Modoc sucker (pic from OSU)

The general protocol was to walk streams at night with high powered flashlights and count said fish (they are fairly immobile at night, making them easier to count).  This also involved camping in the beautiful Modoc National Forest.  In fact, one of the greatest perks of this job (as I’m sure it is with many interns) is the locations we get to visit, both on the job and off.  We are surrounded by so many amazing adventuring opportunities. From snow-shoeing at Crater Lake to watching the eclipse at Lava Beds National Monument to mushroom hunting in the Cascades (we found morels!) it has been wonderful exploring Klamath Falls’ surroundings.  We look forward to new frontiers as we head to Gearhart Mountain Wilderness Area for several weeks of Bull trout surveys after the CLM training in Chicago.

Crater Lake

I just got back from a much-anticipated week-long plant monitoring training in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The entire class was focused on measuring and monitoring plant populations, which is a topic I’m interested in personally, and is also a project I’ve been tasked with at my current field office. There are a host of “Unusual Plant Assemblages” in my field office, including Fouquieria splendens (Ocotillo), Cylindropuntia bigelovii (Teddy Bear Cholla), and Castela emoryi (Crucifixion Thorn). Until recently, I was a bit overwhelmed with the idea of setting up an effective long-term monitoring program for these plant populations, as their ranges within the field office are quite extensive. However, since the training I just got back from, I have a much better idea of what a good monitoring program entails, and how to establish successful monitoring protocols on my own. My next post will hopefully be about how I am fulfilling these objectives!

The rest of my time this month has been (and will be) spent finishing up seed collections for the season. Plants are mostly done flowering here in the desert, and lots of them are in seed, which will make the next few weeks hectic as I try to work in a few more collections. My most recent collections have included two Camissonia species and Chorizanthe brevipes, and I am also hoping to get in a collection of Chilopsis linearis.

That’s all for now, happy collecting!

Lara Kobelt

Needles, CA BLM

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends “2 hours and 30 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity every week and muscle-strengthening activities on 2 or more days a week that work all major muscle groups.” My co-worker and I hike briskly over rocky, uneven terrain for at least 6 hours per day while carrying our packs filled with food, water, and extra layers. We get about 10x the recommended amount of exercise each week to be “healthy.” It is pretty awesome getting paid to work out every day, and I definitely have no problem falling asleep every night. Plus I am going to have some gnarly calluses on my feet after all my blisters heal! We still haven’t found any weeds to map, but we do get to see a lot of scenery. And a LOT of sagebrush.

Sarah

BLM Lakeview, OR

Today marks my third week here in Buffalo,Wyoming as a range intern and I could not have imagined being placed in a more beautiful area. These last few weeks I have been busy training and learning all the plants of the region.  I have already seen an abundance of wildlife including pronghorns, burrowing owls, golden eagles, and moose! Just the other day while finishing up some vegetation monitoring we were approached by two baby pronghorns! We also had the opportunity to visit outlaw cave, which was one of the famous hideouts of outlaw Butch Cassidy and overlooks the equally famous Hole in the Wall.

We are lucky enough to live a mere 10 miles east of the Bighorn Mountains, which has allowed us to get out for some fantastic evening hikes after work. All the wildflowers in the lower foothills are really starting to take off and we were fortunate enough to stumble upon some fairyslipper (Calypso bulbosa) on one of our first hikes.  To say that I have been blown away by the beauty of the wilderness and wildlife surrounding Buffalo would be a severe understatement and I am beyond excited to be spending the next five months living, learning, and recreating out here!

Just finishing up may second week in Farmington, New Mexico and we are really getting into the swing of things here. Coming from a plant physiology background these first weeks have been a humbling and fulfilling experiencing of  botanizing, plant keying and navigating around the desert. Relearning families, remembering plant morphology, learning how to use GIS and GPS units has been really exciting! Everyone always told me that the real learning starts after you finish with college and if these few weeks are indicative of the next five months I have no doubts.

Today we were able to check out a new program that our office has implemented as a control for Russian Knapweed,  Acroptilon repens , an invasive herb in our region. This biological control involves a mite that infects the inflorescences of the knapweed and instead of them producing flowers they make galls for the mite larva to live in. This will hopefully slow down the reproduction of the knapweed and prevent it from spreading further! In the second year of implementation the mites seem to be spreading well and soon the project could be implemented on a larger scale.

Looking for mite infected plants.

Got one!

Lookout point in the field

The first month of my internship at the Coos Bay BLM has flown by and we’ve accomplished our goal of completing our training and being able to function on our own in the field.  Nathan Reese and I are taking roadside noxious weed data on BLM and private roads that lead into BLM land, as well as recording road data such as new roads or unsafe road conditions. We have been inventorying for noxious weeds on our own since Thursday June 7th and it’s been going very well. The biggest challenge we are facing is road conditions.  Many roads are overgrown and difficult to drive down or to turn around in, but we are improving our ability to gauge whether a road is driveable or should be driven down in a government vehicle without scratching or otherwise damaging it.  Most of the noxious weeds we are encountering in the field are Scotch and French broom, Himalayan blackberry, evergreen blackberry, Canada thistle and bull thistle.  We record the data on a GPS Trimble device using NISIMS (National Invasive Species Information Management Systems), including information such as the species name and percent cover within a 0.10 acre plot of land. This weed data will be used when the BLM contracts out for herbicide spraying next year.

