Buffalo used to be the largest ruminant on the North American continent. Now, the ecological role of buffalo has been taken up by domesticated cattle. The BLM plays a huge role in managing ranching operations on public lands, and strives to make sure that sustainable yields of cattle can be maintained long into the future.

Cattle being moved to a new pasture.

     As part of the management of ranching operations, the BLM performs rangeland health assessments, which are reports outlining the ecological health of land grazed by cattle. To provide an inter-disciplinary examination of the land, we pool our expertise with the range team and the wildlife team. Ranchers in these arid plains need to be careful to not overgraze their allotments. Grasses take a long time to become established, and if a herd of cows grazes all of the grass to the ground, it may be five or ten years before anything can grow on the sandy soils. Furthermore, overgrazed areas are prone to invasion by non-native species, which are not as palatable to cows, and very difficult to remove. The wildlife team is mostly concerned with making sure that enough habitat remains in these areas to support the sage-grouse, a threatened species.

     The hydrologists are concerned with the health of wetland areas. In the summer, a cow may return to a water source three or four times a day in order to drink. Many times these water sources are artificial troughs fed from wells, but sometimes they may travel to natural sources of water. Hydrologists are responsible for monitoring the health of the riparian areas on public lands, which in this case, often means making sure that the wetland areas are not over-used. We are looking for signs of damage to the fragile ecosystems, like deep hoof-prints, which form bumps over time (called hummocks).

     The hydrologists are also responsible for taking and processing soil samples. We are updating the Natural Resource Conservation Association’s soil type map. Soil type, along with precipitation, is the most important predictor of ecotype. Soils with a good balance of silt, clay, and sand, tend to be better able to support grasses. Many ranches lease land on sandy soils which are more prone to erosion, and have a lower yield than more loamy soils. Updating the soil information helps the range team create accurate estimates of how many head of cattle one acre of land can support.

Me holding a photo board to document a seep on BLM land.

     Ranching is definitely not an easy task in the arid plains of central Wyoming, and participating in the rangeland health assessments has helped me to appreciate the vast quantities of land needed to support cattle. Sometimes I try to visualize the large herds of bison that used to run through the plains of the United States. And sometimes, if I try hard enough, I can hear the thunder of their hooves rushing along to green pastures.

When you change your focus from limitations to boundless possibilities, from doubt and fear, to love and confidence, you open your world in entirely new ways. However, change is not something that necessarily comes easy….Albert Einstein once wrote, “The measure of intelligence is the ability to change.” To truly change…change one’s ideas, habits, perspective, etc. means that one has to have the courage to leap into the unknown. The unknown can be scary, the unknown can often pose an effort of resistance to change. However, it is this resistance that is the only painful aspect of change.

Things are changing rapidly, for all of us. A new job, a new life, maybe a vacation, perhaps back to school. A shift in gears and a turning of leaves (literally). Fall is on its way, and although today is 80 degrees and bluebird skies in Denver, the crisp mornings and evenings lend homage to the onset of Autumn.

Sunset on some cottonwoods behind my house

My experience here at the state office for the Colorado BLM has been one for the books. A big step in my overall career building experience, as I have had the opportunity to spend weeks in the field conducting rare plant surveys, and also working behind the scenes with the data, writing technical reports, and even establishing a new demographic monitoring protocol. To be able to use my skills in and out of the field here has been one of the things I have been the most thankful for in this job, as a lot of my past experiences with field work have led me to submerge myself in only a few aspects of the scientific method, whereas here I have been given the opportunity to do much more.

