Hello everyone,

As I sit here on my last day of work reflecting on this internship that has now flown by, I’m realizing a lot.  To the top of that list is, well the fact that I don’t have a job lined up for after this.  I am very much hoping my family and friends back home will graciously accept my cheap holiday presents in the form of rocks I’ve collected along the way out here.  If not, I suppose my large collection will continue to grow…fine with me

glistening gypsum!

I’m also here thinking about the very first day I strolled into the BLM office.  It was the Friday before I started work and my mom was still in town helping me find a place to live.  I came into the office to sign some forms and meet the team.  Nervously, I approached the front door beneath the daunting Bureau of Land Management sign, thinking,  “OK, I guess this is it.  For the next few months I’ll be working for ‘the man.'”  I quietly walked in and my mentor came to the front to meet me.  He took me on a tour of the building, one that made me feel like I was finding my way through a maze.  Finally we stopped at the cubicles with the other interns, soon to be my work space too.  We briefly introduced ourselves, smiled and I was pretty much on my way.  Now looking back 9 or so months later, I am so happy I took that chance, packed all my things up and moved 2,800 miles away from home.

In my time out here, I have had some great adventures.  Did I save any money while I was out here?  Not much, but I have felt like I’ve really taken in the west as much as possible and been paid in more ways than simple monetary checks.  Nevada for me has been a place of endless blue skies, more mountain ranges than I can begin to name, and surprising oases popping up in the forms of ephemeral streams, emerging springs, and playa lakes.

Sand Mountain at sunset

In addition to the numerous natural wonders of this area, my time here has been spent with unforgettable field work and tons of learning experiences.  I’m leaving Carson City certainly a better botanist than when I arrived, a more in tuned reader of the landscape, and with a head full of latin botanical names that could bore anyone for days.  Luckily though, most of my time here was spent with others that appreciate such disciplines.  I want to dedicate this post to the 7 other interns from the Carson City office.  Together we made over 100 seed collections, monitored our fair share of fires, and put on a large handful of educational outreach events.  Above that, I will more remember the late night talks around a campfire, family dinners, farmers markets, festivals, and of course the lamest yet creative botany jokes ever to be made.  Together we walked dozens of miles through the back country of Nevada, crawled mountain passes by truck that most wouldn’t even consider walking, and watched hundreds of shooting stars jet across the night sky.  In short, it’s been great, and truly an exceptional experience!

Last seed collecting trip: Artemisia cana

Lastly, for any of those reading this and are considering applying for a CLM internship, I say DO IT!  Don’t be afraid, take a chance and embrace every second along the way.  For those current and recently finished interns of this year, best of luck in all your next steps.

Sunny wishes and Shine On!

Andrew Lyons

Carson City NV, BLM Office

Only in Nevada

Hey There Humble Readers,

Greetings again from a sunny week in Nevada!  It’s been a while since I posted to this blog, and time here is continuing to roll by as summer has faded and autumn is just about in full swing.  I do hear though that fall in Nevada doesn’t really exist.  It’s more a quick transition from the hot summer months to the much cooler winter months in a matter of weeks (or as some have told me, what feels like days).  Happy to be out here seeing and feeling different types of weather patterns and season, but in all honesty, I will very much miss the scent of fallen deciduous leaves crushing beneath my feet.  It’s an experience one can only know by taking the long forest roads of New England.  There’s nothing quite comparable to a turning red or sugar maple, American beech or the last blooms of our goldenrod and staghorn sumac fading and welcoming the soon to come winter snow.  Then again, I’ve never made a pie from Nevada apples or ran a maze through Nevada corn.  This too, might be something not to miss!

Seed collecting trip in the backyard of Yosemite!

Speaking of things not to miss, I recently (as in a couple months ago now) went up to Virginia City for the Annual International Camel and Ostrich Races.  That was quite the site!  Watching grown men try and jump on the back of an ostrich while it circles around a dirt track was not only entertaining, but also hysterical.  The camels were a bit calmer, but the ostrich wanted nothing to do with a person on its back.  I finished up the day of races with some homemade ice cream and fudge from “Grandma’s Shoppe”, and headed back down the sandy hills of Virginia City….successful (and culturally filled) day!

