This internship has challenged me in so many ways- in ways that I anticipated and some that I didn’t expect at all. These past five months have been full of new experiences. I moved to a new state that I had never even seen before, I lived with someone I had never met before and worked in an environment completely alien to me. I thought those things would be the monumental challenges. I was wrong. The considerable test that I wasn’t prepared for was developing myself as a person. Over the last five months, I have not only grown immensely in my professionally but also personally.

In my experience, one of the hardest thing was to be in the middle of the wilderness at night, with no cell service, in my own tent with my thoughts. It used to scare me to not be in constant contact with everyone. Now, I would recommend it to anyone and everyone. There is a certain bliss to falling asleep and waking up off the grid. I have seen mountains, cliffs, streams and animals that most people never get to see and I got to get paid for it.

Patience was key during this internship. When getting ready for a hitch out in the field, it is impossibly easy to feel absolutely prepared for anything and everything. That is until you don’t pack the right gear for the weather, you don’t feel like eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the 4th day in a row, or when you get your truck stuck in mud. There are always set backs and things that you couldn’t prepare for. I have learned to be patient and to not get frustrated when things don’t go perfectly smooth.

Professionally, this internship gave me more experience than I could have ever hoped for. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect coming in to this, but I have been able to add countless skills to my resume. There were skills that I assumed I would gain such as the opportunity to learn western flora, driving USFS/BLM off-road systems as well as mapping them. What I gained was so much more than that. I was able to learn CPR, Wilderness First Aid, PFC stream assessment and countless more. I have worked in the field, in the office, the library, the local college, the herbarium and out of my truck. I have learned to be adaptable, to be efficient but relaxed and how to be safe under hundreds of conditions.

I am so grateful for this internship and this experience. I feel as though I have gained so much from it and from my mentor. I have the rest of this week and part of the next left and I can’t believe how quickly it flew by. Now time to prepare for my 32 hour road trip back home.

Good luck everyone in your endeavors!

Payton Kraus

Well, Alyssa and I are T-minus 3 weeks away from being completely finished with this internship and we both can’t believe it.

Our mentor has given us a couple of opportunities that I am so grateful for over the past month. We were able to do a media training, during which we had to do a pretend interview while being filmed, yikes. That gave us a lot of insight into how to speak to the media and the general public about research and projects. We got involved in a project with the forester in our office and participated in a data collection. He had planted around 500 white pine trees a few weeks back and Alyssa and I checked their viability and learned how to identify trees with symptoms of blister rust. Earlier this week, we drove to Yerington, NV to attend a PFC assessment training for streams and riparian areas. There was so much to learn that it was a bit overwhelming but it was a great couple of days getting new exposure to different fields of science!

Our main focus for our last couple of weeks is to scout and make opportunistic collections. We have collected Asclepias speciosa and Cleome serrulata and have spent a lot of time traveling around Nevada looking for new populations.

The not-so-great part about collection Cleome is the pungent smell of green peppers

Typically, we collect upland plants that we have grown pretty familiar with but milkweed grows in riparian areas. We spent a decent amount of time trying to ID a lot of look-alike willows and wildflowers but had some fun doing it!

Alyssa carrying around our vouchers and a few plants to ID in the office!

Wrapping up our season means a lot of organization, planning, office tasks and a lot of reflecting. These past four months have been such an experience and can you really beat a west coast sunset???? I know I’ll miss that beautiful sky!

Alyssa and I are officially half way through our time here in Sparks, NV. We have FINALLY found Erigeron speciosus. We have plenty of populations to collect from and will hopefully finish that task this week. It is such a relief to be able to move on and complete that goal! We are incredibly familiar with the upper east side district of Mountain City and Jarbidge and are completely spoiled by the camping accommodations there. Wild Horse State Recreation Area is beautiful at sunset.
Our mentor, Dirk, keeps us involved in the daily tasks of a Forest Botanist. Last week, he let us sit in on a meeting between the Nature Conservancy, USFS, Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife. Witnessing great minds from all these different institutions work towards a common goal is really inspiring. We are also involved in the discussion of protocols. We will also be preparing a presentation for our USFS office in Sparks as well as traveling to Utah in September to present to the National Botanist. As intimidating as this is, it will be a great opportunity to spread the word about SOS as well as work on my presentation skills.
We are not having great luck with our work trucks, though. Our first was taken away for a different project (intern problems) and unfortunately, as we were heading out into the field, our second truck was hit. So, third truck is a charm, right?
Last week, we traveled to Bridgeport in California and helped the wildlife biologist in our office search for tadpoles and baby toads and frogs in known breeding areas. Mostly, we were searching for the Yosemite toad. Apparently I have an eye for toads and frogs, who knew? I really enjoyed getting a break from plants (just a small one). Bridgeport and the Tahoe meadows are my two favorite places to go. Near the beginning of our internship, the meadows were still covered and snow, and now we can walk all of the paths and explore so many areas!

Beautiful waterfall views around 9500 ft

That is it for now, hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

-Payton Kraus
Sparks, NV

Here are some things that are completely new to me:

1. The desert. I am originally from Ohio and the move to Nevada has been a tough one. I have always loved the woods and being surrounded by trees. Definitely strange to be able to look out onto miles and miles of sage brush landscape. Luckily, we are really close to Lake Tahoe (which has trees!!!!)
2. Dirt. Everything is covered in dirt. My car. The inside and outside of the work truck. My boots. Our tubs. Our equipment. Me, most of the time.
3. The absence of rain. It has rained ONE time since I have been in NV, which has been around two months. What is this nonsense?! Where are my beloved thunderstorms?!
4. Casinos. Casinos everywhere. I don’t understand Nevada and their obsession with casinos. Doing laundry? There are slot machines there. Shopping for groceries? They have you covered, gambler’s delight. What about getting gas? No worries, the whole other side of the gas station is a casino.
5. Fire. I just read that there are currently 15 active wildfires in NV. A fairly large one, that is called Earthstone burned 41,000 acres and started pretty much in my backyard. We had to evacuate our house because of it and now everything smells like smoke and is charred black.
   

   Earthstone fire, taken from my house as it burned down the canyon.

6. Elevation. I am a runner (let’s be honest, not a good one, but I try) but the change from basically sea level in Ohio to 6,000 feet+ here in Nevada has been a really strange transition. For a couple of weeks, I got winded from just climbing a flight of stairs.
7. Cows. I don’t think I have ever been close to a cow in my entire life. Now, I chase cows with my work truck on a weekly basis. They are the bane of my existence and will remain my enemy for the rest of time.
   

   Santa Rosa District in northern NV near Winnemucca.

I feel as though Alyssa (my fellow intern) and I are not your average SOS team. Our species list consists of only (semi-rare) flowering plants which has required a lot of research and so far, a lot of hit-and-miss scouting. We have limited information on sites to explore, so we have to scout the entire district. Our most important species, Erigeron speciosus has been illusive so far. We work all over the state and recently spent a lot of time in the Santa Rosa district. There, we thought we found Erigeron speciosus but didn’t, buried our truck in mud and ripped off our passenger side mirror. This week, we have a short break and will begin our exploration and scouting on Monday! Hopefully we have better luck!

What we thought was Erigeron speciosus but is actually Erigeron pumilus.

Cheers to all the other interns working their butts off and good luck with collections!

May the odds be ever in your favor!

-Payton Kraus
USFS Sparks, NV