I can’t believe that it is the end of my internship. So much has happened and I have learned so much and experienced things that I will remember for a lifetime. Spending time in the Black Hills and working with everyone in the Newcastle Field Office has been great. Getting to know the area and feeling like I have accomplished something is a great feeling.

It is starting to get cold with temperatures down in the teens, I would not want to have to work in it for long, so it is good that I have reached the end of the internship. The fall colors have been spectacular, and yes I was very surprised to find out that the Black Hills does have a peak season for fall foliage. The aspens and cottonwoods turned vibrant golds and yellows. Fall is also the the time for elk.

These are the things that I will miss, the constant views, the amazing wildlife and the vast open spaces. I just hope that my next destination will be as great as my summer in the Black Hills was.

Blog

The fall is firmly here, leaves are changing and the workload is tapering down.  I got to spend a week in the Big Horns working on a timber sale.  It was a great experience, as we got to see some of the issues facing forests elsewhere.  The Big Horns have a lot of diversity when it comes to their tree species.  Trees like douglas-fir, limber pine, ponderosa pine, subalpine fir, and lodgepole pine and exists in very close proximity, all with different needs and issues.  While in the Black Hills the predominate tree species, by far, is ponderosa pine.  Ponderosas in the Black Hills have been hit hard by mountain pine beetle while the Big Horns has been largely spared this fate.

Seeing how a mixed conifer forest is managed, balancing different light tolerances and regeneration levels reminds me of the issues facing Eastern forests.  One thing that I had not anticipated is the destruction being caused by white pine blister rust.  Limber pine is a white pine, generally having five needled, and there was not one stand that we saw which was not infected.  As such, there have been a lot of sanitation harvests to stimulate regeneration and reduce fuel loads.  This is one of the main purposes behind the timber sale we worked on, improving the health of the forest.  The douglas-fir are showing their age as well as some massive lodge pole pine; these trees are reaching the end of their natural life and instead of creating excessive down woody debris a useful product can be created.

Besides the fun new trees to look at there was so much wildlife.  Just driving to our work site we saw a huge bull moose eating some willow.  It’s amazing just how big they are.  There was also amazing raptors present; we saw countless hawks as well as a bald, golden eagle and a northern harrier.

A great place to spend the week in the Big Horns

Our final day in the Big Horns, a great view of Cloud Peak. Checking out a burn site and firewood sale. Such a great ending to a great week.

While in the Big Horns we were able to go to a Society of American Foresters meeting.  This is a great organization that provides a lot of information on what is happening within the forestry arena.  We met at and got a tour of the Tensleep Nature Conservancy Preserve.  This is a great place to visit, amazing views and an abundance of petroglyphs. If you are in the area it is worth a stop.

Back in the Black Hills the end of the tourist season finally came and with it the last hurrahs of many of the places that have been so much fun over the summer.  Custer State Park, home of one of the largest bison herds, has an annual roundup where they collect the bison and preform health checkups and have an auction.  It was amazing seeing 25 people on horseback trying to corral wild animals, at times the bison were very uncooperative. I just can’t believe that the summer is almost over and I have to go back to real life.

Bull Moose eating willow

Hazelton Peaks, this is just some of the great views and settings that I get to experience.

I can’t believe the summer has flown by so fast; I have started to see some of our few deciduous trees turn colors, it’s August! This past month has been very busy, my fellow intern and I were able to get UTV training to help access some of our inventory units. As with a lot of BLM land in northeastern Wyoming, several of our project locations are surrounded by private land, and with the grasses finally curing, the landowner is worried about grass fires and so we get to use the UTV. This project is primarily to reduce the risk of mountain pine beetles through implementing a timber sale. This location is just south of Sundance and for any of you who likes classic movies this is where the “Kid” got his name. One of the great things about this project location is that there are views of Devils Tower on the horizon. So every day we get to eat our lunch with some amazing views with cows looking on.

A weekend excursion to Mt Rushmore

A Mama and her calf

A great place to work

Our lunch companion

Trees will grow anywhere, this juniper is growing on the side of Devils Tower

Besides the projects that we have been working on throughout the summer, there have been opportunities to help out other field offices. Last week we were helping a fire ecologist and a state forester assess and inventory land for a timber sale, with the final goal of reducing tree densities. With the reduction of tree densities, the likelihood of a catastrophic crown fire is reduced. It was amazing to work with and learn from people who are professionals, even if they scoff at that title. As the project location was approximately 3 hours from our field office, the other intern and I were able to camp in southern Montana next to the Powder River. All I can say is that car camping has so many benefits over backpacking. This is one of the aspects of this internship that I have really enjoyed, working with different people and learning aspects of this job that I had not even considered.

