Hey All,

It has been one of the craziest years for seed collection. Here in Montana we have had a really hard frost already and yet the asters still thrive. It seems like this would be the time for everything to be winding down for the season, but this has been my busiest month yet. The fall seed crops are amazing which is surprising considering the lack of moisture this summer. For our native plant materials program we were in need for some winterfat so I was on a mission to find a couple of populations, and everywhere I looked the plants were low to the ground with not much growth.  It was looking pretty bleak  and I actually had given up looking.  After the first major frost I went out to collect Western Showy Aster because I knew it wouldn’t be long before the seeds dispersed, and the frost must have sparked something in the plants because I have found three winterfat sites that look great for collection.  Because it has been so dry I have been keeping an eye on all of the winterfat sites so I do not miss the window of opportunity, and in those monitoring trips I have found so many opportunistic collections. It has been exciting  and I have about nine collections to ship to be cleaned and I am still monitoring a couple more that are not quite ready for collection.

        

Here are a few pictures of some of the asters I have ran across this fall. I am excited to add these to my SOS collections and can’t wait to see them in the grow out plan for the Special K Ranch. They will make a great addition not only for sage grouse habitat restoration projects but they are great for attracting fall pollinators that are essential for every ecological community.

I also have put all my seedlings to bed for the winter. Just to remind everyone, Montana is unique in that we get to collect the seed and get to grow out that same seed for native plant restoration projects. It is also unique in that the Special K Ranch grows out the plants and this ranch is home to approximately thirty mentally handicapped adults that work and run the ranch. So they do the majority of the growing out of all the seedlings. It has been an awesome experience to work alongside such amazing people. It has been the highlight of my internship. I will miss all my new friends at the ranch they have taught me a lot. We put to bed approximately 50,000 seedlings and hopefully the majority of them will be alive and well come spring.

One of the residents, Rod, watering the seedlings in the winter holding before we bed them with straw.

Hey everyone,

I hope everyone is enjoying their internship as much as I am. We have rocked the Special K Ranch native plant materials program this year. We have now planted around 50,000 Wyoming Big Sage seedlings. We have worked hard and have managed to fill all the orders. We have hit all of our goals and are now in the black on our inventory for next years planting season. I had some help from a few fire crews from the USFS in Nevada and the BLM fire crew in Billings with

transplanting them into their new pots.  It was a nice break for them from all the fires we have had and it was incredibly awesome for the residents of the ranch to be able to mingle with the people they admire so much.

When we were done for the day the crew let the residents tour the fire engines and play around with the lights and sirens. They had a great time with them!

Hey all! My name is Becky and this is my very first post for CLM. I am intern for the Chicago Botanic Garden working at the Bureau of Land Management State Office in Billings, MT. So far this has been an incredible opportunity for me. I have been doing some exciting work with this office. One of the programs I am lucky enough to work on is the Native Plant Materials Program. What that involves is an agreement with the Special K Ranch, in Columbus MT,  in which we  have an existing grow out program for sagebrush and other native forbs and grasses within their greenhouses. This year we will be adding seed production acreage to those existing grow out programs.  The main focus of the program  is to develop sage-grouse forbs for restoration of habitat. This is a unique program in that the Special K Ranch is home to about 32 special needs adults who work and run the ranch. These are amazing individuals that I have grown very close to.

Here are some bitter-brush babies that made it through the winter and are getting ready to be shipped out to there new home!

Here we are removing the sagebrush that didn’t survive the winter.

Also I have been out surveying different SOS collection sites to get an idea of what is currently blooming and seeding out already.  There is a lot to learn, but I am excited and ready. I haven’t been working very long, but I am enjoying every minute of this internship and my mentor is amazing. Here are some pictures that I have taken while out in the field.

Steamboat Butte

The prairie in Montana is so beautiful. It is only a section of the diversity that this state has to offer.

I almost stepped on this hidden treasure!

Bobcat Pass near the Pryor Mountains

Greater Short-Horned Lizard Phrynosoma hernandesi

This will wake you up in the morning!

 Here is a small fraction of the plant life I have encountered.

I walked over the hill and wow a field of purple, pure luck!