As my last few days approach I am adding all of the finishing touches to my internship. It is not as exciting as being in the field exploring new areas and finding all sorts of treasure but it is an adventure in its own. Finishing up and putting together reports at the end of the year is just as important as gathering the data itself.

The most recent project that I have been working on is making herbarium vouchers for the local herbarium, the Oregon State University herbarium, and the Smithsonian herbarium. Some of these do not require being glued down, but a good portion of them do. This is one sticky job!

Looking back on the season brings back good memories. One major highlight being a thistle chop. It required two days of floating down the Deschutes River in a boat and camping all while uprooting Scotch thistle (Onopordum acanthium). Another great adventure was traveling by UTV to a sage grouse Habitat Assessment Framework (HAF) site. I drove the truck and trailer to the unloading site, then got to drive the UTV to and from our destination.

My second year as a CLM intern was just as exciting and rewarding as the first. I was able to live in a new area, work on new projects, make new friends, and gain new skills and qualities to add to my resume. Overall I had a great time and made lasting memories in Prineville.

It is early September and the Prineville area is drying up quickly. Most plants are past the seeding stage and it is hard to find any new collections. We recently found a few possibilities in higher elevations, some of which were successful, others did not have enough viable seed to collect only twenty percent of the population due to herbivory and lack of overall viable seeds.

Since the seed collecting has slowed down so much, I had the opportunity to help with a project in the office. It consisted of going through the various land use plans that the Prineville BLM District uses and the Emergency Stabilization and Rehabilitation documents. I was looking for all of the botany information and the after-fire reseeding efforts. I compiled all of this information into one document for quick and easy access to the botany information. 

This week is the beginning of my extension. It is a short one so we are starting to wrap up the season. I will be working on finalizing all of the paperwork and getting it turned in, creating herbarium vouchers to send to the National Herbarium at the Smithsonian and to the Oregon State University herbarium, as well as create vouchers for the herbarium here in Prineville. I anticipate going out into the field for a Seeds of Success collection only one more time. It is in an area with higher elevation that may have some plants that we can identify with just the seeds. If that is not successful then my Seeds of Success season will be over for 2014.

Wow, the past few weeks have been busy for me. My days have been filled with habitat assessment framework for sage grouse, finding morels while monitoring rare plants, and finding populations that are suitable to collect seeds in.

The habitat assessment framework, or HAF, has been a learning curve for the whole crew. We are learning how to fill out the full HAF forms as well as the modified versions. Trying to train the eye for ocular estimates proved to be tougher than originally thought. Up to this point a majority of the sites we have visited are in terrible condition for sage grouse. The main reason for this is the encroaching Junipers, lack of sagebrush, and lack of grass and forbs.

Treasure Mountain

While monitoring for many different species we have come across many fun and exciting things. There was one particular place that I nicknamed Treasure Mountain. At the beginning of our hike we came across some morels. I, not being a mushroom fan, did not know what this odd thing was. As soon as I pointed it out to my crew they were really excited to have found morels! As we hiked further up the mountain I found an old rusty horse shoe. Horse shoes are nothing to write home about but I thought it was an exciting find. When at the top of this mountain one of the crew members found a nice shed from a mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). To top this trip to Treasure Mountain, we found many healthy specimens of the Astragalus diaphanus var. diurnus. 

Morel (Morchella)

The Prineville district is a large district. Driving all across the country side looking for suitable collection sites is a real expedition. We have done a lot of searching this way, but we have also had to do some research using our resources.  We compiled a list of people, range cons, botanists, hydrologists, and others within our office to talk to. Some took us out on “field trips,” others drew on maps, and others we are waiting to hear and learn from. It was a great experience talking to people with different professions and to see how each can help us in very different ways.

The time is flying by with not a minute of work time to spare. It keeps the internship interesting, full of adventures, and provides a huge learning curve. It also allows us to meet different people with different backgrounds that have all been brought together to accomplish important tasks together.

This is my second season as a CLM intern. My first season was spent in the Carson City area of Nevada.  It was filled with adventure, amazing new friends, and knowledge gained.  I am sure that my second season will offer similar opportunities for new adventures, friends, and learning.

