It has been very busy here at the preserve. Each day seems to bring something different–which really helps bring some excitement when the weather has been predictably warm, dry, and sunny. Whether it be out in our ponds treating primrose or spending the day working on seed collections, it is truly a joy to spend so much of my time working outdoors. Though the Central Valley has been hot, the work has been fulfilling and I have found myself slowly becoming more comfortable with the heat and sun–two things I am not exactly used to.

Among my more exciting tasks has been helping one of our wildlife biologists on one of the current projects being undertaken by our office. With a productive rookery for several different species of birds present, part of the work has been setting up for and collecting data. My particular role was/is working on determining the size class, and age class if possible, for the trees being utilized in this rookery. This has entailed going out and getting DBH and height measurements so that we have an idea of how to best promote healthy habitat for these birds in the future.

On the flip-side, I have been involved in some more management-based activities as well. With our flood-up season in progress, I have had a few opportunities to learn and put in to practice our methods for flooding and managing our wetland ponds. What birds are not here will soon be looking for some stopover opportunities in the delta and we intend to have habitat and forage for them when they arrive.

While I could go on and on, there have simply been too many different activities to possibly sum up succinctly herein.

This opportunity has been challenging, exciting, and altogether wonderful every step of the way. With about two months left, the birds, and cooler/wetter weather on the way, I am looking forward to each and every day.

–Tyler Rose

Cosumnes River Preserve

6:45 AM: Alarm goes off

7:00 AM: Crawl out of bed

7:15 AM: Leave for work

7:30 AM: Arrive at office, check emails, put on boots, gather equipment

7:45 AM: Leave office to meet youth crew at work site

8:00 AM: Start working with youth crew, pull a ton of scotch broom

12:00 PM: Head back to office to eat lunch and catch up on other office tasks.  Talk to supervisor and see what she needs me to do

12:30 PM: Head back to the field.  Scout out weeds for the youth crew to work on the next day

2:30 PM: Meet up with the youth crew and check on their progress.  Pull some scotch broom.  Sometimes I bring popsicles

3:30 PM: Youth crew leaves.  Take pulled scotch broom to disposal facility

4:15 PM: Arrive back at office.  Put away equipment, check emails, take off boots

4:30 PM: Go home

6:45 AM: Alarm goes off

…

Colin

West Eugene Wetlands

Continuing on my adventure, I have consistently recorded the location of cattle for grazing compliance. I learned that cattle have a wonderful mind of their own. They know where those great riparian areas are and do not like to comply with not grazing in some of these areas. Of late, my partner and I have had to diligently check certain areas to make sure the cattle are not in them. The first day we didn’t see any was amazing! We will see if they continue on this trend of complying.

Besides checking riparian areas for cattle compliance, my partner and I have begun running an adapted habitat assessment framework for Sage Grouse (HAF) in an allotment up for NEPA renewal. Doing so has taught us a lot of new techniques we have not yet performed such as line-point intercept and canopy gap. Though we realized having mostly done riparian work, our plant recognition skills have diminished slightly. Now I feel more confident in my ability to identify those plants species I have not seen in quite some time. However, I still need help identifying those plants that have cured out. The Botanist on staff has been a great resource! Conducting adapted HAF assessments has lead to some interesting poses in the field. I feel like one just has to go with the flow maneuvering around and through the sagebrush.

Measuring the height of sagebrush during HAF

Just practicing some yoga while conducting point-intercept for HAF

I’m sure everyone has heard that there was a solar eclipse. Some of the other interns and myself took the day off to observe this phenomenon. I was beyond awesome. Lander had quite the flow of traffic. Between the eclipse and the local music bands playing that night, a huge amount of people were about! It was wonderful seeing so many people though I had to avoid the coffee shop because the wait was about an hour.

Recently on the weekends, another intern and I went up to Sinks Canyon State Park to slide down the rock slide. I had seen about a month before but the water was still flowing a bit too much for it to be safe and the water was freezing! I could hardly walk in the little pools we were by. This time on our hike, we were determined to slide down it. On a lower rock there were several people cheering others on that were afraid to go down. The encouragement was much appreciated. Hitting the water below literally took the breath out of me. It was ridiculously cold for being such a warm day but I am also not used to snow melt water. Though cold, I could resist going down the slide a few times before deciding it was time to dry off and head back down for dinner. The other intern and I have plans to go up again to slide down some more before it becomes too cold out.

