... Violets are Blue

Last year around this time, Cailin and I were walking the Kortum Trail, and I was photographing just about everything.  I was rather surprised to see violets along the trail, since my only experience with violets had been the ones my grandmother grew in her home.  So I photographed these, and a few days later saw a post on Facebook asking people to locate these flowers in the coastal prairies.  I sent in this photo, but didn't have GPS data attached, and described the location best I could.

This year there is an organized survey for the Western Dog Violet on the coastal prairies, and last week (on March 14th) I went down to the Stewards of the Coast and Redwoods volunteer office (in the Armstrong Redwood State Natural Reserve) and took the training to be part of it.

It's going to involve some walking again. 

The big thing for me is being part of Stewards again.

April 2nd I'll be attempting my first tidepool walk as a docent again.  I'm a bit concerned, and I've suggested I tag along as a "spare" docent, because I'm not 100% sure I can handle the walk, especially since we're going to the location where I probably cracked my ankle a little over a year ago.  

I have a little more confidence walking the trails looking for violets than I do getting down the bluff, over the sand, and up onto the slick, uneven rocks at Miwok Beach.  There are two trails sections in particular I feel very comfortable on, including the section of Kortum where I photographed the violets last spring. 

The Western Dog Violet is important because it is the host plant for the Silverspot Butterfly, an endangered species, and one that has been seen less frequently in it's historic range along the coast, and has shifted more inland more where there is a higher concentration of Dog Violets. Preserving the Silverspot will mean preserving and caring for the wild Dog Violets, hence the survey. 

Walking along the tops of the bluffs photographing flowers and inputting the information on iNaturalist is my idea of a relaxing, interesting, and useful use of time, and one I feel a little more capable of than tide pools right now.