CNHP visits Odell Brewery for a behind-the-scenes look at Celastrina Saison

by Rob Schorr, CNHP Zoologist

Karla Baise of Odell Brewing (left) with the CNHP group as we all toast
our Celastrina Saison samples to the rare hops blue butterfly

As Celastrina Saison gets closer to its release date (May 18th Tapping Party at Odell Brewery), CNHP and Odell have made more opportunities to interact.  Namely, Odell Brewery gave CNHP the opportunity to come backstage at the brewery for a tour of the facilities and to witness the brewing process.  We eagerly took the invitation as a dozen of CNHP and Warner College of Natural Resource personnel met Karla Baise, Odell Brewery’s Community Outreach Coordinator in Odell’s Tasting Room.  Karla led us through the Odell facility, showing off a beautiful assembly of brewing tanks and Odell’s new 12-pack bottling system.  As we stood admiring the large brewing tanks, one of the brewers tapped the tank holding Celastrina Saison and gave us our first taste; as tasty as the bottle is beautiful.  Around one turn I stopped in my tracks as I saw the image of the hops blue butterfly on stacks of boxes just waiting to be filled with Celastrina Saison, destined for the 10 states that carry Odell brews.

Rob Schorr with the boxes waiting to be filled with Celastrina Saison

What became apparent during the tour is that Odell loves this partnership as much as we at CNHP do.  During the tour, Karla brought out a small bar-style poster of Celastrina Saison, which will be framed in the halls here at CNHP.  Right on the label it tells the world about the butterfly, this collaboration, and CNHP.  Thank you, Odell Brewing Company.

Celastrina Saison poster

New Field Guide to Colorado’s Wetland Plants

The Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP), a research unit in Colorado State University’s Warner College of Natural Resources, has just released the Field Guide to Colorado’s Wetland Plants: Identification, Ecology and Conservation. Although only about two percent of Colorado is made up of wetlands, they support almost 90 percent of Colorado’s ecosystems and wildlife, making wetlands an overlooked but valuable natural resource.

The field guide contains detailed descriptions, photos, and professional illustrations for more than 600 wetland plants as well as information regarding the wildlife species that are dependent on them. In addition to providing identification information, this guide provides information on wetland indicator status, classification, conservation status, rarity, and ecology, for a comprehensive field guide perfect for wetland ecologists, amateur botanists, or anyone who enjoys learning about Colorado’s plants and ecosystems.

 The Field Guide to Colorado’s Wetland Plants: Identification, Ecology and Conservation is available now for online purchase on the CNHP website for $39.95 plus tax and shipping.

A sample page with key - click on the photo to see a larger version.

“The book was developed to provide both professionals and amateur botanists with all of the currently available information on Colorado wetlands, compiled into one, easy-to-use field guide,” says co-author Denise Culver. “We hope it will be a very useful and informative guide for anyone recreating or working in wetland areas, and also hope it will help educate others about the importance of conserving Colorado wetlands.”

Book author Denise Culver hard at work identifying a plant.

The culmination of 20 years of wetland research, the field guide is co-authored by Culver and Joanna M. Lemly who are wetland ecologists with the CNHP. The book development was funded by an Environmental Protection Agency Wetland Grant, and is the first complete wetland field guide of its kind for Colorado.
Culver has spent the majority of her career studying wetland ecology and wetland plant adaptation in Colorado, and says that “Wetlands are often overlooked in a state that gets less than 12 inches of rain a year, but it is all the more reason why it is so important to understand more about these powerful keys to ecosystem health.”  

Book author Joanna Lemly out in the field collecting plant specimens.

CNHP is also working on developing additional wetland tools including a pocket guide to wetland plants and a Colorado Wetland Field Guide Mobile App. The Colorado Natural Heritage Program is part of CSU’s Warner College of Natural Resources. Established in 1979, the CNHP is a non-profit scientific organization that tracks and ranks rare species and threatened plant communities in Colorado with the goal of ensuring that Colorado’s biodiversity resources are preserved.  For more information on the CNHP visit the website.

Expanded National Natural Landmark

Earlier this month, then Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar approved the expansion of the Garden Park Fossil Area National Natural Landmark on BLM land near Cañon City. CNHP provided the National Park Service with the evaluation of this site for the expansion. Read the BLM press release here.

Looking across Fourmile Creek to the Marsh quarry site.

The Garden Park Fossil Area is located in Fremont County, Colorado, along the Fourmile Creek drainage approximately 8 miles north of Cañon City. The site was originally designated in 1973 in recognition of the historical and paleontological significance of the Jurassic age dinosaur discoveries excavated from outcrops of the Morrison Formation in the area. The original designation included the Colorado Historical Society monument located on the roadside below the Marsh Quarry, but did not cover the important fossil quarries.