On another fun note, I’ve recently learned first hand that parts of Nevada and California are quite geologically active.  Prior to coming out here, I made it a small mission of mine to find as many hot springs as possible.  So with that in mind, I took a day trip to drive a bit south and check out some hidden tubs; this turned out to be one of the experiences I surely won’t forget about my time in Carson City.  Relaxing in a pool of water at about 100 degrees overlooking an expanse of meadowland and mountains was actually incredible.  The east coast may have beautiful Autumn colors, but we certainly don’t have much in the way of these awesome hot spots.

Hidden gem!

As for work goes out here, we have finished up all of our fire monitoring for the season, writing our summarizing reports on the data we collected, and are working on some other projects.  Seed collecting has been a main focus for us these days, and along that vein, this week we are taking a trip south to the Mono Lake region for some major collections.  Looking into collecting various chenopods including Krascheninnikovia lanata, a species we haven’t seen at this point.  It’s going to be a very exciting week up in the mountains and valleys of the more southern Sierras.  We are hoping to explore several mountain passes and make some collections along various elevation gradients.  And best yet, it looks like we will be staying on a former BLM worker’s property who has natural hot springs on her land.  Looking forward to some more hot spring rejuvenation!

A few of us on the team

In other news from Carson City, we are investigating doing a salt grass, Distichlis spicata conservation project.  Once a cultural assessment has been completed by our office archeologists, we are hoping to transplant a portion of a healthy population of salt grass to an area inundated with the invasive tall white top.  This will help establish new areas of native plants and in future years we hope to increase the diversity of the area with other natives, too.  I am personally excited about this new project because it is an experiment in something that we have not really worked on before.  Sort of a direct action at (hopefully) eradicating an invasive population and reestablishing a native population.  Fingers crossed on that!

Well, it seems it is just about time to take off for our seed collecting journey down south, so I must end this post.  Hope everyone is enjoying the approaching conclusion of this internship program.  We have about another month here in Carson City, it’s going to be a good one.

Sunny wishes,

Andrew

Carson City BLM

Hey there!  Recent updates from the CLM Team in Carson City.  Lately, we’ve been working on a ton of fire monitoring, battling rough roads, enjoying the somewhat cooling temperatures, meeting some new four (and six!) legged friends, and as a team coming together really well in all our planning efforts.  Certainly not to forget our seed collecting days, we’ve been all over the place from the Pine Nut Mountains, vast meadows, Indian Creek Reservoir, and all places in between!  We have spent a good deal of time this past week planning for a huge weekend at Sand Mountain.  It will be a weekend filled with families, friends and friendly campers enjoying the time ATV riding and soaking up all that Sand Mountain has to offer.  Our part in this weekend is to spread the word of the conservation work that we do, lead botanical walks, engage the public, and a few nighttime adventures.  I’m most excited to hunt for scorpions using a blacklight this weekend (most scorpions will fluoresce under UV light…so cool!).  So much planning has gone into the weekend, which hopes to be fun, informative and maybe even a little relaxing.  All in all, my time thus far in Nevada has been an uphill climbing roller coaster filled with incredible views, new perspectives and (mostly) smooth sailing.  Hope you’ve been enjoying the ride too!

Be Well & Shine On,

Andrew

Carson City BLM Office

Seed Collecting!

Topaz Lake Sunset Rejuvenation!

Fire Monitoring in the Pine Nuts

Welcome to the Moon

Paint and Clouds!

Where’s your Momma

Tarantual Hawk lovin’ some Goldenrod!

Good Morning Dixie Valley

Greetings and salutations readers near and far!  It’s been a bit of time since I posted my last blog, and let me tell you, a ton has been going on out here in the Great Basin.  From fire monitoring, seed collecting, to rare plants monitoring and doing some educational outreach, we sure have been keeping busy here in Carson City.

Sacred and Beautiful Sand Mountain

Summer is in full swing- the heat is here, the dryness is ever-present and the explorations are never-ending.  Unfortunately, we have been experiencing some daily storms rolling through the valley.. Meaning lightning strikes and fires.  It’s a strange feeling coming from the East Coast and now having wildfire on the front line of concern.  In any case, in the midst of worrying about fire, I have had time to sit back and enjoy some incredible lightning- it brings me back home to the large thunderstorms!  There have been a few times in the last couple weeks where huge dark clouds have rolled in so fast and we just beat the rain.  That said, recently while fire monitoring and almost all done with the work day we got caught in a huge rainstorm!  Soaking wet and running back to the truck for some reprieve while dodging small bits of hail and trying to protect all things that might get damaged by water, it was quite a way to end the day!  Luckily, we made it back safe and sound and no equipment was hurt along the way.

