Off to a Great Start

Rawlins, Wyoming has treated me well over the past two weeks. Being a small town girl from Montana, I had some sort of an idea of what I was getting myself into upon moving here. With any transition comes uncertainty, and this can be rather nerve-wracking. I drove over 1,000 miles to arrive in this high elevation city of around 9,000 inhabitants. On the way, I drove through canyons, glided passed incredible rock outcroppings, and started to acquaint myself with my new ecosystem. I was greeted by the smiling faces of my new mentor, coworker, and housemate, and immediately felt comfortable and welcomed.

The first few days in the Rawlins Bureau of Land Management field office were overwhelming, but only in the best ways possible. My mentor, Frank, introduced my coworker, Kyle, and I to close to everyone in the office (probably 35 handshakes). From range management, to the minerals division and (of course) the wildlife department, each and every person was welcoming and light hearted. I found that the office was a rather close-knit community, each division and department working together in ways unique to most offices.

The weather in Rawlins the first week (the last week of April) was rather daunting. Sideways blowing wind, sleet, rain, and even hail throughout the week, and a foot of snow on Friday to top it off.

My housemate, Katie, assured me that summers around here would be amazing- warm with clear skies close to every day. This made me forget about the 20 degree temperatures and look forward to the field season to come.

So far I have spent three days in the field, each day so new and exciting. I have seen wild horses, golden eagles, Columbian sharp tailed grouse, sage grouse, a horny toad, cottontail rabbits, antelope, and so many more creatures. But, even more exciting, are the plants. Although it is still early in the season (it snowed last week, after all) I have become acquainted with a diverse array of inhabitants of the sagebrush steppe ecosystem. Multiple different species of Artemisia, other shrubs including Atriplex, as well as forbs- Lomatium foeniculaceum, Cymopterus bulbosus, Phlox hoodii, and Astragalus spatulatus– just to name a few, were introduced to me the first day. I am so amazed by these high desert plants, each with a unique life history to be able to sustain life in such an extreme environment.

I look forward to the season to come. I know that I will not only find curiosities and excitement at work in the field, but also at home with my new roommates and in my surrounding area. Here’s to a great season!

 

Prineville, Oregon – Month 1

After 10 days of traveling across the country, again, I am finally in Prineville, Oregon, where I will call home for the next 5 months. The trip from New Jersey was outstanding just like it was last year but this time I got to bring a friend, Ryan, to explore with me. Ryan had never been in the west so I thought “What a great time to see it!” We got to spend 10 days driving, camping, and exploring new places as we made our way to Oregon. I got to bring him to one of my favorite places in the US and that was Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado. We spent three nights camping on the Estes Park side, where we got to do some pretty awesome hikes, including Cub Lake. Most of the park was closed off due to winter snow that had not receded yet, but that didn’t stop us. From there I got to reconnect with some friends in Casper, Wyoming, where I called home last summer through my CLM internship. It was wonderful to see familiar faces and hangout at the local watering holes again. From there we hit Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Grand Teton National Park. Luckily, the time we got to Jackson Hole was the same time the World Championship Snowmobile Hill Climb was going on. The Hill Climb was an awesome experience, it was something I had never seen or heard about before and I am so glad I got to experience it on my way. After Wyoming we finished the route and ended up in Prineville!

My first couple weeks in Prineville have been amazing so far. I started out my season with Greater Sage-grouse lek Surveys, which were incredible because that was the one thing I missed out on in Wyoming last year. In order to do a lek survey one must get up around 2 or 3 AM and start heading out to the lek locations to make sure you arrive at the lek before the sun rises. Once you are there you get to see male Sage-grouse strutting and calling to the females to get them to mate with them. Getting up at 2 AM had never been worth it before until those days I got to see Sage-grouse strutting across a lek just as the sun rose. After lek survey days I got to go out and do Golden Eagle nest surveys, which included seeing a Golden Eagle sitting low in its nest incubating eggs. With all of these surveys comes hiking, which was incredible, any excuse to hike is good enough for me. These first couple weeks of exploring the ecosystem I will be working in this summer have been amazing so far with some spectacular views.

At the end of my first month I got to travel up to Cheney, Washington with the AIM crew, I will be working with, and attend the National AIM Training which was a blast! This was a very hands on training that I believe anyone who needs to do AIM plots for the BLM should absolutely attend. It was very informative and the trainers were wonderful to work with. It also was a wonderful time to get to know the crew that I will be working with for the remainder of my time here in Oregon.

