Hiya,

My name is Jen.  I am writing and working from the San Juan Islands National Monument this summer,  where I will be helping to create a baseline biological database for monument lands.  If you aren’t familiar with the area, the San Juans lie in Washington’s Puget Sound, roughly halfway between Vancouver, BC and Seattle, WA.  From quaint village scenery to rugged grasslands, these islands hold some of Washington State’s most beautiful landscapes.  In the span of a 30 minute car ride (hour bike ride), you might pass protected harbors with anchored sailboats, picturesque churches surrounded by sheep pasture, and mixed forest ending with gnarled krummholz battered by ocean wind, usually ending with coastal bluffs looking out to crashing waves.  Not too shabby.  I have been living here for the past six months and am thrilled that I am getting to live in this beautiful spot doing the type of work I feel passionate about.  I’m equally stoked to be living somewhere long enough to get down to some gardening.

The monument land presents an interesting challenge in terms of monitoring.  Unlike the expansive rangeland usually owned by the BLM, the monument consists of just over 900 acres, most of that on small islands and disjunct parcels of land.  This land is generally heavily vegetated, comparatively lush.  A lot of these areas are heavily visited, with three lighthouses on BLM land and a number of destination locations.

Lunch break at Patos Island Lighthouse, one of the heavily used tourist destinations in the San Juan Islands

Cattle Point Lighthouse, San Juan Island.

Considering these and a few other factors, I’ve been trying to wrap my head around what i want to be recording in this areas.  One of my main focuses in this early stage is to understand the environmental indicators and to figure out how to best use standard baseline monitoring protocol in this non-standard area.  My other focus in this planning stage of the project is to do some vegetation mapping based on previously created databases.

Though I’ve been in the office most of April, I have managed to spend some sunny afternoons outside.  There is a huge local enthusiasm for plants so I’ve enjoyed opportunities to botanize with a number of people and learn really cool stuff about the local flora.  There are a few federally or state endangered species and there are lots of unique plant communities.  I thought I’d share a few of these pretty plants I happened upon during some of these walks.

Sedum lanceolatum on Iceberg Point, Lopez Island. In terms of stonecrops, the islands also have Sedum spathulifolium (broadleaf stonecrop) and Opuntia fragilis (brittle prickly pear cactus).

The 10+ petals of Ranunculus californicus (california buttercup), Iceberg Pt. This is considered nationally stable but critically endangered in Washington state.

Cotyledons of Lupinus littoralis (seashore lupine), Iceberg Pt. I couldn’t identify this for weeks. I was a little shocked when I saw lupine leavings sprouting up. Mystery solved.

Viola adunca, Iceberg Pt

Gooseneck barnacles Iceberg Pt. Did you know you can eat them? They have really nice scallop/abolone-like flesh.

I’m looking forward to a fun plant-based summer and I hope you are too!

It’s the middle of my second week interning with the BLM in Vale, Oregon. So far, so good. Well, great actually. I am extremely happy with my experiences here thus far, and am excited for what the next five months have in store.

Everyone in the office has been more than welcoming, and I could not have asked for a better mentor. This is the second year she, Susan Friits, has hosted CLM interns, and I’m overjoyed to be working with her. I know I’ll be able to learn a lot from her. Not only because she’s intelligent, but also because she’s kind, accommodating, and genuinely wants to help us learn and achieve our goals this summer. I say “us” because I am one of two interns working with Susan. The other intern’s name is Jeremy, and I’m looking forward to working with him as well. We’ve been working really well together so far. He seems very intelligent. It will be nice to be able to learn from each other as well as from Susan.

The past week and a half has been a mixture of work. There has been a bit orientation, driving training, sitting in on meetings, getting into the field, keying species, becoming familiar with species in the herbarium, and compiling data from previous interns’ work in an effort to define our targets this summer. Our main goals over the next five months will be collecting seed for the Seeds of Success program. We’ll target species from which have yet to be collected, or very few collections have been made. We’ll also monitor a few sensitive plant species in eastern Oregon, and work in the herbarium in Vale. I’ve already learned countless new botanical terms, how to identify several new plant families, and am getting more comfortable with ArcMap. Next week we’re going out to watch a lekking of greater sage-grouse. I cannot wait!

