WoW….I can not believe that I am half way through the fourth month of five to complete with the SOS program. Recently I have been working with a family that contracts with the BLM and grows BLM SOS seed. The couple joined me in the field last week to complete Symphoricarpos rotundifolius (Mountain Snowberry) collection. The time I spent with them was valuable and interesting. They are exuberant about the SOS program and have many great research ideas, some of which include defining species group parameters. Cataloging which species are found in conjunction with one another so that restoration efforts can be maximized. It is refreshing to work with civilians that are passionate about improving the quality of public lands.
Recently I was speaking with another intern at our neighboring office and found myself saying that with every passing month I feel much more confident in my ability to complete the job successfully. I am able to identify seed ripeness much more easily and with confidence, I am able to collect more quickly efficiently and accurately, and my off-road driving skills have improved tremendously. The privilege of driving the government trucks is wonderful and has allowed me to see a lot more of the beautiful country out here then I would if I were traveling as a civilian. I am up to a total of 24 collections, when I package and send out the completed seed lots I feel a great sense of pride to see my completed work. The fall is just about in full swing here in Surprise Valley and many of the shrubs are nearing seed ripe. I should be busy with collections for a bit longer thankfully, and I hope that the weather does not turn too cold to fast.

It’s an amazing experience to work at the Safari Park here in San Diego. Last week we got to see the Cheetah Run which is a 150 yard stretch of lawn on which a cheetah chases a stuffed animal and can run up to 70 mph. The cheetahs are always accompanied by their dog partners who are raised with the cheetah cubs. The dogs go with the cheetah everywhere and provide them with a security blanket. It’s so much fun to be able to walk in the park after work and look at all of the animals. The Safari Park itself is 900 acres with an additional 900 acres of land preserved in back of it. The additional 900 acres is primarily coastal sage scrub where there are many ongoing experiments. These studies include Herp arrays which monitor the reptile biodiversity and restoration plots for the threatened cactus wren. We have been able to help out on both of these studies. While doing the Herp arrays I saw lizards, small mammals, scorpions, and even a tarantula. While monitoring the cactus wren plots I almost stepped on a red diamondback rattlesnake, which was very exciting. I enjoy the seed collections and exploring San Diego County, but I am also very grateful for all the other opportunities that the park provides. It’s always an adventure!

I am now more than halfway done with my internship in Grand Junction, Colorado. I’ve spent the last two months doing rangeland health assessments in and around the Dolores River canyon, during which time I’ve spent 3 nights a week camped out in a BLM trailer. Our trailer was nicknamed “the Chateau” and was outfitted with a wine cellar, though some may refer to it as “a cooler full of non-alcoholic beer.” The men’s trailer was referred to as “the servants’ quarters.” Yes, trailer life was great fun. But, the fieldwork part of the land health project is now over. We collected data from almost 100 sites, which involved sampling vegetation and measuring canopy gaps along a 50-meter transect, doing soil stability tests, and assessing soil erosion, hydrologic function, plant functional group composition, and plant mortality at each site. It’s now my job to enter all this data into a GIS database and map the land health status of the entire area.
After spending nearly every day of my internship working in the field, working primarily in the office has been a major change of pace. After I’ve gotten used to hiking around all day, I get pretty restless staying inside and staring at a computer screen. But since I’ve spent the field season only working with a few other people, it’s nice to get to know other people in the office. It’s also very interesting to see all the field data coming together and see how it will be used.
As a side note, I got to spend a week taking a course in MIM (multiple indicator monitoring), which is used to monitor land use impacts on streams. MIM involves sampling riparian plant species composition, woody species height and age class, bank stability, bank alteration, gravel size distribution, and pool and riffle composition. After spending so much time hiking around in the desert uplands, spending a week wading around in a stream was a blast. Although after learning so many upland plants, I found I was almost completely clueless on riparian species.
Another side note: Bear sightings! Three of them! Unfortunately they ran away too quick for me to get a picture.
You stay classy, fellow CLMers.

