Common garden experiments, a type of study in which individuals from distinct populations of a species are grown side-by-side, have provided a great deal of evidence to support the position that populations adapt their phenology and resource allocation strategy to local conditions. Environmental conditions that may vary across a species’ range include average annual temperature, minimum and maximum temperatures, timing and amount of precipitation, ratio of precipitation to evaporative losses, associated plants and animals, and soil characteristics. Some aspects of phenology and resource allocation strategies that may evolve include timing of germination, flowering, fruiting, or senescing, number of flowers, seed number and mass, and ratio of aboveground to belowground biomass. Adaptation to a given set of conditions may hinder survival under a different set of conditions, hence the need to collect and make available to restorationists seed from a wide variety of locally adapted populations of a given species.

[Lewisia rediviva, the bitterroot]

The bitterroot, Lewisia rediviva, offers a good case study of a plant that lives in widely separated areas which receive precipitation in very different amounts and at very different times. While the plant is reported from all western states and British Columbia and Alberta, I’ll make a short study of only three reported populations (Coconino co., AZ, Humboldt co., NV, San Joaquin co., CA) that experience a range of conditions across the southwestern United States. The Arizona population, reported from near the south rim of the Grand Canyon, receives roughly 16 inches of rain per year spread over a winter and a late summer rainy season. The Nevada population, reported from near Winnemucca in Humboldt Co., receives roughly 8 inches of rain per year, almost entirely in the winter. The California population, reported from northeast of Stockton in San Joaquin co., receives roughly 14 inches of rain per year, almost entirely in the winter. While it does not appear that any common-garden studies of this species have been conducted, it does seems unlikely that an individual from a population that is adapted to high rainfall (i.e. an individual from the south rim of the Grand Canyon) would prosper under the much more arid conditions around Winnemucca, NV. In the same vein, an individual transplanted from San Joaquin co., CA, which lacks a summer monsoon, might not prosper when planted among the south rim population due to a lack of adaptation to the local timing of rainfall.

[L. rediviva on high, dry ridge – the small white forms in the center are Lewisia flowers]

Upon Arriving at my CLM Seeds of Success mentorship location in Rawlins, Wyoming, all I could see was sagebrush. Fat ones, skinny ones, low ones, tall ones- but all sagebrush. My thoughts were- “What forbs could I possibly find in this environment?” and “Gee, what a monotone, diversity-lacking ecosystem.”

After the first week of getting trained and acquainted with the field office, these thoughts quickly dissipated from my mind. Our Seeds of Success crew, consisting of me, my coworker Kyle, and mentors Frank and Ray, would set out on daily adventures in the field. Each day would (and continues to) hold exciting botanical explorations. Fields of yellow (Lomatium foeniculaceum), orange (Sphaeralcea coccinea), and purple (Astragalus spatulatus) would greet us with a warm embrace.

Sphaeralcea coccinea, Scarlet Globemallow. Found near the Adobe Town Wilderness Study Area

Cymopterus bulbosus, Bulbous Springparsley. Found in the Red Desert area.

Oenothera, Evening Primrose.

Finding these pops of color is something that I look forward to every day. When I think back to my initial feelings regarding this high desert ecosystem, I realize how wrong I actually was. Because this environment is so extreme, it harbors a great diversity of plants who have evolved to withstand its intensity. Knowing that these perennial plants go from highs of 100 degrees in the summers to lows of almost 40 degrees below zero in the winters, cultivates a feeling of respect and admiration.

In addition to the plants, I have also been exposed to the great diversity of landscapes and ecosystem types in the Rawlins Field Office District. We have focused most of our time in an area known as the “Red Desert.” Above ground there are many extremophile plants living in clay, saline soils. Below ground harbors rich deposits of oil and gas. It is because of the below ground mineral content that we spend our time in this area. One of Wyoming’s largest sources of income is energy production in the form of oil, gas or wind. With the production of this energy of course comes disturbance, and with this disturbance comes a need for reclamation. As a Seeds of Success team, we hope to gather seeds in order to assist with this reclamation process. I find that being able to see gas pads and other disturbances in a real-world setting gives me more of a drive to do what I do. Our country has a need for energy, making these disturbances nearly inevitable. At the Bureau of Land Management, it is our job to manage the land. Making sure that disturbances due to energy production are minimal and that the areas are reclaimed in order to restore habitat, are just a few modes of this management.