The slide at Sinks Canyon State Park

Until next time,

– James Noyama
Bureau of Land Management – Lander Field Office                                                 Lander, Wyoming

Clipping Teasel Heads. (Photo by Jessi B.)

What I like most about this internship is that it has given me many opportunities to learn various aspects associated with the subject I love most, Botany. It’s sometimes tedious dirty work but i’m more than happy to be the one doing it. Last week, we took a two day break from SOS collections in order to make a positive influence on our Green River by eradicating some weeds invading the native habitat along the Green River in Utah. Seven of us floated and made frequent stops to trim down and spray various invasive species but the target species was Teasel (Dipsacus follonum). Teasel is an exotic plant native to Europe but was introduced to the Americas by its earliest settlers and has since escaped cultivation and become an invasive species. It can grow as tall as seven feet as it does here along the Green River. This baby is gnarly looking with spines and spikes growing from every inch of the plant making it virtually untouchable. It has pointed bracts that grow just under the egg shaped flower and curve up and around the flower. I’m going to be completely honest and admit I kind of like the look of this punk rocker but I didn’t admit that to the crew and just got to work. The best way of eradicating it is by cutting the flowering heads and disposing of them in a secure bag to prevent them from spreading any further, since the flowers reseed so easily. In addition, we sprayed the leaves with a mild solution of glyphosate to block photosynthetic activity and kill it. Poor punk rocker! There were relatively large zones of healthy habitat throughout the Green River but at the zones where Teasel nested, it REALLY nested and was very prolific.

After a full day of weeding we nestled at a campsite along the river. My first priority was to get into the water and cool off so that’s exactly what I did. After drifting for a bit we feasted on tacos and settled by the campfire. When I closed my eye to sleep all I could see were teasel heads! What a day!

The following day was very similar to the first but we were better skilled and the day went by super fast with all the teasel in the area. I never thought it’d be so fulfilling to eradicate invasive but I really felt as though we made a huge positive impact on the habitat. It was a nice little break from SOS monitoring and hope to have the chance to do it again.

Cheers,

V

As promised earlier, This is a continuation of my summer updates here in Burley, Idaho! So much time has passed, I figured it would be more effective to split my updates into two different posts (the last one is called “Did you know there’s a town named Idahome in Idaho?” if interested, if not – that’s cool too.)

Since leaving the Chicago Botanic Garden, this internship has continued to train me in all sorts of subjects. One subject I did not expect training in the dry, sagebrush steppe of southern Idaho was riparian habitat assessment! The training was brief and only lasted about two days, but was very eye-opening nonetheless. The training revolved around a set of questions meant to make you think and look closely as you assess the chosen riparian habitat. The questions can seem very subjective at first, but when you see the thought process of those with more experience go through the questions, it becomes more clear. This experience was different in that I had to look closely at the world around me in order to spot any clues about the stream’s health and history, instead of relying strictly on collected data alone. I almost felt as if I were a riparian detective! Little clues such as plant species, stream direction and stream bank variation can all play a part in telling you what is going on with that habitat. Even though I am used to a different set of wetlands in the southeast, it was exciting to learn about how to assess the streams and seasonal riparian habitats of the west.

Hera buckmoth we found the other day in the field (not near our riparian assessment training site)

Another critter we stumbled upon in the field – Horny toad!

