I finished my 5-month internship in Carson City, NV last Friday (July 31, 2015). Although an extension was offered to all members of the CLM intern team, I did not take it, as I have other plans for the fall and winter. I had a wonderful time in western Nevada. The Great Basin Desert and the Sierra Nevada Mountains are unique and beautiful ecosystems. Most of the locations I traveled to were isolated and displaced from the well-traveled paths; places that I probably would have never gone to, even if I permanently lived in the area. I was able to explore the unspeakable pulchritude of the sage brush steppe in the desert and the impressive array of granite rock in the Sierras.

Castilleja sp. and Fallen Leaf Lake, Lake Tahoe Basin, NV.

Yellow-bellied Marmot (Marmota flaviventris) near Mt. Tallac, Lake Tahoe Basin, CA.

Lake Tahoe.

The Great Basin Desert, NV.

So why did I choose to do the CLM internship in the first place, and why did I choose an internship with the Bureau of Land Management? In order to answer such a question, we must first dig deeper into understanding why I even care about the public lands and wilderness.

I was born and raised in Durango, Colorado – a small southwestern town, located about an hour and a half away from the Four Corners Monument. The town’s adjacency to the Rocky Mountain alpine tundra, the red rock desert of Utah, and the badlands of New Mexico provided me numerous opportunities to venture into the wild. I grew up camping, backpacking, and climbing mountains. As I grew older, I explored other methods of discovering bliss in the wild – including mountain biking, fly-fishing, and rafting. The wilderness is who I am; without it, I’m lost.

The Weminuche Wilderness in the San Juan Mountains was (and still is) one of my wilderness destinations.

I discovered my passion for conservation biology and land management through my various adventures in the wild. I cherish the public lands and wilderness areas. Canyon of the Ancients National Monument, CO.

It saddens me to imagine a world without these large expanses of open canyon country and forests. In my early college days, I realized that I wanted to study nothing else other than ecology, conservation biology and land management. I have a profound obligation to pay the land respect and fight for conservation in exchange for the happiness and life it gave me. But, although I cherish the public lands and wilderness areas immensely, I used to not know what happened behind the scenes. How were we managing lands and natural resources? How were we promoting the health and biodiversity of public lands? Once I got the job offer in Carson City, I realized that this internship would be a great way to discover what it is like to work for the BLM and to understand the mission of this agency in greater detail. I also wanted to recognize the obligations and relationships between the BLM and other collaborative agencies, stakeholders and the general public.

I graduated from Fort Lewis College in May 2014 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Organismic and Evolutionary Biology and a GIS Certificate. My undergraduate research experiences focused on plant-pollinator interactions and avian biology. I’ve taken advantage of my current break from school to explore different biological studies and to discover the type of research and career path I wish to further pursue. I was interested in the position of Botany Intern for several reasons. During my undergraduate career, I conducted two independent research projects focusing on plant-pollinator interactions in the subalpine forests of Colorado. I was particularly interested in understanding how various climatic factors may influence floral rewards (e.g., nectar volume and sugar concentration) and how such variation may affect the survival and fitness of pollinator communities. As a result, I’ve always had an underlying interest in plant biology.

I studied plant-pollinator interactions and avian biology throughout my undergraduate career. I had an underlying interest in botany and wanted to discover if botany was a study I wished to further pursue. Bombus bifarius pollinating a species of aster, Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory, Gothic, CO.

But another large portion of my undergraduate career also focused on studying avian species – including the Piping Plover (Charadrius melodus) in Virginia and the Emperor Goose (Chen canagica) in Alaska.

One of my undergraduate research experiences included working as an assistant field biologist for the U.S. Geological Survey-Alaska Science Center. The project primarily focused on studying the nesting success and population dynamics of the Emperor Goose (Chen canagica) along the Manokinak River on the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta, AK

With my plant and avian research experience, I’ve developed an interest for understanding how nesting success and population dynamics of various avian species may be affected by food resources, habitat composition, and climatic variations. Furthermore, I’m interested in understanding how such factors could influence the short and long-term temporal and spatial variation in population dynamics.

