I never pictured myself spending so much time sending emails, working with spatial data, troubleshooting network/general computer issues and designing vegetation monitoring recommendations this early in my career, but hey, I’ll take it!

It’s been a busy winter since arriving back to Anchorage from the National Native Seed Conference in Washington DC. I was tasked with a smorgasbord of jobs to complete and have spent about 95% of my time staring intensely at a computer monitor.

During this period, I have completed the following tasks:

• Developed a workflow for determining ideal sampling size of line-point intercept (LPI) plots in mine reclamation sites based on previous year’s data.

• Generated and digitized polygon features from invasive plant survey data in the form of GPS coordinates taken in the White Mountains and Nulato Hills near Fairbanks, AK in 2016. The fate of this data resided in the National Invasive Species Information Management System (NISIMS) and the Alaska Exotic Plant Information Clearinghouse (AKEPIC)

I obtained a wealth of information and invaluable help from the AIM Monitoring Manual for Grassland, Shrubland and Savanna Ecosystems, The Landscape Toolbox and a few generous folks at the BLM National Operations Center (NOC). Without these reference tools this would have taken me all winter! The Landscape Toolbox website is a monster system of tools and resources that can save land managers an awesome amount of money. Solid job to those involved in it’s development! *fist pump*.

For the NISIMS project, feature layers were to be imported into the AK state spatial database engine (sde) and ultimately the national sde. NISIMS is quite the system, and anyone who has experience working with the database network knows it’s complexity. Due to this, some training is necessary to fully comprehend and successfully execute the steps from mobile device to, ultimately, the national sde. Luckily there exists a plethora of online help documents and training videos located on the NISIMS sharepoint site, and a strong support staff available both at the NOC and within the state offices.  I’ll spare the details, but it took me a minute to finally obtain the proper flat file geodatabase and align my spatial data with the attribute table seen in Photo 3.

With every day logged into ArcMap, I become savvier with the software, and tasks that once took me several days now take me an afternoon. What a learning experience this has been, and I am starting to feel truly competent in with ArcMap geoprocessing tools, NISIMS data processing and navigation/permissions within government networks.

Photo 1. Point feature to polygon conversion. Top left – right: full extent of point feature data from surveys conducted in the White Mountains, zoomed extent of several days worth of surveys, line features grouped together logically by day and space (output generated from points to line tool). Bottom left-right: 150 ft wide buffers generated from line features, original point feature layer with points buffered 1 acre on top of buffered line features, final polygons generated by dissolving group fields… and voilà! A unique polygon feature for every survey!

Photo 2. Edit feature tool used for digitization of larger area surveyed near camp.

Photo 3. Attribute table with NISIMS required fields. This feature layer was pulled from a flat file geodatabase, and each field contains regularly updated domain attribute values.

Aside from the above projects, I have also been working on QA and QC of Forest Vegetation Inventory System (FORVIS). The FORVIS surveys generally consist of two parts; first, a walkthrough where forest characteristics, including understory vegetation and fuel loading, are described, and second, a plot survey where specific information is collected on individual trees (species, age, height, DBH, etc.). The ultimate fate of the plots is in theory the Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS), a model developed for stand examinations. Certain inventory design information, stand-level variables and tree data information are required for the model to run correctly. Many of these fields are missing in the existing data, but can be easily determined to ensure the information we have meets the FVS requirements. Since Alaska has yet to introduce an FVS, this data will help facilitate the generation of a model for the state.

It’s been a good winter with the BLM, without doubt being both productive and educational. Whenever possible, I have taken advantage of my weekends in the snowy Chugach and Kenai Mountains. The theme of my weekend warrior missions has been backcountry skiing, or splitboarding in my case. It’s an intoxicating effort, and I foresee it being a part of my life for years to come.

Traversing a ridgeline in the Kenai Mountains in search of the coveted fresh line.

Of my beloved experiences in the silent winter mountains is hearing a faint thumping sound, and soon realizing it’s the sound of my heart beating.

The long days are returning, and it’s starting to feel like spring is in the near future. Before I know it we will once again be experiencing the long, fruitful summer days of the Alaskan summer.

Here’s to the changing seasons, and the rise of photosynthetic activity which keeps us all employed!