Exploring Canyons of the Aincients National Monument 
on our way back home from the field

My time here in Colorado has also truly solidified my interest and ambition to continue to pursue education, and with the way things are looking that very well might be possible in the coming months. I have been speaking with a potential adviser about a scholarship opportunity that seems very promising, working on a project well-aligned with my interests in conservation biology, and forest pathology, in a place that would be very, very far away, but would be a great experience and practice in leaping into the unknown…I have been waiting to go back to school for a while, as it is expensive, funding is limited, and to be honest…I have been very picky in choosing an adviser, a project theme, and a place to commit myself to living for an extended period of time. It is a frustrating process, especially when many of the advisers that I would like to work with seemingly have endlessly full labs, limited funding, or don’t even respond to my emails…The frustration makes it hard to keep trying, but with a little patience, “the right wave will come, and when it does, grab your board, jump on, and ride it for all its worth” (Melody Beattie, Journey to the Heart). We will see how things shake out in these next few months…

Driving towards Independence Pass on the way to the 
Maroon Bells-Snowmass Wilderness

While I will not miss the Denver metro area, or the hot muggy summer days…I will miss a lot of things about my time here. My garden, my house, my awesome crew and co-worker Lauren, the nooks and crannies of the Colorado Rockies, full strength beer. Up next, I am headed to Moab in a week to start a new job with the USGS. The desert has always been a place that has excited pieces of my soul in strange ways, though I have never thought I would be capable of living in the conditions. A summer in Colorado has been rough for me, as I am acclimatized to temperate, cool, rain and fog. From what I hear, the fall in Moab is great though, and I sure am excited to get some red dust all over my bike again.

My backyard featuring way too many peaches

Cheers to a great season of growth, pursuit, and experience! It has been a pleasure meeting you all, and I look forward to keeping in touch as everyone moves into their next adventures. And also…if anyone wants to come visit Moab, or plans to pass through on their way to wherever they may be headed next…give me a shout!

All the best,

Sam

Morning Mate with a view (Somewhere in Utah)

We are starting to wrap our collecting season here in Wyoming as we finish the last of our forb and grass collections and wait for our sagebrush sites to go to seed. All we have left to collect are black sage (Artemisia nova) and Wyoming big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata ssp. wyomingensis), which typically go to seed in October or November – right around when I am set to leave. While we have been monitoring these collections, we’ve been getting to work in our little herbarium and go out with – you guessed it – some more wildlife biologists. I’ve enjoyed our time here in the herbarium as I worked in the herbarium at New Mexico State University and loved it. We also will get to visit the Rocky Mountain Herbarium at the University of Wyoming later this month to confirm the ID of the vouchers we’ve collected.

When we’re not working, we’re usually hiking – Medicine Bow National Forest

Our biggest project this month was getting to do black-footed ferret surveys with Wyoming Game and Fish in Shirley Basin. We went nocturnal for our BFFs, working from about 7pm to 7am, spotlighting for the ferrets in trucks and on foot through about ten different plots.  We learned how to recognize the different eyeshine of animals in the area – ferrets have a turquoise eyeshine, pronghorn and foxes have green, and rabbits and badgers have red. It was pretty fun to chase all kinds of animals into their burrows trying to correctly identify them, and feel a whole new kind of excitement seeing that little black mask that meant you definitely had a ferret! They’re pretty curious creatures, and would readily pop out of their burrows to investigate who was shining a light on them and interrupting their night hunt. My partner and I even had a few who turned trapping into a game, jumping out of their burrow and running from one to another as we chased them around with a spotlight and a metal trap. Once we successfully set a trap on top of a burrow, we plugged the surrounding burrow holes with containers and left the sites immediately to give the ferret a chance to check out the trap. For every trap set, we came back every hour to see if anyone had been curious enough to get themselves stuck. At that point, we nudged them into a transfer tube and took them to the processing trailer where the non-game biologist would do all the handling and assessments.

Our first trap, a female kit, sleeping under the anesthesia

Our little girl, waiting to go back home to her burrow

After going under anesthesia, we took body measurements, hair for DNA samples, gave rabies and distemper vaccines, and PIT tagged every new ferret that was found. We also used hair dye to draw unique marks on each of their chests to be able to identify them at a later time. Everything we did those three nights was virtually unchanged from when this surveying started back in the 80s, right after black-footed ferrets were listed as endangered in the 70s, so it was really cool to be part of a reintroduction program that has existed for so long. It was definitely one of the more taxing experiences I’ve had in this job, but with that, it was one of the most rewarding.

Hanging with my BFF.

