For this year’s Intermountain Botanical Foray we headed to Ephraim Canyon and the Wasatch Plateau in July to explore a range of ecosystems up to 11,000 ft – it was a blast!
We stayed at the Great Basin Station, where some of the first watershed research in the world was conducted. Highlights include diverse wildflower meadows, snowmelt communities, and calcareous mountaintop specialists. Thank you to everyone who participated, and especially to Allan and Richard Stevens for their knowledge of the local ecosystems and Station history. We are also grateful for the support of the Utah Native Plant Society and the National Science Foundation.
Here are some botanical highlights:
[Townsendia montana, an adorable acaulescent species.]
[Triglochin palustris – almost overlooked, but luckily an Erythranthe drew our attention to the stream bank!]
[Silene petersonii]
[A surprise Botrychium, perhaps Botrychium tunux!]
Three days wasn’t anywhere near enough time to see everything, but we tried! Check out our iNaturalist project here.
