Another spring season has started here in the Central Valley of California and with it comes the inevitable, weeds. A significant component of my internship at the Cosumnes River Preserve is identifying, mapping, and treating weed infestations. It is not my favorite task, but I believe it is a necessary evil. This year looks to be an especially busy one. It seems new invasive populations are popping up out of the woodwork.
Last Thursday I was able to plant at my RD-150 restoration site with the help of fellow preserve co-workers. We had a great day for the planting and encountered minimal complications (Can we still consider this a restoration?!) Any other free time I have had in the past several weeks has been dedicated to writing the NEPA document for one of my other projects.
Until next time!!

Spring appears to be on the not so distant horizon here on Colorado’s Front Range. Although spring in the Rockies is typically characterized by capricious and unsettled weather; Chinook winds rush off the mountains as the peaks are warmed by the growing strength of the sun. In town, temperatures climb momentarily into the seventies coaxing people from their winter repose. Although, just as you’ve gotten used to the idea that winter may be relaxing its frosty grip, the weather takes another turn and we wind up with six inches of sloppy spring snow on the ground. Spring appears to be further off in and among the high peaks and parks. Last weekend while skiing through the lodgepole pines of Grand County I was taken aback by the greater than two meters of snow which still insulates the cold hard ground. Somewhere down there beneath that blanket of white are the plants we hope to be monitoring in a few months’ time.

At the Colorado State Office my attention has been focused west of the high peaks on the high desert canyons and plateaus of the Western Slope. The Grand Valley and Gunnison River basin form the banana belt of the state; so to speak. The climate is relatively mild and supports vineyards and extensive orchards of peaches during the summer months. On the plateau the flora comes to life months earlier than do the alpine congeners. Out there, hiding in the shaley alluvium, is a particular cactus with has been the object of my time over the past several weeks. Sclerocactus glaucus is a small barrel cactus with highly plastic morphological characters which have long confounded its systematics. Due to variation in its form and a range which overlaps with other taxa of the same genus it is presently unknown exactly how rare or prolific the species is. Over the past couple of years, in addition to several revisions in taxonomic status and demographic monitoring studies, there has been quite a bit of work investigating the genetic structure of the species at a population level. This research has begun to illustrate that Sclerocactus glaucus might be less ‘threatened’ than it has been determined to be by the Fish & Wildlife Service. I have been working to synthesize a comprehensive literate review and status report which reflects the most current and up-to-date understanding of the species and its range.

Field season is shaping up to be a busy one. It seems that several times a week Carol (our mentor) receives a request from someone else to assist with surveying and monitoring. It is becoming apparent that we will be tending to a generous amount of demographic monitoring of rare and endangered species across the state this summer. These monitoring projects will take us from the Mancos badlands, Roan Cliffs, and red-rock canyons of the Western Slope, high into the alpine tundra of the Mosquito Range, to the dunes and sage-steppe of North Park. In addition to monitoring established trend plots, my fellow intern and I have several new projects to implement.  It remains to be seen how much time we actually end up spending in the office this summer.

From the Front Range,

Phil Krening

Colorado State Office – BLM

Lakewood, CO

The past several weeks have been exciting and each new observation or activity has filled me with a certain sense of joy! About 2 weeks ago we had a much needed rain in the Carson Valley and a small amount of snow in the Sierras, which desperately needs more snow for this winter season. Thanks to the new snow I was able to go snowmobiling for the second time and get to view the wonderful trees of the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains. Some of my favorites are the Incense Cedar (Calocedrus decurrens), Sugar Pine (Pinus lambertiana), Sierra White Fir (Abies concolor var. lowiana) and the California Red Fir (Abies magnifica). All of these trees and more are such a wonderful representation of forests that are full of life and excitement! One such creature is the small Chickaree (Tamiasciurus douglasii) that is a bundle full of energy, running to and fro gathering cones and seeds to eat or stash away. The Clark’s Nutcracker (Nucifraga columbiana) is another animal that is quite conspicuous and talkative as you make your way up in elevation. This bird can store over seventy-five pine seeds in a special pouch inside the throat.  It then takes the seeds and buries them in caches along the mountain slopes. I have read some research that says they usually bury their caches on south-facing slopes, so that in the spring time the snow in these areas will melt faster and they can get to their caches earlier!

