A combination of invading brush and a large population of voles have been eating away at the endangered Golden Paintbrush over the past two years at Forbes Point on NAS Whidbey Island’s Seaplane Base.

This is only one of nine sites in the United States in which it can be found; five of the meadowlands in which it grows are on Whidbey Island said air station Environmental Department ecologist John Phillips.

In an effort to make sure the Golden Paintbrush continues to thrive, NAS Whidbey’s Natural Resources Management Program, in cooperation with the Nature Conservancy and the installation’s federal fire department, performed a control burn Aug. 15. The burn will help control brush and voles.

“Voles eat the flowering heads and seeds, hitting it when it’s most susceptible,” said Phillips. When last counted, there were 121 plants at Forbes Point.

The Golden Paintbrush is a multi-stemmed perennial herb, which grows 4 to 20 inches tall. It has two-lipped flowers that are enclosed in bright yellow bracts. The leaves are glandular and down-covered, and are either sticky with long, soft hairs or rough with bristles. The lower leaves are long, whole and tapered to a point at each end. Upper leaves are egg-shaped, narrower at the base, with one to three pairs of short lateral lobes.

The species found at Forbes Point can reproduce either by seed or from roots. It blooms at the end of April through the end of May.

According to Phillips, several hundred seeds taken from this site, grown in pots, and were planted last fall through a contract with the Nature Conservancy. Of that, Environmental noted only 2 percent survived in some of the planted plots.

The controlled burn got rid of brush such as thistle, blackberry, Oregon grape and Nootka Rose.

The NAS Fire Department and one unit from Island County set up a wet barrier to keep the burn restricted.

Although the area where the Golden Paintbrush is fenced off with wire meshing at the bottom to keep voles out, the critters still find ways to burrow in. The burn will also make it easier for raptors like owls, red tail hawks and harriers to see the voles and prevent them from eating the remaining plants.

Burning the habitat is the best way to return balance to the area and give Golden Paintbrush a chance to recover. With the Washington Department of Natural Resources and Nature Conservancy, NAS Whidbey is doing its part to ensure the Golden Paintbrush is here for another generation.