A “gas patch” area with several oil/gas pads in the distance.

My first month as a Conservation and Land Management Intern has treated me extremely well. Each day holds new curiosities and treasures in all types of forms. From the land itself, to the sprinkled pops of color which are extremophile forbs, and the BLM. I look forward to what the rest of the season holds.

Summer is officially here at the Palm Springs, CA field office and most days have been 100+F. We are now practicing waking up early to begin our days out around 5/6am to beat the heat! I have also really learned the importance of staying hydrating and have finally figured out how much water I should be bringing with me into the field–very good things to know when working in the desert.

Collecting for SOS has begun to slow down as well since many of our target species are past their reproducing season or will not have seed ready until later in the summer/fall. There is still much to do and learn though and I am feeling the time crunch with the nearing of mid-June and the approach of the end of my internship.

Looking forward to what the next month and a half holds for me in the desert.

Regards,

Elysa DuCharme

Palm Springs, CA BLM field office

As a veteran CLM intern who isn’t doing SOS work this season, I was given the option to do a training alternative to the week-long workshop at Chicago Botanic Garden. After a couple weeks of hunting for desert botanical classes at Zyzx and the Jepson Herbarium, I stumbled on the jackpot: the California chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration (SERCal) was holding its annual conference in mid-May at the University of California – Davis!

Private contractors, university professors, students, and nonprofit conservationists  converged on the UC-Davis campus, many of them restoration professionals who have been in the field (literally) for decades. Their collective experience fit well into the conference theme: ‘Looking back…Leaping forward’. Much of the research presented at the conference examined the success or lack thereof of restoration projects that were 30+ years old. In this field, it’s rare to keep up with monitoring for that long, and some of the findings were not what I would have expected.

For instance, one presentation by the long-time native propagator and restorationist Ed Kleiner (Comstock Seed, Inc.) revealed an interesting trend in restoration sites across the Great Basin and Mojave Deserts. Initially, restored sites would be overtaken by invasive species like Halogeten glomeratus. However, after ten years of low-level maintenance that did not involve targeted herbicide spraying, Kleiner’s team found that the native shrubs they planted eventually outcompeted the Halogeten, and after 15-20 years, the site had matured into a thriving sagebrush community. I was pretty surprised at the success of this hands-off method, particularly in a region of the country that’s drowning in cheatgrass (Bromus). I guess only more time will tell if these restored ecosystems are as resilient as they look.

This year was also the first time that SERCal devoted an entire session to that ever-looming threat to ecological work: climate change. The talks in this session focused not so much on discrete studies as they did on frameworks for approaching climate-smart restoration and management. One presentation, by Tom Giraldi of Point Blue Conservation Science, highlighted the need for vulnerability assessments in restoration planning, and the use of past projects in predicting challenges. Another talk that focused on policy challenges advocated for “boldness in the face of uncertainty” – a not-so-subtle reminder that we are running out of time in which to act. Overall, researchers stressed the practice of asking smarter, more structured questions before and during the restoration process.

My favorite session (and that which was most applicable to my internship) was the one on native plant and seed source management. Presentations included germination work with rare species, the use of large-scale and sustainable agricultural practices for propagating native species, and the finer points of designing seed mixes for disturbed sites. Most touched upon the National Seed Strategy (NSS) and its importance in guiding long-term, interdisciplinary restoration projects, speaking of it as though it were a battle plan that could lead them through the uncertain mire of the future. As a CLM intern and a former SOS worker, I felt privileged to be part of a grand design of such importance.

Perhaps the most exciting take-away of mine from SERCal 2017 are the networks I built with the conservation professionals I met. One of them, Professor Neville Slade of Victor Valley College (VCC), located in the western Mojave Desert, is interested in helping his students plug into the NSS as CLM interns. In June, I’ll be visiting VCC to talk to these students about my experiences as a SOS/CLM intern. It’s my hope that I’ll be able to plant some seeds in these students’ heads that will grow into commitment to conservation and sustainable, long-lasting repair of the damage that we humans so easily wreak on this precious planet of ours.

As the third month of my SOS internship closes out and the fourth month begins, it’s hard to wrap my head around all that Theresa and I have seen and all the seed collecting we have yet to do. The beautiful Phacelia and Camissonia species we have come to love have already budded and faded, and all of a sudden most of the species we have been monitoring in various places of our field office seem to be about to have their seeds ready all at the same time. All. At. The. Same. Time. While the prospect of this seems daunting, it’s also exciting. I’m very much looking forward to the trials and errors of my first seed collections. Due to some tragic personal events, I missed out on our actual first seed collections and am now eagerly awaiting my chance to collect seed.

