Though I am a GIS intern, my awesome mentor has always been quick to help me find opportunities to leave my desk and get some experience out in the field. I’ve gone out and collected seeds. I have tagged fence line and done Wild Horse surveys, but the most memorable and exciting instances, I’ve had was an annual multi-part Columbia Spotted Survey along Dry Creek in Malheur County, Oregon.

I was able to participate in 2 of the 3 parts of the survey that happen annually for these frogs. It’s a project to monitor the survival and recruitment rate of Columbia Spotted Frogs by USFWS in collaboration with the BLM. This Dry Creek population is isolated, so the USFWS takes special notice of these frogs.

The first survey occurs in in April and consists of trekking downstream and counting the number of egg masses. I just missed this survey, as it was the same month I had started working.

The second survey occurs in June. I along with some really cool people from the ODFW, USFWS and the BLM, split into teams, started at opposite ends of the creek, and worked our way down, catching spotted frogs, scanning them for pit-tags and administering tags to frogs that didn’t have them. Then you do the other half of the stream the next day, to try and catch frogs that might have missed or overlooked by the other team. It was so much fun!

Armed with pit tag readers (the same machines that recognize pet microchips), scissors, rulers, weigh bags and scales, we hiked up and down Dry Creek for a full two days, swinging and swooping our nets, trying to keep our footing in a rocky stream. It took a surprising amount of team work and strategizing to catch as many frogs as possible. A lot of them could feel you coming and try and make a hop for it, so you would have to think about the best approach to catching that frog(s).

Once you caught a frog in your net, you had to catch it again in your hand. They could bounce all around in your net like a ping-pong ball, some even had the ups to jump clear out of your net! It took some finagling and dexterity, but once it was in your hand, you held it by its legs, measured it from snout to cloaca, weighed it, then scanned it for a pit-tag, if it had one then you’re done (after shouting out the pit tag number and measurements) and if not, then you make a small incision on its back, insert the pit-tag, and then you’re done (after shouting out all the measurements and pit tag number for the data recorder).

(Columbia Spotted Frog)

The final survey takes places in August and consists mostly of a count for metamorphs. Metamorphs are tadpoles that are in transition to become frogs. It was funny though because I was expecting to see tadpoles with hind legs, but because of the time of year we survey, we’re actually on the tail-end of most of the metamorphic period. Though tadpoles for the most part are done transitioning, it’s still obvious which ones are “metamorphs” . They’re noticeably smaller than sub-adults and adults, so for the survey we literally walk along the stream counting “metamorphs” out loud, while the numbers are recorded by a data recorder. We also take the time to catch any adults we see (there’s a lot less around then there were in June), and repeat the process of what we did in June. We only count the “metamorphs” because they’re too small for pit tags, but don’t get it twisted. It’s still a pretty tough job, these frogs blend in incredibly well, and we were counting the smaller ones!

(Here is a little metamorph that still had his tail)

(Metamorph vs Sub-Adult vs Green Gunk)

The Dry Creek area is great, very pretty, and doing frog surveys in the middle of the summer is amazing, because as hot as it may be, you will get wet, so there is always an opportunity to cool off. Actually one of the best parts about the trek down the creek, is coming along The Pinch, a spot where the water is at least 4 feet high and surrounded on either side by rock walls. You could go around, if you really didn’t want to be drenched from the shoulder down, but who wouldn’t in the June/August heat?

(A picture of our team after wading through The Pinch)

(Dry Creek)

It was also great, because a lot of the views were made even better by the wildlife. We saw garter snakes everywhere. I even got to catch one! We could tell that this particular garter snake had eaten recently, and though it wasn’t frog shaped, we wanted to scan it, to see if had a pit tag inside of it (it didn’t). In June, we walked through this canyon that was filled with Cliff Swallows, flittering around, only to come through and later be screamed at by a Red-tailed Hawk because we were too close to her nest.

