My summer job is ending, as summer jobs tend to do. In less than a week I’ll be headed back to Maine for Graduate school. When I started reflecting on what I had learned this summer I figured I could sum it up best by recounting all of the places I had urinated. Crude as it may sound; I think you’ll find it a revealing reflection.
I’ll start out first by saying that dehydration is a real issue out in the desert, water is by far the most important tool one carries with them. Hydration is so important that in my field office there are pee color charts you can look at to calculate your hydration! I’ve also learned that hydration is the key to a good mood. Nothing makes me crankier faster than not being properly hydrated. That being said, I learned to gauge my hydration on the frequency of my urination. Good days I peed all the time, bad days I did maybe once or twice.
My first week here I was what one might call gun shy, preferring to pee in only designated locations. However, once the field work kicked into gear that was no longer a viable option, and thus began my journey in the exploration of Northern California. My first very memorable pee outside came one day a few weeks in with a group of BLM employees who were out assessing locations for future fence projects. I trotted off to find a suitable juniper tree and on the other side was a simply beautiful view, wildflowers and sagebrush on a gentle slope. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen prior to that moment, in fact it was the exact sight I saw almost every day, but seeing it from that angle and that vulnerability brought an entirely new appreciation.
Since then I’ve peed inside of a hollowed out redwood tree; off of a rock cliff in the Warner Mountain range; on the edge of wildflower meadows under a Juniper tree; on a beach in the Pacific Ocean; on a hill overlooking Shasta Mountain; for warmth in Blue Lake; under scrutiny of cows; looking off into Surprise Valley; pre, mid and post seed collection; while checking both front and back tires (side note, when driving to a field site it was common practice to announce the need to pee by saying “I’m going to check the front/back tires”); watching the sunset in the sage steepe; at dusk in the wildlife refuge; next to an old mining shaft; in the middle of a few year old burn (lots of saplings!); as well as in bathrooms of course!
I’ve learned that there is much more to this internship than seed collections or vegetation monitoring. While the specific tasks were obviously important, the internship was also a collection of new environments and scenery. In those few peaceful moments of release, I could really appreciate where I was and the true importance of my job.
I would like to thank the entire Alturas Field Office and the Modoc Wildlife Refuge as well as Krissa and Marian for all of their help and guidance. This has been a very memorable and hydrated summer!

Wow, time has flown by. Only a few weeks ago I was still in college, I didn’t have a job, I knew nothing about sagebrush or junipers and I certainly had no idea where Alturas, California was located. I grew up in South Florida where both buildings and people are abundant. I attended college in Maine (Unity College) and fell in love with the state, the forests and the people. After graduating I really didn’t want to leave the beauty that is Maine, but like many others I understood that to get experience you have to be willing to go where the jobs are. This job just happened to be in Northern California.

After a 10 day cross country extravaganza, I finally rolled into Alturas.  A bigger town than I went to college, but far from a metropolis. At the only blinking red light I veered left and found my way to a glorified warehouse, also known as the Alturas BLM field office. Mike Dolan, my mentor, then proceeded to introduce me to everyone in the office. Talk about overwhelming! I think one name stuck with me that day. I moved into a fire barracks about 20 miles south of town in an even smaller town called Likely where cows outnumber humans at least 3-1. My first few days continued that overwhelmed feeling. I’ll be honest, I was terribly homesick for trees and greenery and the Sage Steepe ecosystem did not impress me much. Since it rained/snowed for my first and second week I didn’t have much opportunity to explore. Instead, I spent hours staring at Herbarium vouchers trying to learn the native fauna. After my first month in Alturas my views and attitude towards the area has done a complete 180. While from afar all you can see is acres of sage and juniper, when you actually stop and look down there are tons of tiny flowering plants and patches of diverse grasses and bugs. Alturas is in a valley and to either side are mountains with towering Ponderosa and Jeffrey pine trees. Just south of town is the Modoc Wildlife Refuge which is home to hundreds of birds. Only an hour and a half north there is Lava Beds National Monument where you can see ancient lava flows. Driving two hours to the west there is Lassen National Park – another completely different ecosystem! In my tiny section of California life abounds!

Ancient lava flow at Lava Beds National Monument!

This past week about 50 other interns and I attended the CLM internship conference in Glencoe, IL. Here we participated in mapping and seed collection demonstrations. The setting for all of the lectures and demos was the Chicago Botanic Garden – a truly beautiful location. After listening to the Seeds of Success lecture I feel excited about doing seed collections as well as proud to be part of such a worthwhile program.

Like others have said before me, “I can’t believe I get paid to do this!”

Cayce Salvino

BLM – Alturas

Just one example of the beautiful tiny flowers that are scattered throughout the Sage Steepe Ecosystem.

This is the llama I saw my first day out in the field riding with the BLM Ranger. It was just wandering around in the sage.