- Upper Dry Gulch Natural Area Preserve (dnr.wa.gov)
This 3,087-acre preserve protects the largest known population of Whited’s milkvetch, a state-listed “endangered” plant species that is found only within a 3-square-mile area. Situated in the arid mountains southeast of Wenatchee, this site is dominated by a native shrub and bunchgrass (shrub-steppe) ecosystem that is recovering from past land uses. The drainage that flows through the site carries water seasonally and is subject to torrential flows during spring. The loggerhead shrike, a bird species known to be highly dependent on shrub-steppe habitat, is also known to frequent this area.
- Alioth (stars.astro.illinois.edu)
ALIOTH (Epsilon Ursae Majoris). The graceful curve of handle of the Big Dipper (the Plough in Great Britain), among the most famed of celestial sights, represents the tail of Ursa Major, the Greater Bear. Third star in from the end, “Alioth” relates not to a bear, but to a “black horse,” the name corrupted from the original and misassigned to the naked-eye companion of Mizar, which took on the vaguely similar name “Alcor.”