Did you know that the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest, and Lookout Mountain, has high elevation meadows? Those meadows are full of flowers in the summer. Researchers have been studying how pollinators — like bees, flies, moths and butterflies — are connected to flowering plants and how networks of plants and pollinators respond to environmental change. So far, research in 12 meadows, over 11 years, has identified >670 flower-visitor species and >150 species of flowering plants. Pollinator diversity stays somewhat constant despite variation in climate, numbers of pollinators, and diversity of flowers that they visit. The Plant Pollinator Study started in 2011. Four of the twelve long-term plant-pollinator study meadows are on Lookout Mountain, within the area of the Lookout Fire.
This photo was taken from the Roswell Point meadow on August 2, 2023. It is looking across the upper Lookout Creek at the N side of Lookout Mountain and Lookout Ridge, where the fire is currently burning. It may be one of the last photos taken of the north side of Lookout Mountain before the fire ignited on August 5. Smoke from the Bedrock fire is visible in the distance. Photo from Julia Jones, Oregon State University.
First posted August 16, 2023