The first month-and-a-bit of my CLM internship has gone smooth as ever. Still living with great roommates and working with great co-workers. Recently, I’ve used comp time to take a few Fridays off–and one was particularly interesting. I used the long weekend to go with a group of USGS scientists to Vermilion Cliffs, Arizona as a volunteer on a rare plant survey. We were searching for a small species of cactus, censusing plots that have been monitored for 25 years.

So the Vermilion Cliffs themselves are beautiful and a sight to see. We found the first rare plant plot right along the edge of Badger Canyon at the base of the cliffs. After orienting ourselfs in the plot, we quickly noticed three huge birds perched on an overhanging rock in the canyon wall. Turns out there are re-introduction sites for California condors nearby the Vermilion Cliffs–and we were looking at three of the re-introductees. Two juveniles (still huge) and an adult. Some folks on the trip had seen the birds before, but needless to say, we dropped what we were doing and just watched. The condors were perched totally still on the overhang until they all at once spread their wings out wide to soak up the sun. It was a truly amazing spectacle. We were less than 100m away from the birds and they were really putting on a show for us. Everyone snapped pictures and watched for a good 30 minutes. Then, back to work for the rest of the day. We looked and looked for the remainder of the weekend but didn’t see the birds again–not surprising since they can cover 250 miles in a single day.

Work the past few weeks has been great. Energized by seeing the condors, us interns have been planting native species gardens across the Mojave. We got all the plants in the ground, watered, and now we wait a few weeks to begin monitoring. Next week we’re off to the Eureka Dunes, CA to install weather stations and collect seeds of some endemic plants–another new site and a new adventure in the field awaits.

Sam Somerville

USGS, Las Vegas Field Station

Henderson, NV

Hey! This is my second post and month of being here, in Carson City. First of all, I must say that it’s never boring here and every day I discover more and more of new things. In particular, this time I’d like to share a maybe less practical but still amazing story which I’ve been thinking about for the last couple weeks. The case is, we finally met a winterfat bush!  Almost every time we’re in the field we are chatting about and guessing which bush is, this mysterious plant with the longest Latin name ever – Krascheninnikovia. What attracted my attention is of course a genus name. The first thought was, why is a genus with such a Russian name here, in North America? Well, there is an answer to this – Krascheninnikovia species’ range occupies East Asia and west coast of North America. But also, we were curious who was Krasheninnikov and why the genus was named in his honor. Actually I’m writing this mainly because of the answer I’ve found. Stepan Petrovych Krasheninnikov – a prominent Russian botanist of the 18^th century who made an amazing expedition to the far East of Eurasia where he spent almost 10 years!  A graduate student of a theological school who fluently spoke Latin and Greek, he started his 10 year botany expedition still as a student (Faculty of Natural History this time), assisting in herbaria collections and writing field notebooks during the first couple years of his journey. It would probably take quite a few pages to describe all his achievements, but what amazes me and what I’d like to mention is what type of a scientist Krasheninnikov was. A true naturalist whose knowledge covered not only botany or even a narrow branch of this science, but also zoology, geography and cartography, geology, meteorology, speleology, hydrology… and surprisingly he also did a great contribution to linguistics studies of local languages in Asia. This is indeed amazing!

Approximate itinerary of Krasheninnikov’s expedition

Due to his dairy during his unbelievable trip he made about 16.5 thousand miles on foot and a horseback. I wish I could have a cup of coffee with such a personality… Though it’s hard to imagine such expeditions these days, the courage and enthusiasm of the first botanists and incredible Scientists, I guess, will live and inspire our future generations. Well, I think this is just the right point to stop and start the next observation of nature and try to understand what is happening around us and in particular in Carson City on Morgan Mill Road. Until next time!

Andrii

BLM, Carson City, NV

PS: Apparently another German botanist Johann Anton Güldenstädt who re-described the genus and named it for his colleague, was pretty amazed by him too…

Stepan Petrovych Krasheninnikov

My first week here in the Arcata, CA BLM office has been a great introduction to an ecosystem about which I know little. It is fun to experience mixing of unfamiliar excitement with familiar comforts. For example, this week I helped install tsunami warning signs on a BLM-managed trail to the ocean. A Minnesota native, I am used to being around water. But the possibility of a magnitude 9 earthquake leading to waves that could swallow most of a city is a new consideration. And while I’ll miss the blooming of springtime ephemerals in MN, in old growth redwood groves I have spotted western relatives of some of my favorites – trilliums and dutchman’s breeches (Dicentra formosa).

