B
Saturday, April 17, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
M ONARCHS
S TRUGGLING
■ Western populations of iconic butterflies have
plummeted based on results of an annual survey
G
rowing up in the Shenan-
doah Valley, livestock
pastures peppered the
landscape. Black and red angus,
and Holstein to supply the dairies,
were commonplace. Spring and
early summer sprouted lush green
fescue and stands of various weeds
unbeknownst to me at the time,
save for the patches of fl owering
thistle and milkweed, head high to a
fi ve-year-old.
Back when youth were allowed
to roam free, I would stroll across
the county road and explore the
neighbor’s pasture toting an empty
Mason jar. I was fascinated with all
things wild, to include the brilliant
variety of butterfl ies and moths
that frequented the fuchsia thistle
blooms.
Standing motionless amid the
spiked stalks, I waited for a butter-
fl y to land and pipe the sweet nectar
from a fl ower. Slowly reaching
out, I delicately pinched its folded
wings between my chubby fi ngers,
admired the spectacle momentarily,
then released them, similar to catch-
and-release fi shing. Occasionally, a
new or particularly fi ne specimen
would make its way into the jar
to be added to an immaculately
framed representation of our local
species.
Tiger and pipevine swallowtails,
common buckeye, eastern tailed
blue and painted lady to name a
U.S. Geological Survey/Contributed Photo
A monarch butterfl y visits a fl ower bloom.
the FWS must consider the status
of the monarch butterfl y as one
“At present, a number of
UPLAND
population across its North Ameri-
environmental factors,
PURSUITS
can range. If the western monarch
including
the
loss
of
were to be carved off as its own
BRAD TRUMBO
“distinct population segment,” it’s
milkweed habitat, are
ESA listing priority would likely be
threatening monarchs
few. And, of course, the royal high-
much higher.
across their range.”
ness monarch with its orange and
While it appears that our western
black hues. While monarchs rely on
monarchs are spiraling toward
milkweed for reproduction, I found
extinction, there is always hope and
they visited the thistle nearly as
Bird Count, where “citizen scien-
potential for recovery. Pheasants
often as the swallowtails.
tists” document monarchs on their Forever, Quail Forever and the Xerc-
Monarchs present a nationwide
western winter hiver. According to
es Society promote pollinator initia-
distribution as an iconic pollinator
Washington State University, the
tives that benefi t monarchs among
species. They display a fascinating
10 million monarchs documented
other pollinators. Many Pheasants
behavior of seasonal migration,
in the 1980s declined to 30,000 in
Forever and Quail Forever chapters
similar to songbirds. East of the
2018, and fell below 2,000 in 2020.
are willing to cost-share on pollina-
Rockies, monarchs overwinter in
Dramatic loss of the western
tor enhancement projects, like the
southern portions of Florida and
monarch population led to special
Blue Mountain chapter in Walla
Mexico. In our neck of the woods,
interest groups petitioning the U.S. Walla, Washington.
the winter “hiver” is the southern
Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS)
Additionally, two congressional
California coast.
to protect the butterfl y and their
bipartisan bills, the Monarch Ac-
At present, a number of environ- habitat with a listing under the
tion, Recovery, and Conservation of
mental factors, including the loss of Endangered Species Act (ESA). A
Habitat (MONARCH) Act, and the
milkweed habitat, are threatening FWS status review determined that Monarch and Pollinator Highway
monarchs across their range. A Feb. “... listing the monarch butterfl y
Act, were recently introduced to
25 article in The Guardian cited
as endangered under the ESA is
avoid the extinction of the western
illegal logging and land use changes warranted but precluded by higher monarch.
in Mexico as compounding factors
priority actions.” In other words,
The MONARCH Act would
in a 68% population decline on the
there are more than one hundred
authorize $62.5 million for western
winter hiver since 2018, and the
imperiled species ahead of the mon- monarch conservation projects, and
population west of the Rockies is
arch in need of FWS resources and another $62.5 million to implement
faring no better.
protection.
the Western Monarch Butterfl y
In 1997, the Xerces Society
Additionally, under the ESA, an
Conservation Plan, paid out over the
established the Western Monarch
insect species cannot be segregated next fi ve years.
Thanksgiving Count, similar to
into subpopulations like birds,
The Monarch and Pollinator
the Audubon Society Christmas
mammals and fi shes. Therefore,
Highway Act would establish a fed-
eral grant program available to state
departments of transportation and
Native American tribes to carry out
pollinator-friendly practices on road-
sides and highway rights-of-way.
But positive change does not
require an act of congress. Milkweed
promotion in our backyards can ben-
efi t the western monarch. Research
suggests milkweed patches as small
as two- to fi ve-square-yards in area
could be affective for increasing
monarch reproduction. Patches that
small are easily managed in a back-
yard fl owerbed or garden, and the
western native “showy milkweed”
boasts a beautiful spiked ball of pink
bloom worthy of any fl ower garden.