Quarries in the Garden Park area played an important role in the “Bone Wars” of the early period of American paleontology, and activities at this site were responsible for generating wide-spread interest in dinosaurs beginning in the late 1870s. Important discoveries include the three most complete Stegosaurus skeletons ever found, as well as the first known remains of dinosaurs like Camarasaurus, Ceratosaurus, and Diplodocus. In addition to dinosaurs, Garden Park has also produced fossils of Late Jurassic mammals, trees, and turtles, among other things, and finds include 23 type specimens.

Brandegee's buckwheat (photo by Susan Spackman-Panjabi).

The site also supports populations of three of Colorado's rare plants: Eriogonum brandegeei (Brandegee’s buckwheat) Mentzelia chrysantha (golden blazing star), and Asclepias uncialis (dwarf milkweed).

Creative Collaborations: How CNHP and Odell Brewing Company are working together to save the hops blue butterfly

by Rob Schorr, CNHP Zoologist

While conducting a biological inventory at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Jeremy Siemers and I were lucky enough to stumble upon a few hops blue butterfly (Celastrina humulus; a G2/G3 invertebrate) populations.  This butterfly is found in a handful of counties in Colorado and gets its name from its host plant, wild hops (Humulus lupulus).  We started a lively discussion about how best to monitor such a butterfly, or even how to assess the prevalence of the butterfly on its host plant.  We tossed ideas around, beat up some study designs, and finally came up with a research plan we thought was feasible.  Unfortunately, it was unfunded.  These discussions led to hops-and-barley fueled brainstorming on how to fund such a study…the natural connection was right in our hands.

Female hops blue butterfly on wild hops

After some courting and scheduling, I was able to visit Fort Collins' own Odell Brewing Company and talk with them about CNHP, the hops blue butterfly, and a creative collaboration of beer and butterfly conservation.  The talk was warmly received and Odell eagerly agreed to develop a beer to commemorate this minute Colorado endemic.  This novel partnership has led to the recent announcement that Odell Brewing Company will be releasing Celastrina Saison in a Belgian farmhouse 750-ml bottle in late May 2013.  The label boldly shows a male hops blue butterfly and along the edge of the label is a description of how $1 of each 750 ml bottle will go toward CNHP for hops blue butterfly research. This partnership between Odell Brewing Company and CNHP developed out of a shared interest in conserving species and landscapes that are uniquely Colorado.

Rob holding a Celastrina Saison

Please look for Celastrina Saison on the shelves of your favorite liquor store, at your favorite pub, or at the Odell Brewing Company tap room…and raise a pint for butterfly conservation!

Fen mapping at the Pike and San Isabel National Forests

Fens are a special type of wetland - they are fed by groundwater, support vegetation that is very different from the plants on the surrounding uplands and some contain water that is alkaline (high pH values) or mineral rich. Fens are often dominated by rushes and sedges and they can support mosses, willows and even some trees.   

During the warm seasons between 2004 and 2009, fen expert David Bathke surveyed wetlands that could potentially contain fens on the Pike and San Isabel National Forests.  He visited places that been identified as emergent and shrub wetlands in the National Wetland Inventory to see if any of these wetlands contained fens. The resulting surveys contained a wealth of information: fen determinations and boundaries, lists of plant species, soil measurements, and observations on hydrologic processes at each site.  CNHP recently got involved when the US Forest Service requested that we use our photo-interpretation and GIS expertise to convert these data (that only existed on paper) into digital geospatial data (GIS data).  This data will help the US Forest Service better understand and protect the fens on their land.

A fen complex in Pike/San Isabel National Forest.
The fens are outlined in yellow, the  NWI wetland is outlined in purple.

The fen complex pictured above contained a diverse array of plant species including water sedge (Carex aquatilis), peat moss (Sphagnum angustifolia), white water-crowfoot (Ranunculus aquatilis), diamondleaf willow (Salix planifolia), and resin birch (Betula glandulosa).

Iron fens at Geneva Creek, note the terracing of the unvegetated surface.

Iron fens are a special type of fen that occur on iron-rich substrates, and are unique to Colorado.  The water that flows the iron-rich substrate is acidic and mineral rich, and forms limonite (iron saturated peat) which forms terraces and ledges. Note the small forested fen in the bottom left corner of the above photo: this forested iron fen is dominated by dwarfed Engelmann spruce (Picea engelmanni).

CNHP to study wetlands on Mars!

By Jeremy Sueltenfuss, CNHP Wetland Mapping Specialist

Where there is water, there are wetlands.  We all know (and if you don’t please become comfortable with) the fact that wetlands not only provide invaluable functions and services to ecosystems and humanity, but are also completely awesome! Wetlands filter water, provide habitat, and cycle nutrients in ways other ecosystems can’t.  It is for this reason wetlands are acknowledged to be important features across the nation, and the world.  While the Colorado Natural Heritage Program has historically focused its efforts on the wetlands within Colorado, we are looking to push the boundaries of wetland ecology to places where no ecologist has gone before.

