My workplace

For the past three months I have been living and working in Washington State at North Cascades National Park where the mountains are grand and the lakes are cold. I work for the park’s plant ecologist on a variety of long term monitoring projects. This internship has introduced me to Western Washington, from the prairies of San Juan Island, to the old growth and subalpine forests of the North Cascades. My brain has been overflowing with new plant information; common names, scientific names and six letter abbreviations. I moved to Washington from Colorado where I learned the plants and forest patterns of a drier climate. The west side of the North Cascades is wet. The trees are huge and the understory is dense. The ferns and mosses continually remind me of the incredible amount of water that hydrates these forests. Due to the rain shadow effect, the east side of the Cascades is drier and more reminiscent of the Colorado Rockies.

Early in the summer, while we were waiting for the snow to melt in the mountains, we conducted grassland transects at San Juan Island National Historic Park at the American Camp. The prairie that we ran transects across was once forested but more recently served as pasture land. The tract of land is now protected as National Historic Park and is grazed not by sheep and cows but by deer and rabbits. As we walked the transects we noted changes in cover type (grass, shrub, or tree) and whether the majority of the cover was native or exotic. This monitoring project aims to learn how the land is changing without the agricultural grazing pressures. Are native grasses or invasive grasses becoming more or less dominant? Are shrubs replacing the grasses? Are trees replacing the shrubs? As the park aims to preserve the National Historic Park and the ecology of the landscape this study will give natural resource specialists an idea of how the land is currently changing.

Data collection

For the second half of the summer I have been working in the forests of the North Cascades. Here we are in the early years of a forest monitoring project to track changes in the forests. We visit established forest plots and relocate marked trees that are part of a study tracking growth, death, and recruitment patterns and shifts. This data will be used to track forest changes as the climate of the Northwest changes. The last month of field work has been monitoring whitebark pine (Pinus albicaulis), a subalpine five-needled pine. Throughout western North America whitebark pine is suffering from an introduced white pine blister rust (fungus). Whitebark pine plays an important role in the subalpine ecosystem. The trees are extremely hardy and can establish on unstable, exposed slopes with extreme weather conditions. As they establish they increase slope stabilization creating more hospitable habitat for other plant species. This makes whitebark pine trees ‘nurse’ plants. In addition, the seeds are an important food source for Clark’s nutcrackers, squirrels and bears. I have loved the whitebark pine work. I have been inspired by the whitebark, from the steep slopes where they grow their roots, to their purply cones with tasty pine nuts, to their funky gnarled growth forms, to their beautiful high elevation view of the world.

This internship has been an incredible experience. My work has taken me on week-long backpacking adventures to places that many folks dream of visiting for vacation. Field work has allowed me an up-close view of a spectacular landscape, working alongside the most knowledgeable people on the area.

Vaccinium deliciosum... blueberries!

Each time I am out in the field the park reveals new secrets; enormous glaciers, hidden alpine lakes, subtle vegetation patterns, showy alpine flowers and many blueberries. Spending my summer in the North Cascades has confirmed for me the important role that the National Park System, and all of the land management agencies, play in protecting some of the most beautiful places on Earth.

