Hello everyone, my name is Marc Bliss and I am the CLM intern at the Lockeford, California Plant Material Center. The PMC is owned by the Natural Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), a division of the USDA. At the PMC we grow native plants for the various BLM offices throughout the state for the purposes of habitat restoration, erosion control, rare plant propagation, invasive species control, etc. The majority of my work will be for the Seeds of Success (SOS) program, but I’ll also be helping in the fields and herbarium to propagate other plants.

This has been my first week at the facility, and it has been INCREDIBLY busy in Lockeford. On Tuesday and Wednesday we held an Irrigation  Training Workshop for many of the state NRCS engineers who assist local farmers with water efficiency and quality problems. They drove and flew in from all over to learn from the head state engineers how the various systems work and how the farmers use them. We covered our older gravity irrigation system (low pressure) that was used for flood irrigation and furrow irrigation, as well as our new (high pressure) system with a computer-monitored pump for sprinkler systems, small sprayers, and drip irrigation. It was the perfect introduction to my time here, learning how the farm operates and how many commercial farms manage their water resources to grow crops. The most interesting aspect of the PMC is that we’re not growing apricots, alfalfa, or avocados like other farms. Instead, we’re growing  native grasses like Sporobolous airoides, Nasella pulchra, and Hordeum jubatum. The “weeds” that we’re pulling are the flowers and bean  plants that most people are trying to keep! The seeds or seedlings will then be sent off to whomever requested them, perhaps to be planted  in riparian areas to hold down soils, or to recently burned areas to prevent fires in the future.

Purple Needlegrass (Nasella pulchra)

On my first day I repotted and consolidated 1000 small containers of Tahoe yellow cress (Rorippa subumbellata), which is endemic ONLY to the  shorelines of Lake Tahoe to be sent West to help increase population sizes there. It feels great to be part of something bigger than  myself and doing some real good in the world, all while learning valuable skills, whether it be native plant identification or the inner workings of commercial farms. Hopefully I’ll be venturing out soon to start seed collections!

Tahoe Yellow Cress (Rorippa subumbellata)

Hello, my name is Aaron Sedgwick and I’m an intern at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in Claremont,California! The territory my Seeds of Success internship covers spans an enormous area that includes the Mojave and the northern Sonora. As a native Midwesterner, the biggest challenge has been acclimating to the climate and learning an unfamiliar flora. The diversity is staggering. Despite the unusually dry spring this year and the lack of annual plants, I am consistently amazed at the variety and spectacular inflorescences of desert plants.

Ever since I learned about edible wild foods I’ve been fascinated by ethnobotany and ethnoecology. Learning about the how the Cahuilla people use native plants for food and medicine has accelerated the rate at which I learn species names and habitat types. I want to learn more about how the peoples of this region managed their resources historically. We stumbled upon what appeared to be a petroglyph in a rock face one day and I wondered at the diversity and complexity of knowledge that must have been required to live in such a varied landscape and harsh climate.

I had never experienced first-hand how limiting water is for wildlife and plants before I began working in the Mojave. I’m excited when I find dragonflies, because I know there must be a spring nearby. If there is one lesson that the desert has taught my thus far, it’s the necessity and sanctity of water.

I have been fortunate to participate in two Bioblitzes; one in Joshua Tree National Park at 49 Palms Spring and another at the Black Buttes documenting the flora and fauna in the area for the Save the Desert Foundation. Participating in these events gave me an opportunity to contribute directly to how the desert is managed for habitat and diversity (in the case of Joshua Tree National Park) and for commercial development (in the case of the Black Buttes).

Every day in the Mojave and Sonora is a reawakening to the resiliency of life. I can’t wait to see what’s hidden in the next canyon and what awaits me in the next wash!

May 1st, 2012.

