Spring is finally here on the Caddo National Grasslands. The flowers are blooming and butterflies are arriving. The botanical work is finally picking up in pace. Spring has also brought in many visitors to the Caddo for camping, fishing, and hunting. The crappie have begun to bite on Coffeemill Lake and eastern turkey season has begun. There has been many sightings of eastern turkeys within the last two weeks.

As of today 185 asclepias have been recorded on the Caddo on three different units. Most of the occurrences have been A. viridis. 4 monarch butterflies have been observed as well. No caterpillars or pupae have been observed.

I will post more info and some pictures soon.

Keagan

Hey folks,

It always blows my mind how quickly spring hits. We did a week of training in Prineville, Oregon last week to learn the ways of GeoBOB mobile. When we left, the local flora wasn’t in bloom and didn’t seem to have a mind to for at least a few weeks but when we returned, BAM, flowers everywhere! Everywhere you look it is green and colorful. We were told that the warm weather we have been having recently is unusual for this time of year and has induced an earlier flowering period for many species. Which isn’t necessarily a great thing since temperatures could easily still drop to below freezing at night, dooming young plants and some seeds.

We did IRH assessment at this plot, it was covered in balsamroot as shown above. Lomatium was also present along with buckwheat, prairie-star, lupine, sagebrush, blue-eyed Mary, and more.

As mentioned previously, we did a week of training in Prineville, Oregon last week. The class was an introductory training to using GeoBOB (Geographic Biotic Observations) in the field. Basically, we import desired information on flora/fauna from a giant geo-database into Arc map, and then export it into a Trimble unit. We can then have data when we go into the field that can be edited or added to. Data collecting has never been so easy! On the first day after the class was over, my co-workers and I got to go on a hike with some other classmates from different field offices. Two were botanists, so the hike turned into a plant walk, which was extremely helpful. Trying to learn the local plants is much easier in person than reading about them in a book.

Anyways, this week we were mostly in the field helping out with some line transects and getting our first taste of the 17 Indicators of Rangeland Health. My favorite day of the week by far was Root Day, an annual event that involves digging up roots with a Native American tribe. About 4 or 5 hundred people show up (mostly youths) to partake in this tradition. The root is from Lomatium canbyi  and is used for many different food purposes. A curved metal rod with a handle is used to stick in the ground under the plant and lift it up. It’s tradition for the first few roots each person digs up to be offered to the tribe elders. The roots aren’t particularly big but with 400 people, each offering 3 or 4 roots, it adds up quickly.

A good sized root. Fun fact, they smell like diesel. I ate one at the site, not terrible, not much flavor. We took a few home and are going to roast them, I’ll let you know how that goes.

Me trying to dig up a root. Half the time the root is broken off accidently while digging and trying to find it in the ground is darn near impossible.

The next few weeks are going to be trainings out of town so we got in the field as much as possible while we were here this week!

A beautiful drive through some sagebrush habitat to reach a plot. Not much of a view as you can see…

View into the Wenatchee valley from a plot we did an IRH assessment at. The slope was steep and we hiked a ways down to get to it. Hiking back up was a work out that almost ended with me throwing up.

After a little bit of discussion, we determined this to be oval-leaf desert buckwheat.

Until next time,

Katherine

My first two weeks at the BLM in Prineville have been a whirlwind of activity.  The first day I entered, I was nervously waiting for somebody to guide me around the office and explain the ins and outs of the job.  However, by the time I left that day, I was confident and ready to face all of the challenges that the next days would bring.  My experience started out with lots of training and paperwork.  My training varied from four wheel drive training to First Aid and CPR.  Shortly after this training I was able to go out into the field to look at wildlife.  (I am a wildlife intern instead of the typically botanical intern).  We headed up to northern Oregon in search of the elusive Washington Ground Squirrel (yes they are found in Oregon as well, despite the name).  We managed to find the colonies easily and the burrows, but with great difficulty we managed to locate an individual.  Then we helped survey additional habitat for the Washington Ground Squirrel and stumbled upon a Short-eared Owl, a once in a lifetime experience for an avid birder such as myself.

