Spirit of the Siskiyous

For 25 years, Mary Paetzel roamed the Siskiyou Mountains of southwest Oregon, tracking rare plants and insects. A rugged land of peaks, canyons, and rushing rivers, the Siskiyous are renowned for their unusual plant life. A self-taught naturalist, Paetzel first came to these mountains as a pollen contractor for a pharmaceutical company. Traversing logging roads in an old Volkswagen bus and hiking the high country with her beloved dog Sal, Paetzel came to know the Siskiyous — their wildflowers, butterflies, bees and wasps, lichens, and birds — as few ever have.

Mary Paetzel recorded her wilderness experiences in a series of illustrated journals. Spirit of the Siskiyous gathers the best of these writings along with selections of Paetzel's paintings and drawings into a single volume. An important natural history of the Siskiyou Mountains, the book also documents a unique personal journey through a little-known, but fascinating, landscape.

Although at times outspoken in her criticism of the Forest Service, Paetzel later worked for the agency conducting species surveys in the Siskiyou National Forest. During this time, she discovered a rare colony of Mariposa copper butterflies and was instrumental in establishing several protected botanical sites.

It's to make readers aware of the fragile beauty of the Siskiyous and the urgent need to protect these wild places that Mary Paetzel has made her private journals — with their keen observations, fine wit, and demonstrated love of the land — available in this remarkable book.

Foreward by Lee Webb

Introduction

Lord, How Do I Know Thee?

Map

Preface by Robert Michael Pyle

Brief Natural History of the Oregon Siskiyous

Beside the Creek

Fairy Bells on the Winter Air (January 15, 1969)

Bees and Cherry Blossoms (April 25, 1969)

Thirty Days Hath September (September 1, 1972)

A Rejoicing of Robins (December 26, 1978)

The Tea Party Beside the Creek (July 14, 1979)

Sandbar Willows (July 14, 1979)

The Heron (August 6, 1979)

A Surprising Visitor (August 8, 1979)

Reflections (August 15, 1979)

Dead Trees (September 19, 1979)

Cardinal Flowers and a Rufous Hummer (September 1, 1979)

Killdeer (September 22, 1979)

Last Visit (December 31, 1979)

May, and the Return of the Birds (May 22, 1980)

Wild Rose Blossoms (June 17, 1980)

Loveliest Month Beside the Creek (June 26, 1980)

Case of the Agitated Sandpiper (June 27, 1980)

The Royal Visitor (August 21, 1980)

First Day of Autumn (September 22, 1980)

Drought, Logging, and Development (1993)

The River and Hellgate

First Day at Hellgate (October 17, 1966)

Plants of Hellgate Canyon (October 31, 1966)

Spring Has Come to Hellgate! (December 1, 1966)

First Butterfly in the Canyon (March 8, 1967)

The Merganser and Her Babies (May 24, 1967)

Those Clowns the Tiger Beetles (October 12, 1967)

Day to Climb a Mountain (November 27, 1967)

The Merganser Babies and How They Grew! (December 9, 1967)

Hellgate and High Water (February 23, 1968)

Last Day of Spring (June 20, 1968)

The "Bee Wolf" (June 29, 1969)

Silent Canyon (July 13, 1968)

Wild Geese Calling--Calling (October 16, 1968)

The Odynerus Nest at Hellgate Canyon (May 1, 1969)

Where the Boys Are (May 2, 1969)

"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (March 31, 1970)

Mud Daubers Beside the River (September 9, 11, 1970)

Cicindela's Larva (June 18, 1971)

Day of the Butterflies (June 19, 1971)

Big Philanthus Is Bembix (August 19, 24, 26, 1971)

Autumn Comes to the Milkweed (September 28, 1972)

Farewell September (September 30, 1972)

Leaf-cutting Bee of the Serpentine (May 16, 1973)

The Leaf-cutter's Work is Done (June 2, 1973)

Twilight and the River (Spril 5, 1983)

Hellgate--Twenty-seven Years Later (1993)

Chrome Ridge and Freeland Mountain

Home Again--Almost! (April 28, 1974)

