The end of June finally brought some warm weather to Cody, Wy. Spring has been long, cool and wet this year. The range really shows the effects of the weather. The spring green-up was much delayed and now in July many areas are still very green, whereas in drier years, many plants would begin to brown in late June.

Green farm fields next to BLM land

I have continued with the fence inventory I started when I first arrived in Cody. You wouldn’t believe the number of fences on public lands. Even though the Cody Field Office isn’t that large, compared to other Field Offices, 1.2 million acres, inventorying the fences is a daunting task. At this point, many of the crucial pronghorn areas have been inventoried and problem fences have been identified for future removal or modification. I feel very fortunate to be assigned the fence inventory. While it doesn’t take much skill, it gives me ample opportunity to become familiar with the entire field office, as well as the opportunity to observe wildlife and vegetation. Of particular interest is the geographic and topographic variation and variability of vegetation.

I have learned to identify most of the vegetation on the range and some of the more conspicuous plants at high elevation in the mountains. As the grass began to green in June, I began working with the range conservationists conducting vegetation monitoring for both grazing and wildlife purposes. Primarily the monitoring consists of permanent point intercept transects read yearly to assess trends in rangeland condition. Additionally, we have been collection data on sagebrush and residual grass canopy for sage grouse cover.

Working with the range staff has been a learning experience in itself, very different from working with wildlife biologist. It has given me the opportunity to barrage the range cons. With questions about grazing, overgrazing, trespass cows, fences, conservation, range improvement (water tanks, seeding, weed removal, and prescribed burning) and the grazing permit system. Additionally, I have worked with the Wild Horse Specialist and have begun to understand the many issues surrounding wild horses on public land.

I have also been working on finding and inventorying certain rare plants in the Field Office. I had the opportunity to work with the local botanical expert and well known botanist.

Jason Clark

Cody, WY

BLM

 This is beef country.

In addition to the grazing, there is also a fair bit of oil and gas drilling and some bentonite mining in this corner of Wyoming. Cody is located in NW Wyoming at the base of the Rocky Mountains at the Eastern entrance of Yellowstone on the North Fork of the Shoshone River. While the town itself is full of trees and now tourists, the surrounding range is sparsely populated other than by sagebrush and grass.

In the Cody BLM Field Office, I am interning under the direction of the biologist. Major projects for this summer include sage grouse monitoring, fence inventory as part of a pronghorn migration analysis, installing fence reflectors to reduce sage grouse collisions, rare plant inventory, and sage grouse.

My internship began in April while it was still fairly wintery. We began with sage grouse monitoring. In April my day started well before dawn. We drove in the early morning darkness to sage grouse leks so that we were there just as dawn broke and the grouse began strutting. Watching dawn break on the range is really stunning. Everything wakes up slowly with the increasing light and warmth. The grouse begin to stir, erect their tails, fluff up their breasts, and begin to use their air sacs to produce their otherworldly mating calls. The sagebrush landscape is stunning drenched in the reds and yellows of dawn. As the day becomes light pronghorn, rabbits, and wild horses begin to stir and can be seen across the landscape.

May was divided among different projects. When the weather was good (when it wasn’t snowing) I worked on completing a fence inventory in a pronghorn migration corridor. Unlike deer and elk, pronghorn tend not to jump over fences, but rather kneel and squeeze under the fence. Unfortunate for pronghorn, the Big Horn Basin has a long history of sheep grazing and a quite a bit of sheep fence constructed of impenetrable net wire or several barb wire strands close to the ground. Over the years most of the grazing has shifted to cattle, but the sheep fences remain in some areas. The fence inventory was an excellent opportunity for me to really get to know the field office and the range. Most of the vegetation was still dormant in May(or under snow), but I was still able to begin to familiarize myself with the local flora and fauna. I also got real good at using the GPS, to collect fence corners for the GIS database, and using topographic maps to locate fence lines, some long since removed.

Jason Clark
Cody, WY
BLM