(You can see the food bulge, right under my thumb)

(Cliff Swallows)

Hey People!

I’ve been out here in the Vale Office for a few months now and have really found myself enjoying my time out here. I’ve faced some pretty cool challenges and am proud to say that I have come out on top … until a couple week ago, where I suffered a pretty terrible loss.

STORY TIME!

Back during my first week of work, I went to a workshop for S1 Mobile  for Android Training. S1 Mobile is this really interesting GPS app that might become a big deal in the future for federal agencies like BLM and FS. It puts you in mind of Collector. Anyway, my mentor asked me to learn all that I could about this app, from downloading data, to collecting it, to making maps for the app, uploading and sharing. She wanted me to learn about each step in the process, so I could help others in the future. It was, and still is a pretty big challenge. Naturally, everything doesn’t go as smoothly when you’re exploring something new on your own, compared to doing it in class where only the basics are covered in detail, but I could handle it and took pride in my growing knowledge of this application.

Fast-forward to June, and I finally think I have a good understanding of most of the important concepts and techniques with using S1 Mobile for Android. It was good timing too because, the office just received a ton of new mobile devices that I was told to prepare for both general and GPS use. Set up involved, updating the devices, downloading S1 mobile, installing SIM cards, putting on their cases … and their screen protectors. Easy enough, right?

Installing those screen protectors was a literal nightmare. No matter what I did, or what method I used, perfectly installing these screen protectors on 10.1″ screens was impossible for me, so I settled for installing them with as few bubbles as possible. I mean who cares if there are one or two small bubbles in the corner, but NO, some of these literally have dozens of small bubbles ALL OVER the screen.

I’ve never felt like such a failure. It was terrible, defeated by flimsy screen protectors. My only saving grace was that no one else in the GIS office, seemed to be able to do a great job with it either, though it was clear that the worst of the worst screen protector installations were done by myself.

When people learn that I am a part of the CLM Program that is through the Chicago Botanic Garden, the first thing that happens is my being asked if I am from Chicago. The second thing that happens, when they learn that I am, in fact, from Atlanta, is that I receive a smirk and am given a casual comment about how Atlanta, Georgia has to be pretty different from Vale, Oregon.

“Casual,” is a key word there; it’s really too blase, because compared to Atlanta, Vale is a completely different world! It’s not simply because it’s on the other side of the country, but the population and town sizes are smaller, there are no tall buildings and it occasionally smells like onions … The craziest thing though, there are barely any trees!

Please try to understand, I’m a nature girl. My bachelors is in Wildlife Biology. I love being outside, and in Georgia, being outside in nature means being surrounded by a mosaic of tree species, it means hiking in the woods, with rolling hills, and it means sweating and seeking a nonexistent relief from the humid, hot, buggy atmosphere. I love Georgia.

Coming to Vale was quite a shock. When you think of Oregon, your mind automatically travels to Portland, a rainy metropolis where it’s rumored that only the tourist use umbrellas, so imagine my surprise when I was told that Vale, which is in the eastern most part of the state, right up alongside the Idaho border, is actually a part of the Oregon High Desert. There are a lot of hills and mountainous areas in Eastern Oregon … with very few trees and because it sits east of the Cascades, it’s in what is called a Rain Shadow, creating an area that receives little rainfall.

Another surprise is that “high desert” doesn’t equate to a large area with nothing but sand and the occasional oasis. The area surrounding Vale is so pleasantly unique from what I know, with its foreign wildlife, winding rivers, large lakes and shrubby hills, and it is so surprisingly beautiful that I find myself bursting with excitement at the opportunities to go out, explore, and learn about this new world.

I’m working as a GIS intern. I don’t have the opportunity to be outside all the time, but I’ve already received several opportunities to go out, see and do some really cool things that are unique to the BLM in Vale, Oregon. I’m glad to say my shock, has turned into delight, as I slowly adapt to my new surroundings.

I’m so excited for the adventures ahead.