Wow, time is absolutely flying by here in Missoula, MT.  Since my last blog post, I have been busy finishing up our last Daubenmire and Pace transects for the season as pictured below. In the first photo we are trying to identify a grass in a Pace survey and in the second photo we are conducting a Daubenmire survey.

We have also been busy monitoring seed maturity and collecting mature seeds (for the following species Camassisa quamash, Lesquerella carintata, Purshia tridentata and Ceanothus velutinus), surveying for sensitive plants (Pyrola picta, White-veined Wintergreen, and Botrychium paradoxum, Peculiar Moonwort) and attending two different trainings in Montana. The first training was a one day wetland plant identification training just south of Missoula at a wildlife refuge. The training was so informative and it was great to meet other botanists who work in the Missoula area for other organizations besides the BLM. The other training took place in Butte and focused on Multiple Indicator Monitoring (MIM) which is a monitoring system for riparian areas. At the MIM training I learned so much about riparian plant communities and how to quantitatively evaluate the health of a stream. The training also covered what to do with data once you have collected it and how it can best be used to affect management decisions, specifically relating to range management strategies. Attending both of these trainings made me think a lot about pursuing riparian ecology after this internship, but who knows! There are just too many fields that interest me right now.

 
Besides attending the MIM training, the other highlight of the past several weeks would have to be discovering a couple rare orchids! The Mountain Lady Slipper (Cypripedium montanum) is found in dry to moist forests in mountain to foothill zones. It has maroon colored tepals and a white lower lip, that slightly resembles a slipper, giving it its common name. The Hooded Lady’s Tresses (Spiranthes romanzoffiana) has a beautiful spiral of white flowers and is found in moist meadows (see picture below).

It’s hard to believe I am already halfway through my internship. I have learned so much already and I can’t wait to learn more. In the next few weeks we will be conducting more surveys for rare plants and I will be helping out the fisheries team with their MIM monitoring. More on that in my next post! Thanks for reading :).

Challenges are such disguised blessings. Aside from all of the field skills that I am learning, I am learning a great deal of personal skills; tonight I focus on the great mastery of leadership. My pattern in life has been to step up to the leadership role when no one else in the group will. It seems to happen by default and yet, it is where I learn the most. My internship has guided me down that same, familiar route, only this time I am learning to own it before it owns me. Earlier in the season I felt discouraged by the additional responsibilities I had taken on by ‘default’; I realized that I was lacking the sub-conscious encouragement that comes with being ‘appointed’ into the position. Instead of hosting some lame pity-party of, “why am I not more passive? My job would be so much easier!”, I decided to appoint myself into the position. Because, after all, I know what I am doing and I know how to do it well! So I organize, I delegate, I take a lot of notes, and through this, I know most about each detail of the project and that offers me a sense of appointed empowerment. One of the most important things I have learned about leadership, at this point, is that when things get frustrating, or slow, confusing or complicated, the leader should not take everything upon herself; the best thing to do is to keep all team members active in the solution. After all, we have teams to help fill in all the gaps.

Hello!

This is my first post, and instead of breifly summarizing my experience so far, I’d rather talk about my recent experience in the Knowlton area.

In case you’re not familiar with eastern Montana let me fill you in: it is hot, it is dry, and it’s filled with prairie and badlands. Don’t get me wrong, I love the open prairie and often the tune “Home on the Range” flits through my head while we’re driving to sites (especially since we often see deer and antelope playing – though never together), however, sometimes green is a sight for sore eyes, especially this summer, the hottest and driest since 1956, as you all may know.