Trees of Chrome Ridge (July 10, 1980)

Bolander's Lily (August 25, 1980)

Freeland Mountain and the Abandoned Lookout (September 15, 1980)

World of the Snow (January 29, 1981)

Snow on Freeland Mountain (February 4, 1981)

The Arabis of Freeland Mountain (May 1, 1981)

Lost Canyon (July 9, 1981)

The Cobra Lilies of Lost Canyon (July 1981)

Fern Canyon (July 30, 1981)

Spring Comes to Freeland Mountain (May 26, 1982)

The Sleeping Bear (June 23, 1982)

The Old Fritillary (September 30, 1982)

Day of the Fritillaries (September 21, 1983)

Ragged Wings and Faded Glory (October 5, 1983)

Lunch with the Cobra Lilies (April 15, 1985)

November Pool--And a Brand New Butterfly (November 2, 1985)

Discovery of the Mariposa Copper Butterfly (1984-1986)

The Mariposa Copper of Mud Springs (August 13. 1984)

Day of Discovery (September 17, 1984)

The Striped Caterpillars (August 4, 1985)

New Discoveries at Mud Springs (May 14, 1986)

Mud Springs and Good Companions (June 2, 1986)

Chrome Ridge and Freeland Mountain (1993)

Briggs Valley and Horse Creek

The Happy Wanderers (October 27, 1976)

The Little Golden-eye (November 2, 1977)

The Little Golden-eye--Epilogue (November 7, 1977)

Our Green and Gold Day (April 1978)

Horse Creek and the Spirit of the Siskiyous (January 7, 1980)

The Ancient Jeffrey Pine (February 2, 1981)

"Some Days are Diamonds" (October 18. 1981)

"The Good Grey Rain" (December 2, 1981)

The Wasp Watcher (August 17, 1982)

All the Friends of Summer (October 11, 1982)

Last of Summer's Butterflies (November 2, 1982)

Memories of the Little Golden-eyed Duck (November 5, 1982)

Stars in a Fallen Galaxy (February 1, 1983)

A Slight Bit of Excitement (August 22, 1982)

Of Snow and "Lowland Candle Flames" (March 22, 1984)

Cemetery Hill (March 30, 1984)

Green Mansions (May 13, 1984)

Butterfly Bend (September 19, 1984)

Mysterious Little Anthidium Placitum (August 2, 1985)

A Bouquet of Butterflies (April 7, 1986)

Dance of the Blue Grouse (December 16, 1986)

Magic of Moonlight (February 9, 1989)

The Wanderer Returns (1993)

Bigelow Lakes and Mount Elijah

A High Mountain Meadow and Memories (October 4, 1973)

Farewell to the Meadow (October 17, 1973)

Wind of the Ridge (October 18, 1973)

Snow on the Meadow (October 18.1973)

"Oh Suns and Skies and Clouds of June" (June 17, 1974)

July and a Melting Snow Bank (July 2, 1974)

Journey into April (July 15, 1974)

Blue Penstemons and Mount Elijah (July 24, 1974)

Summer Comes to the Meadow (August 10, 1974)

Journey into Winter (Prologue) (October 30, 1974)

Of Snow and the Sun of July (July 10, 1975)

The Little Hidden Pond (July 23, 1975)

The Impossible! (December 9, 1975)

Fog in the Meadow (July 8, 1976)

The Black-and-White Crane Flies (July 22, 1976)

Three's Company (September 20, 1977)

August Lies Across the Meadow (August 16, 1977)

Lake Mountain--South Peak (August 31, 1977)

Lake Mountain--North Peak (September 10, 1977)

The Red and Silver Helicopter (June 19, 1978)

Heather on Lake Mountain (July 11, 1979)

End of the Trail (November 28, 1978)

Goodbye, Lake Mountain (June 11, 1979)

Bigelow Lakes Revisited(1993)

Epilogue: Journey into Memory

"In Spirit of the Siskiyous, Mary Paetzel demonstrates the way in which the larger literature of the land is built upon the lovingly recorded lifeways of the true, self-trained and self-motivated observer. It is a grand tradition, and this is one of the best of the species."