Well, it’s been awhile since my last post. But indeed our schedules are pretty tight, almost without office work – all in the field. Based on what I hear around, it’s been a very long and cool spring for the Mojave, which of course favored us in a couple ways – nice and pleasant field work, and more time to get some of our projects done before the coming high temperatures. As a matter of fact we have had a few weeks already which were above a hundred degrees. I must say that without an acclimation time, it is pretty hard to stay active as usual, especially in town where all the concrete and roads contribute to a temperature rise. With that said, last week I was lucky to attend my training up north and reveal for myself at least a tiny bit of Bryophytes’ diversity. The workshop focused on identification of different non-vascular plants – Liverworts, Hornworts, and Mosses, which was very exciting for me. It was very new to me, because even having a general idea about mosses and its main taxonomical groups I never had a chance to get deeper into the subject. Discovering characteristic features of different groups of mosses and liverworts, seeing them under the microscope was very interesting, exciting, and certainly rewarding. I would highly recommend to all botanists who are not particularly familiar with non-vascular plants, of course given some extra time and a good opportunity, to pay a little more attention to this subject. In the meantime I will definitely keep exploring them myself wherever I am. Until next time,

Andrii

WERC, Henderson, NV

Hi, I’m really sorry about the late post – it’s been a busy couple weeks here in the Mojave. As the temperatures gradually grow, we try to accomplish as much as possible in the field. Actually, the weather have treated us, as well as the plants and wildlife, with some nice spring showers recently. And I must say that for me, after being here for a couple months, a rain is quite an unusual phenomenon. We usually spend a lot of time in the field and personally I always have this mix of feelings when I see rain clouds above us. It’s great of course for the environment but definitely affects our work pace and how much we can do being out in the field. Speaking of the environment, here in the Mojave, most of the annuals, and of course some perennials either, have passed their flowering period and now work hard on ripening their fruits and seeds in these pretty unfavorable conditions. But some still bear some reproductive parts, which is great. We actually were able to nicely recognize some of the local Chollas and the place we were at up in Arizona Strip was kind of rich in that prospective – Cylindropuntia achanthicarpa, Opuntia basillaris, O. engelmanii, O. erinaceae. So it was really nice to see the diversity in colour and shape of those unusual plants.

Apart from the plants, I do also discover new species of birds to me. It is truly nice to hear and observe wildlife in the Mojave, as it is rather unique and always surprising in these sparse ecosystems. This past week we also got to work on a relatively new project for us – we were surveying after fire revegetation experimental plots in northwestern Arizona. Not only it was a project we haven’t worked on yet, but the area and plants were also somewhat different. So the week turned out to be quite long but full of impressions, provided a good insight into the subject, and of course a very positive and useful experience. Well, I look forward to looking for more native perennials on the plots and hopefully less invasive species. Until next time!

Andrii

USGS, Henderson

Hello, it’s been awhile since my last blog entry. I can’t say there was much happening during the inter-CLM times, which resembles to me a sort of dormancy period that I experienced the last two winters – very similar to plants’ strategy so to say. And, of course, another parallel that I find with myself is that after a long sleep full of hope and excitement for the productive and successful year each plant sprouts its leaves and builds a strategy for the year based on resources available. For me, the beginning of this season started two weeks ago, March 16, but this time instead of BLM’s botanical work I am in Mojave Desert, working with US Geological Survey as a plant ecology intern (I think this is the best definition of our role here for the time being). After a couple of orientation hours and introduction to the office organization we were left to prepare for the week out in the field starting the next day. It turned out to be the best start of a new job that I’ve ever had. The next day, we started our first measurements in the field. It was a super long day but full of emotional rewards and positive impressions. In general the idea of the project itself is very interesting, looking into how common species from different locations of southwestern deserts respond to Mojave Desert climate conditions and how suitable they are for restoration purposes. It was our first week, which of course was full of discoveries, learning, and for sure bright moments. To word, the Mojave Desert is now very close to its most beautiful period, when most of native species bloom. And I’m certainly very happy to be able to visit places around Henderson to enjoy their beauty during weekends. Well, it’s been a busy week and hopefully the tendency will remain in such current as it provides just an outstanding insight into Mojave Desert plants’ live. Until, next time!

Andrii

Henderson, USGS

Part of the Mojave Desert landscape

Hello friends. This is my last post about my CLM internship 2014. Since the last one many things have happened and there is a lot to tell, share, and express this time. October and November both were super busy with wrapping things up and still having SOS program running. Primarily because of Great Basin vegetation peculiarities, a big part of native species actually seed out in middle and late autumn, which happen to be our last months here. We all managed it well, with a team of eight people we were able to accomplish a lot. Eventually we’ve made way more collections than the average number of collections since 2004. Unfortunately we, as probably all SOS teams, didn’t get any feedback right away.  But of course we hope that all our collections are of a good quality and will be useful for many-many purposes.