Cheers,

Jacob

Winter has happily settled itself in Anchorage-area. 185 inches of snowfall have been recorded at Alyeska Resort in 2017, leaving no doubt a true winter has returned despite several years of absence.

Photo 1. Alaska’s Kenai Mountains / Photo Jacob DeKraai

My presence in Anchorage has been facilitated by acceptance into a second Conservation and Land Management (CLM) internship, and although both internships were based in Alaska, the experiences are not comparable. The dramatic move from Copper Center (pop. 328) to the busy hub of Anchorage (300,000+) was initially a shock, but I have finally acclimated to city life. I can get used to traffic, angry people, shopping malls and higher cost of living, but most difficult to stomach was the necessary change in work attire from rubber boots to dress shoes.

I was brought onto the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) Alaska team to work on several projects this winter season and assist in numerous botany projects the subsequent summer. The following tasks were of highest priority upon joining the team:

• Prepare poster presentation and write-up to illustrate Seeds of Success (SOS) accomplishments in AK and how they integrate into the overall execution of BLM-facilitated mine reclamations. The poster was to be displayed at the National Native Seed Conference in Washington DC.
• Assist in the design of monitoring regimes on mine reclamations for maximum statistical strength
• Digitize new polygons from survey points during previous season’s invasive plant surveys and move into National Invasive Species Information Management System (NISIMS) database.
• Help describe state and transition models for mine sites.

Developing the presentation for the Native Seed Conference was my first task, and initiated my investigations into the workings of BLM AK botany projects. In execution of this project, I have acquired valuable knowledge regarding the agency, the extent of SOS efforts, policies on mine reclamation, reclamations underway, native plant material production, alignment of efforts with the National Seed Strategy, and most importantly, partnerships necessary to make all of this happen.

Having the opportunity to contribute at the conference had me eager about my future in the current movement of native plant material production. I was honored to join my mentor in DC and experience the collaboration of many passionate, dedicated people working together to execute the National Seed Strategy. From small-scale private collectors to large, commercial growers to PhD students studying comparative germination requirements of upland sedges, all walks of life were present at the conference. Despite this diverse group, the atmosphere reflected that of a community with vested interest in others’ triumphs/discoveries.

Photo 2. The National Native Seed Conference / Photo Jacob DeKraai

Photo 3. Alaska Seeds of Success Program poster presentation / Photo BLM

All this talk of native seed has led to increased thought on the subject matter. In an effort to improve my literacy on the plight of native seed, I have turned to contemporary literature. I recently began reading the book “Seedtime” by Scott Chaskey. A poet and proponent of plant biodiversity, in his book he has illustrated the following analogy:

“Encapsulated in each seed is a story, a story held in a state of rest until released. Only with significant patience and effort can we interpret this language, which gradually is revealed as the cotyledons, or first leaves, unfold from a seed’s invisible center. A plants coming into being, or maturation, is such a quiet progression that we tend instead to focus on the fruit, the colorful prize of production and the vessel of taste. To grasp the whole story, however, we will have to look at the structure of a flower, how plants have evolved to attract pollinators, and how a flowering plant produces seed. Our entire food supply is a gift of the angiosperm revolution – the magnificent event that introduced flowering plants to the world 140 million years ago – and our heath and food futures are entwined with the way in which we choose to nurture or manipulate the seeds of that natural revolution.” – Scott Chaskey

In the US, 17,000 plant species tell individual tales together composing a complete anthology of plant evolution. This anthology represents both the evolutionary history of flora and, if also containing spacial information, the guidelines of how each individual tale branched, changed and is now presented differently in varying environments. The tales remain the same, but slight variations have led to stories with local adaptions, unique and individual.

In a time of mass habitat destruction, we wonder how many unique stories we have permanently lost. Genetically appropriate seed is a key component to increased success in ecological restoration.

As the conference began to wind down, I started reflecting on my goals as a young conservationist. Beyond my work as a CLM intern, how do I positively impact the National Seed Strategy? Do I join the restoration community or pursue integration into the native seed industry? Finding a niche can be difficult, and it’s easy to feel without direction in a room full of accomplished professionals of diverse disciplines. I imagine this is a common thought of many up-and-comers in our field, but those of us working in these botany projects must find pride in our work. That invasive plant survey, that seed collection in Idaho or that week you spent doing inventories for a rare plant and didn’t find a thing. These are all small chunks of information and material that consolidate into large informational packets or accumulations. These informational packets are used to help make decisions that impact our cause, and every single accession is part of an overall accumulation, increasing the genetic diversity of our seedbanks.

