Summer 2021 has been a great one for new Sagehen discoveries by iNaturalists! Here are a few of the stand-outs. One thing that is interesting is how many of these sudden occurrences of new animals and plants could be related to the Sagehen Forest Project thinning and prescribed fire treatments in the basin:
Rocky Mountain Wood Tick (Dermacentor andersoni): and finally, some potentially less good news. Rocky Mountain Wood Ticks are rare in CA, but found consistently in several high Sierra locations, including along Lower Sagehen Creek below HWY-89. Here's some information from @megsquitophd, who found the tick:
These ticks haven't been tested by CDPH (yet) but will be in the future for Colorado Tick Fever Virus. The CDPH-VBDS 2020 annual report will be published soon for the most up to date testing information on infection rates in different counties. Other site of interest for TBD's would be https://www.cdph.ca.gov/Programs/CID/DCDC/Pages/Tick-Borne-Diseases.aspx. If interested in Lyme disease specifically we have an interactive Lyme Disease story map.
Erica and I have also spent lots of time and energy this year getting our Sagehen Collections digitization projects wrapped up. As part of that effort, I've updated the Sagehen Flora taxonomy and content, so our plant list should be very current and accurate at this point, and a very useful tool for identifying plants in the basin.
Photo of Belding's Ground Squirrel at Sagehen by chrisophylla, 2021.
UPDATE: a mustard observed along Sagehen Creek in 2016 has finally been identified as Lepidium campestre. This is a new species to the basin and it's an interesting one, even though a weed. The plant is edible as a green or a spice, and can grow productively in virtually any soil, even degraded ones and those within a few dozen kilometers of the Arctic Circle. The species is being studied in Sweden as a food and oil plant for the far north.
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