My time here in Zion ends with an adventure which feels like has only just begun.   I have to admit the desert hasn’t always been my favorite place.  I believed in the past that these places are far to dry for my liking with vegetation that seems monotonous to the eye.  With my time here in Zion National Park I have gained a greater understanding of this landscape. I was brought here to further develop their “working herbarium” and I must say I feel lucky in having done just that.  I have discovered and surveyed moisture loving vegetation in hanging garden after hanging garden, rivers, and monsoonal driven habitats.   I have been lucky enough to collect plants in places that are only rarely seen by researchers and park service employees alike.  Far from any trail lays secret springs and seeps which feed the Virgin River, here you can find native ferns, their allies, shrubs, forbs, and grasses that inhibit these microhabitats. You see, after being here for a couple of weeks I realized that what specimens the herbarium currently had were mostly plants which occupy dry habitats.  I made the discussion then to make it a priority for my time here to provide the herbarium with a collection representing moisture loving plants. So I began.  It all started with study conducted back in the 1970 when there was an inventory done of Zion’s hanging gardens to discover the biogeography of them for a doctoral dissertation.  I discovered this only after discussing my love for hanging gardens with colleagues.  They pointed me toward this dissertation which had been filed away many years ago only to collect dust.  In this dissertation I found species lists, maps, and coordinates for the hangings gardens surveyed.  So I looked back into the “working herbarium” to see what plants needed collecting.  I worked to update the coordinates into the correct datum and created a comprehensive map to lead me and a volunteer on our journey.  Success!  With this project and many more I initiated I have added over 60 species to the herbarium.  I have worked with the GIS team to document every collection site for species collected thus far in the park, with hopes that documentation will continue to create tool that follow distribution of the parks native, rare, and invasive plant populations. I feel good about leaving this position knowing that I have worked hard to re-organize the herbarium, add specimens, and develop a database which documents its collections.   Zion in return has given me a greater appreciation of a landscape I once thought of as being drab and too hot to enjoy. Further more, it has allowed me too further my botanical knowledge.  

Kolob Canyons, Zion National Park

This brings me to the people I have met along the way.  The people here in Zion have been another highlight of my adventures over the past four months.  Only being here a short amount of time, I feel comfortable in my surroundings.  I am greeted everyday with smiles and people who know you by name.  During my time as an intern here I was lucky enough to present and meet with the local chapter of Utah’s Native Plant Society (all older women).  These ladies really know there stuff and are eager to learn more.   We have learned a lot from each other.  As an intern in Zion you also get to work and share knowledge with various other departments beyond the “Veg Crew.”  I have helped and shared with Interp, Wildlife, GIS, Archeologist, etc.  Much depends on plants and the people here in Zion understand this.  I help them and in return learn more about them and their work.   It’s a great relationship and I am thankful to have been given the opportunity to work in Zion National Park where…

The work is fun

The people are nice and …

The place is truly amazing!

Donna Peppin, Botanist Intern – Zion National Park

Hey everyone!

Unfortunately my internship is coming to an end.. I will be very sad to leave.. I have had an amazing time and learned so much throughout my time as a CLM intern! Not only have I learned a lot of new plants but I have increased my skills in plant identification by learning new techniques and skills.. I graduated with a degree in botany and I am now proud to say that I feel like a botanist! A junior botanist.. but none the less a botanist!

One of my favorite things that I I have gotten to do is camp at work sites which were in the middle of nowhere.. below is a picture of our campsite at Beatty Butte.. we were conducting vegetation surveys of plots which were previously burned (either wildfires or prescribed burns)..

Campsite at Beatty Butte

A beautiful view of Beatty Butte

The other intern, Amy and I feel very lucky to have worked with the fire ecologist for our first couple of months.. we got experience reading plots, using a specific scientific protocol and learned to identify a lot of the native species! The identification skills we gained by working with the fire ecologist helped us greatly when we started collected seeds!

Fire Ecology Plot

Amy and I have collected a lot of seeds!! One of my favorite sites where we collected seeds is Coleman Lake.. you can see the beautiful hills surrounding the dried up lake bed which and the area is filled with basin wildrye plants! We are estimating we got around 5 lbs of seed! Our mentor is going to use the extra seed to do a grow out next year.

Basin wildrye at Coleman Lake

The CLM internship has not only helped me to gain work skills but has helped me grow as a person in a number of ways! I have had an amazing time and I hope all the other interns did as well! Thanks!

Molly Baughman

Lakeview, OR

BLM

This is the  fourth month of my CLM internship in Vale, OR and I feel that I have learned so much. My experiences to this point have been wonderful. I love being able to wake up each morning and go out into the field. The large size of the BLM district here in Eastern Oregon has allowed me to see so much country from mountaintops to canyons to the high desert it has all been a visual treat.

The large size of the district requires a lot of driving time on 4×4 roads which are so much fun to drive but  not without their dangers. One day in July the battery in our truck died while we were monitoring a plant population on the top of Cottonwood  Mountain. We had to walk eight miles to ask a rancher to use his phone. Even this  possible bad experience turned out to be be a good, allowing us to see a lot of country we otherwise would not have covered and learn about ranch life from the family we stayed with until the mechanics from the BLM motor pool came with a new battery.

My ability to identify plants has improve greatly as well as my appreciation for plant life. Whenever there is a plant I have not seen before I always have to pick it up and ID it. I attended a Grass ID course in July which was extremely beneficial. Before attending I had very little background in Grass identification. The class helped me to not only key out and ID more grasses but also learn how to better assess their phenology. I am scheduled to attend a Willow ID course in a couple of weeks and am looking forward to gaining as much knowledge about willows as I did about grasses.

My mentor has been great. Not only have I learned about plants,  seed, and how to work within the government system from her, she has also given me great tips about places to go camping and backpacking on the weekends as well as info on other possible jobs after I finish my internship. I don’t think I could have been placed with a better mentor.

These four months have been great and I am looking forward to the next two here in the Northern Great Basin.

Over the past 3 months we have had the opportunity to travel to more of this state than most Alaskan residents do. I couldn’t be more pleased with the CLM internship program. I have seen places between Nome and Valdez. Alaska is quite possibly the most beautiful place I’ve ever visited. Along with enjoying the scenery, I’ve also broadened my knowledge of plant identification immensely.

This past month we went from Glennallen, to Nome, to Fairbanks/Central and back. We have made a significant amount of seed collections of native Alaska plants that exceeds the expected quantity. I have started to really enjoy collecting and approve of what the seeds will be used for. If the feeling of frustration kicks in there is usually a blueberry or crow berry to help lift our morale. Sometimes we pick enough to make blueberry pancakes in the morning. Those are the best mornings. Nothing starts the day better than fresh blueberry pancakes.

Luckily on our drive home from Fairbanks, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky. Which gave us the most spectacular view of Mt. McKinley/Denali possible. We couldn’t help but stop to take pictures.

If there is one thing this internship has taught me it’s to enjoy every little bit of natures beauty. Whether it be a beautiful plant to re-vegetate or a huge mountain, just appreciate it while you can.

Chrissy Balk
Anchorage, Ak
BLM
September 17, 2010