Diario de certified_dendrophile

I have recently moved to Baker City, Oregon. This is a mostly new region for me; my only other real time spent here was in 2021 when I backpacked for four days in the Wallowas with my good friend, Lauren. My photos at that time were mostly aesthetic, in order to document the pretty things I saw. But I did take some intentional photos of the trees I saw along the trail: towering Whitebark pine, Western Larch, and gnarly old Lodgepole pines were some of my sources of fascination at that time when I was very obsessed with taking pictures of nice trees.

Now that I have settled into Baker City and have done some solid naturalizing and exploring the area, I have a much greater appreciation for the region, and Oregon as a whole. The Baker Valley is quite beautiful, geographically reminiscent of the Willamette Valley as it has a mountain range on either side and a flooplain valley down the center of them. The valley itself is filled with amazing bird life, which, while not totally new to me, is amazing to see everyday. Things like Phalaropes, Western and Eastern Kingbirds, Swainson's Hawks, Long-billed Curlews and Bobolinks are real treats for me. The pastureland, while heavily modified, still holds beauty to me. Within these highly modified habitats I still find cool things to look at; interesting pastureland fungi, aquatic plants in agricultural ditches, Wandering Garter snakes under roadside junk, etc. I have enjoyed biking around on rural ag roads and spending time with these things. The sagebrush steppe is also new to me. I've had my lifer Sage Thrasher and Badger since moving here, and enjoyed lots of time exploring the high desert flora. There are some small BLM holdings north of town, near Haines, which provide easy access to a solid area of sagebrush ecosystem.

The Blue mountains have been my favorite place to explore since moving to the eastside. In my years studying Oregon's native ecosystems, I have heard, read, and seen so much about this ecoregion but never had the chance to spend solid time here. It really is wonderful. There are hardly any people out here on trails and and one can drive down any local forest road and see maybe one or two other people, if unlucky. If normally lucky, the whole place will be all to onesself, all day. Birding, botanizing, herping, mushroom hunting, and sunset-watching have all been wealthy sources of pleasure for me here. Many lifers and amazing encounters have blessed me in the two months spent here so far. Some highlights are the common Monument Plant (Frasera speciosa), Corydalis caseana, Mountain Lady-slipper (Cypripedium montanum), regular passerines such as Cassin's Vireo and Mountain Bluebird, Sandhill Cranes, Western Toad, Wandering Garter Snake (no rattlesnakes yet, somehow) and lots of new and interesting fungi species of which I have yet to identify. I love the whole forest gradient, from the open pine forests to the subalpine spruce-fir forests, and the Whitebark pine/alpine. Flowering season at high elevations in the Elkhorn Mountains has just begun recently and that has been my primary interest as of late. Yesterday I hiked 3 miles, 2800' elevation gain just to access some alpine areas at Marble Pass (the car I was using was not capable of making the road up there). It was definitely worth the work. I am extremely excited for fall mushroom seeking and the winter birds!

Other notable places I've been blessed enough to visit since moving out here have been Zumwalt Prairie (a birthday surprise from my beloved partner, Kate), Malheur NWR (which I have been dying to get to for years) on memorial day weekend, and Hells Canyon a few weeks back. It was my first time there. I drove from Huntington to Richland on Snake River Rd and enjoyed outstanding views, dust, crazy and new wildflowers, and lots of Rock Wrens. I still want to visit Steens Mountain, the Strawberry Mountains, explore more of the Wallowas, the Owyhee River (which I will be venturing to next weekend), and many, many other specific, underexplored places.

One thing that is quite obvious about iNaturalist in this part of the state of Oregon, is that it's pretty underrepresented. I'm fairly addicted to exploring iNat and check every day to identify and explore more observations. There are few observers, and even fewer identifiers. I try to contribute as many IDs as I can as I quickly learn the region's biota, but there are plenty of things I can't ID still, like insects, grasses, mammals, and plenty of flowering dicots. I am not sure how to get more people into observing and IDing out here, but if you are reading this and have any Oregon naturalist knowledge, please scroll though eastern Oregon observations and give them some IDs! I know you can help out!!

Since I believe context is so important, here’s some of mine.
I grew up near the confluence of the Willamette and Tualatin rivers, near Willamette falls. I was casually birding, fishing and drawing from the age of 5. I was always curious about the plants and massive trees of my region, but never learned about them until later on in my life. The wetlands of the Tutalatin/Willamette region provided me with many subjects of curiosity, mostly birds at the time. “Birds of the Willamette Valley Region” by H. Nehls, T. Aversa, and H. Opperman was my bible, and I still have my same copy to this day. My family of four traveled around the western US, visiting every state west of the continental divide. Mostly visiting national parks, aquariums and the like.
I took an angsty break from nature in the dark ages (middle school/high school) and had a renaissance when I was a high school senior with an Environmental Science class where I realized my birding skills were useful and impressive. Our teacher introduced me to iNat then, with a project on Beavers’ effect on biodiversity in Mary S. Young Park. My next big step as a naturalist was in 2019 with a course at UofO called “Trees Across Oregon” taught by Whitey Lueck. This course altered my thinking forever. We learned and experienced native and ornamental trees, natural history, forest management practices and forest ecology. We visited many forest zones in Lane county, including a stop at the Delta Old Growth grove, one year before it tragically went up in flames. Although human caused, this was just another point on the life cycle of a forest. Learning how to “read” a forest Is by far my most prized skill from that course. It was then that I earned my badge as a “Certified Dendrophile” (my iNat name). After taking a break from school with the pandemic, I transferred to Oregon State University to study Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Science with a minor in Botany. That’s where I am now, and my curiosity of native plants and trees is finally being satisfied as I learn how to use Flora of the PNW and Flora of Oregon keys. I have recently become enthralled with mycology and entomology, and have revitalized my birding skills with a “Systematics of Birds” course by Dr. Douglas Robinson.
I consider myself very observant; blessed with two good eyes and two long legs to keep me mobile and curious. I am walking around every day trying to appreciate some nonhuman life form. It’s all fascinating to me. When I’m not out and about appreciating life on Earth, I am listening to bluegrass, playing banjo, reading books about what I observed earlier in the day, or spending time with loved ones.