As temperatures in the Southern California deserts are regularly topping the 100 degree mark, it’s high time for seed collection. Plants that once made a vibrant carpet of bright color on the desert floor are drying up and turning brown. This is great news for our Claremont seed collection team, because it means that nearly all of our targeted plant populations are in full fruit and starting to shed their seeds!

Salvia caruduacea, we found a thousand-plus population of these

The past month has consisted of a series of overnight trips out to the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts that have resulted in hundreds of brown paper bags full of seed being collected from all sorts of crispy plants. Today was a landmark moment for our team, as we have just shipped out our 50th seed collection. One of our largest collections has been of the thistle sage, (Salvia carduacea) an annual mint with spiny foliage, purple flowers, and the most amazing scent I’ve ever experienced that could only be described as being lemony fresh. The ensuing collection resulted in a fresh smelling field vehicle for the next two days. In addition to the interesting plants growing out in the Desert, I’ve had the pleasure of coming across a number of cool animals. I’ve been lucky enough to see three desert tortoises, a federally listed threatened species.

Male Desert Tortoise stopping by for some shade

Life in Los Angeles county has been excellent as well. While here, I’ve taken the time to visit interesting places like Hollywood and Venice Beach. Last weekend I made my first trek out to the historic Hollywood Bowl concert venue for the Playboy Jazz Festival, an all day marathon of dancing, good food, and even better music. The balance between city living and working out in the most remote parts of the desert has given me a complete tour of all that Southern California has to offer.

– Drew Monks, Claremont, CA, BLM Seeds of Success team out of the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden

This week I began my internship with the Bureau of Land Management, in the Seeds of Success program. I was assigned to the Vernal Utah Field Office some 2,000 miles from my Upstate New York home. Upon taking this position the general reaction of my family and friends was “wow, that’s really far away!”. Of course they are correct, however the opportunity that I have been blessed with by the people of The Conservation and Land Management Program is one that I could never pass up. Having never traveled to the Western United States there is an amount of excitement mixed with nervousness, but this passed as I had expected.

In the first few days of my experience I have come to realize the vastness of the West. The land in Utah goes on for what seems like forever, with amazing views of mountains and canyons. Seeing these things on a daily basis is something that I can really learn to appreciate coming from a more or less flat region. There are many different cultures and regions of the country, and being able to move to Utah and experience something that is so different than what I am familiar with has caused an inmeasureable amount of personal growth.

The field work thus far has also been as unique to me as life in Vernal. Being able to go out each day and work with species I have never seen before has allowed me to reach a greater understanding of different types of ecosystem functioning beyond what I am familiar with back East.

Josh M.

Vernal, Utah

Bureau of Land Management

Miriam Johnston
Buffalo, Wyoming
BLM

I’ve always lived in the East, so deciduous forests, Eastern grey squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis), Northern cardinals (Cardinalis cardinalis), and the rolling Appalachians are intimately familiar and feel definitively like home. When I first arrived here in Buffalo, Wyoming, I had never seen sagebrush (Artemisia spp.). The pronghorns (Antilocapra americana) looked like they belonged on a photo safari, and there were cacti (Opuntia spp.) growing out of the actual ground instead of in pots (?!). The word “range” was only a synonym for geographical distribution or of the “Ohhhhhh, home on the” variety, and I quickly discovered that snow-capped peaks DO exist beyond pictures.

I’m currently in the middle of my second week here at the Buffalo BLM, and though I’m still often struck by my comparatively unfamiliar surroundings, I don’t feel so out of context anymore. Thanks to my thorough and friendly training, I recognize the vast majority of the flora and fauna I see out on the range, and I’m starting to feel more at home here. Beyond the “Look! It’s a… thing” stage. Whew. It’s been quite an adventure, and I’ve gotten to see a lot of the northeastern Wyoming countryside, which is stunning (pictures later…). Definitely a good introduction.

Now that I’ve settled in a bit and taken a few leaps forward re. natural history (with, of course, a few leaps left to go), I’m really looking forward to expanding my horizons. My job description is quite varied – from rangeland monitoring to sage-grouse projects – and my supervisor is helping us to experience as much as we can. Today, we’re going to specific range sites to do photo monitoring. Tomorrow, we’re leaving the office at 4 a.m. (optional, but worth it!) to tag along on a riparian bird survey. This active office also houses hydrology, fire, and natural resource specialists, as well as petroleum engineering technicians. There is SO much to learn here; I’m really going to have to make these next five months count.