein the Miller Seed Vault. Formore information, contactRare Care at 206-616-0780 orrarecare@u.washington.edu.

Devil’s club seed heads were spread out todry in the Miller Seed Vault before being sent

 to Millenium Seed Bank in Kew, England.

Rare Care’s sixth annual Celebrating Wildflowers drew new audiences in June. We partnered with

Seattle Art Museum for the first time and presented the event at Olympic Sculpture Park. The program

included some new activities this year, all designed to increase children’s appreciation of the plants

around them. Above left, a young visitor paints with plants, exploring the colors of Oregon grape, West

ern redcedar bark, carrots, berries and beets. Above right, the pollinator game is a perennial favorite.

(All photos this page by Jennifer Youngman.)

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Rare Care is grateful for generous support from the Miller Charitable Foundation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, The Bullitt

Foundation, the Hugh and Jane Ferguson Foundation, The Mountaineers Foundation, private organizations and individual donors.

DEEPEPEP THANKSHANKSHANKS TOOO ALLLLLL WHOHOHO HAVEAVEAVE CONTRIBUTEDONTRIBUTEDONTRIBUTED BETWEENETWEENETWEEN JJJULYLYLY 1, 2006,1, 2006,1, 2006, ANDNDND JJJUNENENE 30, 200730, 200730, 2007 Rare Care is very grateful for the financial support provided by our generous donors. Rare Care relies on grants anddonations to fund all of our program activities. We are also grateful for the support provided by talented and dedicatedcorps of volunteers who gave 3,843 hours of their time.

At this fall’s Volunteer Forums, RareCare recognized David Zamora of We-natchee and Ron Toonen of Seattle fortheir consistently outstanding volunteercontributions over a period of severalyears. This year alone, Ron searched forand/or collected data on Carex epapillosa  in Whatcom County, Montia diffusa inSkagit County, Salix maccalliana in Oka-

nogan County, Howellia aquatilis in Spo-kane County, and Juncus kelloggii andOrobanche californica sp. grayana inKlickitat County. David monitored popu-lations of  Agoseris elata on national forestland, Cryptantha leucophaea on state fishand wildlife land, and Hackelia hispida var. disjuncta on US Bureau of LandManagement property, and he has con-tributed outstanding images to RareCare’s plant photo collection. Both Ronand David are trained seed collectors,and both offered to mentor new volun-teers this year.

During end-of-season forums in threelocations — Seattle, Thorp and Spokane — volunteers were treated to a speciallook at species Rare Care will focus onfor monitoring in 2008. Designating“focus species” is a new approach to im-prove our ability to assess species status.It results from a monitoring analysis(2001-2005) prepared by Program Man-ager Wendy Gibble and presented dur-

ing the forums.Also during the forums, volunteers

broke into small discussion groups toprovide feedback that will help shape theRare Care program and the volunteerexperience in the years to come.

Sky Nursery in Shoreline provided avery generous in-kind gift for RareCare’s volunteer recognition.

RARERERE CCCARERERE FFFORUMRUMRUM:2008 focus species announced, Toonen and Zamora recognized

Narrowly distributed species, including regional endemic plants, may be more im-

pacted by global climate change compared to more widely distributed species. Theyoften have specific environmental and ecological requirements that hinder them fromexpanding their range beyond their optimal habitat. This limitation may not allowthese endemic species to shift their distribution or otherwise adapt to the changingclimatic conditions in the relatively short time frame over which global climatechange is predicted to occur. In addition, sensitive and endemic plant species withsmall population sizes are more at risk of extirpation. Small populations often haverelatively low genetic diversity that hinders these species from successfully adaptingto changing environmental conditions.

(continued from page 1)

Regional endemics may be most at risk

David Zamora (above) and other Rare Care

volunteers joined the Seattle and Tacoma Gar-

den Clubs in October to enhance Sidalcea

oregana var. calva habitat with native plants

(photo by Wendy Gibble).

RARERERE PPPLANTANTANT EEENDOWMENTSDOWMENTSDOWMENTS Seattle Garden Club

Tacoma Garden Club

$1,0001,0001,000 ANDNDND ABOVEBOVEBOVE Jocelyn Horder

Sarah ReichardLily Takatsuka

$500500500 TOOO $999$999$999 Gretchen Hull

Scott and Susan Lipsky

Walter and Patricia Riehl

$100100100 TOOO $499$499$499 Elisabeth Bottler

Barbara Carman

Patricia Danford

Sylvia Duryee

V. Lee Ellis

Leonard Fuller

D. Jean Gillespie

Michelle Margroff and James Ellingboe

Wendy McClure

Mani Soma

Fred Stark

Alan Sugino

George Thornton and Lee Miller

Iris Wagner

Jeffrey Walker

$505050 TOOO $99$99$99 Sue Anderson

Julie Combs

Earl and Tena Doan

Sharon Dunn

Jean EmmonsAnne Goslin

Michael and Jana Hobbs

Patricia Medvick

Ken and Lois Prestrud

Gloria Reading 

David Selk and Teresa O’Connor

Nancy Totton

UP TOOO $49$49$49 Neal Baker

Grant Cummings

Kimberly Frappier

Thomas Guobis

Cleveland Hall

Robert Jackson

Carla Langdon

Elizabeth Lyons

Peggy Miller

Phyllis Pierce

Wendy Wayne

IN-KINDNDND GGGIFTSFTSFTS Molbak’s

Ravenna Gardens

Seasons Nursery & Gifts

Sky Nursery

Smith & Hawken