First of all, I never thought I would get to work where people actually pay to visit on their weekends. This is no surprise though, because coming from the remarkably flat suburbs of Chicago, the Columbia River basin and the surrounding landscape still astonishes me. Working closely with the regional floriculture and making daily observations has allowed me to witness first-hand the reproductive lifecycle of the general flower populations in my collection areas. And as for these collection sites, they’re not exactly tiny and they’re not exactly the easiest to navigate, but after hiking in a circle for 2 miles and finally looking and up and staring in to Microseris troximoides heaven, I get a greater satisfaction than I’ve had from any other internship. After patting myself on the back, I (and you will too, believe me) immediately thank god for my handheld GPS and mark the site for future reference. Any and every ecological/biological worker should know how to use GPS as easily as (s)he can ride a bicycle. But heck, when you’re in a beautiful area like this, the getting lost part is just as fun.

On a professional level, I’ve developed an understanding of the standard practices involved with working for a multisite organization which oversees so much land and so many employees. But nothing is arbitrary! Every bit of safety training can come into play when least expected. Going out alone as far as 2 hours from the field office can be downright dangerous without the right training. I never thought I would be unlucky enough as to get a flat tire on a 20 degree downhill slope, but all’s well. Folks, these are responsible research and life lessons … And never forget to shake out your clothes for ticks!

Michael Bolouri
Seeds of Success Intern
BLM Field Office, Wenatchee, WA

I am writing this blog from the Surprise Café in Cedarville. The owners of this fine establishment are good enough to offer free Wi-Fi to its patrons. All-in-all, Cedarville and its residents are growing on me. My neighbor, Bud, sells me farm-fresh eggs for $1.50/doz!

It has been unseasonably wet and chilly in Cedarville (or so I hear). It has made for fewer and muddier field excursions than I would have liked thus far (especially in the North Cowhead area of the BLM), but it seems to be warming up and drying out. Keep your fingers crossed that “74F and sunny” is an omen of good weather to come.

Thus far at the BLM, I have helped many other seasonals work on their time-sensitive projects and have learned a lot—anything from native species identification to driving manual on the euphemistically named dirt “roads” in Nevada. I’m looking forward to training for my Aspen/Wildlife Monitoring Project this week and to the months to come!

So I have been working here in Montana at the BLM Miles city Field Office for almost three weeks. What has really struck me so far about working with the BLM is the emphasis on land use (not preservation or conservation) with the integration and compromise of dozens of different interests going into managing the land. I am based out of the Wildlife Divisions and we must reconcile the needs we see for wildlife withe the needs identified by the Recreation, Range, and Minerals Departments. Everyone has different priorities that often clash and it is mind-boggling the number of things going on in a single piece of country. While the interdependence can be frustrating in terms of compromising on important management decisions, this intertwinging of all the departments has already allowed me some neat opportunities way outside my job description.

For example, to better understand the dynamics between the field office and permittees (ranchers renting land from the BLM), last week I got to help out at a cattle branding. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of helping out at a branding, it is just what you image: men on horses roping calves with lassos, cows bawling in the background, blood, mud, and manure everywhere… I had a terrific time! Wrestling calves all day so they can be branded vaccinated, and castrated may not seem like it has much to do with wildlife, but it really gave me a glimpse at land management from the other side so to speak. I got a few interesting opinions on the wildlife I will be working with. For example, later this summer I will be working with prairie dogs, which to me are fascinating, cool wildlife. But to ranchers, prairie dogs are dangerous pests, destroying pastureland, breaking cows’ legs, and spreading Bubonic plague. Therefore, many ranchers have few qualms about using them for target practice. Working and eating alongside some ranchers for a day (a branding traditionally ends with a ‘feed’ – three kinds of pie!) helped put my work in perspective, as part of a whole range of land use imperatives. And more generally, this kind of interaction between the BLM and ranchers helps keep an open dialogue for establishing management practices acceptable for all players.

In other news, I saw a porcupine and a badger last week…

Catherine Reuter

Miles City, Montana

BLM

Hey everyone! I just started working as a CLM intern for the Bureau of Land Management in Lakeview, OR. So far I absolutely love Oregon and the internship! I will be working with a fire ecologist as well as collecting seeds for the Seeds of Success program. I have learned a lot just the two weeks and a half weeks that I have been in Oregon!

Last week, I helped to collect data at the site, Mill Creek which had been burned in 1996 and then again in 2006. At this site, the fire ecologist that I am working with is monitoring the plant, Pedicularis centranthera, which is a sensitive plant.

Being from Indiana I did not have a background in western plant ID but I have already learned a lot of plants! The botany seasonal crew has been doing clearances in the Lakeview District, I have assisted them a few days and I have learned a lot of new plants!

I just finished  SOS training in Vale, OR. I learned a lot during the training and I got to meet some of the other interns around the area! During our field day we collected seeds of Amsinckia tessellata which has a beautiful scorpioid inflorescence.