I have also seen the emergence of the California Ground Squirrels (Spermophilus beecheyi) in the past two weeks. They are funny animals that scurry around on the ground looking for items to eat and then run back to their burrows! If presented with the chance to see them up close or through binoculars, I believe you will be surprised with how nice-looking they really are and the characteristics of their fur. Another bird I was able to see recently was the Say’s Phoebe (Sayornis saya), which is adorned with a very nice plumage. The back and upperparts are mostly gray, but the underparts are a rusty orange color and of course they have the usually tail-bobbing characteristic of the Phoebes.

The snow is melting fast on the eastern slope of the Sierras and many plants in the sagebrush steppe have already begun to flower and release their buds from dormancy. Several species from the Grossulariaceae have begun to leaf out and show flowers and flower buds. The Golden Currant (Ribes aureum) is leafing out and showing flower buds, while the Desert Gooseberry (Ribes velutinum) has leafed out and several individuals which I have seen are in flower! Various willow species have also begun to open their male and female catkins, which are so beautiful to look at up close. The Arroyo Willow (Salix lasiolepis), Yellow Willow (Salix lutea) and Peachleaf Willow (Salix amygdaloides) have all begun to flower and leaf out in the past two weeks. Several herbaceous species that have begun to grow and flower include the wonderful and colorful Yellowbells (Fritillaria pudica), Sagebrush Violet (Viola beckwithii),Longleaf Phlox (Phlox longifolia), Darkred Onion (Allium atrorubens var. cristatum), Slender Phlox (Microsteris gracilis) and Whitlow Grass (Draba verna) to name a few of the colorful characters of early spring!

It excites me to know that the sagebrush steppe is beginning to come alive and that there are many other members of this incredible habitat that I will come to know well over the course of this year!

An incredible tree that grows in an austere and becoming environment. (Abies concolor var. lowiana)

Surrounded by large mountains this watershed is a jewel in the Sierra Nevadas.

The HUGE cones of Sugar Pine! I think it’s possible that someone could climb a tree quite high to get a closer look at these beauties.

The colorful male catkin of Salix lasiolepis.

The small, yet lightening flower of the Desert Gooseberry.

The sandy and dry habitat of Prickly Pear. Job’s Peak, of the Sierra Nevada mountains, looms in the distance:)

Darkred Onion is almost inconspicuous in vegetative form but when the flowers come out it cannot be missed by the attentive eye!

Longleaf Phlox has a quite showy flower that brings color to the sagebrush floor.

Yellowbells is a wonderful flower to see in the early spring as the sagebrush steppe begins to awaken.

Follow new roads and adventures to the edge of discovery my friends,

Ethan

Carson City BLM Field Office

Our field season in the Mojave is pretty much in full swing now. This past week my fellow CLM interns and I headed to Fort Irwin, CA with our USGS mentors to plant our common garden site there with Ambrosia dumosa (White bursage), Larrea tridentata (Creosote bush), and Sphaeralcea ambigua (Desert Globemallow). We had just over 600 plants to transport and plant out at our field site, which makes for some interesting logistical challenges. However, true to form our crew finished the planting earlier than expected and enjoyed exploring our final common garden site.

Sun setting at our Ft. Irwin field site

One of my favorite things about this internship so far is the chance to travel to field sites around the Mojave Desert, in Utah, Nevada, California, and eventually Arizona. I particularly appreciated it this week because our field site in California was ablaze with an assortment of beautiful blooming annuals. This was the first chance we’d had to see a variety of annuals, because other parts of the Mojave haven’t had enough rainfall to support the annual plants. It also meant that we had the chance to do some plant collection and practice our plant pressing and ID’ing skills! We had to improvise a bit as 30 mph winds made collecting and pressing plants in the field a bit difficult, but we managed to get our samples back to the office intact and worked as a team to identify some of the annuals we saw. My plant ID partner Renee and I learned some great tips for using dichotomous keys, and I loved the puzzle of figuring out which plants we had found. The sometimes frustrating experience was more than worth the satisfaction we felt when we identified the plants we collected (see pictures below). I’m looking forward to becoming more familiar with our key and exploring more of the fabulous Mojave Desert in the weeks to come!

