Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest

NatureWatch

Vegetation, Wildlife and Fish Ecology and Rare Species Management

Celebrating Wildflowers is a program created by the US Forest Service's Pacific Northwest Region (Oregon and Washington) in response to public interest in education and involvement in the conservation and management of native plants. It soon spread to other Regions of the Forest Service, including the Intermountain Region (Utah, Nevada, western Wyoming, and southern Idaho).

Right: Maguires Primrose - A Federally listed threatened species on the Logan Ranger District

Today it is an inter-agency program, with the involvement of the Forest Service and agencies such as the Bureau of Land Management, Fish and Wildlife Service, National Park Service, and Agricultural Research Service, as well as a large number of external cooperators.

The Wasatch-Cache National Forest is home to some of the most spectacular wildflower viewing sites including the Albion Basin in Little Cottonwood Canyon east of Salt Lake City, Tony Grove Lake in the Bear River Range east of Logan, Utah, Deseret Peak Wilderness in the Stansbury Mountains west of Salt Lake City, and the High Uintas Wilderness in northeastern Utah south of the Utah-Wyoming border to name just a few. Our goal is to share the beauty of our Forest's wildflowers with the public, to increase awareness of this invaluable resource, and to promote conservation efforts by working with people of all ages throughout northern Utah, as well as with various public and private partners.

Left: Sego Lily - Utah State Flower (from Celebrating Wildflowers Coloring Book)

Celebrating Wildflowers emphasizes not only the aesthetic values of wildflowers, but also the recreational, biological, medicinal, and economic value of all plants. The Wasatch-Cache typically sponsors various events during the spring and summer months including wildflower walks, talks, and slide programs. In the past, the Wasatch-Cache and other National Forests in the Intermountain Region have worked with partners such as the Bureau of Land Management, Red Butte Garden and Arboretum, Utah Native Plant Society, U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Utah Department of Natural Resources to sponsor a Celebrating Wildflowers Poster Contest for grade school children (K-6). This has been a popular event at many schools and has been just one successful opportunity to educate young children regarding the various values of our native plants.

There are some incredibly cool spots to visit on the Wasatch-Cache National Forest to see a wonderful array of wildflowers!

There are currently a set of coloring pages of many of the country's wildflowers available through the National Celebrating Wildflowers Website. Click on the flower to the right for a direct link to coloring book page.

More information is available on the Rare Plants of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest as well as Northern Utah Noxious Weeds.

Other Sources of Plant Information

The ATLAS OF THE VASCULAR PLANTS OF UTAH is a great source of information on the distribution of plants within the state. "This is a digital version of the Atlas of the Vascular Plants of Utah authored by Beverly J. Albee, Leila M. Shultz, and Sherel Goodrich, published by the Utah Museum of Natural History, 1988. This document consists of maps of the state of Utah showing collection locations for 2,438 documented plant species. The authors critically examined approximately 400,000 specimens during a seven year time span to create this atlas."

The USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service PLANTS National Database provides a single source of standardized information about plants throughout the U.S. PLANTS provides standardized plant names, symbols and other plant attribute information that can be used by researchers, land managers, as well as a variety of other interested publics.

From this page you can:

• Learn about the PLANTS project and the people who cooperate to make it work
• Access the PLANTS Database to request information
• See some plant photographs
• Link to the USDA NRCS National Plant Data Center Home Page and other PLANTS-related sites

Northern Utah Events

Keep your eyes on this site for upcoming events.