I’m living in the end times. End times of my internship, that is. First, I want to say that moving to New Mexico to be a CLM intern is THE BEST THING I could have done after graduating. I am so glad that I took a leap of faith and did it. I’ve got just a little over a week left to work, and I’ve already asked if I can come in a few more days as a volunteer because I’m not quite ready to say goodbye. I’ll get a little more herbarium time in and maybe even some final field visits.

Sunny even became a better botanist this summer!

This internship has really helped fine tune my botanizing skills. I’m much more confident with grasses and the mega plant family Asteraceae especially. I know that with a couple of good books and some time I can learn the ID of plants anywhere I plop down, which is a spectacular feeling. I’ve also had a nice peek into what working for the BLM might be like, and actually know some of the acronyms! During my time here I was also junior ranger deputized and titled “budding botanist” by my mentor, got to help with National public Lands Day dressed as Seymour Antelope, and was a real member of an ID (interdisciplinary) Team for a ecological assessment.

I liked the SOS work; the mission is admirable and makes for a job you can feel good about. I love the physicality of collecting the seed in the field; this kind of work has always been meditative in a way for me. I felt like a proud seed mama every time we sent a shipment of seed to Bend. “Go, my dear little seeds, for within you lies the promise of a shining future”… I know, I’ m a little nutty but that is how it feels. I would like to see more of what is being done on the ground with some of these native plant materials in terms of grow out and restoration in the future. I also feel that I have a better grasp on the realm of landscape ecology, and looking the environment as more a whole than individual parts. Even though my time was focused on SOS, I am thankful to my mentor, Sheila for encouraging us to get to know other people in our office and experience some of the other fieldwork that the BLM conducts. I’ve enjoyed learning about well pad reclamation and range/riparian monitoring in addition to our botany work. I also feel accomplished in that I wasn’t just a needy intern; I actually helped my mentor get important things done and was able to make some portions of her workload more manageable.

A typical collection site

It’s been eye opening to work in Farmington because of the booming oil and gas industry here. Everything else comes second, and all summer I have seen the people that work here struggle and fight to get other causes recognized as important, from archaeologists to recreation and wildlife specialists and of course, botanists. It’s got to be hard to work in an environment like that and I’m not sure if I could do it, but I am glad to know that there are people who do in spite of all the challenges that the oil and gas machine presents.

I will be applying for the CLM internship again in November. There’s a lot more to see and do, and I’m not ready to apply for a permanent position somewhere. I just want to keep gaining a variety of experience. Doing this internship has made me think that academia and returning to grad school may not be for me, but that is still to be seen. I still don’t have a clear path, but I think CLM has helped send me in the right direction, and I’m happy with that. This season proved to me that is truly is important to enjoy and be fascinated by your work, so that is what I intend to do. I really appreciate what Krissa Skogen, Rebecca Johnson, Peggy Olwell, and others have done to make the CLM program possible. I would recommend this internship to anyone interested in land/natural resources management and ecology. Thanks also to Sheila, the “coolest boss ever!”, my coworkers here at FFO BLM, and of course my CLM intern partner in grime (we like to get our hands dirty) Sarah. I’m looking forward to next season! Keep up the good work fellow interns, and love all that you do.
Hannah Goodmuth, Farmington NM.

Seymour Antelope!

Greetings fellow interns,

Things are finally beginning to green up again here in the Northern California Central Valley.  This has come to be one of my favorite times of the year here.  Being originally from the Midwest, I am accustomed to seeing dry, dormant, dying vegetation in the fall as plants prepare for a cold hard winter, but here the fall season brings moisture and precipitation to a system that has been dry and dormant throughout the mid and late summer.  It makes for a lovely green fall full of re-awakening plant life.  Judging by my inability to pass air through my nasal passages, I am convinced the rejuvenated plants are also contributing to an increased pollen count.  You take the good with the bad!

Many exciting things are currently happening at the Preserve.  Birds have begun showing up in numbers and we are once again participating in bi-weekly waterfowl counts.  Every year the Cosumnes River Preserve supports tens of thousands of migratory birds utilizing the Pacific Flyway.  With the extremity of the drought over the last several years, many historically wet areas do not have water this year, and we are expecting above average bird numbers.