A beautiful patch of Desert dandelion (Malacothrix glabrata)

Mojave suncup (Camissonia campestris), one of the plants we identified

Desert pincushion (Chaenactis fremontii), one of the other plants we identified with our keys

This last week, I came back from a short break. I am happy to be back and excited to continue my work at the Boise Regional Seed Warehouse. I picked up where I left off updating the warehouse inventory and identifying seed that needed a retest so that we would have updated seed test results for all lots of seed currently in stock. The Boise Regional Seed Warehouse relies heavily on test results so we know that the seed we are purchasing and selling has good viability and will do well out in the field once it is planted. Consequently, when seed is bought and sold, it requires a test result that is dated no later than 6 months from the time of sale. With over 800,000 lbs of seed and 200+ lots of different seed in the Boise warehouse, it is quite the task to go through every single test to make sure it is updated and readily available to be sold. I am about three-quarters of the way done, and should be finished within the next few weeks. Throughout the process, I have also been able to reorganize the test results to make the process of locating the tests a bit more efficient and streamlined.

I also started a new task this week that includes locating and researching sagebrush lots that have been purchased in the last 20 years, and identifying where they have been planted. This is being done to assist the USGS in analyzing the success of sagebrush lots in Southwest Idaho for the last couple decades. I went through many, many boxes of old files to help in locating the needed information. Although it was very time consuming (and dusty), I am confident that the information provided to the USGS will help shed light on the success rates of sagebrush habitats in recent years. I look forward to continuing this work in the coming weeks and will be eager to hear of the result.

Enjoy your internships everyone. Happy trails.

Until next time,

Eric

Since I arrived in Palm Springs last week, I have mostly been getting accustomed to my home for the next five months. This place is a little different from my last home in central Illinois. We don’t really have desert oases there. We don’t have palm trees, palo verde, mesquite, or cacti of any kind. And we definitely don’t have mountains, or for that matter anything resembling change in elevation. We also don’t have warm weather in March, as everyone points out as soon as they hear where I’m from. But trust me: looking to the horizon and seeing mountains and cacti instead of an endless plain of corn and soybean is the bigger leap.

My strategy for acclimating has been to gleefully throw myself into work. Which is easy when you’re working outdoors in an incredible desert oasis. After getting to play tourist for a day, we started what will be my main focus for the next few months: planting young plants in a patch of desert still recovering from the removal of tamarisk a few years ago. The tamarisk, invasive to most of the southwest, is a terrible water hog, and aggressively outcompetes native plants. This, combined with years of drought, threatens the health of the oasis communities. But the desert is slowly since the removal of the tamarisk, and we’re hoping to help it along by planting some 200 seedlings over the next few months. This is moderately demanding work, so we’re getting it out of the way before I learn out what summer in the desert is like.

But that heat is a ways away. At the moment, I can happily focus on learning my local plant identification, and enjoy springtime in the desert, and getting to work on such an incredible project.

Although it has only been a few short weeks since I started my CLM internship working with scientists at USGS in Henderson, NV, I have already gained a wealth of knowledge and experience. This is my first time ever working in the desert and I have quickly learned just how hostile of an environment it can be. Nevertheless, I am captivated by its beauty and I am curious to learn more about the flora and fauna that feel at home in such a seemingly hostile place.

The majority of my internship thus far has been focused on establishing a common garden experiment at various sites throughout the Mojave Desert. Working on this project has given me the opportunity to travel and work in Nevada, Utah and California! I am thrilled and honored to be a part of a research initiative aiming to develop native plant materials to revegetate the Mojave and enhance habitat for the threatened desert tortoise.

I am excited to see and learn more about the desert over the next few months. With so many new experiences under my belt in just a few short weeks I can only imagine what the future holds!

