SOLD OUT - FT 1 - ABLS Vagrant Lichens and their Unique Arid Habitats

Sponsored by ABLS

Trip Leaders: Steve Leavitt, Roger Rosentreter, and Larry St. Clair

Friday, July 21 to Sunday, July 23

Leave from the Boise Centre Friday morning at 9:00 am. Return to the Boise Centre 6:00 pm Sunday 

Cost: $400.00
Maximum Attendance  - 13 people
(Note: due to a limited number of participants, registration open only for ABLS members - if not a member and are interested please email johanne@botany.org)

Idaho is home to many unusual lichens, including intriguing vagrant lichens. Their free-growing lifestyle results in reference to them as wanderflechten, erratics, aerolichen, and tumbleweed lichens. They occur in unique habitats and are often accompanied by specialized plant communities, including a number of endemic species. However, these areas are often threatened by disturbance. For this 3-day field trip, we will explore these unique habitats and get to know Idaho’s rare and endemic vagrant lichens. We’ll visit the famed Lemhi and Little Lost River Valleys at the feet of the beautiful Lost River and Lemhi Mountains. We’ll see iconic sage-steppe habitats and the plants and lichens they support, note the impact of unique soil types on lichen and plant communities, and see some of Idaho’s most unusual lichens.        

• Day 1: Depart from Boise at 9 am and travel to Craters of the Moon National Monument. We’ll spend most of the day near Craters of the Moon, collecting lichens on Bureau of Land Management lands nearby and sight-see at the National Monument. We’ll spend the night at hotels in Arco, Idaho (Day 1 travel, approximately 200 miles total – about 3 hours travel time+ stops/excursions).
• Day 2: Depart from Arco at 8 am and drive a loop that passes through the center of vagrant lichen diversity in North America. We’ll drive through the Birch Creek and Lemhi Valleys to Salmon, Idaho (along Highway 28). From there, we’ll pass through the Pahsimeroi and Lost River Valleys on return to Arco, ID. Along this day-long excursion, we’ll view vagrant lichens and their habitats at multiple unique sites. We’ll spend the second night at hotels in Arco, Idaho (Day 2 travel, approximately 290 miles total – returning to Arco between 4 and 6 pm).
• Day 3: Return to Boise, departing from Arco, ID at 9 am. On the return trip, we’ll stop near Magic Reservoir to investigate several different types of sagebrush habitats and view of Centennial Marsh Wildlife Area (Day 3 travel, approximately 200 miles total – about 3 hours travel time + stops/excursions).

Some collecting will be possible.
Participants will purchase their own meals along the way.
Water and snacks will be provided.