Getting the opportunity to work with the BLM in Alaska is quite literally something I never imagined doing.  Alaska has always seemed like a foreign country, especially growing up on the east coast.  I’ve been here for almost a month now and I can honestly say I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the breathtaking views.

Five days after I arrived we embarked on our first journey to Chicken, AK to scout areas to return to when the seeds become ready to collect. Now I know, it’s pretty crazy just coming to Alaska, then immediately I get to go on this week long road trip to this exotic seeming place called Chicken.  The trip up there was amazing, driving through so many different eco-regions was a great way to start learning about Alaska’s environment first hand.

Although I am up here learning about so many cool plants, I have to admit the highlight of my trip so far is the wildlife we’ve gotten to see.  On the way up we saw some muskrats in a small pond, a red fox at the edge of the road, some moose,  a Peregrine Falcon haunting hikers along a trail, and a bear swim across a river (there are still arguments whether it was a small grizzly or a black bear).  The most exciting of all, we saw a Lynx!!   It was so beautiful and graceful with its large paws that can be called “built-in snow shoes.” This was such an amazing experience considering very few people who have been in Alaska for years have seen a Lynx, and I’ve seen one after being here for only a week.  Now we are getting to the heart of the collecting season and I can’t wait to travel all over the state and have so many more great experiences, and collect seeds of course!

Well, the fuzzy little eaglets I’ve been watching since May have now grown up to full-sized juveniles and flown the coop. It’s sad to see them go, but I wish them luck. It’s strange to suddenly have time to do other things now, but staying busy is no difficult task. I’ve finally begun collecting hawksbeard and dune scurfpea for the Seeds of Success program, which takes longer than I had expected it would by myself, and at last have been getting out into new portions of the field office searching for reservoirs in which to document reptile and amphibian species. Primarily I’ve been looking for tiger salamanders and spadefoot toads, but have also found chorus frogs and a species of garter snake that seems to like swimming. I’ve also found triops, which is a crustacean whose form has apparently remained unchanged for millions of years and is considered a living fossil. I never would have expected to find a creature that looks like a little horseshoe crab way out here in a vernal pool in Wyoming, yet here it is! Wyoming is full of surprises.

One definite geographic benefit of working here is being in such close proximity to amazing places like Yellowstone, Grand Teton National Park, the Shoshone National Forest, and other relatively protected areas. It’s so nice to be able to get out of town and spend a weekend camping or hiking and just seeing new places. And who knows– all that hiking and camping could become an asset in applying for future jobs that may require backcountry experience. It’s also just an opportunity to do things I couldn’t do at home in Nebraska, where there aren’t any mountains to hike in or ski on, and camping in bear country is certainly an eye opener! I’m afraid I’m getting spoiled here. Home amongst the cows and cornfields and small cities is still home, and I’m sure I will enjoy plenty of my future jobs, but life as an intern in Cody is pretty darn good. I hope the last few months will go by slowly so I can take it all in.

Hello,

Well, another two weeks have come and gone, the last being by far the dirtiest! We spent the last week camped at the Hoyt Fire area about a three hour drive east of Carson City doing post fire monitoring. Even though it has been several years since it last burned the predominant dust is soot, therefore, rather than becoming dirt colored by the end of the day, you become soot colored. Even though we all wear long pants and I wear long sleeves it doesn’t seem to matter. Any skin, exposed or not- turns black. Any how, just another day at the office right?

We ended up having a good week any way. In the bustle of packing the Tahoe on Tuesday morning to head out we forgot to throw one of the tents in so the first night Sasha opted for sleeping under the stars and Andie and I shared the tent. That worked fine but the next night Sasha found that a scorpion had taken up residence under her sleeping bag so she slept in the tent and I staked out in the Tahoe. it’s about five inches too short for me to stretch out but it worked. Thursday night there was a rattle snake departing the camp site when we came back so I was more than happy to have the truck again. So far so good on the animal contacts.

The first day out in the field we had a mama antelope and her baby do just about a complete circle around our plot, stopping to check us out several times as if the mama was saying “ok, get a good look, those are botanists!”

The animal sighting that to me takes first place merits a little explanation first. On the opposite side of RT 50 the Navy has a training facility were they do test runs and I guess you could say “target practice” so there was a pretty regular flight pattern over head as the jets went to and from the site. Of course jets fly faster than their sound so when you hear one you look up and see nothing then have to look around for them. Well, this one time they came over super low so the engine was roaring right over head- you look up real quite thinking “oh crap” and see two doves flying in perfect battle formation! After the initial suprise it was quite funny!

