Author Archives: Joe Lamb

Final Update from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge

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October has flown by as we come to the end of a fantastic field season. Looking back on the past few months makes this moment bittersweet.

Most of the projects that we have been working on have concluded for the field season, leaving the seed collection of a few straggler species left to end out the month. From here, there are just a few reports to finish writing and the field season will be complete!

My concluding thoughts on this field season are that I learned a lot about the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest. Seed collection was a huge part of the job, but I was also given the opportunity to explore many different aspects of the forest. Among my favorite were the revegetation projects, Whitebark Pine and rare plant surveys, and the Lynx surveys. If nothing else, this field season has given me the opportunity to experience some amazing things…views, wildlife, plants, and people. As much as I loathe saying it, I’m going to miss my crew (I am not a people person, haha). The forest botanist Jessie Salix, and my crew leader Riley Crissman, as well as my CLM partner, Mikhaela Ferguson, have all had huge impacts on my life. Although Jessica Pessina and Alex Martin were not a part of the crew for the entire season, they greatly added to the fun and interesting group dynamic. I’m honestly grateful for them and the experience this season has provided me.

Left to Right: Riley, Joe, Mikhaela, Jessica, and Alex (Jessie Salix not pictured).

As always, a few of my favorite wildlife sightings have included some snakes, a porcupine, and a cow moose and her calf that sadly evaded my camera.

An adult male prairie rattlesnake who is unhappy to see me.
A juvenile prairie rattlesnake hanging out in a rock crevice.
Porcupine out on an afternoon walk!

Update from the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest

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September has been highly productive on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest! Many of our final seed collections species have finally seeded or have begun seeding as September ends. Several new collection species that have been added to our target list include Rosa woodsii, Symphoricarpos occidentalis, Monarda fistulosa, and Arctostaphylos uva-ursi with Solidago missouriensis and Grindelia squarrosa soon to be ready.

As the season draws to an end, I had the privilege of making the trip to the Couer d’Alene nursery that houses and grows all of our native seed collection species. Although seed collection isn’t quite done for the season, we were able to drop off many of the seeds that have been collected up until this point. Dropping off seeds wasn’t the only thing that happened at the nursery. While I was there, I was able to help measure and collect data for some of the species being grown at the nursery as part of a project that helps determine the growth of the seeded plants.

As always, the field was filled with fun wildlife including deer, gamebirds such as grouse and pheasants, snakes, and frogs.

Western Terrestrial Garter Snake giving an affectionate love bite!
Snake says “Om nom nom.”

Outside of seed collection, September has been pretty light for project work. One of the only big projects we worked on was a revegetation project of a recently disturbed picnic area near Butte, Montana.

The annual bio retreat for all of the botany and wildlife crew members on the Beaverhead-Deerlodge also occurred in mid-September where the forest came together for a joint camping trip with the intent of sharing different projects that are happening around the forest, including Whitebark Pine and rare plant surveys, lynx surveys, goshawk surveys, and bear surveys to name a few.

Update From the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest

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August has come and gone on the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest and has been filled with a number of new and continuing projects. Rare plant monitoring in Maxville Montana has continued as we search for rare species of Botrychium, Agoseris, and Erythranthe. Whitebark Pine surveys have continued through August, however we have begun transitioning away from Whitebark Pine and more towards our rare plant species.

Seed collection is in full swing as we begin to collect the desired species of our forests. Some of the species that have been collected so far include Berberis repens, Geum macrophyllum, Festuca campestris, Gaillardia aristata, Pershia tridentata, Geranium viscosissimum and Phacelia hastata.

This month I had the privilege of joining the wildlife crew for a field day working on lynx habitat monitoring. Using points generated by a habitat model, we hiked to different locations and used a coverboards to determine habitat viability as well as looked for sign of lynx prey species.

Some fun wildlife encounters from this month have included white-tail and mule deer, columbia-spotted frogs, garter snakes, and some interesting looking cyanobacteria.

Western Terrestrial Garter Snake

A new project that I was able to participate in was lichen monitoring. The Montana Natural Heritage Program has plots set out for monitoring on a decade long cycle where species classification and prevalence are determined for the area. This monitoring research is going towards habitat and air quality as lichens are a determining factor in air quality in certain environments.

Pollinator surveys have continued with a hike up to Goat Flats in hopes of capturing some high-altitude bees in subalpine regions of the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest. Aside from the amazing view this experience was particularly memorable since the crew got caught in a lighting and hailstorm that left us soaking wet and high-tailed for the truck.

View from Goat Flats pre-storm

August has been filled with inclement weather as Montana transitions from extreme heat to extreme storms. Fires continue to rage in Montana and all around the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest caused by both human activity and lightning storms that have been raging through the state.

Update From the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest

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July has flown by on the Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest. Among the many projects planned for the field season I have been able to participate in rare plant monitoring, pollinator surveys, moth surveys, and scouting for seed collection sites to name a few.

This month has been filled with wildlife encounters of all shapes and sizes such as reptiles, amphibians, birds, deer, and much more. To kick off the month, we encountered some pikas up in the subalpine reaches of the Gravley Mountains after doing some White Bark Pine monitoring. During a pollinator survey up the Twin Lakes trailhead, I came pretty close to a large black bear meandering through the trees. The final wildlife highlight of the month was encountering a young bull moose while on our way to do rare plant monitoring in Maxville.

Young Bull Moose
Pika Hopping Across Rocks

The Forest Service has partnered with a few different organizations in order to fill in the gaps of Montana pollinators including Montana State University, Bumble Bee Atlas, and the Montana Moth Project. Pollinator collections can get pretty competitive at times as people race to get the most bees. Both live and lethal collection techniques have been used.

Bumblebee Sampled for Bumble Bee Atlas

The Beaverhead-Deer Lodge National Forest has several rare plant species including the federally endangered White Bark Pine. This has opened up many opportunities for the Botany Crew to do monitoring and assessments of rare plant species including White Bark Pine, Lemhi Penstemons, and Botrychium to name a few. During one of the White Bark Pine assessments, I was lucky enough to see the massive wildflower bloom that happens in the Gravley Mountain Range every year.

Wildflower Meadows

Seed collection is just right around the corner as many of the target seed collections for the Beaverhead-Deerlodge are starting to go to seed. Several scouting trips have been made in preparation for collections for Geranium viscosissimum, Festuca campestris, Glyceria, Lupinus argentus, Penstemon albertinus, and Gaillardia aristata to name a few. Collections should start very soon!

Update From the Beaverhead-Deerlodge National Forest

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June has been filled with many learning experiences including plant ID, habitat assessments, surveys, and scouting. The first several weeks consisted of a crash course on Habitat Assessment Frameworks (HAFs). These are super interesting because they were originally used for surveying Sage Grouse habitat but have since been adapted to map out native species, invasive species (cheat grass), and sagebrush cover.

Our first pollinator survey, adoringly referred to as a “Bee Blitz”, occurred in the 3rd week of the month as we looked for the elusive B. morrisoni. The pollinator surveys definitely got a bit competitive as people split up to collect a variety of specimens.

Spending time in the Big Hole Battlefield was probably one of my favorite projects that we have worked on so far. Spending time and camping out in an area of historical significance while getting great views and surveying the rare Lemhi Penstemon is definitely a project to remember moving forward with this field season.