We are well into the swing of things here in Meeker. My feet are blistered from hiking (both for work and personal enjoyment), my pants have acquired permanent layers of dirt, and I have more freckles than I could possibly think to count. It’s turning out to be a very productive and fun field season. Fortunately, the juniper gnats have died down for the season, making some of our field days far more tolerable.

My coworker and fellow CLM intern, Vanesa, enjoying the view on a hike to our plot.

A collared lizard struttin’ its stuff

Time is truly flying by this season. I feel I can measure how long I’ve been here by how many plants I recognize when doing our vegetation monitoring. Every week, I recognize more and more specimens, which is a very empowering feeling. I like the idea of inching closer to truly understanding a place and all the diverse components that make up a functioning ecosystem. As the season wears on, it becomes more difficult to identify many annual plants, as many tend to dry out in the heat. And naturally, it is difficult to identify plants without diagnostic characteristics like flowers. Luckily, our mentor is a near-expert on the flora of Colorado, making it easy to learn. Of course, some days we observe aspects of dysfunction, like monocultures of the highly invasive cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum). Other invasive species like Alyssum desertorum and Lepidium perfoliatum are also extremely abundant on BLM land. Although our team does not do any work relating to eradicating or managing invasive species, it is my hope that the data we collect can help derive management plans for areas that are overrun by invasive annuals.

A particularly beautiful Wyoming sage plot in Dinosaur National Monument.

A few highlights from this last month include seeing a flock on approximately 100 Pinyon Jays whilst on a grueling hike from our plot. One day we were able to go out in the field with a stream assessment crew to do aquatic invertebrate sampling. We also had the privilege of taking a riparian plant identification class this past week, taught by two highly knowledgeable botanists from Colorado State University. Although we predominately work in sagebrush and Pinyon-Juniper ecosystems, it was exciting to learn many riparian and wetland plants in Colorado, as wetlands are of the utmost importance for the overall health of the ecosystem.

Cheers,

Coryna Hebert

BLM, Meeker, CO

There is a myriad of Latin binomials swirling through my head. My hands are callused from digging soil pits and my elegant farmer’s tan has made a strong comeback. It’s official, field season is really here. We got a late start here in Meeker, CO, doing AIM monitoring for the Bureau of Land Management, but are surely making up for lost time. There has been a plethora of exciting experiences my first few weeks, and I will do my best to highlight a few.

Big skies and pinyon pines (Pinus edulis)

This ecosystem is arid, hot and at times unforgiving, at least to us humans. Yet all sorts of flora and fauna are uniquely adapted to such challenges and make life here look easy. The majority of our plots are in sagebrush, wherein we collect supplemental vegetation data to assess habitat for Greater Sage-Grouse. At various elevations, different subspecies of sagebrush, Artemisia tridentata, are dominant. Luckily, we also get to experience working in pinyon juniper, quaking aspen, cottonwood forests, and salt-desert shrub lands. It’s remarkable to see the diversity of ecosystems in such an immense range of this beautiful state. The greatest challenge of this position has undoubtedly been learning all the plants. Since vegetation monitoring means identifying any species we may encounter on a transect, there has been a pretty steep learning curve getting started.

Common sunflowers (Helianthus annuus) in a recently burned meadow

The vast openness and big skies of Northwest Colorado have stolen my heart. Having never lived West of the Mississippi, almost everything is alien to me here, but I am quickly acclimating. The plants (of which there is an overwhelming diversity), the birds, and mammals are all slowing revealing themselves. To live in a place where you can drive for hours in any direction and see predominantly wilderness is a true privilege. Sometimes when approaching a plot, we are hit with the strong scent of sagebrush as we hop out of the truck. Just yesterday, I saw my first Golden Eagle on the wing, graciously allowing us a peak at her power and beauty. In my experience, it is these tiny moments of sensory pleasure that make being a field biologist the greatest job in the world.

A typical day in the field may wind down with a pitched tent and some stellar scenery

Cheers,

Coryna Hebert

BLM, Meeker, CO