I started in the Shoshone, ID field office this week and already it sounds like I am going to have plenty of work to do, and even more fantastic opportunities to look forward to in the coming months.  It sounds like there will be a wide range of projects to work on and the opportunity to hone my plant ID skills and overall field techniques immensely.  So far I have nothing but good things to say about my supervisor and the other people that I have the opportunity to work with.  Looking forward to a great summer and the adventures to come.

Hello, howdy, and salutations!

I once again have the responsibility, nay, the honor to blog about my experience through the CLM program (and one of the things I’ve learned is how hard it is to write about yourself).  So an introduction is in order, my name is Nate Teich and I am a returning intern (last summer was in Worland, WY) to the CLM program in Carson City, NV.  I am roughly 2.5 months into the internship and my mind is already buzzing with everything I have learned so far. This internship is far more technical then my last and I feel like I can truly use the term botanist (…..loosely) to describe my position.  It has been challenging in the best way possible and I am thrilled to be given the chance to develop myself professionally.

The differences between the internships is interesting.  I feel like I have an uncommon opportunity among the interns to see how the BLM operates from office to office.  I think the biggest differences so far are the fact that the Sierra Front field office is practically in the middle of a metropolis compared to Worland.  With more people, I feel like the BLM is much more in the public eye here, I’m not sure yet how I feel about that but it will be something for me to think about during my time here.  The second biggest difference is I’m not the only intern here (hooray!).  My coworkers have been great so far, we have all come in with fairly different backgrounds and each brings something different to the team.

As far as the actual work goes it has been incredibly varied so far.  We have worked on SoS vouchers, put in fire transects (hiking in some amazing areas to do so), worked on plant identification, created conservation management plans, began restoration efforts on weed infested areas, and become certified pesticides applicators.  I am really excited for the field season to start up, to get moving on transect monitoring, seed collection, weed surveying and eradication, and who knows what else.  One of the best things about this job for me is that fact that I will rarely spend too long doing one thing.  Variety is the spice of life!

I am really looking forward to this year, I plan on making the most of it and really doing some solid exploring of Nevada and California.  Hope you enjoyed the snapshot of my life!

-Nate

Here in the Lakeview District BLM in eastern Oregon the growing season is slowly, hesitantly starting. Late spring freezes (and snowstorms!) are common here so the plants usually wait until late May or June to really go all out. So far our few forays into the field have been focused on wildfire rehabilitation areas where we’ve found some optimistic bunchgrass regrowth along with low frequencies of annual invasive grasses (woohoo!), helping me brush up with my vegetative grass ID skills. Winter bunchgrasses ID is like a fun but frustrating puzzle when all you have as references are roots, teeny tiny leaves, and no flowering parts to be seen, but I love it.

I have also been working a lot with the BLM’s GeoBOB ArcGIS-based database system, entering data and helping on collaborative Sensitive Species proposals and plans with other Resource Areas and some of the adjacent National Forests. I am really enjoying getting to know some of the inner workings of the federal system, and understanding all of the work and collaboration it takes in order to acquire funding for special and important projects.

I’m looking forward to the start of the field season in full force, with scheduled projects including Sage Grouse habitat assessments, wildfire rehabilitation monitoring, Sage Grouse-specific seed collection, sensitive species surveys, rangelands health monitoring, and others.

From high desert paradise,

Lisa

Bunchgrass regrowth and seeded species at a 2011 wildfire site just south of major lava flow formations

Today was the first day of my CLM internship. My mentor went over quite a bit of paperwork with the other three interns and myself. It was mostly tax stuff and liability forms,  but we eventually got to discussing the research projects that we will be working on this summer. It sounds like there is some very cool science that is going on in the desert that I had never considered interesting before. The way Sara and Leslie describe the adaptations that both desert plants and animals have to survive the harsh environment seems really neat. Tomorrow we will start our first over-night work trip, where we will be camping out on BLM land east of Las Vegas. We will be working on a monitoring project to collect annual data of a native shrub that is vital to a threatened desert tortoise species. Invasive grass invasion to this habitat has made severe wildfires more frequent, which has been decreasing the population of this desert shrub. We will be taking turns recording data in the field notebook every night this week, and I am sure that Leslie will show us exactly how to write it since taking good recordings and observations are extremely important!

I am looking forward to this first field experience very much, and I am sure that this summer will give me many invaluable experiences for my future.

Carson

Lately, here in Colorado, we have been experiencing snow at least once a week during this winter season, which is great because we need all the moisture that we can get for the coming field season. Here is an overall update on what has happened so far since January and February.