We hiked some pretty rugged terrain trying to get into the burn area more and away from the road so we saw some pretty picturesque areas. The skeletal trees add a rather mournful feel, but it is still cool. One day we saw about ten mule dear bucks all still in velvet but I didn’t get my camera out fast enough. Oh well.

It is getting hotter here but humidity is still absent. I am glad we don’t have a thermometer out in the field because that would just make it harder to deal with. As is you just sweat and think “gosh is it HOT!”.

This week we will be out in the same area finishing up at Hoyt and heading on to the Clan Alpine burn area just a little ways back toward Falon.  Not much but a little. That burn is up on the side/top of the Clan Alpines so we will get in some good hiking those days. Hopefully we can finish up out there this week and move back to the Pine Nuts to do more Sage Grouse sites.

Guess that’s all for now.

Yuma, AZ: The Sunniest City in America (and the hottest).

Yuma is the hottest city in the US, and for the last few months daily temperatures have averaged at 105 degrees. And somehow the locals say it has been a comparatively cool summer. Despite the heat, my experience in Yuma has been and continues to be amazing.

It has been about 8 months since my arrival in Yuma and I have been working on various wildlife biology projects. Participating in the endangered marshbird survey efforts has been my favorite project so far. Boating down the Colorado River at dawn conducting endangered bird surveys was an unbelievable experience and felt nothing at all like work.

As the field season rolls on I continue to enjoy my work & free time in Yuma, despite the heat.

This is the best job I have ever had! I can’t believe that I actually get paid to explore some of the most beautiful places in the U.S. To date Montana has provided me with an unbelievable experience! I look forward to each and every day in the field as well as in the office. My mentor is very open and enourages me to learn and get involved with as much as I possibly can, which I, of course, take  advantage of. I have had the opportunity to explore some of Montana’s wild and remote BLM owned lands of which each have their very own unique habitat. My days consist of clamoring up  steep mountains sides while seeking out Montana’s native and sensitive plants; each day is an adventure. In the past month I have learned how to habitat type, perform water rights, and assess rangeland utilization and compliance. During this time I’ve also had the chance to learn how to bore a tree, use a laser to determine tree height and a clinometer to determine slope. I can’t say that my co-worker Layla and I didn’t have some trouble using the laser (I guess it helps if you look through it the right way!)  I work with some of the most interesting characters, from all over the country; they are a constant source of knowledge. They have been successful in teaching me all about native grasses as well as forest forbs of the West.  As usual I am looking forward to what the next couple of months will bring!

Basque sheep wagon!

Relative to most other CLM interns, I got a bit of a late start on my actual work with the BLM’s Buffalo, Wyoming field office. My internship began in mid-June: the first two weeks were a blur of training courses – federal computer protocol, first aid, defensive driving, ATV operation, UTV operation, office navigation (it’s a labyrinth in there), and crash courses on the functions and responsibilities of the BLM, as my co-intern and I both come from states where the BLM essentially doesn’t exist. Then, week three involved yet more training – the CLM training workshop at the Chicago Botanic Garden! Though I fully recognize the necessity of our almost-month of training and value all that I learned during that period, it was a bit of a relief to return to Buffalo (after an awesome side trip to the Badlands!) and finally get working.

I have now been doing range monitoring for a few weeks, which basically means analyzing the health of plant life on BLM rangeland allotments. This information is used to determine the activities that lessees can undertake on BLM allotments – the number of animals that ranchers can graze, the levels of mining and drilling that are permitted, and so on. Strangely, though I’m done with my official BLM training, I’m still learning new things at about the same rate as during my first three weeks as an intern. Right now, it’s plant stuff. I never thought I would know so much about how to tell different grasses apart. Needle-and-thread grass or green needlegrass? Crested wheatgrass versus bluebunch wheatgrass versus western wheatgrass? I’ve got it covered – no seedhead needed. Usually. I get to geek out every day over ligules and clasping auricles, and it’s amazing.

But aside from grass characteristics, I’ve also taken in a wide range of other useful information over the last month and a half. For instance, Buffalo is a town brimming with Basque culture that bubbles over once every four or so years in an exciting festival featuring a sheep wagon parade and wine-squirting contests. I’ve found that modern cowboys generally do not ride horses, but have instead moved on to ATVs. Rattlesnakes don’t always rattle (don’t worry – I didn’t learn this by experience, only hearsay). Laundromats are great places to make new friends. Bluegrass music is really fun to dance to. Small towns can actually be quite exciting. And pretty much every experience out here is an opportunity to learn something new – in other words, to keep training.