While recent legislation is late to
the table for the western monarch,
the potential for new conserva-
tion funds and our ability to act as
interested citizens suggests hope
for this iconic pollinator. Will the
western population boast a success
story similar to species like the
greater sage grouse or bald eagle?
Only time and a few congressional
votes will tell.
Brad Trumbo is a fi sh and wildlife
biologist and outdoor writer in
Waitsburg, Washington, where he also
actively serves the Walla Walla-based
Blue Mountain Pheasants Forever
chapter. For tips and tales of outdoor
pursuits and conservation, visit www.
bradtrumbo.com.
Where wild country rubs
shoulders with a freeway
The view was
quintessential wilder-
ness except for the
18-wheelers rolling by
on the freeway, almost
near enough to discern the
name of the trucking com-
pany on the trailer.
And absolutely near
enough to hear the exhaust
moan as the drivers down-
shifted to make the grade
above Pritchard Creek.
Of course wilderness is just
a word.
And it’s a word, whether
deployed as a noun or an
adjective, whose defi nition,
much like beauty, is deter-
mined by whoever’s doing the
looking.
When I’m hiking I pre-
fer the typical symbols of
wilderness — mountain peak,
glacial lake, primeval forest
— to the freeway’s cacophony,
diesel aroma and fl otsam of
soda cans and hamburger
wrappers whipped about by
the incessant artifi cial wind.
But I also appreciate the
rare occasions when these
two worlds, so different, rub
shoulders in what seems a
comfortable companionship.
I came across such an in-
tersection recently above the
Durkee Valley, about 20 miles
southeast of Baker City.
It all started with a map.
(Many of my experiences
do; I would rather be a cartog-
rapher than almost anything
else, but I lack any of the
requisite skills. My complete
absence of artistic ability
alone disqualifi es me abso-
lutely from the profession.)
I was nosing around a web-
ON THE TRAIL
If You Go ...
JAYSON JACOBY
From Baker City, drive
east on Interstate 84
and exit at Durkee,
near Milepost 327. Turn
right at the stop sign
and drive through the
“downtown” of the
unincorporated town
of Durkee, named for
a pioneer family. After
a third of a mile, just
beyond the railroad
tracks, turn right at
a stop sign onto Old
Highway 30.
based map, searching for a
short and nearby hiking spot
that I hadn’t visited. I noticed
a series of roads branching
off the Burnt River Canyon
road, on the west side of the
Durkee Valley.
I had driven past the
intersection many times but
always on my way to a differ-
ent destination.
I vaguely recalled, though,
that I had assumed on those
occasions that the roads ei-
ther didn’t go far, or that they
ran into private property.
But when I checked my
paper BLM map I was pleas-
antly surprised to see that
the roads head straight into a
considerable chunk of public
ground — a bit more than
four square miles all told.
And at least on the map —
and with the more detailed
view from Google Earth’s
satellites — it appeared that
a loop route was feasible.
Along with my wife, Lisa,
and our kids, Olivia and Max,
I drove to Durkee Valley on
Easter Sunday, one of the few
days this spring when the
wind wasn’t beastly.
It was in fact a fi ne morn-
ing, with the temperature in
the 60s, more typical of early
June than of early April.
The dirt road heads north-
east, on the right side of a dry
gulch. After a few hundred
yards we reached the fi rst
junction, and the start of the
loop. I had checked the route
Drive west on Highway
30 for 1.5 miles, then
turn left onto paved
Burnt River Canyon
Road. Follow the road,
which turns to gravel, for
2 miles. There is an open
area on the right side of
the road with plenty of
room for parking. There’s
a BLM sign noting that
the primitive road is not
suitable for passenger
cars or trailers.
See map on Page 6B
for details about hiking
directions.
on a topographic map and it
looked as though the left fork
had slightly less steep grades,
so we went that way.
The road — now little more
than a path, although acces-
sible for four-wheel drive, at
least when dry — crosses the
gulch and then climbs the
shoulder of a ridge.
Jayson Jacoby/Baker City Herald
Lookout Mountain dominates the northeastern skyline from the juniper-dotted hills
above the Durkee Valley, about 20 miles southeast of Baker City.
The slope is taxing at times
but my attention was diverted
in the short range by wild-
fl owers and in the long by the
increasingly expansive views.
The sandy brown soil was
carpeted in places by phlox,
my favorite early spring
bloom. It’s a low-growing
species — what you’d call a
ground cover in a garden —
and its blossoms, usually pink
or an intense purple, brighten
the dull hillsides from a foot-
ball fi eld away.
The road gains about 600
feet in elevation as it ascends
the narrow ridge. We paused
for a minute to have a drink
of water and enjoy the view,
which included the heart of
Durkee Valley and the snowy
ridges south of the valley.
This is the classic transi-
tion zone between sagebrush
steppe and the pine-fi r forests
of the uplands. There are
plenty of trees, all of them
western junipers, the lone
conifer that can tolerate the
arid climate here.
See Wild/Page 2B