2019 Spring Wrap Up
Spring is our busiest and most fun season of the year. It’s when we get outside to explore, enjoy and celebrate the land the best way we know how – hikes and work parties. We’d like to thank the volunteers who helped us get outdoors and dig deeper into the value of conservation.
Spring Hike Series: From pollinators to posies, geology, lichens, ukuleles, and more, we love and appreciate our hike guides who shared their knowledge with 200 hikers on 14 hikes this spring. THANK YOU David Steinfeld, Gary Shaffer, Jim Livaudais, Kristi Mergenthaler, Larry Smith, Linda Kappen, Molly Allen, Norman Barrett, Randy Frick, Karen Grove, Brandon Bree, Steve Sheehy, Tish McFadden, Kat Whyte, Jeanine Moy, and Jeff Lalande!
Stewardship Days: We also love and appreciate the 72 volunteers who helped us steward the land in support of healthy habitats. THANK YOU for showing up to dig, pull, and bag over two acres' worth of invasive plants and collect a pound of native plant seeds during four different work parties at the Rogue River Preserve.
We also want to thank our volunteer photographers, Linda, Richard, Holly and Molly, for shooting and sharing their love for the land. See captions for photo credits.
We’ve complied some of their photo highlights and ours from this spring. Take a peek!
Hikes
Karen Grove shows map of local geologic highlights at the City of Ashland Imperatrice property. Photo by Linda Thomas.
View from City of Ashland Imperatrice property. Photo by Linda Thomas.
Ukulele players gather for an outdoor jamming experience at the Rogue River Preserve. Photo by Tish McFadden.
Ukulele players enjoying the Rogue River at the Rogue River Preserve. Photo by Tish McFadden.
Hikers scanning for pollinators and flowers on Mt. Ashland. Photo by Richard Jacquot.
Ranchman's tiger moth, Plattyprepia viginalis. Photo by Richard Jacquot.
Hiking to prime dragonfly habitat, an upland pond. Photo by Richard Jacquot.
David Steinfeld leads a demonstration of tree coring. Attendees took a sniff of the of the fragrant pine tree core. Tree cores are used to identify the age of a tree. Photo by Linda Thomas.
Hike guide, Kat Whyte shows a helpful critter identification book.
Brandon Breen (first in foreground) leads hikers on a bird exploration of the Rogue River Preserve. Photo by Richard Jacquot.
Hike guide Steve Sheehy shows how to use a hand lens to help identify lichens. Photo by Richard Jacquot.
Hand lenses and microscopes are handy in the field to properly identify lichens. Photo by Richard Jacquot.
BLM Environmental Education Specialist, Molly Allen, talks about the natural history of the Table Rocks. Photo by Molly Morison.
Examining an historic mining glory hole with Larry Smith. Photo by Linda Thomas.
Gentner's fritillary, an endangered species that only lives in SW Oregon. Photo by Linda Thomas.
Volunteer Work Parties
SOU students organized a work party to our Elk Island at the Rogue River Preserve to remove noxious weeds.
Volunteers pause from pulling non-native plants for a group photo.