The leading grasses in Foster County are buffalo, bunch, marsh, blue-stem, wild barley and rye, sagebrush, prairie sage, wool, needle, quack, pigeon, alfalfa, sweet clover, brome, millet and Sudan.
Some of the common weeds of the county are barley, burdock, binder weed, bitter weed, catnip, cheat, cocklebur, chickweed, dandelion, dock, dodder, fostair, foxtail, horsenettle, ironweed, lambsquarter, mustard, mullein, morning-glory, pigweed, peppergrass, pennycress, plantain, purslane, quackgrass, ragweed, russian, bull, and sow thistle, sorrel, wild oats, smartweed, sandbur, frenchweed, lettuce, rose, wild buckwheat, vetch, marsh elder, loco, goatsbeard, milkweed, wild hemlock and poison ivy.
Foster County is a land of flowers among which may be found white, blue and golden asters; bloodroot; black-eyed susan; bluebells, buttercups; crocus, cactus; cotton weed; wild cucumber; closed gentain; columbine; prairie clover; daisy; dahlias; forget-me-not; wild flax; ferns; goldenrod; gladioli; holllyhock; Indian turnip; iris; iron-weed; fillies; loco weed; lady's slippers; moss; mile vetch; meadow parsnip; milkweed; mint; white wild onions; peony; prairie thistle; parsley; wild rose; spiderwort; strawberry; sunflower; violet and wild sweet williams.
Among the vines may be listed clematis, lilac, honey suckle, hop, virginia creeper, wild grape, poison ivy, pea, morning glory, Japanese ivy, and virginia's bower.
The most common fruit trees and shrubs are apple, crab-apple, plum, cherry, gooseberry, raspberry, current, grape, juneberry, chokecherry, bullberry, spirea, caragana, and Japanese bayberry:
Foster county is sadly lacking in forest, however among other trees found in the county are cottonwood; ash; red, white and ray willow; birch maple, hawthorne; boxelder; aspen; hackberry; bur oak; red oak, pine and spruce.
The fauna of Foster County has varied with the development of time. It is possible that sea monsters once made this their home. It is known that buffalo, "the monarch of the plains", elk, antelope and deer were numbered by the thousands. The dog, red fox, coyote, grizzly and black bear and mountain lion roamed the prairies. The muskrat, gopher, rat, mouse, mink, badger, cottontail, jack and snowshoe rabbit, weasel and skunk still furnish much clean outdoor sport during open seasons.
The insect life has been on the increase the past few years. Some of the most common are ants, armyworm, apple-twig borer, boxelder bug, blister beetle, bean and pea weavil, cabbage worm, codling moth, corn ear worm, cottonwood and willow leaf beetle, fruit fly, grasshopper, leafhopper, potato beetle, stalk borer, squash bug and borer, white grub and wire worm.
Angling in the James River, Kelly Creek and Lake Juanita, whose waters teemed with game fish furnished the pioneer with many a thrill. The most prized being the northern pike, pickerel, perch, crappies and ever biting bull-heads.
Birds, thousands of them live and visit Foster County annually. The red winged and bronzed blackbirds, blue bird, bobolink, catbird, chicadee, coot (Mudhen), cowbird, cranes, creepers, crows, dove, ducks, flicker, geese, goldfinch, growhawk, grebes, grosbeak, grouse, gulls, marsh and red-tailed hawks, hummingbird, jays, killdeer, kingbird, kingfisher, lark, loons, magpie, meadow and horned larks, oriole, snow horned owls, pelicans, plover, prairie hen, rails, redpoll, robin, sagehen, snipe, sandpiper, sparrows, swans, turns, thrashers, thrushes, warblers, wrens, woodpecker, hungarian partridge, ringnecked pheasants, and many others who visit at intervals.
There are only a few destructive rodents in the county, the most common of which are the gopher, rat, mouse and muskrat.
(E.L. Horton report)
Source: A History of Foster County 1983 Page 20