At the Taggart Lake area, three miles north of Moose, look for magenta fireweed and yellow heartleaf arnica where fire burned in 1985. Flowering shrubs that have proliferated since the fire include pink spreading dogbane and snowbrush ceanothus with its sweet-scented blossoms. Wildflowers bloom amid stands of shoulder- high aspens and numerous lodgepole pines that grew after the fire, so hiking the Taggart Lake Trail provides a closeup view of accelerated plant growth as a result of fire. Today look for magenta fireweed, purple asters, yellow groundsel and pink sticky geranium in a lush carpet of green grasses. These plants are exotics that are not native to northwestern Wyoming.
Exotic plants can easily become noxious weeds, plants that spread and displace native vegetation.
The spread of exotic plants is often a by-product of human activities that cause ground disturbance, such as road and trail construction and grazing of domestic livestock. Work Outdoors at GORP Jobs Click Here. All rights reserved.