It has barely begun, four days in my new position to be exact, and I already love it. I am based out of the BLM Prineville District Office in Central Oregon. Half of my time has been spent completing online training courses and familiarizing myself with the computer files here. The second half of the week, I was lucky enough to get out into the field!  I helped out another employee here at the BLM planting Cottonwood trees along Bridge Creek.  I learned that the purpose of the trees was to create shade, which helps push out some of the weedy species in the area. The trees are an alternative to using herbicides, for fear that the herbicides would leach into the creek.

All in all, I am excited for my second season as an intern, now located in Prineville, Oregon!

Writing my final wrap-up blog came sooner than I expected. The last five months have flown by. I had many great experiences that brighten my resume considerably. I came to this internship with no on-the-job experience with GPS, GIS, seed collecting, habitat assessment framework-HAF, assessment inventory and monitoring-AIM strategy, and much more. Being a BLM employee, I received trainings in hazardous materials, first aid, CPR, and ATV operation. I also participated in big trainings sessions; the Conservation of Land Management workshop, a pollinator course, Interpreting Indicators of Rangeland Health, and a Vegetation Rapid Assessment Relevé. I also participated in taking surveys and researching endangered butterflies and multiple plant species. Outreach events allowed us to work with younger children and teach them about plants, animals, biodiversity and the importance of it all. While these events were keeping me busy, I discovered some of the things that make Nevada special. The scenery at first to me was a plain and boring desert landscape. After spending some time outside I saw beautiful mountains that seemed to never end with breathtaking sunsets and sunrises for backdrops. I was treated to multiple bear sightings while out in the field. The wild horses were very exciting to see for the first time. Overall, the knowledge and experiences gained during my CLM internship are irreplaceable and I would do it again if given the chance.  

It started out as a normal week of gathering data, finishing fire transects, and camping. Our first night out someone noticed bear tracks on the dirt road. It was to be expected since we were in the trees that provided good bear habitat. We continued to our camp and headed out for work in the morning. Work was a rather typical day of hiking in and getting our job done then hiking out. On our drive back to our campsite we saw a doe with two fawns alongside her.  Then about 50 yards down the road we spotted a baby bear! It was laying in the narrow shade of a pine tree. For a few minutes there was a mutual stare between the interns and the baby bear. It soon became unsure of us and stood up against the tree as if it was going to climb it. The picture above was taken at that moment. He quickly decided that running to the next tree was the right thing to do. We then left so as to not disturb him anymore. We spotted this baby bear only a quarter of a mile away from our campsite. We assumed there was a mama bear around somewhere and that night we were all a little wary of the bears!

In the past week here in Carson, lightening and thunder storms have become more frequent. It looks like an average sunny day. Hot, no clouds, and birds singing. Without much warning, a storm can come in and be on top of you within minutes. Dark angry looking clouds appear. The wind picks up and the birds disappear. A little bit of rain is scattered throughout.  Then the lightening and thunder starts. Sounds exciting but when you have a metal clipboard in hand or are carrying a metal optical device, it is a different story. There was a range specialist in our office that once told us “when it rains, there will be fire!” This is from the high number of lightening strikes that will hit ground within one storm.

Our crew was out on an average day doing AIM transects. Birds were singing and the sun was blazing! Within half an hour the clouds, wind, and droplets of rain had arrived. We heard some thunder still at a distance and decided to head to the trucks. As we all piled in, the storm was straight overhead. Long streaks of lightening and huge claps of thunder. We waited for over an hour before the storm passed. During that time, a large storm chasing firefighter truck passed us to go to a vantage point to look for fires started by lightening. Luckily that storm did not start any fires nearby. If that had been the case it could have been a dangerous situation for us.

I have experienced thunder storms before, but never this intense. Usually I am already inside and watching the storm safe and sound. Here in Nevada, with a field job, these storms can be dangerous if actions are not taken immediately. It is an experience new to me and one that I will never forget.

It has been busy since I arrived and the time is flying by. My days have been filled with trainings in pollination and range indicators, HAF transects, weed management, willow planting, seed collecting, and more. Just when I thought it couldn’t get better, we went camping. When we travel long distances we camp to save driving time. I have always enjoyed camping and it makes learning and doing my job that much better. During one of our long commutes we spotted a bear. I am new to Nevada as well as the desert. When I think of these two things, bears do not come to mind. It was a treat to get to see this black bear on our way to HAF transects.