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Eight Dollar Mountain is an iconic serpentine conical mountain in the Illinois Valley and one of the most significant botanical hotspots in Southwest Oregon. Its ultramafic soils, derived from mantle rocks, support an extraordinary concentration of rare, endemic, and state- and federally listed plant species—many of which occur nowhere else on Earth, and some known only from the Illinois Valley. This otherworldly landscape long served as a living laboratory for researchers studying endemism, adaptation, and ecological resilience.
Join us for a winter hike at the Harry & Marilyn Fisher Preserve at Pompadour Bluff just outside of Ashland on a hike guided by SOLC staff. Walk though beautiful oaks and grasslands to the top of the bluff for spectacular views of Bear Creek Valley, the Cascades and the Siskiyou Mountains. Free, but please register for more information and to reserve a spot. We will meet in Ashland to carpool or caravan.
Join lichenologist and naturalist John Villella for an exploration of the lichens at the Harry & Marilyn Fisher Preserve at Pompadour Bluff near Ashland. We will identify lichens growing on trees, shrubs, soil, and rocks, and we may see some rare species. Free, but please register for more information and to reserve a space. We will meet in Ashland to carpool or caravan. Please bring a hand lens if you have one.
Nature Talks on YouTube
Enjoy recordings of our past Nature Talks. Each event has multiple presenters. From our local national trails, to new SOLC conserved lands, to special species, to tracking animals in the snow - you’ll gain knowledge to impress all your friends.
Sticky tofieldia or western false-asphodel, Triantha occidentalis
You are not in this for recognition or stardom, you just need to supplement your diet of eating sunlight and gathering nutrients because the soils on Eight Dollar Mountain are a bit like human junk food, low in plant nutrients and high in toxic metals. Everyone needs to eat, yet you are sessile and embedded in soggy wetland soils. For eons, you have been digesting bugs, but only in 2021, did human scientists discover your clever ways. Sticky flower stems do the trick, very sticky bug-trapping stems. Tiny hairs on your stem release phosphatase, an enzyme, allowing you to digest very small protein and phosphorus-rich snacks like fruit flies while avoiding eating your larger pollinator buddies who are stronger and can avoid getting stuck.
Finally, after a century of fire suppression, finally, a healing 32-acre managed grassland burn returned to the Rogue River Preserve on October 18, 2025. But it took some perseverance to make it happen. We are tremendously grateful for the professional crew from Grayback Forestry Inc. who conducted the burn and for all the preserve’s neighbors who provided input.
Sign up for our digital mailing list to receive our monthly eNews, stay informed about conservation developments at SOLC, and to be notified about important dates and events.
84 Fourth Street (office)
PO Box 954
Ashland, OR 97520
info@landconserve.org
541.482.3069
