My internship is coming to a close, not because my hours have run out, but because I am getting on a plane to Scotland tomorrow to start my Master’s degree. Unfortunately I am departing when the weather is finally starting to cool down, but I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything.

The month of August I joined forces with Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden and was their eyes on the ground in the Palm Springs field office to scout populations for fall seed collections.  Based on herbarium vouchers and word of mouth I developed routes for the desired species, which were documented with GPS locations, pictures and a record of associated species. All this information was complied into a summary packet of pictures, maps generated from GIS and community descriptions.

Alligator Rock looking to eat my Jeep during a survey in Desert Center

Bullet holes and giant cholla (Cylindropuntia munzii), perks of the Bradshaw Trail

Final Product!

I also got to participate in a rare plant survey of Monardella stoneana on Otay Mountain in San Diego County. Volunteers from California Native Plant Society and BLM employees used previously recorded locations of this species as a starting point and then we expanded our search from there. Afterwards I took the GPS coordinates recorded and plotted them on a map to see the land ownership where this population lives.

Monardella stoneana in the foreground and the wash I walked down looking for it.

This internship has been an great opportunity to work with a variety of scientists and understand the possibilities of my future career. I have learned a lot of applied skills, from recognizing desert species to making maps in sophisticated software. After being a lab rat (no pun intended) for so many years, it was a nice change to be out in the field even when it was 110 degrees. My mentor gave me substantial freedom to complete tasks I felt were necessary for future success of the field office, and this encouragement has allowed me to develop personal habits that will be essential in my future endeavors. I am known to be shy and follow whatever I am told, but during this internship I was encouraged to network with a wide group of people and take the initiative to accomplish important goals. I got to see a great deal of our massive field office and experience different ecosystems: the high, cool Mojave Desert, the valley inferno of the Sonoran Desert and the variety of coastal plant communities in San Diego County. I have learned tons and will take all of this new knowledge on my next adventure!

Tioraidh! (Bye in Scottish Gaelic)

Kelsey

BLM Palm Springs – South Coast Field Office

During the month of July, I participated in a graduate student organized isotope study, desert pupfish surveys in conjunction with US Fish and Wildlife Service, a Seeds of Success collection with a group from Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden, monument setting with the state of California cadastral team, seed collecting with the San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research and spent a weekend at Otay Mountain.

The isotope study is part of a master’s thesis for a CSUSB student. The aim of the study is to determine the source of the groundwater at Dos Palmas Preserve. Since the lining of the canal, the water table has decreased dramatically, assuming that canal seepage was feeding the surrounding oases. Samples were taken from 12 locations and water quality tests were conducted, then samples were sent off to the lab for further analysis.

Writing down water quality results as Kevin, the CSUSB grad student, is sealing samples for isotope analysis.

Surveys of the desert pupfish, Cyprinodon macularius, were conducted in two different locations, S-ponds and Upper Salt Creek. These surveys are part of the mitigation process for the Coachella Canal lining project at Dos Palmas Preserve. We set minnow traps filled with bags of cat food for a 2 hour time period and conducted water quality analyses. Then fish were counted, both native and non-native species, and returned to the habitat. Counts were high in the S-ponds but dismal in Salt Creek. There is a possibility of more surveys in the near future.

Releasing a minnow trap into the S-ponds.

Reporting water quality of the pupfish habitats with Sharon, from US Fish and Wildlife Service.

I was invited to help Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden in SOS collecting of Eriodictyon trichocalyx var. trichocalyx and Eriastrum sapphirinum subsp. dasyanthum in Whitewater Canyon and Senegalia greggii (Acacia greggi) in Bear Creek. We were successful in finding a big enough population and enough number of seeds per plant to make a complete collection.

Cheryl from RSABG collecting Eriodictyon trichocalyx seeds in Whitewater Canyon.

On a Friday, I was planning on working in the office all day but was convinced to help out the state cadastral surveyors that are located at our field office. The surveyors work as part of the Public Land Survey System, which has been around since the beginning of the United States. We drove out to Johnson Valley to set monuments for the upcoming change-over in land ownership from BLM to US Military. I got to pound the specific marks into the brass monument, thus leaving my mark in history.

Setting a monument in Johnson Valley with the cadastral crew.

I took a day trip to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park to assist the Institute of Conservation Research in seed collecting at Lake Hodges and the safari park for an upcoming restoration project. We were successful in collecting Encelia californica but there were not enough seeds for complete collections of Sambucus nigra, Brickellia californica nor Saliva apiana. While these collections were not specifically for Seeds of Success, there were similar protocols and standards used.

Examining Salvia apiana to see if the seeds are viable for collection.