Overall I believe my time here in Oregon will be spectacular and I cannot wait to explore the cascades and high desert areas!

Month one in Prineville

I have now been living in Oregon for just over one month, and I’ve had some great experiences.  I found housing in a small ranch style house on a 5 acre property in Redmond, about 35 minutes from the BLM office in Prineville.  This may seem like a hassle, but the drive is gorgeous; a great way to enjoy the morning or unwind after work while listening to music or a podcast.  I am one of 3 interns on the Assessment, Inventory, and Monitoring (AIM) crew at the Prineville District Office (PDO) this season, but have yet to complete a single AIM plot.  The reason being that we only completed the AIM training last week, and only received our assigned plots today!  Hopefully this means we can begin next week, following at least one planning day.

Although we have been unable to begin our AIM plots, my time here at PDO has not been wasted.  I’ve been performing a variety of wildlife related jobs, including Greater Sage Grouse lek monitoring.  Leks are essentially breeding grounds for the greater sage grouse where the males strut and display the large, yellow gular sacs on their necks in an attempt to attract a mate.  Despite living in prime sage grouse real estate in Wyoming, I had never seen an active lek; suffice to say it was a fascinating experience.  The strut is absolutely bizarre to witness, and I would encourage anyone who has not seen it to give it a google and watch in amazement/incredulity. Unfortunately, none of the leks here in Oregon rival the 200+ grouse populations of Wyoming.  In fact, one of the leks I checked this year was completely abandoned, possibly indicating a departure from the area by the sage grouse.  Some inferences can be made by this as well, since sage grouse are considered an indicator species in this ecosystem.  The BLM may decide to do some habitat monitoring in the area, to discover if any notable changes or disturbances have occurred.

In addition to lek monitoring, I also performed some Golden Eagle nest monitoring.  The nesting season is beginning, and the BLM keeps tabs on all active nests in the area.  I have yet to see any offspring, but I did discover one nest where a large female eagle was sitting low on the nest, likely over some eggs.  This monitoring was a very cool experience, as it involved a good deal of off trail hiking and searching for wildlife in beautiful high desert ecosystems.  I was also able to see some of the cool tools that wildlife biologists use to monitor these birds, including GPS backpacks that can display the eagle’s travel area on google earth, and give us an idea of where to find the nests. Unfortunately, one eagle was discovered dead in the nest, and we are currently unsure of the cause of death.

Living in the area has been very fun, with a variety of outdoor and indoor activities to occupy one’s time.  I have been spending a good amount of time snowboarding at Mt. Bachelor, a large volcano in the Deschutes National Forest that offers 360 degrees of terrain to ride from its breathtaking summit.  Hiking and trail running is very prevalent, and I have taken full advantage of the BLM trails behind my house for these purposes.  Additionally, the Bend area is absolutely packed with craft breweries and distilleries, which prove fun to explore and compare.  Although I have visited Portland once, the west side of the nearby Cascade mountains still remains unexplored, and I look forward to getting over there once the weather improves.  Overall, I’ve had a fantastic experience so far, and I’m excited to explore more of Oregon!

Tales of the Dark Arts: a GIS Diary, Chapter I

I’m still in some disbelief that I am in Oregon! Almost a month ago today I was dipping my toes in the Atlantic off Maine’s coast, and now I’m looking at a beautiful snow capped mountains and sage steppe in Eastern Oregon. I mean, there was a whirlwind drive across the country, and a quick trip to the Pacific so I could dip my toes in that ocean, but that all seems ancient history now that I’m falling to a rhythm living in beautiful Baker City.  I’ve been at my GIS internship with the BLM’s Baker Field Office for 2 weeks now and it’s been awesome!

