Spearfish man goes on Alaska wildflower quest

By Eric Lochridge, Journal staff | Tuesday, February 05, 2008

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Phillip Henry of Spearfish spent last summer in Alaska photographing flowers on the Seward Peninsula. The photos are intended for a book about the region’s wildflowers, and Henry said this summer he will return to Nome, where his brother and sister-in-law live, to finish collecting more for the book.

“It was a grand year for wildflowers, one of the best in anyone’s memory,” Henry said.

During his return trip, Henry intends to photograph a type of rare primrose that is becoming extinct because a burgeoning goose population is eating the plant before it blooms.

“We need to get there early this year and get some primrose pictures before the geese pick them away,” he said. “The chukchi primrose is what we really have to concentrate on.”

To catch the blossoms early, he’ll need to be on the peninsula by the third or fourth week in May. The problem is that no roads really open there until June, he said.

To overcome such accessibility issues, Henry’s brother built a sailboat last year and is working on a hovercraft now to get to areas they previously couldn’t access.

Already, Henry’s research has yielded success. “We did find two species there not recorded in any of the literature,” he said.

One was only 2 millimeters in diameter, and the other looked like a white rose and was only 3 or 4 millimeters.

In addition to wildflowers, Henry also mingled with the peninsula’s wildlife, including bears and a musk ox herd. “We had quite a number of adventures,” he said.

Send us your travel photos

We invite you to send in your best photo from a recent trip. Mail your vacation photos to Features Editor Deanna Darr, 507 Main St., P.O. Box 450, Rapid City, SD 57709. You also may e-mail photos to deanna.darr@rapidcityjournal.com. The resolution must be at least 200 dpi (dots per inch) and the photo should be 4 to 5 inches wide. Be sure to tell us who took the photo, where and when the photo was taken and a little about your trip.

Contact Eric Lochridge at 394-8321 or eric.lochridge@rapid cityjournal.com.