Penstemon haydenii
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Blowout penstemon is a warm season perennial native plant to the Sandhills of Nebraska. As seen in the photo above it is a milky blue color with a waxy cuticle, pale purple leaves, and alternating leaf pattern with one central stock. The flowers, while in the inflorescence stage, originate from the bases of the leaves of the plant. The picture above shows some flowers in bloom and toward the bottom shows the flowers in the bud stage. Blowout penstemon flowers from May until early June and drops the seeds late August into September.
Blowout penstemon is resistant to the abrasive forces of the blowing sands with its incorporation of a thick waxy cuticle, whereas other plants are more detrimentally affected by these abrasive forces of wind and sand. As other plants germinate and begin to sprout out of the soil, the abrasive forces of wind and sand cut it off and discourage growth. The thick cuticle of the blowout penstemon protects it as it emerges out of the soil and retards the harmful effects of the sand and wind. Another adaptive feature for the blowout penstemon plant is the lifespan of the seeds. The seeds dropped in late August into September can remain buried dormant in the sandy soils for decades and still remain viable. Prolonged wet conditions and abrasion are required for breaking dormancy and seed germination. The plant is primarily an out-crosser (transfers genes from one plant of the same species to another plant of the same or closely related species); although studies show that it is potentially self-fertile (Fertig 2000).
Habitat
Blowout penstemon was only found in the Sandhills of Nebraska until the recent discovery of limited populations in Wyoming. Blowout penstemon is only found in sandy locations with little to no vegetation present. Due to the uncompetitive nature of the plant it is easily choked out by other plans in the succession scheme. The ever-shifting sandy soils of the Sandhills provide blowout penstemon with an ideal environment with little to no competition for water, nutrients, and sunlight. The nature of the plant is to develop these blowout conditions and promote succession that is why it has essentially made itself endangered.
Blowouts are the only habitat to which the plant grows, hence the name. Blowouts are defined by Webster as “a valley or depression created by the wind in areas of shifting sand or of light cultivated soil”(Webster 2006-2007). The Sandhills of western Nebraska provides just this habitat needed for the blowout penstemon to grow and survive.
Endangered When & Why
Blowout penstemon was declared an endangered species on September 1, 1987 due to the lack of numbers and habitat limitations. The direct cause of the reduced habitat is partly due to improvement of land management practices and control of fire in the sand hills. Prior to the changes in management practices, land owners often created the blowout conditions with the incorrect implementation of stocking densities, overstocking. In addition, there was no consistent method for blowout control protocol. The more current management practices often follow a more concise grazing scheme that promotes the improvement of range condition and indirect reduction of habitat reduction for blowout penstemon.
Reduction of fire in the Sandhills has also had a very detrimental effect on the habitat for blowout penstemon as well. Fire acted as a means for removing debris and litter from the soil surface opening up the bare soil to be more vulnerable to wind erosion. This increase in wind erosion causes the growing conditions for other plants to be more unfavorable reducing competition from other species on blowout penstemon.
As the control of wild fires becomes more widespread, it promotes the development of the range condition and reduction of blowout conditions needed for the growth and development of blowout penstemon. Fire in the Sandhills has been more extensively controlled because of the detrimental effects seen as a result. With the technology and resources available it is also easier to control and contain wildfires that may naturally occur.</nowiki>
Major Threats
Blowout penstemon has four known threats that suppress numbers and available habitat. One of the first being human intervention, as is the major cause of many species to become endangered and extinct. Another is caused by the climatic conditions, unfavorable growing conditions. Plant competition and insect damage are also contributing factors in the endangerment on blowout penstemon.
As mentioned before, the improvement of land management practices and control of fire is a direct human influence on the habitat conditions needed for the growth and development of blowout penstemon populations. In addition to these management plans, land managers may also reshape the blowouts with machinery to reduce swirling action of winds. There are several common ways of leveling off these sharp edges of the blowouts. Mechanical means are often used to go out and actually reshape the sharp edges of the blowouts. Cattle are another tool used to reshape the land, high densities of cattle are run on these blowouts often supplemented with hay. The objective of this strategy is to reshape the land as well as provide the litter and debris to reduce wind erosion.
Climatic conditions have been thought to be a factor in the reduced numbers as well. Since there has to be a period of abrasive forces and wet conditions to wake up the seeds out of the dormant state, the drought is held as a factor. The lack of moisture discourages the development of the seeds and promotes prolonged dormant stage. Just because the seed bank exists in the soil does not mean it will grow. Blowout penstemon seeds have to have the period of wet conditions to break the dormant state; otherwise it can remain dormant for decades until the conditions become right for favorable growth.
