Figure-8's and Giant Worms: Go Figure!

Somehow my good intentions for posting more pics and a map of our Idaho/Montana circuit got sidetracked. My perfectionist streak may have been at least a subliminal contributor. I really wanted to better my initial somewhat crude sketch "as-built" map, but that isn't going to happen now. We'll have to live with Mr. Crude. Voila!

It surprised me how much I had to compact this simple map to get it to load properly. My final option, not yet properly explored, was to upload to pic-sharing site and post from there, very likely avoiding some of the nonsense at cost of extra logistics. So it will be useful to hear from you if this is so dang tiny as to be unreadable - at times a hard issue to judge from the director's chair.

My [two] dutiful readers may recall that we discarded plans for either I-90 return to Seattle or much more interesting and exotic non-interstate return via Republic and Omak and wonderful prospect of who-knows-what in the face of forest fire uncertainty.

Instead, after initial drive in general southeast direction to get to Sun Valley, followed by leg north through edge of Montana (Starbuck's!) and back into Idaho, reaching Sand Point, we enjoyed another wild freelance two-lane down the western edge of Idaho, all new to me, territory famous for prize-winning skinheads, into Washington at Palouse, and down to Walla Walla, crossing our outbound tracks in general vicinity of the town of Dodge (not that I took any notice of town of that name on either crossing!). That led to the interesting figure-eight-style routing that I hope a thoughtful and analytical sort can tease out of my "as-built" (though, as I hope you can glean from map, resembling an "8" only in that vague way that a topologist can appreciate).

Slightly to my annoyance, only today do I learn that we were passing through the locale of a yet-unrecognized potential endangered species, the Palouse Giant Earthworm. This par excellence up-to-three-foot-long lily-scented and spitting worm (!) was reputed to have been abundant in the 19th century when the terrifically scenic Palouse area featured a natural grassland community. Had I but known, I would have at least had a chance to rue the lack of a trenching tool in car for research purposes. And I am now remembering and again feeling quizzical about the odd but entrancing electric colors we observed as we passed through.

More recently, the worm was feared to have disappeared, no doubt at least largely due to aggressive exploitation of the rich loess soils for wheat-farming. But, good news, extinct it is apparently not:

Seeing as how I'm Sightline's expert on all things giant earthworm-related (no, it's not on my business card yet) I'd be remiss not to mention this story. Apparently, a conservation group is suing the feds for not responding to a petition to list the giant Palouse earthworm as an endangered species.

What's interesting about this story is not only that it's about a giant worm (though that does help). It's also interesting because the not-so-lowly worm may be the last best hope for protecting the remnants of the nearly-destroyed Palouse grasslands -- an inland Northwest ecosystem that was once astonishingly fertile and that now supports mostly wheat. For reasons both good and bad, conservation often piggybacks on charismatic ambassadors like polar bears or bison. But it remains to be seen whether the giant earthworm has the star power to do the trick in the Palouse.

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