Pinedale, Wyoming: 30 hours away, my GPS read. I was excited and nervous about this new adventure! And so my sister and I set off on the epic road trip from Pennsylvania to Wyoming.

Well, here I am, five weeks later, at the end of another successful week of my internship at the Pinedale BLM Field Office. Never did I dream that I could have such a great time out in the field, GPS in hand, navigating the two-tracks through the draws and ridges of Sublette County, in our team’s bold quest for frogs! Our intern team is currently assessing different areas for potential amphibian habitat. This is done by walking the area, making note of location, emergent vegetation, shore type, and bottom type (among other things). We have found a couple of amiable amphibians!

Chorus Frog

Blotched Tiger Salamander

I even had the opportunity to assist my mentor Josh, and Justin from the Range crew in their AIM monitoring. This was loads of fun and entailed setting up the transects, gathering GPS data, and digging soil pits! I was especially fascinated to learn about the different textures of soil and was amazed at the difference in feel of each type. I’m also learning the different plants that are scattered throughout the Wyoming landscape!

Castilleja angustifolia (Desert Indian Paintbrush)

Penstemon spp.

Wild Forget-Me-Nots!

Green River Lake

Green River Lake

June was a pretty busy month for us interns at the Vernal field office. The month started off with a break from SOS work. We spent the first full week of June helping SWCA environmental consultants with their 5 year Sclerocactus monitoring study. Sclerocactus wetlandicus is a small, long lived cactus that is endemic to the Uinta basin. It is currently endangered and its existence is being threatened by oil drilling and grazing activity. This study involved us heading to sites of known sclerocactus sightings and laying down a 1 by 1 meter quadrat to see what condition the cactus was in or if it was even there. We also took cover measurements for other species and nonliving elements. The results were pretty disappointing. Most of the cacti were gone. Many disappeared without a trace but most appeared to have been eaten by rabbits. The reality may not be as bad as the study would make it seem. There could be cacti popping up in other places, but due to the size of these things it would be just about impossible to find new seedlings. Even when scanning a 1 by 1 meter area it is possible I may have missed a couple.  I would have uploaded a photo of a plot and one of the cacti but for some reason I am having trouble downloading the pictures so this blog will be all text.

Almost as soon as we finished with the cactus monitoring it was time to go to Chicago for the CLM training.  We received refreshers on the SOS protocols and plant identification techniques, and we also learned about what was going to be done with our collections after they were shipped off.  The talks were sometimes interesting, the botanic garden was fun to explore, and Chicago was exciting, but I certainly was not sad to be back in Vernal by the end.

The weather in Vernal was rather mild when I first arrived in mid May.  There were several light showers and the temperature was in the 70s most of the time.  That started to change around the time we started the cactus monitoring.  The area started to feel a lot more like a desert, with the temperatures reaching into the upper 90s before we left for Chicago.  This means plants are taking their cue to finish seeding and prepare for the scorching summer.  We lost two of our collections already, Cymopterus terebinthinus and Cleome lutea.  Both had promising populations, but when we returned from Chicago they had already dropped most of their seed.  We caught four more collections just in time (Astragalus duchesnensis, Astragalus saurinus, Atriplex corrugata, and Erisimum capitatum).  Next week we are going out to check on several more.  Hopefully we can catch up before losing another collection.

Hello all! After completing SOS training here at the North Carolina Botanical Gardens, I was thrilled to learn that our first seed collecting trip was going to be throughout the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We planned to stop at 10 sites, which seemed very daunting, but I was eager to to see the seed scouting and collecting process at work.

On Monday we set out to our first sites, Pettigrew State Park and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. These sites consisted of a lot of scouting out populations of target species. I realized how important it is going to be to know the plant species on the list inside and out and really be able to spot the various species in order to make scouting trip more efficient and effective. Also, remembering the habitats and associated species of target plants will make overlooking certain plants less likely. By the end of the first day, I knew I had my work cut out for me in terms of becoming even more familiar with the list of target species.

