What a whirlwind these past weeks have been! After a brief week working with my mentor in the BLM , it was off to the Midwest to attend the CLM training workshop at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

I arrived in the Windy City as one of fifty interns who traveled from their positions out west to attend the weeklong workshop.  Our training was based out of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Science Center.  Nestled among beautiful gardens, the building is a recent addition fulfilling the dual purpose of scientific research and outreach and education — showing the public that scientists are real people too!  Throughout the week our curriculum covered everything from the history of the Bureau of Land Management and plant taxonomy/ identification to proper seed collection protocol and mitigating field hazards.

Although training entailed several powerpoint presentations, we were also able to put our new skills to the test in the CBG’s nearby gardens and habitat preserves. I was given the first-hand opportunity to encounter the frustrations of using a dichotomous key to identify unknown plants and face the difficulty of determining the proper plant sampling technique.  Although challenging at times, with our instructors’ knowledge and support at our side we were able to master new skills and even have a few good laughs along the way.

Training was not only a great opportunity to brush up on skills vital to my new internship, but also to meet many of my fellow interns.  I had a blast hearing about the beautiful scenery, management projects, and general ridiculousness that others have experienced during their positions.  It’s nice to know that regardless of how challenging my job may be at times I’m not in it alone.

Near China Lake

The desert has a surprising variety of landscapes. The only downside is that you have to travel far and over some truly rugged terrain to see them. Even after several months working all over the Mojave Desert I am still struck by how few people have the opportunity to see the places I have been.

5 minute rainstorm

Often the weather can be unpredictable, but this can lead to some very interesting scenery.

Red Rock Canyon

Rainbow Basin

Every week I still see something new, leaving me with the sense that I could never truly see all that is out there. Which is fine with me, I hope to never run out of new places to experience.

I have been in my internship for about 4 months now, which is primarily collecting seeds for Seeds of Success. My team and I have been collecting like crazy, for almost all of the time we have been here, and have made about 40 collections total thus far. While I have learned a lot about the plants and landscape of the Mojave, and knew my work was important for restoration, I didn’t fully understand why…didn’t get the “big picture”. Until now. I recently attended the CLM training and, shortly after, a Desert Restoration Workshop, where I learned how important native plant materials programs are. I also learned how programs like SOS are highly valuable for ecological restoration, as there is a “need for seed” in the Mojave (and elsewhere). Arid ecosystems in general are slow to recover from disturbances, which include land use for solar and wind projects, recreational uses, exotic species, and waste dumping, just to name a few. And things are also shifting due to climate change. Often the balance of these ecosystems is upset beyond the natural point of return, because the rate of change far exceeds the speed of ecological adaptation capabilities. This is where active restoration comes in to place, as well as a preventative-like type of restoration with the creation of adaptive communities. Native seed collecting, over a wide range of habitat in order to match specific plant types to their matching microclimates, is really at the basis of these restorations today. And this is what Seeds of Success is all about. I am excited and proud to be a part of such a movement.

The rainy spring and early summer made it feel like we were never going to get out in the field. It was not wasted time, though, because we were able to do a lot of research on what plants would be good to target for collection. Now a good number of these plants are producing seed and the excitement is growing as we keep monitoring for the perfect time to harvest. To date we have been able to do collections on three different species and anticipate many more in the near future. I still haven’t got used to the fact that something so enjoyable is my job. It truly makes me appreciate this time in my life, and I look forward to the surprises each new day brings.

A little over a month and a half ago, I loaded up my little Saturn to the roof and began my two day, 19 hour trek from my home in Missouri to my new home in Southwestern Utah. I will admit, I was scared out of my mind. The furthest west I had ever been was Kansas and I wasn’t sure what to expect living alone, 1300 miles from everything I’ve known for 22 years. Despite my initial uncertainty and fear, the move ( and internship) have changed my life both professionally and personally in ways I never thought possible. Since I’ve been here, I’ve been blessed with the opportunity to work with both western plants and animals. The projects that I am currently working on include assessing vegetation plots, using telemetry to track our local Greater Sage Grouse population and conducting fenceline surveys.

