A BLM Haiku
Last month spent training
On how to drive, GIS* and spray.
Now fieldwork begins.
Starting with a Short-eared Owl survey in Dixe Valley! Photo courtesy of Britney Zell.
*GIS pronounced here as “jiss.”
Many things have changed since my last blog post about a month ago. Our group of four interns turned into five when we welcomed our newest member to the team a few weeks ago. I am now a certified pesticide applicator, I learned how to key out the tricky Poaceae family and I finally got my first night of field experience in the Great Basin.
The introductory phase of this internship is coming to a close and the field season is about to begin. I had more trainings this March than I have over the last couple of years. Now, I get to take what I’ve learned and put it to use.
We have been in the office more than I would have liked to be, but with the Sierra snow pack melting and the ground still being saturated with moisture, it has been difficult to get out into the field. That is rapidly changing, however, as it warms up and dries out. Just two days ago, we participated in a Short-eared Owl survey in Dixie Valley, which is part of the 5,000,000 acres that the Carson City BLM oversees. Unfortunately, we did not spot any owls, but we saw several birds of prey including Northern Harriers, Red-tailed Hawks, and potentially Golden Eagles (unconfirmed). After the survey, we had the opportunity to camp beneath the crystal clear, star soaked sky.
The following morning, we were introduced to the flora that we will be working with for a majority of the internship. The Great Basin ecosystem is surprisingly diverse. Superficially, Artemesia, Atriplex and a few other genera dominate the landscape, but upon closer inspection it is evident that hundreds of species contribute to a complex network that make up the desert community.
Sphaeralcia spp. in Dixie Valley
Astragalus spp. in Dixie Valley
On a side note, much of our free time is spent in Ash Canyon or the Sierra Nevada/Lake Tahoe area. Already, we have hiked to incredible viewpoints, skied across state parks and birded for countless hours in beautiful valleys.
Lake Tahoe Sunset
Ash Canyon Valley
So far, I am thoroughly enjoying my time here in Carson City and I cannot wait to see what the future holds.
Jason Fibel
Carson City District Office-BLM
Week one in Grants Pass, Oregon. Compared to my fellow crew who traveled from New York and Texas I drove a mere 6 hours from Truckee, CA to get here so I cannot quite say my travels were great, but they were beautiful.
A few things I have learned this week:
Well, I will continue to learn the area and meet people. In the mean time I am stoked on my crew and excited to get out in the field!
Things are finally starting to bloom at our field office and accordingly the field season is starting to get extremely busy. This week we put up some trail cameras to monitor what wildlife is visiting some ephemeral ponds that we built last year. Tomorrow I will help build a fence that will protect Verbena californica from being grazed or trampled by cattle. We are also starting to collect herbarium vouchers for our presumptive seed collections for Seed of Success such as this Erythonium species pictured below. Tons of stuff is starting to bloom! One of our rare plants Ceanothus roderickii is starting to bloom and was getting pollinated by Bombus vosnesenskii and Bombus melanopygus which I had never seen before.
Better get going because there is plenty of work to do!
-Landon from the BLM Mother Lode Field Office in El Dorado Hills, CA.
Bombus melanopygus on Cenothus roderickii
While Sierra precipitation continues to blanket mountain ranges in snow and swell Carson City with rain into April, bouts of nice weather provide us the opportunity to conduct habitat and species surveys in remote field sites. Since my last post, my team and I have searched for a rare cactus species on proposed mining sites, collected data for a Short-Eared Owl population study, pressed plant specimens from the field, and cataloged species associations of the coniferous forests in eastern California.
Our mentor, Dean Tonenna, received Mining Notices for operations on BLM lands at nine locations near the Singatse Mountain Range and Mason Valley in Lyon County, NV. We were tasked with surveying the mining sites for a rare cactus on the BLM Sensitive Species List. We encountered one occurrence of the species, Sagebrush Cholla (Grusonia pulchella), on our last proposed drill site to survey. We recorded the GPS coordinate of the cactus and mapped the location with the proposed mining sites on ArcGIS. Dean included the finding in his report and made specific recommendations for site modification.
Mason Valley, Singatse Range, Lyon County, NV.