The next week started early at 4am in search of Greater Sage Grouse leks.  Instead of being tired, I was full of excitement and energy.  Seeing lekking birds has been on my birding bucket list, and I could not wait to finally see them.  We drove out in the pitch black, and after what seemed like an eternity we arrived as the sun was rising at the lek.  We got out the scope and started to count the birds and to watch their behavior.  Shortly after we arrived, a golden eagle flew over and flushed the grouse.  Four more individuals popped up that we could not see and they began to fly towards us.  Their wingbeats over out head captivated us and formed a memory that will last a lifetime.  Since then I have had the opportunity to view leks on other occasions, but every time the experience is as wonderful and new as the first time.

Greater Sage Grouse displaying at lek.

Being from Ohio, Oregon is a very different atmosphere, but I find that I am adapting very well.  Although the abundance of pick-ups, country music, and conversations about hunting may take some time to adjust to, I feel that I surely will.  I am so grateful to all of my coworkers for all of the time they have taken out of their busy schedule to answer questions and to make me feel included in the office.  I cannot wait to continue my work in Prineville and to explore all of the natural beauty in the course of my five months of work.

In late March I uprooted from my soggy and abundantly verdant home in Portland, OR and headed south to Klamath Falls, a place where snow still clung to northeaster slopes and buds were still small and closed. Not only was I headed toward a new experience, but I was going to get an opportunity to experience spring a second time. Klamath Falls, a town small in population but large in commerce as it supplies the large rural area around it, is nestled between the expansive upper Klamath Lake and the much smaller lake Ewauna to the south. The Link River, the United States’ shortest river, cascades past town and bridges the one mile between lakes.

On a weekend trip to the Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuge I saw my first Avocet! I have also added the white faced ibis, black-necked stilt, and a variety of duck species to my life list.

As an intern with the US Fish and Wildlife Service I get the opportunity to immerse myself in this ecologically, politically, and culturally complicated basin. Our work will mainly focus on species listed as threatened or endangered: the lost river and short nose suckers and Oregon spotted frog so far. Over the past two weeks we have surveyed for Oregon spotted frog egg masses at the Klamath Marsh Wildlife Refuge and property owned by the Nature Conservancy.

A congregation of three egg masses. The Oregon spotted frog generally lays eggs in shallow marsh where the water is warm enough that the eggs will hatch within a few weeks.

Oregon spotted frog tadpoles in a cluster after hatching.

The Klamath Marsh Wildlife Refuge is a great place for bird watching during frog surveys.

We are also helping with the recovery of two species of endangered sucker. This has involved using trammel nets to catch suckers with the Bureau of Reclamation in lake Ewauna. Once we catch fish we process them (insert a PIT tag if they don’t already have one, measure the fish, and inspect for damage or parasites) before they are transported to a river at the north end of Upper Klamath lake to be released. We will likely use eggs and sperm from some of these fish to start a reservoir population in ponds south of the lakes.

Inserting a PIT tag into a short-nose sucker.

Preparing to release a female ruddy duck that got tangled in our net.

Each day has been full of unexpected experiences and opportunities to expand my knowledge and perspective. I look forward to the months ahead full of fish, frogs, feathers, and more!

Molly Hayes, US Fish and Wildlife Service, Klamath Falls, OR

I imagined all of Nevada looking like Las Vegas; flat, dry, rocky, brown and dusty..with some mountains in the distance. Nevada’s elbow proves to be quite different. We spent the past two days hiking through the green rolling hills that surround Pyramid lake. We pushed our way through thick groves of Woods’ rose (Rosa woodsi) and black cottonwood(Populus trichocarpa). We drove through mountains covered in Utah juniper(Juniperus osteosperma) and we camped between Big sagebrush(Artemisia tridentata), rubber rabbitbrush(Ericameria nauseosa), and desert peach(Prunus andersonii). Everything is in bloom. Everything smells good. The sunsets are jaw dropping.