Our Montana campsite

Orange mound formations Badlands

The second month in the Black Hills has been very eventful. After one of the wettest early summers on record the Hills are still lush and green, very different than normal. In the office I hear people commenting on how streams are still running as well as the lack of fire ban. The lack of fire ban is one thing that has been great.  Where I am staying there is a fire pit, so my roommates and I have been grilling and roasting marshmallows often.

The projects that my coworker and I have been working on are finally progressing. The fuels-wildlife project is done save a final walk-through, and let me say I am happy it is over. The work has yet to be scheduled, but will probably be completed next spring. What we are trying to do is improve mule deer winter forage range by removing ponderosa pine to release mountain mahogany. At the same time we are creating a meadow area on the flatter areas. When we were lying out and designing the different areas we ran into problems that I had never thought about much before. While some areas are better off on paper as mountain mahogany, the logistics of getting men and machine in to do the work prohibits its inclusion into the project. There are some areas that are over 120˚ slopes with loose shale “soil”, these areas while in need of management will not be included.

The other project for this summer is a timber sale.  One nice thing about the BLM is that the timber sales are mainly about improving the health of the forest. The timber sale is on approximately 250 acres, however there are some areas that are canyons and will not be touched. It is these areas that some massive old ponderosa pine coexists next to an aspen stand, chokecherry, and the only oak in the Hills, bur oak. Being able to explore and see things that most people won’t is one of the hidden gems of this type of internship.
But it has not been all work and no play in the Black Hills, I am constantly amazed at what there is to do here. Some of them are amazing, others are pure tourist’s traps. One of the surprising finds is Custer State Park, this place has it all. They have one of the largest bison herds, elk, pronghorn, deer and a prairie dog town. There are also two very scary roads with amazing views of unique geologic landforms. What makes these roads scary are that they are so narrow there is not even a center line, along with almost constant blind turns and four single car tunnels. But it was worth it. The other CLM intern and I also went for a weekend trip to Badlands National Park, all I can say is that it is a great place to visit if you have the chance, just don’t feed the prairie dogs, they have plague! Our first night we were treated to an amazing lightning show, until it started pouring on us. It rained off and on all night, but my tent kept me dry. Looking forward to what the rest of the summer holds.

Trees in the Badlands!

Badlands Vista

Badlands Pinnacles

Badlands Drive

It has been a whirlwind of a month.  Moving out to Wyoming has been both interesting and fun.  I am stationed in the Newcastle Field Office, which is 17 miles west of the South Dakota border.  My fellow intern and I are lucky in that we have access to government housing.  It just has a few drawbacks, like no internet or cell phone service, but we have gotten used to it.  This just means finding creative ways to spend free time.  It is great living here because with the lack of internet I tend to explore the area more.  It is an amazing area.  There are several National Forests, National Parks, and National Monuments outside the door.  These places include Devils Tower, the Black Hills, Jewel Cave, Wind Cave, Yellowstone, the Big Horns and many others.

Every year our office hosts a weeklong camp for middle schoolers showing what field science is like and the different opportunities out there.  Everyone had a fun week with the kids camping out and the adults in a small cabin, and let me tell you the cabin was very nice when thunderstorms came rolling in.

There was a lot to do every day; we had surveying, astronomy lessons, forest inventory, fire ecology, water and stream health, and wildland firefighters.  The firefighters got the kids really excited, there was a huge truck and they got to try on field packs and roll out hoses.  The kids had a lot of fun trying to outdo each other in what they could carry; it was funny seeing a ten year old carrying 50 pounds of gear.  While helping the kids was fun, one of the highlights for me was climbing to the top of a fire tower at sunset, this is something that you just don’t get in the East.  Overall helping the kids discover new ways to enjoy the outdoors was very rewarding.

Much of the past few weeks have been fun.  It is nice to start getting into the meat of our summer projects.  We have three projects all at different stages of completion.  As the internship is focused on forestry, the projects concern different types of forest management objectives.  Of the three projects, one is almost competed and is almost ready to be summited for bid.  This means that loggers are going to be bidding on the right to harvest the tract of land.  All of this is within the overall goal of reducing the forests susceptibility to mountain pine beetle and promote wildlife habitat.  The other two projects, one a meadow restoration and wildlife habitat improvement and the other a timber sale to promote forest health are where the bulk of the field work will be focused on. Can’t wait to to see how the summer will turn out.