Howdy y’all!

I hope you are enjoying your summer, wherever you may be. I certainly am here in Needles. This week in the desert was an especially memorable one, thanks to a visit from an old friend – rain. And a happy reunion it was. After two months in Needles, I’ve seen a grand total of 1.02 inches of rain. And it all came on Tuesday of this last week! So I guess that means we have come to the much-anticipated summer monsoon season!

Now here’s a plant that would be happy to see a little rain.

Now, I’ll try to give you a little bit of science here. But here’s my disclaimer: I’m no meteorologist. So I’ll keep it simple and hopefully correct. The Mojave Desert usually has winds that come from the west and northwest. Those winds carry moisture from the ocean, but as they pass over mountain ranges before they reach the Mojave, they drop most of it. When they get to us, those weather systems have little moisture left, and so this place ends up as a desert because it sits in the mountains’ rain shadow.

In the summer months here, that can change. Temperatures climb, high pressure systems move north, and the lower atmospheric pressure in the Mojave causes winds to come from Mexico to the south, instead of from the over the mountains to the west. Those southerly winds carry moisture from the Pacific Ocean or Gulf of Mexico. The result? Large monsoon thunderstorms that move through the area from time to time and can drop a lot of rain in a hurry.

Rain in the desert! That will make some thirsty plants very happy.

It is so cool to see that rain in the desert when it finally does show up! When the storm came through on Tuesday we saw pouring rain and high winds for several hours. Much of the ground here is very dry and hard, so it doesn’t absorb water well like the Midwestern soil that I’m used to. That means that rain water runs off the soil into sandy desert washes, which can become filled very quickly and violently with flash flood waters during rainstorms.

A double rainbow!

The power and beauty of the thunderstorm was impressive to watch from our house. Streams of water gushed down the street into the river. Lightning filled the sky. A double rainbow made a brief appearance. The road was washed out within half a mile in both directions from our house, so we were stuck at home without power, but no matter. Our porch was as good a place as any to watch the storm. And I ended my night reading Macbeth by candlelight in our dark house, with rain pounding the windows, and thunder shaking the house. That is certainly a pleasant way to spend an evening.

The thunderstorm this week was a most welcome change to our desert weather. Hopefully, there will be a number of plant species that bloom in the coming months in response to rain as well!

Until next time!

-Steve

Needles Field Office, BLM

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So I just started working at Fort Ord National Monument in Marina, California a couple of weeks ago and it has been a blast so far. Bruce Delgado (my mentor) has taught me so much about California flora and has let me get right into the mix from day one. He allowed me to drive the F-450 flatbed truck loaded down with 4500lbs of water, translate for a radio show interview with Philipe the sheep herder, and get smelly re-baiting the pig traps.

I drove the flatbed truck loaded down with water on gravel roads up steep terrain to Oil Well restoration site, planted in 2013. The view alone was totally worth it and it was  relaxing to look out over the rolling hills. You can almost forget you are working when watering the plants surrounded by the scenery. I also found this mantis camouflaged amongst the dying Avena barbata at Oil Well which was awesome.

Philipe uses border collies to herd the sheep into locations for grazing, and while I was watering the Oil Well restoration site he let me hold one of the puppies!

All in all, it’s been a really fun and awesome experience. I’m excited to continue learning about California’s rich natural history and natural resource management at Fort Ord National Monument.

Cheers,

Manuel Casanova

It is hard to believe that one week from today will mark the last day of my 5 months here in the Mojave Desert. The time has absolutely flown by as it often does when you stay busy. As I read through the blog posts of my fellow CLM interns just beginning their internships I feel excited for them knowing that they are likely to have adventures similar to those I have experienced over the past few months.

One of the things I enjoyed the most about my internship was having the ability to completely immerse myself into an ecosystem that I was totally unfamiliar with before moving here. It is strange to think that only 5 short months ago I had no idea what a Joshua Tree or Creosote Bush was and the extent of my desert knowledge was: “It’s hot, dry, and home to cacti.”. This particular internship enabled me to delve into a variety of different research projects and do fieldwork in several states spanning the Mojave Desert. In the process I developed not only a familiarity with the desert but a fondness for it.

Additionally, I have been fortunate to work with so many inspiring, passionate, and hard-working USGS scientists and other CLM interns. I have learned so much from all of the individuals that I have had the pleasure of working with during my time here. I am grateful that this internship has given me the opportunity to create such meaningful personal and professional connections.

This internship has been an absolutely fantastic experience and I am sure to take the memories and lessons with me on all of my future adventures.

Thanks for reading!

-Renee Albrecht

Mojave phacelia

San Bernardino Mtns. owl’s clover

San Bernardino Mountains bladderpod (fruit)

We have been surveying for sensitive species and weeds within the area burned by the Grass Valley fire (2007).  One of the most interesting parts of the project area is a riparian zone along the north edge of the burn perimeter, where there’s a rich diversity of forbs, grasses, and sedges.  Two of our sensitive species –  (Castilleja lasioryncha, San Bernardino Mountains owl’s clover) and Phacelia mohavensis (Mojave phacelia) – occur in this area.  As another part of this project, we’re also training members of the Urban Conservation Corps (UCC) to use GPS mapping units. 