Well, it’s that time of year again. The end of summer where I finish up the majority of the exciting work for the year and begin to strategize about surviving another winter. As this field season comes to a close I’m left with nothing but positivity from this internship with the Vale, Oregon Bureau of Land Management. I was fortunate to have a helpful mentor who is passionate about conservation and botany, an intelligent and energetic co-worker, and all the diverse job experience I could ask for across the whole 5 million-acre district.

I figured that this final blog post would be a great opportunity to share some of my favorite pictures that I took during the internship so that you can see a little bit of what Eastern Oregon has to offer.

Our big blue pickup truck that we took into the field every day. It is pictured majestically hanging out in park at Leslie Gulch.

My favorite flower seen thus far in the high deserts of Eastern Oregon. Desert blazing star, Mentzelia laevicaulis.

One of our main SOS target species: Machaeranthera canescens.

A horned lizard found by the Owyhee River, looking sassy.

One of my favorite views of Leslie Gulch, taken from a bank of the Owyhee River. The truck is parked near the bottom of a boat ramp, which might give you an idea of how much water covers this area in the winter months.

One of the greatest moments of my life, pictured in a Gem Stop parking lot.

If I wrote about every great experience I had through my CLM internship I would have to make another blog post to fit it all. This summer has provided me with countless experiences to expand what I know about plants, animals, myself, the earth, and the many ways by which everything on it is connected. I am looking forward to taking everything that I learned here on to my next stop in life and continuing to let this knowledge grow. Best of luck to all my fellow interns that I got to meet in Chicago and to anyone else taking the time to read this. You are #1!

Eli

It’s quite strange to think that the field season is drawing to a close. The Bighorn Mountains have already seen their first snowfall for the season, which kept us out of the field for a day. As hunters begin to take to the woods, the days spent with boots on the ground are dwindling, and much is being done to prepare for the end of the fiscal year. Together with my mentor we must gathering and processing data, totaling sales, generating maps and writing reports, and the deadline is looming ever closer and closer.

Reflecting back on the field season, there are many non-forestry, yet still highly beneficial experiences I have had in the field with other specialists this season. I’ve been able to spend time with wildlife biologists, archeologists, and recreation specialists to both collaborate on projects as well as to see what they do on a daily basis. It’s incredible how so many unique aspects interplay in our Public Land System. The Bureau of Land Management is often termed a multiple use agency, and that’s no exaggeration.

One important realization came as I began thinking about the next steps I’ll be taking in my career after the CLM Internship. As I begin searching for jobs and contacting potential future employers, it’s incredible how specific some forestry jobs are. For instance, the BLM has one forester and one intern for two field offices in Wyoming, and we get to do everything related to the forests such as timber stand improvement projects, contract timber sales, public forest product sales, reconnaissance for future areas, manage disease and insect outbreaks, and take all the information gathered from the field back into the office.

If it were not for the CLM internship and the BLM, I’d only have been exposed to a small fraction of what it takes to manage a forest. This experience has been foundational in my development as a forester and land manager, and has given me the chance to both learn and practice the skills of a forester. I have not only learned a few skills to complete a small part of the forestry process, but I’ve been involved with the whole process from start to finish. Quite the education experience!

Mountain Top Meadow

My Home is back in the Trees

The Field Season is in full swing, and it’s not showing signs of slowing down. I am beginning to work independently several times a week, as well as interacting with other specialists and contractors. Shifting demands have created a workload that is different that earlier in the season, yet still provides countless opportunities for growth and learning, as well as benefiting the Bureau of Land Management and our public lands.

After the legwork early in the season to set up various forest product sales, now the task turns to ensuring contractors and public cutters are following the prescribed statements of work. I regularly visit with contractors on site to check any number of things such as stump height, burn pile placement, safety, and wellbeing as well as general progress. When dealing with public cutters, it often turns into a guessing game of whether or not they cut what they were supposed to. It is infrequent I have the chance to interact directly with public cutters, I merely can see what they have done and use that information to make clarifying changes in the future.

As the sales have now been set up and monitoring continues, my attention is beginning to shift towards forest management and the longevity of a healthy forest. Much of my time and attention has shifted to a track of land we call Pitch Pine, on Muddy Mountain. A meadow restoration project is underway, to facility a balanced ecosystem and create meadow habitat for various species. A species of great importance is the Sage Grouse, given special management concerns in the state of Wyoming. By designating tree islands for forest dwelling species, and opening the meadows by removing trees, a mosaic ecosystem will be created and give benefit to an even wider variety of species.

