For my final blog post, I’d mainly like to thank the people who have helped to expand my knowledge and experience of practicing conservation and land management in the field. Being a part of the interaction between oil and gas development companies and government agencies was extremely fascinating. I’m proud to have played a part in the maintenance of our natural resources and look forward to doing so again in the future.

With the CLM internship under my belt, I look forward to applying what I have learned in my future endeavors.

This past month I’ve had the opportunity to experience a few more miscellaneous projects and pursuits. I’ve begun learning to use GIS software which so far is reasonably straight-forward. Out in the field I’ve also been tackling some wildlife projects that aim to save the lives of various critters that may fall victim to the seemingly innocuous presence of watering holes and fences.

My first project focused on the pronghorn antelope in the area which are restricted in their movements by the thousands of miles of fencing that covers the state of Wyoming. For the most part, fences are designed to contain cattle so when possible, it is best to use a design that keeps cows in but allows antelope to pass through freely. Since pronghorn tend to be significantly more nimble than their bovine brethren, they prefer to pass under the fence which can sometimes be less than 8 inches above the ground. My job was to measure the height of the top and bottom wires as well as record the type of fencing. Most fencing here is barbed so it is important for the bottom wire to be smooth in order for the antelope to squeeze beneath it without injuring themselves. The state also has a history of extensive sheep raising which would also be able to get under gaps in the fence. Consequently, some old fencing is still exists that prevents antelope from crossing and any such fence needs to be identified so it can be replaced. Incorrect fencing can result in fatalities as antelope become entangled in the wire.

Although using a meter stick isn’t necessarily thrilling, the roads along the fence tend to be muddy and undeveloped so it did afford me another chance to use the winch. For me, any day with a vehicular challenge is a good day. Unfortunately, the excitement of being stranded in the middle of nowhere doesn’t perfectly carry over to video format so I added some electronic music to create some flare. Also notice I put gloves on before operating the winch. Safety first, children.

Stuck in the mud: Video

Getting stuck in the mud is messy business. Lucky for me, having boots made out of 90% mud is very fashionable this year.

I knew my boss would be jealous if I didn’t include him in all the fun so I made sure to track several pounds of liquid dirt into his truck. Don’t tell him though. I’d prefer it to be a surprise.

As a native seed collector for the Seeds of Success program, you get to know some plants quite well. This past week was spent developing a love-hate relationship with Needle-And-Thread grass (Hesperostipa comate). At first glance, it’s a pretty cool looking plant. The 4-5 inch long awns attached to each seed sway gently in the breeze, which makes fields of the tufted bunchgrass rather aesthetically pleasing. Plus, the point of the seed is sharp, (hence the name) allowing one to attach the seeds to your hat (because why not?).

Unfortunately, the plants start to lose their attractiveness when you need to collect 10,000 seeds from them. Each seed head probably contained an average of only three viable seeds which meant we needed to collect somewhere near 3,400 inflorescences. And that’s the minimum. Simply cutting the heads gave us too much plant matter so we had to extract each seed individually.

On our first collection attempt we tried doing this in the field, grabbing the awns to pluck them from the inflorescence. If we were lucky, we could grab a few at a time, but too often we had to pick them up one by one. This experience was further enhanced by the resident flies and ticks seeking to feast on our blood as we worked. Personally, I found that rather inconsiderate of them since the whole point of the SOS program is to restore and maintain their ecosystem. After about six hours of this, my coworker and I estimated we had only been able to collect about 3,000 seeds. Ugh.

The next day we revised our strategy by cutting the heads and bringing them back to the lab to clean by hand. This strategy afforded us the ability to avoid involuntary blood donations, bask in the comforts of air conditioning, and even listen to music to dull the tedium of plucking out thousands of seeds from their heads. While this doesn’t make for a very exciting work day, it does become strangely addicting, so the hours tend to roll by pretty quickly.

How I spend my free time…

While the desert may leave something to be desired in terms of stunning beauty, I at least get to work within driving distance of some more classically picturesque areas. And considering that I’m currently being consumed by an unquenchable addiction to photography, that suits me just fine.