Another training session that gave me life and enough excitement for at least an entire week, or more, was the salmon redd count training that occurred in early August at the Sawtooth fish hatchery! This was a highly anticipated event not only for the fact that we got some salmon training in, but also there would be camping involved. The region around the Sawtooth fish hatchery is just stunning and this was a really great experience overall. There were so many people from all over the state and all sorts of departments and organizations that came for this training. One of the best parts was getting to know those well-seasoned biologists who have already been counting and identifying redds for many years now. Listening to their experiences during their surveys and how they complete them was inspiring. I can’t even imagine having to do some of the things these folks accomplish when trying to collect data. Sure, rafting sounds fun, but having to identify if you pass a redd while floating down a river? Well, I certainly don’t have enough experience to be confident enough to do that successfully on my own. Now, I see I have failed to explain what a “redd” is, and seeing as this is mostly a botanical internship program, I will. So, a redd is a term used to describe the nest made by female salmon once they have migrated up the streams to spawn. These redds can be, in my novice opinion, extremely inconspicuous if you don’t know what you’re looking for. Even if you do, it still takes a lot of practice, if you ask me. The redds consist of a “pillow” which is a noticeable pile of rocks and gravel that the females have formed by using their tails in order to push the gravel in place and lay their eggs in. These pillows normally have small to medium rocks and the size selection can be quite noticeable when comparing them to the surrounding area. Redds will also have trenches and a pit near the pillow. The pit is indicative of the work the females had to put in to select and move the gravel chosen for her pillow. The trenches are also indicators of all the work the females have pushed through despite nearing the end of their lives. These “trenches” are dug by the females and usually on either side of the “pillow”.  They are created in order to direct more stream flow over the pillow full of eggs. This gives the eggs more oxygen and diminishes the chance of the eggs asphyxiating, thus failing to hatch. The act of creating these trenches in order to ensure their eggs get as much oxygen as they need is honestly mind-boggling to me. It’s been truly an honor to receive this training in a field I already had a lot of interest in, especially as a future career. I knew salmon were incredible creatures already.Their resilience and willpower to push through and spawn up streams, far away from the ocean they grew up in, despite the fact that their bodies are starting to fall apart and essentially shut down, is so inspiring. If you have doubts on what animal deserves our admiration for their grit and willpower, I believe salmon are a worthy contender for that admiration.

Chinook salmon at the hatchery.. some seriously huge and beautiful fish!

Part of a trail we managed to fit in after training

Near our campsite

In order to wrap up this blog post, I’d like to end with a summary of another exciting activity that happened at work just this past week. We had the opportunity to work with those in the Shoshone BLM office in order to explore Gypsum Cave, one of the longest lava tubes in the lower 48! It has certainly been a while since the last time I was in a cave, but I believe this was my first time ever entering a lava tube. The entire experience was thrilling. Just being able to feel the temperature difference between the cave entrance and inside the cave was so cool (in an eerie sort of way), that I got goosebumps! If you can’t handle small spaces, even for a short amount of time, I wouldn’t recommend it however, as there were a few times we had to crawl our way through the next large, open pathway. The moment we crawled through the entrance where the cave opened up into a large, rocky hallway, I felt as if I had entered another world. The underground realm still contained some familiar sites, such as rats and frogs and all the excrement that come with them, but the further I walked in, the further away I felt from our world above. There were sections of the cave where the floor and ceiling sparkled with minerals, as if someone had glitter-bombed the cave before we entered. Feces left behind by some unknown guests in the past were covered in fluffy, alien fungi that shone white in the light of our headlamps. We passed by bones of rats that have long since perished and carcasses of rabbits that still appeared intact, untouched by time. My only regret is not having enough time to explore the side passages as we only had enough time to hike straight to the end of the cave. By the end of trip, I definitely felt tired but it was exhaustion in the most rewarding kind of way. We had the opportunity to experience something so unique and after that day, I definitely felt a flame spark within me, urging me to keep this experience in mind and to pursue this new found fascination for caves in the future.

Beginning of Gypsum Cave as it slowly begins to open up

Tiny footprints left behind some cave residents – most likely pack rats

If you leave a cave without a cool picture of yourself, did it really even happen?

Until next time – stay curious

-Izzy

As short as it was awesome, my time in Lander with the BLM has come to a close.  I will always remember Lander fondly and hope to visit again this great little town with a wonderfully welcoming and helpful BLM staff.

My final week here I finally packed away the seed collections with my mentor and entered the remaining data.  Not the most glamorous part of being an intern but at least they are on their way to Bend and the feeling of knowing the seeds are bagged is very satisfying.

As I leave, there is a now somewhat familiar bite in the air at night I only felt my first week in Lander when the final waves of winter rolled through Wyoming.  The heat of summer is becoming less pronounced as the seasons change.  I feel a sense of unfinished business as winter has not yet pushed me from my home away from home. But as i went out for one last evening drive through sinks canyon state park a beautiful storm held ominously over the mountaintops.  A sight I had grown to appreciate regularly in Wyoming.

The experiences I had in my time here from the incredible weather to wildlife encounters I will cherish always and I hope that all the other interns in this program have the same level of experiences I have.

Memories of Wyoming’s remarkable landscapes will stay with me forever as I am sure they have with many before me.

Farewell Wyoming, and thank you to all the wonderful people at the Lander Field Office for the opportunity and making Lander feel like home.  Thank you to Krissa and the staff at the Chicago Botanical Garden for the opportunity and for making it all possible.  And thanks to my fellow interns who I have come to consider good friends for the companionship.  I hope you all enjoy the remainder of the season and find the next step just as enjoyable as I did this one.