Our assignment was to collect stubble height data from grazing springs that are important Lek areas for the Greater Sage-Grouse. The measurements we gather will provide a baseline analysis for our range department to determine if the areas should be grazed.

In my mind, we were grass hunting.

Tomorrow I’m spending my day planting trees. I can’t wait.

cows grazing at Flanigan’s Allotment

Tufa towers at Pyramid Lake

view of a playa from the top of Rock Canyon

hills looking South from Rock Canyon

grass hunting

camping at Flanigan’s Allotment

sunset in the hills

hiking at Rock Canyon

Sam and Alec hiking back to camp during sunset

Monique Gil

Carson City, Nevada

SFFO Carson City BLM

Since my last blog, I’ve been continuing on with field work and maintaining the greenhouse. A couple of notable projects are discussed here:

LYTLE CREEK NURSERY
I have been working off and on at the Lytle Creek Nursery, which is at the Front Country Ranger Station about an hour and a half from the Mountaintop Ranger Station in Fawnskin, CA. Not much has been going on lately at Lytle Creek, so most of what I have been doing down there is cleanup work. Mary (FS Biotech) and I weeded the planting beds, checked the water system, set up the shade cloth, and began sorting the pots to get rid of any that were breaking apart. Two weeks ago we also planted two species of milkweed (Asclepias eriocarpa and A. fasiculatum) in the hopes of bulking the seed. I set up a weeper hose system for the beds. Nothing emerging so far!

Before: beds where we seeded milkweed.

After.

WORKING WITH AMERICORPS
I had a fun and busy day up at the Mountaintop Greenhouse transplanting with the Americorps Crew last Thursday. We transplanted over 250 plants in one day, as well as cleaning and building all the pots for them and mixing about twelve loads of new soil. I worked for a couple of youth corps when I was younger, so it was pretty neat to be on the other side organizing and directing their work. They’re a good group!

SEEDING MILKWEED
One day a few weeks ago I went out to seed Milkweed in the field with Mary and my supervisor, Dev. This work is part of the Monarch Habitat grant where the Restoration Program is maintaining and improving monarch habitat. These seeds were collected last year, and this year we planted them in areas close to milkweed occurrences that could use more plants. We used a circular quadrat and seeded two seeds in each quarter. The hope is that at least one plant will emerge from each quadrat. I also got a tour of where previous milkweed seed was collected. Some of these areas need more surveying to record the full extent of the population.

Quadrat used to seed Asclepias.

First spring emergence of Asclepias fascicularis.

VISITING THE PEBBLE PLAIN
I was lucky to tag along on a trip to the Pebble Plain with Mountaintop Botanist, Scott. This habitat occurs only in Big Bear and Holcomb Valley nearby. The pebble plain is critical plant habitat and contains many rare endemic plant species. Scott was able to point out many of these while he himself took photographs for a talk about the Pebble Plain. Enjoy the photos below!

View of the pebble plain.

Eriogonum kennedyi var austomontanum (Southern Mountain Buckwheat)

Castilleja cinerea (Ash gray paintbrush) parasitizing Eriogonum

We enjoyed a few snow showers in March, but by noon the following day it all had melted to make way for springtime growth. Our mountaintop flowers have been popping up all over the place, nurtured by abundant moisture and sunshine. I’ve discovered a previously unfamiliar species almost every field day over the past few weeks. This recognition has been important as I finish out my restoration document, which recommends local native species for revegetation. Now that I can put a name to a face, so to speak, I can more accurately write about floral characteristics.

Of the plants described in my document, none are more unique than those comprising the Pebble Plain vegetation community. Pebble Plain is made up of miniature, low-growing species often with highly reflective, succulent features–all special adaptations to harsh environmental conditions like high clay content soils, frequent frost heave, extreme soil temperature variation, and reduced soil moisture. Until very recently in the season, Pebble Plain, to me, resembled a wet, rocky, mud flat. But, since spring sprung, I’ve quickly come to appreciate this habitat for the exciting biological community it is. Pebble plain is found only on the SBNF and adjacent private lands, and while resident plant species are abundant within their specific habitat, these areas are very narrowly distributed on the Forest overall leading to the designation of a few characteristic plants under the Endangered Species Act (ESA).