Anyway! My crewmate and I spend many a day looking for flowering forbs in hopes of collecting them for the Seeds of Success program, often finding only scorched grass. But the other day in Knowlton was different. (Well, not really THAT different, we still didn’t find that many flowering forbes.) After making a seed collection of a grass that we’re still trying to ID, we headed out of the Knowlton Recreation Area (I’m pretty sure the place we were in doesn’t really have a name, so I made it up) a different way then we came in (you know, so we could better survey the land), and I’m so glad we did!!! The drive back was the prettiest I’ve seen eastern Montana so far. Rolling hills covered in ponderosa pines, valleys with green deciduous trees, and beatuiful back-country roads you could get lost on (though luckily we didn’t!). If I could relocate the Miles City Field Office to Knowlton I would in a heartbeat!!

I tried to Google pictures to post on here of the area, however, I couldn’t find any. But I guess to conclude this I would just like to say you should never judge a region before getting to know it (as I might have done) and that, if you’re looking for it, you’ll always find beauty in your surroundings.

Well, it’s about that time.  Five months has come and gone, and my internship with the BLM Needles Field Office is coming to a close next  week.  You know how they say “time flies when you’re having fun,” right?  It’s true, I’ve had a blast, made some great friendships (especially with my fellow CLM Interns), and learned an incredible amount.  I cannot believe that it is already over.

Co-CLM Intern Nate with a Desert Horned Lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos)

Before coming to Needles, I was told that it was going to get hot, very hot . . . like 120° F hot!  In fact, Needles, CA often trades places with Badwater in Death Valley NP as the hottest place in the US!  I had never lived somewhere in the summer with that type of heat, so did not know what to expect.  As with anything you adapt, and all of the interns here are still riding our bikes to and from work, just like in the cooler months.  The saving grace from the heat is the Colorado River running right through town; you can go down there and cool off any time of day.  If you are willing to drive, you can always get away from the heat and see some really cool stuff on the weekends!  Needles is centrally located between many really interesting natural landmarks, with the best visitation times split throughout the year:

Kelso Dunes in the Mojave National Preserve

In the cooler months, visit Joshua Tree National Park (SW, 2.5hr), Mojave National Preserve (W, 1hr), Death Valley National Park (NW, 4hr), Las Vegas with the Red Rock National Conservati0n Area, Lake Mead National Recreation Area, and Valley of Fire State Park (N, 2-3hr), Zion National Park (NE, 4.5hr), Southern Arizona with the Oregon Pipe National Monument, Sonoran Desert National Monument, and Saguaro National Park (SE, 4-6hr), and Lake Havasu City with the Havasu and Bill Williams National Wildlife Refuges (S, <1hr).  When the Mojave Desert really starts to heat up, head up in elevation to Big Bear, Idyllwild, Mt. San Gorgonio, and Mt. San Jacinto in the San Bernadino National Forest (SW, 3-4hr), the California Coast (SW, 4-5hr), the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains (NW, 4-5hr), Mt. Charleston in the Spring Mountains National Recreation Area (N, 3hrs), the Hualapai Mountain Park near Kingman, AZ (NE, 1hr), and Flagstaff and the Grand Canyon (E, 3-3.5hr).

The Cabin at Horsethief Spring

There aren’t just cool things around Needles, but the Needle Field Office holds some pretty unique biology and geology.  From the Kingston Range in the North, with the abundant cottonwoods, bobcats, and coyotes at Horsethief Spring, to the Cadiz and Sheephole Valleys in the South, with extensive sand dunes and rugged mountain ranges, the landscape in the Eastern Mojave is incredibly diverse.  When you are seeing something new and exciting, every day in the field an awesome experience.

Cadiz Valley

My internship project was split into two parts: 1) A Species Inventory for the Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard (Uma scoparia) within the Needles Field Office, and 2) Density Sampling for MFTLs at two individual dune locations.  This project required a large level of self reliance and motivation for research.  However, now that I am finishing up I realize that all of the hard work  was worth it.  I was somewhat worried when my original mentor (our only Wildlife Biologist) left to take another position half-way through the internship.  However, the rest of the staff and the other interns stepped in to help whenever necessary.  Committing myself to one project for this five-month period has been similar to completing a “mini-thesis,” and has given me a good taste of what working on and publishing a graduate thesis will feel like.  I am happy with the work that I have completed, which is thorough enough to have been incorporated with the US Fish & Wildlife Service’s MFTL occupancy records.  My inventory should help any future researchers working with MFTLs to help determine whether federal or state protection for the species is warranted.