With all trips that we made for seed collection we also had to prepare an annual report, just as the whole field office does, about our time being here, what we’ve done and what we could have done better – sort of an overview of 2014 program. It was fun and interesting.  We really felt like part of a field office team and that we played an important part in the office’s life. It was a funny period of time, when you have a few weeks to go but there is a ton of ideas where to go, what to collect, what is the most important to do and so on… It is certainly sad, that we didn’t get to do everything that we thought about, but at the same time it is good to stop and move on. There is always something that you lack time for or would like to have “just a week more”, so it is a good idea to stop at some point having a little bit of time to wrap things up.

In general, it has been an incredible time. This was my first summer our in the west and I must say that it was incredible. From the very beginning of my time here I felt like this part of the world is unique and being a botanist here is just a lucky occurrence for myself. And regardless of the fact that we all have learned a solid number of species and biology of local flora, you never feel like it is enough. The nature is so diverse, the transition between Great Basin and the Sierras is indeed incredible. These two huge ecoregions for botanists provide something unknown and interesting every time you are outside. Our team spent truly a lot of time in the field and it is one of the things that I’m very grateful for. Overall it was a great experience with exceptionally bright and positive moments and I know that such memories I will never loose. Again, we had a wonderful team in Carson City and I’m thankful for the work shared fun time spent together to all my friends – Alex, Andrew, Ari, Mary, Ethan, Laura, and Rebecca. Special thanks of course to Dean – our mentor for whom it was not easy to manage such a big team but turned out really well – I’m very glad that that I was part of CLM 2014 Carson City botany team.

Andrii

Beautiful Great Basin (Boundary Peak on the horizon)

We’ve been here quite busy for the last few weeks with a few outreach events, deadlines for fire rehabilitation monitoring reports, and seed collecting on top of that. Seed collecting is a fascinating process though – it is not a usual practice of work flow when you have a goal, means, and you work on it until you reach a certain result. On the contrary, it is more like a continuous process with an unexpected work load and unpredicted results. We’ve been doing our collections since April – May, through the whole summer and now, in late September there are still quite a few species which are about to be ready. To some extent, it is perhaps the result of the Great Basin climate and plant organisms coexistence – a huge amount of warm days in a year with such limited resources to use. And as a consequence, we have a big time differentiation between different species bloom and physiology peaks. In April we planted few sunchokes around our house and a couple weeks ago, in the middle of September, they just started to bloom. I should say that I’m not the best plant keeper, but for them to flower in September or not must be a tough decision to make. Same in the field, some ephemers and early spring annuals give their second growth right at this moment, which is probably a usual but very interesting phaenomenon at the same time. I guess autumn is a great season not only in boreal zone with deciduous forests and their colours but everywhere, with its own surprises and peculiarities. Until next time!

Andrii,

Carson City, BLM

Our beautiful sunchokes

Hello,

The time here, in Carson City, as I presume everywhere else, flies fast. It is already autumn and I can’t believe that I’ve been here for more than half a year… Back in spring we saw all around vegetation sleeping, then flourishing and blooming. In the same way winter birds were here, then they left and are coming back already. As time is passing by, we try to be efficient, as usual, working on same projects but, of course, faster and better. As we spend three out of four week days in the field, a pile with completed field datasheets keeps growing. Which is logical and natural but at the same time, is always pleasant to notice. As we spent our summer primarily in the field, the oncoming events are going to balance our duties a little. This past weekend we had a Labor Day event at Sand Mountain, then we’re going to have a Public Lands Day and Tree Day. All of these recreational/educational events require an incredible amount of time for preparations. I’m sure we’ll do our best. The memories from the past weekend are still bright and vivid but after the Labor Day rest all efforts are directed to work again. Hopefully, along with decreasing temperatures the time flow will slow down a little too…

Until next time,

Andrii

Carson City, BLM

Hello,

I haven’t written here for a while, really sorry for the late post, but the more time you spend as a CLM Intern the more experience and original data you gather as a source for your stories. Hence, of course now I definitely have lots of information to share.

I can’t believe it’s already August here in Carson City. On one side there are lower temperatures, a little bit of rain, much more pleasant weather, however we realize that this amazing time is slowly moving towards its end. A few weeks ago I hit my midpoint with CLM when I tried to rethink and sum up a little what I’ve done/learned so far and what still needs to be improved and accomplished. I probably must say that this sort of thinking is very useful because it takes you outside your daily work and routine, reveals things which could be easily forgotten or not noticed at all, but are crucial at the same time.