Walls of the Cave!

On another note, we as a botany team have been making seed collections like nobody’s business!  Visiting breath taking places like Sand Mountain and Indian Creek Reservoir has been a great treat.  Not to mention, nothing beats camping out in the desert under a star lit sky exchanging stories of the past and excitement for the future.  Suffice to say, my stay here in Nevada has been nothing but enjoyable, eyeopening and entertaining.  I have really appreciated the time (as in hours) spent staring at tiny plants, huge rock formations, mountains and sunsets that stretch across the sky for what seems like days.  Beginning to think about my next steps, and although I’m not quite sure what or where yet I’ll be this time next year, I am confident in saying this experience will certainly help me get there.  As for now, enjoy the few pictures and keep up the good work.

Shine on!

-Andrew

BLM Carson City

Hey little Dude!

Everyone is thirsty in the Great Basin

Not a bad Saturday afternoon !

Greetings!

Out here in Carson City, since my last post we have done a ton of new things.  I am glad to be able to identify so many plants of this area now, and testing out my latin skills with names of species!  A few highlights from the last few weeks have included continuing to monitor for rare plants, specifically Ivesia webberi.  One day several of us headed north to Plumas Station to look at a known population that had been mapped out in years prior.  We parked the truck, took a hike and the search began!  Fortunately, it didn’t take too long to find the appropriate location, and along the way stopped a few times to take in the beauty of the surrounding mountains and blooming flowers.  Particularly from that day, what stands out in my head are the Balsamorhiza sagittata dotting the hillsides with an ever bright yellow color.  Next along the walk, we noticed a ton of Castilleja chromosa in bloom.  Several patches grouped together in clumps of yellow, orange and red- a nice reminder that this region is full of color and teeming with life.

Another recent and memorable day for me was taking a trip to the University of Nevada Herbarium in Reno.  We took our specimans that have been collected this season for further verification.  Upon arriving to the herbarium, a childlike sense of elation and excitement came over me as I just glanced at the huge libraries of decades old specimans perfectly intact.  We spent the day comparing our samples with those that had been previously collected, reading species descriptions and characteristics, staring through a dissecting lense and learning a ton of new botany terminology.  Slow at first, the identification eventually quickened and became almost like a game.  I was most impressed by the collections made over one hundred years ago, still in great condition.  I enjoyed reading the descriptions and little notes that had been jotted down about the species and location, almost like a snapshot in time.

As we wrap up another week here in Carson, I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend in the mountains and preparing for a week long MIM (Multiple Indicator Monitoring) training that begins on Monday.

Be well,

Andrew

Greetings from beautiful Carson City, Nevada, home of the ever-present sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), Mountain Bluebird (Sialia currucoides), and Vivid Dancer Damselfly (Argia vivida)-just to name a few symbols that represent our nation’s 7th largest state!  I arrived here a bit over three weeks ago, and it has been a wonderful change coming from the never ending winter of Connecticut.  I do love my home state, but something about stepping off a plane to blooming flowers and sunshine has been nothing but refreshing.

So much has happened out here already while interning with the BLM botany team.  I was the 6th intern to arrive, and the others have helped make my transition a smooth one.  Although not quite caught up with identifying all the desert flora or recognizing unfamiliar bird calls, there is an obvious sense of community within the team here, and I think it will be no time until I’m brought completely up to speed.  Particularly appreciating the casual plant ID discussions and stories of field days that occur over our home cooked meals once a week, it is certain to say accepting this challenge of creating a life across the country has been more than a wise decision.

A few highlights from the past three weeks have included becoming certified to apply pesticides on federal lands in efforts to eradicate invasive species, working in some of the most beautiful locations, and (as of this week) beginning to monitor and develop a conservation plan for Ivesia webberi, a soon to be listed endangered species.  It is especially rewarding to me to bring a voice to things like plants that just can’t stand up and say, “Hey, protect me from those soon to be grazing cattle” or “Watch out, there are nonnative species out competing me for space to grow!”  What can I say, I love plants!

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time out here thus far, and anticipate things getting even better as the season continues.  Looking very much forward to using my conservation degree from UConn for practical applications in the field, becoming fluent in GIS, and looking up at a star lit sky from a desert perspective!  Until then, enjoy a couple photos from my first days in the field!

Be Well,

Andrew

Carson City BLM Field Office

First Day in the Field Collecting Seeds

Beautiful Pyramid Lake

Wild Horses Do Exist!

Ivesia webberi