Annie Bossange, North Cascades National Park, Marblemount, WA

Ah, to be a native seed collector.  Might sound like a soothing, peaceful and valuable job, one that allows you to wander beautiful landscapes, gaze at incredible flowers, ponder ecological/historical questions about the land… and sometimes it is all that!  Then there are the times when it is the diametric opposite, a frustrating exercise in patience and perseverance.   Patience is what I always find in short supply.  The Worland field office primarily covers the Big Horn Basin of north central Wyoming where precipitation ranges from 5-14 inches/year.  Wyoming big sage, greasewood and rabbitbrush dominate a sandy, saline and dynamic topography.  It is a harsh place to make a living, many of our forbs and more desirable reclamation species are simply hard to find in any great density but are scattered about in a dispersed continuum.   As Forest mentioned, these types of populations don’t fit easily into the SOS protocols, nor do I feel that I can justifiably spend 2-3 days crawling around for a couple thousand seeds (alas these aren’t T& E’s).   I have those moments at the end of the day, filling up my truck with gas- are these handful of seeds worth the $50 dollars in gas, my days wages and the price to ship and clean them?   I tell myself yes (I might be out doing it again tomorrow and need the motivation) and remind myself of the larger cause, that those Plant Materials Centers will cherish these gems and within their confines they’ll flourish.  Obviously, yes I have doubts sometimes.  In general I’ve found it hard to break out beyond the grasses, I may not enjoy keying them but they’re a boon to collect- typically more abundant, not too low to the ground and not as readily tasty for the native fauna.  Thus far I’ve made about 20 collections about 60% which are grasses.

There are other interesting things out there- one can't always look at plants!

Ah, what I am looking at?

Aside from seed collecting which comprises about 65% of my time, I help various folks out with their monitoring projects, PFC’s, weed and fire treatments.  This has been a great opportunity for me to observe the interface between management and science- a contentious exchange, but a necessary one.  The utility of either one depends on the other.  And yes like everyone I drive, drive, drive.  This seems to be the way of life out here, both for work and pleasure.   My highlights are always days when I get to work with others or a group—ha ha!  I live by myself in small town in Wyoming and many days I drive around and collect seeds alone, so company is always more than welcome!  I’m starting to realize how much I appreciate time to myself and have begun to savor the slow life, yet I’ve also learned I definitely am a social creature.

A specific highlight was collecting limber pine cones for a USFS genetic study on white pine blister rust.  Reading Elizabeth’s comments made me recall our ordeal.  I just gave up on the tree pruner- found the limber pines too limber and my arm strength waning as I tried to maneuver this thing above my head for more than 10 minutes.  So I just started to climb the trees and had a sticky blast chucking cones down to my mentor while she scurried to get them.  Then I pretty much took a bath in rubbing alcohol to dissolve all the pitch.  Fun, beautiful and productive- what I wish every day could be.

Fremontodendron californicum ssp. decumbens or Pine Hill flannelbush. This species is federally listed as endangered and state listed as rare. This species is known to be endemic to the Pine Hill area of El Dorado County. There is a similar plant found in Nevada County and experts are unsure as to whether it is the same plant or just closely related.Photo credit: Graciela Hinshaw.

As a CLM intern I have been fortunate to participate in the operations of a rare plant preserve at many levels. I have attended cooperative management meetings, met with developers to discuss the possibility of land acquisition, conducted rare plant surveys as part of long-term monitoring, participated in the creation of a fuels break, met with conservation professionals to discuss the rare plants and their relationship to similar species, participated in the NEPA process, assisted in rapid response invasive species removal and gathered native seeds for seeds of success. My mentor has been very active in exposing me to many aspects of land  management. I get exposure to a little bit of everything.

Salmon Falls. My favorite and the largest parcel of the Pine Hill Preserve.

I am working for the 4,122 acre Pine Hill Preserve at the Sierra Foothills in El Dorado County where eight rare plants are in need of protection. This is a fragmented preserve made up of five non-contiguous units. The mission of the Pine Hill Preserve is to “conserve in perpetuity the rare plants species and plant communities of the western El Dorado County gabbro soil formation.” There are five federally listed species and four of the plants are endemic to the Pine Hill area.

Unfortunately, much of the land where the rare soils, and thus the plants, are/were found has been developed. Therefore, a lot of what goes into protecting the plants on this fragmented preserve is acquiring new lands to prevent further development and loss of habitat. A new acquisition is being considered where the very small and federally listed El Dorado bedstraw is relatively abundant. If this land is acquired, it would be wonderful for the preserve and for the little Galium californicum ssp. sierrae. It would also increase the amount of open space to be enjoyed by future generations and could be a good site for scientific research.

