Clark Fork Chapter

The Clark Fork Chapter serves the greater Missoula Area and west-central Montana.  

For more information contact one of our co-presidents:

Project Budburst Information is at the bottom of the page

Programs (Held 2nd Thursday of the month (with exceptions), Field Trips, and Events.  

• Thursday April 11, 7:30 pm. It’s time again to warm up your memory and get pumped up for summer. Come and see some of your favorite wildflowers and some you don’t know too when Clark Fork Chapter photographers show slides of Montana’s High Mountain Wildflowers. Rm L09 Gallagher Business Bldg, UM Campus.

• April 21, Sunday 9:00 am: Dicentra uniflora Trek Celebrate Earth Day one day early by hiking up Spring Gulch into the Rattlesnake Wilderness in search of the spring ephemeral steer’s head wildflower. Last year’s display was well worth the ~15 mile round-trip hike of ~2500 ft. elevation gain. This will likely be an all-day adventure as we look for signs of spring along the trail. Meet at the Rattlesnake Recreation Area trailhead by 9:00 am. Call Clare (728-0189) for details.

• May 2, Thursday 6:30 pm:  Mt. Sentinel Budburst Botanist Michael Krebs will show us which flowers and leaves appear first on Mt Sentinel this year. Hiking up the Evans Street Trail to the fire road, we’ll see as many as 130 different species of plants. If there is interest, we’ll hike a loop that goes up to the forest patch within 500' of the summit.  We’ll document the progress of spring as part of a long-term study which is incorporated into Project Budburst (budburst.org).  Meet on the south side of the UM campus, at the corner of Beckwith Ave. and Madeline Ave. at the picnic table east of the Forest Service research lab.  Call Clare (728-0189) for details.

• May 16, Thursday 6:30 pm: Plant Labeling Party Nosh on hors d’oeuvers and sweets while preparing this year’s plants for sale at the Missoula Farmers’ Market. Bring your labeling fingers and a savory or sweet dish to share. Call Clare (728-0189) for details.

• May 18, Saturday 8:00 am – 12:00 pm: Annual Montana Native Plant Society Plant Sale at the Missoula Farmers’ Market Many species of Montana native plants will be for sale this one day at the Market. Come early for the best selection.

• May 21, Tuesday 6:30 pm: Dyer’s Woad Pull 1 Help control Dyer’s Woad, a noxious weed in the mustard family, along with helping to restore native grasslands. Twenty-one years ago the Dyer’s Woad infestation on Mt. Sentinel was 7000 plants; we now rarely find more than 100 plants. Enjoy the view and the beautiful grasslands during this two-hour weed pull. Wear sturdy shoes and bring rain gear. Meet at the Mt. Sentinel trailhead. Call Marilyn (544-7189) for more information.

• June 4, Tuesday 6:30 pm: Dyer’s Woad Pull 2 Control Dyer’s Woad. Meet at the Mt. Sentinel Trailhead. See May 21^st Dyer’s Woad Pull for details. Call Marilyn (544-7189) for more information.

• June 9, Sunday 1:00 pm: Clarkia Weed Pull Party Join folks in the beautiful Jocko Valley at Native Ideals Seed Farm (nativeideals.com) for an afternoon of pulling weeds from the growing rows of Clarkia pulchella, good food, and a tour of this native plant farm. The farm is located to the southeast of Arlee at 31046 Jocko Rd. Call Bryce (726-3010) for details.

• June 15, Saturday 10:00 am – 3:00 pm: Clark Fork Chapter Garden Tour Find inspiration in several Missoula native plant gardens. Call Clare (728-0189) for more information.

• June 18, Tuesday 6:30 pm: Dyer’s Woad Pull 3 This is the last Dyer’s Woad Pull of the season. Meet at the Mount Sentinel Trailhead. See May 21^st Dyer’s Woad Pull for details. Call Marilyn (544-7189) for more information.

• *June 22 or 23:  Butterflies and Their Plants  Join Kristi DuBois, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks wildlife biologist, for an excursion to the Blackfoot - Clearwater area near Condon to view and discuss butterfly and plant associations.  The date, time and rest of the details will be determined as the butterfly season progresses.  Look for information in your e-mail inbox, at https://www.facebook.com/MNPSClarkForkChapter, or here.  Clare (728-0189) will have the latest information as well.

• June 24, Monday 6:30 pm: John Toole Park Weed Pull Help John Pierce and other volunteers restore Missoula Valley’s native grasslands. Bring a friend, a weeding tool, and enjoy an evening near the Clark Fork River doing good for the community and environment. Meet just northeast of the Waterwise Garden and east of the Missoulian, near the Kim Williams Trail in John Toole Park. Call John (542-2640) for more information.