Our next adventure required finding a remote study plot within Dixie Valley nestled between the Stillwater and Clan Alpine Ranges in Churchill County, NV. We collected occurrence data along transects as a part of the Western Asio Flammeus (Short-Eared Owl) Landscape Study with the Intermountain Bird Observatory. We observed Northern Harrier, Horned Lark, Killdeer, Common Raven, and Red-Tailed Hawk. Unfortunately, we did not record a single occurrence of Asio flammeus over the eleven transects. We camped within the study plot following the survey and prepared to collect plant specimen vouchers for the area in the morning. After a brilliant sunrise, our mentor walked us through the dominant species of the Salt Desert Shrub plant community and species specific to Dixie Valley. We pressed a variety of species, a few of which included Phacelia crenulata, Astragulus iodanthus and Lepidium flavum.
Sunrise over the Clan Alpine Range, Dixie Valley, Churchill County, NV
This week my intern team took the opportunity to attend a Cooperative Weed Management Area meeting in Quincy, CA for the Plumas area of the western Sierras. The meeting included many stakeholders, scientists, and herbicide applicators for updates on noxious weed projects during the 2017 field season. Following the meeting, our mentor had us pull off the highway onto an old logging road up into a Ponderosa Pine (Pinus ponderosa) and Douglas Fir (Pseudotsuga menziesii) forest. Similar to the Dixie Valley plant community survey, we rapidly assessed the dominant vegetation and learned about the differences between the western and eastern slopes of the Sierra Nevada ranges. Hiking up and down fresh mountain streams, we encountered a variety of early-blooming wildflowers. The fresh rain and scents of the Pines, Firs, and Cedars reaffirmed my love for temperate conifer forests.
Temperate Conifer Forest of the Western Sierras
On the weekends, we fill our time with exploring new hiking trails, skiing at Lake Tahoe and playing soccer. Ash Canyon and Clear Creek Trail are just 10 minutes from our house in Carson City and offer miles of maintained trails into the canyons of the eastern Sierras. When it is snowing or raining (like yesterday), we plan out future backpacking trips and prepare for fieldwork during the next week. We have plans for Monday to visit the Pine Nut Mountains to survey for noxious weeds and other invasive plant species. Can’t wait!
Clear Creek Trail
Carson City District Office – BLM
Connor Kotte
As I settle into Ridgecrest, I finally feel as if I am starting my job. Over the last few weeks, myself and the other SOS intern have started collecting seed and tissue samples. There has been a lot of difficultly in trying to figure out what protocol should be followed for each sample. Last week we filled out the wrong data sheets for the samples we mailed off. This mistake was mostly due to the fact that we still lack computer access at work, making it difficult to find the proper instructions for each species. Next week myself and the other SOS intern are going to meet up with an employee of the Santa Ana Botanic Garden, which will be extremely helpful in figuring how to properly follow their instructions.
Besides all of the mistakes, going out and scouting has been a lot of fun. It’s really amazing to get to hike/drive around see all the different ecosystems in the Ridgecrest field office.This environment could not be more different that the high humidity and total green of the southeast US. I feel that every canyon we walk into looks so different than the one we were in the previous day. The variability in plant diversity throughout the area is really surprising to me. Diversity here is not only controlled by soil type and moisture but by ability to be dispersed to that area.
Last week we went out to collect for a wildflower show that the Ridgecrest community is currently putting on. This exhibit showcases the high level of biodiversity in the desert. I never thought I would see riparian areas with amphibians and cottonwoods out in the middle of the desert but you can hike just a few miles and go from Joshua trees to willow trees. I feel really grateful to have the opportunity to come out here and have an experience unlike anything I could have had on the East coast. 
After a drizzly Saturday of cross-country skiing at Lake Tahoe, I was awakened by the sun pouring through the big windows next to my bed. It was almost 7 a.m., and I put on some hot water for tea. I checked my email on my phone, and was greeted by a late-night email from Dean, our mentor. He was going on a last-minute rare cactus survey, the results of which were due the next day – did any of us want to come along? He was leaving for the field in less than three hours.
One of my fellow interns and I went into high gear to prepare for the field. We scrounged together a little food, packed some clothes and gear, and bid goodbye to our other two housemates / interns who decided to stay home.
The drive to the field site took us through vast basins of sagebrush, sagebrush, and more sagebrush, dotted with occasional groups of grazing cattle or wild horses and rimmed by dramatic mountains. We spent the day searching for Grusonia pulchella (sagebrush cholla), a BLM sensitive species, near proposed mining sites. The first challenge was finding the sites, which were marked by a (sometimes fallen) wooden post that looked very similar to the multitude of other posts scattered throughout the area. We didn’t have GPS coordinates for the points, so we used a printed map with sometimes inaccurate points provided by the mining company. Getting to the points required driving on some semi-sketchy 4-wheel drive roads and subsequent rock scrambling, but we were rewarded by some amazing views.
