October was a different month at the BLM in Arcata, CA. The first two weeks were blacked out by the government shutdown, but after that I was able to fall right back into work when everything resumed. As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I undertook a new project for the last few weeks of my internship: the herbarium. I spent many office days reorganizing our office’s herbarium so we can join the UC Jepson Consortium of California Herbaria.

The consortium is run out of UC Berkeley’s Jepson Herbarium, and is a large database of California Herbaria that is searchable to the entire world. You can visit our herbarium and the database via this link: <http://ucjeps.berkeley.edu/consortium/participants.html> Check it out! Some of our specimens are georeferenced and all are available to scientists who need to borrow the specimens for research. To participate in the consortium, I had to register with the Index Herbariorum at the NY Botanical Garden where we were assigned the herbarium code of BLMAR. From there I had to update all the taxonomic nomenclature of our specimens to the most current names and reformat our excel database to fit the requirements of the Consortium. Moreover, many specimens were mislabeled, misnumbered or misplaced, so I went through all the specimens one-by-one to assure that they were correct and in harmony with our database. While our herbarium is by far the smallest in the consortium, we have many specimens collected from areas that very few other people visit. Many of these could potentially be of interest to researchers due to their unlikely collection locations or phonological traits. This project was a productive learning experience for me. The newest taxonomic changes to plants in California were published in the latest Jepson Manual of Vascular Plants of California (2013). Since many of the new splits of families and genera were new this year and some very drastic, I learned the new families and genera as they are recognized in California.

While I was working on the herbarium project, I mixed my office time in with a variety of field work. I helped our fuels specialist clear some fire line around a restored prairie that he is hoping to burn in the coming weeks. I really enjoy physical labor, especially when it is a means to a foreseeable end, such as a prescribed burn. I helped our fisheries biologist by collecting temperature gauges from Lacks Creek before the high winter flows come. I worked with a group of our resource staff to conduct a wilderness assessment of the Elkhorn Ridge Wilderness in Mendocino County. That involved visiting six different sites within the wilderness and assess each for its ecological function, and where it might be lacking.

This will be my final blog entry for my CLM internship. It has been an amazing experience, I am lucky to have ended up in Arcata, as the only intern on the pacific coast (I think). But just like every intern, I got to work in some incredible places doing amazing work. I got to know the area better than most who live here and met many great friends. I gained a great variety of valuable skills that I will undoubtedly be able to apply to the workplace in the future. I can’t wait jump back into it! Thank you CBG.

I apologize for not posting photos this time… I am having trouble with the photo uploader. But trust me, the fall colors and the beaches of Humboldt county are beautiful right now!

It’s one of the most important times of year in the West Eugene Wetlands: seeding time! The time of year that, after sites have been mowed or burned, we go out and spread native plant seed.

This, in itself, is a multifaceted task; we must mix different species of plant seed together, map out and mark the areas in which we will spread the seed, and then actually go out into field and seed the area.

When mixing seed, we’re dealing with gallons upon gallons of seed, which we then mix with corn cob (because we’d much rather have the salivating birds perched in the trees above us go after the corn cob than precious native seed). We then haul the seed out to the parcel of land where we will spread it. When out in the field we use buckets to carry the seed and then cast it around us by hand. It’s always this time of year that I realize that I could benefit from exercise or lifting weights or something, because my arms are always dead tired by the end of the day, but it’s a satisfying feeling, knowing everything that I’ve been able to accomplish.

We pretty much kept our fingers crossed the whole week hoping that it wouldn’t rain. Oregon’s Willamette Valley is known for raining 24/7 in the colder seasons, and rain would have hampered our task considerably as we would not have been able to drive out onto the land (rain + wetlands = not good driving conditions). However, we were lucky, and it was cold but sunny the entire week.

