Hello!

Everything is still going well in the Missoula, MT field office. I am wrapping up my final month here and time has been flying by! Our field crew is continuing forest inventories, seed collection and sensitive plant surveys! This week we have done all of the above.

We have recently been collecting for bitterbrush and serviceberry seeds, which are ecologically and culturally important to Montana. I must admit we have had quite a few trials and errors! We began by picking bitterbrush seeds individually, and quickly realized there has to be a more effective way. So today, we went out and brought a huge bucket and hit the bitterbrush branches and let the seeds fall into the bucket! We collected 10 fold more seeds today than before. Not to mention way more bugs than before! I must admit it has been a fun change of pace from forest inventory!

Unitl next time,
Cara

After a few months of habitat typing, we were able to take a workshop by the habitat typing man himself: Pfister! Forest habitat typing is mostly used in the west, since there are still high amounts of native plants in places like Montana, as opposed to the Midwest, which you would classify “plant communities” instead. What is habitat typing you ask? Habitat typing uses a collection of information about habitats with comparable structures, functions and response to disturbance.

We use a dichotomous key to key out the climax series based upon trees. “Climax series is the tree species that will remain unchanged in terms of species composition as long as the site is undisturbed.” Then, the dominant understory vegetation is then keyed out to a specific habitat type. For example PSME/SYAL/CARU, which is a Douglas fir climax (PSME), with dominant components of snowberry (SYAL) and Pinegrass (CARU), habitat type 312! With this information we get a better idea of how each stand will function and respond to disturbance, based on a collection of habitats with similar structures.

For the habitat typing seminar we reviewed live samples of understory vegetation and just practiced habitat typing in the field. We met a lot of fellow natural resourcers that work for the forest service, park service et. al. It was such a wonderful experience and we learned a lot!

Hello Bloggers!

After two months, I can say Montana now feels like home, and there are no complaints here! Being surrounded by mountains, wildflowers and some Ponderosa Pines is quite a marvelous experience. Missoula is located along the Clark Fork River, and it is absolutely breathtaking. While looking for the sensitive species bladder pod a few days ago, a humming bird came to greet us at the bottom and top of the ridge, which is a very good omen, so this is going to be a great field season. The field office is blooming with excitement of the summer and all of the seasonals are officially here!

I am primarily a Forestry technician, but a wonderful part about the Missoula field office is that we are able to dabble in a myriad of different types of fieldwork. As a forestry technician I predominantly preform forest inventories, which include: assessing the forests habitat type, age and abundance of trees, richness of understory vegetation, and what wildlife has utilized the land and we look for any sensitive or invasive plant species.

Xerophyllum tenax (Bear Grass)

I have also participated in fence building, which has truly tested my muscles. Fence building is definitely a tedious, meticulous activity. We had to set up “H” posts, that held the fence together at critical locations, and then put in posts intermittently until the next “H” post. Pounding in the posts is unquestionably the hardest part. We were on a really rocky, steep slope making it difficult to put the posts in, but we did it! Here are a few pictures of our success!

My Mentor, being a model fencing citizen

Until next time!

From rolling prairie to mountainous forests, I have made it to Missoula, MT. The landscape is incredible here, with Pondersoa pine forests, snow capped mountains, and moss and lichens EVERYWHERE. Even the wildlife is unique, like Sasquatch, just kidding! The biggest struggle so far is getting comfortable hiking up these mountains, and getting used to the elevation which is over 1,500 feet higher than Iowa, yowiee!

Right now all of the seasonals are starting to join the BLM crew and we are starting walk-through inventory. Which is just a fancy term for “hiking up a mountain then talking about all of the plants and wildlife you see”, which is pretty awesome. We have been collecting inventory for the layers of the stand, habitat type, canopy cover, average diameter breast height. During these stand inventories we are also looking the understory vegetation, invasive species and sensitive species. All of this information is used to evaluate stand overall health and for sites for further projects. We survey the stands every 10 years.

We are also preforming five needle pine surveys, which include limber pine (Pinus flexilis) and White pine (Pinus strobus). They are hard to find for several reasons: the first is the mountain pine beetle. These beetles are using five needle pine trees in high elevation to attract a mate and lay their eggs.  Then the beetle larvae eat the phloem, leaving the tree to die! The second is blister rust, which is actually a rust fungus, not a chemical reaction. The blister rust is basically a parasite using the bark of the pine as a home. Luckily, we have found quite a few viable trees!

Until next time!

Cara