I arrive at the Alturas field office at 6:30 in the morning. The sky, except for a few puffs of white cumulus clouds, is clear. The sun is rising over the Warner mountain crest. Soon my mentor Mike Dolan and I get our things together and head West to some BLM land near Fall River Mills, in Shasta county.
We pull up on the side of a dirt road and I slurp down the last of my tea. With a handlens and a Trimble GPS unit dangling from my neck and clutching a field journal, I follow Mike as he hastily walks off the roadside into the adjacent grazing allotment. My head tilted down, at first I think nothing is blooming. Then specks of pink, yellow, blue, and white catch my eye. My mind leaves the realm of roads, signs, and distant scenery and a tiny world appears before me. I practically fall down as I get on my knees and elbows, putting my face an inch away from a flower less than a centimeter wide. I whip out my handlens, through which the minute blip of color becomes a detailed scene of texture and structure that my eyes normally fail to see. My mind races, dredging up strands of botanical knowledge that are mixed in with every other random thing I have crammed into my brain over the years. Polemonaceae? A Gillia, A Phlox? Mike soon confirms or corrects my guesses. I hurriedly scrawl down unfamiliar syllables, trying to keep up as he rattles off Latin like its his first language. A seasoned botanist who has worked in this area for decades, he seems to know every plant even if it isn’t flowering, including the many grasses.
One grass in particular is the reason we have stopped at this exact spot. Mike explains that the Poa secunda growing in the low sagebrush habitat here is about 20 centimeters tall and sets seed in June. Up the slope, amidst the ponderosa and grey pine, is another type, which grows 1 meter tall and sets seed in July. He throws his hands up as he exclaims that “they” have listed these grasses as the same species. He is of course talking about plant geneticists, and one project he will have me working on is a garden study. We will collect seed from these and other varieties of Poa secunda. They will be grown out in the same soils under the same conditions. If in this controlled setting they still exhibit the same drastic phenotypic variation, then they surely must be different species. If they all look the same, then we will know that they are all one species that varies considerably under different conditions. The motivation for this project is much more practical than just spiting the geneticists. Say for example a hot fire rages through some low sagebrush habitat. Mike decides to seed the area with Poa secunda in order to give the perennial native bunch grasses a fighting chance against the encroachment of exotic annual grasses like cheat grass and medusa head in the ensuing battle of succession. He orders Poa secunda seed. The seed happened to be collected from the variety that grows in pine habitat, but mike has no way of knowing this because all Poa secunda seed is labeled the same. This much larger, taller variety is unfit for survival in the shallow soil and harsh exposure of the low sagebrush habitat, so the seeding fails. This raises an interesting question for me: what should dictate the names that we choose for plants? In a case like this where it is no doubt a close call, should our priority be genetic accuracy or practical needs? Either way, it is exciting to be on the front lines of plant taxonomy.
This and many other questions regarding fire ecology, grazing, noxious weeds, succession, and our role in it all swirl in my mind as we drive to other sites. I forget them as soon as we arrive at our lunch spot. We sit on a cliff of black volcanic rock with red larkspurs and psychedelic lichens nestled in it, surrounded by a panorama of snowcapped mountains including Lassen and Shasta. I start thinking that field botany might be a good career for me.

Joe Broberg

Alturas BLM

Hello, everyone! I am a recent graduate with a degree in English and have just began my internship at BLM’s West Eugene Wetlands (WEW) field office in Eugene, Oregon—known as the Red House by its inhabitants (aptly named, as it is a bright red, converted farm house). The Red House is a bit unusual in that BLM shares the Red House with two other organizations—the Long Tom Watershed Council and the Willamette Resources & Educational Network (WREN)—that, along with BLM, form a partnership focused on conserving the West Eugene Wetlands.

Now, you’re probably wondering how an English degree fits in with conservation and land management. My goal, in addition to grant writing, is to develop a public outreach program, creating literature aimed to educate the public and increase the overall awareness of the wetlands; after all, the West Eugene Wetlands are actually situated in and around Eugene city limits. Needless to say, I have learned more about the wetlands in the last week than the entire twenty-two years of my life—and I grew up in this area. Right now I’m gearing up for WREN’s Walkin’ and Rollin’ Through the Wetlands event, which is an opportunity for the public to take a stroll through the wetlands and learn about them. BLM is going to have a booth, and we’re hoping to teach people about Fender’s Blue Butterfly, WEW’s single federally listed endangered animal species, and its host plant Kincaid’s Lupine, a federally listed threatened plant species.

I’ve also gotten out in the field a bit, and last week I travelled up to the Baskett Slough National Wildlife Refuge to attend a workshop on long distance sampling of Fender’s Blue Butterfly populations. With typical Willamette Valley weather, we had a rain and wind storm, and the power went out halfway through the presentation; even so, we all slogged outside and practiced our long distance sampling skills on paper butterflies (which were a bit soggy, considering the rain, but still a very effective tool). Overall, I learned a lot and had fun, and am hoping to return to the second portion of the workshop next week!