California Department of Fish and Wildlife is in the process of developing a mountain lion study at the Preserve.  The pilot study will involve trapping and radio collaring cats to better understand how and why they are using the Preserve as habitat.  Trapping is scheduled to being this winter. The cats are definitely present at the Preserve, but they are such cryptic animals that their life histories here are quite mysterious.   I am very eager to read up on the findings of this study.

The Preserve is also working on the development of a partnership with the Center for Land Based Learning through their Student and Landowner Education and Watershed Stewardship (SLEWS) Habitat Restoration Program.  This program gets California school students directly involved in native habitat restoration projects through  hands-on field work days at various sites throughout the Sacramento Valley.  As a significant portion of my responsibilities at the Preserve include managing habitat restoration projects, I think this will be an excellent opportunity to expand our projects while educating students and having a good time!

Lucky for me, I have also had the opportunity to participate in a few SOS seed collections throughout the late summer and early fall months.  I love being able to get out in the field to explore, monitor plant populations, and collect seed!  I was also joined by fellow SOS intern Julie Wynia, and it is always great to be able to socialize and collect with other folks from the CLM program.  We reached our 2014 BLM collection targets for the Mother Lode Field Office, and have already begun collecting for the 2015 fiscal year.  Hope your fall season has been going equally as enjoyably as mine has-

Best,

Patrick

This past week I had the opportunity with a friend from work to go to Death Valley National Park. This is a truly amazing place and the difference in topography and scenery around the park is quite an impressive feat in the natural world. We went to Eureka Dunes in the northern portion of the park where there are several endemic species to dunes: Oenothera californica ssp. eurekensis and Astragalus lentiginosus var. micrans. These particular dunes are the ones endearingly called “The Singing Dunes.” It was a very special place to be and see the wondrous landscape of Larraea tridentata, Echinocactus polycephalus, Opuntia basilaris, Eucnide urens and many other species of desert flora.

We also traveled to Mesquite Springs in the lower part of the park and hiked the beautiful Telescope Peak, which is over 11,000′. The following day we searched for a plant that Rebecca had vehemently sought after and eventually we found it in Surprise Canyon out of Panamint Valley. It was an amazing plant, Annulocaulis annulatus, and many of the other species of flora in the canyon were quite interesting. Particularly, the shrub Peucephyllum schottii (Desert Pygmy Cedar), which is found in the Asteraceae family. I have never seen a shrub in the Asteraceae that captivated me with amazement like this particular plant did. We left the park that night and headed to Lone Pine, CA where we enjoyed a good meal at the Mt. Whitney Restaurant.

The greatest part of the trip for me was most assuredly the chance to walk amongst the ancient Bristlecone Pines (Pinus longaeva). It has always been a dream of mine to see these splendid specimens gnarled and contorted on the dry slopes of the White Mountains in CA. A tree that quite literally has weathered the toughest storms, winds and cold for millenia. Feeling the bark and seeing the needles (they stay on the tree for 35-40 years before dropping) closely bundled on the branches, the sap laden cones and knowing that these trees have stood for thousands of years was a humbling experience considering that our own lifetimes are like a blade of grass that springs up and withers away the next day. What a thought!

This was a trip I will not soon forget and it may well be my last trip here in the vicinity of Carson City.

Consider the wonders around you my friends,

Ethan CCDO BLM

Hello everyone, this is my last post at the CLM blog. First of all, I am going to summarize our research during my internship at the Provo Shrub Sciences Laboratory. The first month and a half, we were exploring the technical details of the portable e-nose device and smell theory. Followed by that, we standardized the e-nose methodology using known Big Sagebrush volatiles to establish the smell parameters for our experiments, and then we analyzed Big Sagebrush smell. While we were working on our lab experiments, we were also working in the field collecting phenology data for different Big Sagebrush populations at the common gardens in Utah. Also we did several field trips at different locations of Utah and Idaho to collect different samples of wild Big Sagebrush, additionally we received samples from different common gardens of Idaho. We analyzed ploidy and smell of known and wild populations at the lab, looking to differentiate between subspecies. We presented our first results in March 2014, at the Great Basin Native Plant Project Annual Meeting, in Boise Idaho. During the Spring and Summer we were collecting smell and volatile compounds at common gardens and in lab, to determine smell patterns differences between Big Sagebrush populations in different environments and seasons. In addition during the summer we were working in seed experiments at the lab, looking to differentiate between Big Sagebrush subspecies. Our results were presented at the SER Northwest & Great Basin Regional Conference, in Redmond Oregon. We are hoping to complete two papers with our data.

