Hitting the trails of Colorado

Paint Mines Interpretive Park, El Paso County, CO

Paint Mines Interpretive Park, El Paso County, CO

Two months ago I moved to Colorado to get started on the Seeds of Success program at the Bureau of Land Management State Office in Lakewood, CO. Collecting seeds from native plant species was also part of my CLM internship at the BLM in Cheyenne last year but here in Colorado I will be completely focusing on this project.

Lakewood is a Denver suburb at the edge of the city and at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. In fact, it is an easy drive from the office up into the heart of the Rockies and numerous park areas just west of town.

During this first month, I have been working with the rest of the Seeds of Success team on the first stages of seed collection. The mission of Seeds of Success is to collect, conserve, and develop native plant materials for stabilizing, rehabilitating and restoring lands in the United States. We have started by scouting undisturbed areas to search for target species and assessing the plant populations we find in order to decide whether they could be suitable for our purposes. This preparation work is a key part of the project and sometimes it takes quite a lot of time. Some species have started flowering in recent weeks, particularly at lower altitudes, and we are already considering the ones we could potentially collect seeds from in the next few weeks.

This internship includes a lot of travel throughout Colorado, and I am looking forward to being able to explore most of the state in the coming months. During the first part of May we went to Rifle and Grand Junction, CO on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains to take a look at some BLM lands. Since our Seeds of Success team will be covering the whole state we are hoping to find some plant populations that work for us in western Colorado too. The few trips I have taken so far have already given me the opportunity to see some amazing places in different portions of the state while at the same time becoming familiar with the project as a whole. I have been enjoying working in the field most of the week, which allows me to get to know various types of vegetation and environments and learn a lot about the biology of the plants.

In addition to our trips outside the Denver area, we have also been scouting the parks in the mountains near the office and have collected some plant specimens. I like the fact that there are lots of great open areas close to Denver because we can take more time to study the area and find what we need. And I can personally enjoy the Rockies environment here during my free time without driving long distances. I’m looking forward to the next few months that I’ll get to spend here in the Denver area.

Lorenzo Ferrari

Lakewood, CO

Colorado BLM State Office 

Small Town, Big Country

Lomatium Collection Site

Lomatium Collection Site

This is the start of my 4th week in Cedarville, CA working at the BLM Surprise Field Office. The weather has been cool and rainy and so far I have visited only a fraction of the resource area. I have done some scouting for the SOS program and hopefully this week we will be able to collect seed from a Lomatium population that covers about 5 square miles. The image was taken off of Barrel Springs Road on the California-Nevada border.

Where would I be without my GPS?

The Lower Moses Coulee- A beautiful sagebrush-steppe canyon carved out by the Missoula floods of the most recent ice age.

The Lower Moses Coulee- A beautiful sagebrush-steppe canyon carved out by the Missoula floods of the most recent ice age.

First of all, I never thought I would get to work where people actually pay to visit on their weekends. This is no surprise though, because coming from the remarkably flat suburbs of Chicago, the Columbia River basin and the surrounding landscape still astonishes me. Working closely with the regional floriculture and making daily observations has allowed me to witness first-hand the reproductive lifecycle of the general flower populations in my collection areas. And as for these collection sites, they’re not exactly tiny and they’re not exactly the easiest to navigate, but after hiking in a circle for 2 miles and finally looking and up and staring in to Microseris troximoides heaven, I get a greater satisfaction than I’ve had from any other internship. After patting myself on the back, I (and you will too, believe me) immediately thank god for my handheld GPS and mark the site for future reference. Any and every ecological/biological worker should know how to use GPS as easily as (s)he can ride a bicycle. But heck, when you’re in a beautiful area like this, the getting lost part is just as fun.

On a professional level, I’ve developed an understanding of the standard practices involved with working for a multisite organization which oversees so much land and so many employees. But nothing is arbitrary! Every bit of safety training can come into play when least expected. Going out alone as far as 2 hours from the field office can be downright dangerous without the right training. I never thought I would be unlucky enough as to get a flat tire on a 20 degree downhill slope, but all’s well. Folks, these are responsible research and life lessons … And never forget to shake out your clothes for ticks!

Michael Bolouri
Seeds of Success Intern
BLM Field Office, Wenatchee, WA

Roswell, NM…you mean like aliens?