Mackenzie Cowan

BLM West Eugene Wetlands Field Office

So far these past 8 weeks of my internship have been great! The majority of my work has been effectiveness monitoring, which I described in detail in my first post, but today I got to actually join our SCA (Student Conservation Association) crews and participate in a large restoration project in our office’s management area. It was very easy to catch on to the process as I’ve been evaluating the techniques used from years past.  I have also had the chance to design and implement some landscaping revegetation for the opening of the newly redone Jawbone visitor center. It’s an amazing set of new buildings that will really provide excellent outreach and information for the visitors to this area of BLM land.

Planting native desert species

I’ve spent more time exploring the Ridgecrest area both on and off the job, and have become much more familiar with the geography and biology of this region. I’ve seen burrowing owls while driving out to work areas and participated in a long-term monitoring project for the Mojave Ground Squirrel, getting to handle and assist in the assessment of their populations in the area (no desert tortoises in the wild yet though!)

Paper Bag Bush (Salazaria mexicana)

Fossil Falls

Beavertail Cactus (Opuntia basilaris)

I have also attended a Seeds of Success (SOS) training in Las Vegas, Nevada. It was a great experience to meet some of the fellow CLM/BLM interns in the area! A few of us even got to go out with a Vegas crew and help make a collection for the SOS program. We spent part of a rare cloudy, semi-rainy day in Las Vegas exploring Red Rock Canyon, a part of the Vegas BLM land, to identify species and practice assessing possible collections to be made from the local vegetation.

Red Rock Canyon, Las Vegas BLM

It’s been a busy couple of months, I can’t believe I’m already nearly halfway finished! After getting to visit Las Vegas as a BLM intern, I’m even more excited to begin grad school in the Biology department at UNLV in the fall and possibly be working with the local BLM and USGS!

Hi, my name is Stephanie Burkhardt and I am a recent Marine Science graduate from Eckerd College in Saint Petersburg, Florida. I was hired by the Chicago Botanic Garden as an intern for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Roswell, New Mexico! Now,  I know what you are thinking.  Why did a marine biologist take a position in the middle of the desert? Well… the reason I decided to take this position is because it was a new experience that would enhance my scientific skills in a part of the U.S. that I have never lived in before! It seemed like a new and exciting opportunity that I could not pass up!

Now, I have been working here for a little over a week and love it! Everyone here at the Roswell Office has been amazing! The entire staff here has been so nice and friendly! Last week I had a chance to go into the field with staff from most of the different sections of the Roswell Office. My first day on the job, I went out with the range staff (who I will mostly be working with during my internship) to track feral horses in the Fort Stanton area, west of Roswell. We did succeed in tracking the horses which was good news but they also got to show me some of the Fort Stanton area which was icing on the cake! The Fort Stanton area is gorgeous! From this area, you can see at least four different mountain ranges and some of the El Malpais National Monument! El Malpais is definitely a sight to see, it is an area of black basalt terrain in between the mountains caused by previous molten lava spreading from volcanoes! This as my first day on the job was a great start to an 8 month long internship!

I also got a chance to go out into the field with some of the wildlife staff! One of the days I headed out again to the Fort Stanton area to fix a well and to monitor the water supplies in the mountains. One of the major concerns for maintaining the wildlife here in southern New Mexico is the water supply. Unfortunately right now Roswell is in a year and a half drought, so making sure that the wildlife here has access to water is crucial. I am keeping my fingers crossed for some moisture, as they call it here.  This week  the weather forecast says there might be a chance (knock on wood).

This past Friday I got the chance to help the Fire section at BLM! We supported Fire Prevention week at local schools by bringing in a Smokey Bear hot air balloon and talking about fire prevention. A little fun fact is that Smokey Bear, the correct name not to be misnamed as Smokey the Bear as I found out, is from New Mexico! Smokey Bear was saved from a fire on the mountain named Capitan, just west of Roswell! It was a great time!

I cannot wait to see what the other sections of the Roswell Office do, such as: Archeology and Oil and Gas. Until then I am very excited to working here in Roswell for the next 8 months and to start my official training as a range staff member!

Stephanie Burkhardt

BLM Roswell Office

As lost as my name, I have begun my internship with an open mind to new ecosystems and opportunities. A chance to explore my new forests, inhabited by pine and juniper, with only a few deciduous neighbors who only swing by to say hello. Not the eastern hardwoods I have grown to love. To know each tree not only by leaves, but bark, and seed, twigs and all. To watch my step, not only to avoid my herbaceous friends, but to destroy their intrusive and annoying companions from overseas. Yet, in a new world with little knowledge besides what I have read in books, I tread lightly. Not knowing who I may desire to remove from this new ecosystem and who deserves the right to flourish. The lack of comprehension with this new outdoor world excites me to a level near fear. I have five months to gain knowledge of what some study for their lives; I have five months to help collect the seed of species which may fall from fires more intense than ever; I have five months to learn to write in a non-scientific style; and I have five months to find me.

