Like every field season, 2017 is coming to an end. As I found myself in the midst of cool fall air, crunchy leaves under my feet, and spontaneous Colorado snow, I was still blessed with a few cool season SOS collections before packing my plant press away for the winter.

Garden Park, Marsh Quarry Trail, just north of Canon City. The landscape is riddled with Boulteloua gracilis and Bouteloua curtipendula, both of which I collected for Seeds of Success. Photo: B. Palmer

Bouteloua gracilis is quite possibly the easiest grass to identify, thanks to its one-sided rachis! Thus, probably making it one of my favorite grasses. I was able to make three separate B. gracilis collections before the season ended. Photo: B. Palmer

We also spent one of our last field days on a day trip up to Walden, CO, a three-hour drive from the State Office, not for seed collecting, but to install moisture sensors. My mentor had ordered soil moisture sensors/probes to have installed for one of the species the BLM monitors, the federally endangered Phacelia formosula, North Park phacelia. Of all the species we have monitored this summer, this is one that has really taken a downward spiral – we hardly saw any while we were there earlier in the summer. We are hoping that keeping track of the soil moisture content of the different areas will help explain the mysterious disappearance of the little rare and endangered North Park phacelia. So we installed these soil moisture sensors at the five sites that are monitored, because collecting a little more data couldn’t hurt!

CLM intern Taryn Contento is digging a hole in the semi-frozen ground of mid-October, where the sensors were eventually inserted into the ground. Taryn did most of the digging, I did most of the recording! Probes were set at 6″ and 12″ below ground, and buried with the console just outside each Phacelia formosula plot, which will record the data of the sensors over the year, until checked up on. Photo: B. Palmer

The HOBO soil moisture sensor equipment. The heavy-duty plastic box contains the console recording the data, and sitting on top of it is one of two soil moisture probes that goes with each unit. Photo: B. Palmer

But with the end of all field seasons follows the office work that got put off during that season. All important and crucial of course, but easy to put aside when you could enjoy a beautiful day outside in the field instead. However, because it is getting more brisk, I find myself enjoying a hot drink at my computer in my cubicle more and more…that is, with small walking breaks up and down the stairs every once in a while, since the sedentary lifestyle is obviously not for me on a full-time basis.

I have spent a lot of time preparing things for the next season, and identifying plants I have pressed and brought back to the office. Over two months ago, our crew worked on Modified Whittiker plots, species diversity plots that are associated with T&E work of Eutrema penlandii, an uncommon endemic to the Mosquito Range of the Southern Rockies. These plots are set up near areas we monitor for E. penlandii, and we try to determine all the species found within a given area to see how the plant diversity/richness changes over time. We then keep a record of the species found, and update the record in the form of a book of alpine plants in that range to use in future years. For things we could not identify while in the field, we took voucher specimens to look at later…and lo, it is now later! The difficult ones consisted of plants from the Asteraceae, grasses, sedges, and Drabas. The task was tedious and daunting (though not impossible), at least at first, because our office does not have a dissecting scope. Crazy, right? Thankfully, the other CLM intern that is also working in the Colorado State Office, Taryn, was willing to bring in her scope to the office to let me use! And my, how things changed once I got to use that dissecting scope, and I flew through the dichotomous keys with ease. I forgot how fun it is to key things out…when you know the terminology, and can see the parts, from the depths of plant identification, all the sudden everything becomes clear!

Using the dissecting scope, I was able to get a good look of the 2mm long peryginia, and easily determine this sedge to be the uncommon Western single-spike sedge, Carex scirpoidea ssp. pseudoscirpoidea! Woo! Photo: B. Palmer

I have also stayed busy enough wrapping up the Seeds of Success paperwork. Editing and entering data forms, writing the annual report, downloading collection pictures, and making herbarium voucher labels are all a part of end-of season wrap-up. I even started an extensive Target list for the 2018 CLM intern (you lucky dog, you!) to hopefully make the their life easier when it comes to scouting for plant populations. As an intern that may not have had all the experience in the world when I first started, I would have found it helpful to have a little more information about areas to scout for SOS when I started. For those of you that don’t know Colorado very well, we have an extensive range of ecoregions and zones within a small portion of the state. So I decided to enhance next year’s target list, so that maybe whoever is in my shoes next year can have a better idea of how to plan their summer. I made the list to include: interested species, phenology, habitat, and general areas of where one would typically find them, based on the BLM field office and associated counties. No one should have problems finding populations next year! I hope. That is, as long as it isn’t too far a drive for them.

Any person meant to be in the field may often feel the balls and chains of office work dragging them down, but I decided to break it up this past week with a trip to the University of Colorado Boulder. When looking at the list of regional herbaria to send my SOS vouchers to, I decided to go with CU because (1) I went to CU for my undergraduate degree, so I was familiar with their herbarium; and (2) the curator of the COLO herbarium was my plant systematics professor…so I could show off the plant-pressing skills I learned from her when I was a student! So off I went to the CU herbarium, with CLM intern Taryn, to check out the COLO herbarium once again. Taryn had not seen this herbarium yet, so I thought it would be a treat to bring her along. Can you believe they have 560,000 specimens stored there?! I got to drop off my SOS specimens, and we got a wonderful tour of the herbarium. Can you think of a better way to spend an afternoon?

A Penstemon osterhoutii specimen I expertly pressed for one of my collections that will consider the University of Colorado herbarium home for the next few hundred years. What an honor! Photo: B. Palmer

Like all things, my second year as a Conservation and Land Management intern is coming to an end. What a wonderful experience it has been! I was blessed to work outside, with a delightful, refreshing crew, in the clean mountain air of Colorado, practicing plant conservation and the other duties of a botanist. Being here in this internship has once again firmly established that this is a line of work I would love to do for many, many years to come.

A beautiful day and magnificent view from earlier in the season, from Mosquito Pass in the Southern Rocky Mountains. We live in a beautiful world, and need to preserve what we can! This has been one fantastic field season!

-Brooke Palmer, Colorado State Office, Lakewood, CO.

Fall. It is truly the most wonderful time of year. Not because of the pumpkin-spiced everything (which I believe to be an overrated economical addition to the season, not to mention I am allergic to cinnamon). Rather, it is because of the warm autumn yellows, reds, and oranges, the cool, crisp air and frost on the tips of the mountains, and the feeling of accomplishment after a busy field season.

Fall colors presenting themselves and tips of mountain tops white with new snow in the distance, near Berthoud Pass, Colorado. Photo: B. Palmer.

Speaking of which, it has been one whirlwind of a season! I have seen so many fantastic places, and have been able to get some marvelous work experience. I am honored to have been a part of the T&E monitoring projects of the Colorado BLM as well as a small part in Seeds of Success.

Just weeks ago we finished up our last full (not to mention hot) week of field work from Montrose, Colorado. Our crew went to check out the rare deserty-endemic, Eriogonum peniliophylum. Its demography is very restricted to Mancos Shale scrubland, only found in this little area on the western slope of Colorado. We could easily see the landscape was parched, as we drove to monitoring sites that looked like they haven’t gotten any rain in months! The little buckwheat plants were holding on though; despite their ramshackle appearances and low reproductive numbers, they seemed to be doing all right, at least from second glance.

The drab colors of drought – grays and browns oh my. I don’t think I saw a single green color those few days we were out there! Photo: B. Palmer

A very dried out – but still living – Eriogonum penilophyllum. This was a normal sight those few days we monitored this plant.

On this same trip I also took part in some point-in-time counts for Sclerocactus glaucus. This was one of the first things we monitored in the season, so it was neat to go back in the end of the season to see these little cacti again – feels like I have just about come full circle. My mentor wanted to include landscape aspects of this species in the yearly review of the cactus, and this meant including as many point-in-time counts as possible. To jog your memory, the point-in-time helps calculate the density of the populations with a high confidence interval, and compare populations to each other to understand what is going on with those populations at a landscape level. The multiple point-in-time plots we calculated varied greatly, but now we are a step closer at understanding landscape population levels, and hopefully can use these data to understand how it may change in future years.