My first week was filled with the obligatory paperwork and trainings, followed by a bunch of meetings and then more online trainings (which to my dismay have continued into this week, but there’s got to be an end somewhere, right?). All of the meetings did allow me to meet most of the office and get some of my ducks in a row to begin working on projects. I’m the only GIS support person in the Baker Field Office, and therefore I have to direct most of my question to the District Office in Vale and self-help manuals. But fear not, there a lot of people around to help me when I get lost, and I’m so grateful to them.  This past week I was given some longer term tasks, but they all are proving to have their own bumps along the way, mainly issues with finding the data/creating it. But these challenges can be fun! Unlike most of the other CLM internships, I will be living the beautiful days of summer in a cubical and not enjoying the sunshine and fresh air. I’m a little bummed about that, but I also like GIS, and until a computer is made that will allow me to walk around while making maps, I guess I’ll have to daydream of mountains and bluebird skies. Hopefully my posts will get more interesting as I become more familiar with the labyrinth of GIS databases and I begin producing useable GIS products for people and not just certificates saying I’ve completed a training ;). Until then, enjoy this beautiful panorama of the borrowed cubicle in which I’ll be spending most of my time.

(ohhh, look how lovely the screens glow, almost like fireflies)

—Zoe

A Bloomin’ Good Time

The desert is starting to feel like home; it is very beautiful and I am fortunate to have landed the position in Palm Springs, CA. The past two months have been eventful and there has been much to to see, much to do and much to collect. We have already made seven full collections and hopefully there will be more to come.
Furthermore, we have just begun vegetation monitoring season and conducted our first survey today.

  

Fouquieria splendens bark

In addition to work experiences, I have been able to do some sight seeing. I have now been to Joshua Tree, somewhere I have wanted to go to for quite some time, and I have hiked the Cactus to Clouds trail that takes you 12 miles from sea level to 8000 feet up San Jacinto mountain!

Can’t beat that view


Feeling wiser, confident and accomplished. Cannot wait to see what the next three months have in store for me.

From the desert with love,

Lysa DuCharme
BLM Palm Springs, CA

The Labyrinth to Success

The Seeds of Success field season has begun by scouting sites where we may find large populations of our priority species.  Sites were carefully selected on a map, based on data such as previous seed collection locations, herbarium specimen locations, and desirable climate adapted traits.  However, the plants didn’t read the map.  Blooms shift based on a myriad of precipitation and seed bank characteristics, so may not reoccur or be found in anticipated locations.  This is where the scouting comes in to play.  The majority of my time has been spent navigating a maze of backroads. Each day, I delve deeper into the labrynth of nameless dirt access roads. It consists of named but unsigned roads, numbered signs that don’t appear on maps, roads on the map that no longer exist, and roads that are drawn on no map but mysteriously exist anyway.  By the end of the season in November, they shall exist in a mental map.

The end of the road for our Beeplant site. Just imagine the size of the flood that ate the road! We may have to bring in the UTVs and camping gear on the second attempt.

When I do leave the truck, the desert rewards a keen eye. The landscape may appear barren from a distance or while it passes by at 70 miles per hour, but in fact quite a bit of diversity can exist within feet of the tires.  Many of the species are unique to this area, so are especially rewarding to come across.

The flower is beginning to open on this federally threatened Sclerocactus in the Uinta Basin.

Uinta Basin Spring-Parsley (Cymopteras dushesnensis) is one of 50 or so species that are endemic to the Uinta Basin.

Don’t Stop Believing

Over the last couple of days, my fellow interns and I hand collected roughly 65,000 juniper cones for our first seed collections for SOS, so that was cool.

In other news, I had the opportunity to substitute the Chicago Botanic Garden workshop with a Wilderness First Responder course, which just concluded last week. The training was wonderful and I now feel better prepared to handle various medical situations in the back country.

We made the most of our free time in Mt. Shasta, California after our WFR course ended each day. We scaled a mountain with breathtaking views, explored the gorgeous Lake Siskiyou, and gallivanted to a waterfall with incredible force and power.

Black Butte Lookout

Lake Siskiyou

McCloud Falls

Other than that, we have been waiting for the field season to start here in Carson City, and it’s finally arrived. I’m sure there will be more to talk about in my next blog post.

P.S. Remember everyone, when administering your chest compressions during CPR, pump to the beat of “Don’t stop, believing. Hold on to that feeeeeeeling”.

Jason Fibel – Carson City District Office – BLM

 

Liv In Oregon – First thoughts

My first three weeks as an Oregonian have come to an end! I am a first time intern for the CLM and am currently working in Grant’s Pass, OR as a botany crew intern. Our main focus has been to survey and monitor rare plant species in the South Western region of Oregon as well as removing invasive plant species. Grant’s Pass is located next to the Rogue River which is frequented by many rafters during the summer and the area we work in is mainly referred to as the Rogue River Valley. Many days have consisted of scouring riparian areas for an invasive weed called Dyer’s Woad, Isatis tinctoria, then mapping these areas for future years to continue the work of removing this pesky weed.