The field office is definitely buzzing with the huge amount of seasonals that have gradually came on in the last month. Our little intern area is no longer quiet; it’s now a beehive of activity between the 3 AIM crews, aquatic AIM crew, weeds people, and other seasonal vegetation crews. The competition for a computer might get quite fierce. Thankfully, Theresa and I are out in the field most of the time, so we can escape the office.

My favorite location in our field office, the Silver Island Mountains

Other highlights include our first camping trip for work (I remember now what being coated in dust feels like), finding some interesting forbs out in the West desert, and finally finding an acceptable Great Basin Wild Rye population.

Sunset from my tent during our first overnight

Trying to Stay Hydrated in the West Desert,

Corinne Schroeder

I am two weeks into my internship at the West Eugene Wetlands.  My focus will eventually be restoration and invasive species management, but for now I’m just focused on catching up with all the various projects happening around the wetlands.  In my first two weeks here I’ve done all manner of different things.  I’ve monitored endangered lupines, helped run a volunteer day for some college kids, installed bird boxes, and chased after butterflies with a net, just to name a few things I’ve done.

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks, but I’m looking forward to getting better acquainted with the area and my position.

Colin

West Eugene Wetlands, BLM

I never cease to be amazed at how different a rich forest habitat can look from spring to summer.  Rock outcrops on slopes of these areas that once stood out as clear as could be in spring are often covered in thick herbaceous level growth by this time of year.  Unfortunately in some cases this is because an invasive plant such as Garlic Mustard has reached maturity in such numbers as to obscure the ground level.  Native undergrowth in more stable areas can achieve the same effect.  I have been spending a fair amount of time surveying in cool, shaded, north-facing forests associated with limestone rock outcrops recently.  One of my priority target species, Arabis patens, occurs here.  The genus Arabis, and the Brassicaceae family in general, can be a difficult group of plants to identify.  Recent taxonomic treatments have placed some species previously found in Arabis into other genera such as Boechera, Borodinia, and Arabidopsis.  This only adds to the difficulty.

Arabis patens (Spreading Rockcress)

Arabis patens (Spreading Rockcress) This picture shows the fruit, sub-entire to entire middle cauline leaves, dentate lower cauline leaves and the smaller basal leaves. I’ve found that leaf size, shape and dentation varies among individuals.

These limestone bluff forests contain some interesting geological formations.

Jeffersonia diphylla (Twinleaf) is not a rare species in Maryland but it has caught my attention over the years because of the bad luck I’ve had trying to catch it while it is in flower.  Fortunately I was able to catch it this season as I discussed in a previous post.  I also ran into huge patches of it in May.  I have observed patches stretching for acres that have approximately 80 percent cover throughout.

Jeffersonia diphylla (Twinleaf) The seed capsule has opened and fallen over, spilling its seeds onto the ground.

Jeffersonia diphylla (Twinleaf) The seeds look like ovate popcorn kernels. The out of focus plant next to them is a Twinleaf seedling.

Some other species I’ve recently encountered in rich woods, although not necessarily in north-facing limestone associated forests, were Viola canadensis, Maianthemum racemosum and state-listed Panax quinquefolius  Panax quinquefolius (Ginseng) is a well-known plant in the Appalachian region.  Because of its commercial value it has been extensively harvested throughout its range.   This exploitation has earned it a G3G4 global ranking from NatureServe.  I find this plant’s foliage quite attractive and its presence in an area usually indicates the habitat is stable and possibly high quality.

Viola canadensis (Canada Violet) This species can reach over two feet in height. The yellow throat of the flower is a diagnostic character.

Maianthemum racemosum (False Solomon’s Seal)

Panax quinquefolius (Ginseng)

I caught another well-known plant, although for much different reasons, in flower recently.  Toxicodendron radicans (Poison Ivy) is a common vine that for whatever reason I don’t see in flower often.

Toxicodendron radicans (Poison Ivy)

Lastly, May 19^th was Endangered Species Day.  I participated in a youth event held in Cumberland, Maryland that discussed rare species with groups of 4^th graders.  I got a kick out of one child who attempted to explain how “Bigfoot” was a rare species.