Although we saw Sclerocactus glaucus in the spring with cute little flowers, with some difficulty we were able to find these in the wrong time of the season for the point-in-time counts…little cacti pups and seedlings included! . Photo: B. Palmer

The crews setting up a point-in-time for Sclerocactus glaucus. We met up with seasonal workers from the Uncompahgre (Montrose) Field Office and Grand Junction field office, all of which have been helping out with finding Sclerocactus glaucus populations. Photo by: B. Palmer

Of course, I have been able to make a few more SOS collections in between helping with the Threatened and Endangered (T&E) plant monitoring. Between T&E and SOS, it has been a very busy season and difficult to get a lot of collections, but I am glad I have been able to contribute even at least a little. It has been very rewarding to go out in the field and see the plethora of seeds that have so much potential, yet at the same time, I am a little disappointed that I couldn’t get to them all on my own. Of course, I hope to have a few more collections made in the coming weeks, before the first freeze on the Front Range.

A dried-out and ready -to-collect population of Orthocarpus luteus, Yellow owl-clover. One of many SOS collections I was fortunate enough in getting.  Photo: B. Palmer

With the exception of a few cool season grass collections (and hopefully a sagebrush or two), as the days shorten, the colors change, and the morning air becomes brisk, the field season comes to a close. One of our last days out, the Colorado State Office Crew drove up to Rifle, Colorado. We were welcomed with changing colors of the Aspens on our way there, and yet again, I noticed the field season coming around full-circle. The first trip we took was to monitor a milkvetch (Astragalus debequaeus) in the same area of Rifle, Colorado, Anvil Points. And yet here we were just a few days ago, on one of the last trips of the season to monitor Penstemon debilis. On our way to the site I was pleasantly surprised with one more SOS collection, a native thistle only found in two counties of Colorado.

Anvil Points, a location of an old, abandoned oil shale mine, and also home to many Colorado native and endemic plants. Photo: B. Palmer

Instead of helping out with the Penstemon debilis monitoring plot (thankfully there was lots of help), I decided to take advantage of the hundreds of fruiting Cirsium barnebyi that lined the road and slopes on the way up the side of the shale mountain. Even though I prickled and poked my hands continuously while grabbing the heads, I am happy to make SOS collections when and where I can! Photo: B. Palmer

I believe I took a picture of a similar sight months ago back in May, marking my first day of field season, and this as one of my last of 2017. Photo: B. Palmer

As I said before, it is the most wonderful time of year. I love autumn, and everything that goes with it – the soft, warm colors, the crisp morning air, the season of hot cocoa (and yes, pumpkin-spiced lattes). But this year, it includes the feeling of a successful, accomplished season – like I have been able to contribute, even at least a little, to the world. Before I wanted into botany, I previously worked as a line cook, with the goal of becoming a chef. I can honestly say I never felt the way about that job as I currently do now. I love this line of work, and hope I can continue down this path in the future. What does the future hold? Who knows – I will be taking the GRE in the coming months, and applying to graduate school for either plant conservation of plant phylogenetics, so I imagine going back to school may be near. What I do know now is that the CLM has been a wonderful program to be involved in, and I couldn’t have asked for a better crew to work with this last summer.

These guys are intelligent, hard working, and good sports! I have learned to much from all of them, and I am happy to have been able to work with them for the 2017 field season! From left: BLM State Botanist Carol Dawson, former CLM intern and BLM contractor Phil Krening, CLM intern Taryn Contento, and of course, myself.

Thanks for an incredible journey CLM!

-Brooke Palmer, Colorado State Office BLM

When I waited for my time to start my internship with the Lakewood, CO State BLM Office over a month ago, time practically stood still. Now that I have already worked nearly a month, the beginning of my internship has been a blur!

This is the second year I have been in the Conservation and Land Management Internship Program. For those of you that don’t know me well, I started my first year as a CLM intern in Carlsbad, NM, collecting seeds for the Seeds of Success Program. Long story short, it was an incredible journey and crazy experience, yet, must have been good enough to try the internship a second time around in a different location this year! Although I would suggest young adults to travel around and try living/working in new places, I am happy to say that I got placed this year close to home, close to my husband and two dogs. I am a Colorado Native working in the BLM Colorado State Office, only 15 minutes from home! As I was last year, my main focus will be working with the Seeds of Success (SOS) Program yet again, collecting common native seeds from BLM lands of Colorado. Although, I am excited to also be a small part in helping with Colorado rare and sensitive plant monitoring.

My first week started a little slow, as I am sure was the case for other CLM interns across the country. I toured the office, met employees, found a cubicle to take refuge in for the duration of my internship. I anxiously waited for a government ID and computer access to come through. To help the time pass by, I researched Colorado natives and began to hone in my plant ID skills, as these qualities will be crucial this field season. I also was the lucky duck of assembling plant tags (metal numbered tags attached to long, large, galvanized nails) for use in the long-term rare, sensitive, and endangered plant monitoring projects going on.

A single plant ID tag, to be placed near whatever plant will be monitored in the future. The tag is attached to thin wire, then wrapped around a nail…and meant for many years of use once put in the ground! Photo by B. Palmer

However, I was off and running by the second week of work – already in the field! My SOS work has not lifted off the ground quite yet, so I tagged along with the rare and sensitive plant monitoring group (CLM intern Taryn, Phil, and my mentor Carol Dawson) to check out Astragalus debequaeus, near Silt, Colorado.

Near Rifle, Colorado in Garfield County. Not a bad site to see on the first day of field work in Colorado, hiking to an Astragalus debequaeus macro-plot. Photo by B. Palmer

Astragalus debequaeus, commonly known as De Beque Milkvetch, is a Colorado endemic, and one of many subjects of long term rare plant research. Monitoring this plant was a valuable experience for me, as this was my first time doing this type of fieldwork, setting up plots to record data on a species of interest. I learned the process quickly: we traveled to long-term macro-plots, set up the measuring tapes, and checked the number of seedlings, vegetative, and reproductive A. debequaeus found at random transects within the marcoplot. New seedlings were tagged, and old ones hopefully were still tagged from years past. The idea is to get a sense of the mean plant density, and see if we can detect a change in the population’s density over time. I love the fact that research can be done outside of academia…a possible reason to stay in this type of work in the future.

The group of us set up a plot at an area we called North Webster Mesa, in Rifle, CO. The macro-plot is 36m x 20m, and plants in random transects along the 20m side were counted. Photo by B. Palmer

A tagged A. debequaeus plant within one of the transects. Data is collected from this and other plots, and later analyzed back at the office, using a paired t-test. Photo by B. Palmer

For that first trip of ours, it was nearly all Astragalus all the time! However, while scouting for different populations to setup another macroplot, we stumbled upon some other pretty neat plants that one would only see on the Colorado Western Slope!

While scouting for A. debequaeus populations, I stumbled across this beautiful common bloom – Echinocereus triglochidiatus. Photo by B. Palmer

We also stumbled across a not-so-common bloom: Sclerocactus glaucus (Colorado Hookless Cactus), a rare, endemic Colorado gem, and one we were schedule to monitor the following week. Photo by B. Palmer

Of course, we saw a few more things than Astragalus and Cactus. Here is the little common plant Townsendia incana, Hoary Easter Daisy. Photo by B. Palmer

The next week was just as busy as we rolled into another 5 days of field work. The same group of us took a trip out to Delta, Colorado in search for Sclerocactus glaucus, the endemic Colorado Hookless Cactus. We had stumbled onto some healthy populations the week before, so I was in high hopes that we would have positive results in the coming plots. I had come to realize this area was incredibly dry from a mild winter of little snow and precipitation, and not many flowers were out to be enjoyed.