• *June 29, Saturday 7:00 am: St. Mary Peak Hike to the top of one of the most picturesque peaks in the Bitterroot mountains along a trail that winds through forest to alpine talus. We’ll hope to time this hike perfectly to catch cushion plants on the peak (notably, the bright blue and fuzzy alpine forget-me-not, Eritrichium nanum) in bloom. This hike will take much of the day and is nine miles round-trip with ~2500 ft. elevation gain. Because this is a popular hike and parking at the trailhead is limited, it will be best to carpool. Missoulians meet at the SW corner of the old WAL-MART off HWY 93 South at 7:00 am. Bitterrooters meet at the intersection of Indian Prairie Loop and US-93 at 7:15 am. We will all meet at the intersection of Indian Prairie Loop and US-93 and drive to the trailhead at 7:30 am. Call Clare (728-0189) for information.

• July 5-7, Montana Native Plant Society State Meeting For more information about the meeting, visit our website: www.mtnativeplants.org/Annual Meeting.

• *July 27, Saturday 7:00 am: Kent Lake Basin Join botanist Wayne Phillips at the headwaters of Skalkaho Creek, in the Sapphire Range for an outstanding wildflower hike that includes a large area of white rhododendron (Rhododendron albiflorum) in bloom and a meadow full of a rare plant, Linanthastrum nuttallii (Polemoniaceae), which is only found in Ravalli County in Montana, both of which are in the first mile, or two, of the hike. Also the little endemic, Chionophila tweedyi (Plantaginaceae), plus wet places with lots of columbine, lovage, etc. The hike is ~6.5 miles round trip, on trail, with 1300 feet elevation gain at elevations of 7200' - 8200'. PLAN ON A FULL DAY FROM 7AM-9PM. To carpool, Missoulians meet at the SW corner of the old WAL-MART off HWY 93 South at 7:00 am; Bitterrooters meet at Sam’s Spade (111 S. 4^th St., Hamilton), a superb gardening/birding store, at 8:00 am. We will all meet and leave from Sam’s. At the end of the day, you may either head home or dine at the farm-to-table digs of Sleeping Child Farms (sleepingchildfarms.com). Call Clare (728-0189) or Wayne (453-0648) for details.

• *August 3, Saturday 7:00 am: Heart and Pearl Lakes Join Lolo National Forest botanist Craig Odegarde for a hike on a well-maintained trail through forest and lush understory to the sub-alpine basin of Heart and Pearl Lakes. The hike is eight miles round trip with a moderate elevation gain of 1600 ft. We will take most of the day for this trip as we look for many woodland species and hope to catch a great display of wildflowers between the lakes. The trailhead is near Superior, MT and we will carpool from Missoula. Meet at Starbucks Coffee (5620 Grant Creek Rd., NE corner of the I-90 interchange) at 7:00 am. Call Clare (728-0189) for information.

Events could be canceled due to weather. Hikes typically proceed at a leisurely pace. Please bring adequate food, water, sunscreen, a hat, and be prepared for Montana’s unpredictable, inclement weather. No pets please!

Clark ForkChapter members enjoy a robust schedule of hikes every year. Here a few members relax in the midst of searching for mushrooms. (Peter Lesica photo)

* Camera Geek trips are designed with ample time for photography and exchanging camera tips and techniques.

Project Budburst

A nationwide initiative by the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON), The Chicago Botanical Garden, and others, Project Budburst allows citizen scientists (e.g., students, naturalists, gardeners) to enter observations of the timing of flowers and foliage into an online database to help create a national picture of the effects of our warming climate on plants. The project operates year-round so early and late-blooming species around the country can be monitored throughout their lifecycles. UM professors Carol Brewer and Paul Alaback are collaborators on the project; MNPS member Paul is the project's lead scientist nationally. Project Budburst is looking for Native Plant Society members and others to volunteer in monitoring when plants come out in the spring. This involves selecting one or more plants near your house-in a park or somewhere you walk regularly--then noting the day leaves and flowers first appear and leaves first change color in the fall. Observations on Mt. Sentinel would be particularly valuable. Last year over 4,000 volunteers participated nationwide! Budburst is particularly interested in observations of widely distributed plants such as chokecherry, serviceberry, red osier dogwood, garden lilacs and others. You can register to collect data at http://budburst.org or contact Paul Alaback (palaback@gmail.com); phone: 970-227-4745