My most memorable experience thus far?  Tracking and flushing my first Sage Grouse.  I had never even seen a Sage Grouse and had  no idea what I was getting myself into. It was a female and I spent about 30 minutes triangulating her position. I was completely estatic when the graduate student I was working with informed me that we were close enough that I could hop out of the truck and follow my female on foot. I wiggled and twisted my way up a hill scattered with sage brush, intently focused on the steady beeping coming from my telemetry set, letting me know I was closing in. Suddenly and unexpectedly she flushed about four feet in front of me, literally almost scaring me to death. The loud noise of her beating wings made me jump so bad that I scared the graduate student who was another ten feet behind me. I had done it! It was such a rewarding experience. I turned to the graduate student with the biggest smile on my face and she smiled back saying, ” Congrats, you just tracked and flushed your first bird.”

The feelings and experiences I’ve been blessed with are ones I will never forget and though I wouldn’t have guessed it two months ago, Southwestern Utah is exactly the place I want to be.

The days are flying by on the west side of the country. Working ten-hour days in the hot sun make the weeks jet past, while the weekends fill up with their own time-crushing diversions.

July started off with a bang for me at the High Sierra Music Festival, and a hang gliding flight. I followed that up with a trip back home to South Dakota the next weekend. After so much traveling I was excited to spend some quality time in the field and in my trailer.

At work seed collecting season is in full swing. The pressure is on to meet the ARRA collection requirements of the internship because most of the species on our target list mature within the same three weeks. This is no time for slacking. Calluses have begun forming between the pointer fingers and thumbs on my hands, and I’m running out of music to listen to on my iPod, but a feeling of satisfaction comes after each collection is complete. Although stripping seeds from plants might not be the most exciting activity of the internship, it makes me feel productive to know restoration work will be the direct results from my actions. It has also given me the opportunity to really explore the large Lakeview BLM resource area. The diversity of landscapes in southern Oregon continues to amaze me.

As July comes to an end, I find myself wishing summer would slow down (well, maybe not between the hours of seven to five).

The lengths I'll go to collect seeds!

Well I’ve been here for approximately 4 months now, and I’m really starting to love the West. This internship is giving me a good feel for the native plants out here, as well as the non-native. The past few weeks we have been doing a lot of seed collection for the Seeds of Success program. This is sometimes harder than it seems, because you need to be in the right place at the right time to collect the seeds. Also, I have been herbiciding the invasive whitetop, Lepidium draba, for the past few weeks. Whitetop is definitely a problem species out here because of its ease of growing in poor conditions as well as speed of growth. We initially went in to cut down the white top to the roots, which hurts the plants. After a few weeks we go back and spray with the herbicide to hit it again, in hopes of eradication.  The next few weeks we will be doing some intense fire-rehab monitoring so I hope to learn a lot in this time.

Amber Kowal

After a very short stint at the NPS office in Fort Collins, three days to be exact, I headed out to Chicago for the intern training week. This was a good opportunity to see what else other interns are working on, where they’re located and the diversity of backgrounds we have. It was a great chance to talk with similar minded folks and see where they’re thoughts lie on the internship as well as where they’ve been and where they’re headed.

I returned to Colorado to start digging into my project full-time. I am putting together a database on invasive species for the both Park-personnel and ultimately public access. The odd part is that the parks I am researching are on the Great Lakes. I work under the Ocean and Coastal Resources Branch in the Fort Collins NPS Natural Resources office, so while it’s out of place for lake research, my supervising team fits the task. I had a chance to get a brief look at Lake Michigan while at the CBG conference, but that will be my only contact with the locale of my work.

The goal of the project is straightforward: gather information to form a database on invasives in order to raise the level of awareness of invasives in the National Parks. This will hopefully elevate the status of concern and action for the parks workers. I have been collecting data from multiple sources, including National Parks species surveys, USGS data (in GIS and spreadsheet form) and various articles. We are restricting the list to only aquatic and wetland species (with a couple exceptions), so there is extensive filtering of the data to be done. I am mostly through the initial list of established invaders of the Parks proper, and am expanding to potential invaders from within the lakes system.

Outside of work,  my placement in northern Colorado has been a blessing. While my field work is restricted to a few days of pika monitoring in Rocky Mtn. National Park next month, I have ample time to explore the wilderness outside of office time. My house is 5 miles from the base of the front range, I’m an hour from Rocky Mtn. NP, and the town itself is great.