The Star Nelson Sclerocactus glaucus macroplot/allotment in Delta, Colorado. This was one of the bigger plots we surveyed over the week, the macro-plot encompassing 30m x 70m area. The weather was cold and windy, the area was dry, and vegetation sparse.  Photo by B. Palmer

Not only was the vegetation we saw dried up and crispy, a lot of it was chewed up and stomped on by cattle! Even the saltbushes (Atriplex app.), sagebrush (Artemesia app.), and Galleta grass (Hilaria jamesii) were demolished and munched on (and these are the kinds of plants that are a last-resort food source to cattle. We found it especially true for one of our macro-plot areas placed in the Escalante Canyon and National Conservation Area. Although the soaring sandstone cliffs of the canyon are quite beautiful, it was hard to enjoy among the decimated vegetation below, impacted by cattle of the Escalante Ranch sharing the land nearby.

Escalante Canyon and National Conservation Area, in Delta, Colorado. Cattle from Escalante Ranch frolic through an area we JUST finished surveying for Sclerocactus glaucus. We had just taken the measuring tapes down from the macro plot, when it became blatantly obvious that the cattle were impatiently waiting for us to leave so they could enjoy the area, and stomp all over our little rare cacti looking for food. Photo by B. Palmer

Looking for Sclerocactus glaucus proved to be more difficult than I realized, and it became something of an Easter egg hunt, or what I thought to be a thrilling, tedious game of I Spy. This was especially true during a day we decided to conduct a Point-in-Time Survey of S. glaucus. The idea behind using a point-in-time is to help calculate a population density within a given area. Once the average plant density is found within a reasonable confidence interval, these data are compared to the set long-term plots to see how the species is doing on a landscape level. So we went to an area were there was a previous record (EOR – Element Occurrence Record) of the species being seen here, we branched out, and we searched. We searched for the little cacti, and flagged every one we could find before setting up a plot and counting just about every single Sclerocactus we could find!

One of the few Sclerocactus glaucus I found and flagged while putting together a Point-in-time plot. Notice the drab appearance of the cactus, blending in to the dry, beaten down habitat around it. Hardly any were flowering, making it even more difficult to find the individual plants. Photo by B. Palmer

I am not only a month into the second go-around of this internship, and I have learned oh so much. Until Seeds of Success kicks into gear, I am happy to be working around BLM sensitive, rare, and endangered plants in the meantime playing games of I Spy and Easter egg hunting. I get to travel around Colorado, work outdoors, enjoy the little things. I am also working with great, fun people full of positive vibes, and you can’t ask for more than that. I am excited for what the future brings me!

To all the other new and returning CLM interns out there: wishing you all safe travels and exciting adventures at the beginning of this field season. This is Brooke Palmer from the Lakewood, Colorado, BLM State Office. Until next time!

Fun times making transects, looking for plants with awesome coworkers, not to mention little Collared Lizards! Looking forward to another field season as a CLM intern, closer to home! Photo by B. Palmer

Black River, Eddy County, NM. A nice day to look for SOS collections. Photo taken by B. Palmer

I have spent five months in Carlsbad, NM as an intern working with the Bureau of Land Management. People still ask me what I was doing here, and why did I go. I look back and think…why did I come? The upfront answer is quite simple: I came to get experience in a career I was hoping to pursue. It gave me a chance to practice the skills I have learned throughout my school and education. The internship program focuses on getting recent graduates interested in careers revolving around conservation and botany, careers I am told that are on the brink of endangerment.

This will be my final post about my internship experience in Carlsbad, NM. I was asked to reflect back on my experience to be able to share it with future CLM interns. Of course, you can get a sense of my experience through my previous posts, but reflection is an important part of understanding recent experiences, especially one such as this. I want to start by mentioning that working in Carlsbad has been one of the most enriching experiences of my life, and I do not regret any bit of coming here. I saw many amazing things, and met many different people. Yet at the same time, as elevating as the internship was, it was also a very difficult experience.

The average day in the field looks like, flowers, government rig, oil pad, and all. Photo taken by B. Palmer

I often relate my life to Paulo Coelho’s “The Alchemist,” a delightful book I read way back in high school that left an everlasting impression on me. This is where I start my reflection of my internship:

“People are capable at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”

About three years ago, I spent a field season at the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory in Gothic, Colorado; it was here I was introduced to plant science, to botany. I got to spend my summer in fields of wildflowers, studying how they work, their role in the mountains. Ever since this experience, I was hooked. Throughout school I dreamed of the day I would be a researcher working in botany in some shape or form. There are some people in life that believe they need to get a job, any stupid job that will pay the bills, and often times find themselves miserable where they are at. But if you have a dream, what is keeping you from following through? The only thing keeping most people from pursuing their dreams are themselves. Again, this is where I start: I found out about this internship, and found it would help me pursue my dreams and long-term goals. After spending time in a federal agency and botanical field the last five months, I found this is still a career I would like to pursue. I would highly suggest this internship program to anyone interested in pursuing wildlife biology or field botany. We are all capable of following our dreams and finding a career in our lives that pays the bills, but also being able to do something we enjoy every single day. I can tell you that on more than one occasion, I found myself saying “I can’t believe they pay me to hike and hunt for wildflowers!” Everyone should have that chance; that chance to tell yourself “I can’t believe they are paying me to do what they call ‘work’!”

Fields and fields of Helianthus petiolaris in the New Mexico dunes country, under the desert sun. Photo taken by B. Palmer

This brings me to my second reflection point about myself, in the words of Mr. Coelho:

“Love never keeps a man from pursuing his destiny.”

The people that surround you every day should be supportive, and encourage you to follow your dreams and be happy. This is something that I believe should be a requirement to surviving this internship: supportive people in your life. I have family that were (and still are) happy to push me out the door to travel and experience the world. I don’t think I would have been able to make it all the way through this internship without my people at home encouraging me, supporting my need to get away and try new things, such as moving to Carlsbad for half a year. That being said, tread lightly on this fact: if you have significant others (i.e. boyfriends, girlfriends, spouses…), maybe consider taking them with you. My position was unique in that I left my fiancé at home and we took on the long distance relationship thing so that he did not have to drop his school and job during my internship. Even so, I came home halfway into my internship to get married, then headed back quickly afterwards (for more details, read my previous blog posts). We have been together a long time, but even with our long history, the long distance relationship was still one of the most mentally difficult things I have ever done. So in order to survive your internship experience, here is my advice: make new friends while you are there; the people in the Carlsbad Field Office are incredibly nice and many would be happy to hang out with you after work. Don’t forget to keep in touch with the old ones, and definitely keep supportive people in your life. Of course if possible, drag the ones that really matter out with you. Otherwise leaving home will be mentally straining and difficult, and meeting halfway on the weekends can get expensive. But if the people in your life really love you, they will let you go pursue your destiny.

Halfway into my internship, I went back home to Colorado to get married. With supportive people in your life, anything is possible! Photo taken by. S. Bober

Alright, I am almost finished with the whole reflection thing. Of many more points I could make, I will just make one more point of personal reflection:

“When we love, we always strive to become better than we are. When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better too.“

I think this is probably the biggest takeaway from participating in the CLM internship. This internship gives recent graduates the opportunity to gain experience in a career that appears to be dwindling. It surprised me to find out how little experience people in federal agencies have with botany. Some rangeland employees spray chemicals on “troublesome” flora seemingly without blinking an eye as to how that would negatively affect the ecosystem, only thinking about the money that would be made on giving that poorly treated land to some cattle rancher. People put trust into those who manage our public lands, but some of those people do not seem to fully understand what it takes to maintain healthy ecosystems. My point is that there are very few botany “experts” placed in federal agencies and land management, and this is an excellent program to learn about jobs that need passionate, enthusiastic people. If you go through this program and love what you are doing, then you know that this is the place you should be (and an added note: you don’t have to love the location your placed to still know this is the kind of work you want to continue). I had a very valuable experience working for the BLM, and I absolutely loved working as a Seeds of Success intern. I will be honest, the town itself is a little rough around the edges, but if you love the work, and “strive to become better than [you] are, everything around [you] becomes better too.”

