Beautiful view

During the last couple of weeks of my internship we have collected seeds in the forest. We have collected wax currant, sticky currant (that has a blue berry!), Potentilla glandulosa and curl-leaf mountain mahogany. I have enjoyed collecting seeds from these plants especially mountain mahogany. To the right is a picture of the area where we have been collecting seeds.

While we were collecting seed from Potentilla glandulosa plants we climbed a ridge and stumbled upon a population of mountain mahaoney trees. It just so happened that we had recently looked up pictures of this tree and its seed, so we were able to easily identify it. We scouted the area and determined that there were enough trees and seeds for us to collect from the population. Both the tree and the seed are very interesting to me..

Amy collected seeds..

Mountain Mahogany Tree

We have enjoyed collecting seeds from these trees! As you can see Amy is happily sitting in one of the trees to collect more seed..  she is a very diligent seed collector! I love these mountain mahogany trees. I think they look like something out of the loin king, especially because they grow on ridges and rock outcrops so a view of them from a distance really looks like a picture out of the loin king!

Thanks all!

Molly Baughman

BLM, Lakeview, OR

Hey everyone!

Unfortunately my internship is coming to an end.. I will be very sad to leave.. I have had an amazing time and learned so much throughout my time as a CLM intern! Not only have I learned a lot of new plants but I have increased my skills in plant identification by learning new techniques and skills.. I graduated with a degree in botany and I am now proud to say that I feel like a botanist! A junior botanist.. but none the less a botanist!

One of my favorite things that I I have gotten to do is camp at work sites which were in the middle of nowhere.. below is a picture of our campsite at Beatty Butte.. we were conducting vegetation surveys of plots which were previously burned (either wildfires or prescribed burns)..

Campsite at Beatty Butte

A beautiful view of Beatty Butte

The other intern, Amy and I feel very lucky to have worked with the fire ecologist for our first couple of months.. we got experience reading plots, using a specific scientific protocol and learned to identify a lot of the native species! The identification skills we gained by working with the fire ecologist helped us greatly when we started collected seeds!

Fire Ecology Plot

Amy and I have collected a lot of seeds!! One of my favorite sites where we collected seeds is Coleman Lake.. you can see the beautiful hills surrounding the dried up lake bed which and the area is filled with basin wildrye plants! We are estimating we got around 5 lbs of seed! Our mentor is going to use the extra seed to do a grow out next year.

Basin wildrye at Coleman Lake

The CLM internship has not only helped me to gain work skills but has helped me grow as a person in a number of ways! I have had an amazing time and I hope all the other interns did as well! Thanks!

Molly Baughman

Lakeview, OR

BLM

Hey everyone! I just started working as a CLM intern for the Bureau of Land Management in Lakeview, OR. So far I absolutely love Oregon and the internship! I will be working with a fire ecologist as well as collecting seeds for the Seeds of Success program. I have learned a lot just the two weeks and a half weeks that I have been in Oregon!

A view of Goose Lake from behind the town of Lakeview, OR

Last week, I helped to collect data at the site, Mill Creek which had been burned in 1996 and then again in 2006. At this site, the fire ecologist that I am working with is monitoring the plant, Pedicularis centranthera, which is a sensitive plant.

The beautiful Pedicularis centranthera plant!

Being from Indiana I did not have a background in western plant ID but I have already learned a lot of plants! The botany seasonal crew has been doing clearances in the Lakeview District, I have assisted them a few days and I have learned a lot of new plants!

An orange Castilleja sp. with the landscape in the background

I just finished  SOS training in Vale, OR. I learned a lot during the training and I got to meet some of the other interns around the area! During our field day we collected seeds of Amsinckia tessellata which has a beautiful scorpioid inflorescence.

Field site where we collected Amsinckia tessellata

Sucker Creek State Park, where we ate lunch for the SOS training field day!

Thanks! I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Molly Baughman