I am here as a forestry technician. A large part of my time will be spent on a Sudden Oak Death (due to a pathogen, Phytophthora ramorum) mitigation project. This project will involve cutting and piling tanoak (Notholithocarpus densiflorus) and California bay trees (Umbellularia californica) over 142 acres. The project will also reduce fuel loads and help restore the forest to historic densities.

Overall, I am happy to be in an unusually diverse region. Ecologically and geologically, there are so many different things happening in NW California! Tidepools, coastal marshes, endemic dune species, the largest redwoods, six significant rivers, sedimentary and volcanic mountain ranges, enough federally designated wilderness to fill a lifetime, and forest stands with 18 species of conifers are all easily accessible.

Happy exploring, wherever you are!

Nate

The Conservation Land Management internship has been a fortunate change in career directions for me.  Because of this internship, I have veered off of an academic, research-based path that I had been following for the past 5 years.  Though my research experiences have allowed me to study many interesting ecological questions, I am now immersed in work that I find especially fulfilling because I’m not just studying the problems.  I’m solving them.

My supervisor and I often talk about the careful balance that the BLM must maintain between allowing and limiting public access to BLM land. The BLM limits access in order to conserve habitats and resources.  Sometimes, though, public use and conservation goals are in parallel.  This is apparent in an interesting relationship between the ATV users and the endangered beach layia, Layia carnosa Nutt., in the Samoa sand dunes.  The native plant species of the sand dunes, including layia, rely on a disturbed habitat to thrive.  The word “disturbed” conjures negative connotations of weedy, degraded habitats choked by invasives.  The dunes habitat, however, has historically been constantly disturbed because of the fierce wind and ruckus waves that beat the northern California coast.  Invasive beach grass, Ammophila arenaria L., and ice plant, Carpobortus edulis L., have stabilized the dunes, rooting the shifting sands in place and outcompeting natives like layia.

In parts of the dunes, the BLM allows people to ride ATVs across them, treading sand in their wake.  The BLM created some permanent paths that the ATVers now maintain and are barren.  However, the ATVers also create rogue paths all on their own, clearing the frozen dunes from invasives and introducing disturbance back into the habitat.  Monitoring that I have completed this week indicates that beach layia and other rare natives can now grow in these cleared paths.  These paths aren’t permanent, so the natives can establish themselves without immediately being torn up by the ATVs.

I feel a little like these ATVers: leaving the strict academic path I was once on to travel a more rogue path that is benefiting both me and the native plants I am conserving.

A rogue ATV path off from a maintained one.  Notice the natives plants growing in the rogue path.

Native plants growing in disturbed sands.

I have been pretty busy since the last time I posted.  At the beginning of March I went to Joshua Tree National Park to attend a workshop on biological soil crusts.  The lichenologist, Kerry Knudsen, that I have been working with co-taught the class.  It was really interesting and JTNP is an amazing place!  Some plants were just starting to bloom. I will be going back on a camping trip there mid-April, and I hope to catch some more wildflowers!

In terms of office work, my co-worker and I have finished our invasive plant species guide and the first copies will be printed soon.  It will be field tested this summer and then the rest of the copies will be printed this fall.  I am excited because field season has begun!  We started surveying a couple weeks ago starting with a mining claim, where we saw Bocura shockleyi and Abronia nana var. covellei.  One of our survey projects for the summer is to survey unauthorized OHV routes for rare plants to help determine whether or not these illegal routes should be turned into authorized routes.  We found the senstive plants Castilleja plagiotoma and Syntrichopappus lemmonii surveying an OHV route. Tomorrow my co-worker and I are leaving for a bryophyte workshop in Santa Cruz!  I am so happy to go see the coast and the redwoods!  Not to mention, bryophytes are super cool.  It will be nice to be in a moister climate for a few days.  It snowed a tiny bit yesterday, but it is still much too dry here.

Look at the rhizines on this soil crust lichen! This is Endocarpon locosii. I am obsessed with soil crusts after my JTNP trip!