I was told that New Mexico has outstanding sunrises, and most mornings, I was not disappointed. I took this picture just outside the field office in the parking lot, as I was coming into work for a field day.

Now that I have done some reflecting on my experience as a CLM intern, I want to help the next Carlsbad, NM interns out as much as I can. Here are some things to keep in mind for your transition into the Chihuahuan Desert in Carlsbad, NM:

General information about the area:

• Carlsbad, NM is located at one of the northern tips of the Chihuahuan Desert. There are ecotypes here that are seen in very few places in the world. The fine gypsum soils that are located here also house many wonderful endemic plants that you will not see anywhere in the world. So go out and enjoy it whenever possible. The plant life here is truly amazing.

Tiquilia hispidissima, one of many gypsum endemic plants found here in Carlsbad, NM. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Coming up from the Prickly Pear Cactus is an important indicator species of the Chihuahuan Desert, Fouquieria splendens (Ocotillo). Photo taken by B. Palmer

Another gypsum endemic, I believe to be  Anulocaulis leiosolenus, showing off its long stamens. Photo taken by B. Palmer

• Yes, as a Carlsbad intern you are located in the middle of a desert. However, because this desert is at a higher elevation than other deserts in the world, it also makes it slightly cooler than other deserts. So when you are enjoying a 106°F field day, just remember you are not in the Sonoran desert where it is probably 115°F. Don’t worry, most of those days you will probably find an excuse to be inside, and the seasonal monsoons will be around soon after the hottest time of the year.
• Being that you are going to be located in a desert, you may never truly know what the weather will be like, and the patterns are rather sporadic. On a normal year, it will be very hot (in the triple digits) through the most of June and early July. The monsoons will hopefully come towards the end of July to cool things off. What you want to be weary of is the lightening and flash floods. During the monsoons, it will rain every day, so pick and choose wisely where you are going to go so that you don’t get stuck out in the field in a flash flood and thunderstorm. It will still be pretty warm through August, but will cool down in mid-September to the mid-80s and low-90s. I have even experienced a few 70-degree days here, and they are marvelous! Take advantage of them when you can.
• The Carlsbad Field Office will be unlike any other BLM offices in the country. They brag that they are the busiest BLM in the nation, due to the oil and gas business that reign upon the land. Almost everything you do here will be in the shadow of gas and oil pads. Among the oil pads there is also an amazing array of life and animal life, so don’t let the oil life bring you down. One of the reasons interns come here is to help preserve and restore land that the oil and natural gas industry destroys. There is a unique ecosystem here, so make sure to look at that before deciding to say no to the area.

You will often find yourself among the oil fields of southeastern New Mexico. Make sure to enjoy the flora, and be sure to carry your hydrogen sulfide sensor with you. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Despite being gas and oil country of the United States, there is still a lot of beauty to take in. Photo taken by B. Palmer

• Make sure to be involved with the other departments of the field office. As an intern, you will likely be located with the wildlife biology department, but it doesn’t hurt to go out with other departments and try out other things. You are coming here for experience, and going out with the other departments is only going to make you a more well-rounded person, and a marketable employee in the end.

I got to get dirty and go caving in the Parks Ranch gypsum system my third day as an intern. Although I wouldn’t want to do that again, it was still a neat experience! Photo taken by J. Goodbar

I got to go out with the rest of the wildlife biology department to get a non-motorized boat certification. A fun day of work to escape the heat! Photo taken by P. Murphy

When Seeds of Success had not quite been picked up off the dry ground yet, I participated in lizard surveys with the wildlife crew. The pitfall trap is there at the left. Photo taken by N. Montoya

Places to Go: Carlsbad is somewhat of a rustic gem…as it is a town built off of gas and oil, the town itself is stereotypical: Small but widespread, one grocery store, very few things to do in town, and you can smell the natural gas when you walk out your door. It is practically western Texas. But there are quite a few things just outside of Carlsbad that are worth going out to visit on the weekends to save your sanity, when you are tired of being in Carlsbad.

You can drive to Texas in less than an hour, two main ways out of Carlsbad. In my opinion, Carlsbad has actually been taken over by western Texas, and no one has told the rest of New Mexico. Photo taken by N. Montoya

• Carlsbad Caverns: This is the one place that everyone thinks of and goes out to see when they pass through Carlsbad. The Caverns is a short drive from town, and definitely worth visiting at least once. They have an elevator into the actual caverns, but I suggest taking the natural entrance in.
• Washington Ranch, Cottonwood Day Area: The Cottonwood Day Use area is maintained by the BLM, and a little oasis along the Black River, about 40 minutes south of Carlsbad. There are lots of cottonwoods, wildflowers, and even wild turkeys. I liked to go there on lunch breaks when I was out in the field, we also did quite a few collections near there. Even though it’s a popular and busy place on the weekends, an excellent place to sunbathe! There are also some nice hiking trails nearby, including Slaughter Canyon and Rattlesnake Springs.
• La Cuevas Trails: This is a little trail system in the Carlsbad area. If you into hiking and outdoorsy things, this is a nice place to walk around, and maintained by the BLM (and if you are lucky a good place to find rain lilies after the rain!).
• Sitting Bull Falls: This is a very popular area in the Guadalupe mountains, and well-maintained by the forest service. There is a small fee to pay per car that comes in, but definitely worth it! It is a little trickle of a waterfall, and very easy to get to.

Sitting Bull Falls is probably little over an hour away from Carlsbad, but a nice little getaway for a day. Photo taken by B. Palmer

• Bitter Lake Wildlife Refuge: I loved going to this refuge on the weekends! It is located in Northern Roswell, about 2 hours away from Carlsbad. If you are a birder, this is a great place to see waterfowl. In late August/early September, they hold a dragonfly festival. I was even able to see the migration of thousands of Sandhill Cranes the last week of September, the week before I finished my internship!
• Guadalupe Mountains National Park: I only found out about the park in the last month I was in Carlsbad. If you are an avid hiker, than this is an excellent area for you (even if it is located in Texas). We even did a few SOS collections in the park, but would be a great place to go on the weekend. It is also one of the only places to see the changing colors of fall. A few good places in the park include Dog Canyon, McKittrick Canyon, Smith Spring Trail, and Guadalupe Peak.

Just another sunny day in McKittrick Canyon at the Park. Photo taken by B. Palmer

• Cloudcroft and Sunspot: I am from the Colorado foothills where I like to hike in the mountains amidst wonderful pine trees and aspens. Cloudcroft is about a three hour drive, and definitely worth it to get some fresh pine-smelling air. Sunspot is a wonderful 30 minute scenic drive from Cloudcroft, where you can visit a neat but rundown solar observatory.

High-altitude trees found along the scenic drive between Cloudcroft and Sunspot. A great place to visit. Photo taken by B. Palmer

One of the telescopes used to research solar flares and sunspots. Photo taken by B. Palmer

• Alamogordo, NM: To get to Alamogordo, you have to drive through Cloudcroft, so it’s a good to do in the same weekend if you want to save miles on your car. You want to visit White Sands National Monument here. The sand is white, and it is quite a site to see. They offer sunset walks and activities throughout the year that may be worth a visit away from Carlsbad!

White Sands National Monument. Photo taken by B. Palmer

• There are lots of other areas to visit while you are staying in Carlsbad. There are a few I didn’t mention (like the Living Desert Zoo). The main thing to keep in mind here is that no matter where you decide to go, almost everything is a decent drive away. But if you have a car, its worth the 4+ hour trips to Albuquerque, Santa Fe, even Taos to visit the “real” New Mexico on some of your weekends.

