Power Botanizing in the Western Dakotas

For the Love of Grass II

 

By Jack Carlson, Larry Holzworth, Bob MacLauchlan and Curtis Sharp 

June, 2009

Our second “For the Love of Grass‟ trek in June 2009 was equally wonderful as the first in September 2008. The success flowed primarily from the expertly prepared routing and agenda by Jack Carlson. Other participants were Larry Holzworth, Bob MacLauchlan and Curtis Sharp. We missed the knowledge and invigorating conversation of last year’s participant, Wendall Oaks, but were stimulated, and truly impressed with the abundant botanical knowledge of Larry. 

As is usually the case is in small groups, each assumes a role: 

The four of us traversed the northwest corner of Nebraska, and western South and North Dakota, covering about 2100 miles, simply for the love of viewing plants in their natural environment. This is a brief summary of what we encountered and where we saw our plant friends. 

We assembled late in the day of June 19, 2009 in Chadron, Nebraska, enjoyed an evening of tall tales, and departed next morning on our seven day quest. Actually, Jack and Larry had accomplished some botanizing on the way to Chadron, which became day one. During the seven days, 18 locations were visited, and 14 of these were inventoried, regardless of the day length required. Inventories are numbered consecutively in this report. To be sure the plant names were correct, the validation process is summarized on the last page. 

Before we begin, we should define “power botanizing.” Using the Holzworth convention, it means identifying all plant species found by group members at the stop, and the group cannot leave until it believes the inventory is complete, barring extenuating circumstances (snakes, gunshots, heat stroke, darkness, and the like).

Day 1 – Fort Collins, CO to Chadron, NB – June 19, 2009 

Jack and Larry made stops within the Pawnee National Grassland in northeastern Colorado, Wildcat Hills State Recreation Area south of Scottsbluff, Nebraska, and along Highway 71 about 20 miles north of that city while enroute to rendezvous with Curtis and Bob at Chadron. 

Inventory 1 – Combined inventory from Pawnee National Grasslands, Wildcat Hills, and along Highway 71 north of Scottsbluff 

The Pawnee National Grassland covers 193,000 acres, 30 miles east of Fort Collins. The grasslands are managed by the Arapaho and Roosevelt National Forests. They were made famous by James Michener when he wrote the novel “Centennial” which takes place at these grasslands. The Grassland is known internationally as a place to see birds of prey, including mourning doves, red-headed woodpeckers, blue jays, black-billed magpies, gray catbirds, vesper sparrows and American crows. Our report demonstrates it should be equally famous for its plants. 

Grasses Achnatherum hymenoides (Roem. & Schult.)	Indian ricegrass
Agropyron cristatum (L.) Gaertn.	crested wheatgrass
Amaranthus albus L.	prostrate pigweed
Aristida purpurea Nutt.	purple three-awn
Bouteloua curtipendula (Michx.) Torr.	sideoats grama
Bouteloua dactyloides (Nutt.) J.T. Columbus	buffalo grass