I am so close to being finished with my short-term CLM internship project. The project ended up consisting of an all-inclusive lichen checklist for the four southern-most National Forests of Region 5 aka California. Those National Forests are the San Bernardino, Angeles, Cleveland, and Los Padres. It is a very exhaustive list with all records referenced by the Consortium of North American Lichen Herbaria or publication by an expert lichenologist. My last few hours of my internship will be spent reviewing the checklist and making any necessary corrections with my mentor and the regional botanist who funded this project. After doing this I feel like I know all the southern CA lichens by name, but I still have yet to learn them by sight!

This position actually ended just in the nick of time because I just got hired with a timber company in northern CA doing rare plant surveys. The timber regulations when it comes to conservation are very strict here in California, so surveying usually needs to happen in critical habitat before action is taken on a timber harvest plan. I’m looking forward to experiencing work as a botanist in the private sector. It will be interesting to compare that experience with all of my prior experience working for the Forest Service.

Thanks CBG!

I am back for a little four week extension of my internship!

This past week was my first week back and the purpose of this extension is to create a checklist of all the lichen species found in the National Forests of Region 5 of the Forest Service. Region 5 is essentially the state of California. So far it has been a lot of time spent in the Consortium of Lichen Herbaria for North America and Excel. I should add that I am working remotely from my home in coastal Northern California so my very old MacBook is being put to the test and is functioning well thus far.

A list of lichen data sources for the various forests might be added to my list of duties along with taking a closer look at the data that has recently come back from the lab from the lichen air quality project I did in the San Bernardino mountains of the San Bernardino NF.

This is my final blogpost!

I have gained so many new skills at this position. I feel proficient at using ArcMap now and entering element occurrence data into the Natural Resources Information System (NRIS). My driving skills have also gotten so much better. I am now very experienced driving so many different kinds and sizes of vehicles on on some pretty bad forest roads. The terrain here is very difficult to traverse because it is so steep and rocky. I also spent a ton of time writing our invasive plant guide. Writing is something I am not very good at and I have a hard time reading over and editing my work. I definitely feel more like a real botanist now.

I got to do something I have wanted to do since college this year. I got to design and implement a lichen air quality study. I fell in love with lichens when I took a class on lichens and bryophytes. Lichens are so cool because they are great indicators of presence or absence of air pollution. They also accumulate pollutants in their thalli. The levels of pollutants can be measured in a lab. I set up a system of plots throughout the San Bernardino mountains and collected two target lichen species: Umbilicaria phaea and Rhizoplaca melanopthalma. I have sent the samples off to a Forest Service lab and when the results come back then the SBNF will have a better idea what kinds of pollutants can be found throughout the forest.

One of my major goals in this job was to improve my computer skills. I still have a long way to go, but I feel so much more competent using the Microsoft software, understanding computer terminology and being able to do things to make my computer run better. I have definitely met that goal and want to continue learning.

I made some great friends in my office and my mentor was great as well. This has given me a completely different outlook on Southern California. I always associated with the cities, but am so glad that I have had the opportunity to explore these beautiful mountains and deserts.

Here are the last of my photos to enjoy:

The gorgeous rattlesnake we saw on a night survey for Arroyo toads.

The FS sensitive Arenaria lanuginosa ssp. saxosa.

The beautiful Banning Canyon where my last lichen collection plot was.

Umbilicaria phaea was my other target lichen.

The black oaks are starting to change color already, probably because of the drought.

Another shot of Banning Canyon.

A neat looking calcium carbonate rock.

Rhizoplaca chrysoleuca was one of my target lichens for collecting.

My packaged lichens before I sent them off to the lab for testing.

The FS sensitive Horkelia wilderae.