When I first started at the Shrub Lab I did not have much experience in the United States. Now that I am completing my internship with CLM, I feel much better prepared for graduate school in the United States. During my internship, I have had the opportunity to make new friends at the Provo Shrub Lab, and I have to say that it is a nice place to work, with very interesting people. I want to say thank you to my mentor for all the support, and the things that he taught me, and for encouraging me to continue exploring new things. Also I want to say thank you to Krissa, Wesley and Rebecca for all the support, I really appreciate it.

Thank you CLM and Provo Shrub Sciences Laboratory

Hector

Provo, UT

USDA-Forest Service RMRS, Shrub Sciences Laboratory

With the collecting season rapidly coming to an end, our duties have begun to shift, but still maintain seamless relevance with our prior work. Southern Oregon was hit hard this year with some large forest fires that completely torched some BLM lands.  Our seed collecting work early this season has now come full circle as a result of reseeding projects in these burnt forests and meadows.  The seed we are using was collecting in past years but former CLM interns, and was sent to a number of different farms around the Pacific Northwest and grown out to increase the number of poundage.  It is these seeds, of the same ecoregion, that we are using to repopulate the native grasses and forbs.  I will be spending this week and next onsite, where the Oregon Gulch fired occurred, with 8 members from a community justice crew.  We have already covered roughly 300 acres and will be covering much more in the days to come.

Over the last couple of weeks, I worked with the City of Eugene putting together native seed mixes for different land managers.  Last week, they caught a lucky break of good weather that allowed them to prescribe burn, so the seed mixes will now be dispersed at these sites.  Putting these seed mixes together took place in the “seed castle”, a colossal wooden warehouse sitting right beside the train tracks. Gloomy and still like a scene from “The Departed”, I kept my ears perked in anticipation of sirens and heavy footstep.  Who knew when our covert restoration operations might be interrupted?  There was a moment for contemplation.  How funny it is that these seeds, seeds of opportunity, beauty, diversity, nutrition, seeds of life, that harbor so much potential, so much value for prairie health, so much importance, made their way to these plastic bags in this old, dreary, dank warehouse.  I could only imagine how these little carbon capsules of unthinkable shapes and sizes will explode into their glorious forms and colors to feed the soil and the critters creeping and crawling about.

            Just when work seemed to be slowing down with the end of the field season, the month of September came to the rescue.

            It was time for Marta and I to start going out to various (20+) trend sites located throughout the 400,000 acres of land recently burned in the lightening-caused Buzzard Complex Fire (BCF). At these sites we noted the vigor of remaining vegetation (as well as regrowth) and took plot and landscape photos. Unlike all the other ES&R trend sites we’ve monitored this summer (which burned anywhere from 1-3 years ago), these BCF trend sites burned less than 2 months ago in July.

To be able to explore and collect monitoring data on very recently burned high-desert shrubland-steppe was quite the experience. It is really hard to imagine what 400,000 acres looks like until you are out there on the ground. Let’s just say it is like looking out in nearly every direction from wherever you may be and seeing burned land as far as the eye can see. Here though, it is important to understand that fires do not burn evenly across the landscape in terms of fire severity. So, in the high-severity burned areas the land was completely barren of any vegetation and it was easy to see where shrubs were once rooted in the ground before the fire by looking at the darker spots of the ash covered land. In the moderate-severity burned areas the land was of course still ash covered in many places, but there remained dead, blackened stumps of shrubs and stubs of burned down bunchgrasses scattered throughout.  In the low-severity burned areas remained little islands of still intact (and sometimes very much alive and green; unburned) shrubs and or bunchgrasses. Most encouraging though, there were a good amount of sites that had rubber rabbitbrush regrowth and bunchgrass seedlings sprouting up!