Perhaps I am the alien? Being placed in New Mexico is quite the change of pace from southern Pennsylvania. Not knowing anyone, the heat, and the new wildlife were all challenges I faced and seem to be getting by. Working for the Bureau of Land Management is different as well. I am not used to the government providing water for animals or talking about oil drilling. The BLM wildlife sanction has three species of interest; Kuenzler Cactus, Lesser Prairie Chicken, and the Sand Dune Lizard. These organisms are candidate species to be threatened/endangered and with ranching, oil drilling, and power lines being more and more prevalent, these species need careful attention. I will be working with two New Mexico State interns on the Sand Dune Lizard.
Here is where my eastern temperate woodland biological background has a little voice. In Pennsylvania, I studied salamanders for student research and caught them on a regular basis for fun. There are so many species and they are easy to study. New Mexico has three species of salamanders and has more lizard species than they know what to do with. Pennsylvania has only 4 species of lizards and I have only seen one in person. Needless to say I have very limited lizard catching experience. So after I got settled in, I went to a park to investigate the local fauna (and flora). The abundance of lizards amazed me. Not only that, but they are incredibly quick. I didn’t even bother attempting to catch one, but merely snagged a few photos.
Work begins, and I have no lizards under my belt. Luckily we were assigned some other projects with fixing and cleaning water troughs, removing Russian Olive from a spring, and setting up trail cams before actually starting the program. When we saw a lizard and had a bit of free time, we tried to capture it. Thus far we are about 3/50. Some practice, but the tested lizard capture method will be demonstrated soon enough, we actually begin the Sand Dune Lizard project this week.
All in all, once we get rolling with the lizards, the more fun we’ll probably have. Also, no aliens as of now, depending on your definition of “alien.” Best of luck to all the CLM interns! Catch ya at the Grand Canyon!
Grant Izzo
Wildlife Intern
BLM-Roswell Field Office

Me with a Lesser Earless Lizard

Me with a Lesser Earless Lizard

Lesser Prairie Chicken

Lesser Prairie Chicken

From the Surprise Cafe, Cedarville, CA.

I am writing this blog from the Surprise Café in Cedarville. The owners of this fine establishment are good enough to offer free Wi-Fi to its patrons. All-in-all, Cedarville and its residents are growing on me. My neighbor, Bud, sells me farm-fresh eggs for $1.50/doz!

It has been unseasonably wet and chilly in Cedarville (or so I hear). It has made for fewer and muddier field excursions than I would have liked thus far (especially in the North Cowhead area of the BLM), but it seems to be warming up and drying out. Keep your fingers crossed that “74F and sunny” is an omen of good weather to come.

Thus far at the BLM, I have helped many other seasonals work on their time-sensitive projects and have learned a lot—anything from native species identification to driving manual on the euphemistically named dirt “roads” in Nevada. I’m looking forward to training for my Aspen/Wildlife Monitoring Project this week and to the months to come!

This is a photo taken on a weekend hike through the South Warner Mountain overlooking Surprise Valley, CA.

This is a photo taken on a weekend hike through the South Warner Mountain overlooking Surprise Valley, CA.

Wyoming… Wy not?

Great Basin Spadefoot Toad

Great Basin Spadefoot Toad

Despite having lived in Providence, RI (college) and Seattle, WA (post-college) over the past 5 years, I’m a sucker for wilderness and wide open spaces. Throw in a passion for ecology/zoology and some job sleuthing, and here I am, a CLM wildlife intern in Rawlins, WY.

My job here is, along with co-intern Jackie Taylor, to travel around the Rawlins Field Office (the majority of southern Wyoming) inventorying amphibian populations to better inform future land management decisions. We’re continuing the inventorying done last year by 2009 CLM interns Timothy Barwise and Brandon Fessler, and so far it’s been fantastic driving around listening to frog and toad calls, wading around in marshes in hip boots, and taking in the experience of being a government employee (though my favorite part might be taking a few minutes while out doing night surveys to check out the brilliantly clear night sky).

Yours truly, holding a tiny boreal chorus frog

Yours truly, holding a tiny boreal chorus frog

It’s been quite an adjustment moving to a town as small as Rawlins, though (population: ~9000). I’m quite used to walking, cycling, and public transportation; now, here without a car (for now), I feel quite isolated at times (our barracks are on the outskirts of town), though most of the other interns are gracious with ride offers so it’s not as bad as it could be. All in all, while I still miss city life, it’s not so bad here. Work takes up most of my time anyway. I sure do miss coffee shops, though. (Folger’s coffee is definitely not the best part of waking up.)

