April 2022 - 20

P
asqueflowers often show
their heads first with
their pale, purple petals
and fuzzy stems. They seem
impervious to the spring's cold
and snow, closing their flowers
and bowing their heads under
a blanket of white until the sun
coerces them up and open again.
On their own they're not a critical source of
mule deer food, not like a sticky geranium or
hollyhock, but they help deer on their spring
and summer switch from bits of sagebrush or
bushes to feasts of flowers and other luscious
plants, said Jill Randall, big game migration
coordinator with the Wyoming Game and
Fish Department and native plant expert.
Pasqueflowers, along with star lilies, spring
beauties, buttercups and shooting stars, tell
us and all other living creatures in the state
that spring is coming, soon to be followed
by summer. And while they're eye candy for
us - fodder for pictures and long stares -
for everything from insects to moose, they're
the beginning of a high-calorie buffet critical
for survival.
" When you're thinking about direct forage
benefit of wildflowers or forbs to ungulates,
they provide a big bulk of the high quality
nutrition in the summer, " Randall said. " We
know ungulates try to get as fat as they can in
the summer, and they try to get their young
of the year up and going and as fast as they
can before winter, and forbs provide generally
higher quality forage than grass or shrubs or
trees during that season. "
It's not just the spring flowers. Wildflowers
are critical for wildlife from the first ones
growing in clearings of snow to the final wild
strawberries hanging on long after the first late
summer frosts. Wyoming's great diversity of
wildflowers, in fact, is what helps sustain the
state's diversity of animals and insects, said
Ryan Amundson, Game and Fish terrestrial
habitat biologist in Laramie.
Big game like elk, moose and deer spend
hard winters nibbling any bit they can from
any bush, or dried up plant they find, then
20 | April 2022
Mountain hollyhock is high in protein and typically grows after forest wildfires. (Photo by Jill Randall)
Indian paintbrush are a valuable food source for many wildlife species big and small. (Photo by Dawn Wilson)

April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of April 2022

April 2022 - 1
April 2022 - 2
April 2022 - 3
April 2022 - 4
April 2022 - 5
April 2022 - 6
April 2022 - 7
April 2022 - 8
April 2022 - 9
April 2022 - 10
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https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/wyoming-wildlife-may-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2024-e-edition
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2024
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2023
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/december-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-iak-special-issue
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/january-2022
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/dec-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/october-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/september-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/august-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/july-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/june-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/may-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/april-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/march-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/february-2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/January2021
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/December2020
https://www.nxtbook.com/wyominggame/WyomingWildlife/September2020
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com