Plant competition is another large contribution to the reduction in numbers of the blowout penstemon plants. Due to the nature of the plant and its ability to stabilize blowout conditions it promotes plant succession and blowout healing. The blowout penstemon, resilient to abrasive forces of wind, provides shelter for other plants to begin growth and development further reducing the forces of wind and sand. As this process continues it provides more and more favorable conditions for other plants to begin to growth and compete for nutrients, water, and sunlight. Blowout penstemon in a blowout is one of the first signs of blowout recovery; to a land manager this is a positive sign for increased range condition and increased productivity.
Insect damage also accounts for a considerable negative influence on the plants survival ability. "The most serious insect problem is probably the larvae of the pyralid moth, which bores into the stem and root crowns of the blowout penstemon plant to pupate. This can cause a 75% mortality rate of the effected plants" (Stubbendieck et al. 1997).
Economics Behind Human Actions
We as humans often see things from an economical aspect, always looking for a way to make a buck. Often with the destruction of habitat for the blowout penstemon there is some form of economic return. In most cases, land managers are out to improve range condition to increase productivity of the land and increase property value. Higher returns make owning the land easier to cope with.
Environmental returns from the improved range condition are an aspect that needs to be considered as well. With the improvement of the range condition, soil erosion and water sedimentation is greatly reduced.
Increased land production allows the land owner to run more cattle per acre as well as makes it more appealing for resale of the land it that is what they are looking to accomplish. It is a catch 22 situation; damned if you do, damned if you don’t. If a land manager goes out and improves the range condition they are doing their job correctly as they are often paid to do, thus resulting in reduced habitat for blowout penstemon. If the manager does nothing to improve the range site conditions and blowout conditions worsen; then they will often not have a job. Not to say that everyone is out to intentionally destroy the habitat of blowout penstemon. There are some managers that manage for both increased range condition as well as habitat for blowout penstemon. This form of management is more intensive and requires a more extensive planning and implementation methods.
Recovery Plans
Plans have been formulated in an attempt to get a handle on the situation. The plans are not fit for every situation and are dealt with on a case by case level depending on the specific situations presented. The plans include a form of regular surface disturbance that promotes the blowout environment and reduction of plant development. Oil and gas companies have been opened up into habitat known for blowout penstemon with strict regulations concerning surface disturbances. This intensive management is yet once again not a blanket policy; rather it is dealt with on a case by case level, depending on the year, climatic conditions, seasonal timing, and rehabilitation state of the stand.
As a type of insurance for the existence of the blowout penstemon plant, seeds have been and are currently being collected and stored in seed banks to ensure the continuation of this species and to prevent the extinction from occurring. These seeds may even be used at a later date to introduce them into a new environment. This is still under research and results up to this point were currently not available to me.
Rawlins Biological Assessment- working draft- also outlined some Best Management Practices that included reduced travel of ATVs, collection of seeds, mineral mining restrictions, pursuit of land tenure adjustments, and fire suppression. The reduction of ATV travel will reduce the chances of plant community destruction from physically crushing the plant. Collection of seeds as previously discussed. Mineral mining restrictions would decrease the direct destruction of already established populations. The pursuit of the land tenures would allow the Environmental Protection Agency to trade, buy, or manage the land for the specific purpose of blowout penstemon management. In addition fire suppression would also be used to discourage plant succession by increasing the blowout conditions.
References
Fertig, Walter. 2000. “Status of Blowout Penstemon (Penstemon haydenii) in Wyoming.” Prepared by the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database for the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and Wyoming Game and Fish Department.
Minta, S.C. and T.M. Campbell III. 1991. Recommendations for Wildlife and Habitat Protection, Teton County, Wyoming. Prepared for Teton County Board of County Commissioners. Biota Research and Consulting, Inc. 20pp.
Nebraska Environmental Trust. 1992. Endangered Blowout Penstemon. Accessed December 5, 2007. http://www.environmentaltrust.org/work/stories.htm
Schultz, R.K. and W.C. Leininger. 1990. Differences in Riparian Vegetation Structure Between Grazed Areas and Exclosures. J. of Range Manage. 43:295-299.
Stubbendieck, J., J. Lamphere, and J.B. Fitzgerald. 1997. Nebraska Threatened and Endangered Species, Blowout Penstemon. Nebraska Game and Parks Commission. Pamphlet.
U.S. Bureau of Land Management. 1990. Great Divide Resource Area Record of Decision and Approved Resource Management Plan.
USDI, US. Fish and Wildlife Service. 1999. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Announces Discovery of Endangered Plant, Blowout Penstemon, in Wyoming. News Release, Mountain-Prairie Region.
Merriam-Webster. 2006-2007. On-line dictionary. Accessed December 13, 2007. . http://webster.com
Milby, J, L. May 2007. Photo taken at Barta Brothers University Ranch, UNL. Long Pine NE.
Wright, H.A. and A.W. Bailey. 1980. Fire ecology and prescribed burning in the Great Plains – a research review. USDA Forest Service, General Technical Report INT-77.