I’m living six miles outside Vale with a woman named Shelli who also works in the BLM office. I’m more than pleased with my living situation. First off, I love Shelli. She has been so helpful, and a real joy to get to know and spend time with. I love the house too. It’s a good size and quite quaint. Not having to bring or buy any furniture or kitchenware was an amazing selling point as well. Although I do yearn for a washer and drier. More than half the machines at the laundromat here in Vale are out of service. The house is in the center of a small farm, two horses in a pasture to the east, and a small herd of cows grazing to the west. It’s peaceful and simply beautiful. Watching the sunrise and sunset are two of my favorite times of day at home.

Sunrise

Sunset

I was able to spend a week in Vale prior to my starting date and had a few exciting experiences during that free time. My first being an encounter with the herd of cows at the house. The owner occasionally locks all 30 or so of them in the gates that surround the house in order to do some work in the much larger area that they’re usually in. I was aware that this, and had no problem with the idea. However, I didn’t realize how nerve wracking it would be to try and leave the house. I can laugh now, but being home alone and having to walk through a herd of about 30 large animals that I’ve never been that close to before was scarier than I was expecting.  Once I left the front door they all looked right at me. As I started to move through them, they all stood up and kept staring at me. At first I went right back into the house and called Shelli. She laughed and told me to grab a jacket and wave it at them with confidence while walking. It worked. They didn’t trample me. It seems silly to be afraid now that I look back on the moment.

I was also able to watch and help out just a bit at a cattle branding. This is the season for ranchers to brand their livestock, and Shelli invited me to one in Harper, about twenty minutes east of Vale, my first weekend here.  I was nervous that I’d be a nuisance, but have come to learn that brandings are social gatherings. Several people and families usually get together on these occasions to help where they can, watch, and enjoy one another’s company. I was able to ride on a UTV and experience how the UTV and people on horseback steer the herd from pasture and into the necessary gates for branding. We tried to lure the cattle from pasture with hay at first, but once they saw the horses they started running in the opposite direction. We sped downhill and around the far side of the herd to stop them before they got too far out, and were then able to more slowly guide them out of pasture, down the road a ways, and into the proper gates near the house. I found the experience extremely exciting. Then the cows were separated from the calves, and the calves were caught, tied down, branded, given two shots, and the males were castrated. The process was hard to watch at first, it’s not anything I’ve ever seen before. I’m realistic about where our food comes from, and what it takes to raise and grow that food, so the process didn’t surprise me. It’s just a bit hard to see for the first time. Eventually I was able to help castrate one of the little bulls. This was an idea I had to be talked into, but it was not nearly as bad as I thought it’d be. Since it’s been so hot here, they decided to bind instead of cut, which is essentially putting a small, thick rubber band around the testicles. Then they eventually fall off.  In all, I’m really glad I went. It was a great learning experience and I met some really kind people.

Getting her tied down

I’m getting used to, and enjoying the “small town” experience so far. I have had to adjust my concept of distance since arriving. A forty five minute drive into Chicago used to be far to me. Now it’s twenty minutes to a decent restaurant, better grocery stores, and any kind of shopping. It’s an hour and twenty minutes to Boise, Idaho, the nearest city, which doesn’t quite feel large enough to be a city, and an hour to four hours to most of the sites Jeremy and I will be collecting seed at this summer. I’m looking forward to seeing the state, more so than I already have. There is so much to see, explore, and experience in this county alone. I plan on learning from and exploring as much as possible from the area this summer. It’s going to be a great five months.

Colleen Sullivan-BLM Vale, Oregon Office

Weeds season is in full force here in the central valley of California. I’ve been spending about half of my time treating huge stands of noxious invasive weeds. The other half of my time is dedicated to writing permits for a giant garter snake restoration project I am currently working on. In my “free time” I am beginning the irrigation schedule for a native plant restoration site I installed a few months ago. I am also very actively working to expand my work qualifications and certifications through various training workshops. The BLM has been instrumental in helping me to expand my skills and certs. The weather here has been fantastic lately, and I am hoping to get out on the trail this weekend for some backpacking. Hopefully you’re getting the same where ever you may be stationed!

