Camas Lily
Parks where protocol will be implemented
Importance / Issues
- Camas lily is a key cultural focal resource as well as an important ecological component of herbaceous wetland communities. Camas lily was historically one of the most widely utilized plant foods of the Nez Perce people and remains so for many tribal members today.
- Ecologically, camas lily is strongly associated with seasonal wet prairie ecosystems of the interior Columbia Plateau, which are represented at Weippe Prairie and along the North Fork of the Big Hole River. These ecosystem types have experienced significant regional declines due to agricultural conversion, exotic plant invasion, and altered hydrology.
- Establishing a program to monitor the long-term trends in camas lily populations will provide important information to the parks for their adaptive management decisions and land health performance goals.
Monitoring Objectives
- Estimate mean established plant and flowering stem densities (status) in the camas populations of Weippe Prairie and within the targeted portion of the Big Hole National Battlefield.
- Determine trends (net trend, as reviewed by MacDonald 2003) in the densities of established camas populations in Weippe Prairie and BIHO.
- Determine trends in the proportion of flowering to non-flowering camas plants in Weippe Prairie and BIHO.
- Determine trends in the frequency of occurrence of targeted invasive plants (currently these are orange hawkweed Hieracium aurantiacum and sulphur cinquefoil Potentilla recta).
- Determine the magnitude and direction of camas density response to measurable explanatory variables such as winter precipitation, graminoid thatch depth, and specific management activities.
Measures
Established camas plant density, flowering stem density, proportion of flowering plants, and frequency of targeted invasive plants.
Management Applications
Information gathered from this monitoring will be used to:
- Provide benchmarks for evaluating site management strategies, including effectiveness of grazing and weed control.
- Inform park assessment of cultural resource status.
- Help assess progress toward wetland land health goal (or upland, depending on park reporting approach).
Protocol Development & Status
The monitoring protocol was completed October 2007. Field testing was accomplished through the Network’s citizen science Volunteers-in-the-Parks (VIP) Program in collaboration with the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry Salmon Camp program. Local high school students have supported ongoing field sampling through 2008. An updated status and trends report will be available in Winter 2009.
Contact Information
Tom Rodhouse
Upper Columbia Basin Network Ecologist
National Park Service
2600 NW College Way - Ponderosa Bldg.
Bend, OR 97701
Email
Document Links
- Resource Brief (link to Reports & Pubs page)
- Monitoring Protocol Narrative
- Standard Operating Procedures
Data Links
Instructions for use of UCBN Google Earth KMZ project files.