We surveyed eight sites without finding any G. pulchella individuals, but we did find some other cactus species and were introduced to many new shrubs and forbs in the surprisingly diverse sagebrush community. We also found an historic sheep camp (evidenced by trampled soil and ubiquitous old sheep droppings), an old mining site complete with extremely rusty metal cans, and some Opuntia sp.(prickly pear cactus) individuals, all of which would be disturbed by mining activity.
Finally, on our last site of the day, we found the species we had been looking for! It was a tiny little cactus tucked in behind a small Artemisia arbuscula, and in the waning daylight we marked it with a GPS and flagging tape. I was struck by the fact that a mining company would be forced to change their plans because of the presence of this single rare plant – it really is awesome! Hooray for plant conservation!
We drove a short distance to a dry wash, set up our tents in the dark, and sat around my backpacking stove listening to the nighttime desert noises. Mostly, the noises consisted of crackling power lines and a mysterious high-pitched squeak/chirp/whine. I didn’t last long before crawling into my sleeping bag and falling asleep.
After a little more surveying and the drive back to the office the next morning, we spend the rest of the week doing trainings and attending a grass identification class at University of Nevada-Reno. We spent those two days of class with our eyes glued to the microscopes, picking apart tiny grass spikelets and sending glumes and lemmas flying across the table. Our eyes and bodies were tired after sitting still for hours on end, but now we are ready to identify any grass that comes our way – well, only if we are equipped with a microscope. After a long week, we were ready for another weekend of outdoor adventures before heading to Boise for a busy week of pest management class.
Britney, Carson City BLM
In my first about week and a half, I have seen some of the beauty that lies in southern Oregon. 
A hike into the lower table rock shows vast landscapes, with beautiful views of the rogue river, farmland, and mountains in the clouds.
The table rocks are some geologically interesting formations that are left over lava flows that have been eroded away into horseshoe shapes, leaving about a mile on top of flat fertile land that is covered in vernal pools.
A Calypso orchid (Calypso bulbosa), found on a hillside in the Applegate.
We saw several around the area in bud, this was the only one in full flower. Absolutely beautiful.
A recent wildfire in the Applegate, that is helping to rebirth this forest.
In this area the western pine beetle, is extremely prevalent. Fires like these help to encourage the bug to attack these fire dead trees rather than healthy ones.
We passed some serious Morel mushroom hunters, that really take their off road vehicles seriously.
Insect tube, most likely from the western pine beetle.
This week has been filled with training, and adjusting to the work schedule. I have found that the Medford area is quite a hip and trendy place. There is tons for me to do in my off time. I have also begun studying for my Oregon pesticide certification. This promises to be an eventful summer
Sierra Sampson
Medford, OR BLM
This month focused on the creation of a priority species list for this season’s seed collections. It consisted of a delicate balance between native plant communities of anticipated future reclamation needs, competition with invasive weeds, erosion control, pollinator habitat, seed market needs, and the overall needs of the Colorado Plateau Native Plant Program. Inclement weather and completion of the priority list have been limiting factors for ventures into the field. As the rains have receded, roads dried, and the list solidified, the desert has become more inviting to field work. In an effort to maximize my time at the Vernal Field Office, I have expressed interest in accompanying the field excursions of a variety of specialties, including botany, paleontology, and law enforcement. Recently I took part in surveys for reported fossils as well as endemic species of yucca, cacti, and beardtongue. In addition to exploring career paths and learning BLM methodology, these field days were valuable opportunities to orient myself in the varied landscape and become familiar with the flora. As the season progresses, my time in the field will be increasing. I am about to start scouting potential seed collection sites, and will continue to pursue field excursions with multiple specialties.
Asteraceae through the loupe
Old Growth Sclerocactus alongside the next generation
Close-up of Sarcobatus vermiculatus (Greasewood)
View from the survey location of a potential gravel pit site
Native Pollination in action, this Astragalus chamaeleuce has a Bombus visitor
This herd was on a site as we surveyed it for the presence of Sclerocactus, a threatened native plant. As domesticated horses have escaped captivity or been abandoned on public land, some survive and reproduce to create feral herds. Feral horses can be detrimental to native sensitive plant species by trampling vegetation, overgrazing, and altering soil properties. Their impacts differ from native large ungulates and livestock because they aren’t limited by hunters, natural predators, or grazing permits.