I was fortunate enough to go to Taos for a weekend, and hike up to William’s Lake, and above it Wheeler’s Peak (the tallest peak in New Mexico, a 13er). Photo taken by B. Palmer

Restaurants in Carlsbad: There aren’t many restaurants to choose from, and no matter where you go the service is slow, but here are a few places that I enjoyed at least a little while I was in Carlsbad.

I am pretty sure this place wasn’t even in business, but I laughed at it every time I drove by. This, in essence is what all of Carlsbad is like. The real Chinese buffet in town (I never went to because I hear of the “rave” reviews) had a sign that read “Costs less than a trip to China.” Photo taken by B. Palmer

• Milton’s Brewing Company – This placed only opened I believe in July 2016. I don’t really drink, but it was a decent place to socialize. Like everything else in town, it closes early, between 9 and 10pm.
• Yellow Brix Restaurant – this was probably the best restaurant in town, although I did not venture out to many of the restaurants.
• The Lucky Bull – Most the food is greasy and the service is slow, but a decent place to go with friends.
• Blue House Cafe – I believe this is one of the only coffee shops in town. They close early (at 10:30am most days) and not even open on Sunday, but I liked to chill there on Friday mornings I didn’t have to be at work. They have food, coffee, a cat, even wifi.
• And there are of course some possible home pleasures: Chili’s, IHop, even a Hibachi Grill that I heard was pretty good.

Resources to prepare yourself for work: The Carlsbad field office will likely have just about everything you will need during your internship, from clicker counters to dichotomous keys. But here are a few extras I found to be helpful while I was here.

• Botany in a Day by Elpel- I love this book, and have had it for years. If you are new to Botany and need a quick guide to identifying plants to the family, this is a great book to bring with you.
• Land of Enchantment Wildflowers: A Guide to the Plants of New Mexico, By Finley and Nieland – This is an excellent resource and probably most up to date book to have in the field, when you need a quick reference before digging into the dichotomous key. This book has lots of pictures, groups plants by the color of their flowers, and even has pictures of what the mature seeds and fruits look like. OF course it does not have everything, but it is a great place to start to get an idea of  the common plants of New Mexico that you will likely find in this area.

If you have more questions about the Carlsbad lifestyle, feel free to contact me at any time. If you have been accepted into the program, my contact information should be on the CLM website. I will be happy to help in any way I can to help you prepare for your stay in Carlsbad. Do your best to enjoy to hidden treasures of Carlsbad while you are here as an intern. Good luck, happy trails, and all the best to you and your new adventure.

Like it did for me, this internship will help you find your inner botanist…and hopefully lead you into a career that will hopefully be a part of you the rest of your life. Happy trails to you, traveler.

Brooke Palmer

Conservation and Land Management Intern 2016

Carlsbad, NM Bureau of Land Management

A familiar site here in the Chihuahuan Desert of Carlsbad, NM. Photo taken by B. Palmer

I have just over five more weeks to go until I complete my CLM experience in Carlsbad, New Mexico. What a wild crazy ride it has been. I can officially say that I have put sweat, blood, and tears into my work, and have experienced every possible emotion imaginable. Enjoyment, ecstatic, sadness, homesick, disgust, anger, pain, fear, you name it. It has been one busy month, both mentally and physically.

When I last left you in my previous blog post, I mentioned that the rain was a large determining factor in my work here in the Chihuahuan Desert and southeastern New Mexico. When there was no rain to be seen in the usual monsoon season of July, there was not a seed to be found. We down here in Carlsbad were getting worried that our collection season may have been cut short due to the lack of rain. In early August, some rain was showing up, but we were still having a difficult time finding plants for collections. Sure we had gotten eight collections in the first two and a half months here, but that was nothing compared to the other SOS crews we had heard from. We were practically waiting for the weather in order to be doing our work.

Eight different collections that took place during the first half of the internship. And ONLY eight because we were waiting for the rain to bring more. We waited long enough to be able to fit all these into a box and save on shipping to the Bend seed extractory. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Since then, I have found that, when it rains in the desert, it pours. IT LITERALLY POURS. Storms roll in around here in a blink of an eye, and these are not the types of storms that one wants to be in while in the field. Thanks to the many tropical storms that blew in from the Gulf, flash floods have been a regular thing around here the last month; I suppose this is what the normal monsoon season is typically like. However, one of the wildlife biologists here mentioned that if not for the tropical storms that occurred in the last few weeks, there would have been a good chance that Carlsbad would have missed out on rain this year. But also thanks to those tropical storms, Carlsbad has gotten more rain than anticipated. The plentiful desert rains even kept us in the office for a while; this was not in fear of getting a little wet, but rather in fear of the fierce flash floods that appear to be common during the monsoons. In the end, the rain has been a blessing, and now everything is “Coming Up Roses.” I guess I can thank the tropical storms for the plentiful collections that are currently going on, as well as a busy and very neat job.

It is amazing to see how rain can transform a landscape so drastically. Not even a month ago, this landscape for merely sand, some patches of Shinnery Oak, and a few small Sand Sage bushes. Now, sand dunes and hills for as far as you can see are completely covered in yellow asters! My, how the flowers brought in the busy bustle of happy pollinators! Photo taken by B. Palmer

Oh my, how the desert evolves as soon as water is introduced into the system. The landscape completely changes here! Where there was once sand is now engulfed by a sea of Artemisia filifolia, Heterotheca subaxillaris, and Helianthus petiolaris. In places that I saw just dry gypsum soils, hard biocrust, and Mesquite skeletons are now covered in yellow snakeweed (Gutierrezia sarothrae), Bouteloua of various species, and quivering bunchgrasses blowing in the warm desert wind. The desert transforms quickly in ideal times, and I am grateful to have been here to see it.

Similar transformations are occurring all over Carlsbad. This particular gypsum soil area that was particularly dreary and dry is now a sea of Oenothera rhombipetala. Photo taken by B. Palmer

One of the many breathtaking views of another collection site, thank you rain. The little bush on the right is Sophia (currently known in the genera Dermatophyllum) secundiflora, Texas Mountain Laurel and one tedious collection. Photo taken by B. Palmer

In just the last few weeks, collections have been plentiful. Among the plentiful aster collections, I did my first grass collection. I even identified it in the field all on my own, and collected it all on my own! For someone who does not know grasses well, it has been invigorating to learn about them, and the satisfaction from figuring some of them out all by myself has been a substantial feat.

Nassella tenuissima, the first grass collection of the season here in Carlsbad. The fluffy bunchgrass has mostly been seen growing in the shade of the Pinion pines and Junipers. Photo taken by B. Palmer

We were also fortunate enough to do a collection of Texas Mountain Laurel, otherwise known as Sophora secundiflora. It is a beautiful little evergreen pea-family tree, producing glossy, obovate leaflets and woody legumes with red, poisonous seeds. These seem to be one of the few plants here in the Chihuahuan Desert that lack any form of pokey, hurtful modified leaf or epidermis (as many of you may better know as spines and prickles). However, these plants seem to be opportunistic, as we only found them growing in the presence and protection of those nasty, mean, pokey plants that you typically find in the desert. Not only that, they were found on steep mountainsides and deep, rocky drainages of the Dark Canyon, part of the Guadalupes Mountain range that the famous Carlsbad Caverns are a part of. It was not an easy collection; however, it did not stop us ambitious interns to crawl through thick shrubbery of unpleasant plants and up rocky hills to complete this collection. Maybe it was the hot muggy days, scratched up arms, rolled ankles, bug bites, or maybe even just the sunburn talking, but this particular collection will always remain one of my stronger memories of this internship, although in the end for the better.