This last Tuesday night I went out and did a survey for the federally endangered Arroyo toad with a large group of my colleagues. It was really fun and the creek where we surveyed was beautiful, besides the amount of trash that people leave there. The Arroyo toad buries itself in loose sand during the day and then comes out at night to feed on insects. It looks like the common Western toad, except it does not have a white stripe running down its back. The coloration looks very similar to chunks of granite so they can be hard to spot. We didn’t find very many toads, which was disappointing, but we did find a very beautiful rattlesnake, some awesome spiders, including a tarantula, and a few kangaroo rats. It was a great time, but I was exhausted the next day because we didn’t get back to the office until 2 in the morning. Here are some of the photos from the night survey:

This is the adorable adult Arroyo toad (Rana mucosa). The babies are even cuter!

This is the first tarantula I have ever seen in the wild!

Pretty amazing to see all this water here in August during one of California’s worst droughts!

A view from the trail of the creek we went to survey for Arroyo Toads.

The main project that I have been working on since my last blogpost is collecting lichens for an air quality monitoring project for the San Bernardino mountains. Lichens can be chemically analyzed for concentrations of various elements that are indicative of air pollution such as nitrogen and certain metals. Their thalli sequester whatever is deposited on them and they have no way to excrete wastes. This can be problematic for more sensitive lichens in polluted areas. The species composition of a site can be telling of the types of pollution present as well by the presence or absence of certain lichen species.

I have sites throughout the mountains where I have been collecting lichens and am hoping to finish up next week to send them off to the lab for testing. It has been difficult to find lichen in some areas, particularly chaparral, because that habitat burns frequently and lichens don’t hold up well against fire. It is also just dry in general so I have been mainly collecting saxicolous lichens, which means rock-growing. There aren’t many epiphytic foliose lichens in the San Bernardinos. These last couple pictures are from sites where I have gone collecting.

A neat view from the north side of the forest into the Mojave desert. You can see where the white limestone has been mined.

Cool sandstone (I think) rocks, but no lichen on them unfortunately.

Only three more weeks left in my internship! I can’t believe I have been here for nine months!

A couple days these last few weeks I was able to survey in a creek and a little bit in a spring-fed meadow. Because of this I have gotten to see some really cool plants that I don’t often see in the rest of the forest, which is much drier. An orchid sighting always brightens my day so I have included some photos of these cool water loving species.

Since my last post I have surveyed areas where there are fuels reduction projects and have also been revisiting legacy polygons of rare plants. Legacy polygons are locations of rare plants that were inferred before the era of GPS. These polygons have little to no information associated with them, so the goal of the revisits is to see if the plants are they, see if the population is accurately mapped, and then take notes about the area and what plant species are associated with the population.

My colleague and I are planning on doing a final print of the invasive plant guide for the Southern California mountains by late August or early September so we are working on final edits, touching up the design, and getting comments from fellow botanists.

This is the stream orchid Epipactis gigantea that is found throughout California. It was all along the creek that we surveyed as well.

Epipactis gigantea

The orchid Platanthera dilata var. leuchostachys that is found in wet places.

The adorable Mimulus primuloides. The leaves are covered in dew.

It is probably Botrychium minganense, but it has yet to be keyed out.

I was so excited when I found this Botrychium!

This federally threatened Castilleja cinerea was so crimson up in the higher elevation area I surveyed yesterday (about 9000 feet).

The Forest Service sensitive plant Boechera parishii.

HUGE (possibly) puffball mushroom!

The federally endangered Eremogone ursina that is endemic to the San Bernardino mountains.

The Forest Service sensitive Sidalcea malviflora ssp. dolosa that is found in wet meadows and streams.

Since my last blogpost I have been spending my time out on a part of the SBNF called Grass Valley. I have been surveying for weeds such as Spanish broom and mustard. There are also several Forest Service sensitive and watch list species I have been documenting as well such as Castilleja lasioryncha, Calochortus palmeri var. palmeri, Calochortus plummerae, and Phacelia mohavensis. This part of the forest is lower elevation and quite steep in some areas so I have been having some pretty hot, sweaty days. The other thing I have been doing out there with my coworker is teach the Urban Conservation Corp how to use GPS units so they can use them to map the areas where they have been preforming fuel treatments. They have all been learning so quickly and it is helping me become better with the GPS units to help them as well.