Monitoring at the Cameron Park parcel prior to fuels reduction. Due to the abundance of fire prone chaparal throughout the Pine Hill Preserve, the creation of fuel breaks is imporant to prevent wildfires. While prescribed burning would likely benefit the rare plants, the proximity of homes makes the creation of fuel breaks a safer option.

I feel very lucky to be experiencing conservation at work on the fringe of urban sprawl. While I am definitely not channeling John Muir in my day to day experiences as an intern (sometimes I am quite literally working adjacent to backyards and not backpacking through the wilderness), I am experiencing what will continue to be an important aspect of conservation, protecting endangered species surviving at the edge of modern development.

Jennifer Bartlau, BLM Field Office, El Dorado Hills, California

Inventorying for trails from top...

Popping into my head immediately, when I try and sum up my CLM Internship Program with the Chicago Botanic Garden is a single word.  Gratitude.   Hypothetically if you could hop into a time machine, go back in time and visit 10 year old Bryon, and you surprised him with an interview and quickly asked, “What do you want to do for a job when you grow up?”  Ten year old me would probably have hummed and hawed, kicked the dirt and eventually responded sheepishly like little boys tend to do, “Uhhm….Is their a  job where you just kind of explore around in the woods?”

...to bottom.

Well little boy Bryon, you would be pleased to find out, indeed there is a job where you do that.  For three field seasons I have been at the heart of a route inventory across the Medford District BLM, an accumulation of public lands totaling approximately 866,000 acres scattered across Southern Oregon.  Another Chicago Botanic Garden Intern and I began the project in 2007, from which I continued on as the crew lead and data steward for the following two field seasons.  During this period my crew and I have inventoried 204,431 acres and mapped 197 miles of previously undocumented trail.  The breadth and extent to which I have been able to, “just kind of explore around in the woods,” is so staggering I often have to remind myself of how lucky I have been.  This of course brings me back that single gracious word.

The essence of the project has been to cover as much ground as possible, as thoroughly as possible.  Sounds simple right?  Well sure, but remember in order to cover ground, you have must first know the ground.  That is to say, to do the job correctly one must know exactly where they are, at all times.  Most folks would think this means relying on GPS machines but I quickly learned it is the other way around.  Satellites move, signals are slowly lost to entropy, and batteries can die.  On the other hand we can count on contour lines, creek beds, and good ole Magnetic North to stay put (at least within our lifetimes).  When things get confusing, or there is a bit of a (cough) internal dispute about location, UTM Coordinates can offer laser like precision.  That being said nothing beats the ability to read contour lines like a book and the landscape like the face of an old friend.  Map and compass navigation, like any skill, is improved with practice.   When refined though, these skills can broaden our view of the landscape and free up the GPS machine for taking data instead of giving it out!

Giving orders to the machine, not taking them!

Besides navigation the other primary challenge to, “covering ground,” is the obvious part; actually getting around.   Once again, this is easier said than done.  Between crushing winter snowpack’s up in the “snow zone” (over 4,000 feet in this part of the world), dizzyingly steep ridges, and a summer fire season which can seriously restrict the use of motorized vehicles, selecting the most appropriate mode of travel has been much more than an afterthought.

Easy does it coming down!

The ultimate tool for covering ground is of course the dirt bike.  Slim enough to squeeze through the tightest of spaces, and with power and speed that can cut travel time by a factor of 10 or 20, the dirt bike trades in any chance of being discrete, for quite simply, the fastest mode for moving to very specific locations.  This makes it a very effective tool for this kind of work.

"Steep enough for you?!"

Even dirt bikes have their limits though and some trails are simply too steep to ride.  Needless to say, the ability to judge for a limiting slope, which I like to refer to as, “The point of no return,” (particularly when going downhill) is an essential skill.  At this point it was always back to the basics, scrambling and zig zagging up or down the crumbling trail by boot and foot.