I am now a tad over half way done with my adventures in Colorado for my internship in Denver. Life has passed by quickly while working in the beautiful scenery in this area. Summer has come and gone and fall is now here with talk of snow being around the corner? Being from Iowa, snow usually hits around the end of November or beginning of December with possible early surprises around Halloween from time to time. So talk of snow hitting in September is so foreign to me. Well, living in a new area provides fun new experiences. At least my supervisor told us that the first few snow falls don’t usually stick for long, but could end our seed collecting season early. My fingers are crossed for no early snow.

Phacelia formosula

With summer over, our rare plant monitoring is now winding down. Our last two day trip was a few weeks ago near Walden, CO for North Park Phacelia that is in the waterleaf family, Phacelia formosula. This was our only frequency monitoring that we performed this year. Frequency monitoring is performed along a transect and a quadrat is set at a determined measurement and it is recorded if the plant exists within that particular location, for this research a meter by meter quadrat was used. The quadrat is then placed along the same transect at equal distances apart (2 meters) with the first one set randomly at 0, 0.5, 1, or 1.5 meter mark a certain number of times, ten times for this plot, and is repeated for each transect.

Looking for P. formosula within a quadrat along a transect.

So, when we saw P. formosula in four of the ten quadrats along our first transect, our plant had a forty percent frequency, which is recorded and later statistically analyzed with data collected from past years. This research on P. formosulais also extended to frequency of flowering to extrapolate its reproductive potential this year and trends over time.

A gust of wind and thermal convection took a good portion of our data sheets... we luckily found one down the road though the rest were long gone.

On our way home from our monitoring extravaganza, we stopped by Kremmling, CO to check out two plants we had seen flowering earlier and luckily found that they were both fruiting and ready for harvest. We ate lunch, and first began with Castilleja flava, an Indian Paintbrush species (yellow) and finished a long day with Triglochin maritime, an arrowgrass species, and then finished our trek home. Since then, we have been collecting seed and have doubled our collections within two weeks. Part of the reason for this explosion of seed collecting is that earlier we were also monitoring rare plants, some of our collections were difficult and needed multiple trips to complete them, and many of the plants were not fruiting yet. Only so much can be done based on Mother Nature and how the plants react to the weather conditions. We had a boom this year with a really wet late spring and early summer, but then went into a drought that has hindered many plants.

Cool red rock formation at South Valley Park

As we keep ramping up our seed collections, finish our last two single day trips for monitoring, and fall takes over, I am looking forward to seeing all the beautiful fall colors I’ve only heard about in the mountains of Colorado.

Jeffrey Flory, BLM Colorado State Office

The last three months have flown by quickly. I’m having a great time down here. The perfect weather complements this learning experience nicely. The temperature is way milder than I counted on.
I finally ran into my first rattle snake in the field. I saw it on its “morning commute” to get some breakfast. It didn’t even notice me as it cruised through a patch of Xylococcus (ericaceae).
I have also been doing very interesting things aside from seed saving. This week involved habitat monitoring in the order of vegetation surveys in a reserve to which endangered kangaroo rats are relocated. This is one of the first vegetation surveys I have ever taken part of and am grateful for the experience.
Overall, I am having lots of fun learning new things in the pacific southwest.