Thanks! I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Molly Baughman

I have never blogged before, so this might be interesting. Where to start… I moved from Kansas to California for my internship. I work at the Cosumnes River Preserve just south of Sacramento, CA. As far as land goes, it is not that large, but it has a lot of substance. Habitats from vernal pools, to grasslands, to Riparian woodlands occupy most of the space. The preserve itself is unique in the fact that many agency co-manage the land. BLM, Ducks Unlimited, The Nature Conservancy, local easement land owners, and some water organization which I cannot remember at the time all work together cooperatively to run the preserve and act as stewards for the land. In this aspect, this internship is really good, because I have the opportunity of working with, and observing, many different organizations and their differing methods. This will give me ample information to help me in determining my next life stage.

I enjoy the weather California has to offer. It gets hot here, or will soon, but not as hot as I am used to, and the evenings are gorgeous. I hear the winters are mild, so I will be looking forward to that. I haven’t done a lot of field work around trees before, so the added shade is very nice. Drawback: my allergies have been acting up, and there are lots of ticks here, but I knew what I was getting into, so no biggy.

I like my coworkers. Everyone is real nice and more than willing to offer a helping hand when needed. I get the opportunity to achieve independently, but also work cooperatively to overcome challenges. The only area of contention I have had so far is the fact that my boss has been emphasizing getting the seed collection for Seeds of Success started, but doesn’t really know a whole lot about the process (as neither do I). Since he wants me to get started on that stuff before the field training at the Grand Canyon, I have pieced together as much as I can on how to go about doing this. That’s okay, though, because its probably good to start early, and I will have everything figured out by the time I need.

I have not really had any problems adjusting to a different culture from where I moved. I have always heard about culture shock, but I guess I just don’t get it. I love the wildlife out here. There are lots of birds that I know, but never have been able to see before, and I can’t wait to see a bunch of trees I have on my list of things to see (like redwoods, giant sequoias, sugar pine). I don’t even care if that’s nerdy.

Anthony Hatcher
BLM Vale, Oregon

The first three weeks of my SOS internship have been great. Although I didn’t start working until May 24, I feel that my experience really started several days earlier when I began driving from the North Carolina mountains to Eastern Oregon. Watching the landscape slowly change from forested hills to the flat treeless prairie to high rocky mountains to sagebrush filled foothills was amazing. On the actual first day of my internship I realized how much work was ahead of me. The amount of BLM land in the Vale district is immense and there were tons of plants that I needed to learn, the majority of which I had never seen before. I feel that I am slowly starting to learn the plants here but I still have so many to learn. However, I already have noticed an improvement in my ability to use flora keys. It is really exciting to find a wildflower that I have never seen before and figure out what it is. My mentor Gillian Wigglesworth has been so helpful. She has made my transition to this new work and place extremely easy. My favorite thing about my new home and work has to be the isolation. We will be driving around to different places collecting and monitoring seed, and see maybe one or two other cars the entire time. Over memorial day weekend I went backpacking and didn’t see another person for two and a half days it was a very refreshing change from the densely populated east coast. I also attended Seeds of Success training held here in Vale. Marian from the CBG and Mary from the BLM office in DC were very helpful. I learned so much about seed collecting, plant identification, and especially about the entire process from seed collection to reclamation. So far I am loving my internship. I can’t believe I get paid to see all these beautiful places and have all these new experiences.

I am currently as far west as I have ever been in my life; a few weeks ago I left Chicago to come to a town of 200 and the sagebrush steppe. Out here, people wave as I drive past them and the owner of the supermarket chatted with me for 15 minutes because he noticed I was new. In other words, I am a long way from home!  So far, I love Northern California.  If the cultural differences weren’t enough to make me smile, the different ecosystem is!  It is wild to see mule deer, pronghorn antelope, northern harriers, and sandhill cranes each day on my way to work.  Viewing sagebrush and juniper against the backdrop of the Warner Mountains is something truly special.

I am in the midst of my second week working with the BLM at the Alturas Field Office.  Last week I spent a lot of time getting accustomed to the office, visiting the project sites, and learning about the different positions within the Field Office.  I am very excited to be working with my mentor, the wildlife biologist here. We get along great and I feel very welcome!  I appreciate all of the training that I have been going through: office orientation, safety days, ATV training, and Aspen training, and am feeling more and more prepared to go into the field and participate in various projects.

Generally, my responsibilities here will include flagging some land parcels so that contractors can do juniper cuts – to restore Sage Grouse habitat.  I will also be monitoring raptor nests and Sandhill Cranes.  Vegetation surveys and seed collecting for SOS are also on the agenda.  These projects sound really exciting, and I look forward to the work! Another current Alturas BLM project I’ll be involved with is Aspen delineation and monitoring (in conjunction with Matt, a CLM intern in Cedarville).  I’m excited about the variety of experiences to come!

Being in new places thrills me. And what is even more thrilling is that I am priveleged to be working in this totally different ecosystem, experiencing a unique wildlife. It’s a dream job, really. Me + working + California + wildlife = what looks to be a fulfilling 5 months.