Golden Fields of Fire Danger

A yearly summer occurrence here in Southern Oregon is fire season.  During fire season the risk of wildfire can be so high the combustion engine of a motorcycle is deemed an unacceptable risk.  During those periods our crew traded burning gasoline for burning carbohydrates.  Mountain bikes usually make a good pairing with the slope of the winding mountain roads.  When the roads become too steep to pedal up, they offer a cool breezy downhill reward to crew members who were willing to push the bicycle up the hill.

Just around the next bend...

The most common, and certainly most lasting, occurrence of the internship is perhaps the most simple.  The act of walking up a shady mountain road, closed in by canopy and trunk, ears alert to the squirrels and birds skittering in the brush, tasting the weather of that day, and inevitably lulled back in time to that exact spot.  It is wonderful feeling; kinship with those who have came before on this very path, taking the same crunchy steps, and entranced by the ancient thrush calls.

Remnants of Another Age

The world of yesterday is gone.  Quiet Native Americans and crusty old miners will never walk these mountains as they once did.  But if we get off the paved road, go up onto the dirt towards the summits, and turn off onto a smaller route once, maybe even twice, continuing up, out, away into the wild; something special will begin to happen.  As we make our way the quiet grows, and the smallest of sounds begin to amplify.  Our eyes become accustomed to the chlorophyll glow and manmade objects suddenly pop out as the exception grabbing our attention.  We share feelings with the deer, both listening carefully to each other, cautious of any hidden threats.   As the hours go on and on out there it becomes clear the greatest honor that we can serve to those that have come before us is to quietly walk in their footsteps and let the ever thriving sense of place gently fill us the same way it once filled them.

In my view public lands are the most essential and perfect representation of our country.  Not only a living breathing example of freedom but our public lands offer endless inspiration with their mystery, beauty, and resilience.  The American author Edward Abbey has a quote to the tune of, “I may never go to Alaska, but it sure is nice to know it is up there.”  This quote is as true for our public lands as it is for Alaska.  No matter whom you are or where you live across this broad country, even if you never even make it down the block to the town green, you should feel comfort to know there are more spectacular places than you could visit in 1000 lifetimes.  And they all belong to YOU!

I can’t properly express with words, the pride I feel for these lands, and the pride I feel for the work I have done to help protect them and allow them to be enjoyed by others.   The phrase, “Life changing experience,” doesn’t really seem to fit because I now feel like this is my life.  Our land is so far beyond us, in quality and in quantity, that all we can do is hope for the chance to let some of it inside of us.  To have received that chance, from The Chicago Botanic Garden and the BLM, I feel nothing but pure gratitude.

Bryon Harris, 2009

Pride for Our Land!

You can tell this pretty lizard is a female by the bright orange spots on her neck.

Holding a wild animal in your hand is not something most people get to experience. It can be anywhere from thrilling to kind of terrifying (I’ve met some fierce chipmunks in the past). This summer, I’ve been fortunate enough to get my hands on the rare Sand Dune Lizard (Sceloporus arenicolus).

With these little guys, we spend a lot more time chasing them around the sand dunes than actually holding them. They’re very elusive, and if you lose track of one you’ve sighted, it’s gone. These are the options for catching one: slip a tiny, tiny noose around its neck, snatch and grab, pounce, dig it out of a hole, or the more civilized pitfall trap. However it happens, it’s pretty exciting to catch one, and every lizard we catch helps protect the habitat from oil & gas drilling.

Not all of my time in Roswell is spent playing the lizard rodeo game, though. My fellow intern, Mary, and I have been lucky enough to have a great mentor who allows us a lot of flexibility with our projects. In addition to catching lizards, we’ve been involved in maintaining wildlife waters, monitoring vegetation after a big fire, checking out reclaimed oil pads, making recommendations for antelope passes along pasture fences, and more. Most recently, we’ve been in a three-office effort to reclaim an oil pad by planting a lot of sand bluestem in the desert. This involved some seriously hard labor, but it has been a lot of fun to get together with the interns from the Carlsbad and Las Cruces offices.