July 2014 Buzzard Complex Fire: High-Severity burned area

July 2014 Buzzard Complex Fire: Moderate Severity burned area

July 2014 Buzzard Complex Fire: Low-Severity burned area

 

 

Attending the BCF tour was another wonderful experience that came with the month of September. The purpose of this tour for the BLM Buzzard Complex Fire ES&R Team (made up of a few Rangeland Management Specialists, Resource Area Managers, Noxious Weed Specialists, and Natural Resource Specialists) and the Burns, OR USDA Agricultural Resource Station (USDA ARS) was to show special interest groups (such as Oregon Natural Desert Association), cooperating agencies and tribal representatives the condition of the land throughout the burned area, all the while discussing the threats (exotic annual grass invasion, herds of feral horses ripping out seedlings, short fire return intervals, etc.), opportunities (exotic annual grass/fuels reduction with grazing, seeding/planting desirable species, noxious weed treatments, etc.) and management actions, in addition to addressing any of post-fire management concerns.

July 2014 Buzzard Complex Fire Tour led by BLM Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation Team and Burns, OR USDA Agricultural Research Station scientists

The 1^st stop of the tour was at a (medusa-head infested pre-fire) research plot located in the burned area. Here, the scientists from the Burns, OR USDA Agricultural Research Station discussed the results of their experiments concerning establishment of a variety of seeded/ planted native vs desirable (crested wheatgrass in particular) species post-fire in this low-precipitation, low-elevation landscape. The scientists explained why the natives had a very hard time establishing (virtually no germination success) and why the desired bunchgrass (crested wheatgrass) was much more successful in establishing. Simply put, the crested wheatgrass was much more hardy and competitive than the native species.

Here are some quotes (though I apologize because for some I did not write down who said it as I was scribbling it all down like a mad-man so as not to miss anything) I took from the informed discussion that followed:

• ·         Being a perennial bunchgrass, crested wheatgrass has a very extensive root system, so “just because you see bare ground on top of soil does not mean it is unoccupied underneath…and don’t be alarmed when you see annual grasses in between bunchgrasses because it could be simply due to high precipitation that year, but may not persist” (USDA ARS scientist).
• ·         “Bunchgrasses are key if you do not want the land to convert to exotic annual grasslands of cheatgrass or medusa-head” (USDA ARS scientist).
• ·         “But, then how about the issue of crested wheatgrass taking over and keeping native vegetation from establishing?” (Oregon Natural Desert Association representative)
  • o   “There is competition with native species and crested wheatgrass, but if we seed natives alone at these low-elevation, low-precipitation sites, the seedings will not be successful.” (BLM Natural Resource Specialist)
  • o   “Think of the crested wheatgrasses as a place holder for natives once the technology and resources are made available which would allow us to succeed in native revegetation efforts.” (BLM Resource Area Manager)
  • o   “It is much easier to restore a crested wheatgrass dominated plant community to a native plant community than it is to restore an exotic annual grassland community to a native plant community” (BLM Rangeland Management Specialist).
  • o   “We would prefer to use native species just as much as anyone else. We are not satisfied with looking at a crested wheatgrass landscape and saying ‘ok, we’re done, we’re happy’. No. We need a long-term outlook.” (BLM Natural Resource Specialist).
  • o   “Time is the best tool you have to get back the natives” (BLM Resource Area Manager).

At the second stop, the matter of feral horse herds on post-fire/rehabbed areas was discussed. I have not learned much before about the influence of feral horse herds on public rangelands, so, I found this part of the tour to be very interesting.

The third stop was to demonstrate winter grazing annual exotics with nutrient supplements post-fire. It was explained, as expected, that the cows lost a little weight in the beginning and there were problems with the adult cows kicking the calves off the supplements, but near the end the cows were again at good weight. Although this practice of biological thinning is a rather slow, less effective way to combat exotic annual grasses (due to grazing after the annuals have already gone to seed), it does nonetheless reduce the fine fuels on site.  So, it helps. It is this type of treatment action that will hopefully take place on medusa-infested areas of the BCF in winter if resources are made available by permittees (which have been really cooperative since the permittee meeting in July when the BLM ES&R Team presented to them their BCF management) and if there is enough precipitation this fall.

In concluding the tour, everyone shared their final thoughts on the matter of fire rehabilitation and the need for pro-active fire management (i.e. Tri-State fuel breaks, fine fuels reduction to increase fire return intervals, etc.), instead of re-active fire management (i.e. millions of dollars spent on fire suppression, leaving little money for rehabilitation efforts) and were all very appreciative of this opportunity to be on the ground to really understand what happened on the land and what needs to be done to ensure the land does not degrade further and transition into an exotic annual grassland.

