Alaska fieldwork is the best fieldwork: Invasive plant survey trip on the Pinnell Mountain Trail.

Loyal readers: as I sit here on the 25^th anniversary of my birth, reflecting on my summer as a Conservation and Land Management Intern for this, my final CLM Blog entry, I am consumed by a single and pervasive thought: this was the greatest summer of my entire life!!!

Innumerable fruits of my CLM experience; how shall I count thee? I gained tremendous insights into the nature of governmental conservation careers. I gleaned an intimate knowledge of the Taiga Biome, a region nearly entirely unknown to me a year ago.  I ascertained a much greater proficiency in many facets of botany, thanks to my mentor’s wealth of knowledge of the Alaskan flora. For all of these things, I am grateful. However, the single most wonderful outcome of my CLM Internship surely must be… graduate school! Thanks largely to experience and connections garnished through this program, this fall I will be beginning a MS in Biology, with a focus on entomology and systematics, at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Alaska fieldwork is the best fieldwork part 2: Posing in front of an abandoned cabin on an invasive plant survey float trip of the Fortymile River.

After years of unrequited applications and inquiries, I finally feel that the career path I have envisioned for so long has been realized, and I will never forget the CLM Program’s key role in making it happen.

Signing off, for the last time, from the BLM District Office in Fairbanks, AK.

Thanks for being awesome, everyone.

Keep your stick on the ice.

Keep on keepin’ on.

Au revoir!

-Logan

Loyal readers: I bring you a quick update from the Fairbanks District Office of the Bureau of Land Management’s invasive plant management efforts.

Last week, I went on a float trip on the Fortymile River with my mentor Ruth, for the purpose of carrying out invasive plant surveys. Our survey sites were BLM designated long-term campsites. The sites are used by gold miners (yep, it’s still a thing here) who have claims on the river. If ever you are struck by an urge to really experience the Last Frontier in all its grit and glory, go find yourself some Alaskan gold miners. Nice folks, really; just don’t mind the 45 caliber pistol on their hip.

No news is good news, at least in the case of this trip, and we found no non-native plants at any of the campsites! We therefore collected “absence data” on Trimble GPS devices to submit to the National Invasive Species Information Management  System (NISIMS). In the event that these areas subsequently do become infested with non-native plants, the absence data will provide valuable baseline references; dates after which such infestations must have originated.

The Fourtymile is a beautiful river, and my mentor Ruth tells me that she set a personal record for wildlife sightings on this trip. Our totals for the four-day float are as follows: two moose (mother and calf), twelve American Peregrine Falcons (my favorite bird!), one beaver, one black bear cub, two marmots, approximately seventy five caribou, assorted song birds and insects, and of course a plethora of spectacular flowers 🙂

Aside from the best float trip ever, my work recently has focused on other invasive plant surveys and weedpulls. I have surveyed and removed Melilotus officinalis (white sweetclover) and Vicia cracca (bird vetch) on major highways and other points of anthropogenic disturbance. When it comes to invasive plant management strategies in AK, you just can’t beat good ol’ manual removal! A little elbow grease. It builds character.

The foothills of the Brooks Range as seen from the Dalton Highway

Alaska is big. Really Big. You just won’t believe how vastly, hugely, mind-bogglingly big it is. It follows then, that we Alaskan Bureaucrats of Land Management who are concerned with invasive plant (weed) management simply cannot be in nearly all the places we would like to be, and see nearly all the things we would like to see, in the oh-so-fleeting field season. We set out, therefore, to indoctrinate as many field-going automatons as possible; that they might do our conservation-oriented bidding.

It is in light of these facts that I have spent the majority of the past few weeks here at the Bureau of Land Management Fairbanks District Office (BLM FDO) preparing a class entitled: Invasive Plant Identification and Management. So far, I have taught the class once to BLM employees here at the Fairbanks District Office. I will be holding more sessions for Alaska Fire Service and BLM employees here in Fairbanks, and tentatively another session for the general public at the Arctic Interagency Visitors Center in Coldfoot, AK.

The primary goal of this class is to get as many eyeballs as possible in the field, capable of recognizing and reporting invasive plant infestations (see “Alaska is big.”, first paragraph). The BLM FDO utilizes an Early Detection Rapid Response management strategy for the control of invasive plants. Most invasive plant infestations in Alaska are in the very early stages of establishment, and control and eradication is significantly more feasible before a species becomes wholly established in an ecosystem.

I have also been lucky enough to be able to make several trips to the field since the much abated spring thaw has finally decided to show up. Earlier this week I traveled with my mentor to Tok, AK, for an interagency meeting on caribou management with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. Along the way, we were able to do some spectacular drive-by botanizing on the Richardson Highway, spotting the lovely pasqueflower (Pulsatilla patens), arctic lupine (Lupinus arcticus), and mountain avens (Dryas octopetala). Regrettably, we have also already spotted the highly invasive white sweetclover (Melilotus officianale) and the equally repugnant bird vetch (Vicia cracca). Let slip the (Early Detection Rapid Response invasive plant management) dogs of war!

Greetings from the Taiga Biome! Here in the Central Tanana Valley, the snow is just beginning to melt, and under it, much of the soil will remain in permafrost. Aside from evergreen needles of the white spruce (Picea glauca), green flora of any kind has yet to make an appearance. Indeed, in contrast to the experience of many other CLM Interns, my field season has yet to begin at the Eastern Interior Field Office (EIFO) of The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Fairbanks, AK.
I have spent much of my first week here at the EIFO on orientation, training, and meeting all of my wonderful, colorful coworkers. I will be taking courses in aviation, bear, firearm, and ATV safety, as well as extensive online courses in various GIS applications. Beyond their obvious relevance to my work here with the BLM EIFO, these courses will no doubt prove invaluable in advancing my career in the natural sciences, and I am very grateful for these opportunities.
When the explosion of chlorophyll does finally arrive, ushered in by up to 24 hours of continuous sunlight, we will find ourselves incredibly busy; attempting to cram a year’s worth of field work into an approximately three month window. The focus of my work will be invasive plant management. I will monitor and inventory invasive plant populations, take voucher specimens, and coordinate removal efforts. White sweet clover (Melilotus alba), perennial sowthistle (Sonchus arvensis), and bird vetch (Vicia cracca) are some of our serious invasive concerns in the EIFO management area. Possibly the single aspect of this internship that I am most excited about is the opportunity to work with the fantastic herbarium collection at the University of Alaska Fairbanks in identifying and cataloguing specimens. The most exciting aspect, that is, besides getting to fly in helicopters and floatplanes 🙂
By most measures, Alaska lags behind the lower 48 in levels of non-native plant invasion. Therefore, invasive plant management is especially pertinent here and now in Central Alaska, as it is often significantly more feasible to prevent large scale infestation by exotics than it is to eradicate such populations once they are established. I can hardly wait to begin!