Kevin Neal
Wildlife Intern
Bureau of Land Management, Rawlins Field Office

Living “Life Elevated” (I think I got a head ach from the elevation) here in Utah/Nevada

Just another sunny morning here on the laptop sitting at a picnic table and enjoying the sound of the stream. We are going on the 5th week here in Utah working with the SOS program out of the Provo office. At first, I was unsure whether we would be working in the mountains or on the valley floors but after a few weeks in the field it seems like the forbs are all somewhat in between. The foothills have been our main focus thus far. A few things that I have learned in the last couple of weeks are that we will be camping 3-4 days a week in the field, mostly in Nevada and that Nevada, contrary to popular belief, has nice camping areas that are free too! I found out that there are actually many different species of plants growing under the pinon/juniper forests and under what seemed like a desolate desert of sagebrush and saltbrush. I learned to identify plants using pubescence and many other characteristics that I never even knew existed and the game of predicting how long it will take a flower to turn to seed. Finally, our mentor has provided us with all the tools to find old collection sites and GPS new sites in order to save time and not get lost. GPS is very useful and it spices the job up making it feel like we are on a treasure hunt and the digital flag marks the spot. So far the sites have been plentiful and the Delorme GPS software has worked flawlessly; now I just need to work on my identification skills!

Getting Started in Miles City

So I have been working here in Montana at the BLM Miles city Field Office for almost three weeks. What has really struck me so far about working with the BLM is the emphasis on land use (not preservation or conservation) with the integration and compromise of dozens of different interests going into managing the land. I am based out of the Wildlife Divisions and we must reconcile the needs we see for wildlife withe the needs identified by the Recreation, Range, and Minerals Departments. Everyone has different priorities that often clash and it is mind-boggling the number of things going on in a single piece of country. While the interdependence can be frustrating in terms of compromising on important management decisions, this intertwinging of all the departments has already allowed me some neat opportunities way outside my job description.

For example, to better understand the dynamics between the field office and permittees (ranchers renting land from the BLM), last week I got to help out at a cattle branding. For those of you who have never had the pleasure of helping out at a branding, it is just what you image: men on horses roping calves with lassos, cows bawling in the background, blood, mud, and manure everywhere… I had a terrific time! Wrestling calves all day so they can be branded vaccinated, and castrated may not seem like it has much to do with wildlife, but it really gave me a glimpse at land management from the other side so to speak. I got a few interesting opinions on the wildlife I will be working with. For example, later this summer I will be working with prairie dogs, which to me are fascinating, cool wildlife. But to ranchers, prairie dogs are dangerous pests, destroying pastureland, breaking cows’ legs, and spreading Bubonic plague. Therefore, many ranchers have few qualms about using them for target practice. Working and eating alongside some ranchers for a day (a branding traditionally ends with a ‘feed’ – three kinds of pie!) helped put my work in perspective, as part of a whole range of land use imperatives. And more generally, this kind of interaction between the BLM and ranchers helps keep an open dialogue for establishing management practices acceptable for all players.

In other news, I saw a porcupine and a badger last week…

Catherine Reuter

Miles City, Montana

BLM

Oregon, My New Love..

Hey everyone! I just started working as a CLM intern for the Bureau of Land Management in Lakeview, OR. So far I absolutely love Oregon and the internship! I will be working with a fire ecologist as well as collecting seeds for the Seeds of Success program. I have learned a lot just the two weeks and a half weeks that I have been in Oregon!

A view of Goose Lake from behind the town of Lakeview, OR

A view of Goose Lake from behind the town of Lakeview, OR

Last week, I helped to collect data at the site, Mill Creek which had been burned in 1996 and then again in 2006. At this site, the fire ecologist that I am working with is monitoring the plant, Pedicularis centranthera, which is a sensitive plant.

The beautiful Pedicularis centranthera plant!

The beautiful Pedicularis centranthera plant!

Being from Indiana I did not have a background in western plant ID but I have already learned a lot of plants! The botany seasonal crew has been doing clearances in the Lakeview District, I have assisted them a few days and I have learned a lot of new plants!

An orange Castilleja sp. with the landscape in the background

An orange Castilleja sp. with the landscape in the background

I just finished  SOS training in Vale, OR. I learned a lot during the training and I got to meet some of the other interns around the area! During our field day we collected seeds of Amsinckia tessellata which has a beautiful scorpioid inflorescence.

Field Training Site where we collected Amsinckia tessellata

Field site where we collected Amsinckia tessellata

Sucker Creek State Park, where we ate lunch for the SOS training field day!

Sucker Creek State Park, where we ate lunch for the SOS training field day!

Thanks! I hope everyone is having a great summer!

Molly Baughman