Stewardship Superstars

On a chilly sun-filled February morning KS Wild land steward volunteers, local community groups and the BLM showed up strong to preserve a low elevation wetland meadow at French Flat. This area is known for its outstanding ecological values and consequently designated as an Area of Critical Environmental Concern (ACEC) and an area our KS Wild Stewardship Program monitors regularly.

There’s something so fulfilling when we offer our time and energy into helping another living organism. In this instance for something so tiny this time of year as it emerges from it’s winter slumber it could easily be missed, the endangered Cook’s Desert Parsley (Lomatium Cookii ) a rare and endemic plant of the Siskiyous. Projects like these are a great example of conservation and a step in the right direction to discourage further damage from illegal OHV use and trash dumping.

‘Our land steward volunteers are truly some of the best people I get to call friends!,’ said Allee Gustafson, KS Wild Community Organizer for this project. ‘We had at one point 28 volunteers who showed up to protect a botanical meadow at French Flat and among us, little baby Lomatium Cookii emerging from the soil.’

Carrying over over 100 wooden fence poles, this group of volunteers worked hard, got their boots muddy, and hands dirty to help preserve a sensitive botanical meadow. Not only did we protect a meadow, laughs and friendly conversations were shared among the attendees, and even though the work was hard, spirits were high as we carried wooden fence poles through the forest and into the protected meadow.  

Check out last Friday’s article on the front page of the Daily Courier and if you would like to get involved in projects like this with KS Wild’s Stewardship Program click here!