 

Ariana Gloria-Martinez

Burns, OR BLM

 

Last week, I had the great pleasure of volunteering at and attending the Regional NW/Great Basin Society for Ecological Restoration Conference in Redmond, Oregon (titled: Collaborative Restoration: From Community Efforts to Landscape Scales). This conference was just what I needed at a time when I will be finishing up this internship in less than a month and be on the hunt for my next chance to gain professional hands-on experience with anything related to ecological restoration.

            My goal of attending the conference was to get to know and have real conversations with the many other practitioners, scientists and enthusiasts that were also in attendance. It was a bit of a different conference experience than I was used to because I was there as a lone ranger (in that I did not have the

Sagebrush-Steppe Restoration- A Paired Watershed Juniper Study, led by Tim Deboodt and Michael Fisher

comfort/security of friends from a University student club with me). Yet, as a recent grad it turned out to be really good because it allowed me to break out of my shell and develop my professional skills and learn of the many job opportunities I should apply for soon now that they have a face to my name J.

            I spent most of my time at presentations related to shrubland/grassland restoration since that is where my educational and experiential background is, but also made sure to expand my horizons by going to panels and presentations on more unfamiliar topics such as urban restoration, energy mitigation, native plant development and materials, and conservation through prisons. Also, the poster session I attended (and more specifically the grad students I spoke with about their research) added to my excitement about going to back school in a year or two to pursue an advance degree in ecological restoration!

            Then, Friday I attended the Shrub-Steppe Restoration-A Paired Watershed Juniper Study fieldtrip led by Tim Deboodt (staff chair of Oregon State University Extension) and Mike Fisher (Forestry Professor at Central Oregon Community College). The goal of the study was to evaluate the impacts of removing (cutting) western juniper on the hydrologic function of the two watershed sites (one of which was used as the control- no juniper removal). What I enjoyed most about the fieldtrip was learning about the geologic, ecological and management history of the study site from the people who know it best (Tim and Mike who’ve been working on this site for 20+ years and saw the importance of collecting 11 years of baseline data and who also have not determined an ending date to the study as they will be passing it off this year to another scientist to lead the research). I also really enjoyed our two mile hike between the two watersheds because I was able to observe first-hand the visual difference between the control site and the site where juniper had been removed.

Overall, I really felt lucky to be a part of that conference because it allowed me to learn from a diverse group of practitioners and scientists about the many challenges they have faced as well as successes they have had in conserving the flora, fauna and land of all types of ecosystems through ecological restoration with the help of invested and passionate local communities, academic and private partnerships by way of progressive and productive collaboration.

Sagebrush-Steppe Restoration- A Paired Watershed Juniper Study, led by Tim Deboodt and Michael Fisher

Ariana Gloria-Martinez

Burns, OR BLM 

Yesterday was my last day with Fish and Wildlife. Since my last post, we’ve been busy trying to finish all the end of the season chores like data analysis, write-ups, and gear cleaning. We didn’t get to everything though because a few things came up. One day we spent with USGS sampling adult suckers in Clear Lake, CA. It consisted of pulling a seine net between two boats and then pulling it up to shore and collecting all the fish from it. We also pulled up a few trammel nets that were set out at specific spots to get fish swimming in the area.

Releasing tagged juvenile sucker fish!

We also had to tag and release our last net-pen of fish and we were able to take a reporter out with us so she could do a write-up of our season. We were lucky to have zero mortality from tagging and released a few hundred healthy juvenile suckers between all of our net-pens. So hopefully in a few years we’ll see them spawning!

Overall, I had a great season out here and learned a lot about sucker fish, lake systems, the west and all the challenges it presents. I’ve never worked in an area where water was such an issue, so it was definitely interesting to see how water availability affected things over the season. I have a background in marine science, but after this season I’m definitely more open to working with freshwater resources. I’ve also realized that I want to go into a more active management career such as working for Fish and Wildlife or USGS instead of working in academia, which is what I previously thought I wanted to do.