Today marks the halfway point in my internship, exactly. I’m sure it’s no coincidence I’ve found time to write a blogpost. While I can tell my learning curve is becoming less steep, it is none-the-less still gradually increasing. The main difference is that I have the time to begin perfecting and refining the skills I have learned.

Cascade in the Bighorn Mountains

Bighorn Mountain Skyline

Atop Gardener Mountain

As my initial trainings are over and I’m nearly brought up to speed with all things BLM and Forestry, it’s time for my daily tasks to switch from learning to doing. The focus has turned to applying what I have learned to help manage the forests surrounding Casper and Buffalo, Wyoming. Each city is home to its own unique mountain experience.

To the south of Casper, Wyoming, is the Laramie Mountain Range, where my time is spent predominantly on Muddy Mountain. Due to its proximity to the city, it is easily accessible and readily traveled by many. Recreation trails crisscross the mountain allowing easy access and two developed campgrounds have been established yet the natural beauty remains astonishing. I frequent the forest to monitor public fire wood sales, check the density of post and pole sale areas as well as designate new forest product sales. The trees of Muddy Mountain are in high demand, due to the proximity of Casper. This backyard mountain has even become a personal favorite weekend retreat.

In north central Wyoming, the Bighorn mountain range dominates the landscape. The peaks scrape the sky while the rolling meadows dance between. The landscape is incredible. It is serene, untouched, and nearly always vacant of human impact. Moose linger in the wetlands while signs of elk are abundant. My forestry routine is much the same as on Muddy Mountain, except the scale is immense. Because the public demand is not as great, I often work with contractors in the Bighorns as they are capable of finishing the jobs in a timely manner. Every moment spent in the Bighorn Mountains is a treat, oh what a wonderful place to call my office!

The field season is in high gear, and there is rarely a dull moment. Each day goes by quicker and quicker, as more and more is accomplished. While the immediate impacts of my work are difficult to see, the long term influence will surely benefit these great natural places for generations to come.

Cruising Timber

View from Muddy Mountain

With only three weeks remaining in my internship, I am beginning to reflect on my experience and take stock of all that I have learned.  Lately, this means thinking a lot about invasive species.  Unfortunately, this has felt like a monumentally disheartening topic.  While my fellow intern and I are doing our best to pull out weeds or spray them with herbicide, our efforts can feel very small compared to the scope of the problem.  In many cases, the area that we are treating for one invasive species is also home to many others.  If we were able to treat them all, we would be left with a mostly barren field by the end.

It is hard not to feel as if we are fighting a losing battle, so I would like to visit a time when I felt slightly more optimistic.  At the beginning of July, I wrote a blog post marking the halfway point of my internship.  I was never able to post it due to what I have dubbed the Blog Blackout of 2018, but I want to revisit it now, because I think it is a useful way to frame my current pessimistic train of thought.

Today marks the halfway point of my internship.  Hang on, that can’t be right.  While I’ve been stomping around in the woods, time has passed me by.  Collecting seed may not be the most glamorous job in the world, but it sure does pass the time.

The past two weeks have been a race against the clock: trying to find and collect seed from three native grasses before they disperse.  Roemer’s fescue, California oatgrass, and Lemmon’s needlegrass are very charismatic native species (well, as charismatic as a grass can be) and we are trying to collect enough seed to grow them out for restoration projects.  In practice, this means that I look at maps in ArcGIS to try and identify sites where these grasses have been spotted in the past or habitats that would support their populations, and then travel out to these sites and cross my fingers that those populations actually exist.  I have embarked on more than one long walk with disappointing results, but at least most of those hikes end with a view:

In the middle of this seed collecting frenzy, any activity that mixes things up is welcome.  This week, I practically leapt at the chance to pull weeds in a post-Independence Day rafting trip down the North Umpqua River.  The purpose of the trip was to pull out a grass called false brome, a nasty weed which will aggressively push out all other vegetation if left unchecked.  While we found plenty of false brome, we also noticed that it was much less prevalent at sites targeted by past rafting trips.  It was gratifying to see the positive results of a management strategy, and it is a nice reminder that my small efforts at weed control are not futile (provided they are part of a long-term plan of action).

