Little Tesuque Creek Trail - Hyde Park Rd., Santa Fe, NM
September 9, 2023; 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Led by: Monica Harmon, Santa Fe County
Co-facilitator: Christie Collins, Santa Fe Botanical Garden
Co-facilitator: Meghan Baker, Randel Davey Audobon Center

Overview
This lab marked the first field trip for the 2023 Northern New Mexico Master Naturalist Program cohort. The goal of the lab was to introduce the concepts of dendrology and local tree identification. The field trip took place along the Little Tesuque Creek Trail on Santa Fe County property along NM 475. The start time for the lab was approximately 9:00 AM and concluded at 12:30 PM. A variety of bird species were observed during the walk including northern Flicker, mountain chickadee, and juniper titmouse. The weather was mild to warm under the canopy with clear skies and high UV.

Highlighted botanicals included:

Pinyon pine (Pinus edulis)
Ponderosa pine (Pinus ponderosa)
Siberian elm (Ulmus pumila)
Coyote Willow (Salix exigua)
Fremont cottonwood (Populus fremontii)
Box elder (Acer negundo)
Narrowlead cottonwood (Populus angustifolia)
Rocky mountain juniper (Juniperus scopulorum)
One-seed juniper (Juniperus monosperma)
Douglas fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii)
Apache plume (Fallugia paradox)
Currant (Ribes sp.)

A variety of galls and plant pathologies were also observed during the presentation walk. These were photographed in situ and identified utilizing the gallformers.org online resource with reference to the host plant species. Non-gall plant pathology identification was made using the available university factsheet resources and applicable scientific literature. Other interesting observations from the walk are also included and were identified by the author. All uploaded observations are attached to this journal entry.

Interesting observations
A beautiful variety of gall forms were observed during the trail walk and included gall-forming species that affected willow, cottonwood, oak, and a Prunus sp.(?). These included insects from the groups Diptera:Cecidomyiidae (Gall and forest midges) and Lepidoptera:Geometridae (Geometer moths), as well as the willow gall mite, Aculus tetanothrix (Acari:Eriophyidae). Several other observations are pending further ID review and/or community assistance.

The orange blemishes observed on the currants towards the end of the field trip were caused by white pine blister rust (Cronartium ribicola). This species of fungus is native to Asia and is an invasive plant pathogen in North America. Per its namesake, the fungus is primarily associated with white pine species but infects Ribes sp. as a secondary host.

Finally, a couple of amazing caterpillars were observed on a willow along our trail walk.

Posted on September 19, 2023 08:16 PM by mjwcarr