Collection bags are full of Sophora secuniflora legumes…and this was just half of the collection! Photo taken by B. Palmer

Other memorable collections to have taken part of were two separate cacti collections. This was the kind of collection I thought I would be a part of when I first got to Carlsbad, and at first sounded like it would not be something our mentor wanted to collect…I could not imagine why. But due to the circumstances of having no direct mentor in the office, we made the authoritative decision to collect whatever we saw could be fruitful, as long as it was native. This included the cacti we collected: Opuntia engelmannii and Cylindropuntia incarnata. The cacti proved to be fruitful! We collected buckets-full of cacti fruits and sent them off to the seed extractory right away due to the fruits being fleshy. What an experience!

We used leather gloves for our cactus collections. This was not enough to save our sweet soft hands from the terrors of spines and glochids, as you can see from the gloves. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Despite their ways of protection against us fruit thieves, you must admit the cactus are beautiful plants. At least from a distance. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Here, other Carlsbad CLM intern, Meridith McClure, is packaging the fleshy fruits of the Opuntia into plastic bags to be sent off within the hour.  Photo taken by B. Palmer

Of course, collecting cacti seeds also meant collecting herbarium vouchers. Pressing cacti can be a dreadful task, and if not done correctly, the cactus can continue to grow in the plant press as you are attempting to dry it out. I was forced to cut the cactus in half, scoop out the fleshy inside, and essentially only press the “skin” of the cacti in order to prevent any future growth of the plant. One foul sailor’s mouth and two big, swollen handfuls of glochids later, I managed to get some cactus squashed down in the plant press! This will forever go down in history as “the day Brooke pressed her first spiny succulents…successfully!”

We are no experts, but got help from experts afar in order to get these in a plant press! I suppose now that we have gotten through our first cactus pressing, we can now be called experts too! Photo taken by B. Palmer

Six herbarium vouchers later, we are blessed with a very full plant press! Photo taken by B. Palmer

Collecting for Seeds of Success has been the priority throughout my duration of the internship, but I have also gotten to participate in other cool things going on around the office (After all, in my employee description, I am considered a “Wildlife Biological Technician”). One thing I did earlier in the month was help out in a little soil erosion control project. With the crazy heavy rains here, there are certain areas that are subject to easily erode away more so than other places. One of the rangeland folk in the office is in charge of maintaining areas that are subject to damage, and he needed the interns help to control a specific area. He used our man power to fill burlap bags with mulch, and created small barricades to prevent any more soil loss in specific areas when it rains. He mentioned that ten years from now, you wouldn’t even be able to see the burlap sacks and little fences, that nature would take its course from there and cover our work with grasses and other flowers that will help root down the soil.

This was one of the two barricades we put together that day. It will help the land behind the sacks stay in its place, and over time will become overtaken by natural plants to do the rest of the work, and slow the soil erosion there. Photo taken by B. Palmer

I was also able to participate in a non-motorized boat training class that was offered a few weeks ago! If I ever work with aquatic plants or river studies in the future, this will have been a useful training. We learned how to get around in canoes and kayaks, and what to do when you tip your canoe over and such. It was an absolute blast to learn, and I hope I can use my training in the future! It was a nice way to spend a hot, Friday afternoon in the Desert.

Oh, and remember that milkweed planting I took part of earlier on in the internship? I am happy to report that although many did not take root, there are still a few surviving transplants out there! We had high hopes in creating Monarch Waystations throughout Carlsbad (see my previous posts to learn more about the monarch waystations). We had a lot of plants that didn’t survive the transplants. But I am hopeful that others can learn from our mistakes and experience of this year. My biggest hope is that next year’s group of CLM interns will be able to take on another milkweed planting task, and that it will go better than this year did!

One survivor of many Asclepias latifolia that was planted about a month ago. This year’s plantings may not make it into Monarch Waystation status, but I hope more projects like this in the future of Carlsbad will! Photo taken by B. Palmer

All in the end, I am still very privileged to be here, here in this forgotten desert that not a lot of people have heard of. Yes, I am ready to go back home, but I only have a month and a half left…a miniscule amount compared to the looming of five months away from home that seemed like so long ago. I am still entranced by the clouds painted on the sky over flat plains of desert. Every time I go out into the field, my breath is taken away by the beauty of the desert that so many have not seen and probably will never see. When it rains here, it POURS. I have found this to be true for life as well. This has been one whirlwind of a year. It has been one crazy event after the other. But all we can really do is take what we can from our crazy experiences, and leave the rest behind. Make a bouquet to use now, and sow seeds that need to be planted for a later date. Despite being homesick, I am still enjoying myself here in the unconventional city of Carlsbad, New Mexico. I am excited for what curious adventures the next month and a half will bring me.

The flat landscape here often brings out the beautiful depth of the clouds, and I cannot seem to get enough of this site out here. If I can’t be near my Colorado mountains I so dearly miss, at least I am pampered with beautiful sites such as this. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Although the pedestals here are an indication of an unhealthy ecosystem, I could not get over how treelike Sand sage could be in a barren land known for its oil and gas. Photo taken by B. Palmer

We cannot forget the beauty of the desert lies solely on those plants meant to be seen from a distance. Photo taken by B. Palmer

And of course, through thick and thin, and through blood, sweat, and tears, a botanist’s attire is not complete without her sunhat and a smile. If you don’t love what you do, you are not in the right place. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Wishing you all safe travels and exciting adventures as summer has officially turned into fall. This is Brooke Palmer from the Carlsbad, New Mexico, BLM field office. Until next time!

To be honest, this past month since my previous post has been a complete blur. So many things have happened, where do I start?

Last month I had found out that my program mentor at the BLM, Mr. Johnny Chopp, was leaving his position here at the Carlsbad, New Mexico, BLM Field Office for his dream job. He had been hired as a wildlife biologist with the Army Corps of Engineers back in his hometown. This was a long-awaited opportunity and great news for him; for me, I am not so sure. He was the only one in the office, nay, the city of Carlsbad, NAY, the whole of Southeastern New Mexico that understood the purpose of the Seeds of Success and how to achieve its goals, and the CLM Program. It left me uneasy to be thrown into such a position that required superior knowledge of this area’s flora and the leadership to work basically unsupervised.

I found this out a week before I took “vacation,” and realized the timing of my out-of-town stint was in such a way that Johnny would be gone by the time I got back. I did not have time to process this transition until I got back to Carlsbad.

My little “vacation” away from the Chihuahuan Desert started with a trip out to Savannah, Georgia, for the Botany 2016 Conference. I was accepted as a PLANTS grant participant for the conference, meaning I got to attend this meeting as a “student,” all expenses paid, with a mentor and peer mentor to help me navigate around the Conference. Unfortunately, the timing of the Conference was awful (as you will see here soon). However, I had such an incredible experience!

A picture of the PLANTS grant participants, peer mentors, and mentors in front of the Historic District of Savannah on the last day of the Conference.

Flying into Savannah was something of a culture shock for me. It was my first time being anywhere near the East coast, or the South! The people are different from the people of Colorado. I had seafood for every possible meal. I got to experience first-hand the 106 degree weather with 90% humidity. Overall, Savannah was an incredible place to visit. But more importantly, I went to my first big conference! I was roomed with a student from California who was just finishing up a summer REU at my home institution (University of Colorado Boulder), with the professor that recommended I go to this conference in the first place…what a small world! I learned the world of botany is a tight and niche group of people where everyone knows everyone, and everyone is incredibly friendly and supportive of one another. I learned so much about the current research in botany, about graduate school, and about what I want to do in the future! I am a recent undergraduate, and was unsure what exactly I wanted to do with my future (one of the reasons I am exploring federal jobs through this current internship). However, coming here I realized I want to get back into academia, and start looking towards graduate school, hopefully in the next year or so. I have a long road ahead of me (for one I still have not yet even taken the GRE), but now I have a goal to go back to school! And as a young adult like me, I think it is important to know what you want, and be passionate about it, and I have officially taken the first step.