Beautiful view of the Rogue River Valley


One of the two federally endangered rare plants we survey and monitor is Fritillaria gentneri, a member of the Lily family, Liliaceae. Such a beautiful plant!


J. Herbert Stone Nursery in the Rogue Valley – large planting of Delphinium menziesii

Thus far, Oregon has been kind to me with mostly sunny days and stunning views. I am very happy to have chosen Oregon for my internship season and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else!

Welcome to the Klamath Basin

Views of Upper Klamath Lake from atop Moore Mountain.

I floated along a ridgetop trail, dancing over rocks through the mixed juniper forest. A bite in the chilly spring air heightened my senses as I ran. My eyes wandered up from the dirt under my feet to the north, where a massive lake nestled amongst ridges glimmered softly in the low-lying evening sun. A quick turn of the trail revealed a tree-studded urban landscape fading quickly to sprawling farmland in the valley below. The basin was penned in by low-lying mountains, accented by the volcanic cone of Mount Shasta glowing a brilliant golden-white in the distance. As I ran to the summit of Moore Mountain, I had a fantastic vantage point from which to survey the Klamath basin, the area that I would call home for the next six months.

It has now been a month since I moved to Klamath Falls, Oregon and went on that first glorious trail run. It seems to be a trend for CLM interns to note how “time flies,” and I concede that I am experiencing the same phenomenon. My initial impression of the area has also held true: the Klamath Basin is wonderfully beautiful. I was lucky enough to be placed here to work with the US Fish and Wildlife Service. Most of my work (and the work of fellow CLM intern Marissa) revolves around two endangered sucker species, though we’ll also dabble in the realms of wolves, bald eagles, butterflies, and frogs. When I am not working, I am usually running up, down, and around all of the fantastic trails accessible from town.

Marissa and James pulling in trammel nets on Lake Ewauna as four pelicans pass by.

Hand-over-hand, Marissa and I pulled in the first of eight 100-meter long trammel nets into the boat. The soaking net comes in haphazardly as we repeatedly stop hauling to pick sticks, rocks, logs, and by-catch out of the net. The sun creeps higher in the sky, eventually surmounting a ridge lying to the west. I wish I could say the warmth of the sun landed on our skin as we basked on the deck of the boat, but aside from our faces it only warmed our waders, jackets, gloves, and hats. It was cold, but we had it easy. Brock and James, from the Bureau of Reclamation, had been out in the sub-freezing temperatures at 5:00am setting the nets. Marissa and I certainly get the quite long end of the proverbial stick on that one. With each net that comes aboard the boat, we continue to release any assortment of blue chubs, brown bullheads, and net-eating logs back into the cold waters of Lake Ewauna. We pull, and the white grid work of net comes shimmering out of the water foot-by-foot. A later we feel more resistance, and up comes a two-foot long dark object. “Sucker!” I yell as Brock hustles over to help remove the endangered fish from the tangle of nylon. The fish is swiftly put in a holding tank, and we resume our constant pulling. The work may be repetitive, but luckily for Marissa and I, Brock and James are superb company. Brock and James teach us about the myriad of water bodies nearby – Upper Klamath Lake, the Link River, the Klamath River, the Williamson River (to name a few)-, the Klamath Reclamation Project, and the biology of the basin. After two hours, our noble team of four arrives back at the dock and we work up our one lone sucker. We process the fish and note length, sex, presence of parasites or lesions, and tag it with a PIT tag before moving the sucker into a waiting transportation tank. With any luck, this old fish will successfully reproduce after being released north of Lake Ewauna into the breeding grounds of the Williamson River.

Marissa and I processing juvenile fish at “Gone Fishing,” the Fish and Wildlife Service’s sucker hatchery.

The Lost River and shortnose suckers were listed as endangered nearly 30 years ago, in 1988. Prior to and after being listed, both species have faced habitat, water quality, and recruitment issues. The Fish and Wildlife Service here in Klamath Falls continues to battle ahead, working with other government agencies, nonprofits, and the public to help recover the two formerly abundant sucker species. In addition to relocating adult suckers from Lake Ewauna to the Williamson River, Marissa and I have also spent time at the Fish and Wildlife Service hatchery program, affectionately known as “Gone Fishing.” At this outdoor facility, juvenile suckers are raised into sub-adults that will have a better shot at surviving when released into the wild. While measuring and weighing hundreds of these fish is a great opportunity to get our hands on the animals we are protecting, the real fun came when a number of us from the office released nearly 800 young suckers back into Upper Klamath Lake. The morning of the release was cold, but the beauty of the lake and excitement in doing a release made up for the slight discomfort.