These plants were described by our district botanist at a Big Bear Sierra Club chapter event as “paleo-endemics,” meaning they persist only in select locations, surviving as relicts of earlier, further ranging populations. Closely related species are found in alpine zones of the Sierra Mountains and Baja California. Many, many years ago when the climate was colder we can infer that these populations were connected. Today they make their last disjointed stand at high elevations.

The archetypal example of Pebble Plain habitat is located just outside the city of Big Bear Lake near a residential neighborhood. It was here that I happily observed Douglas’ violet (Viola douglassi), Alkali draba, (Cusickiella douglasii), and Parish’s rockcress (Boechera parishii) in full bloom, and eagerly await the flowering of the endangered Southern mountain buckwheat (Eriogonum kennedyi var. austromonatum), and ash gray paintbrush (Castilleja cinerea).

This past week I took a break from botany for a training opportunity “down the hill” in San Diego, a much appreciated component of the CLM internship program. I chose to attend the Association of Environmental Professionals 2016 Conference. While most of my post-grad work experience has involved botany, ecology and restoration, my educational background centered on natural resources planning. Many of the lectures offered at this conference addressed the intersections between these disciplines via Conservation Planning.

The first talk, titled “Conservation Planning & Implementation in San Diego,” discussed the impressively organized and highly collaborative conservation efforts developed to serve the vulnerable flora and fauna of the sprawling metropolis that is greater San Diego. Speakers from the private and public sectors discussed their experiences formulating and implementing the regional Management and Monitoring Plan (SDMMP) and Management Strategic Plan (MSP) that falls beneath. The MSP categorizes and prioritizes species and vegetation communities, identifies geographic locations for management actions, provides specific timelines for implementation, and established a process for coordination. According to the speakers, while these plans are complicated and require long-term commitments, they are working to enhance habitat in an area under a great deal of pressure!

A forum later that day discussed “How Wind Energy Development is Navigating Complex Avian Regulatory Requirements with Technological Advances.” We were taught about the semi-ambiguous regulatory framework currently involved in permitting wind development in relation to birds, namely the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA) and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA). A representative from the consulting firm RES group presented on IdentiFlight, a promising new technology that can identify bird species from 1,000 meters away! If it turns out the be a large raptor, the computer will switch off the turbines quickly enough to avoid a collision.

April will probably be the last full month of my internship so I’m looking forward to successfully completing my projects and documents, learning more species of Forest vegetation in their greenest, liveliest, blooming forms, and exploring more of beautiful southern California. Thanks for reading!

Brandon Drucker
Mountaintop Ranger District
San Bernardino National Forest
Fawnskin, California

Brace Yourselves…Spring Is Coming
Hello everyone!! Wow, I have been incredibly busy with work lately! All of the GIS and remote sensing tasks have kept me on my toes this Winter. We have been receiving weather extremes this Spring. One day it would be sunny and 60°F, then the next day would be 25°F with horizontal, blowing snow! Hopefully, Spring will come any moment now…..any minute….. Anyways, the migrating birds are beginning to migrate through and establish their territories. The sandhill cranes (Grus canadensis) were flying through to find ideal marshland habitat for nesting. The red winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus) were “breeing” near every body of water and fighting for prime real estate. Many of the flowers are on the verge of blooming. Different phlox, forsythia, and crocus are starting to appear, which is a welcoming sight. I know some of the interns in California and the southwest have probably seen over 50 species of blooming forbs already. Soon, Wyoming’s day will come…that should be in May or June.

First forb of the Spring for me!!! Phlox hoodii!!! ^_^

Updates on Work: The Mystery of the Lime Green Plant!!