I wanted to be a Botany Intern to see if studying plants was my true passion. From this internship, I have undoubtedly realized that I do not want to pursue a career focusing only on plants and taxonomy. Although I do not wish to obtain a career in botany, I still have a fond interest for plant identification and biology. In fact, this internship has made me a more well-educated biologist, and I can strongly use my botany background for future research. As a wildlife biologist focusing on habitat composition and availability of food and nesting resources, I will find it very beneficial to understand the type and extent of vegetation within the area. This internship provided me with an opportunity to refine my academic interests and career goals.

I have a gained a lot of new skills through this internship. My resume is now saturated with new skills and training. Some of the training that I participated in include the following: (1) Integrated Pest Management and Pesticide Applicator Certification, (2) Vegetation Rapid Assessment Relevé Workshop, (3) Conservation and Land Management Workshop, and (4) CPR First Aid Certification. My favorite training was the Vegetation Rapid Assessment Relevé Workshop in Yosemite National Park, CA. The workshop was provided by the California Native Plant Society and focused on applying rapid assessment and relevé methods for vegetation sampling, classification, and mapping. I discovered how valuable this training was to my career as a biologist. I’m now more confident with classifying vegetation cover and determining the best methods for vegetation sampling. Additional skills that I have gained include competency with ArcPad 10 software, plant identification skills, experience with pressing, mounting, and archiving plant specimens, experience collecting viable seeds from native plant populations, and familiarity with the AIM (Assessment Inventory Monitoring) of fire rehabilitation.

Lupinus stiversii, Yosemite National Park, CA.

Bald Eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) near Yosemite National Park, CA.

John, Stevie, and I in front of Upper Yosemite Falls.

Rain drops an an Iris, CLM Workshop, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL.

Hemerocallis middendorfii, CLM Workshop, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL.

Echinopsis sp., CLM Workshop, Chicago Botanic Garden, Glencoe, IL.

I contributed to the CLM intern team and the BLM office through a variety of ways. I was able to use my GIS education and knowledge to georeference grazing utilization maps, help manage the GPS and GIS data, develop maps for scouting and seed collecting trips, and guide my fellow interns in the use of GIS software. I was also able to use my plant-pollinator and avian knowledge during an environmental education outreach program focusing on Fliers: Bugs, Bats and Birds. I was very content with realizing how I could apply my education and experience in a professional setting.

I have a lot of good memories from my time as an intern. One of the best memories I had was going to Yosemite National Park for the Rapid Assessment Relevé Workshop. I had never before been to Yosemite. My parents have this remarkable Stephen Lyman painting of Half Dome in the living room at home. I grew up staring at Half Dome every day, but that was in Colorado – about 1,000 miles southeast of the actual granite wall. When I got to Yosemite, I could not believe how impressive Half Dome truly was. During the evening, after our first day of class, we went to the Yosemite Valley to eat and rest. My priority was to see Half Dome and nothing else – dinner could wait. When we got to the valley, I wandered off to a meadow where I sat for an hour as the sun set. I just sat there and stared at Half Dome. I wasn’t thinking about anything else but the wall, and I tried to imagine the thoughts John Muir had when he first wandered into this valley more than 100 years ago. The internship not only provided me with a great training, but it also offered me the opportunity to be immersed in Yosemite Valley and to watch the alpine glow majestically appear and disappear on the face of Half Dome.

Half Dome, Yosemite National Park, CA.

Another memorable moment occurred during a scouting mission near Pyramid Lake, NV. Pyramid Lake has almost the same surface area as Lake Tahoe and is just as wonderful and blue as Tahoe itself. The lake is jaw-dropping. But, the lake’s distance from the Sierras and the Jeffery Pine (Pinus jeffreyi) forests has caused it to not be a destination for the majority of vacationers. Furthermore, there is almost no development on the lake and in the area compared to Tahoe. For me, the lack of development is pure joy; for others, the opposite. One day, the team and I were scouting for potential seed collections in an area known as the Hardscrabble Canyon Allotment. We split up and went on our separate ways. I followed a route up a high ridge. At the time, Amsinckia sp. and Blepharappapus sp. were blooming. Being a botany intern can mean staring at the ground for long hours at a time. I would often forget to take a break, to look up, to view the surrounding landscape. During this scouting mission, I remembered to stop and look around. When I did, I saw my co-workers and supervisor wandering on the adjacent slopes. Behind them, the deep sapphire blue of Pyramid Lake stood out remarkably against the dusty desolate desert. Storm clouds were forming along the eastern horizon and lighting bolts were striking randomly across the hills. The dappled landscape and stormy scene were collectively beautiful and I could not remove my stare from the contrasting desert colors. In that moment, there was nowhere else I would have rather been.