A short break from my Carlsbad, NM internship was spent, well, getting married. Unconventional to say in the least, but doable with a great support system. Photo taken by S. Bober

The Conference was a great experience, but like I mentioned earlier, was unfortunately timed. I flew back home as quickly as I could for the second part of my vacation…MY WEDDING. That’s right. I flew home from Georgia to get married the very next day. To be fair, I planned the date of this wedding before I accepted this internship, and before I received a grant to attend Botany 2016. It would not have happened without the everlasting support of my friends, family, and newly-wedded husband. With that said, it ended up being a rather nice gathering and was glad to finally marry my high school sweetheart, love of my life, and best friend of nearly 10 years.

Even with the most supportive people one could ever ask for, I would not suggest planning one’s wedding in the middle of this internship. Going back to Carlsbad straight after getting married was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life, and I would not wish that kind of transition on anyone. With that said, I am happy to say that I have the most encouraging and uplifting people in my life, all on my side for finishing out this internship. It was very hard to come back to Carlsbad, NM, but glad that I did.

There is a solitary beauty in the desert, and on this particular day was enhanced by awesome clouds painted onto a background of blue the and vibrant green of a thirst-quenched desert. Photo taken by B. Palmer

There are plenty of happy pollinators here in the desert, finding their way to vivaciously-colored flowers. Photo taken by B. Palmer

I came back to New Mexico to find that the weather was much more tolerable, and the early July monsoons FINALLY came…over a month late. This is good news for us here, because a lot of the landscape has gone from brown to green, and there are finally seeds to collect now and to collect in the coming weeks. The other Carlsbad CLM intern, Meridith, was even able to do a collection while I was gone.

Our second collection of the season, Mentzelia strictissima. I missed out collecting, but there are plenty more to do! Photo taken by B. Palmer

However, I came back to Carlsbad with no set direct supervisor. Again, an odd feeling for someone as young and inexperienced as I am. There was a day I even went out on my own to scout for plants and potential collections, and came across one that was beginning to fruit. I knew it was one of three things, but went ahead and started collecting it, even though I was unsure of the plants’ identity. I found that I have to rely on myself and using dichotomous keys more now that it is more difficult to ask around what the plants are.

This is a flowering and fruiting yellow aster, one I believe to be Isocoma pluriflora. Please correct me if you believe I am wrong! Photo taken by B. Palmer

In the last few weeks the other CLM intern and I were finally set up with the New Mexico State Botanist, Zoe Davidson, as our new program mentor, and would be getting plant identification help from Patrick Alexander. But the catch: Zoe is located in Santa Fe, Patrick in Las Cruces. Though we have support from afar, we are still on own and are our own boss, and ultimately are the ones to decide what to collect. This indeed has been an interesting leadership opportunity, with a LOT of room for trial and error.

For example, we were driving around scouting for potential populations to collect from, when we could not find a turn onto a dirt road we wanted to take. All of the sudden, we found ourselves on the Texas border, much farther than we intended on ever going! All in the end, you got to shrug it off and realize that sometimes it’s good to get lost, so that the next time you go to that area, you become, well, not as lost!

Sometimes you have to embrace the wrong turns…even if you end up in Texas! Photo taken by N. Montoya

We also learned that we need to do more research before going out to collect seeds. Meridith had decided while I was gone to do some collections in an area called Dark Canyon when I got back, a drainage area that is beautiful, green, and full of potential collections. Our first collection of the day was very successful, collecting the very pollinator friendly Fallugia paradoxa (Apache Plume) with ease.

From the Rosacea is Fallugia paradoxa, known more commonly as Apache Plume. This collection was rather meditative and calming. A great way to start the morning! Photo taken by B. Palmer

We were on a roll, a downright collecting-spree, and decided that Dasylirion leiophyllum (Sotol) would make a nice addition to our collections. This is a plant that to the untrained eye looks similar to Yucca and Agave, with a very tall inflorescence, anywhere between 5 and 15 feet tall. So we set out through every known prickly, pokey, spiny, sharp, jaggy, scratchy, angry plant you could imagine to get to the sotol, which isn’t much of a friendly plant either. Lesson one of the day: Wear clothes you don’t care about messing up and tearing, and if you have a problem bushwhacking through the prickly flora, then you need to get out of there! I was so incredibly tired and scratched up by the end of the morning, but despite the unpleasantness of it all, I would probably do it again.

Practically no “friendly” plant in sight here. But Meridith and I suffered through with smiles on our faces…most of the time…For Science! Photo taken by B. Palmer

Lesson two: If you don’t know what exactly you are collecting, DON’T COLLECT IT AT ALL! Meridith and I were collecting “seed” from these plants, climbing up infructescences of the so-tall stalks to get up to the fruits, when I got to one and realized: we weren’t collecting seed, we were collection old papery remains of old flowers that never fruited! I realized this after nearly an hour of bushwhacking and climbing, because I finally got to a stalk that finally had real fruits/seeds on it. We had no idea what we were collecting! We found out later with some advice and some extra research that Dasylirion will not be ready to collect seed from likely until October. It is rather embarrassing to admit such a fault, but again, it is trial and error. What better way to learn than to bash into your brain that you did something so horribly incorrect the first time around! And now we are forced to try, try again next time, and hopefully with a little more knowledge and wisdom behind us!

Here I am, trying to reach some of the inflorescence of Dasylirion leiophyllum. I will be attempting this yet again in the near future! Photo taken by M. McClure

In a way, I believe that loosing our Carlsbad mentor may have been a blessing in disguise. Being thrown into a position where you are required to rely on yourself is likely one of the best ways to learn. I have to rely on myself to figure out what the species are here. I have to be the judge of when the best timing is to collect certain seeds. I have to plan accordingly to make the best use of my time here in Carlsbad, and be involved in other projects in the office! I honestly thought about quitting this internship early for a number of reasons, but I realized that it is so astoundingly important to finish this out for the SOS program, for the city of Carlsbad and its hidden floral treasures, but most importantly for myself. I have not been known in the past to quit even when I am uncomfortable with a situation, and I cannot start now! In the meantime, I will be forced to enjoy the wonderful array of plants that are popping up all about, and do what I came here to do: botanize!

Tiquilia hispidissima: a Chihuahuan desert and gypsum soil endemic. This is a plant I will never see anywhere else in the world, a good reason to stay in Carlsbad for now! Photo taken by B. Palmer

Another fun species of the Malvaceae family found in the wetter soils and near the hardly existing rivers of the late summer desert: Sphaeralcea angustifolia Photo taken by B. Palmer

Some of a botanist’s more powerful tools: A plant press, and a place to record everything in. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Best wishes from Brooke Palmer of the Carlsbad, New Mexico BLM Field Office. I am officially halfway finished with this internship…until next time!

Well, here I am, still in Carlsbad, New Mexico. Just another intern at the busy Carlsbad BLM Field Office. It has been only about two months into my internship, and yet I have already gained so much experience that I hope to take with me in my next step towards my career.

For one, I am happy to be taking a part in a New Mexico native seed collection. I was able to help collect seed in our first collection for Seeds of Success (SOS) just a few short weeks ago. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the SOS, it is a government-driven program that is focusing on seed banking for a number of reasons. Seeds that are collected by us interns and field botanists are sent to a seed cleaning factory, then sent to be stored and saved for potential future disasters. Of course, there are other reasons for the seed collections: Many universities and horticulturists may take some for their own research prospects. When we collect more than enough for everyone, we even get the chance to keep some for native restoration of our public lands. I say it is a program that is a win-win situation. I am incredibly overjoyed to be a part of a bigger picture, something bigger than you and I.