My main task was using remote sensing techniques to detect cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum) in the landscape. I am almost finished…with the first part! Some of the mosaic tiles were difficult to work with. Some of the orthophotographs (mosaic tiles) were taken at dawn, making cheatgrass really hard to detect. The sunrise made a large part of the landscape a reddish color. After some fine tuning with the samples, I was able to detect the cheatgrass easily. Another interesting thing I found were these unusual patches of lime green. I was baffled on what this plant could be. Some people were saying that it was leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula) and other people were suggesting that the patches of lime green were yellow sweet clover (Melilotus officinalis). After much research, I could say that these patches were most likely yellow sweet clover. All I have to do is ground truth the area and confirm that the lime green mass is the invasive forb. Another difficult task was to distinguish cheatgrass signatures from sagebrush shadows. When I ran the maximum likelihood tool, the process concludes that all of the shadows from sagebrush were also cheatgrass areas. I had to work with the program and sampling areas to finally get the results I was looking for. Eventually, I was able to tell the program to tell apart the shadows from the cheatgrass areas!!

Found a possible yellow sweet clover infestation??

Looking across various landscapes in the Powder River Basin, I saw some of the strangest sights. Cows (Bos taurus) were always up to something. They stand in circles, walk to places that were next to impossible to get to if you were human, and they love to take a dip in the local freshwater areas. Some of the cows were very large, which made me think that some of them were pregnant or have a calf right next to them. Beyond cows, some of the badland and scoria hills have been very beautiful to look at. The colors of some mosaic tiles were so vibrant that it made the landscape almost rainbow-like. Sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata) were blue, scoria hills were orange, cheatgrass was red, grass and trees were green, yellow sweetclover was lime green, the badlands range from white to purple, some of the water sources and grasses were bright blue to muddy brown, and the shadows in the landscape range from grey to black. Overall, each mosaic tile was a work of art brought to you by nature.

I think I found a Mickey Mouse pattern in the landscape?

Side Tasks For Adventure Sake

When each of the mosaic tiles were being processed, I did a variety of other tasks to keep myself active! I have made a series of plant study guides, I have updated the Buffalo Field Office Plant List, I have made detailed guides for weeds and willows (Salicaceae) of our area, and I have organized all of the huge aerial photographs in cold storage! Cold storage had many interesting treasures such as ancient maps from the 1950s, aerial photographs, BLM signs, and random BLM items! The building reminds me of the museum or warehouse on Indiana Jones! Beyond organization of data and study guides, I helped install a computer system, worked with different GPS units, and helped solve GIS problems that some of the employees were having. There was always something to do at the Buffalo Field Office….but I can’t wait for field season. I really want to go into the field to ground truth, help interns, and take photographs of BLM land! I will keep you posted with any updates!!

The Ballad of Sage Grouse and Sandhill Cranes

Recently, I have had the great opportunity to go out into the field and help wildlife biologist, Don, with sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) monitoring! We would go into the field and count all the male sage grouse at different leks to the east of Buffalo, Wyoming. Some of these leks had twelve to fifty males, which was an incredible number! The sounds of the males “thomping” and displaying could be heard over a mile away! Seeing all the males strutting their stuff was pretty amazing!  One lek site we visited had one very successful male surrounded by many hens. Unfortunately, the rest of the males were dancing and displaying their hearts out to no avail. Some of these leks sites had plenty of excrement from the wintering birds. I thought it was hilarious that the sage grouse ignored the pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) that were walking through the lek sites. Seems like the pronghorns deemed trustworthy in the eyes of sage grouse.

Sage grouse, sage grouse items, and leks found to the east of Buffalo, Wyoming.

Another interesting bird of note were sandhill cranes! The last two weeks they have been flying through the Great Plains on their way up North. A huge density of cranes could be found in central Nebraska. Along the Platte River, there could be thousands of cranes resting and feeding along the embankments. When I have been traveling to previous internships, I have always drove through Nebraska during the crane migration. By Buffalo, Wyoming there have been a few flocks that have been flying overhead or resting in the fields. Hearing the cranes have always been an amazing experience.

