Camas Lily Monitoring Protocol Narrative and Standard Operating Procedures: Upper Columbia Basin Network: Version 1.0, October 2007

Rodhouse, Thomas; Wilson, Mark; Irvine, Kathryn; Steinhorst, R; Dicus, Gordon; Garrett, Lisa; Lyon, Jason

This protocol details the why, where, how, and when of the UCBN’s camas monitoring program. As recommended by Oakley et al. (2003), it consists of a protocol narrative and a set of standard operating procedures (SOPs), which detail the steps required to collect, manage, and disseminate the data representing the status and trend of camas populations in the Network. Camas (Camassia quamash [Pursh] Greene) is a perennial bulb-producing lily (Family Liliaceae; alternatively Agavaceae, APG 2003) that was and remains one of the most widely utilized plant foods of the Nez Perce people (Harbinger 1964; Hunn 1981; Turner and Kuhnlein 1983; Thoms 1989; Mastrogiuseppe 2000). Camas was also a focal resource at many of the significant historical events memorialized by Big Hole National Battlefield (BIHO) and Nez Perce National Historical Park (NEPE). It was during the camas harvest at Weippe Prairie, a subunit of NEPE, where the Lewis and Clark Corps of Discovery first encountered the Nez Perce. The battle at Big Hole occurred at a traditional Nez Perce camas harvesting campsite. Camas is therefore a central element of the cultural landscapes that BIHO and NEPE seek to interpret for the public. Camas is also ecologically significant to the UCBN. It is considered a facultative wetland species (Reed 1988) that is strongly associated with the seasonal wet prairie ecosystems of the interior Columbia Plateau which are represented at the Weippe Prairie, a subunit of NEPE, and along the North Fork of the Big Hole River, where the Big Hole Battlefield is located. The extent of the wet prairie ecosystem type has been drastically reduced in the Columbia Basin as a result of agricultural conversion, irrigation and flood control development, and other land use practices (Thoms 1989; Dahl 1990; Taft and Haig 2003). The NPS-owned portions of Weippe Prairie and the Big Hole valley have historic agricultural developments that have altered site hydrology, are impacted by invasive weeds, and Weippe Prairie has also been used for intensive haying and grazing. Orange hawkweed (Hieracium aurantiacum) and sulphur cinquefoil (Potentilla recta), listed as noxious plants in Idaho, are present at Weippe Prairie and part of the focus of current park weed management. Competition from invasive weed species, particularly thatch-building grasses such as timothy (Phleum pratense), is a likely stressor on camas populations within the UCBN. Reduced fire frequency has also allowed black hawthorn (Cretaegus douglasii) to become established in the prairie. Park managers at NEPE have discontinued grazing as of 2007 but still permit haying, and herbicide applications at Weippe Prairie, following guidance from the Upper Columbia Basin Network and Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS). These activities have been primarily aimed at weed control, but have almost certainly impacted the camas populations as well (e.g. removal of photosynthesizing tissue before summer senescence and bulb dormancy) (Lambert 2001). Despite the continued impacts of modern anthropogenic stressors on what appear to be markedly reduced camas populations, the wet prairies of BIHO and NEPE are highly productive ecosystems that exhibit a good potential for restoration (Taft and Haig 2003). A long-term monitoring program for detecting status and trends in camas populations at BIHO and Weippe Prairie will serve as a central information source for park adaptive management decision making and will provide essential feedback on any eventual restoration efforts. Camas monitoring will be particularly important at Weippe Prairie because it is the focal resource for the site, and because the site remains actively sprayed and mowed, and is a likely target for park restoration efforts in the future. The implementation of camas monitoring early in the process of NPS management at Weippe Prairie is timely and will greatly facilitate science-based decision making. Park management has considerable latitude in...

Camas Lily Monitoring Protocol Narrative and Standard Operating Procedures: Upper Columbia Basin Network: Version 1.0, October 2007

Series

Collections