Tuesday was a whirlwind of activity as we visited 4 separate sites and reviewed many species on our list as we saw them along trails and roadsides. Alligator National Wildlife Refuge was beautiful and we could see evidence of the wildfire that raged through most of it earlier this year. This wildlife refuge was overwhelmingly large and I recognized how important it is to be familiar with the various sites before traveling there so time can be used most efficiently. My favorite place we visited on Tuesday was Jockey’s Ridge State Park, which has the tallest active sand dune on the East Coast. I can say from experience that Jockey’s Ridge is quite tall and quite the leg workout getting to the top.

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

Jockey’s Ridge State Park. This picture does not do the giant sand dune justice!

On Wednesday we traveled to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and made a collection of Gaillardia pulchella. This species was so beautiful and it was freckling the landscape with bright orange and yellow blooms along the sandy roadsides. The seed heads were not so beautiful as they were extremely prickly, but worth it to collect this roadside native.

Gaillardia pulchella at Pea Island

Overall, this first trip was filled with a lot of site visits and familiarizing ourselves with plant species and the seed collecting process. At first the thought of traveling to 10 sites was overwhelming, but I now know it is very reasonable.  However, time efficiency is everything. I still have to work on taking better notes and continuing to familiarize myself with the plant list, but overall discovering all of these different parks and refuges throughout the Outer Banks was an awesome way to spend the week!

Live Oak forest at Currituck National Wildlife Refuge

It’s the mid-point of my internship here in Maryland.  So far the experience has been fulfilling.  The extent of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal means that there is always some place new to explore.  I wanted to highlight some of the new rare plant records I found since my last post.

It seems that many botanists hold high regard for the orchid genus no matter where you are.  They are picky plants and that makes finding them, especially in flower, a real treat.  I was surveying along the top of a limestone bluff on the Potomac River when I found the following.

Liparis liliifolia, Twayblade

This is a new species for the canal and is listed as threatened in Maryland.  This type of orchid is called a Twayblade and its flower structure is quite intricate.

Earlier this month a park visitor reported a possible Heracleum mantegazzianum (Giant Hogweed) sighting.  This invasive can be dangerous to humans if they come into contact with foliage or the sap of the plant.  When I went to investigate the sighting I discovered that it was the relatively smaller native Cow Parsnip of the same genus.  I put my hat in the picture for scale.  Cow Parsnip is a plant of impressive proportions.  It is actually a “watchlisted” species in Maryland so I documented the location and number of plants in this particular population.  The population stretched for about a quarter mile along the towpath of the canal.  Interestingly all the plants, which totaled around 500, were within 10 meters of the towpath.  Because of its stature I thought it was odd that it had not been recorded within the canal before this year.

Heracleum maximum, Cow Parsnip

Not far from the Cow Parsnip I located another state listed plant, Gymnocladus dioicus or Kentucky coffeetree.  The population consisted of two saplings along a road.  Because a town was nearby and this species is planted occasionally as an ornamental, I do not believe these two saplings are part of natural population.  This is one of the challenges of working in a park with a lot of urban areas along its boundary.  Of course I would rather see native plants being planted as ornamentals rather than non-native ones.  On a side note, the largest Kentucky coffeetree in the nation is located in Hagerstown, Maryland, where the park headquarters is.

Gymnocladus dioicus, Kentucky coffeetree

And finally, I found a new population of Polygala polygama on the margin of a shale barren in western Maryland.  There were over 50 clumps of this state-listed Milkwort growing directly under a power line in full sun.  It’s interesting how man made disturbance can sometimes be beneficial to conservative plants like this one.  It is obviously benefiting from the open habitat created from the power company’s efforts to keep the area under the power lines free of shrubs.  It is also interesting to note that along the same power line a little farther down, invasive plants dominate that ground cover.

Polygala polygama, Racemed Milkwort

This week I visited the Paw Paw Tunnel.  This tunnel is locally famous because of the engineering effort it took to construct it.  The tunnel is almost a mile long, straight through a mountain.  It was a strange experience to walk through it and imagine working as a laborer during its construction.