Sandhill cranes!!!

A western harlan’s  red tailed hawk (Buteo jamaicensis) and a golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) that I have seen in the field!

Animal Shelter Shuffle

On Saturday, I was able to volunteer at the local animal shelter! I got to clean the kennels, feed the animals, clean up the excrement, take the dogs for a walk, help out with laundry, and play with tiny mewmew kittens. I plan on doing this every Saturday, because it is really fun to do, especially when you get to play with all kinds of breeds of cats and dogs!!

Some of the local residents of the Animal Shelter.

Do You Have What It Takes To Become BLM Legend??

1.) You have to work for the Bureau of Land Management.
2.) You have to know how to use GIS and different navigational systems.
3.) You have to be able to navigate the back country and drive over rough terrain.
4.) You have to withstand the unusual weather systems and temperatures of the West.
5.) You have to at least identify thirty plant species or do eight work related projects.
6.) Taking FISSA+ is essential.
7.) You have to attend meetings at least once or twice a week.
8.) You have to travel to over fifteen to sixty trend sites determining on your line of work.
9.) You have to become a legend by doing a special individual task.
10.) Survive one field season.

If you do all of the ten main tasks, then you are a BLM Legend.

Moment of Zen

Bighorn Mountains during a snowy afternoon! ^_^

I didn’t mean to fall in love with plants.

My college plant taxonomy class was interesting, sure, but when city parks’ weedy spring bloomers were the extent of botanical exposure, other pursuits offered greater appeal.

Four years later I found myself in the verdant rolling landscape of the midwest driftless region, on assignment to monitor the delightfully-spiraled and highly-endangered Iowa Pleistocene Snail (Discus macclintocki). A botanically-minded co-worker introduced me to local flora along the winding hikes to field sites. I learned names and stories of plants gracing the algific talus slopes, sand prairies, oak savannas, and wet meadows.

I began to see communities of ecosystems and recognize species by their placement and by their neighbors. I gained a sense of habitat quality, noticing diversity and abundance relative to the unique contours of the landscape, imagining where water flows and pools, observing shade and age of trees. I began to see the abundance of nature with new eyes, realizing there is a lifetime stretching before me in which I will never run short of species to learn or wild places to observe. I was falling sincerely in love: the sort of love you re-prioritize for, you commit to, you cherish with gratitude. I was falling in love with plants.

Fast forward a few months, and I was cruising westward to start a CLM botany internship in Vale, Oregon: a tiny town on the eastern edge of the state, deep in sagebrush country. This is the job I never intended to have, but as the snail position was ending and my appreciation for plants growing, I perused websites for floralistic opportunities and stumbled upon this internship. Lucky in love.

On my journey to Vale, I explored Death Valley’s wildflower bloom, San Francisco, and Salt Point State Park along the California coast. I learned some of my first western birds, including the curious Stellar’s Jay and brilliantly blue Western Scrub Jay. I frolicked among the flowers of Death Valley like a four-limbed solitary bee, nose and cheeks dusted in pollen, brain captivated in woozy ecstasy by the floral fragrance of desert beauties in bloom. Like many romantics, I wrote a poem:

Golden yellow hue flows like rivers down

hillside crevices

to death’s valley floor

where a protesting display

of thousands

millions

of flowers, wild, alive

are blooming.

This is the story of how I arrived. I have much to share from my first month’s adventures as a CLM intern – stories I will save for a new post next week. 🙂

Myself with Desert Gold

Phacelia calthifolia blooming in Death Valley

Gravel Ghost (Atrichoseris platyphylla), Death Valley

Desert Gold (Gerea canescens) blooming en masse in Death Valley

Entering Oregon BLM lands. This spot along Lake Abert is where I saw and smelled Sagebrush for the very first time.

Lauren Bansbach

Bureau of Land Management

Vale, Oregon