My transition from British Columbia to Washington over the past few weeks has been positive and exciting – filled with hikes in the sagebrush hills and some serious botanizing!

My main projects so far have involved rare plant detecting. We (I and a fellow intern, Rosemary) just got back from a few days of camping and rare plant monitoring down in the foothills of the Blue Mountains (southeastern corner of the state).  The days leading up to this field week consisted of looking over field reports and sightings from other botanists, some with Washington Rare Plant Care and the BLM, in order to ensure we were targeting the right places. Many of the sites and plant communities we read about had not been visited since the 1990s! We were on the hunt for a small list of threatened plant species, including Lomatian rollinsii and Ribes ceruem var. colubrium. And…hurray! We found a larger population than expected. Here’s a shot of a wee Lomatium:

Apart from plant work, I’ve had some great interactions with local people.  Some of the more interesting ones have been those with ranchers. I am finding myself progressively more interested in the importance of people in conservation and land management issues. My favorite part of this internship so far has been working with a wide variety of professionals and interest groups in land management. Although focusing on botany, I really enjoy seeing how all these different fields and skills come together in a complimentary way, with the end goal of responsible management and stewardship. I’m really seeing public understanding and acceptance as a large gateway to healthier ecosystems.

Looking forward to many more great weeks ahead.  Happy trails to all of you!

Spring is here and many beautiful flowers are greeting us with their wonderful colors and shapes. It has been an eventful month and much has been done here pertaining to field work. We were able to survey for and gain some new information on Ivesia webberi, which is a threatened species and near being listed. That was a very interesting plant and it makes quite a show when you see it up close. The days have been very nice here and the winds of the Sierra Nevada Mountains help make the days quite joyous. It has been nice to simply listen to the wind as it flows across the landscape through the sagebrush and junipers. Also some new friends have arrived in the sagebrush preparing for the nesting season: Spizella breweri; Brewer’s Sparrow. They have quite a buzzy tune and are wonderful to listen to and watch as they proclaim their song across the landscape. The Desert Horned Lizard, Phyrnosoma platyrhinos, is a very interesting and amazing creature to behold. They have an incredibly cryptic coloration to their scales and also they have a interesting technique they use to blend in to the environment.  It’s called shimmy burial! They shimmy into the soil and cover all of their body except for their head, helping them to prey on one of their main food items; ants.

Enjoy the beautiful season of spring my friends,

Ethan

Carson City Field Office-BLM

Rain passing over us in a heavy cistern

Cardinal direction eastern

Yellow is the color of the young

Agoseris. Lomatium.

Digging them up like a Piaute or a Wasco

Roots clenched. Basalt flow.

Before I know it you’ll become crinkled ribbons

A brown remembrance given

And sent away into a manila envelope

Epithets. Scientific trope.

A memory

A reverberated chord of Big Sky Bend.

Continue reading →

Last week we headed out to the remote Eureka Valley in the northwest corner of Death Valley National Park to collect data on two endemic species – Swallenia alexandrae (Eureka Valley dune grass) and Oenothera californica ssp. eurekensis (Eureka Valley Evening Primrose) – which are both federally listed as endangered species. It was gorgeous there, but it was also one of the hottest places I’ve ever been! I’ve been told (many times) “it’s only going to get worse”, so I tried to go along with the idea that we were actually experiencing fairly mild temperatures while we were there. Anyway, the views from atop the dunes and getting to work with these beautiful endemic plant species definitely made it all worth it!

We went to three different sites in Eureka Valley – Eureka Dune, Saline Spur, and Marble Canyon. Eureka Dune was absolutely breathtaking! It is the tallest sand dune in the state of California, rising more than 680 feet above the lake bed at its base. At each site we located tagged Swallenia alexandrae and Oenothera californica ssp. eurekensis and recorded data on their growth and reproductive effort; these plants are being monitored over a three-year period, with this being the second year of data collection. Swallenia alexandrae has a dense root system which catches and holds drifting sand, thus forming stable hummocks that can be found even on the steepest slopes of the dunes. Using our GPS units, we traversed up and down dunes searching for our study plants, which were sometimes high up on these steep slopes. It was definitely an adventure! 

the large, white night-blooming flowers of the Eureka Valley evening primrose (pollinated by moths!!)