Mojave Fringe-toed Lizard (Uma scoparia)

I was able to help with other projects as well, ranging from bat surveys with the Bureau of Reclamation, to Abandoned Mine Lands surveys and Seeds of Success work, which only further helped my development as a biologist.  The Intern Workshop was an especially valuable networking tool and provided a sense of community with other CLM interns across the west.  I have really enjoyed my time working for the BLM in Needles and as a CLM Intern.  I have learned what working in a Bureau of Land Management office is really like, which has given me valuable insight into whether or not I want to continue working for the federal government.  Unfortunate the five months has flown by, but with many good times and valuable experiences.  Now it’s time to move on to the next adventure . . .

Searching for the next adventure . . .

So until the next time,

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds. May your rivers flow without end, meandering through pastoral valleys tinkling with bells, past temples and castles and poets towers into a dark primeval forest where tigers belch and monkeys howl, through miasmal and mysterious swamps and down into a desert of red rock, blue mesas, domes and pinnacles and grottos of endless stone, and down again into a deep vast ancient unknown chasm where bars of sunlight blaze on profiled cliffs, where deer walk across the white sand beaches, where storms come and go as lightning clangs upon the high crags, where something strange and more beautiful and more full of wonder than your deepest dreams waits for you – beyond that next turning of the canyon walls.”

Benedicto – Edward Abbey

Jeff Gicklhorn

BLM Needles Field Office

Recently we have been attempting to re-vegetate a creek (Toro Creek). This has become a larger task then visioned, we have moved from carrying buckets down a creek to now using a large pump, and pumping 900 gallons a day. The willows that had been planted a month before I came are now starting to flourish (approx. 2400 willows).

I have also had the chance to be the volunteer supervisor for the summer. This has given me the opportunity have 5 to 10 volunteers working with me. They have helped me with my Seeds of Success collections, watering willows, relocating squirrels, Bull Thistle removal, and planting new oak trees.  Last week we took a field trip down to King City, CA for a meeting about Yellow Star Thistle on Fort Hunter Liggett. This meeting went over how to control the invasive as well as prove to the public this can be done and needs to be done.

On November 8th we will be putting on an invasive weed symposium in Santa Cruz, CA called the Central California Invasive Weed Symposium and if you are near there I think this would be a great way to see what is happening around California.  There will be field trips and speakers as well.

Alyson Frisch

BLM:  Phoenix District Office, Lower Sonoran Range Tech under direction of Andrea Felton

I wake up early to a new morning filled with the sounds of cooing Mourning Doves, Curve-Billed Thrashers, and Gila woodpeckers.  As soon as I step outside, I realize how different my life will be away from the humid Gulf of Mexico breeze and smell of a fresh cut lawn.  The Phoenix Valley yards are comprised of local rock and any vegetation consists of standing dead plant matter, litter, or succulent (which slowly is exhibiting characteristics of necrosis/disease due to dehydration and suppressed immune system defenses).  Media sources retort Phoenix as having a “dry heat” – which means you’re either nearly suffocating on the dry clay particle-filled breeze, or because you’ve run out of water and succumbed to heat exhaustion.  I am not sure if I would be glad to trade it for the high humidity in Houston for I often feel like a dried up raisin after a long days work.

The BLM Arizona administers 12.2 million surface acres of public lands, and another 17.5 million subsurface acres within the state.  Honestly, I can’t say I have met a more cordial, cooperative group of knowledgeable individuals committed to multiple-use land management.  The BLM field offices have their work cut out for them considering:

1) the amount of law suits posed upon their efforts to emphasize conservation (restoration where it is warranted) of threatened/endangered endemics and preserving biodiversity historic to each ecological site of the allotment region;

2) the vast amount of terrain that the district must survey, diagnose utilization threats to the local flora, and then administer carefully the most efficient measure of control; and finally

3) limited personnel to actually perform the work.