Paw Paw Tunnel, northern entrance

Coleman Minney, Field Botany Intern

Chesapeake and Ohio National Historical Park

I work with the BLM in both Northern California and Northern Nevada and have spent my past few weeks doing monitoring work for weed control tests on Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae), cheatgrass (Bromus Tectorum), Ventenata (Ventenata dubia), Japanese Brome (Bromus japonicus), and collecting seeds and specimens for Seeds of Success. In the field, I sometimes work alone, so it’s important to always be carrying the correct safety gear with you, even if it’s a routine trip to check on range compliance or look at a potential collecting site. My field office covers over two million acres and the majority of it does not have cell phone service and often in the field I see very little traffic or people.

-Horse Lake, NV

Because of the remoteness, I always make sure that my truck is outfitted with the equipment that I need in the chance that I get stuck, and that I always bring my handheld radio out in the field with me. I also carry extra water, batteries (both for the radio and the GPS unit), reference books, collecting equipment, sunscreen, bug spray, and most importantly I bring maps. The reason that I bring maps into the field with me is because  when I don’t know where I am going, it’s easy to break out a map and trace a route to where I need to go, especially because most of the roads are unmarked. Maps also provide me with topographical features, roads that are still in use and out of use, and  property ownership. While scouting the Great Basin, I’ve traveled to places like Mosquito Lake, Horse Lake, and Nut Mountain this week. At all of these places, I have found both unique plants and animals. So far this field season has been great and I can’t wait to see what other plants, animals, and places that I get to see.

-Dwarf Purple Monkeyflower located on a fire ant colony.

Feverishly in flowering bud

the soil lay anxious

awaiting its timid character to flourish

Gold-leafed

that of a sunflower

her face stalks the sun’s perch

At high noon she stands tall

and glorified

in the sky’s mid-day beams

Shadows cast

giants among the daisies

She radiates the Earth’s blushing hues

angular and long

they appear as one

together, they could live forever

Night begins to creep

as the day parallels the moon’s hazed glow

Stemming to the sun’s slump

she conforms to the world’s clock

Lashes hesitating in

and out

of the cuckoo bird’s chime

Side to side

she once coped restless and out of tune

trying to make lullaby of the world’s silence

Tonight, she spins in harmony

a low hum in the dawn air

around and around they go

The sun begins to dial

arms stretched along the horizon

The morning yawns

mimicking its prolonged reach

As the new day brings a quench for clearer skies

the dehydrated field

            wilts

in last night’s desert

Only she, wearing its dust like a mirage

a vision

in full bloom.

Have a nice day!

Danica Maloney

BLM West Eugene Wetlands

Oregon

Well we just wrapped up out week long training in Chicago and I have gotten back to Prineville, OR and got back into the routine of fieldwork.  My journey to Chicago was quite exciting as well as stressful.  I first traveled to Salem to meet a friend and spent some time hanging out before getting a ride to the Portland airport.  Then I waited and took a red-eye flight to Chicago which got in around 6am.  After waiting around a bit in the airport I called a taxi and got a ride to the hotel.  However, all the rooms were full so I would have to wait until noon to get into a room.  It took my sleep deprived brain a bit to process this, but eventually I decided that I would travel downtown and visit a couple of museums.  I trudged to the train station carrying my backpack filled with everything I would need on the trip.

Eventually I reached the train station and was slightly confused by the rustic setting and wondered if it was still in operation.  My fears were allayed shorty when people started to congregate.  I made my way onto the train and into the heart of downtown.  Then I decided to walk to the museums, a strangely relaxing experience.  It felt almost surreal walking through a bustling city seemingly caught up in all of the activity, but some how removed from the noise of traffic and the yells of traffic officers.  I eventually reached my destination, the Shedd Aquarium, where I had to wait for a while before getting in.  However, armed with my pay stub I not only managed to get free entrance, but the lady was nice enough to give me a free upgrade that essentially let me see the whole aquarium.  Then, after touring the fantastic museum, I headed over next door to the Field Museum.  I totally nerded out with their huge bird collection recognizing species that I have seen and fondly remembering those species moments in time.  However, I also was envious of the species I had managed to miss in my travels and especially those which I had never had the opportunity to see.  I managed to get through the mammal exhibit, also amazing, but I was running out of juice.  So I headed back to the hotel, which involved walking, waiting for the train, taking the train, walking some more and finally checking in.  Then I decided to find some where to eat before taking a shower and heading to bed.  Eventually I came back with a full stomach and finally was able to sleep.