Recent findings by NASA’s Opportunity Rover on Mars have triggered the scientific curiosity of the CNHP Wetland Ecology Team.  Because of the images sent back by Opportunity, showing imprints of water loving microbes on Martian rocks, it has become clear that Mars used to be quite the place to be!  Forget the search for general life on Mars, CNHP is now studying the wetlands that obviously used to exist on Mars!

“Make it so,” replied Joanna Lemly, the lead Wetland Ecologist replied when presented with the research idea.  CNHP's Wetland Mapppers, Gabrielle and Jeremy, are hard at work trying to get some halfway decent aerial imagery for the Martian surface. “I’m not quite sure what is so hard about obtaining these images, it’s not like we’re asking for photos of the bottom of the ocean!” lamented Jeremy, CNHP’s wetland mapping specialist.

Field work on Mars! (Background image of Mars ©NASA)

Though field excursions can often be difficult, Laurie Gilligan, CNHP’s wetland field ecologist is up to the challenge.  When asked whether she thought she could handle interplanetary travel in the pursuit of wetland science she replied, “Beam me up Scotty!”

While research deadlines remain loose, everyone is excited about the potential of this new research endeavor.  “This gives us entirely new possibilities of assessing biodiversity on a whole new planet!  The conservation possibilities are literally endless!” exclaimed Dave Anderson, a very excited CNHP director.






















April Fools!

CNHP helps out with Conservation Leadership Through Learning

by David Anderson, CNHP Director

On March 7th and 8th, Susan Spackman Panjabi, Pam Smith, Joanna Lemly, Rob Schorr, and David Anderson spent two days with the 20 wonderful Master’s Degree Students in the Conservation Leadership Through Learning (CLTL) Program at CSU.  The CLTL is an innovative graduate program in which students confront conservation challenges and sustainability from a variety of perspectives.   It is unique in that the students spend two semesters at CSU, followed by two semesters at ECOSUR in Chiapas, Mexico.  They will receive degrees from both universities when they complete the 17-month program.  As a part of the program they are working in groups to complete “synergistic projects” in communities that will connect them with ongoing conservation efforts.

Zoologist Rob Schorr in the classroom

On March 7th we spent the day in Drs. Mike Gavin and Jennifer Solomon’s class with the students talking about conservation and ecological research.  Susan gave them a wonderful overview of the work that the Colorado Natural Heritage Program and other programs like ours do worldwide, and how our biodiversity data translates into conservation action.  I talked about methods used in ecological research and decision making.  Then Rob introduced the students to some of the ways that animals are studied.  He helped us understand how to deal with the problems associated with the probability of detecting organisms in the environment that, whether we like it or not, cannot be avoided!   Then Joanna gave us an overview of the wetland assessment and mapping projects that she is leading, focusing on how we are working through partnerships to put science to work in conserving Colorado’s wetlands.  

Ecologist Joanna Lemly telling the class about her wetlands work

On March 8th, we spent a day in the field at Coyote Ridge Natural Area, in the expert care of Eduardo Boné Moron, who helped field trip logistics.  This site, on the southwest edge of Fort Collins, is part of the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas system and is important for the conservation of many rare species and communities.  One of these species, the Bell’s twinpod, is known only from Larimer and Boulder Counties, and Coyote Ridge is home to one of the two largest populations of this species on Earth.  We were joined there by Crystal Strouse, Botanist with the City of Fort Collins, who gave us a wonderful overview of the area. 

Crystal Strouse (at right) shared her wisdom with us 

when we arrived at Coyote Ridge on Friday.

At Coyote Ridge, the CLTL Students were divided into groups and had five tasks to complete while they were there.  They did a fantastic job of learning to sample vegetation, document natural history observations, use a GPS to mark locations, and collect quantitative and qualitative biodiversity information in the field.  For many of the students, this was their first chance to experience rare plants and wildlife, including the charming and eminently watchable prairie dogs that live in this natural area.

The students work on practicing quadrat sampling with Dave’s help at Coyote Ridge 

We all wish the very best to the students in the CLTL program, and it was truly wonderful to spend two days with you!  We hope that you’ll stay in touch with us.

Everyone still looks happy at the end of the field trip! 

Third Annual Adopt-A-Rare-Plant Field Season Underway

by Rebecca Hopson, CNHP volunteer

CNHP volunteer Virginia Meadows looking for
Townsendia rothrockii at Independence Pass

 February 26, 2013 marked the beginning of the third annual Adopt-A-Rare-Plant Program’s field season with a training presentation that took place at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The Adopt-A-Rare-Plant program is a volunteer based program that works to raise public awareness of the significance of rare plants as well as promote volunteer involvement in the sponsor organizations. It has been recently revived by a partnership between the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, the Denver Botanic Gardens and the Colorado Native Plant Society to raise public awareness of Colorado’s rare plants. At the training, community volunteers were shown how to identify a rare plant species of their choice and gather important ecological data about its location that will be used in updating information in the Colorado Natural Heritage Program database. Everyone left excited and ready to start looking for rare plants!

Townsendia rothrockii in its typical habitat