I’m spending the rest of August and part of September backpacking, mountain biking, and fly-fishing throughout the Rocky Mountains. My journey will take me to Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana. In mid-September, I’m moving to Laramie, Wyoming where I will spend the fall and winter months. I’m hoping to have a biology-related job during this time. Next spring and summer are full of unknown adventures. I would love to return to the last frontier and explore the Alaskan mountain ranges in more depth. I will be returning to school within the next year to obtain a Ph.D. in plant-animal interactions.

With the end of my blog, I will leave you, the readers, with one quote to ponder upon:

“Walk away quietly in any direction and taste the freedom of the mountaineer. Camp out among the grasses and gentians of glacial meadows, in craggy garden nooks full of nature’s darlings. Climb the mountains and get their good tidings, Nature’s peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves. As age comes on, one source of enjoyment after another is closed, but nature’s sources never fail.”

-John Muir

Lupinus sp., Yosemite National Park, CA.

Spring in Nevada has brought exceptionally cool and rainy weather. However, we need all the rain and snow that we can get before the hot, sunny days of summer begin. According to NRCS, the Sierra Nevada Mountains have less than 25% of the average snowpack (based on a median between 1981 and 2010)! I’m very thankful for the rainy days. It has been wonderful to see fresh snow blanketing the mountain summits and ridges. Hopefully, it will prolong the accumulation of dust on the trails.

Well, I haven’t written a blog for a while now, and I apologize for the delay. So much has happened since the last time I wrote about our adventures. I don’t even know where to begin. I’ll just focus on the highlights of the past month.

We are out in the field nearly every day now. Most of our field work has been the collection of herbarium vouchers and seeds from early flowering species. We have now collected seeds from Lomatium austiniae and Amsinckia tessellata. I have found the collection of seeds very peaceful. During my wandering around in the seed collection sites, I often stir small lizards and birds from their shelter within the sagebrush and greasewood. Last week, during the collection of A. tessellata, I saw two horny toads! These were the first horny toads I have ever seen in Nevada. I’m surprised it took me so long to find them.

Antelope Bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata) in bloom.

There is a lot of work to do in the herbarium at the University of Nevada in Reno. Maggie, Olivia, and I went to the herbarium on a rainy Friday several weeks ago. We identified species and used herbarium specimens to verify current and past SOS collections. The days out in the field are splendid; but, every once in a while, you need to spend some quality time with a dichotomous key, plant identification books, and a microscope.

A day at the herbarium, University of Nevada-Reno.

A couple weeks ago, we ventured into the Pine Nut Mountains for an overnight camping trip. We were planning on monitoring Ivesia pityocharis and collecting more herbarium vouchers and seeds. The first day of our trip began with beautiful weather – cool, but sunny. Yet, as the sun fell behind the Sierra Nevadas, a storm began its own descent upon us. In the vanishing evening light, we quickly pitched our tents, cooked and ate our dinners as fast as we could, zipped up tent doors, and slept through a silent night of falling snow. The next morning, I opened up my tent door to an inch of snow, low visibility, and cold temperatures. As we made tea next to the fire, we realized that monitoring and collecting herbarium vouchers was not possible that day. But I guess that is field work. You just never know what might happen and, at least, we gave it our best shot!

A snowy morning in the Pine Nut Mountains.

I’ve been going into the wilderness as much as I can. About three weeks ago, some of the other interns and I went to Bridgeport, CA for a weekend. We backpacked a little into the Hoover Wilderness, where we hiked around and went fishing. I didn’t catch any fish on my fly-rod. I’m hoping to go out again in the next couple weekends. I would love to catch a Golden Trout! I have never before explored the Great Basin Desert and Sierras, and I’m glad this job opportunity has allowed me to wander through these areas.

Hoover Wilderness, CA.

The Flume Trail, Lake Tahoe.