In addition to the valuable career experience gained through the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Conservation and Land Management (CLM) Internship program, there are plenty of good times to be had as a CLM intern! Although my work focuses primarily on botany, one just can’t avoid encounters with the animal side of wildlife when working in the field.

DEER–HERE, THERE, AND…ALMOST EVERYWHERE. In some areas in and around the Pine Hill Preserve, it is not uncommon to see deer.

Caught on camera: A buck pursuing his dear doe for a date

SMALL CREEPY, CRAWLY CREATURES. I am fascinated by spiders (there are so many kinds, some with beautiful coloration and patterns), and I like to observe and photograph them. BUT the thought of just one crawling on me creeps me out. Thus, I am generally attentive to what is in front of me when I walk through any type of grass and herbaceous vegetation where they tend to build their webs. During the spring before conditions turn hot and dry, ticks are typically abundant so it is important to always do a tick check when leaving the field. And in the aquatic habitats, one may be able to watch a slinking slug move effortlessly and gracefully, leaving a trail of slime behind itself.

Black and yellow garden spider, a common orb web spider typically found in gardens and fields

Green lynx spider on sticky rosinweed

Watch out for these little suckers (literally!)

Slimy stealty slithering slug

BIRDS AND FLYING INSECTS. By participating in bird counts at the Cosumnes River Preserve, I am beginning to learn how to identify some of the waterfowl and wetland bird species. Interestingly, one of the Pine Hill Preserve neighbors has a couple of emus (he had a few more but supposedly they were taken as a meal by a mountain lion). Although wild turkeys are relatively common, there are a few peacocks which roam a residential neighborhood bordering the Pine Hill Preserve. When wildflowers are blooming in the spring, butterflies flitter about, moving from flower to flower playing a critical role in pollination. Near aquatic habitats, dragonflies can be seen darting around. Every now and then, I encounter a praying mantis; now these guys can be fascinating to watch if they begin acting aggressively toward other creatures (including pestering humans).

A neighbor's emu

Wild peacock on a neighbor's lawn

Dragonfly

Praying mantis

FROGS. Every now and then we’ll come across a tree frog while collecting seeds or conducting botanical surveys.

I'm by no means a herpetologist, but I believe this is some type of tree frog

SNAKES. Having grown up in an area of Iowa void of poisonous snakes, it has been both a bit nerve-racking and thrilling to conduct field work in rattlesnake territory. A few rattlesnake sightings occurred either in the BLM office parking lot or just outside the shop garage door, but I didn’t personally see them. Another CLM intern and I did come across a young snake in the parking lot one afternoon; the pattern looked like it could be a rattlesnake, but it’s head wasn’t the right shape and it lacked a rattler…the snake expert of the office confirmed its identity as a gopher snake. We also had the privilege of first hearing then seeing a rattlesnake in the wild! The snake actually warned us from behind with its rattle. We were walking along a trail and stopped to look at the map on the GPS unit when we heard it. When we turned to look, we saw the tail end of the snake disappear from the trail into the vegetation about 10-12 feet behind us. Exciting! And I’m so grateful it wasn’t any closer or any more of a surprise than it was!

No worries--just a gopher snake

Young rattlesnake coiled up just outside the shop garage door of the BLM field office

HERP IN CAMO. The horned lizard is appropriately named; the distinguishable pointed “horns” above their eyes and along the back of their neck can make this little lizard look a bit like a dangerous dragon, downsized. Due to their coloration, they are not so easy to see in the reddish, high-in-iron gabbro soils in and around the Pine Hill Preserve.

The horned lizard blends in well with the gabbro soils of the Pine Hill Preserve

THE PROOF IS IN THE PRINTS. As much as I would like to see a bear in the wild (but from a safe distance and not as a surprise close encounter), sometimes I have to just take what I can get. Like a paw print providing evidence that yes, a bear has tread the same trail as I.

Bear print near the South Fork American River

HEE-HAW. Like the plants, some of the animals we meet are not native but have been domesticated. This neighboring donkey gets a little curious about what we’re up to every now and then when we work on the Pine Hill Preserve parcel across the private road from his stomping grounds. One time he even tried to distract us by making funny faces and noises at us. 🙂

"Whatchya doin'?"

