North Idaho Native Plant Arboretum - Sandpoint, Idaho - Arboretums on Waymarking.com

We visited the North Idaho Native Plant Arboretum while visiting Sandpoint. This was a first for us. We were there in early March and spring had not sprung as of yet. We are sure this is most specular when the dogwoods and other deciduous trees are in bloom.

The Arboretum is an ongoing educational project of the Kinnikinnick Chapter of the Idaho Native Plant Society.

It is free and open to the public. Plants are identified and grouped in habitats, enabling you to see plants and trees in a natural setting.

There are seven North Idaho habitats duplicated in the Arboretum and all are clearly marked and most of the trees and plants are identified.

The signs, however, were almost impossible to photograph due to being metallic green which caused excessive glaring.

The habitats are described as follows:

Dry Forest Habitat

Dry forests are most often characterized by somewhat shallow, rocky soils and are usually dominated by ponderosa pine, Douglas-fir or grand fir trees. The understory consists of such grasses as Idaho fescue, blue-bunch wheatgrass, and pinegrass; perennial forbs, including lupines; and such shrubs as serviceberry, ninebark, ocean spray, and common chokecherry.

Kinnikinnick is a common low shrub. This habitat occurs on ridges and slopes at lower to middle elevations, usually on southerly to westerly aspects.

Dry Rock Habitat

Usually surrounded by forested habitats, dry rock habitats occur when plants establish themselves in soil deposited between rocks. Many plants found here are also found in dry forest and even moist forest habitats; however, some plants occur only when a dry rock habitat receives ample moisture in the spring before drying up in summer. Scarlet gilia, blanketflower, kitten tails, pearhip rose, ninebark, oceanspray, smooth sumac, wild yarrow and kinnikinnick are often found here.

Interior Rain Forest / Rare Plant Habitat

Unique in north Idaho - and a result of warm, Pacific maritime weather patterns - interior rain forests support the wettest forest habitats in the state. An overstory of western redcedar and western hemlock towers over devils club, lady fern, maidenhair fern and oak fern. Many rare species occur in inland rain forests, including some you can see here in the Arboretum: beadruby, maidenhair spleenwort, northern beechfern, deerfern, purple meadowrue and white shooting star.

Meadow Habitat

Dry to moist meadow habitats in north Idaho support Idaho fescue, blue wildrye, Junegrass, sticky geranium, lupines, goldenrod and other grasses and perennial forbs. Such shrubs as common chokecherry may occasionally occur.

Moist Forest Habitat

In moist forests, a mixed overstory of various conifers provides shade to an understory of forbs, such as wild ginger, queencup, twin flower, pioneer violet and bunch­berry dogwood. Sword fern may also be found here. Such habitats occur in ephemeral draws and swales and on mountain slopes at lower to middle elevations.

Riparian Habitat

These streamside habitats are found along perennial streams and large rivers, but may also occur on the mar­gins of such wetlands as ponds, fens and marshes. They may be forested with evergreens or with a mixture of evergreens and hardwoods (such as coyote willow, water birch, Sitka alder, thinleaf alder or the rare dwarf birch). Wet meadow habitats support tufted hairgrass and common camas (the latter having been an important traditional food for local Native Americans).

Subalpine Habitat

These habitats occur at middle to higher elevations, on mountain slopes, ridges and in draws. They also can be found at lower elevations in cold air drainages (often found in the Priest River area). Subalpine fir and Engelmann spruce often dominate forested habitats, with huckleberry, menziesia and mountain ash or alpine bluegrass and alpine timothy in the understory. The rare Sitka mistmaiden occurs on wet cliffs and ledges.

Wild Medicinals

Many medicinal plants we think of as being "native" are not truly native, but instead were brought here by traders, colonists, soldiers, and native peoples. These plants have naturalized in the wild over the past few hundred years.

Some of these Naturalized Plants are included in this exhibit:
Shrubs: Chockcherry, Elderberry, Pearhip Rose Serviceberry, Sumac

Native Perennials: Coltsfoot, Goldenseal, Heart-leaf Arnica, Joe Pye Weed, Lungwort, Nodding Pink Onion, Trillium, Valerian, Wintergreen, Wood Betany

Arboretum address: 611 South Ella Avenue Sandpoint, Idaho United States 83864 Arboretum web site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
A waymark may not be logged as visited, until the finder makes a trip to it.

To log this waymark, you must be able to prove to the waymark owner that you were at the arboretum in question.

Post a photo of an identifiably part of the Arboretum, having your GPS in the photo would be a good idea. In addition, but optional, you may include a a photo and latitude/longitude coordinates of a favorite tree/shrub specimen.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log   06/29/2017 Wood Carver visited it