Outside of that, even though we’ve familiarized ourselves with our duties and responsibilities pretty well, a nice thing is – weekend trips and new explorations never end. Thankfully to our “always hungry for adventures” team we always share with each other about our nature observations, but not only of course, from around places wherever we are. Last weekend we went for a delightful walk started on Carson Pass in the Sierras. Being in subalpine zone, where snow is still or already present, is very unusual and interesting for those who spend most of their time in sagebrush steppe. Of course botanists never tire especially being in such a beautiful place. We kept collecting unknown for Great Basin species of grasses and sedges till the very end of the trip. Just yesterday I checked out how well they have gotten preserved under a homemade plant press – not bad at all! And I think starting from the next week an identification process should be launched. Speaking about sedges, wetlands here in western Nevada are just amazing. Of course with a portion of weeds – no ways to get rid of them there so far, but those places are true oases within the typical arid vegetation. Moreover, collecting seeds at such places is a pure pleasure. Tons of seed everywhere, plus dedicated group of people bring a very good result in Seeds of Success program. We continue work here in a regular, pretty good pace having as a gift from the weather nice temperatures and way nicer work conditions. Will share with more experience as usual later…

Until next time,

Andrii

BLM, Carson City

ps: maybe someone knows the name of that guy on Epilobium flower?

Hello! Apart from our CLM internship duties, that usually include a variety of things such as providing help with BLM’s environmental education program, rare endemics monitoring, seed collecting, and so forth… we of course deal a lot with many different common plants around us, which sometimes are not as important for land use management but are of great interest from the prospective of biodiversity. In particular it is highly beneficial for any botanist to be familiar with biodiversity and estimate its value for each site of public lands. This is, of course, part of our duties too. And so, being involved in this fascinating learning process you start to notice some curious facts about plants themselves and their names.

This time I’d like post a short notice about an example of such fact – another prominent botany personality of the past. Actually, two personalities that we, particularly botanists and whoever from time to time deals with plants, hear all the time but often don’t have enough interest or time to find more about. William Hooker and Joseph Hooker. If you just go to the USDA plants database – a national database of North American plants, and type in “search box” the word “hookeri” you’ll get over 30 different taxa named after some Hooker (and those are only valid, currently recognized Latin names). An interesting thing about this either specific epithet, genus or variety name is that there were two famous persons in the botany world with such a last name closely related to each other. A father – William Jackson Hooker, a founder of world’s biggest herbarium  – The Herbarium of Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew; and his son Joseph Dalton Hooker a director of named herbarium, plant collector and Charles Darwin’s good friend, who played a significant role in Evolution Theory development by reviewing and providing a constructive criticism of his theory. It is hard to imagine modern botany without these two British scientists. It’s also worthwhile to mention that the majority of taxa named after Hooker are actually named after the father – William Hooker, whereas William’s son, Joseph, described many plants and varieties and consequently was the one who gave a name to a newly described species. Looking at this, I always wish we had more and more time to get deeper into our botanical past, scientists’ works and achievements; discover new things about the origin of our present concepts, things that were known far long time ago and are still around us today.

Farewell,

Andrii

BLM, Carson City, NV

William Jackson Hooker

Joseph Dalton Hooker

Hello. This week was particularly interesting and brought really a lot of new experience and knowledge even in comparison to the last couple months of being here. For the first time this year, and actually personally for me, we performed a fire rehabilitation monitoring survey in Alpine Co, CA – a procedure that takes about 7-9 hours of work for the team of 7 people. It is impressive – how much of accurate and precise data you acquire, and, in addition, it happens every year. For me it is a truly valuable and unforgettable experience, since the whole idea of fire rehabilitation monitoring is based on the precision of measurements, and I must say – we did our best in performing our tasks. With the feeling of responsibility (which was predominant in our attitude) everything was done with confidence and in high quality, regardless of hot weather and tons of prickly tumbleweed. In addition, the place where we were working and camping was beautiful and charming – completely different from the typical Great Basin sagebrush steppe. The Indian Creek Campground with dominant Pinus geffreyi and Pinus monophylla, plus water reservoir, is a great place to observe wildlife which is flourishing there. Probably, overall I could call this week as a super productive, with so far the biggest portion of new experiences and excitement (e.g. hunting Osprey), and, of course, completed work. Hope that our oncoming activities will be even more and more interesting, and based on what we’ve been doing I guess it’ll be so.

Farewell,

Andrii

Carson City, BLM

Carson City is a beautiful place. The ecosystems that surround us are pretty unusual and still new for me since this is my first season here, out in the southwest. Many local people mistakenly call this area a “desert” but I probably should disagree with this statement while observing all the life flourishing and developing right at this moment. This so called desert is getting greener every day. The plants aren’t the only evidence of this gradual but still unconcealed and dramatic change. For instance, last week on the street where I walk almost every day, I saw some bats which I haven’t seen before. They were vigorously hunting around a forest line apparently being pretty hungry after a long dream. Of course they could have just come here from somewhere else, but for me it was definitely a sign of some spring change that affects all the living organisms inside the Morgan Mill St’s ecosystem. Quite the same evidences we all, as botanists, can notice monitoring all the ephemeral plants being in flower stage for only a few weeks. And actually, I must say I’m grateful to have a unique opportunity to see such plants like Erythranthe sp., Ivesia webberi, etc. here in bloom, and moreover to contribute to their study and conservation! That is indeed an amazing feeling. There are actually many more “firsts” I’m doing and encountering here for the first time, even after being here for almost three months, and I think I’ll try to keep this “never-boring” tendency for the future as well.

Until next time,

Andrii

Carson City, BLM