We’ve been continuing to edit and gather comments on our guide to non-native invasive plants of the southern California mountains, which will be printed in the fall.  Here and there I’ve been doing other monitoring, surveys, and mapping, and especially revisiting older occurrences of some of our threatened and endangered species.  That included some locations of the adorable Physaria kingii subsp. bernardina (San Bernardino Mtns. bladderpod).

Botrychiums should be appearing soon in many of our meadows, and I’m excited about looking for them!

Hi Everyone!

I’ve been working here at the Chicago Botanic Garden working with an REU student and volunteers and it’s been very action packed! We’re working on a project that looks at local adaptation in Sporobolus airoides and how that may play out in root traits.  It’s definitely been a learning experience in mentoring and I’ve really enjoyed it. It’s also been a good lesson in time management as I’ve just submitted my MS thesis this morning! I’m putting some pictures below of the gardens here, it’s been really nice to have such a beautiful backyard to go to for a break (which I’m sure you all know to be true!).

It was really foggy for a while:

I hope you all are enjoying your time!

Alicia

Chicago Botanic Garden

Hi all!

This is the first post of my internship. I started working in Pinedale, Wyoming the first week of June. I am from the east coast so Wyoming is a whole new experience for me but it has been great so far! I am lucky to have mountain ranges in almost every direction I look. The Wyoming Range is to the West, the Wind Rivers are to the East and the Gros Ventre (pronounced “grow vont”) and Tetons are to the North. It is beautiful out here and the recreation opportunities are fantastic. Camping, hiking, fishing, rafting, climbling, and kayaking are just some of the things I plan on my weekends.

Fremont Lake – Just outside Pinedale

I am a wildlife biology intern this summer and I have already had plenty to learn. Plant identification is what has been taking up a lot of the space in my mind so far. I work for the BLM so I have been able to go out and do vegetation transects on grazing allotments. There are plenty of forbs and grasses to learn out there and you don’t just learn one name but the common name, scientific name, USDA code, and any other short hand your co-workers come up with! It has been very enlightening since I spent most of my time focusing on animal names but you learn quickly when you are collecting the data every day.

Out doing transects

Phlox multiflora – One of my favorites

I have also been lucky enough to work with the Game and Fish department out here and help do vegetation monitoring on treated sites and radio telemetry on elk.

Elk transmitter – finding birth locations

The main project that the wildlife seasonal and I will be working on this summer is a Lynx Habitat Inventory in the Wyoming Range up on Deadline Ridge, a very encouraging name don’t you think? We have more plants to learn but identifying the tree species has come a bit quicker for me than identifying grasses. We have only gone out a few days now but I can’t complain about hiking in some nice tree stands!

Pinedale is a pretty small town but there are plenty of management offices around, including the BLM, Wyoming Game and Fish, the National Forest Service, and the Sublette County Conservation District. It has been nice to be able to help with projects from different groups and to meet all the other seasonal employees. This weekend is the Green River Rendezvous festival in Pinedale that is supposed to relive the history of the Mountain Man. There should be food, horses, mountain men, a parade, and arts and crafts. For a small town, Pinedale does a good job of entertaining!

http://www.pinedaleonline.com/RendezvousDays.HTM

So all in all, I am having an amazing time but I have to go get ready for the Rodeo!

BLM – Pinedale, Wyoming

“The heat has come, the rains are gone. I begin to feel the wind rustling through my white hair. It is almost time to let it go, to let it succumb to the wind.  As grasses around tickle me and sprinkle me with bits of shade, I hold tight to the ground and stand strong.  Day after day I do this for it is all that I know. And yet there is a freedom in the life that I live, a freedom to just be in the open air. I often wonder what it would be like to stand a few centimeters to the south, but alas, I am rooted to my spot and so I hold onto it with pride. Occasionally my friends around me get trampled by large dark beasts; I am so grateful that it hasn’t happened yet to me.  Suddenly, something unusual appears, a dark shadow creeping over me, and I fruitlessly brace myself for the impact of one of the beasts. What happens, though, is unexpected; some force gently handles my body and plucks the hair, my offspring, away from me. ‘Bye bye babies!’  I think, then it’s back to bobbing in the breeze. “  –Antennaria microphylla (my first seed collection)

Antennaria microphylla

I am very thankful that this internship has given me the opportunity to spend my days searching for and studying plants (and spending time making up corny plant stories). Sometimes that involves ripping them apart and counting the number of segments into which a carpal is divided, or seeing the results of a sagebrush reseeding project, or eating a yucca bud and enjoying the spicy aftertaste. I still cannot believe that I am getting paid to do this.