Besides collecting noxious weed data, I have had some fantastic opportunities to work with other BLM employees in this district. One day I was able to help out a crew that was placing a barrier line on a public beach where there is a population of federally threatened Snowy Plover shorebirds nesting. I helped by standing in the back of the truck and pushing this giant spool of cord that was then tied around posts along the beach, so that the public knows not to encroach on the area.  We saw several Snowy Plovers while we were driving along. On another day, I was able to help one of the BLM botanists here with a project to augment the population of a rare coastal dune plant called silvery Phacelia (Phacelia argentea) at Floras Lake, a freshwater lake right next to the Pacific Ocean and a hotspot for kitesurfers. We planted over 300 plants that the contractor, a botanist from the Oregon Department of Agriculture, had grown in a greenhouse at Oregon State University.  It was a great opportunity to learn about this rare species, help in the effort to improve its chances in the wild, and work with such knowledgeable people. Many coastal plant species and the wildlife that depend on them are threatened because of European beachgrass, a noxious weed that creates dense thickets along the beach and has changed the topography of coastal habitat in this area. I have also been able to go out with the spotted owl surveying crew again and took some photos of the male owl that came down and feasted on the mice we fed him, verifying that he and his mate are not nesting this year.

Western Spotted Owl

On weekends I enjoy exploring the variety of trails and hiking opportunies in the area, and have been lucky enough to spend a weekend in the Coastal redwoods, about 4 hours south of Coos Bay in California.

Shore Acres State Park

Shore Acres

This month I collected a threatened plant for the herbarium collection I am starting at the BLM Lander, WY field office. I collected one Yermo xanthocephalus, the desert yellowhead, whose only natural population(s) in the world exists here in Fremont County, WY (and yes, I did obtain a permit from USFWS to do this, as is required). I felt real bad about digging up the plant and pressing it, but I keep reminding myself that this if for scientific reference material and many people will be able to observe this plant now without disturbing the population.

Midway through June it’s finally beginning to feel like summer is truly here, especially now that I’ve managed to have several full field days. Last month I put on my environmental educator hat and helped out with a few projects outside of the botany realm I normally work in – first by leading a group of Junior High students through a series of activities to monitor water quality, and then a few weeks later by helping to prepare a poster and presentation about sage-grouse for a Migratory Bird Day walk. It was fun to work on something different, and great to introduce some young(er) people to how much fun field work can be.

Greater Sage-grouse Tail. Photo by Dan Dzurisin, Licensed through Creative Commons 3.0

After these interesting non-botany projects, I also got to start in on the 2012 field season plant work. We put in a few new plots and read old plots to monitor Astragalus debequaeus, Penstemon grahamii, Physaria obcordata, and Physaria congesta. It’s been a dry year in Colorado, so the Astragalus debequaeus especially seems to be struggling, but we’re hopeful that they’ll bounce back next year. That monitoring was particularly interesting, because A. debequaeus is a new species for me. The others were fun, in familiar scenery and with some familiar faces that I met during the monitoring trips last year.

Finally, Darnisha, the new CLM intern in our office, arrived this week. This means that we have a great excuse to begin SOS, and have been out scouting. We’ve identified several nice looking populations, and are hopeful that this will be a good collection year.

Hooray summer!

Sama Winder
BLM CO State Office

The modoc sucker is a smaller member of the sucker family. It lives in montane streams in a veriety of habitat–from silty meadering marshes to steep canyon streams. These are two habitats that are very interesting to navigate at 2:00 in the morning–when we were doing our surveys. Jane Fonda’s workouts have nothing on walking up a  pine-needle-covered canyon wall in felt bottom boots and waders. If anybody out there is looking for a weight loss plan I’ve found it!

The good news, other than a great cardio session, is that we saw lots of suckers!  From now on I am going to do my fishing at midnight. You could almost pick up the fish, they were so still. We also saw many large tasty looking trout. To all the fishermen out there–do your stream recon at night and you will be sure to find some great fishing holes. As far as suckers go, this is kind of a Cinderella story. This is a species that may potentially be downlisted, so it is great to see their populations stabilize, occupying in many cases full reach of their available habitat…however inaccessible that habitat may be. 🙂

This past month has flown by in the Modoc. Already I cannot believe all of the incredible opportunities that have been afforded me. I am already growing very fond of the expansive skies and open spaces of this ruggedly beautiful area. Every day I am discovering something new and appreciating more about this place.

Last weekend I went camping a mere 14 miles up from where I live at Mill Creek Campground near Clear Lake. Several of the CLM interns from Lakeview, OR BLM joined us up there and we all enjoyed the quiet beauty surrounding us- and some campfires and smores as well! We went hiking around the lake while pausing to study various plant species and discuss similarities and differences between our field work.

Just this last week my partner Joe and I traveled to Lava Beds National Monument, where we stayed and worked for the entire week. The first day we attended a California Phenology Project workshop, which was fascinating. Phenology is the study of seasonal or bio-logical changes such as leafing out, flowering, pollination, seeding and animal migration. According to the California Phenology Project’s website,

“The phenological status of plants and animals across the seasons is very dynamic and is closely linked to climatic and ecological variables. Consequently, tracking the phenology of plants and animals is a compelling way in which to study how living systems are functioning in response to climate variability and, over the long-term, to climate change.

The CPP is initially focusing on plants in seven pilot parks,encompassing desert, coastal and mountain areas, and building upon existing monitoring protocols and programs of project collaborators. However, project products and infrastructure are being designed to support monitoring and educational activities for 18 California NPS units and parks in adjacent states.”

For more information on this awesome project or how to get involved go to http://www.usanpn.org/cpp/

Learning about this Phenology Project was great because it is something that we do everyday- looking at many different species of plants in their various stages. For instance, back at the BLM lands near Alturas Joe and I are finding many of the species of plants we plan on collecting seeds from are nearly ready. It is so exciting to see the grasses ripening and flowers giving way to fruit. When we get back from attending the CLM Workshop in Chicago we will have many ready to collect!