Important finds
Congratulations, everyone, the TWBY is making excellent progress in documenting the plants of the Tahoe Basin and surrounding areas. We've already accumulated over 4,000 observations of more than 800 species! While all observations are valuable, your contributions also include some really important finds. Here is a running list of a few stand-outs:
- mtash (Steve Ashcraft) has been on a tear this season, producing some of the most beautiful wildflower photographs you'll ever see. He also posted iNaturalist's first observation of a Sierra springbeauty, and documentation of a rare Lewisia and a rare Skullcap.
- sweattb (Bob Sweatt) recently documented what may be a wintergreen thought to be extinct in California.
- cheryl3 (Cheryl Beyer) led a field trip to Sagehen Creek earlier this summer that documented several plants that had never been confirmed in the basin, and one that has never been reported in the basin at all: Western stoneseed. These discoveries occurred despite a 65-year history of botanical collecting in the Sagehen Experimental Forest, demonstrating the power of citizen science: lots of eyes on the ground for the entire season!
- kueda (Ken-ichi Ueda) observed a Senecio that is new to the Sagehen list, as well.