My summer job is ending, as summer jobs tend to do. In less than a week I’ll be headed back to Maine for Graduate school. When I started reflecting on what I had learned this summer I figured I could sum it up best by recounting all of the places I had urinated. Crude as it may sound; I think you’ll find it a revealing reflection.
I’ll start out first by saying that dehydration is a real issue out in the desert, water is by far the most important tool one carries with them. Hydration is so important that in my field office there are pee color charts you can look at to calculate your hydration! I’ve also learned that hydration is the key to a good mood. Nothing makes me crankier faster than not being properly hydrated. That being said, I learned to gauge my hydration on the frequency of my urination. Good days I peed all the time, bad days I did maybe once or twice.
My first week here I was what one might call gun shy, preferring to pee in only designated locations. However, once the field work kicked into gear that was no longer a viable option, and thus began my journey in the exploration of Northern California. My first very memorable pee outside came one day a few weeks in with a group of BLM employees who were out assessing locations for future fence projects. I trotted off to find a suitable juniper tree and on the other side was a simply beautiful view, wildflowers and sagebrush on a gentle slope. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen prior to that moment, in fact it was the exact sight I saw almost every day, but seeing it from that angle and that vulnerability brought an entirely new appreciation.
Since then I’ve peed inside of a hollowed out redwood tree; off of a rock cliff in the Warner Mountain range; on the edge of wildflower meadows under a Juniper tree; on a beach in the Pacific Ocean; on a hill overlooking Shasta Mountain; for warmth in Blue Lake; under scrutiny of cows; looking off into Surprise Valley; pre, mid and post seed collection; while checking both front and back tires (side note, when driving to a field site it was common practice to announce the need to pee by saying “I’m going to check the front/back tires”); watching the sunset in the sage steepe; at dusk in the wildlife refuge; next to an old mining shaft; in the middle of a few year old burn (lots of saplings!); as well as in bathrooms of course!
I’ve learned that there is much more to this internship than seed collections or vegetation monitoring. While the specific tasks were obviously important, the internship was also a collection of new environments and scenery. In those few peaceful moments of release, I could really appreciate where I was and the true importance of my job.
I would like to thank the entire Alturas Field Office and the Modoc Wildlife Refuge as well as Krissa and Marian for all of their help and guidance. This has been a very memorable and hydrated summer!

Over the season, my main project has been to map Mountain Plover habitat. However, this project has been interrupted from time to time by other projects from other areas of the BLM. It’s refreshing to receive a new project after bouncing around the countryside in the work truck for hours and I was happy to help out with Multiple Indicator Monitoring (MIM) on riparian habitats within the Kemmerer, WY, field office.
MIM helps assess the health of riparian areas before and after cattle grazing within specific areas along streams. MIM helps the BLM determine if grazing rotation should be altered or suspended temporarily along riparian areas. For two weeks, I sat in ankle- to waist-deep streams studying the vegetation composition along the banks of streams within one allotment. From sunrise to nearly sunset everyday, we wallowed in the water and soaked up the sun. What made the days most exciting was finding critters of all sorts up and down the streams. These critters included garter snakes, giant 5-inch long caterpillars, fish, and northern leopard frogs. I had seen leopard frogs before in science dissection labs, but never in the wild. So, it was nice to see one still hopping around without the stench of formaldehyde trailing behind it. Interestingly, although these frogs are commonly used for dissections, they are becoming of concern in our area. So, we eagerly took GPS locations of the frogs we sighted and, of course, tried to catch them. Northern leopard frogs are large, slimy, and can leap without warning, making them very difficult to catch. I was unsuccessful, though I attempted several times to catch a frog larger than my palm.
On weekends, I try to explore more of the area outside of the field office I work in. Lately, I’ve been enjoying Flaming Gorge National Recreation Area. The southern end of the gorge that crosses into Utah mingles with Ashley National Forest and offers some excellent hiking trails. My dog, Finn, and I love to spend our days exploring different areas of this part of the gorge. On one hike, we spooked a young bighorn sheep and watched it prance down the steep walls of the gorge. We have also seen several northern sage brush lizards and raptors. The water at the bottom of the gorge is a deep blue, contrasted beautifully against the red and white rock cliffs. There is much to explore around my field office, which has made for some fun weekend trips. The landscape varies drastically in every direction, making deciding where to go difficult. But no matter where I go, I find awe-inspiring landscapes as well as challenging and fulfilling adventures.