Shedd Aquarium

The Field Museum

Owl exhibit at the Field Museum

The next morning we got our first look at the Chicago Botanic Garden and it was fantastic.  We attended a symposium which covered native seed restoration.  I was fascinated about the private business side of things, something that I had never really considered about native plant restoration.  Then throughout the rest of the days we had the opportunity to meet other interns and chat about out placements over lunch.  The several days of training seemed to pass by really quickly, but it was great to have the Botanic Garden as a backstop to slow things down again.  We learned about the history of SOS and took time to learn field survey methods, and brush up on plant identification and keying out plants.  However, one of my favorite activities was when I snuck out of lunch and headed over to the butterfly exhibit.  I managed to talk my way into a free ticket and then headed inside the building to gaze at the butterflies (the birds of the insect world).  I immediately recognized some of the species from my May Term in Borneo through Earlham College.  During that trip I even got to do a mini-project on butterflies.  Needless to say I was really excited.  It was great to see old friends such as the Clipper as well as new species like the incredible moth.  I had such a great time photographing the butterflies and trying to see them all I even snuck out a second time during lunch.  I also had some great chats with some of the employees at the butterfly exhibit.

Eventually Saturday rolled around and it was time to leave the hotel and the garden and head back to the airport.  I took the 10am shuttle and got into the airport around 10:45 and managed to get through security in 5 minutes (so much for the crazy long line at O’hair).  I spent the next 10 hours at the airport hanging out watching a DVD that I brought and reading.  I could have spent another day downtown, but I had already done that and I didn’t really want to worry about taking public transportation again and the though of missing my flight somehow was unacceptable).  Eventually I took my late night flight and got back to Portland where I was picked up by another friend and spent the night.  Then I took the Amtrak to Salem and then drove back to Prineville.  Phew, after all that travel I was ready to sit back and relax at home.  I managed to sit back on the couch and watch some golf before watching Lebron and the Cavs finally win their championship.  It was a fitting end to the week and all in all it was a wonderful week.

Three months have gone past with startling rapidity, can it be true that I only have two months left here in Grants Pass? It’s enough to make a girl want to cry! (but not really because it’s hot and I need to conserve water)

This past month, Kiki and I embarked on a new adventure– only to return to our old haunts with relative quickness. We were tasked with revisiting Cypripedium fasciculatum (CYFA) sites, especially small sites, as an algorithm projected the species might become extinct at these sites. We visited 15 high elevation (>3400 ft) and 15 low elevation sites that in the past had 10 plants or fewer to see if the algorithm holds true. The plants are inconspicuous in that they are just green leaves, much like the rest of the vegetation in our forests here. But the leaf shape is quite conspicuous, which made our hunt a little easier.

Cute little CYFA leaves. Sometimes they can be pretty small and hidden, so Kiki and I spent a lot of time at every site to make sure we didn’t missing anything~

Most of the plants we found were vegetative, but we did find a few flowering. The blooms are humble and subdued, it’s a very quiet plant.

CYFA in bloom~

As part of the project, Kiki and I also went to a handful of larger CYFA sites that had over 30 plants in the past. At one site we found 313 plants! It was wild and mildly overwhelming to count all those plants.

Our largest site had clumps of CYFA growing together. I thought it looked odd and uncomfortable.

We couldn’t believe how many plants we found! It was a very exciting day.

The CYFA habitat is a lot different from our old FRGE friend. CYFA tends to grow in moist areas with high overstory coverage. Usually there is a stream nearby. Our CYFA sites were mostly beautiful, but sometimes they required some bushwhacking to get through.

Some of our CYFA sites required us to climb through dense shrubbery to look for the little plants. This is Kiki performing that task.

We found no CYFA under these shrubs. Kiki isn’t happy about it.

While hunting for CYFA we stumbled upon two separate occurrences of Cypripedium montanum (CYMO), an orchid that is more rare and also more beautiful than CYFA. It was very exciting!

Bold and beautiful, making a scene, married to the stars– Cypripedium montanum.

Kiki will stop at nothing to get the perfect picture. She was covered in ants after this.