It has been three weeks since I left Colorado and moved to Carson City, Nevada. I hadn’t spent much time in Nevada or in the Tahoe area before. I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I first arrived here. As I drove westerly across Nevada on Highway 50 – the Loneliest Road in America – I kept thinking how I was going further into the desert and more into the unknown. The Great Basin Desert is unique and far from any desert that I’m familiar with. It is different than the red sandstone arches and pillars of southeastern Utah, the petrified forests and badlands of New Mexico, and the Saguaro deserts of southern Arizona. At first glance, one might think of the Great Basin Desert as a barren and desolate landscape, devoid of life and water. But, as I have pleasantly discovered, the farther you venture into the desert, the more life you find. Multiple species of sagebrush, salt brush, greasewood, grass, and herbaceous forbs are scattered across the landscape. In less than a month, I have gained a great respect for the Great Basin Desert and an appreciation for the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

The time has flown by quickly. My days are packed full with learning and working. I have learned more about the Bureau of Land Management, the various land management practices and protocols, the pressing and archiving of herbarium specimens, as well as local geology and botany. This past week was busy. We spent the first portion of the week looking at grasses through microscopes and the second portion of the week planting seedlings.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we attended a Basic Grass Identification Class in Reno. Before attending this course, grass identification was a weakness of mine. In the past, I could readily classify grasses and grass-like plants to basic groups and families based on key characteristics (e.g., the two-ranked leaves of Poaceae [Grass Family], the usually triangular stem of Cyperaceae [Sedge Family]). But I had found it quite difficult to key grasses to genus and species. Grasses comprise a major component of the environment and can indicate the health and status of an ecosystem. Therefore, it is vital to understand how to identify grasses. The class involved identifying over 45 species of Poaceae and several species of Juncaceae and Cyperaceae. We learned how to identify grasses and grass-like plants based on floret structures (i.e., presence versus absence of awns, bearded versus non-bearded calluses, number of florets within a spikelet, etc.). We applied our knowledge to dichotomous keys and were able to determine the genera and, most of the time, species. The course has provided me with more confidence as a biologist and botany intern. I can use my knowledge to determine the presence or absence of certain native grass species, which could influence the collection or planting of native grass seeds.

Thursday and Friday involved the planting of Mountain Mahogany seedlings. On May 22, 2012, flames from a fire in a residence’s backyard were released into the foothills of the southern Pine Mountains. The escaped embers resulted in the TRE Fire – a fire that burned for five consecutive days and burned more than 7,000 acres. A majority of the fire encompassed BLM land. Native perennial plant species were burned in the fire, including Single-leaf Piñon (Pinus monophylla), Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis), Desert Peach (Prunus andersonii), and Mountain Mahogany (Cercocarpus ledifolius). Our job this past week was to plant about 300 Mountain Mahogany seedlings in a portion of the burn area where the tree used to thrive. The seedlings were grown from seeds collected by previous Seeds of Success Interns. It took two days, an overnight camping trip, and six interns to complete the planting. The beautiful weather, positive attitudes, and laughter made the planting gratifying! The project contained no impasses and was relatively smooth. When I was in the midst of planting some of the seedlings, I looked around at my fellow comrades and smiled from delight and zeal. Not only were we having a good time, but we were also restoring a species to a recently disturbed area. We were making a difference in the world of ecology and our work was important. I was encouraged to see how the collection of seeds can be used to restore and ameliorate an ecosystem. This project is a great story for the Seeds of Success program and emphasizes the importance of collecting seeds for future restoration efforts.

TRE Fire, Pine Nut Mountains, NV – This north-facing slope is where we planted about 300 Mountain Mahogany seedlings.

CLM intern team planting Mountain Mahogany.

Aaron Rosenblum carrying a bag of Mountain Mahogany seedlings.

John White planting Mountain Mahogany.

Maggie Grey planting Mountain Mahogany.

Olivia Schilling planting Mountain Mahogany.

A view of the Sweetwater Range and the Sierras.

Burned Mountain Mahogany.

Steven Jesselson planting Mountain Mahogany.

A Mountain Mahogany seedling in the foreground and a burned Mountain Mahogany in the background.

My seasonal allergies are beginning. Sneezing, runny nose, and swollen, itchy eyes – it must be spring! The leaves on trees are budding, rosettes are appearing more and more, and flowers are beginning to bloom. I’m immensely looking forward to more days out in the field, surveying plant species and collecting seeds.