Since the intern training in June/July, I’ve worked on updating the BLM’s Oregon  State Office public botany webpage, tested a survey protocol for Johnson’s hairstreak butterfly with fellow intern Candace Fallon, cleaned seeds at the Berry Botanic Garden, and completed many other not-so-interesting tasks.

The updated webpage isn’t ready yet, but when it is you’ll be able to find it at: http://www.blm.gov/or/programs/botany/index.php

The butterfly survey was a lot of fun, especially since I got to work on it with Candace :).  Callophrys johnsoni, or Johnson’s hairstreak, is a rare butterfly that lives in Oregon and Washington.  Its host is a Dwarf mistletoe that only grows on Western hemlock.  Armed with neon orange safety vests, orange and blue hard hats, heavy-duty boots, and a butterfly net, we walked ever-so-slowly along a seldom used dirt road.  Closely inspecting the Western hemlock foliage with net in hand I looked like a recent insane asylum escapee.  I received confirmation of the strangeness of my appearance not only from Candace, but also when I talked to a group of highschoolers and showed them photos: “Why are you wearing a hard hat when all you’re doing is looking for butterflies?”   The only reply I could think of: “It’s a dangerous job.”

Cleaning seeds at a Botanic Garden isn’t quite so dangerous.  Just slightly more glamorous, the job requires that you can remove extra plant debris from around seeds, count hundreds of them for many hours, and  package them in such a way that they have no chance of escaping.  Stored in a walk-in refrigerator, the Garden’s collection of rare seeds is quite impressive.

I hope that all of your summers are going well.  I am excited to be starting my Master’s program in Geography at Portland State University at the end of September- I hope to do my thesis on the impacts of climate change on Oregon endemic plant species.  If any of you have ideas or resources, let me know!!

Take care,

Camille Duncan, BLM Oregon State Office, Portland, OR

Hey everyone!

I am so excited to have been able to be a part of such a great internship program! I’m doing things at my internship that I would’ve never dreamed I’d get a chance to do! I am working in Hollister, California in San Benito County since May 2009 with the Bureau of Land Management. I’m in the central coast/central valley region of California, which puts me in proximity to San Jose, Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Francisco, which is very exciting and interesting! My office mainly manages two large areas: Panoche/Tumey Hills and Clear Creek Management Area (CCMA). When I work in the Panoche/Tumey Hills, I am usually getting the opportunity to survey for fossilized materials, which usually consists of Mosasaur or Hadrosaur bones, petrified wood, and conifer needle and branch fossil impressions. While working in Clear Creek Management Area, I am usually surveying populations of endemic plant species on serpentine soil (such as Layia discoidea). My boss, Ryan O’Dell, is the natural resources specialist (soil/botany) in my office and works closely with serpentine soil restoration and ecology. The main project I have been working on during my internship is creating a paleontological data map (from past and present fossil material surveys) on ArcGIS. It has been a very rewarding experience to be able to work with ArcGIS. Overall, I am really enjoying my internship experience in Hollister, California with the BLM. I am really thankful for such a great program and the opportunity to work in areas I never imagined I’d ever be able to! Thanks!!!

Panoche/Tumey Hills

Hadrosaur excavation (fossil vertebrae shown)

Clear Creek Management Area (serpentine soil outcrop = the bluish stuff)

Layia discoidea (serpentine endemic species)

*Kelly Bougher
Bureau of Land Management
Hollister Field Office – California

My internship placement is at the BLM’s Arizona Strip Field Office.  As someone who has spent almost all her life east of the Mississippi, I have been greatly impressed by the beautiful landscapes.  My primary motivations for participating in the CLM Internship Program were to determine whether I’d like to pursue a career in management and to gain new skills, and I can unhesitantly state that I have accomplished both those goals!  I have acquired GPS/GIS skills, gained experience with the NEPA process, and learned more about monitoring.  Some of the activities in which I have been involved have included surveying for desert tortoises, assessing health in bighorn sheep, monitoring peregrine falcons, and inventorying livestock waters for the presence of bird ladders.  Although my internship is with the Wildlife Program, I’ve also had the opportunity to participate in rare plant monitoring and to learn about ongoing restoration projects.

Menyon Heflin, BLM, Arizona Strip Field Office, AZ