I am looking forward to June 7th when a few of my colleagues and I hike to the top of San Gorgonio on a lichen and plant collecting trip!

Here are the photos of some of the plants I mentioned above.

The Forest Service sensitive Calochortus palmeri var. palmeri.

The pretty flowers of a species of rush (Juncus).

The Forest Service sensitive Phacelia mohavensis.

Calochortus palmeri var. palmeri

Phacelia mohavensis

Phacelia mohavensis

The Forest Service sensitive Castilleja lasioryncha

The Forest Service watch list species Calochortus plummerae

It made my day when we found this cool Pipera orchid!

Unknown species of Pipera.

Spring has finally reached us up here in the San Bernardino mountains. Everything has flowers and leaves and it is beautiful.

I have been surveying a couple of limestone mining claims for several endemic plant species, some photos of which I have included below. I also have been continuing to survey along unauthorized off road vehicle routes that will either be completely shut down or turned into legitimate routes depending on what I find during surveys.

I am doing some research on possibly putting together an air quality study of the San Bernardinos using lichens. This is really exciting for me because lichens are my passion. There are programs in the Pacific Northwest that do these kinds of analyses every year, so it would be really cool to put together a baseline study that could someday lead to consistent monitoring.

I have almost finished the first month of my internship extension, so I have been living and working in Big Bear for almost six full months now!

The majority of the below photos are Forest Service sensitive plant species, two federally listed plant species, and just some pretty flowers. Enjoy!

Erigeron parishii is federally threatened and is endemic to the San Bernardino mountains.

Astragalus albens is federally endangered and is a carbonate endemic only found in the San Bernardinos

Flannel bush (Fremontidendron californica) flowers

I just can’t get over how beautiful cactus flowers are!

Phlox dolicantha

This is a really cool quartz outcrop where we found a HUGE population of Dudleya abramsii ssp. affinis.

Dudleya abramsii ssp. affinis

Lewisia rediviva

Lewisia rediviva

Acanthoscyphus parishii var. cienegensis

Astragalus bicristatus

I have been seeing so many beautiful flowering plants so far this spring I thought I would share them with you! These are some of my favorite plants so far on the SBNF.

This is the Forest Service sensitive Mojave paintbrush (Castilleja plagiotoma). It is endemic to the SBNF and is the host plant for the larvae of the watch list Checkerspot butterfly.

The scale bud (Anisocoma acaulis) is one of my favorite desert annuals on the SBNF.

The mojave mound cactus (Echinocereus mojavensis).

I have seen this adorable San Diego coast horned lizard twice now on the forest! It plays dead to catch bugs to eat and is a watch list species on the SBNF.

This beautiful ash-gray paintbrush (Castilleja cinerea) is federally threatened and only found in the San Bernadino mountains.

Ivesia agryocoma

The flowers of the Forest Service sensitive silver-haired ivesia (Ivesia agryocoma).

Forest Service sensitive Parish’s rock cress (Boechera parishii) is endemic to the San Bernadino mountains.

Forest Service sensitive Peirson’s spring beauty (Claytonia lanceolata var. peirsonii).

Another Forest Service sensitive Phlox dolichantha.

This is the Forest Service sensitive Parish’s alumroot (Heuchera parishii).

The Forest Service sensitive Coville’s dwarf abronia (Abronia nana ssp. covellei).

This is my first rattlesnake that I have seen out in the field.

The beautiful flowers of Yucca schidigera.

This is beavertail cactus (Opuntia basilaris).

In terms of work, I have been surveying some potential OHV routes out on a high desert area of the forest, which is where I have taken many of the these photos. There also has been a bit of survey work on a limestone mining claim. Limestone has many endemic plant species, not to mention federally threatened and endangered ones as well.

There are so many TESW (Threatened, endangered, sensitive and watch) plant species here, I have been spending a decent amount of my time entering those data into the federal database.