It’s nearing the end of August, which means I’m over halfway through my time here at the Roseburg BLM (this realization has of course hit me like a ton of bricks… I really do like working here). It also means that seed collection season is nearing its end. By now, most of the native grass seed we want has dropped; we still collect seed from shrubs and forbs every so often (actually, my desk is currently covered in rapidly-rotting snowberries), but for now our focus has shifted to invasive plants.

Rotting snowberries…. yum

Pacific ninebark seed pods

Here’s one bit of knowledge that I’d been taught in college classes but never really fully processed until now: invasive species don’t just magically appear in an area, they are brought in through various (human related) means. I know, I know, it seems like common sense, but I hadn’t ever really seen this in action until I worked for the BLM. Interestingly enough, the ways in which we’ve been tracking invasive species have allowed me to sleuth out how an invasive species moves from one area to another.

For example:

One pretty awesome project that one of our bosses has us working on right now is a survey of some of the tributaries flowing into the Umpqua river. The goal is to determine where false-brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum), an invasive grass, was introduced on the watershed. Knowing how far up the watershed it exists/what tributaries it exists in and mapping the extent of this infestation will be useful in obtaining funding to hire contractors to eliminate the grass. We began with the knowledge that false-brome exists on a large portion of the Umpqua, as well as a couple of data points from a previous contractor who had reported that the devious little stinker was living very high up on the watershed in Canton Creek.

Brachypodium sylvaticum (false-brome)

Trusty river wading boots

After checking these points and coming to the conclusion that it wasn’t false-brome (it was actually a very similar looking species, Bromus vulgaris–an understandable mistake because the two are nearly indistinguishable at certain points in their life cycle), we proceeded to conduct spot checks along Canton to determine if and where it exists on that tributary. We ended up finding false brome along the creek but, thankfully, much further down than previously thought. Since then we’ve been working on mapping the grass along other tributaries in the area. Combined with road surveys, we’ve been able to see that the species is usually carried in through motor vehicles and, after invading the road, establishes itself in nearby riparian areas. The whole project is a daunting task, but we’ve been making lots of progress, and it’s nice to be able to wade in the river on hot days.

Canton Creek

Other invasive species related projects we’ve been working on is conducting road surveys for Himalayan blackberry and scotch broom. The purpose is to map the extent so future contractors know where to spray the roads. For this task, we’ve been visiting a lot of roads shared by BLM employees and logging trucks. It’s been pretty amazing to get a look at the logging activity that goes on out there. The towering green Doug-fir trees from uncut bits of forest contrasts dramatically with recently clear-cut logging lots… It’s kind of impressive and unsettling and sad all at once. Generally, blackberry and scotch broom seem to be brought into the immediate vicinity of the road by logging trucks. From there, they take over roadsides and spread out into the rest of the area.

The view of logging operations (looks very smoky ’cause it’s fire season)

Giant stacks of logs

Anyway, I hope everyone else is having a good time at their CLM positions. I’d like to round out this blog post with a few really awful botany jokes that I’ve pilfered from the internet:

Why couldn’t the botanist see very well?
She had a-stigma-tism

How do botanists send mail?

Through the compost office

What does a botanist do when she finds a new species of orchid?

Labellum

What did the stamen say to the stigma?

I like your style

(Sorry…..hahahahah)

The bulk of July and August have just flown by. I can’t believe that August is already nearly over!

A beautiful sunset at the Wild Rivers Recreation Area

Over the past couple of months, I have found that being an SOS intern comes with a serious learning curve. I think nostalgically back on the days when I naively assumed that a population of plants would all go to seed at the same time. Instead what we’ve found is that often populations will consist of a mix of plants with either mature and immature seeds, or a mixture of both. The most notable population that presents this problem in my experience is Heterotheca villosa, a small yellow aster. In many of the populations that we have found, many of the individuals will have mature and immature seeds, buds, and flowers all at the same time! This can make timing collections a little confusing sometimes.

Me pressing some herbarium specimens in the field

It can also be a little rough estimating how much seed you can expect to get from a population. In order to do so, we look at plants throughout the population, and estimate the average number of seeds per fruit as well as the average number of fruits per plant. From these numbers, we can calculate about how many plants we’ll need to collect from in order to reach the SOS goal of 10,000 seeds. We underestimate a bit in our calculations to account for seed loss due to factors like insect damage or unfertilized ovules.