So, this is my favorite story from the summer so far. Mary and I had been learning about pronghorn antelope, and how they travel between pastures. Apparently, pronghorns like to duck under fences, not jump over, so to create antelope passes in long fence lines, a four-strand barbed wire fence with a smooth bottom strand is recommended. One day, Mary and I are driving along in the middle of nowhere and a pronghorn races across the road in front of us. I turn around to watch it and see it go flying up over a fence… and then come crashing down head over heels on the other side.

Help!

We do a quick turnaround, and sure enough, its front hoof is tangled in the top two strands of barbed wire. We approach it pretty carefully, but that hoof is really stuck between the tight wires. Obviously we couldn’t just leave it there, so we broke out the gloves and a piece of rebar and somehow managed to pry the wire apart just enough for our friend to slip his hoof out and run away. After a few steps, the pronghorn stopped and looked back. We’re pretty sure he was saying thank you.

Carolyn Livensperger, Roswell, NM

My name is Dan and I’m a culvert assessor.  To be more specific, I along with my partner Amber Masters assess and inventory culverts within the BLM Rawlins, WY Field Office to determine whether they present a barrier to native fish populations.  Before Amber and I arrived in Rawlins the GIS personnel out of the BLM Wyoming state office produced a map highlighting all points on public lands within the Rawlins Field Office where river, stream, and creek met road.  It’s the job of Amber and I to ground truth these points, as they are not all culverts, and to assess the culverts we come across.  I will not detail this procedure as Amber has already done so but I will say that though culvert inventory and assessment may seem dull its importance shouldn’t be trivialized as barriers (culvert, dam, etc.) present a great threat to many of North Americas fish species.

Purple Rain

I will now step away from passage assessment, as though it does make up the majority of what Amber and I do, it’s not all that we do as we dabble in other fishery related projects like population estimates and exotic species removal.  The former was performed using a multiple-pass depletion method which entails pulling a seine the length of representative segments of the stream or creek being surveyed.  This process can be a bit strenuous at times but is quite fun and interesting as you never know what your haul is going to contain; it also allows one to learn the native and exotic fish species quickly.  Removal of exotic fish populations from drainages within the field office is an interesting procedure as well.  The treatment method which Amber and I participated in involved the use of the piscicide rotenone.  Rotenone is a naturally derived chemical used by many fishery managers as a way to effectively remove undesirable fish populations.  Rotenone’s effectiveness comes from its ability to inhibit cellular respiration thereby starving a fish of oxygen.  It sounds cruel but in many cases it’s the only means for wholly removing exotic fish populations from systems and allowing the re-establishment of native fish species.  The Rawlins Field Office works in conjunction with the Wyoming Game and Fish on projects involving the treatment of systems within the field office.

Roads We Drive

Before a stretch of water is treated an effort is made to recover native fish species from this area.  Recovering native fish is done by donning electrofishing packs and trying to temporarily stun native fish so they can be caught.  After the initial recovery process the rotenone is applied in a coordinated process via multiple drips at a concentration, rate, and duration based on flow (CFS) as well other factors.  A second recovery begins at this time for native fish missed during the initial recovery.  Native fish under the influence of rotenone or those fleeing the rotenone will run into block nets placed within the treatment area.  Those fish that are native are pulled off the nets and placed in fresh water which can reverse the effects of the rotenone if the fish isn’t too far gone.

To prevent effects outside the treatment area the rotenone is neutralized through the application potassium permanganate.  This is a strange site as the potassium permanganate turns the entire treatment stretch purple.  Also, within the treatment area and outside the treatment area baskets of native fish (canaries) are placed and monitored to check the treatment progress and to make sure the rotenone is not reaching outside the treatment area.  After the treatment is complete the effected fish are enumerated and identified.  Before restoration can begin the treatment will be performed a number of times to make sure all non-native fish species have been removed.  Semi-permanent barriers within the treatment area prevent non-native fish from repopulating the treatment area.