Kate Wright
Buffalo, Wyoming

This plant was one member of the new population of blowout penstemon we found.

As I approach the end of this internship, I thought now would be a good time to reflect on  new perspectives I’ve gained working here at the Wyoming Natural Diversity Database (the Natural Heritage program for the state). Most of the field work that I’ve been doing this summer has been combing sand dunes searching for Penstemon haydenii, a threatened perennial forb, and Elymus simplex var. luxurians, an endemic grass. Both grow in sand dune habitats, but so far we have not found that their ranges overlap. Spending so much time in one specific habitat has really tuned me on to not just the plants that grow in this type of ecosystem, but also the animals that are here. My mentor and I, in an effort to help out the invertebrate biologist we work with, collected beetles that have never been documented in this part of the state. We also noticed some toads crossing the dunes the morning after a rainstorm. We took pictures and it turns out that these toads are a species of concern as well; the data we took will be valuable for herpetologists here. I have very much enjoyed working with so many knowledgeable biologists who are willing and excited to talk about their areas of expertise and lend a hand in others’ projects when they can. Sand dune environments often harbor species of concern – opening my eyes to the animal species of concern has made this an even richer experience. Although plants are still absolutely the most interesting part of the ecosystem for me, I am seeing the value in being well-rounded. There is so much land out there and so few biologists to cover it, we’ve got to help each other out.

I’ve had an excellent time in this internship and would absolutely recommend this program to anyone interested in getting into the field of botany or natural resources.

Wetland in the middle of sand dunes. The endemic grass we were searching for growing around it.

Spadefoot toad, about to bury itself in the sand.

Elk on the dunes.

Having just completed our perennial data plots last week to characterize community composition and distribution of shrubs in the Ft Irwin area (where the Desert Tortoise is being relocated off expanding army lands), we’ve started a similar study on Mojave Ground Squirrel habitat last week. Although the Mojave Ground Squirrel is an elusive creature (making estimates of population size difficult), it is currently under review to be listed under the Endangered Species Act due to loss of habitat and habitat degradation. This is easy enough for us to understand as we drive through areas in their range which have been decimated due to off-road vehicle use allowing invasives such as Russian Thistle to take over these disturbed sites. Even in such areas rodent holes are prevalent and sometimes make getting to our study plots difficult since one wrong step on top of their intricate underground burrows could lead to one foot buried knee deep in sand. The other day my field partner Heiki stepped accidentely into one of these burrows and ended up with a bewildered Kangeroo Rat riding on his bootlaces for several seconds. No sign of the Mojave Ground Squirrel although they tend to hibernate when food is scarce from August to March. It’s possible that we have seen a few dashing ahead of our vehicles on back roads but since there are so many rodents in the Mojave and since none of us are self proclaimed rodent experts, we have no idea which ones they are. In several weeks we’re camping in Death Valley National Park in order to gather perennial data. Not looking forward to the heat (which may be unbearable mid-August) but I am looking forward to spending some time in this very beautiful and dramatic landscape. We’ll bring lots and lots of water!
Thats all for now.

Cheerio
Nora Talkington

Now at the end of July, the desert moves from lush green to brown and beige, and I’ve been drinking more water every day than I ever have before. Water never tasted so good until I moved here. The dry heat is really what challenges me, but I am slowly seeing myself be able to handle longer days working outside with no problem, and even with pleasure. Seed collecting is somehow really therapeutic and satisfying, and gives me plenty of time to think about how great this job is and to find elk droppings and see badgers and explore the strange geology of the area. My love for the great basin over the past month or so has deepened tremendously.  In a place that, at first, seems so simple and so homogenous, new things keep popping up at us all the time. First of all, this is embarrassing, but I did not know there were badgers in the western united states! Secondly, I had always just thought of grasses as these simple undifferentiated organisms that didn’t have as much personality as other plants. Now, the ones that we see and collect are becoming a whole new world to me, full of grasses that are as cute as bunnies and as beautiful as the redwoods. I am learning so much every day and finally beginning to feel at home in Lake County, OR. Also, time is moving much too fast. Slow down, summer!

Lisa VanTieghem

Lakview BLM

Crack-in-the-Ground

Big Rock in the Middle of Nowhere