Eureka Valley evening primrose in bloom!

orange sea of blooming Sphaeralcea ambigua (if you recall from my last blog post – one of the species we planted at our “common garden” sites!) <3

satellite image of the Eureka dune!

Eureka Dune under the setting sun

Happy Earth Day! Thanks for reading!

– Meaghan

Las Vegas Field Office, USGS

As snow melts throughout much of the American Northeast, Southeastern Arizona is experiencing its second wave of spring. The first wildflowers have come and gone. Cottonwoods flowered over a month ago and many weeks have passed since they first set fruit. Winter rainfall brought the first wave, the fabulous Arizona heat leads the way for the next wave of flowers and their associated pollinators.

Rains grace the Santa Rita Mountains

The added moisture allows plants to put energy into creating flowers to reproduce all along the elevational gradient.

Fallugia paradoxa (Apache plume)

More flowers means more nectar for pollinators. Pollinators become abundant in the profusion of food.

Oenothera spp. (Evening Primrose)

More pollinators (bees/butterflies/hummingbirds/moths/bats) means that there is a larger readily available food source for other creatures along the food web.

Calliandra eriophylla (Pink Fairy Duster)

More water = more pollinators = more life

Fouquieria splendens (Ocotillo)

As the temperatures begin to climb and plants are in full bloom, we are approaching our busiest time for fieldwork here in the Mojave. We recently traveled to every common garden site (St. George, UT, Fort Irwin, CA, and Joshua Tree, CA) to monitor the survival of our transplants and get some baseline cover measurements. We were pleased to see that most of our plants are still alive, with many putting on new growth and some are even flowering! Soon we will start monitoring different traits to determine if the source population has any effect on plant success.

This past week we traveled back to Eureka Valley to start growth measurements for Swallenia alexandrae – Eureka Valley dune grass – and continue measuring Oenothera californica ssp. eurekensis – Eureka Valley Evening Primrose. It has only been two weeks since our previous monitoring trip, but some of the primrose had doubled in size and completely covered the tags we had marking them! They are loaded with flowers, and some have even started producing seed pods. Additionally, the Sphaeralcea ambigua and Baileya pleniradiata at the dunes are in full bloom, and created a beautiful sea of orange and yellow flowers that were visible from miles away. It’s amazing how much life these dunes can support! Walking through the dunes we saw desert iguanas darting from shrub to shrub, a horned lizard, a leopard lizard, and a yellow headed blackbird. The desert is truly starting to come to life.

Finally, my fellow interns and I have done some exploring around Las Vegas, and went to a restored wetland park for birdwatching and on a quest to find desert bighorn sheep. We saw several different species of water birds in the wetland, turtles, hummingbirds, and even a couple baby gallinules! There is a park in Boulder City that is well known for the bighorn sheep that come and graze there, and we were lucky enough to catch a glimpse of one just before the sun went down, and it returned to the mountains for the night. All in all, it has been a very busy but exciting two weeks and I’m looking forward to continuing the projects in the weeks to come.

Marble Canyon dunes in Eureka Valley, one of the three dunes where we study Oenothera califonica ssp. eurekensis and Swallenia alexandrae

Desert bighorn making his way back up to the mountains for the evening

Hi all!

I have been in Shoshone, ID for six days now and just finished up my first work week. The BLM office is full of wonderful people who have taken Avery (fellow CLM intern) and I out in the field to explore the Shoshone field office district.

A little blurb about Shoshone: Avery and I are living together in the oldest house in Shoshone, built in 1886! Mary L Gooding Park and the Little Wood River are right in our backyard (literally). There are about 1402 people who live here and an old school movie theatre. We are one hour away from the Sawtooth Mountains and Sun Valley (Awesome!).

We have been in the field identifying plants and getting to know our sage brush! It seems like this season we will be getting to do a lot of tasks including; vegetation monitoring, updating previous monitoring sites, herbarium organization, and seed collecting.

Today, we explored Craters of the Moon National Monument in search for sage grouse leks! It was a six AM start with binoculars and cameras to see this so called amazing process. Unfortunately, we did not see any leks but did flush about eight grouse!

I am looking forward to my season here in Shoshone, this place is a hidden gem in Idaho!
Alexi