(ethereal music) - I think flowers are a gateway plant.

There's still a sense of marvel there.

What you really think is, (water pattering) how in the world are you growing?

You're on a cliff.

You're in a little tiny crevice that has maybe a quarter-inch of sand in it.

They find a place that's so inhospitable, they're the only one that can grow there.

When I see that, I feel like, I can't believe that you are sculpted so perfectly, evolutionarily, to fit right there and you've been doing it for thousands of years.

To me, it is masterpiece.

- [Narrator] Steven Clark is a biologist and professor at Clark College in Vancouver, Washington.

- Okay, so it's a baby.

(birds chirping) - Here, he teaches students all about the interconnectedness of ecosystems, but in his spare time, he ventures into the field to the look for and document rare native plants.

- Yeah.

Thimbleberry.

Was that the one you did?

- Yeah- - [Narrator] Which are often hidden in hard-to-reach places.

- [Stephen] I tend to choose things in my home area by the Columbia River Gorge.

Okay, so- - [Narrator] Today's assignment is to locate the Gorge Daisy.

- As soon as you see the word daisy you're gonna think of the English Daisy.

It'll be a round disk with little white pedals around it, little green stem.

(water pattering) - [Narrator] But this is no ordinary daisy.

Visually the Gorge Daisy is characterized by a touch of lavender around the edges of the petals but even more distinctive is its ability to harvest resources, like water, through tiny little cracks in the soil.

- Most daisies can't do that, but that one can, it has evolved for that niche.

And the reason it's rare isn't because it's being wiped out.

It's because it has such a narrow tolerance.

I could take those seeds for that flower, plant them here lovingly tomorrow, and it would get overwhelmed, like a Panda bear, its niche is to live in and eat bamboo.

You can put it out here, it'll die.

(ethereal music) This is the book that has the rare plants of Washington.

There's only three places where you can find it.

There I am Ridge Run.

My job is to go out and do a survey.

See if the plant that was perhaps seen 10 years ago, is it still there?

All the way up till 1993.

You desperately wanna find it.

'Cuz if you can't find it, you think, "Did it die out?"

It's rare.

That was surprising, wasn't it?

- I know.

- They're on the edge.

- [Narrator] This plant is so sensitive.

It can't really survive in other environments.

Just a slight change in its habitat could wipe it out forever, which might make you wonder, why should we care about it?

- I, one time, just as a model, I took a bicycle and I said "Imagine this is your natural world.

Humans have an impact on things.

So suppose we take something out.

What would you take out?"

Well, the first thing you might take off would be the handle grip because you can still ride it.

So we take that off.

You can take off the bell.

You might take off the fenders, the bike still rides.

But at some point, you're gonna take off maybe every fifth spoke or maybe you'll take off the seat.

But if you keep doing that, you're gonna disassemble the whole thing and it won't work.

That's what happens when you lose a native species.

To me, the natural world has all these intricate, interdependent relationships.

And they're built on all the parts being there.

This is a Tiger Lily.

- [Narrator] But to Steven, the lesson of the Gorge Daisy is not about fearing what we could lose.

It's about appreciating the value of what still exists.

- So this is a Side Band Snail.

So he's not too scared.

(birds chirping) He's coming out.

Come on, get your antenna out so we can see who we are.

You kinda wanna watch where you step because, by accident, you could do something that you wouldn't want to do.

I feel a sense of impoverishment when I recognize any species has unnecessarily declined or gone extinct.

(uplifting music) - [Narrator] By exploring beyond where most humans would think to look and taking time to count these tiny flowers, Steven and other volunteers with rare care are making the invisible visible.

- Yeah.

- [Narrator] Because if we can see them, and count them, we can protect them.

- We've got cliff and it needs shade.

And I see a band of green and that's what we're gonna climb up onto, that band of green on the right.

It'll start to get steep and stop when you're not comfortable.

There's plenty to see without getting scared.

I'm gonna start searching now (water sloshing) Have you found my daisy?

When you're walking around looking for that rare plant and you find it you feel like the shepherd, like the caretaker.

"I'm gonna take your picture.

I'm gonna write it down.

I'm gonna look at your leaves.

See who's here and you're in good hands and you're missed."

You know, that's what it feels like it's silly but it's also solitary and joyful.

Right now I'm at 23 Gorge Daisies!

24, 25, that's 26, 27, 28.

39 and then 40.

The evolution has crafted these beautiful, intricate minute relationships for thousands of years.

And when we find that rare plant, we found one that is still here doing its job the way it always has.

It's a little bit like looking at an old picture of someone you love from years ago and you get this unusual joy that, three minutes ago, you would have no idea that that would be what you were feeling.

It makes you feel beautifully small in the world of evolution.

When I'm out looking at these flowers and rare plants or just native plants if I'm in an intact ecosystem, everywhere I look I feel like that is just perfect.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Perfect.

Perfect.

That's how I feel.