I attended a Poaceae workshop with many of my colleagues, which was very informative and very fun. I also took a trip back to Joshua Tree NP on my personal time and was rewarded with lots of wildflowers and pleasant temperatures.

I have been pretty busy since the last time I posted.  At the beginning of March I went to Joshua Tree National Park to attend a workshop on biological soil crusts.  The lichenologist, Kerry Knudsen, that I have been working with co-taught the class.  It was really interesting and JTNP is an amazing place!  Some plants were just starting to bloom. I will be going back on a camping trip there mid-April, and I hope to catch some more wildflowers!

In terms of office work, my co-worker and I have finished our invasive plant species guide and the first copies will be printed soon.  It will be field tested this summer and then the rest of the copies will be printed this fall.  I am excited because field season has begun!  We started surveying a couple weeks ago starting with a mining claim, where we saw Bocura shockleyi and Abronia nana var. covellei.  One of our survey projects for the summer is to survey unauthorized OHV routes for rare plants to help determine whether or not these illegal routes should be turned into authorized routes.  We found the senstive plants Castilleja plagiotoma and Syntrichopappus lemmonii surveying an OHV route. Tomorrow my co-worker and I are leaving for a bryophyte workshop in Santa Cruz!  I am so happy to go see the coast and the redwoods!  Not to mention, bryophytes are super cool.  It will be nice to be in a moister climate for a few days.  It snowed a tiny bit yesterday, but it is still much too dry here.

Look at the rhizines on this soil crust lichen! This is Endocarpon locosii. I am obsessed with soil crusts after my JTNP trip!

I love the pink barrel cacti (Ferocactus cylindraceus) nestled among the rocks!

One of the few beautiful cactus flowers I saw in JTNP

The Pencil Cholla (Cylindropuntia ramosissima) is everywhere in JTNP

A gorgeous species of Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja sp.)

The rock formations are so striking at JTNP

Look! A soil crust!

I felt like a mountain goat surveying this mining claim.

Blooming Joshua Tree (Yucca brevifolia)

The adorable and sensitive Syntrichopappus lemmonii

The gorgeous lichen Pleopsidium flavum covering the rock

Desert mistletoe (Phoradendron californica)

The sensitive Bocura shockleyi

The sensitive Abronia nana var. covellei

It is incredibly rainy here today in Big Bear Lake, CA. Unfortunately it is not even close to being cold enough to snow. Temperatures are supposed to drop tonight and tomorrow so hopefully there will be some snow in time to go snowboarding on Sunday! It feels really good to be getting some precipitation in CA. It has been so dry, this rain is really needed. Not to mention I love being able to sit at home and listen to the storm.

Since my last entry most of my time has been spent working on the invasive plant species identification guide. Our goal is to have it essentially finished early next week. A lot of my time has been spent finding more photos to fill the blank spaces and better show the traits necessary for ID. I’m ready to be done resizing photos and text to make the best possible use of space! I am really excited about how the guide is looking and am proud of all the work I have put in because writing is definitely not my best skill.

Our next project after the guide is completed will be working on determining sensitive species legacy data to be entered into the Natural Resources Information System (NRIS). The legacy data is made up of sensitive plant element occurrence data that was recorded before the time of GPS and digitization. Our job will be to determine whether or not the legacy (historical) data should be entered into NRIS. Some occurrences shouldn’t be entered because of developments that have probably wiped out the occurrence, or they have not been found when someone went out to do the ground truthing. Most of this detective work will be done in ArcGIS, so I will utilizing all the skills I have learned in the ArcGIS webinars I have completed lately. I am optimistic I will learn a lot and improve my computer skills greatly. This was one of my original goals for this internship.

The next post I do will have pictures from the awesome soil crust workshop I am attending next weekend in Joshua Tree National Park! Also, we are planning on putting the invasive plant guide on the San Bernadino NF website so I will include a link to that when it happens.