One of the more exciting aspects of this year’s seeding involved a site that had undergone major restoration this summer. Situated smack in the middle of an industrial area, it was unfortunately completely overgrown and rife with litter. This summer, restoration crews cleaned up all the litter and a masticator took out several trees and opened up the area. When my partner and I arrived there with our trusty bags of seed, the area was unrecognizable compared to its appearance a few mere months ago. Having never seen the before and after of a major restoration project, I can say with certainty that it was rather amazing.

Anyway, now that we’ve finished seeding (and just in time, too–the rains have started), we’re back in the office for the foreseeable future.

Til next time!

The monsoon rains provided the nourishment necessary to provide valuable nectar for pollinators in the little nook I call home. Patagonia spent the late summer burgeoning with life, all emanating from the life-giving moisture that blesses the earth over the warm summer months. I was enthralled by the kaleidoscope of shapes, sizes and colors that bounded through the landscape. However, just 15 miles away, the monsoon rains had a very different affect on the landscape.

Drought-dormant green blades shot up through crusty earth with the presence of this influx of moisture in what looks like a verdant sea. While pollinators don’t dominate this landscape, Bouteloua gracilis, the blue grama, is a larval host for skipper butterflies. And many other grasses provide food for caterpillars as they develop into butterflies, which can now be seen on the flowering Ericameria nauseosa, rabbitbrush. But right now, two months after the last rainfall, the grasses play a different role in the environment.

Months ago, the green grass developed seedhead and turned brown as its chlorophyll desiccated. These seeds spent weeks developing into fertile seeds. And now, after months of dry, hot weather, they are some of the few accessible calories available. And grassland birds, specifically sparrows, are gorging themselves in this abundant resource now.

I now spend many of my days working in these lands to not only collect seed, but also to study the impact of invasive grasses on the vegetative makeup and the invasion’s affect on native grassland sparrow populations.

Hello all! My internship is nearly complete here in Wyoming, but we’re not done yet. Although field season for plants is long gone, there have been other opportunities to get outside to enjoy the brisk weather. Just last week, we were able to accompany a couple of archaeologists in inspecting a proposed waterline route. An oil company wanted to install an above-ground waterline to a well, and we were tasked with checking the surface on the proposed route for any artifacts that may require preservation. Finds would typically include Native American artifacts, such as tools and projectiles, as well as artifacts from the early 20th century. We didn’t find anything that the Smithsonian would be excited about, but we did find a rusty can holed with a knife, whose dimensions dated it approximately in the mid-20th century!

We have also been involved in tree thinning projects, which are parts of both fuels reduction and habitat restoration projects. Ponderosa pine thinning was part of a massive fuels reduction project in beautiful Mosier Gulch, which involved a lot of stick-stacking. We followed behind the saws, picking up the debris and making slash piles for burning. Making good piles for burning is a kind of art form, and we were experts by the time we were done! I was also briefly involved in a juniper thinning project, whose goal is to eliminate juniper encroachment on sage grouse habitat. The Montana Conservation Corps was called out to do the sawing and snipping, and we were tasked with documenting the project in terms of before and after photos, as well as using GPS to map the treated area. Alas, I didn’t get to do any of the actual work, but being involved in the logistics stage gave me an idea of what they were doing, and why they were doing it.

It would seem our trips into the Bighorn Mountains are done, as snow has made driving up there very dicey. None of us wants to be the one to call for help after we get stuck somewhere-we’ve had enough close calls this summer. I’ll be done next week, so my adventure time is limited-I hope to make the most of it! Until then.

Daniel Collis

BLM-Buffalo, WY

Fall has hit the Southwest.  Temperatures have dropped, the bosques are yellow-tinged, and BLM employees have unwillingly pulled out their flannels.  There appears to be a general consensus that this is the best season – and I concur, based solely on the fact that field work is much more pleasant when you aren’t sizzling (metaphorically and literally).