I got to work with a great crew this season and I’m sad to leave them, but I’m definitely ready for the next thing, which I don’t actually know what that is yet. But I also feel much more prepared for grad school or another job, whichever comes first, after learning all sorts of great new skills. I feel like thanks to CLM and everyone at my office I’m more confident and ready to take on anything new!

Sucker fish lips!

I will start off this post by saying how happy I am to be working for the BLM and the Chicago Botanic Garden.  However, when I first applied to this internship, it was with the hope that I would be offered a position with the U.S. Forest Service.  I studied forestry in school, and it is a passion of mine.  Being from the Northeast, I am used to being surrounded by hardwood forests filled with trees of several different species.  I was a little disappointed when I first came to Susanville and discovered that the field office was pretty barren of trees, except for the occasional grove of Western Junipers.  Nonetheless, I have made the most of my opportunity here and have come to appreciate the High Desert ecosystem and the plants that reside here.  But still, it would be nice to see some trees…

The East Grove of the Pine Dunes

Enter the Pine Dunes Research Natural Area.  I first saw the pine dunes in July, when I drove past them on the way to another project.  “Wow, those pine trees seem out of place,” I stated.  A co-worker explained that the pines are growing on sand dunes that are the result of an old lake bed in the area.  After the lake dried up, the sand from the bottom blew across the valley and piled up at the base of some hills.  The resulting dunes are a perfect, yet unusual, site for ponderosa pines to grow.  The nearest pine tree is 15 miles north of the site, and is at an elevation 1000 feet higher.  The nearest pine forest is 20 miles to the north, in the south Warner Mountains.  It is not fully understood how the pine groves came to be, but it is estimated that they are at least 300 years old.

The pine dunes was designated as a Research Natural Area in 1987 by the BLM.  The area on BLM land was fenced off from livestock and motor vehicle use, and signs were posted to inform visitors of the uniqueness of the site.  Some of the pines are growing on private land, right outside the BLM fence.  The hope was that the site would be monitored every year, and that each tree would be monitored every five years.  After digging through documents dating back to the 1970’s, I could not find any evidence that the site had been monitored in the past 20 years.  Monitoring the site is important because the trees have not been reproducing in the past 40 years, and it is important to understand why.

I, along with the other CLM intern at the Eagle Lake Field Office, Natalie, were tasked with monitoring the site.  I was excited to finally do some work involving forestry.  Our job the past two weeks has been to measure the DBH (diameter at breast height) using DBH tape, and height, using a clinometer, of every tree in the grove.  There are about 90 trees at the site, so this is no small task.  We also fill out a data sheet for each tree that involves measuring an ovulate (female), and staminate (male) cone from each tree, measuring the length of the seed and of the needles, and indicating the health of the tree based on its bark and evidence of insect infestation.

Monitoring one of the pines

We have currently monitored 61 of the trees at the site.  So far the thickest tree has a DBH of 148 cm, and the tallest tree is almost 32 meters tall.  These are impressive numbers, but the largest ponderosa pines in the U.S. can grow to a DBH of 263 cm, and height of 70.7 meters!  Most of the trees seem to be healthy and producing plenty of seeds.  However, we have not found any evidence of seedlings at the site, indicating that the trees are still not reproducing.  This may be a natural occurrence, as the site is sort of an anomaly and was not meant to last long.  It could also be that rodents or insects are getting to the seeds before they have the chance to germinate. We did discover some ponderosa pine cone beetles in some of the cones. Deer, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks may be eating the seeds and seedlings as well.   My theory is that since the site is restricted from fire, too much duff and debris has built up under the trees and the seeds are not able to reach the soil to germinate.

Whatever the cause for the lack of reproduction, I hope that the trees are able to overcome it.  The pine dunes is such a great spot in the Eagle Lake Field Office, and a very rare and unique site for ponderosa pines in general.  Even if the trees are unable to reproduce, the trees there now may be able to survive for another 300 years, as ponderosa pines have been known to grow that old.  No matter how long they survive, I am grateful that they are there now, and that I have been given the opportunity to monitor them.  After spending all summer in the desert, it has been a relief to be working in the shade of a forest.

My favorite tree in the grove, this tree was once hit by lightning, and was once home to a nest of golden eagles. (These events occurred at separate times, thankfully).

-Sam, BLM

Eagle Lake Field Office

Susanville, CA