By Marisa Mancillas, Jillian Demus, Chelsea Osbron, and Amy Zimmer August 2018 This field season, IAE’s Habitat Restoration and Conservation Research Programs partnered to conduct a range-wide inventory of the endangered Willamette daisy (Erigeron decumbens). The goal of this project was to obtain an up-to-date status of this endemic plant and its associated habitat […]
Workshop on Selection of Native Plant Materials at ESA conference in New Orleans
Please join us at ESA Workshop 34 in New Orleans! Knowledge Café: Application of Emerging Topics in Plant Ecology and Evolution to Selection of Native Plant Materials for Restoration and Ecosystem Management All are welcome and there is no fee for this workshop. We would like to get a head count, so please click here […]
Memories from The View
By Nadav Mouallem July 2018 As the sun sets on our 12-week season in Lakeview, Oregon, we can’t help but reflect on all we have learned and experienced while living in ‘Oregon’s Tallest Town.’ From the onset, Lakeview presented a stark contrast to life in the Wilamette Valley–with a population of only 2,400 and a […]
Growing Oregon: A photo essay of native seed production
By Ian Silvernail June 2018 In the fall of 2016, the Institute for Applied Ecology (IAE) leapt into the world of native seed production in an attempt to help fill some of the requests for the seed that is so integral to effective habitat restoration. Tremaine and Gail Arkley are allowing us to put their Malabon […]
Making more milkweeds for monarchs: breakthroughs in milkweed seed germination
IAE staff, June 2018 Monarch butterflies are declining at an alarming rate, in part due to the widespread loss of milkweeds, the plants on which all monarchs depend. Without milkweeds, monarch butterflies have no place to lay their eggs and feed their larvae. One action people can take to help monarchs and other pollinators is […]
Botanizing in the Oregon Outback
Written by Nadav Mouallem and Clarissa Rodriguez May 2018 This season IAE has expanded into new territory, with a crew based in Lakeview, OR. Unlike the lush forests west of the Cascades, Lakeview sits on the edge of Oregon’s high desert country and aptly calls itself “The Tallest Town in Oregon” (at elevation of 4,800 […]
Get to know the 2018 Conservation Research crew!
By Lisa Schomaker, Mary McKean, and Michelle Yasutake May 2018 With the many crews we have going this summer, it can get tough to keep track. We have crews focused on conducting surveys for Willamette daisy, Streaked horned larks, as well as crews conducting surveys for a variety of species throughout Oregon. There are lots […]
Tramplers, Stumblers and Rollers: Observations from our first 2 weeks as interns
By Samantha Hooper and Mary McKean May 1, 2018 The first two weeks of Conservation Research field work were an immersion in the spectacularly interconnected landscape of Oregon’s native and exotic plant life. We joined Andrew from IAE’s Habitat Restoration team at the West Eugene Wetlands for our first field day, where we mulched a […]
Volunteers help restore endangered Willamette daisy (Erigeron decumbens) at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge
By Ashley Ottombrino-Haworth, April 2018 This spring, staff and volunteers from the Institute for Applied Ecology and US Fish and Wildlife Service teamed up to plant over 4100 Willamette daisy starts at Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge, 10 miles west of Salem, Oregon. Twenty-three total volunteers helped plant for this two-day field trip. The reason: […]
Calling all streaked horned larks!
By Monika Lapinski & Michel Wiman, March 2018 The streaked horned lark is native to Pacific Northwest grasslands, prairies and dunes. While the birds eat a wide variety of seeds and insects, it is a ground-nesting bird, requiring very sparse vegetation free of trees and shrubs. Its historic range from British Columbia through southern Oregon […]
Invasive animal poses global threat
Researchers today in Canberra, Australia reported the ominous threat of what appears to be an invasive animal with a unique biology. Platypus-like hares have now been observed on several continents and even remote locations like Easter Island in the Pacific Ocean, and are poised to reproduce in extremely large numbers, especially in North America. Dr. […]
Children learn culture through growing plants
Peter Moore, March 2018 Young children got their hands dirty and planted some bulbs and seeds of culturally important species recently at the Confederated Tribes of Grande Ronde (CTGR) Youth Education Building.
Students Love to Dig Holes for the Rare Thin-Leaved Peavine!
When middle school students from Eugene, Oregon were asked what they liked most about helping plant new populations of a rare plant, many enthusiastically replied, “digging holes is the best thing ever!” IAE’s Habitat Restoration and Ecological Education Programs teamed up on a project to not only teach students about a rare plant that occurs […]
A Bad Haircut is Good for Restoration of a Rare Wetland
Just off interstate 25 near Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Lenora Curtin Wetland Preserve is an unexpected and calm respite from the heat and dryness of the Santa Fe desert. I am here with IAE Southwest Program Director Melanie Gisler and IAE ecologist Yvonne Hickerson, who have been working with partners to restore this unique […]
The Cavalry from Coffee Creek Help with Habitat
IAE has been helping restore the Cannery Hill Unit of Nestucca Bay National Wildlife Refuge since 2011, converting non-native grasses of this former dairy pasture into a healthy coastal meadow to support reintroduction of the federally threatened Oregon silverspot butterfly (Speyeria zerene ippolyta). The species favors salt-spray meadows, but has declined to the point that […]