My report for the month will be fairly slim because about half the month was lost to the government shutdown.  I made the most of my undesired vacation by attempting to exercise, nullifying all exercise attempts by making delectable foodstuffs, watching movies (Like depressing? Watch Doctor Zhivago!), and stuffing my brain with reading. The most annoying part of the shutdown was fielding the inevitable questions, “How’s the shutdown going? Any word on when it will end?” My internal responses: “I think the shutdown is doing great because everything is shutdown!” AND “Well, in my personal conversation with John Boehner today he wouldn’t give me any hints”.

But alas! We returned to work and scurried around to check if any of our potential collections were still viable. Most were, and we’ve been making speedy work of finishing up our collection season.  Soon we will be moving onto some interesting projects that include monitoring some previously-planted sand bluestem and cataloging night-blooming cereus cacti.

I’ll end this post with some key hints/tips related to seed collecting:

1. When it is windy outside, bring a top for your bucket. Watching hundreds of feathery, miniscule seeds blow out of your bucket is highly demoralizing.

2. When you find yourself collecting seeds in a huge grassy area out of sight from your co-workers, follow this procedure: sit down, close eyes, pretend you’re Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves. Repeat for maximum atmospheric effect.

3.  Have a strategy for remembering what hundred number of seeds you’ve collected – forgetting what number you’re on when you need 2,000 seeds gets old quickly.

So I really have to begin this blog post about the furlough, which is an unavoidable topic.  The furlough was really a mixed bag for me. However, I used that time to study for the GRE, spend some time with my girlfriend, and had a much needed break from a long hard field season.  I tried to make the most of a bad situation and I feel like my time wasn’t wasted. 

On to happier things. We interns participated in a CNPS training that was really interesting and something I hope to use in my career in the future.  The focus of the training was using a system developed by CNPS to characterize an area by its vegetation quickly.  This allows for quick reconnaissance of an area that will give you a good idea of what can and can’t occur in the area, botanically speaking.  We stayed near Truckee, CA in the Sagehen experimental forest, which was an incredibly beautiful place in the middle of the Serra Nevada Mountains.  The training was very helpful and I am hoping the methodology catches on around the country due to its speed and ease.

Finally, we also held a national public lands day seed collection day at Washoe Lake state park.  It was a lot of fun interacting with the public and teaching them how to collect seed and why we collect seed.  The turnout was smaller than expected, but what it lacked in numbers it made up for with enthusiasm.  We made several collections that day of Ericameria nauseosa and Grindelia squarrosa and then we had a nice lunch with the volunteers.

As the internship begins to come to a close, my last day is at the end of December, I am beginning to look toward my next step.  Looking into grad schools and for a job takes a ton of time and I am keeping my fingers crossed that I won’t be unemployed for too long.  Along with thinking about my next move, I suppose it would be a good time for some reflection of my experience here in Carson City.  Perhaps that will be my topic for the next blog post.  Until then blogosphere, until then.

October has been a strange month for me, as I’m sure it has been for the other CLM interns who found themselves staying home for two weeks on “government snow day.” I enjoyed the time off, which I mainly spent watching zombie movies and wandering around thrift stores, but I am disappointed that the shutdown fell on the last hurrah of field season in the Colorado Rockies. The aspens dropped their leaves, and quite a few of the plants we’d been eying for collections shed their seeds while our backs were turned.

Since returning to work, I’ve only made it to the field once–to help snatch up collections of  Eriogonum umbellatum and Rosa sayi–though the rest of the team managed to collect Parry’s gentian (Gentiana parryi) while I was cashing in some comp time. Most of my time in the office has been spent organizing information and photos in the hopes of ultimately creating an interpretive guide to some of the wildflowers found throughout the state. Besides this, I’ve been analyzing some monitoring data left over from previous seasons.

Since this post is a little lackluster (it’s okay, guys, I can admit it), I had planned to throw in some photos. Unfortunately, I seem unable to Add Media to my post. So I guess this is as good as it gets this month. I’ll try to add some more pizzazz to my next post, especially since it will be my last!