Coleman Minney

My truck in between two trucks that are considered “small” at the Beaverhead County Auction

At four weeks into my internship, I’ve gone a lot of different places — and yet I’ve barely scratched the surface of all there is to see in the area.

Lunchtime on the Big Hole River

My first week on the job, I got to assist the wildlife tech in conducting bird surveys all around Beaverhead County. Not only did she help to acquaint me with the local geography, she also taught me a lot about birds. As we drove around we stopped to check on eagle fledgelings in their nests, curlews cohabiting with cattle, and sage grouse strutting their stuff at the crack of dawn. We were able to observe abundant antelope, bunnies, prairie dogs, coyotes and pelicans (?!!) in the process.

She also humored me quite a bit and stopped the truck whenever I spotted a little somethin’ special on the side of the road.

Mesmerized by glitter rock lichens

Captivated by Oenothera caespitosa

Enchanted by Allium textile

Coming primarily from a botany background, my knowledge has already been quite stretched by the interesting flora of this new-to-me-place, in addition to learning more about southwest Montana wildlife, geology, biological soil crusts, ecology, land use, and the various monitoring methods that help to inform land management decisions.

Positively fritillated by Fritillaria atropurpurea…

…and Fritillaria pudica.

Leucocrinum montanum, the beautiful mountain star lily. Its ovaries are underground!

This week, I’ve been going through orientation and safety training with all of the other seasonal field technicians. I’ve picked up and refreshed a number of practical skills in the process, including a first aid certification, defensive driving training, emergency field procedures, bear spray training, tire changing, and…

…you betcha, a UTV driver’s certification.

My priority while I’m out here is to make collections for the Seeds of Success (SOS) program. After that, I will be assisting my mentor with sensitive plants monitoring and the range technicians with meeting their monitoring goals.

Astragalus scaphoides, a species of concern in Beaverhead County

Phlox hoodii, a potential SOS plant

Mertensia oblongifolia, another potential SOS plant

After this week’s safety orientation and training, I will be fully equipped to go out to the field and start meeting my objectives.

Until next time,

Stellaginella

I’ve been working in Oregon almost a month now and it’s been wonderful. This is my first job post graduation and I’m often asked what I’m up to and just what exactly I do at work.

What my grandmother thinks I do: She has no idea what I do or why it’s important, but is completely certain that I am cold and need more socks. Also, she can’t believe that camping is considered “fun” or a part of my job. She is also certain I will perish due to a bear attack or snake bite.

What my friends think I do: Prance around outside trying to become the next instagram celebrity and do “fake” science because I work in the field instead of in a laboratory.

What some of the public thinks I am doing: Wasting government money and trying make a bunch of new rules and regulations.

What I actually do:

I take a variety of different measurements at random and targeted riparian sites across central Oregon. I follow Assessment Inventory and Monitoring (AIM) protocol to evaluate sites and provide comparable stream data including wetted width, channel dimensions, canopy cover, invasive and native species presence or absence, and bank stability to name a few. All across the west, other field crews are following the same protocol to monitor their riparian areas in their state. Together, all the data provides a broad look at water resources and can be used for different management and research purposes.

It’s pretty cool data and is going to be really useful. In my head, I think of myself as a Bio Gypsy. I travel the lands and get to know each stream for a short while before moving on. I collect data and coax macro-invertebrates into jars. It’s a self appointed silly title for a useful and actually serious job.

My goal this summer is to communicate science more effectively to everyone and hope that I can get people from all types of backgrounds to understand the importance of monitoring stream health and collecting data. I want to return to these sites years from now and see improvement and diversity in the landscape thanks to the data we are collecting this summer. I’m hoping I can get more people to care and see the value in the service my job provides for them and their communities. I’ll keep you posted on my progress!

Cheers and happy trails,
Dakota Keller, Prineville District BLM office

P.S.  The pictures below are from AIM training in Logan, Utah. Two weeks of jamming an entire manual’s worth of knowledge into my brain, being calibrated as a crew to get precise and accurate data was intense. Somehow, we found time to get to know all of this season’s field crews and hopefully get to rendezvous for a wrap-up at the end of the summer.

First wonderful day in Logan Canyon camping for AIM training!

Third day of AIM training we woke up to a wild surprise. My grandma isn’t wrong, I do need warmer socks.