Dan Rapp-BLM-Rawlins, WY

Hardly a day goes by that I am not impressed with the scenery in the Rawlins, Wyoming Field Office. I am fortunate to have a project that allows my partner, Dan Rapp, and me to traverse all over this extensive field office. We have sunk waist deep in mucky wetlands, climbed steep, rocky mountains, slid down sand dunes, waded into cool, clear streams, and hiked through sweet-smelling pine and aspen forests. Truly Wyoming is a beautiful and diverse place. It is a far cry from home (Michigan) and I have loved tumbling around this new, exciting landscape.
Not to mention all the bizarre things we have been finding along the way.

Tony Stark

Bicycle on a tree?

Our job is rather droll in comparison to some other projects allotted to CLM interns, but it is very important. Dan and I are conducting aquatic organism passage assessments on stream-road crossings. The passage of fish and other aquatic organisms is critical to their survival and dispersal throughout a watershed. The information we collect will be used to replace, remove or repair barriers to movement. The work we do will have a profound effect on the ecosystems with which we are working.

This is a problem

We spend most of the day driving around to various stream-road crossing sites. We document bridges and fords as passable, for the most part, and typically only are required to evaluate culverts. When we find a culvert the first thing we do is take a look at the structure shape and size as well as some minor details that can affect the ability of a fish to swim. Small things like the depth of the corrugations can make a huge difference to a little sculpin trying to make its way upstream. Other important characteristics such as the amount and depth of the sediment, whether it is accumulating in the culvert or if there is a large amount of debris collecting at the inlet and whether there is a drop at the outlet are also noted. A significant drop disallows upstream passage for many species. The size of the culvert is very important, we have found that most of the culverts are much too small based on the bankfull stream measurements we have taken. Basic physics will allow you to reason that this can cause an incredible increase in velocity through the structure and can make it impossible for a fish to power through that flow without exhausting its energy and ending up back downstream. We use engineering equipment to create a longitudinal profile of the stream. The length of the profile varies from stream to stream. The most crucial information gathered from this are the slope of the culvert, any sort of sediment accumulation at the inlet and the existence of a pool at the outlet. A pool basically provides a “running start” for a fish to jump up into a structure. We take all this information and first run it through a coarse filter to determine passability for Cyprinids (minnows), Salmonids (salmon and trout), Percidae (perch) and Cottidae (sculpins). If the coarse filter is unable to determine passability, we run the data through FishXing software- so far we have not had to use this as all of our locations have been clearly passable or impassable; most have proven to be barriers for at least one of the families with which we are concerned. In the upcoming years there is going to be plenty of work replacing fish barriers based on the information collected by me and Dan.

Dan in a culvert (measuring, I swear!)

Additionally, we have been able to work with other seasonal employees on other projects. I am glad to have been able to do a variety of different thing while I have been here. I have learned everything from engineering-based survey work, limnology assessment techniques, fish and amphibian sampling methods, stream treatments, electrofishing, GIS everything and a slew of menial yet necessary office tasks. We have worked with other departments within our office and also with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Amber Masters

Rawlins Field Offfice, Rawlins ,Wyoming

An early pic of an aster with the camera strap showing!

A later picture of a pea-family plant, note there is no strap in the picture!

This week I’m actually leaving my internship in Rawlins WY and heading home to Natick Massachusetts.  I’m excited to go home and see trees and fall colors, but I’m going to miss the open spaces and the glut of wildflowers (in the spring/early summer).  I spent a lot of time taking pictures of flowers, and I think I got better as the summer went on.  At first, I kept taking pictures with my finger over the lens or the camera strap in the shot, but I improved.

It’s a good thing that I got better at taking pictures because I saw some awesome plants. Here is a picture of me with Penstemon haydenii which is an endangered species and in Wyoming it’s only found in this one locality. We spent the day trudging back and forth across the sand dunes counting each plant. It was tiring, but well worth it to see and monitor such a pretty and interesting plant.

