Summer is here and it’s a great time to enjoy getting outdoors! Earlier this year during our first Eight Dollar Mountain stewardship day, the rain welcomed us as we gathered on a drizzly Saturday morning. As a watchdog of public lands, this particular weekend is a high priority for KS Wild’s PLAY Stewardship Program to be out monitoring this important botanical area. 

In 2022, our PLAY volunteers gathered for the fifth consecutive year to restore and protect this botanical gem collaborating with the Forest Service, and for the fourth year, the Great Old Broads of the Rogue Valley.

The rain and wind didn’t dampen our spirits to get the job done! Photo monitoring was accomplished, along with repairing and installing two buck and rail fences which protect an beautiful Darlingtonia fen. On this same day, another crew worked on replacing this Portal Entry sign as you enter the protected botanical area. The Portal Entry signs are essential to the enforcement of this area; if taken down, law enforcement officers cannot legitimately write a ticket.  

Thank you to all our volunteers who helped in this restoration effort! Your energy and enthusiasm are instrumental to getting the job done and we are forever grateful for your hard work. 

In late June, we are in the most beautiful time of year out at Eight Dollar Mountain as the wildflowers are all blooming! My favorite of them all is the Howell’s Mariposa lily, which will begin to bloom in July. Here are some of the plants in bloom this time of year that make Eight Dollar Mountain and Days Gulch botanical areas shine:

Please mark your calendars and join us on Saturday, September 24, 2022 to celebrate Public Lands Day at Eight Dollar Mountain botanical area. We will install an interpretive sign and more buck and rail fencing to protect a Jeffrey Pine savanna where the Howell’s Mariposa Lily is studied. More info on this event will be posted later in the summer.

If you are interested in volunteering please join the PLAY Stewardship Program here. We will see you outside!