I love the pink barrel cacti (Ferocactus cylindraceus) nestled among the rocks!

One of the few beautiful cactus flowers I saw in JTNP

The Pencil Cholla (Cylindropuntia ramosissima) is everywhere in JTNP

A gorgeous species of Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja sp.)

The rock formations are so striking at JTNP

Look! A soil crust!

I felt like a mountain goat surveying this mining claim.

Blooming Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia)

The adorable and sensitive Syntrichopappus lemmonii

The gorgeous lichen Pleopsidium flavum covering the rock

Desert mistletoe (Phoradendron californica)

The sensitive Bocura shockleyi

The sensitive Abronia nana var. covellei

Hello everyone, weather has started to become spring-like, with a 60 degree day yesterday. Almost all of the snow has melted; Robins and Blue Birds have made their return. It is only a matter of time until all the snow is gone in the lower elevations and the ice melts off the rivers and lakes that surround us. It has been a pretty fun month in the high desert of Wyoming. Sage grouse have started their mating rituals on their leks. For those of you that don’t know what a lek is, I will give a brief description. 

Signs of active leks include feathers, droppings, and tracks. A Lek is a traditional courtship display which is attended by male sage-grouse in or adjacent to sagebrush dominated habitat. These strutting males attract female sage-grouse by the brilliant feather colors and sounds made by the male sage-grouse. Leks are counted at 7-10 day intervals over a 3-4 week period after the peak of mating activity. Some leks in the KFO can have as many as 150 birds at any given time, others only contain 30 or less birds. The BLM is not able to count every lek in the Kemmerer Field Office, we receive help from the Wyoming Game and Fish and other volunteers. Even with all this help some leks will go uncounted.

I have spent much of my morning hours driving around doing lek counts, to give wildlife managers an educated idea of sage-grouse populations. It’s been great being able to get out into the field and take a break from writing NEPA papers. Until next time, I hope everyone has fun!

Jeremy Sykes

Bureau of Land Management

Kemmerer, Wyoming

2014 has been a busy year so far at the Safford BLM office. We have initiated several new projects as well as have continued to develop our existing work.

Non-native removal in Bonita Creek continues to be a regular task. Having four interns has greatly increased the number and frequency we can get out to set nets. And we have already had a contract crew out to conduct a week long intensive removal effort. With Andrew Johnson’s knowledge of Access, he has created a database to more effectively analyze our non-native removal data. This allows us to take a better look at which net types have the highest catch per unit effort, and which portions of Bonita Creek are still harboring the highest numbers of non-natives.

Several pollinator gardens have been planned and installation should begin this spring. Allegra Mount received a seed grant from Native Seed Search. These seeds have been germinated in the Discovery Park greenhouse, as well as at the Our Neighbor’s Farm greenhouse. Other seeds from our returned SOS collections will be germinated as well. A pollinator garden will be planted at the Discovery Park campus with educational signage about the importance of pollinators. We hope to have a high level of community involvement in the installation and up-keep of this garden. A pollinator hedgerow is planned for the Our Neighbor’s Farm garden. Our Neighbors Farm is an organization that grows produce to give to those in need in our community. We hope that raising awareness of the importance of pollinators can make a difference in this community.

Our work with Sky Island Alliance continues. They are such a wonderful partner organization. At the end of January, we had an amazing work weekend at Turkey Creek. SIA brought out a group of 30 volunteers and we planted around 250 Giant Sacaton in our restoration area. We camped at the TNC field house (which is a lovely spot) and enjoyed socializing with all of the interesting volunteers.  Van from Stream Dyanmics was out for the weekend with our group, and did some surveying of Turkey Creek to determine if building rock structures, such as gabbions, could be of benefit to the site.

I was able to participate in the Cumulative Effects NEPA training that was held at the Safford Field Office in February. Writing Environmental Assessments is a complicated process that I am learning, and I was glad to get some more exposure to the various elements of putting one together. We spent two days going over the Cumulative Effects of a particular EA that our field office is working on.

In early March our crew traveled to Ft. Huachucha in Sierra Vista to participate in a Springsnail identification and in a monitoring training put on by Arizona Game and Fish. While just a one day training, we were table to review a lot of relevant information about Springsnails in AZ and visit two nearby springs to practice our monitoring skills.