After reflecting on my experience from two months ago and zooming out to focus on the big picture, I am feeling a lot better.  My efforts may feel small right now, but as long as they are part of a larger plan of action there is a brighter, less weedy future to look forward to here in the Umpua Valley.  I can go back out in the field for the rest of the week with renewed energy and determination to knock out all of this false brome or any other invasive weed that gets in my way.

It’s almost fall and the field season is winding down. Yesterday it hailed here in Denver (technically Lakewood) and some of it has stuck to the ground, looking like snow. The air is crisp and the leaves are starting to turn. And I am clinging to summer while I watch it slip through my fingers having gone much too quickly.

It’s been a great field season. My coworkers are wonderful and I will miss them so, especially Sam Andres, my co-star in this adventure. She will be moving on soon and I wish her the best of luck. She has been awesome to work with and I know she is going to do some awesome things!

Sam setting up a monitoring plot in western Colorado

This summer we often ventured to the western slope, to the drought plagued lands past the Rocky Mountains. While the drought is pretty depressing to witness, I must admit I like the heat and enjoyed baking out in the sun. We worked with a lot of cool plants. Unfortunately conditions were rough and many either didn’t flower or I missed the flowering. What was really cool was learning the different monitoring methods. Some plants we did demography monitoring, where data is collected for tagged individuals over many years. Other plants were tallied by the numbers of vegetative and reproductive individuals. Yet others we did frequency monitoring. Each method is applied depending on the life history of the plant, some of which aren’t completely known. Methods are taken from the Measuring and Monitoring handbook. This handbook goes really in depth into the statistical methods necessary for sampling sufficiency and for appropriate analysis. Math isn’t my strong suite so learning these formulas is super helpful for me!

Checking precipitation monitoring devices at a Sclerocactus glaucus monitoring site

While my coworkers weren’t thrilled about this species, as it is so small you have to kneel on the ground to get appropriate data, I think this may have been one of my favorite species (Physaria congesta). It’s so cute!

Though many of our rare species occur on the western slope, we had other fun destinations as well. We traveled to northern central Colorado a few times, surveying plants in the Kremmling Field Office. One trip we collaborated with a botany class from a Colorado University. We always had a solid crew of individuals always ready to help us whenever we worked in Kremmling.

Phacelia formosula

Our Kremmling friends helped us to monitor Phacelia formosula, here pictured at a newly established demography monitoring plot (this species has been historically monitored using frequency)

One fun adventure was near Canon City where we helped local BLM specialists identify a possible rare species to monitor.

Hiking to a possible population of Penstemon degeneri

Nope, it wasn’t Penstemon degeneri

One species that we monitored was in a vastly different ecosystem than what we normally worked in. This was Eutrema penlandii, a small alpine plant. This trip was a challenge because we were working in cold, wet climate with a lot of people from different agencies. We needed to ensure that monitoring efforts were done consistently across the various groups of people, many who had a lot of experience and weren’t about to be ordered around by interns. Though past years there had been some monitoring inconsistencies, we managed to keep it all together and collect some good data!

Sam et al monitoring Eutrema penlandii, a plant so small you had to get down real close and part all the vegetation to identify it

This guy was trying to steal our food while we worked

Pretty alpine plant

Pretty pretty

While we completed a lot of monitoring and I am very proud of our work, we also had some fun adventures along the way.

Full moon over Meeker, CO. Staying in Meeker was nice. Few food options, but a very nice park near the hotel where we gazed upon the full moon:)

My mentor Carol and Phil while we tour a seed farm that grows out native seed for research and restoration purposes

Stick works in Vail. Even though I was a very grumpy girl that day, Carol had us stop in Vail on our way back from Meeker to see this stick art. This really cheered me up!

Our adventures have been great! Though I will be sad to move on in ~6 weeks time, I will always remember this experience fondly:)