This is my final month in New Mexico. Next week my brother flies out to endure the 24 hour drive home with me. He’ll be the first and last visitor at my mountain home and there is so much of the Land of Enchantment that I want to show him before we head off. Everybody who I’ve interacted with during the past 6 months has made a lasting impact on me: My mentor is one of the most patient and educated bosses that I’ve ever had, the group of friends I have developed at the office are amazing, and leaving my amazing “mountain family” (the two host families and some of the volunteers at the recreation center) will be hard to do.

The Organ Mountains, where I've called home for the past 6 months, woke up in the clouds.

December made sure its presence was noticed. A week ago, my part of New Mexico experienced more snow and chilly temperatures then my family in the Midwest experienced. After receiving a brief flurry, our office (as well as Roswell and Carlsbad) was released an hour early and granted a snow day. Although I was anticipating a snow-free winter, the powdered mountaintops offered a much more enjoyable experience as opposed to the ugly black slush and knee-high snow that the Chicago area is accustomed to. Plus everything melted by the weekend and temperatures were back to the mid-50’s.

Snowfall at Dripping Springs Nature Center

Now to reminisce about the past half year…

My first week as a CLM intern began in June at the workshop held in Chicago. I hadn’t even been to Las Cruces and I had absolutely no clue what to expect out of this internship. I met my co-intern, whom I would be living and working with. I was also able to get introduced with the Seeds of Success program and the process involved in seed collection. The following week I made my first ever solo trip out west. At the end of July we made our first full-fledged, team SOS collection of Helenium microcephalum var. microcephalum in an overgrazed, cow-dung infested field. By the end of August and September we had completed eleven collections which we considered a success. The harsh winter freeze from the previous year mixed with the hot, dry summers resulted in few native plants going to seed. We spent weeks working on a population density survey for Escobaria duncanii which was undeniably my favorite project. Our team drove all over southern New Mexico looking for plants to collect and learning all about the different habitats. Our last project as a full team was collection of leaf samples from Lepidospartum burgessii in the salt flats near Guadalupe Mountain. In November, our team was down to two members: my mentor and I spent three days in Roswell retrieving updated plant statuses for the potted Culp Sand Bluestem project that began three years ago (The bluestem is a key element in the habitat for both the Lesser Prairie Chicken and the sand dune lizard). This month I helped my mentor set up a new survey area in the Franklin Mountains to observe the density of a population of Escobaria sneedii. It was a great project that allowed me to stay busy on office days but still got me out in the field quite often.

A fall scene from the top of Caballo Mountain near Truth or Consequences, NM

I’ve learned just as much in my free time as I have during my work days. Hiked along the Gila River and discovered that substantial sandals are great investments when the trail you follow crosses the water more than ten times. Watched my roommate discover the best way to collect, de-spine, and separate seeds from prickly pears to make jelly. Found out that it’s best to call ahead to forest campgrounds in the middle of hot, dry summers to see if they’re open or not before driving two hours to the site to find out that it’s closed due to extreme fire hazards. Discovered the best way to catch and remove tarantulas, scorpions and lizards from the bunkhouse and got stung by a scorpion (just last week, look out!). I learned that it is best to bring a flashlight when going to a nighttime tour of zoos. I finish a half marathon and an obstacle 5K race. I experienced the fantastic culture that surrounds the southwest and walked with the community in the Dia de los Muertos procession. And most importantly, I perfected my own version of green chili stew.

I found a cow-bone-cholla-shrine while hiking a trail around the Organs, decided it was a good point to turn back.

It’s amazing how much of what I have learned over a year and a half ago during college is actually being put to use in multiple aspects of this internship and I’m so inexplicably thankful to the cast at the Chicago Botanic Garden and my mentor for the opportunity to experience and explore New Mexico for the past 6 months. The countdown is on and I have less than 10 days before I leave my mountain home and one thing for sure is that it won’t be too long before I return! ¡Adios Nuevo Mexico!

Autumn in New Mexico is continuing to amaze me as the cottonwoods begin to change color. This November has been one of the most eventful months during this internship. I explored White Sands, a huge desert with stark white sand and found that I’m a big fan of anywhere that I can hike barefoot. A big activity here is to “sled” on the sand dunes, which I didn’t do this time but I will have to go back and give it a try. My co-intern/roommate took a new position in Arizona at the beginning of the month.  I’m headed to Roswell, New Mexico for the week to assist with Culp Sand Bluestem planting trials, and for Thanksgiving I am vacating to Denver, Colorado to spend the holiday with some friends. It’s hard to imagine that I only have one month left but I’m sure to keep busy.

All that I have left to do for SOS is to ship off vouchers and check over data that was entered into the BG-base. Although having completed more collections would have been great, I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything. I was able to evolve my education into experience. I’ve been able to assist in wildlife project checks, burn restoration, field monitoring and rare plant surveying.

Barefoot hiking at White Sands

Autumn in the deserts and mountains of New Mexico is a strong contrast to the Midwest falls that I am accustomed to. Although I do miss the deciduous forests and the breathtaking array of colors, I am much more content with the weather here. The dark mornings and evenings are cool reminders that winter is coming soon, even if the days are still reaching the high 80’s. The gusty canyon winds up in the Organ Mountains where I reside haven’t blown us away yet and the cooler weather is making animal appearances more frequent. Just last week while driving to work we saw our first coyote in the area.