We have been doing some restoration work near the border in conjunction with a SCC crew. The SCC chainsaw crew came in and cleared a lowland area of mesquite. Then we came back through and seeded with native grass seed and covered the seeded areas with mesquite brush. The mesquite brush cover helps to keep the seeds from blowing away and provides some shade to help the grasses get established. This project will hopefully help to raise the water table in this area, and restore the native grassland that once thrived here.

Since my work began in the Safford field office, monitoring native fish has been a large component of my job. Throughout my time working in Bonita Creek, my boss Heidi had started to notice a high frequency of lumps on the native Gila Chub. As the frequency and severity of these lumps increased, Heidi decided that a proper evaluation of what was happening to these fish was needed. She got her permit revised to allow for capture of a small number of Gila Chub to then be transported to a laboratory in NM. We still have not heard from the lab what exactly is happening with the fish, but hope to know more soon.

During March I got my first hands-on experience building fences. Andrew Johnson and I headed north to lead two crews of ACE in a restoration and fencing project. A riparian area along Silver Creek, near Woodruff AZ, had been very degraded from cattle coming down to the water. The stream bank was experiencing a lot of erosion due to lack of vegetation.   Our crew’s goal was to cut willow poles from the adjacent banks that were not degraded, plant them on the degraded banks, and fence the whole area off from grazing. We started by having several people cut 6 feet long willow poles and piling them on the degraded banks. We used a boat to shuttle from one side of Silver creek to the other. We used hammer drills with 2 feet long drill bits to drill holes into the degraded bank. The willow poles could then be inserted in the holes into moist soil, and the hole packed in. We made groups of 16-20 willows in clusters along the bank, with 5-8 feet of space between them. Hopefully, with cows being kept out from this area, the willow poles can put out roots and begin to stabilize the degraded bank of Silver Creek. With such a large amount of workers, we were also able to clean the surrounding area of trash, and remove some small tamarisk. It was a wonderful learning experience for my restoration, leadership, and fencing skills.

I continue to be involved in diverse stimulating projects. Having a group of four interns allows us all to focus on different projects. We work great as a team; learning from each other’s various specialties. Come May, I will have been at this office for 1 year, which is quite hard to believe. The time has flown by. And in August I will be attending the University of New Mexico to study for my masters in Biology. I doubt I would have had such a competitive application for this position without the experience I have gained from the CLM program.

It is funny how quickly I have adapted.  When I think about my first evening here it seems so long ago.  My third week on the job is coming to a close and I have settled in a healthy routine, learned everything I need to know to work successfully in the field, and made pals with some of my coworkers.  Now I don’t mean to sound cocky, there is so many things to learn here, and I have not even begun to scratch the surface of the plants around here.  This area is so vast and the maps are not 100% trustworthy, the value of local knowledge here is great and in no short supply.  It would take years of being in this area and talking to people to be totally comfortable to head off into the hills for the weekend.

On the other hand, I feel comfortable with the three main sagebrush species associated with the sage grouse.  This is fundamental to identifying good habitat and can also tell you much about other factors influencing a site.  I have learned the major invasive species impacting the habitat, Medusa head (Taeniatherum caput-medusae), cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), and north africa grass (Ventenata dubia), and I understand how and why they are impacting sage habitat so strongly.  Some of the major areas of our work I know like the back of my hand and drive them at 4 am in the dark on the way to conduct surveys without slowing down at every turn or side trail to recheck my map and compass, which is huge (and now allows me a little more sleep).  So when I say I know what I need to know to get in the field that is what I mean.

It seems as though most people in this area are preparing to some degree for the summer.  I am expecting some pretty intense wildfires this year and it seems that the whole county has that same expectation.  This is one reason that those grasses listed above are so bad.  They alone are not so bad, I see them everywhere blending into the communities, sagebrush is fine, forbs are in place, native grasses may be lacking, but they are there.  The problem is how they affect the behavior of the wildfires.  They spread the fire rapidly and increase the intensity of the burn.  These grasses live under and around the sagebrush so it can lead to the destruction of hundreds to thousands of sagebrush at a time.  Sagebrush takes anywhere from 35 to 100 years to return to its mature productive status.  But while it is rejuvenating, the grasses move back into the open spots and out compete and allow western junipers to move in.  The poor sage grouse…they need healthy sagebrush habitats to live and be happy!