A collection of Elymus elymoides sitting out to dry

Up until a couple weeks ago, my co-worker and I had been having a rough time finding plant populations that were ready for collecting. Instead we ended up with a list of future collections, and very little to actually collect. By the beginning of August, we had accumulated a list of about 20 populations that we were focused on monitoring. We were having some trouble estimating when populations would be ready to collect, which resulted in us really fixating on the 20 plant communities on our list, checking them more often that was probably necessary for fear of losing the seeds in the population.

The meadow that we affectionately named The Meadow of Dreams is one of my favorite places that we have scouted out for plant populations. There are about 5 populations that we are monitoring there, and the scenery is absolutely gorgeous!

We spent quite a bit of July out at Ute Mountain, where we really felt the effects of the monsoon season rains that this area experiences. Nearly every afternoon that we went to Ute Mountain, we were rained out. It sometimes became a race against time where we tried to hurry to get off of the dirt roads surrounding Ute Mountain before they became too sloppy to escape. Once as we were trying to leave in a hurry, we were stopped short where a chunk of road had collapsed due to rain runoff. One half had crumbled into itself, and the other half was covered by a large puddle. Luckily there was another road out, but it definitely added a bit of excitement to our escape.

One of the infamous Ute Mountain afternoon storms rolling in

So all in all, there was a bit of metaphorical floundering in the beginning of the collecting season, but we started to get the hang of things and stayed pretty organized as time went on. During the month of July, we made about 3 or 4 collections. Unfortunately, this isn’t anywhere near our target number of 35 collections by the end of September. Clearly our techniques needed some refining.

Help came to us in the form of Ella, one of the SOS interns from Santa Fe. This is Ella’s second year of being an intern, so she is super organized and has some pretty good strategies. She came and worked with us for several days, and during that time, we made 4 collections. She recommended several useful strategies, including dedicating one day each week to office work and planning, and trying to plan scouting trips that cover the most amount of ground possible. The idea of having a really well thought out and organized plan set in place each week really appeals to me, and my co-worker and I plan on implementing the one day in the office per week technique. It was also nice to hear that in most cases, it’s alright to collect off the side of the road, something that my co-worker and I had thought was a big no no in all circumstances except for gravel back roads. Additionally Ella gave us some good advice on prioritizing, and how sometimes you have to let less important collections go for the sake of having time to make more important ones. It was a little embarrassing at first to admit that we needed some help and tips, but I’m  glad that I was able to overcome those feelings and be receptive to Ella’s teaching. I’m very grateful to Ella, because she definitely changed the way that we are going to focus our efforts in the future. I’m excited to try out some of her techniques, and try to get as close to our target collection goal as possible by the end of next month.

A breathtaking view of the Rio Grande Gorge from the area surrounding Ute Mountain

One of the most interesting things we did last month was help out with a butterfly study in the Wild Rivers Recreation Area. The study aimed to look at whether female Anasazi Skippers were making it back into the Rio Grande Gorge to lay their eggs after feeding on nectar from the campground loop on the plateau above. We helped capture the skippers, and mark them with paint along the campground loop. Then we tried to resight skippers down in the canyon and determine if they had been marked up on the loop.

I was super proud of my tent positioning here on the edge of the gorge at Wild Rivers. It was very picturesque.

A view from the bottom of the Rio Grande Gorge

A top view of the Rio Grande Gorge. We hiked down to look for marked Anasazi Skippers.

The reeds in the gorge where the Skippers lay their eggs

A skipper that I marked with paint. The patterns and colors indicated the area where the skipper was marked and the individual’s ID number.

All in all, it has been an incredibly busy month filled with much learning and beautiful scenery. I’m excited to try out some new strategies and try my best to meet our collection goal by the end of September!

Until then!

~Sierra

BLM Field Office

Taos, NM

After being out in the Wyoming backcountry almost every day for the past three months, I have acquired a number of stories that might be described as close encounters. Close encounters to getting the truck stuck at the end of the day, and close encounters with angry wildlife. So here is the account of things I’ve experience that, with any luck, will not get back to my mother.