What an exciting time to be alive. We have the opportunity to be engaged in a movement for science, conservation and ecosystem health. Protectors of the past and activists for the future. Pretty cool.  For now I remain focused on current efforts with the BLM and maintain excitement to support the National Native Plant Materials Development Program and the Native Seed Strategy through SOS and mine reclamation in the state of Alaska.

Thanks for reading!

Jacob

Yesterday was the Fall equinox for our latitude, which means our days are drastically getting shorter: approximately 5:35 minutes per day in the months of September and October. At this rate, although the day length difference does begin to decrease with a tapering effect, at the end of October we have a sunrise at 9:30 am and sunset at 6:00 pm. At the end of November, 9:44 am and 3:52 pm. Aye, winter is upon us.

The Equinox also allowed the opportunity to reflect on a productive field season; friendships made, concepts learned, surveys conducted, data collected and water conserved (who needs showers?).

Field-family photo

Too much time in the backcountry can make you behave quite strangely.

After a season of primarily surveys and monitoring, it was refreshing to finally do some seed collection for the Wrangell-St. Elias native seed bank. Since our focus for the seed is restoration in disturbed areas of the park, primary successors were the focus of the collections. Two weeks were spent scouting and collecting from Calamagrostis canadensis and Elymus trachycaulus and Oxytropis campestrus populations, while also finding time to obtain some smaller collections of various wildflowers and some less abundant grasses. We were lucky enough to have a lovely SCA crew working with us during this period and it dramatically increased our productivity. As it turns out, 10 individuals can collect an awesome amount of seed in 2 weeks. Thanks guys! As far as seed processing and refinement goes, we processed most of the small collections ourselves, but our larger collections will soon be sent off to a plant materials center once dry.

A seed mix was derived from a portion of this years seed, along with that from previous years. The goal was to restore vegetation with this seed mix to a series of gravel slopes in the Kennecott Historic Mining District within the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park. With the help of the SCA crew that aided us in our collections, the first stage of a small restoration was conducted in the areas. Fingers crossed for successful germination!

Native seed mix to be sown in Kennecott

Collecting Bromus ciliatus in the Wrangell Mountains

As the field season is officially over, we start to find odds and ends things to fill our days; Preparation of voucher specimen for placement in the herbarium, seed cleaning, educational programs and so on. Without a doubt most time consuming of tasks will be writing our 2016 Summer Report. The end is near, and it certainly feels odd writing a summary report for this season.

Synced with the Equinox are many more Alaskan pleasantries. Here in Alaska, this part of the year is a wonderful time for folks to come together and celebrate with recently acquired game, particularly moose and caribou. I am not much a fan of red meat, but caribou heart just may be the most incredible muscle tissue I have ever consumed.

In other news, a winemaking project with blackcurrants and blueberries will be wrapping up soon, and we are quickly accumulating snow on the glaciers in Thompson Pass, which means backcountry ski/snowboard season is here. October will be swell.

Delicious caribou heart.

This candid male moose had an uncomfortably small flight zone earlier this summer. I wonder if he escaped the ravenous hunters this fall.

The summer—no sweeter was ever;

   The sunshiny woods all athrill;

The grayling aleap in the river,

   The bighorn asleep on the hill.

The strong life that never knows harness;

   The wilds where the caribou call;

The freshness, the freedom, the farness—

   O God! how I’m stuck on it all.

The winter! the brightness that blinds you,

   The white land locked tight as a drum,

The cold fear that follows and finds you,

   The silence that bludgeons you dumb.

The snows that are older than history,

   The woods where the weird shadows slant;

The stillness, the moonlight, the mystery,

   I’ve bade ’em good-by—but I can’t.

– Robert Service

I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll ever leave this place.

Above Nabesna Mine with a glimpse of the Nabesna River. The Nabesna River is famously fed by Nabesna Glacier, the longest valley glacier in North America.