I have successfully packed and shipped all duplicate herbarium voucher specimens from our SOS collections to local Colorado herbaria and on a continuing project have been entering rare plant monitoring data from this summer.

In an effort to maintain a working record of the number of SOS herbarium specimens collected each year and how many donations have been made to local Colorado herbaria, the BLM Colorado State Office is helping to increase the number of specimens that can be used for future research, teaching, and education.  In a final update, I have helped donate over 200 excellent Colorado native plant specimens from our SOS collections to local herbaria and museums needing good plant materials for student research as well as increasing their working collection. These specimens have been sent to the University of Colorado at Boulder Museum of Natural History Herbarium and the Denver Botanic Gardens, Inc. Kathryn Kalmbach Herbarium Database.

Delphinium geyeri (one of the many voucher specimens donated to local herbaria)

I am beginning a new project working on Sclerocactus glaucus (Uinta Basin hookless cactus) element occurrences reports dating back to 1983 up to 2012. S. glaucus was listed as a threatened species in 1979 by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. For 34 years, the Unita Basin hookless cactus has been listed as threatened because of many factors, such as oil drilling, mining, and over collecting. I will be compiling all survey and observation dates as well as the latitude and longitude coordinates to better determine S. glaucus sightings and the approximate numbers of individuals in each population. I am starting one of the many steps required to moving forward with the Sclerocactus glaucus Recovery Plan. I am beginning to read a few scholarly and highly-notable papers from authors such as Deborah Rabinowitz and Peggy L. Fiedler, which I am finding to be quite interesting. This amazing experience is broadening my understanding of how plants are classified as sensitive, endangered, or rare, and furthermore how plant rarity plays a role in practical conservation philosophies. I will keep you posted on what I am learning and discovering as the months pass.

Sclerocactus glaucus, endemic species of western Colorado, in bloom (Photo Credit: Peter Gordon)

I feel very lucky and fortunate to be extended and working here at the Colorado State Office through the winter. Its a wonderful opportunity to be able to assist with field work during the summer and then during the winter being directly involved in forming graphs and charts describing trends for the rare plant monitoring plots from this summer. I am able to be an active part in every phase of vegetative monitoring from learning how to set up a plot to count the number of reproductive individuals to entering data coordinates for plots that have been monitored since 2005/2006. Knowing the vegetative conditions and the statistical analysis of these plots are important. It can further tell us whether the BLM is achieving its goal of protecting wildlife; as well as, maintaining a balance with keeping recreational areas open for the enjoyment of the present and future generations. As the winter slowly wanes away and the temperature begins to rise again, it will be exciting to work with the new interns coming here this summer.

Stay Warm Out There!

Darnisha Coverson

BLM Colorado State Office – Lakewood

Remember that time…?
We moved to the desert,
Clouds rarely existed unless they consisted of dirt.
There were times we felt slightly lost and confused,
My brand new boots already looked tattered and used.

Remember that time…?
We had training for weeks,
All the while, salty sweat pouring down our cheeks.
We were warned of the desert and how it could eat us for lunch,
Able to cook meals on the dashboard for brunch.

Remember that time…?
We stared at the road ahead,
Thinking, “There’s no way we can make it with our current tread.”
Driving down a wash for what seemed like forever,
Realizing that this internship was one mighty endeavor.

Remember that time…?
We spent hours identifying unknown plants,
After days in the field getting holes in our pants.
The aroma of the herbarium wafting through the air,
Running veg transects even when the ground seemed bare.

Remember that time…?
We camped during a storm,
Or when we could hear nothing for a moment, but an insect swarm.
Having to watch every step for rattlesnakes,
Marking every new monitoring site with a brightly painted stake.

Remember that time…?
We spent an entire summer learning desert ecology,
Completely out of range of almost any technology.
We learned and accomplished more than I ever could have thought,
But we tackled it all, no matter how hot.

There are times when the unknown of my future fills me with fear,
But the CLM internship provided me with skills and memories that I will forever hold dear.

So long Phoenix District BLM…

As I am quickly approaching my last day here at the BLM in Roswell, NM, I am feeling grateful and reflecting on all the interesting experiences I have had here.

Eight months ago, if you were to ask me anything about rangeland ecology, I would have not known how to answer you.  Now I can rattle off a wealth of knowledge I’ve acquired about rangeland ecology with confidence.