I spent a weekend at the US Fish and Wildlife ranch house in the Otay Mountains. My realty specialist co-worker has some compliance inspections to complete in the area and I tagged along with a local BLM wildlife biologist as we searched for populations of Baccharis varnesse, which we were unsuccessful in finding. San Diego county has a large amount of unique endemic species. Otay Mountain has the Tecate Cypress, Hesperocyparis forbesii; Del Mar is home to the Torrey Pine, Pinus torreyana; and countless others examples. I was also fortunate to visit the botany department at the San Diego Natural History Museum, which is responsible for the Plant Atlas project. The Plant Atlas consists of dividing the county of San Diego into grid squares, then volunteers were assigned a square and collected specimens of the local plants they encountered. These specimens were logged in the herbarium at the SDNHM and are now part of an extensive online database for species found all around San Diego county. I also learned about the local species present at Mt. Gower Open Space Preserve, El Capitan Open Space Preserve, Torrey Pines State Preserve, San Diego Botanic Garden and San Diego Zoo Safari Park. There is opportunity for me to return to Otay Mountain and assist in monitoring another rare species in the upcoming weeks.

View of Mexico from Otay Mountain.

View of the Pacific Ocean from Torrey Pines State Preserve, with the namesake pine in the foreground.

During the month of June, I was fortunate to experience a diverse set of opportunities within the Palm Springs – South Coast field office.

One week of the month was spent at the Chicago Botanic Gardens for CLM training, which was fantastic. We had sessions on Botany of the West, Protocols for Monitoring and Measuring, and Seeds of Success training. The last day of the week all interns attended a symposium. I also had some free time to explore the Chicago area.

The Bean in Downtown Chicago

When I returned to the desert, my co-worker and I started on our biggest task for the season, vegetation monitoring of 118 permanently marked transects and quadrats throughout the ACEC (Area of Critical of Environmental Concern). This project lasted into July and we both learned a lot about monitoring protocols and the local fauna. Some plots were in the dry upland habitat and others were located in the middle of a marsh. During this project, I collected GPS points to compare to the random points of our GIS-generated map. Data entry and analysis followed the completion of the outdoor work and we are working on presenting our findings at the quarterly Biological Working Group Meeting in September. I have updated the GIS map, created GPS coordinate logs and compared different habitat types of riparian species found along the transects. Also, we discovered a species that was not previously recorded in the quadrats and spent a day in the field with the Jepsen manual and a Trimble attempting to identify and log the species of rush.

Reference photo of transect 11 USA 01 from the 30m marker to the 4m marker, with my coworker Joel and I recording species percent cover along the transect.

Typical upland habitat: most common plants seen were 4 different species of Atriplex and Allenrolfea occidentalis, Pickleweed.

Joel fighting through the Phragmites to get to the next plots, typical marsh habitat.

I also got a chance to help out a team from the USGS Las Vegas office look for Hiliria ridgia at Big Morongo Preserve. USGS is working on a seed transfer zone project for new native plant nurseries. The GPS coordinate for Big Morongo Preserve was based on a herbarium voucher and thus we were not successful in finding a viable population.

Picture taken from Big Morongo Preserve of the smoke from the Lake Fire that burned 31,359 acres of the San Bernandino National Forest.

Generally, everyone who can leaves Palm Springs in the summer months (mostly retirees and college students). Temperatures rise to over 100 daily and the dry heat makes it feel like the inside of a furnace. Natural vegetation in the Coachella Valley is sparse: pokey cacti, bushy mesquite trees and Dr. Seuss-esque Joshua trees dot the sandy, rocky landscape. However, this will be my living conditions for the next few months.

Overlooking Palm Springs from the South Lykken Trail

I am the CBG BLM intern at the Palm Springs South Coast Field Office. Fortunately, my time will be allocated to the Dos Palmas Preserve, a 14,880 acre ACEC that includes a series of fan palm oases just east of the Salton Sea on the San Andreas Fault. The oases are fed by groundwater from the Orocopia and Chocolate Mountains, as well as seepage from the Coachella Canal. The canal was lined with concrete in 2006, thus reducing the seepage for water conservation, but at the detriment to the oases. Mitigation measures are in place to ensure the survival of the oases and the endangered species that live in that habitat (Ridgeway Rail, California Black Rail and Desert Pupfish). My work will consist of administering transects for vegetation monitoring, seed collection for “Seeds of Success”, and helping with other projects on the preserve as needed (such as surveying desert pupfish, soil studies, water isotope studies and replacing trail counters seen in the picture above).

Dos Palmas Preserve via Google Maps

This first week was a brief introduction to the Preserve, which included reading relevant literature (EIS/EIR, monitoring reports, public law, preliminary isotope study and tamarisk removal methods), attending a Biological Working Group meeting with representatives from BLM, California Fish and Wildlife Service, US Geologic Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, Coachella Valley Water District, and San Diego County Water Authority and a quick visit to the site. It has been a lot of information to absorb and understand as to how all the processes function smoothly. I have also learned about associations and projects within this particular BLM Field Office.

 17 acre Created Marsh at Dos Palmas Preserve

Barn Ponds at Dos Palmas Preserve, vital habitat for desert pupfish

What stood out the most is the passion these employees have for their projects. It is great to be surrounded by people who care about getting the job done correctly, whether that project is restoring a desert riparian habitat, facilitating land transfers, replacing trail counters or recovering an entire intact piece of pottery (as our staff archeologist did earlier this week!). Everyone is positive, up-beat and eager to help me get adjusted, both to life in the office and in the city of Palm Springs.