IAE is helping to boost populations of Kincaid’s lupine in order to benefit both the lupine and Fender’s blue butterfly. We are collaborating with several agencies and landowners at 11 sites in the western Willamette Valley, from Henry Hagg Lake in the north to Wren and Philomath in the south. Over three years we will help restore prairie habitat and introduce native diversity as well as plant seed and plugs of Kincaid’s lupine.
IAE’s Plant Materials staff Mara Friddle and James McAuliffe grew the Kincaid’s lupine plugs in rented space at an Oregon State University greenhouse and after only about three months they were ready to plant out. Kincaid’s lupine don’t tend to thrive in a greenhouse environment, so the sooner they get outside in the spring, the better. The trick is planting early enough in the spring that they get established before the dry season hits.
Over the course of four days (March 15-18, 2022), a total of 6,155 plugs of Kincaid’s lupine were planted at Bald Hill Farm and Lupine Meadows (Greenbelt Land Trust), Witham-Gellatly Prairie (Oregon Department of Transportation), Echo Hills Farm (private land) and Pearcy-Schoener Conservation Easement (Benton County). Greenbelt Land Trust organized 24 volunteers to help with the planting at their sites, and more volunteers helped IAE staff at the other sites.