Let’s begin with a list I made during my first few weeks of anticipated dangers in the Wyoming outback:

1. Cow Mafia (cows constantly blocking the road and potentially stampeding the truck)
2. Shot by Rancher (for accidentally walking on private land)
3. Large Mammals – Bears, Mountain Lions, Wild Horses?
4. Rattlesnakes
5. Raptor Attack (while checking on nest sites)
6. Truck Fire from built up cheat grass (that I cleaned out)
7. Damage to internal organs from sketchy two-tracks
8. H2S gas poisoning

To be fair, I haven’t experienced most of these. On the other hand, none of them are completely out of the question. Understanding the dangers to working in the field, I am thankful for the safety protocols and trainings put in place to keep interns and permanent employees safe, Such protocols have helped me remain unharmed throughout the summer, even during “close encounters”.

The journey of dangerous encounters begins with my beloved and young, but rather disheartened work truck. I was warned that buildup of cheat grass and other grasses from previous owners, or even just through the field season, has caused trucks to briefly catch on fire while driving down the highway. But the truck I was assigned gives all other trucks in this category a run for their money. After some brief mountain driving, my truck began to inch toward hotter temperatures, so I checked under the hood.

What I found was packed in, solidified cheat grass like no other. It was in the engine block, under the engine block, and in parts of the truck that I can’t name. After hours of pulling out cheat grass and mud one handful at a time, and after three very large snow shovel sized chunks of debris, the truck can be deemed drivable, but still really full of mud and plant debris. My truck may have been close to catching on fire, but such a disaster has been avoided and prevented for the future.

On another day in the field, at the end of a long day of mapping cheat grass, I stumbled upon a rattlesnake about 3 feet from my foot.  We were equally surprised by each other. It coiled up, moved into striking pose, and rattled at me. Mind you, I was about 30 minutes of walking from the truck and 2 hours away from the nearest hospital. My field partner backed off and ran down the hill a few meters away.  Luckily, I did not get bitten by a rattlesnake. And luckily, I was confident in my training and my partner’s training had the story gone differently.

On my own time, while exploring the Black Hills National Forest, I decided to camp in a dispersed area alone. Unfortunately, said area was unapproved by the residential mountain lion. As the sun was beginning to set, I heard an odd, repetitive noise about 300 feet away, over the hill. I wasn’t quite sure what it was, being in such a touristy area, I thought it was just from people. As late dusk approached, I heard the noise again. Only, this time, it was 30 feet from my tent, and definitely pacing, and I recognized the sound as a mountain lion. I lay still in my tent until it stopped growling, and my training for mountain lions kicked in despite my fear. I packed up all my stuff, flashed the horn of my car (which was a few meters away), and after scaring it off, I left my tent to sleep in my car.

Luckily, all of these instances, whether serious or minor, ended with unharmed interns and undamaged property. However, being in circumstances like these has made me (and probably, my mom) grateful for the safety precautions in place as I work daily in the wild Wyoming country.  When close encounters have happy endings, they at least make for a good story, but stories that definitely don’t need to get back to my mother.

One fine day here in Wyoming a botany intern lead a range intern and a wildlife intern (that’s me!) off into the wild to collect bitterroot seeds. Thankfully, Chris (the botany intern) had planned ahead on this day. Knowing full well that his help was well intentioned but not your typical over-the-top plant loving SOS interns, some much-needed precautions were taken.

First, we were given a rundown of collection protocol so that we didn’t damage the population. I did not realize how many seeds we would need to collect!! This little info session also made me realize how long it had been since I’d had to count past 100…by ones. He finally told us what we were collecting…you guessed it Lewisia rediviva or more commonly known as Bitterroot. Coli (the range intern) and I were so excited! It is one of the most spectacularly colored wildflowers in our office!

Bitterroot Flowers

Bitterroot Flowers

Anticipating a field covered in lovely flowers imagine my slightly let down expression when we were faced with this.

Collection Site

But, all was not lost! The most spectacularly colored flower transformed into a capsule that almost resembled a magnolia blossom (one of my favorite flowers).

Capsule in Life Position

Coli and I were delighted that we were still going to collect something beautiful! The three of us descended upon the hillside and it was not long before all of our bags began to fill with the lovely little pink & cream capsules scarcely bigger than the tip of your thumb.

Collected Capsules

After the collection was done we came back and poured out our bags into a box to let the seeds dry before they continue on their journey. At the end of the day I reflected on my experience and as much fun as this day was, I think I was placed in the right department. Plants are amazing but to me they just aren’t as much fun to search for as the wild creatures of Wyoming.

Collected Capsules