The Phoenix BLM is making great headway into appeasing the public, permittees, and environmentally-minded professionals.

During my first 2 months in Phoenix, I have refreshed and refined my basic monitoring and navigation techniques, at times employing the use of alien equipment (Trimble Juno 3 instead of the familiar Garmin ETrex).  I am reminded by my superiors that I have only scratched the surface of all the rangeland management projects that I will be taking part of.  So far, I have participated in MIMS and AIM surveying/monitoring techniques and have been surprised at the amount of detail we are capturing from environmental signatures across the Arizona landscape to use in protecting Arizona Chub habitat or grazing allotments from degradation of biotic diversity.  Apart from the long hours in the field, my fellow interns/housemates and I have found time to hike and camp at Sonoran Desert Preserve, and state parks in Cave Creek,  Sedona, and the Tonto National Forest (i.e. Red Rock State Park, Slide Rock State Park, Dead Horse Ranch State Park, Cave Creek Regional Park, and many more).

I am grateful to all who work with the CLM Program at the Chicago Botanic Garden and the Phoenix BLM for the opportunity to relocate, make life-lasting friendships, and allow me to be a part of sustaining the habitats within the BLM lands in the Phoenix District of Arizona.

The weather here in Northern California has finally started warming up, but with no humidity I have found it is still quite pleasant.  Seed collections are occurring frequently now, with new seeds ripening every week.  I have been able to get out to collect with a couple of other CBG intern groups.  The company has been good (thanks guys and girls).  We had an awesome opportunity to band Greater Sandhill Cranes two weeks ago in Modoc National Wildlife Refuge with the US Fish and Wildlife Service.  This was  a very cool experience, although slightly less technical than I had assumed.  You spot “suspicious” looking cranes in the field as you’re driving by, slam the vehicle into park, and sprint out to them hoping to find a juvenile crane in the grasses.  You then grab the crane, and glue a sequence of bands onto its leg.  It’s not rocket science, but they can learn a great deal about the cranes from doing this.  Breeding site preference, age, mortality rate, and other types of information are all recorded from the simple bands.  I am attending a rattlesnake seminar this month on rattlesnake courtship (seems a very dangerous and entertaining subject) and will be tagging along on a survey for Spivey frogs on the 30th.  Life is good.

One night I received an email saying that I would be helping build a fence the following day. I envisioned your typical field fence made of metal stakes painted green and barbed wire and I thought, “that will be fun”. I was not wrong in thinking this, but I was wrong in what my vision of a fence was. Our team was presented with 7 large pipes that required a deep breath and clenching of every bodily muscle for them to be moved off of the trailer. In addition to that, our shovels were met by stubborn bed rock when we started to dig the initial holes. We each became very familiar with our friend, the auger, as the bedrock presented itself like an angry bouncer at a night club. Our friendly co-worker suddenly became like a slave-driver as he demanded holes two feet deep. I soon realized that the auger was no match for such stubborn bedrock and had to resort to a steel bar that looked much like an over-sized flat-head screw driver. As I drove it into the ground, breaking up small chunks of rock at a time, I started to feel like a clumsy archaeologist, fumbling toward a reward… only my reward was an empty hole… and what a beautiful empty hole it was when it was complete! After smothering all of my hard work with cement we had one pole in place! And only 6 more to go.

But I suppose I should mention that this project was not just for fun on a Monday, our aim was to protect Physeria congesta habitat, of course! This made me think of Dean’s presentation at the end of our workshop in Chicago; similarly in this location, four-wheelers were romping up an old road where P. congesta had colonized. The old road was hanging on to two tire tracks that could be seen from a distance and apparently, were calling to weekend riders. Now that the fence is in place, our threatened friends, P. congesta can spread their seeds without being crushed.