Katherine Wenzell
BLM Colorado State Office
Lakewood, CO

Dear fellow CLMer’s –

I know I should hate ATV’s. And I do, I promise, scout’s honor! But…at the same time…I love riding on them. I can’t help it! I just do!

The other day the Ecologist and I headed out to North Delta for Land Health Assessment’s and we went to this small piece of BLM land snuggled between private with no public access and I had the..

BEST. DAY. EVER.

Or one of them anyway…I find myself saying that about most of my work days here, which is the best feeling in the world…and also the worst as my time here is slowly winding down.

ANYWAY! The manager of the ranch that we had to cross to get to the BLM land gave us a ride to the remote location on, you guessed it, his sweet ATV! Me and his amazing boarder collie Cheyenne became best friends, too. So between the ATV ride, Cheyenne, and the most beautiful fall day ever, I’d have to say it was a pretty perfect day.

And now, in celebration of fall, and also creativity which I feel is essential to all scientist, I will leave you all with a poem by the great E. E. Cummings.

a wind has blown the rain away
by E.E. Cummings

a wind has blown the rain away and blown
the sky away and all the leaves away,
and the trees stand. I think i too have known
autumn too long

(and what have you to say,
wind wind wind—did you love somebody
and have you the petal of somewhere in your heart
pinched from dumb summer?
O crazy daddy
of death dance cruelly for us and start

the last leaf whirling in the final brain
of air!)Let us as we have seen see
doom’s integration………a wind has blown the rain

away and the leaves and the sky and the
trees stand:
the trees stand. The trees,
suddenly wait against the moon’s face.

FALL! Snow’s in the mountains and while I don’t want this internship to end yet I can’t wait for ski season to start! Hope everyone is loving the change of weather as much as I am!

Brandee Wills
Montrose, CO
Uncompahgre Field Office

Going through the furlough was quite the experience… The first week was okay but then as it dragged on, I became so eager to get back to work. It was wonderful to return to work, go out into the field and see that Redding’s trees had started to go through their fall transformations, covering the land in bright reds and oranges! We had to immediately begin our acorn collections since we missed out on a huge window of opportunity. While we were out collecting, I came across some pretty awesome dead trees covered in holes and filled with acorns; it seems the woodpeckers were busy making their little cubbies while we were away and filled them up with nice fat acorns!

We also visited Clear Creek Gorge which is a nice look out for salmon. They are currently breeding so there are salmon everywhere! The water was pretty shallow and the salmon are so BIG! Occasionally the salmon would flip their tails and splash the water as they prepared to lay their eggs. It was really such an incredible sight to see.

We have seen lots of deer families roaming around, which is always mesmerizing to me. They are just so elegant and graceful. Being from the city and not being around too much wildlife really put me in a bubble in that I never really put much thought into hunting.  But now it’s as if somehow I have barely confirmed that hunting is real 🙁 So, while seeing the deer running around makes me happy, I am equally saddened at the thought that we are in the midst of hunting season. Still, I am comforted by the fact that there are tons of rules and regulations when it comes to hunting.

We recently started invasive weed control. The first plant we tackled was Arundo donax, the giant reed grass.There were two small populations in the Shasta dam area. We prepared all of our equipment; I really don’t have much experience with herbicide, so this was my first time. I was pretty satisfied by the success of our efforts and left with a strong feeling that we did a good job and the Arundo wouldn’t sprout back anytime soon.

We have also continued our work with the students from Happy Valley Elementary. I enjoy being able to show them around the greenhouse and encourage them to get their hands in the dirt and treat our young plants with care. Soon, we will start having them help us plant out some of our seeds for next year’s restoration efforts. There is still a lot of work to be done here in Redding and I am really trying to help out as much as I can before it is time for my internship to end. I truly want to leave feeling accomplished and feeling like I contributed to something amazing!