Releasing juvenile suckers in Shoalwater Bay on the Upper Klamath Lake.

Marissa and I are enjoying our time settling in to life in Klamath Falls. In our free time, we both adore sampling the surprisingly large amount of food trucks in town and delving into rural Oregon’s finest cuisine. Hands down, my favorite Klamath Falls locale is the Waffle Hut, a total dive of a restaurant with positively exquisite fancy waffles. After a long week, nothing beats a hot golden waffle topped with crispy hash browns, savory melted cheese, steaming scrambled eggs, and a sprinkling of spicy jalapeños. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to both eat fantastic waffles and learn about endangered species conservation for the next five months!

 

Bloomin Bishop

Time is flying-

I’m finishing up my 7th week working out in the BLM Bishop field office. My days are full of plant scouting/collecting, bird counting and luxurious weekends. I successfully completed my first seed collection for SOS of Lepidium flavum– a tiny yellow annual in the mustard family. The plant only grows up to a few inches tall, so I was dreading crawling through the hot desert sand full of Amsinckia tessellata bristles.  But the collection actually proved to be effortless, as each handful of seeds ranged from 100-300 seeds. I made sure to collect well over 10,000 seeds. I wouldn’t be surprised if I actually came close to 20,000-25,000! L. flavum seeds are about the size of sand grains, so accuracy can be difficult but hey the more the merrier. This collection was made in the scenic Alabama Hills, a popular set location for western films due to the striking landscape and juxtaposition of the dry desert and looming peaks of the Eastern Sierra.

The Alabama Hills- my work space for my Lepidium flavum seed collection. Mt Whitney is up there somewhere!

My days of plant scouting have been beautiful. I’ve been collecting vouchers for potential seed collections and I’m up to about 23 vouchers. Ideally I will be able to make seed collections from all of these species. One of my vouchered species (Grayia spinosa) went to seed and got blown out by high winds, which was very sad. But there are two other populations that have great potential and are located in less extreme areas- I’m optimistic!

The Desert Peach (Prunus andersonii) has been blooming like crazy in the central regions of the Bishop BLM property out here.

I’ve additionally encountered interesting insects, which always tugs at my love of entomology. Pollinators like monarchs and sphinx moths are busy at work and colorful sap sucking beetles litter the shrubs. The mosquitoes have not been an issue… yet. With all the water from the snow melt, the mosquitoes are expected to be terrible this year- I’m scared because I’m one of those people they love to feast on.

These playful little guys love to flutter around my bouquets of voucher specimens- Hyles lineata (Hawk/Sphinx moth).

The landscape out here is changing rapidly as the ice and snow sheds off the Eastern Sierras. The days are warming, which is making the early morning Sage Grouse counts more pleasant. I’ve heard tales of single digit temperatures on these mornings in years past, so I’m incredibly grateful to have temperatures in the high 30s low 40s- it’s still freezing for my Southern California skin but well worth it. Sage grouse are the weirdest birds I’ve seen, they’re incredibly entertaining. It would be much more difficult to brave the 2:30 AM wake up times and freezing temperatures to observe a less interesting animal.

We use telescopes to count the grouse and keep our distance from their mating grounds (Leks). Long Valley.

Grouse counts in Bodie can be cold! My co-worker scouting for birds on this blistery morning in the snow and wind.

Strange lighting in the Bodie hills during our bird counts- Bodie is a famous ghost town so you tell me what’s going on here.

It’s not all work out here in Bishop (the work really doesn’t even feel like work) there’s plenty of playtime. Bishop is a spectacular climbing area- climbers come from all around the world to work their stuff in the boulder fields.

Climbing in the caves at the Buttermilks on the weekend.

And the hiking is out of this world…

Things are heating up in Bishop! As the wild flowers keep doing their thing I’ll keep doing mine. Excited to get my SOS collections done and see more interesting animals and insects.

Till next time-

Brittany Betz – BLM Bishop Field Office