Another interesting aspect of this internship was what I learned about the Oil & Gas industry.  Oil & Gas is a large part of my office and a vital part to the economy in New Mexico.  I learned that the local economy heavily relies on the industry and it is obviously necessary if we wish to continue to drive cars around.  With the proper protocol set in place and cooperative attitudes, this industry will continue to be important  and efficient in this area.

I am happy I decided to take this internship in such a random place.  It has opened my eyes to another way of life in America.  The pace of life here is slower than where I grew up, and I will gladly take that with me.  Because of this internship, I am increasingly marketable for other jobs.  I can now say I have 8 months of vegetation monitoring, GIS mapping, data entry, report writing, etc.

Leaving here in a few days will be bittersweet.  I will miss my friends I made here, but I am excited to see what lies next.

I have experienced and seen things through this internship that I otherwise probably never would have. I’ve also formed lasting relationships–I could not have asked for more! In my exit interview I admitted to my mentor that even if I had the ability to stay on in this position, as much as I would want to, I would never want to deprive another young biologist of this wonderful experience. I have not only learned and been trained in many areas, beefed up my resume, and had a great time doing it–I’ve also visited some of the most beautiful places I’ve ever been, on and off the clock. Some of my favourite memories to date are because of CLM–thanks for everything!

It is unreal that this year has passed.   The newness of the office, projects, and my co-workers I felt last February has settled into familiarity and appreciation.  It’s hard to believe that soon I will never sit at this desk again or type on this noisy keyboard.  Thinking back, I am amazed at how much knowledge I gained and how much my team accomplished.

There are many things I learned this year that I never expected.  I am so lucky to have attended all the trainings I did, from Identification of Grasses to Ecologically-Based Integrated Pest Management to Wetland Delineation.  The classes were both challenging and helpful to my daily work and career development.  Along with official trainings were conferences like the Nevada Rare Plant Workshop and ESR Lessons Learned, where I gained insight into the decision-making of the land management world.  I know it’s special to receive so much training in any job, and I appreciate my mentor advocating for the learning aspect of the internship.

On top of formal trainings, I advanced greatly in my botanical and computer software knowledge.  It’s easy to identify Poa secunda and Eriogonum nummulare, Latin names I had never seen before.  It’s easy to dissect a seed pod and estimate the number of seeds on a plant; I find myself doing it on hikes outside of work.  It’s easy to run a query in Access, and not-so-easy to perform data analysis in R.  The skills I learned this year will be valuable to me for the rest of my career.

Eriogonum diatomaceum, the Churchill Narrows buckwheat, the little plant that defined much of my internship.

It’s great to think about next year’s interns having learning experiences similar to mine and how far they will come over their months here.  I hope they take advantage of the opportunities offered to them.

On top of the education, I am proud of the projects my team accomplished.  We made 208 seed collections, monitored 6 rare plant species and 7 fires, helped restore 3 riparian areas, and attended 10 outreach events.  More than the numbers, however, I am proud of our perseverance and effort in accomplishing the tasks we were given.  The year was not without challenge or mistake, and we have continued to work hard up until the very end.

Interns in the sagebrush, a typical day-in-the-life.

Over the year, my appreciation for the beauty of Nevada has grown.  I arrived here from the tropical rainforest of Australia and was shocked by the dryness of the landscape.  Soon, I realized the uniqueness of the mountain range-valley, mountain range-valley landform pattern across the state.  The plant community is resilient and has secrets hiding in the canyons.  And when snow falls, the tan hills become shining white statues.  It is a gorgeous state I would not have truly gotten to know without this internship.

What a valuable year this has been.  The CLM program is extremely beneficial to young professionals like me and I hope it continues for many years.  As much I would like to linger here and develop my skills even further, I am happy to pass the torch to another botany intern here in Carson City.

The month of December was full of preparation with completing the Seeds of Success Annual Report for 2012 and organizing herbarium voucher specimens from the years 2008 to 2012. After having sent the herbarium specimens to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C, I have processed and prepared more than 100 duplicate herbarium vouchers to be sent to other Colorado herbaria. This week, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the University of Colorado at Boulder’s Herbarium where Tim Hogan and Dina Clark are the Botany Collection Managers. I was excited to have the chance to see such an extensive collection of fine and extraordinary plant specimens. Next week, I will be preparing the next collection of specimens to be sent to the Denver Botanic Gardens Herbarium Database.

Over 60 hebarium vouchers (from 2010) to process and send to the University of Colorado at Boulder

Completed folders containing years 2008 to 2012 duplicate herbarium vouchers.

Darnisha Coverson

BLM (Colorado State Office)