While most of my fellow interns are spread to remote locations throughout the west, I’m in the minority of living in a decent sized city. Though not urban by any stretch, there are plenty of people here and downtown offers lots of entertainment. Mostly I’ve filled my time with running, hiking, biking around town, and driving through the mountain roads to the west. My supervisor is encouraging me to check out some of the National parks south and west of here, so I’ll certainly be doing that some weekends.

I’m off backpacking tomorrow to seek out the remaining snow capped peaks in the Indian Peaks Wilderness area, west of Boulder. Colorado has a lot to offer and I’m hoping to expand my range and scope out some new spots now that I’m settled in the west.

This summer has flown by – I only have about one month left in Southern California.  We just cataloged all of our seed collections, which took almost a full ten hours  to complete.  It was incredibly satisfying to see the several hundred bags from our thirty something collections all laid out and organized.  In a strange way, it’s like seeing our babies all grown up.  But, by “babies” I mean grocery bags full seeds and “grown up” I mean fully dried, photographed, and packed to be shipped.

Now that all of the spring annuals have dried up, we have been in the office entering all of our data and completing other paperwork.  We have just finished identifying all of our vouchers and have started creating labels for the specimens staying at our Herbarium.   Honestly, I thought this would be much more boring than it is turning out to be.  It has been a nice change to be in the office and great to have  more time to get to know the other folks working at the Herbarium.

Earlier this week, our collection team was able to attend a Desert Managers Group restoration workshop in Barstow.  Learning about the successes and challenges of groups working to restore, conserve, and protect the southwest U.S. was very fascinating.  As a young person interested in environmental conservation, it was also exciting to learn about opportunities in the region in restoration.

 I am now more than half way through my Wildlife internship in Lewistown, MT and things keep getting better and better. The weather has become agreeable to field work and I have had the opportunity to attend some wonderful training and networking events.

Having opted out of the CBG intern orientation last month my travel funds were freed up for me to pursue wildlife-specified training. Just last week I attended a mammal tracking course in Yellowstone National Park with renowned tracker and scientist Jim Halfpenny, who specializes in wolf and bear research. As if you need an excuse to enjoy your time in Yellowstone, I cannot think of more interesting subject matter than learning to identify the footprints and gaits of its most charismatic residents. By meticulously searching along muddy riverbanks and flood plains my two classmates and I learned to read the stories that tracks leave- interpreting the size, speed, direction and behavior of an animal. For example, we followed the trail of what we determined to be a young female wolf as she ambled along the riverbank and gathered clues to determine why she slowed down, sped up, stopped or looked around that morning. We also measured and took plaster casts of the best preserved footprints and I cherish my souvenir wolf, elk and grizzly prints.

Big male Grizzly print

Although standing in the same spot where a wolf had been hours earlier gave me a near-spiritual chill, there has been no lack of controversy regarding their reintroduction and management in the West. Some people dedicate their lives and careers protecting them while others want them all exterminated- how are such polarized opinions possible?

It was while I was helping a colleague with a plant restoration project that I was given insight into the psychology of preservation. Although an advocate for endangered animals, I found myself at a loss when trying to muster the same enthusiasm for the plight of plant species. There was an upcoming botanical meeting where they would be searching for a rare plant, and I was excitedly invited along. “It will be really neat” they said, “there are only a few square miles in the whole world where these are found!” But this rare plant had no known medicinal value, nor was it especially colorful or pleasant-smelling or have any other stand-out characteristics. The poor thing was small, twiggy, and brown. I found myself forcing a polite smile and thinking to myself “what’s the big deal” and instantly realizing that I had seen the same polite smile before, and that I was having the same response most do to endangered wildlife. I now understand where they are coming from, and how my compulsion to keep species from going extinct is not shared by everyone.

I began examining my own motivations and asking what the purpose of it all was; what is the point? Surely there must be some logical reason why people work so hard to preserve endangered species. In the end, I decided that although we can try to use rational arguments (there may be medicines in there! it may cause the food web to collapse!) the heart of the matter cannot be produced or negotiated with. It is an ethical and emotional response that some people feel, a reluctance to lose any of the world’s hard-won and awe-inspiring diversity. The botanists and I share this feeling, and I am doing my best to never again become so entrenched in my position that I cannot see when our goals are same