Stately Bear Grass

We are having torrential rain today, 13 July 2016, and I'm sure there will be more flooding, like yesterday. After having such a dry winter and spring, we are now paying the price with many days of thunderstorms and heavy rain. Yesterday, I was on a botany walk at Shannon Terrace, Fish Creek Park, climbing the hillside and coming down through the forest. Thunder and lightning surrounded us and, though the rain was only very light during the walk, it poured when we were just about back at the cars. I don't like to think how much flooding there will be today. More days of similar weather are in our forecast.

For many years, I longed to see Bear Grass / Xerophyllum tenax, and finally last year, 2015, I was lucky enough to visit Waterton Lakes National Park and saw and photographed it for the very first time. Can't believe that I still haven't posted one of the photos I so excitedly took! The photo I posted today was taken just a few days ago, on 8 July 2016, along the Crandell Lake trail. I was thrilled to bits to see a number of plants of this most impressive wildflower. Each flower varies in shape - some have just a short length of tiny flowers near the top of the tall stem; others, as in this photo, have flowers extending further down the spike. Friends and I did this hike on our first evening in Waterton Lakes National Park, starting from behind the Canyon Church Camp off the Redrock Parkway. I believe the trail is 1.9 km to the lake, though a few of us turned back before reaching the lake. Described as a "short, scenic, easy hike", it is still a steady climb. Last year, in June, I did the whole walk as far as the lake.

"Xerophyllum tenax is a North American species of plants in the corn lily family. It is known by several common names, including bear grass, squaw grass, soap grass, quip-quip, and Indian basket grass.

Xerophyllum tenax has flowers with six sepals and six stamens borne in a terminal raceme. The plant can grow to 15–150 cm in height. It grows in bunches with the leaves wrapped around and extending from a small stem at ground level. The leaves are 30–100 cm long and 2–6 mm wide, dull olive green with toothed edges. The slightly fragrant white flowers emerge from a tall stalk that bolts from the base. When the flowers are in bloom they are tightly packed at the tip of the stalk like an upright club. The plant is found mostly in western North America from British Columbia south to California and east to Wyoming, in subalpine meadows and coastal mountains, and also on low ground in the California coastal fog belt as far south as Monterey County. It is common on the Olympic Peninsula and in the Cascades, northern Sierra Nevada and Rockies.

Xerophyllum tenax is an important part of the fire ecology of regions where it is native. It has rhizomes which survive fire that clears dead and dying plant matter from the surface of the ground. The plant thrives with periodic burns and is often the first plant to sprout in a scorched area. This species has long been used by Native Americans who weave it in baskets. They also braid dried leaves and adorn them on traditional buckskin dresses and jewelry." From Wikipedia.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xerophyllum_tenax

It was wonderful to again be surrounded by such magnificent scenery, go on a few pleasantly slow walks/hikes with plenty of time to look for, and photograph, wildflowers, insects, and a few birds and animals. Lots of great company with 22 people, some of whom I already knew and lots of new faces, too. The trip was organized by Nature Calgary. Everyone was free to go wherever they wanted each day, but for the two nights, we stayed at the very basic Canyon Church Camp, off the Red Rock Parkway. Dorm-style cabins (about which I will say nothing, lol!), but they do have showers and even flush toilets at the camp. We were fed so well - lots of variety and good food. We were given two breakfasts and two suppers, plus a packed lunch for the two days. Our thanks go out to the lady (can't remember her name, sorry, but she was also there for us in July 2015) who cooked and prepared these meals for us! They were so much enjoyed and greatly appreciated!

"Waterton Lakes National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it is also an International Peace Park, and a Biosphere Reserve. No other park in the world has these three designations. Waterton Biosphere Reserve as it is officially called, was designated in 1979 under what is called the internationally recognized "Man and the Biosphere program" of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), that sure is a mouthful. Biosphere Reserves are designed to promote and demonstrate a balanced relationship between people and nature."

www.wediscovercanadaandbeyond.ca/2010/11/red-rock-canyon-...

Thank you SO much, Janet, for driving your friend and me to and from Calgary and around the park some of the time, too. To say that I appreciated it is a huge understatement!! Our thanks, too, to Andrew for organizing this trip so brilliantly, as usual! A great time was had by all. And I am SO happy and relieved that you were finally able to find a bear (and her cub) - yes, we came across the same ones shortly after you saw them. Not sure if they were two of the three I had seen at more or less the same location the previous morning, 9 July 2016. If it was the same female, then her second cub must have been really well hidden in the tangle of bushes and trees. We didn't get a good view, though I did take a handful of photos, including when the cub looked towards us for a split second. I had never seen such a young cub before, so I was thrilled to bits. Can't forget to add my huge thanks for finding me a Lazuli Bunting yesterday, too, at some unearthly hour (well, 7:30 am). No idea how on earth you managed to spot such a small bird from so far away - just a tiny speck in the far, far distance. Also was delighted that you found two Nighthawks flying high overhead at the Nature Conservancy area. So, I guess you and I both returned to Calgary feeling really happy : )