-Renee Albrecht

a beautiful desert sunset

a desert iguana seeks refuge from the heat in the shade under our truck

a truck full of plants headed to Utah for the common garden experiment

Astragalus albens in bloom on February 23, 2014

Lomatium mohavense in bloom on February 23, 2014

We’re moving into the field season, and will be doing monitoring and starting early-season project survey work over the next few weeks.  A storm last week brought some much-needed snow and rain to the mountains, but precipitation is still far below normal.  However, spring has arrived; down in the chaparral on the southern slopes, bush poppy (Dendromecon rigida) and chaparral whitethorn (Ceanothus leucodermis) are in bloom, as well as many other forbs.  Over on the desert side, a few Joshua trees (Yucca brevifolia) were beginning to bloom on Feb. 23, as well as other forbs, including Lomatium mohavense and the federally endangered Cushenbury milk vetch (Astragalus albens).  I’ve been doing some work in ArcGIS, in preparation for moving older sensitive species occurrences into the FS database.  We are also continuing work on the invasive plant guide, and are in the final stages of editing and formatting.

Mountaintop Ranger District

San Bernardino NF, USDA-FS

I am here…in Alturas, California working for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM).  I bought myself a much needed new vehicle (ha, new to me!), and road tripped across the country to Cali.  The last 90 miles from Reno, Nevada to Alturas is when it really set in…I am almost 3,000 miles from everything familiar and I am not coming back.  I am moving into the area at the end of the season, so this is my new home and I have to familiarize myself with everything from customs and local culture to all the plants and animals.

I will be monitoring the Greater Sage Grouse.  This is a habitat-specific bird living in the sage steppe habitat that stretches hundreds of thousands of acres across the West.  Their status is pending and due for listing in the Endangered Species Act in 2015.  Despite the 13 year drought here, it has rained almost everyday I have been here, and I have had only one opportunity to go out on a search for these guys.  In addition to the grouse, I will be doing as much work as I can with plants and the botanist here collecting seeds, samples, and surveying for rare plants.

I came into this job with many seasons of field work under my belt, so the work load and intensity is not a shock.  What gets me though…back home I knew many many things in terms of vegetation and wildlife.  I have studied the plants of the Michigan/Ohio region since I was in high school and could do much of it in botanical terms.  Here, I do not know some of the most common plants and animals around and I signed on declaring that I am really good at ID.  The sheer amount of new information to take in is a bit staggering, but I tend to stagnate without a good challenge.

Beyond anything else, I am invigorated.  My philosophy has long been to do things that make you uncomfortable so you become a stronger more diverse person.  Well, I was uncomfortable when I arrived.  My boss showed me my living quarters in a fire station 20 miles from town, told me what not to do while there, and left me for the weekend.  I had to make peace with the fact that I am now in uncharted territory and I have the knowledge that in a few months me and the boys will not be telling stories over a couple beers downtown; this is it.

I graduated kiddy school, and now I begin building my professional name.  No more tests and exams, the only thing that counts is my actions and my word, and that makes me more happy then getting straight As in classes.

Thank you CLM, thank you BLM, and thank you to the many good professors at Kent State.

PS

Today is the first day I have had internet access!

I will upload my own photos in the future when I can go out and take some!

So, last time I posted here, snow was just hitting Eugene, and boy it did not stop for a while! By the next day, we had nearly a foot of snow on the ground, and then a couple inches of ice on top of that. All of the snow and ice added a lot of weight to the surrounding vegetation, and branches and trees came down all over the city.

Luckily, the snowy conditions only lasted a few days, and then my coworker and I were off checking various sites for damage. As you can see, some of our sites definitely suffered fallen trees. In fact, a beautiful silver maple in front of our field office split in half and toppled to the ground; unfortunately, it ultimately had to be completely removed.

Since the storm, most of the fallen tree limbs have been cleaned up, and we are beginning to gear up for field season. In the next couple of weeks, we will be planting Kincaid’s lupine and Willamette Daisy to augment existing populations. In the meantime, I am developing promotional documents for this year’s Walkin’ and Rollin’ Through the Wetlands event. We are celebrating the 20th anniversary since restoration work began in the West Eugene Wetlands, so it’s especially exciting!

Till Next Time!