Lily Spring Area Survey
Grand Prize Winner in Rare Plant Treasure Hunt
The CNPS Rare Plant Treasure Hunt Grand Chapter Prize for 2011 has been awarded to our chapter, primarily for its work with the Lily Spring Area Survey. This means we had the most volunteer hours and the largest number of updated occurrences of rare plants on a chapter basis. The award consists of a $100 gift certificate or credit towards field equipment or other relevant need. We also won this prize last year, 2010, when we used the $100 to purchase a plant press for use in our field work.
Jane Tirrell & Walt Fidler
at Lily Spring
In addition, two participants in the Lily Spring Area Survey, Jane Tirrell and Walter FIdler, received prizes for the most volunteer hours contributed by an individual during 2011. Also, a member of our chapter, Don Davis, took the Grand Prize for team or individual, plus a third place in the photo contest. Congratulations to you all!
Thanks to Jane Tirrell, Walt Fidler, Jane Strong, Tom Chester, and Graham Bothwell for their efforts during 2011. Click here to see the 2010 Treasure Hunt blog article written by Jane Strong.
About the Lily Spring Area Survey
In the study area
This project provides an opportunity for the chapter to become involved in monitoring the population of high-elevation native plant species within the San Gabriel Mountains, and making scientifically useful comparisons with observations made 30 years ago. This is being done by repeating a survey carried out in 1981 by Wayne E. Sawyer in an area around Lily and Little Jimmy Springs. Click the image at the right to see typical views of the study area. For a map of the study area, see the maps page.
Sawyer documented his survey in the Southern California Botanists twice-yearly publication Crossosoma, in a paper titled "A list of high elevation angiosperms and their phenology in the San Gabriel Mountains, Los Angeles County, California," February 1987, 13(1):5-10. To download a copy of his paper, click here (PDF 656 KB). ( “Angiosperms” are flowering plants. “Phenology” is the study of plant flowering times.)
Annoted view
The survey area used by Sawyer is between 7,000 and 8,400 feet elevation, bordered on the south by the Pacific Crest Trail, and in the north by Highway 2, with Little Jimmy and Lily Springs approximately defining the western and eastern extremities respectively. (Click the thumbnail at the right to see an annotated view of much of the study area, albeit a winter scene.) To complete his survey, Sawyer visited the site “at least twice a week between May 2, 1981 and September 11, 1981.” The result is a spreadsheet-like table giving a week-by-week indication of whether flowers were present for approximately 100 species. He spent the spring and summer of the previous year, 1980, getting to know the area, defining the study site, and compiling a list of the plants to be observed.
In our survey, it is not necessary to replicate Sawyer's work precisely. For example, field observations should be adequate on a weekly rather than a twice-weekly basis. We have just a small team of volunteers, making observations adjacent to Highway 2 and also along hiking trails and hillsides. Interestingly, Sawyer's observations along the highway were all in the snowmelt gullies that were the subject of our chapter's field trip in August 2009.
Highway in winter
Field observing began in the spring 2010, largely on the basis of learning about the survey area. The main part of the survey is taking place throughout the blooming season of spring-summer-autumn 2011. Some parts of the survey may extend into 2012. During the winter months the study area is not readily accessible because of snow, and the Angeles Crest Highway is closed until the spring. Click the thumbnail at the right to see the thoroughly snowed-in state of Highway 2 and the drainage gully at Mile Marker 66.82, as it was in early March 2011. Click here to see other winter scenes.
Staff at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden are assisting with respect to scientific guidance, access to information about Sawyer's collection in the herbarium, and the collecting of voucher specimens.
If you would like to participate, or just wish to know more, please contact us. Having the necessary volunteers is the most essential step in ensuring the project is viable.
Our field observations during 2010
1 noteworthy collection: Grey-leaved violet, Viola pinetorum var. grisea, first Los Angeles County/San Gabriel Mountains collection, CNPS list 1B
1 significant range extension: Brewer's monkeyflower, Mimulus breweri, not previously vouchered in Los Angeles County.
14 species not found but listed by Sawyer: Some of these were misidentified; for example, the voucher for Washoe phacelia was checked at Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and proved to be Mohave phacelia. Others are seldom seen, such as pinewoods fritillary and bog orchid although the search for them was diligent.
38 species found but not included in Sawyer’s 1981 survey: Reasons include misidentification of original voucher, e.g., greenleaf manzanita as Parry's manzanita; fire following annuals increased after the Curve Fire of 2002, e.g., red-rayed hulsea, poodle-dog bush, and coyote tobacco; and wind-pollinated plants were not part of the original study, e.g., Fremont goosefoot, wild tarragon, and mountain big sagebrush.
50+ visits to the study area: Between May and November 2010.
600+ volunteer hours: Over 90% by Jane Tirrell and Walter Fidler.
