Sand Mountain

Sand Mountain from the back.

The days of April 11th and 12th we spent at Sand Mountain, Nevada. Sand Mountain is roughly 2hrs northeast from Carson City and is located 15miles outside Fallon, NV. Sand Mountain is a sand dune nestled between rolling hills and just off the coast of a large salt lake. The dune itself is two miles long and 600 feet high. Sand Mountain was formed by sediment of neighboring (by neighboring i mean 2hrs south) Walker Lake. The winds carried the particles over the Stillwater Mountains and deposited them in front of the rolling hills that lay behind Sand Mountain. Sand Mountain is also considered a "singing" dune. On high wind days you can hear the particles moving across the dune. Today, it is very hard to hear the awesome singing because of all the Off-highway vehicle use. However, if you climb to the top and push down hard enough you can generate some of the singing.

Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly

Sand Mountain has a very delicate ecosystem. The delicate ecosystem occurs from the harsh environment and ever-changing sand patterns. At the moment, the main ecological concern at Sand Mountain is the endangered Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly (Euphilotes pallescens arenamontana). Sand Mountain is the only place in the world where the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly occurs and its habitat is being slowly destroyed. The main factor for habitat destruction is the increasing popularity of the use of OHVs (Off-highway vehicles) at Sand Mountain. OHV use at Sand Mountain generates a lot of revenue for the local area and the BLM so it is very difficult to manage. The BLM Stillwater Field Office manages Sand Mountain. They have to figure out the best way to manage the ecosystem and still please the OHV users, environment groups, and themselves. They have developed certain trails for the OHV vehicles that do not cause too much habitat fragmentation. For now, these designated trails or voluntary but both the OHV and environmental groups know if they are not followed the trails will become enforced and tickets will be issued. The voluntary system started slow but has now picked up. However, it still is not at the point where the BLM would like. 

Kearney Buckwheat at bud break.

So where does our team of Botany interns come in? For the most part, we are responsible for habitat restoration and monitoring during events. On April 11th us, the recreation interns, and the UNR greenhouse director planted an area with Kearney Buckwheat (Eriogonum nummulare). Kearney Buckwheat is the only plant that the Sand Mountain Blue Butterfly eats as a larvae and as an adult. Its existence is solely dependent on Kearney Buckwheat. We planted roughly 250 plants. After the planting we had ATV training and camped out.

Us planting the Kearney Buckwheat seedlings.

ATV training is awesome. The purpose of our training was to get comfortable with driving on sand and get a lay of the land. We were going to be without our supervisor the next day so we had to do the training the night before, which I was not mad about. On April 12th we did surveying and GPS mapping of the plant Common Sandlilly. We are curious to see what dune peaks they were on and how low in elevation they would go. We counted each individual and GPS their location. The pictures below are from Scott Massed, my roommate and co-worker. You can follow him at scottmassed.blogspot.com

Other than Dean, Scott was the only one to get his ATV up the hill. We were relieved to not have to push it up.

Us on top of the main sand dune.

A nighttime shot by S. Massed 

On the ridge of the main sand dune. 

Sand Mountain (600ft).

Panorama of Sand Mountain's backside.

Talking about Kearney Buckwheat.

Donald Duck showing off his Common Sandlily