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Mid-June marked the beginning of field camping for our crew in Klamath Falls, enabling us to complete surveys at more distant sites. After a week in northern California continuing our assessment of endangered Modoc sucker populations (see Good Night, and Good Suckers or A sucker kind of night), we returned from the Chicago workshop to focus on a new project aimed at improving habitat conditions for threatened bull trout.  The species generally prefers the calm water of stream pools, but years of timber removal have caused the amount of large, pool-forming woody debris to decline, potentially aiding more flexible non-native brown trout in competition for resources. As such, we have been collecting baseline data for an upcoming effort to add new logs to sections of the streams.

Bull trout, medium-large for what we catch (notice the adipose fin has been clipped)

Electrofishing among woody debris, with netter ready to scoop up stunned fish

We accomplish this through mark-recapture and remote detection of PIT tags (similar to methods for adult suckers), but instead of nets, we use backpack-mounted electrofishing units. Current traveling through the water between the anode (ring at the end of a wand) and the cathode (wire that trails behind) briefly stuns any fish within a few feet, just enough time to allow retrieval by dip net.

Processing set-up

Scanning for tags with mobile antenna

Processing is performed as a three-bucket system, with each fish receiving a small dose of anesthetic prior to measurement, tag injection and clipping of their adipose fin (a means of quantifying tag loss, hopefully without significantly impacting swimming ability). On later visits, a stream section can be shocked again or a mobile antenna device can be used to scan for the tags without capture (an easier and less invasive technique, but with a lower detection rate based on tests where we temporarily block-netted the top and bottom of a section).

Electrofishing backpack unit, with power button conveniently located too far back for the wearer to reach

I’m pleased to report no serious incidents despite playing with electricity in not-quite-waterproof waders, thanks to a safety-conscious crew. The shocking units also contain a number of fail-safes, including sensors that will cut off power in the event of water contact or even a low tilt, adding some peace of mind. Actually, the biggest danger has been running into branches and slipping on rocks in the stream channels, which certainly boost one’s appreciation for unobstructed walking. Still, it keeps us reasonably cool and out of the sun, so I can’t complain too much considering the unrelenting heat of some of the locations other interns have to deal with. In fact, at such high elevation, we actually woke up to snow covering our campsite one morning in late June!

In between bull trout surveys, we’ve also completed some wetland vegetation mapping in the delta of the major tributary to Upper Klamath Lake, which was re-flooded within the last few years after having been drained and used as farmland for decades. We hope to quantify the amount of edge habitat suitable for juvenile suckers, and identify how that availability will change at different lake levels. This has involved my introduction to Trimble GPS units, which although somewhat finicky and counterintuitive, produce amazing results coming after years of accepting a 10-meter error as a given. It also gave me a chance to check out the beginnings of the annual “algal” bloom (actually AFA cyanobacteria), which grows unchecked due to its ability to fix nitrogen and the volcanic region’s abundant supply of phosphorus. When it crashes, its decomposition reduces dissolved oxygen in the lake, potentially contributing to juvenile mortality in shortnose and Lost River suckers. On top of that, the blooms are often highly toxic. Needless to say, Klamath Lake is not known for its swimming.

Delta vegetation with Mt. McLoughlin and eagle in background (foreground, poor water quality)

Aerial view showing section of re-flooded delta area

Beyond these, I’ve made use of our limited time out of the field chugging through more sucker specimen photos, compiling spatial data with ArcGIS (it’s surprising how much you forget, being away from it for a year), and preparing for upcoming grass and sucker surveys. Outside of work, I’ve been hiking most weekends, including the snow-capped Mt. McLoughlin just west of the lake and the spectacular, obsidian-laden Glass Mountain on the edge of the Medicine Lake Volcano in northern CA. Keeping busy.

I enjoyed meeting everyone at the workshop last month – hope everybody’s field seasons continue to go well!

– Tommy Esson (USFWS, Klamath Falls, OR)