Seed collection is winding down and, with the exception of one more possible collection, we are in the final stages of the year. Shipping vouchers, updating the herbarium and data entry into the B-G Base are the only steps left to be completed. However we have been working in collaboration with CBG to collect samples of a clonal endangered species, Lepidospartum burgessi, so that the DNA can be compared across a large area near the Texas border. The plants are not producing seed so the purpose is to determine if they are all clones or if the DNA has some variation that may be further studied.

The Las Cruces area is in its festival season apparently, because every other weekend is some great community gathering. Some of the ones that were missed out on were Wine Fests, Oktoberfest, and the Hatch Green Chile Fest but we made to Salsa Fest and Enchilada Fest (where they construct an 8-foot enchilada!). It’s hard to believe October, month 4 for me, is already in full swing. November will undoubtedly fly by, and December will be a harsh change when I leave the desert haven for the coldest part of a Midwest winter. I’ll try not to think that far ahead…

Organ Mountain Moonrise

Burglar's Den near Guadalupe Mountains

The monsoon season is wrapping up in Las Cruces. Our Fire Danger sign moved off of the extreme and over to mild for about one week. Sadly the meter is pointing back to the extreme again. Luckily, despite the heat, we can still spot those enigmatic creatures of the desert.

Nice catch by our neighbors!

The rain we did receive allowed us to amp our collection number up to 7 with members from Poaceae and Nyctaginaceae. The most difficult collection we’ve faced was Boerhavia coulteri, Coulter’s Spiderling. The entire plant is incredibly sticky and I was shocked that half of my collection was glued to my hand by the time that I finished. We have a few other collections lined up and are waiting for them to come to seed.

Sticky as a Nyctag!

My free time in New Mexico consists of running, hiking, patiently awaiting the start of hockey season, and checking out the local food festivals. I vacated briefly to California over Labor Day week and it is remarkable how different the environment and flora is compared to the desert. As we drove through Arizona I saw Saguaro cacti (Carnegiea gigantea) for the first time. It’s bizarre to realize that this internship is about half finished. The first few months flew by and I expect the next few will move just as quickly.

The occasional guest in our bunkhouse.

Since I last wrote about New Mexico I have had several opportunities to explore outside of the Las Cruces area. One weekend we trekked to Carlsbad to see the caverns and watch the bats fly, the next trip was camping, hiking and checking out the cliff dwellings in the Gila Wilderness which was absolutely breathtaking, and last weekend was spent in attendance at the Native Plant Society of New Mexico Workshop in Santa Fe.

First night camping in the beautiful Gila Wilderness

The weekend in Santa Fe allowed us to hear lectures covering topics ranging from various plant pollinators and their importance, to the paleogenic history of New Mexico, and the challenges in organizing taxonomy and writing identification keys. Although we brought the average age of the group down significantly, we were welcomed by the Native Plant Society and learned a great deal from the speakers, field guides, and even the other attendees.

Unfortunately drought is still delaying our progress with seed collections. I have been in Las Cruces since the middle July and have only taken part in one of the two collections that our team has made. We found the seeds of the Helenium microcephalum in primo condition when we went scouting around the Potrillos Mountain Range. Despite the lack of viable seeds ready for collection, we have been keeping quite busy with our surveying of button-sized cacti called Escobaria duncanii, Duncan’s Pincushion. A population was discovered and hand-mapped by our mentor in 1989 along limestone ridges in Mudspring Mountains near a town called Truth or Consequences. It is our task to record the current GPS coordinates, health, associated species, and community size of each Pincushion we find in the mountain range. The size and similarity to other cacti on the range makes this more of a challenge (see pictures).

There are 3 Pincushions in this picture, can you spot em?

This is what you're looking for...

Luckily our rain dances are starting to pay off. The crispy burnt areas in Southern New Mexico are starting to become green and rain showers are becoming more prevalent. I have high hopes of seeds to come and until the do we’ll keep hoping for more rain.

Looming rain clouds over the Organs, hopefully the arrow will move from the extreme!

I have completed my first full week as a Seeds of Success intern for the Bureau of Land Management in Las Cruces, New Mexico. I made my trek southwest one week ago from the Land of Lincoln. My largest concern about the area was it’s proximity to Juarez, Mexico, but upon driving to my lodgings it was hard to feel unsafe when I was nestled against the Organ Mountain Range with the city below. I am pretty confident that I was the only intern who had not began working at my site when we attended the CLM Training Workshop. Hearing everyones stories about their internships, meeting my future roommate/co-intern, and receiving an overview of the SOS program successfully prepared me for the months ahead.

I have had a variety of experiences in the past four days ranging from working in the office to hiking the Organ mountains to plant seeds. On Monday I was able to experience the thrill of a driving uphill on rocky terrain in a huge 4 wheel drive truck and completing my driving test. Tuesday called for us to use GPS to find a Nightblooming Cereus. We roamed through the grassy mesas on Wednesday and searched for petroglyphs on hillsides. Thursday was my favorite field experience yet: We nearly hiked to the tip of the Organ mountains on the Aguirre trail and spread seed on our way back down to restore the area from fire damage. I also discovered that 80 pound bags of concrete are heavier than they look when we helped unload a trailer.

I am so grateful to Marian and Krissa for this opportunity to work with my fantastic mentor in this breathtaking setting. It was great meeting all of the other interns in Chicago, I really hope to see some of them again! Until then I’ll keep enjoying the magnificent sunsets in Las Cruces…