I love it here.  I have always wanted to get to an area like this; one that still has a rugged and slightly wild feel.  But I can see how interns coming from a more city life setting or life style may arrive and not know what to do with it.  There isn’t a Walmart for 100 miles (awesome), there is no McDonald’s, everything is like 30 miles away at least, and even then it’s probably something outside involving exercise.  There is no internet connection unless you rent your own house and pay for it.  But I have found the time to pursue my many interests that, during school, I had little time to enjoy.  Thanks again CLM!

Greetings from lovely Carson City, Nevada! My 3^rd week here at the Bureau of Land Management is in full swing and a few paragraphs can’t possibly sum up the wondrous ride I’ve been on for the past 17 days. The highlights: I had a crash course in the flora of the sierras and the great basin; I completed online courses on ethics, blood borne pathogens, defensive driving, and much more; I worked with the other 4 interns to make a dichotomous key of the flora in a single allotment; I explored Carson City, wild horse ranges, Reno, and miles and miles of sagebrush steppe.

Yesterday was by far my most exciting and interesting day thus far. The motley crew of botanical interns and our supervisor, Dean, spent all day in Canoe Hills, near Golden Eagle Regional Park. We were surveying for Medusahead (Taeniatherum caput-medusae), an invasive grass that has just started to make inroads into the allotment. It’s a fierce competitor and terrible forage for all grazers so there is concern about its spread onto BLM land. Additionally, there’s a proposal to build a new set of bike trails in this area that may or may not aide in the spread of this plant that thrives in disturbed sites. To conduct the survey, I spent my day hiking on established and proposed trails all over these stunning hillsides, scanning the ground for Medusahead’s distinctive spikes. Lomatium austiniea, Viola beckwithii, and Phlox lomatifolium are in bloom in small patches, lending splashes of color to the dusty olive brown. When I finished my weed survey, Dean sent me to survey the cliff sides for Golden Eagle nests. So I climbed (gingerly and carefully, of course!) from hillside to hillside, in search of raptor hangouts. At this point, I could no longer contain my enthusiasm. My job was to hike, gather crucial conservation data, and record my findings on a map. Quite literally a dream come true!

Viola beckwithii

Adventure is out there!

Rebecca

Last month I began my CLM internship at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Western Ecological Research Center in Henderson, Nevada! It’s hard to believe so much time has gone by already – we sure have been keeping busy! My fellow interns – Renee, Rachel, and Sam – have posted over the last few weeks and have given a great introduction to the work we’ve been doing out here in the Mojave desert.

Our first project is focused on researching ecotypic variation in Mojave desert plant species used for restoration. Getting to help out with this project has been very exciting because it is the first year of the study (it will continue for another ten years). The first task was to help establish “common gardens” across the Mojave desert. Three locations were selected this year, each in a different designated climate zone – one site is in southern Utah in the Red Cliffs Desert Reserve, one is in California within Fort Irwin National Training Center, and another is in Twentynine Palms, California, just outside of Joshua Tree National Park. All three sites are incredibly beautiful!

We first had to help out with constructing fences to go around our gardens so herbivores wouldn’t eat our plants. After this was accomplished, we began planting at each site. As Rachel mentioned, we planted three different plant species: Ambrosia dumosa (White bursage), Larrea tridentata (Creosote bush), and Sphaeralcea ambigua (Desert Globemallow). These plants were propagated from seeds that were collected from a variety of source populations spanning the various climate zones present in the Mojave.

This past week we finished up planting at the “Joshua Tree” common garden site, which was our final site! Each common garden site now has about 600-700 plants that we hand-planted with love and care.

the “Joshua Tree” common garden site after we finished planting!

relaxing after a long day of planting

sunset as we were driving to our campsite in Joshua Tree National Park

Also, on our drive home from the site this week we stopped a few times along the way to collect annuals that we saw! Here is a photo of Rachel with her Jepson Desert Manual in the backseat of the truck as she guides us through the key:

we were able to ID this one in the backseat – desert chicory (Rafinesquia neomexicana)!!

Happy Vernal Equinox, everyone!! Thanks for reading!

— Meaghan

Las Vegas Field Office, USGS