We saw a lot of cool things on our CYFA treks but for some reason did not take too many pictures. I guess we’re too hardened and jaded to record our journey anymore.

Phlox adsurgens, woodland phlox. Very pretty, the most gentle pink plant. A soothing flower to see.

A cool bug. A little jewel.

Our local seeds of success expert, Stephanie, invited us to join her on two separate occasions. We helped her collect Alopecurus geniculatus and Agoseris grandiflora on top of upper Table Rock in the hot hot heat. It was a fun day! On top of Table Rock isn’t a bad place to be. We also helped her to collect Danthonia californica, an oatgrass, in the hot hot heat of French Flat. Another beautiful place!

Kiki and Stephanie collecting on top of Table Rock.

Our crew collecting at French Flat.

Our CYFA task is completed and we’ve gone back to FRGE for the time being. Kiki is getting her Masters (!!) and her project involves FRGE habitat assessment. We’ve been revisiting our FRGE sites to collect in depth data about the vegetation, especially tree cover. This project will be part of a larger vegetation mapping project.

Our mentor, Stacy, joined us in a pretty area to help us with shrub identification! She is a great botanist and patiently helped us as we learned new species.

We saw a harmless little snake trying to stay warm in a sudden cold front. Super cute!

Kiki and I made a trip out to Prairie Creek Redwood State Park and hiked the James Irvine trail to Fern Canyon. It was so beautiful! A lovely hike, I highly recommend it.

Fern canyon! What a place.

We love the Pacific! (Even if I can’t take good selfies in front of it)

Of course, we still make time for scrabble.

and look haggard while we’re at it

Stay cool out there y’all!

Lillie P

As an intern in the Boston area for Seeds of Success East, I help to collect seeds from Connecticut to Maine, mostly along the coast in an effort to help restoration projects following Hurricane Sandy. We started the job only 3 weeks ago, and since then we have practiced our plant identification skills, visited collection sites, and learned about the restoration projects who will use many of our seeds. This last part has been my favorite part–learning about the management strategies and seeing how our work will ultimately help the community.

Last week, we met with Kevin Lucey and Lenny Lord at Odiorne State Park in New Hampshire to learn about their restoration project. Odiorne State Park is a gorgeous park that was full of people even in the middle of the week.

One of the many gorgeous parts of the New Hampshire coast at Odiorne State Park

As gorgeous as this park is, it is unfortunately overrun by invasive plant species. Norway Maple (Acer platanoides), Beach Rose (Rosa rugosa), Phragmites, Pepperweed (Lepidium latifolium), and Oriental Bittersweet (Celastris orbiculatus) cover the park, out competing many of the native species. Fortunately, the park is working on eliminating the invasive species–a massive undertaking. In order to accomplish this goal, they are scarifying the soil, applying herbicide, and planting native plants. This project is incredible. This attempt to remove all of the invasive is on a very large scale–larger than I’ve ever seen, and it was so interesting to learn about the decisions behind the management of the park.

Another project that we are working with is at Sachuest National Wildlife Refuge in Rhode Island.

This refuge has seen a lot of damage to the coastline due to changes in sediment transport from development along the coast, storms, and other human influences. These changes lead to the erosion of salt marshes and degradation of important habitats for birds such as the Saltmarsh Sparrow. In order to combat the erosion of the salt marshes, Rhode Island is working to dredge off coast and supplement the sand on the salt marshes. Following the addition of sand to the salt marshes, they plant the area such that invasive don’t have a chance to establish. Last year, the SOS-E interns collected Spartina alterniflora and Distichlis spicata for this site. These seeds were grown out and planted this winter.

The pictures above show the over 20,000 plants that were planted from seeds collected by Seeds of Success Interns. The plants were planted in islands as there were not enough plants to cover the entire area, and the fencing is to prevent geese from damaging the plants.

Thus far, my job has been extremely rewarding, especially in regard to learning about these two projects. Being able to see the seeds collected by other SOS interns in action was so incredible. It makes me very excited to begin seed collecting such that we can help all of this restoration projects.

Plant identification along the coast at Odiorne State Park

Until next time,

Julia Rogers

Seeds of Success Intern, New England Wildflower Society