Every day that goes by, I realize how important plants are to the world and to my interests. This past week we had a biologists’ tour at our office with folks from all over the state to get together and discuss the work we’ve been doing, problems that have arisen, and how different people have dealt with them. It was an excellent opportunity to meet a group of dedicated individuals who care deeply about biology and sharing their knowledge and also to have a bit of fun.

I was super excited to have the chance to meet our state bontanist (yay plant people), who is well versed in the Seeds of Success program and just about everything else. I learned about wasp larvae causing galls in sagebrush, possible genetic crossover between white bark and limber pines, and most importantly how to get rid of prickly pear (Opuntia spp.)bristles (glochids). I won’t keep it a secret, if you rub it against your hair, there is something about the oils that makes them disappear like magic (it really works, I tried it!). Most of the biologists at this meeting were wildlife people, though (not that I have anything against them), which made me realize how much the plant world is underrepresented.  Thankfully there was at least one plant person from whom I could glean a bit of plant information. I thought back to our class in Chicago with Peggy Olwell who stressed the same idea, that our government agencies often forget about the plants and focus mainly on the conservation of animals.

As much as animals are important, they couldn’t exist without their habitats, which are comprised mainly of plants. I think the wildlife biologists know that, too, since a lot of their work involves habitat restoration.  We visited a field near a critical sage grouse habitat that had been leased to a farmer to grow wheat for a few years. In return, the farmer was to use the native seeds that the BLM supplied and after spraying the invasive grasses on the land, reseed the next year.  Unfortunately, the farmer has yet to complete his end of the bargain and the field lies fallow with only crested wheat grass (Agropyron cristatum)and cheat grass (Bromus tectorum) dominating. Since cheat grass is an early annual, it will be difficult without more herbicide applications to get native plants re-established. This is one of the many stories of the trials and tribulations (or should I say challenges) of working for a multi-use land agency. But back to my point that wildlife need plants in order to be maintained.  I did learn that in Montana we have our own greenhouse (not technically, it’s contracted) near the state office in Billings growing thousands of native seedlings getting ready for restoration projects, yay! Some of the seed I that I collect will end up growing there; I feel like a plant mother whose children are going off to school (not yet, but at least by next year hopefully).

I also realized that I need a better camera for taking pictures and to remember to actually bring it.

So long for now.

One of the island mountain ranges, the Judiths.

It’s a bee’s heaven

Greetings from Grand Junction! While my mentor was gone for a week I had the awesome opportunity to go out in the field to help work on various projects, such as a migrating birds survey and the famous Sagegrouse Habitat Assessment Framework. But now I’m back in the groove of surveying different areas for the threatened Colorado Hookless Cactus (Sclerocactus glaucus) with a fellow non-CLM intern. We’ve been hiking these mountain bike trails in an area called Tabeguache for a race in August called the ‘Epic Bike Race’ and for the Colorado Mesa University Bike Race. Unfortunately, we did find one right on the edge of the trail so I’ll probably have to monitor that during the race. We’ve also been looking for them in the North Desert in Grand Junction which is a highly used OHV recreation area. Imagine steep rolling desert hills interspersed with pipelines and oil drills. We’re stuck with a small manual 4-WD truck so it seems like we spend more time trying to get up hills and getting stuck than looking for cactus. But on our first day we got lucky and I spotted these monsters from the window:

These are the largest we’ve seen yet and the biggest clump of them together! It was pretty exciting. So that’s pretty much all I’ve been doing. Putting on my cactus glasses and getting dizzy from staring out the window for them. On a side note: I went to Moab to visit Canyonlands and Arches National Parks last weekend and it was 107 degrees! I can’t believe how hot it gets here. When we hike we have to leave at 6am and it’s still blistering hot by 10am. Hopefully we’ll get some monsoonal rains this weekend…

Lindsey Bargelt
BLM Grand Junction Field Office

Hello from Twin Falls Idaho!
After my first month and a half of this internship I am proud to say that Habitat Assessment Framework (HAF) sites for sage-grouse are completed! We as a monitoring crew worked very hard performing these monitorings. We oftentimes camped out in order to complete all of the HAF sites we needed to before it became too hot and dry in the Southern Idaho Summer! Monitoring these HAF sites was a very dilligent and sometimes tedious endeavour. For these HAF sites we measured the point-cover and perrenial forb densities of two 50M transects located 90 degrees from each other. Many of the sites that needed to be monitored were located in rather remote locations and required us to walk over a mile just to reach them. I am very proud of the monitoring crew that I am on for being able to complete these sites before the perrenial forbs dried up. The experience and knowledge that I gained by monitoring these sites is invaluable and will help me to understand more of what a job in natural resources requires.

We as a monitoring crew will now be performing wetland inventory and riparian monitoring. I am looking forward to learning more about where water is available in this desert landscape and learning about the various species that exist in these types of habitats.

Throughout this internship I have gained so much understanding of just how delicate yet adaptable our wildlands are. By being in direct contact with our rangelands I feel like I can understand the effects of different elements on our environment and what we can do to manage them.

Until later,

Holt Bright