I’m going to miss seeing all these wildflowers, but I won’t miss riding around in a truck for up to six hours a day so I can see them!  The flora is so different in Wyoming and Massachusetts, but I like them both.  Wyoming may be wide open spaces, but if you focus in on the little things around you  it’s easy to appreciate the flora.

Another thing I enjoyed was collecting Limber pine cones for genetic research.  One person would take the pole trimmer and cut out some cones and another person (usually me) scampers around and finds where the pinecones fall, counts them, and then puts them in a burlap bag.  It was messy, because limber pine cones are extremely sappy (kind of like this post).  I wish I had a picture of these cones to show you, but I was too sticky to take out my camera.

– Elizabeth O’Leary

Rawlins, WY

BLM

Once upon a time, on this planet we call Earth, there existed simpler and much less conscious plants and animals that  that lived in an atmosphere which contained much less oxygen than in our present.  As with all living things these organisms died.  Then, over time, and throughout many other unique and novel creatures and eras, microscopic bacteria enzymatically worked upon these prehistoric organisms and successfully broke them down into something that would end up being more valuable to humans than gold or diamonds.  Coupled with the action of  geologic pressure and the correct evolutionary course of modern man, and countless international wars and economic dilemmas, the discovery of fluid minerals came into its short lived existance as man’s undercarriage of a progressive global supply chain and non-renewable combustible, and highly pollutant, natural resource.  Hydrocarbons persist inbetween rock formations deep underground, beneath our beloved hot springs and other precious wildlife refuges, patiently waiting for the  right investors, as in whoever has the most capital, to rip up the surface environment in a pell-mell of machinery to obtain our beloved expendable addiction.

Its important to note that oil and natural gas production does not seem so bad, morally and environmentally, when you drive home from work in the middle of January with full heat blasting on your rose frosted face while driving in your Chevy pick-up, then getting home to a 78 degree house while the outside temperature drops below freezing for the tenth day in a row.  But then you put on the news channel to hear about how you are completely against opposed to new exploration for offshore oil and gas production off the Atlantic coast because you suddenly are worried about the game fish population, although you ate a tuna sandwich for lunch in which the meat came from a diminishing fish population. It is at this point that we, as in all of us who have the luxury of life in America or any first world country, should realize what Newton has passed along to anyone who completed 10th grade physics and may be able to recall his infamous 3rd Law.

My work, as part of this internship, and as possibly best example of combining ‘conservation’ and ‘land management’  together is being part of  Oil and Gas Reclamation.  I am part of the select few, as in only one other person works with me, to inspect oil and gas production wells across northern Montana to determine if energy companies have performed the designated reclamation and environmental protection actions that have been set forth upon them from BLM.  Reclamation services can includes anything from planting the correct seeds, spreading and conserving topsoil, production water disposal and re-injection, reducing road erosion and traffic, and protecting wildlife habitat and nesting grounds.  Personally, I do not do any of the reclamation work itself, but have the grand course of writing letters and calling up any number of energy and production companies to tell them that if they do not conform to written orders and reclamation standards we get to issue them a hefty fine. The most difficult part of my internship, besides having to constantly convince myself that I am doing the environment a favor by driving around a truck hundreds of miles a day to take a few pictures and look at soil quality, is mapping out hundreds of different well locations between as many as 5 counties across northern Montana and driving to them solo. I have covered more ground throughout this summer than I have throughout my entire life before this internship.  So, my conclusion as of now is that it is impossible to have energy production with zero impact on the natural world, but reclamation is in place to ameliorate the negative short and long term economic and environmental effects produced by human desire energy. If we want to enjoy our cars and our heat and anything of the like we must also put back time, money, and energy to conserve the land we are changing.

Spencer Rubin, BLM, Great Falls, MT.