Neighbor's donkey making funny faces

I just completed my first week with the Hollister BLM working as a Botany Technician. This BLM offices administers a very large area mainly on the west side of the I-5 corridor. It contains some of the largest areas of exposed serpentine rock in the state. These serpentine areas support a number of rare, endangered and also some endemic species. During this time of year we are monitoring populations Camissonia benitensis (San Benito Evening Primrose) while it is blooming. This primrose is listed as threatened and was once believed to grow only on serpentine rocks. It has recently been shown to grow in other areas, but its range is quite limited. There is a great Wikipedia page (that I suspect my mentor wrote) all about this plant if you are interested in more info. Monitoring for this plant will be our main focus for the next few weeks as it is much easier to spot when it is blooming ( it is usually less than 10cm tall!). In addition to this plant, I have also gotten to learn about other serpentine plants that I have never seen before, as well as visiting some very out of the way places in California that I have never been before.

Again and again, I was told “Don’t go to Bakersfield.” It’s hot, hotter than the desert, where a stagnant wind whips the dust into a meringue that sits in the air for days at a time. This is oil country, with many acres dedicated to extraction, for instance in McKitrick, where you can actually see the “bubbling crude” pour out of, and merge with, the ground. My mentor, Denis, tentatively admitted: “getting around in Bakersfield may be difficult without a car.” We will occasionally be working with dust masks. There is a cool local disease called “San Joaquin valley fever” caused by a fungus in the soil that gets kicked into the air during sporadic rainfall.

Since I am a contrarian to the core, and a “different kind of drummer” (says Rachel,) I wanted to see just what made this place so difficult. Have you ever had that carrot juice? The expensive one on sale at Safeway? That’s made by Bolthouse Farms, located here in the southern San Joaquin valley. The valley, which receives relatively little precipitation, grows 3% of America’s produce and extracts a little less than 1% of the world’s oil, which is a lot. So the urban explosion of Southern California is synonymous with water scarcity.

from SJV geology: steam drilling

It is easy to fall into the trap of forgetfulness, to forget that everything is connected with everything else.  How could drinking a carton of carrot juice impact a population of burrowing owls or the kind of water that flows through the taps of the Buck Owens Crystal Palace? If you’re coming this way, come to Bakersfield. I want you to see, breathe, smell it and feel it for yourself. I want to take you to the orange groves. We made this place difficult to live in, and a life of ease is a life of ignorance.

One of the BLM’s great projects out here is an attempt at restoring wetlands near the original site of Tulare, the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi. The fight still rages for every last drop of water, and our acquisition of Atwell Island is, when put into perspective, quite impressive.

Wait, what lake?

This lake. (source: Delta national Park.org)

Tulare Lake used to capture all of the meltwater from the Sierra mountains, an important stop for  waterbirds on their inland migration. Today it looks quite different, as nearly all of that mountain snow gets intercepted by the farmers who live upstream. On the site itself, the soil has become too alkaline, too enriched with selenium and salt, to prove profitable. Gradually, farmers are selling their unprofitable cropland to the BLM, where a massive wetland restoration is taking place. So far, Atwell Island consists of land and water along an old sandbar. You wouldn’t believe what you’ll see if you head to Atwell Island or to the national wildlife refuge nearby. Birds sighted  on a count in 2007  included

“…sandhill cranes, barn and horned owls, kites and harriers galore, red tails a-courting, several sparrows, marsh wrens, black phoebes, redwing and Brewer’s blackbirds, shrikes, whimbrels, long-billed curlews, killdeer, black bellied plovers, avocets, stilts, cinnamon, green-winged and blue-winged teal, mallards, ruddy ducks with bright cheeks, cormorants and ring-billed gulls. Several sightings were records for the project.”

Although recovery for birds seems dire in a salt-drenched and blazing hot landscape like this, there’s a glimmer of hope for wildlife.  Somehow the birds keep finding their way back. We are actively introducing them as well; one of our first activities as a team was the release of four burrowing owls from L.A into artificial dens originally intended for another nocturnal predator, the San Joaquin Kit Fox. You can watch a video of my mentor, Denis, releasing a burrowing owl here.

https://picasaweb.google.com/100594521801634340032/AtwellIslandBurrowingOwlRelocation?feat=email#5727351485441522850