Taking a shady refuge on my first collection day – plant press slung around my shoulder, and data sheet in my hands. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Our first collection of the year came on a delightfully overcast and cool early morning of 85°F (a pleasantly wonderful surprise that seldom graces the Chihuahuan Desert). With the guidance of the Las Cruces district botanist, we decided to collect a native and pollinator-friendly flower of the Asteraceae family, Ratibida columnifera. With four of us collecting, I believe the morning to be a success! You see, as part of the SOS protocol, we are required to follow certain rules: we must collect from a minimum of fifty plants within a population so that the collection is genetically diverse. We can only collect a maximum of 20% of the available seeds per plant, to not take away from the native population. And…we must collect a minimum of 10,000 seeds, per collection. The SOS will not accept collections less than that, due to the expenses of cleaning seed and storage (not to mention it takes a lot of seed to restore disaster zones successfully). Of course, if our BLM office wanted to keep some of the seed for our own restoration purposes (which they do), we must collect more than 10,000 seed, and anything extra will come back to us. Fortunately, it was not difficult from this particular collection, as plants of the Asteraceae in general put off a lot of seed per plant in the first place. I couldn’t have asked for a better collection to learn the SOS protocol on.

A small handful of Ratibida columnifera seed. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Unfortunately, it has been our only collection thus far of the season. Typically, July is “monsoon” season for Carlsbad. However, it has been a typical rainless desert for the month of July. No rain, with high, dry-heat, stifling temperatures. Really anywhere you go, no rain = no new flowers to collect from. The other Carlsbad CLM intern and I arrived late enough to miss potential spring collections, but now we may be gone before the potential fall plants are ready for collection. Until it rains here, we may be out of the job we were sent here to do. Fortunately, we have been working with our mentor, Johnny Chopp, who is a wildlife biologist, and he has had a few other projects for us up his sleeves.

One of which has been a herpetology survey he has conducted for several years at this office. There are plenty of Chihuahuan Desert endemic plants here in Carlsbad, but now it is time to think more like an ecologist. You see, Johnny has been searching for the Sand Sagebrush Lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus), an endemic to the area, and has been on the decline the last few years. We have been surveying sites to find a presence of this particular lizard. How do we do this, you ask? Simple: pitfall traps made of a 5-gallon bucket snugly buried into the lizards’ sandy habitat on dunes of Shinnery Oak (Quercus havardii Rydb.) and Sand Sagebrush (Artemisia filifolia Torr.). I can honestly tell you, I have never encountered so much sand in my life. I come home and there’s sand in my hair, my ears, my nose, my shirt, my pockets, my boots…but what kind of experience would it be if not for that??

This is typical habitat for the desert lizards. They take refuge under the Q. havardii, and run though sandy areas to find food. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Here I am showing off one of the lizard pitfall traps, and a snake stick we use to open traps. It is a 5-gallon bucket buried into the sand, with the opening canopied by a small piece of plywood that keeps the critters shaded and predators out of the traps. Photo taken by N. Montoya

To our dismay, we have yet to find the anticipated Sand Sagebrush Lizard. However, we have found many of the desert’s interesting critters along the way. We have pulled beetles, wasps, ants, spiders, scorpions (oh so many scorpions) out of the traps. At one of our first arrays, one of the office’s wildlife biologists found a Texas-Horned Lizard – not even from our little traps! That indeed was a gem on its own.

A Texas-Horned Lizard, found hiding in a bunchgrass. Photo taken by B. Palmer

There are several lizards found in the Chihuahuan Desert, and another is commonly and creatively named the side-blotch lizard (yes, for the blotch of black found on its side). We have even found juvenile lizards, as big as your thumbnail. But again, we have not found the lizard we have been looking for yet. A trend has been noticed by the biologists here, that when there are side-blotch lizards in an area, there is typically not sand sagebrush lizard. This is a trend that still shows to be true this year as well.

I am handling my first Side-Blotch lizard that was caught in one of the traps. Photo credits: M. McClure

An adult Side-Blotch Lizard I found in one of the traps. You may notice that its left claw is blue. We mark the lizards here to check if we recapture any. Photo taken by B. Palmer

A juvenile found in one of the traps. Juveniles do not yet have the markings we use for identification, so the species of this little guy is unknown. Picture taken by B. Palmer

In excess time here, I have also been involved in a project to install Monarch Waystations in a few selected locations around the Carlsbad area. For those of you who don’t know much about Monarch butterflies, they too are on the decline. They are a butterfly that migrates from northern North America, all the way down into Mexico. Their habitat has historically been near prairie settings, however, what do we use prairie habitat for now? You guessed it – agriculture. In the recent years scientists have found that Asclepias spp. (Milkweed) is a prominent piece of monarch butterfly habitat. You see, the plant itself is very toxic to animals animist insects, but is the main food source for the monarch caterpillars. We do not want to loose an essential pollinator of North America, so waystations, areas designated as butterfly “sanctuaries” along their migration lines if you will, are on the rise. We wanted to be a part of that too, so we proposed in a weekly NEPA meeting to provide four different locations to install potential waystations. It has been a difficult process to get others in the office on board with the idea, however, we have been able to pull through. Some fellow interns and I drove all the way to Albuquerque, NM (a 10-hour round trip drive and 13 hour day) to pick up two species of Milkweed plugs (Asclepias speciosa and A. latifolia) from a native plant nursery.

Each tray holds 98 young plants, between 1-2 years old. We picked up two different kinds of Asclepias: Showy and Broadleaf Milkweed. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Our first planting was but a few days ago, at a little area called Conoco Lake. It is a small recreational (and man-made) pond in the middle of dozens of oil pads, that has turned into a small wildlife sanctuary. There are birds in the trees, fish in the pond, and a plethora of pollinators that seek its refuge: one of the reasons we decided to plant there. We ended up planting 98 young Asclepias plants in hopes that it will become a waystation in a year or two. I hope our hard work pays off, and some of the milkweed survives!

I am instructing others how to transplant the young milkweed on our big transplanting day. Photo credits to M. McClure

Despite our extra projects, we are always on the lookout for potential plants to collect seed from. It is dry as a bone out here in the desert, but there is still life out here; I have a hard time even fathoming how plants grow here. For example, guess what I found on one of our scouting days: Equisetum!! That’s right, a freaking horsetail…in the freaking desert! The ways of the desert and what grows here surprises me everyday.

Equisetum growing in the desert. I still cannot believe I found this! Photo taken by B. Palmer

I was also very excited to come across flowering towers of Agave species (possibly Agave neomexicana, however, I am unsure of the species) on another scouting day a few weeks back. This is by far one of my favorite plants of all time. They have tall, stunning yellow inflorescences that I will never forget! All their lives, Agave spends its life as a small, dense, succulent rosette. Then one day after years of this vegetative state, the plant decides to put forth all its energy into that thick, impressive reproductive shoot holding hundreds of little flowers, attempting to put forth its genetic makeup into the world via pollination before dying that very year. Is there anything more spectacular than this?

We were driving through some pinion-juniper woodland, when I forced the others to stop the truck so that we could investigate this inflorescence! Photo taken by M. McClure

Overall, I love hunting for plants in the desert. But oh how I miss home so very much. Everyday I am out here, I am incredibly homesick: for trees and vivid green landscapes, my dog, my home, especially my soon-to-be husband. Nonetheless, I believe traveling is essential for personal development. One night a group of us went out to dinner, and my mentor brought up a favorite quote of his, by Mark Twain:

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime.”

When one stays in one place for a long enough time, they can become stagnant in their lives. That is why this internship is so incredibly important. Not only for me, but for all the other interns in the program as well. We can learn about the world from the safety of our homes, but you cannot truly experience it unless you step outside, and out of that comfort zone. Since I have stepped out of my own comfort zone, I have learned one incredibly important thing about myself: Despite the interesting town that I am stationed in and the blistering daily heat, there is a loupe around my neck, a plant press swung onto my back, a notebook in my hands, and most importantly, a smile on my face. I am where I need to be, and I am a field botanist.

I feel (and think that I look like) a true botanist. I am blossoming now, and hope to be a great botanist in years to come. Photo taken by B. Palmer

Brooke Palmer

Carlsbad, New Mexico, BLM Field Office