The monsoon season is wrapping up in Las Cruces. Our Fire Danger sign moved off of the extreme and over to mild for about one week. Sadly the meter is pointing back to the extreme again. Luckily, despite the heat, we can still spot those enigmatic creatures of the desert.

Nice catch by our neighbors!

The rain we did receive allowed us to amp our collection number up to 7 with members from Poaceae and Nyctaginaceae. The most difficult collection we’ve faced was Boerhavia coulteri, Coulter’s Spiderling. The entire plant is incredibly sticky and I was shocked that half of my collection was glued to my hand by the time that I finished. We have a few other collections lined up and are waiting for them to come to seed.

Sticky as a Nyctag!

My free time in New Mexico consists of running, hiking, patiently awaiting the start of hockey season, and checking out the local food festivals. I vacated briefly to California over Labor Day week and it is remarkable how different the environment and flora is compared to the desert. As we drove through Arizona I saw Saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea) for the first time. It’s bizarre to realize that this internship is about half finished. The first few months flew by and I expect the next few will move just as quickly.

The occasional guest in our bunkhouse.

When I applied to the CLM program, I had visions of living in a small middle-of-nowhere town. I was excited to ride my bike to work, order “the usual” in a favorite restaurant, and live in a quaint country house with a huge garden.

Just one scroll through the area’s Craigslist was enough to cure me of that delusion. People were renting living room couches for more than I’d paid for a large bedroom back in small-town Ohio. “Welcome to the real world sweetheart,” it screamed; “you’re moving to California!”

Looking for a place close to the office, I settled on a room in suburban Folsom, CA. Yes, the very same Folsom as Folsom Prison and Johnny Cash. The area boasted miles of bike trail and a cutesy old-town business district along the river. However, as the weeks went by I began to feel like a black sheep—the recent college graduate living in a town of 30-50 year-olds with school age children. “Where are all the young single people?” I wondered.

I would like to say that I had a change of heart and fell in love with Folsom, or that I am now magically happily married with two kids of my own. But that’s just not what happened. In reality, I moved last Saturday. Despite valiant efforts to fulfill my small town fantasy, I’m now a Sacramento urbanite.

Filling out my CLM application last spring, I was hardly prepared for this; I live in the city and commute 30 min to our large (but mostly deserted) suburban business park. Life in midtown is bustling and full of young folks, but some days I’m convinced the shopping centers, traffic jams, and bright city lights will swallow me whole. It seems like I’ll never get the hang of all these one-way streets.

Despite the frustrations, I’ll admit Sacto does have charms of its own. Living in the city and working with the BLM I am able to experience the rugged beauty of the area’s open lands during the day and return home to the deliciousness of a city. After all, not many small towns can boast authentic falafel and fresh 1am doughnuts not far from your door.

Over and out.

Sophia Weinmann, El Dorado Hills, CA

Halfway through my CLM internship experience and the “To do” list has been lengthened greatly. During this past week of respite I’ve realized exactly how busy things will be when I return to work. However, the fact that I have recently returned to the field (with great care not to aggravate my still perplexing injury) has alleviated most of my worry.

The abundance of work doesn’t mean we’ve been neglecting our duties. In fact, just last week we completed this year’s survey plots in the study of Greater Sage Grouse habitat suitability. This was a large project and it feels fantastic to open up so much time for other work. We also recently finished our fence line surveys for the summer after walking miles and miles of fences to record raptor perch locations.

The Double-Arch Alcove in Kolob

I have also been lucky enough to join the USFS on some of their electro-shocking expeditions, where we waded through the chilly mountain streams and collected the local fish for measurements, and a brief survey of some pellet surveys in treatment areas. During some upcoming weekends we will be joining the recreation crew at some BLM sites to provide some wildlife education for children and I’m also looking forward to helping with some trail maintenance on National Public Lands Day.

Hybrid!

All in all, things have been pleasantly busy and interesting. The diversity of projects ahead has me excited to get started on the second half of my internship and see what new things I can learn!

Co-worker bonding during a long work day