This has been amazing. I was recently involved with Springs Preserve plant sale. It was fun to man a both and put a salespersons cap on for a bit (I am more suited for field work, I think). I just keep gaining new experiences and meeting new wonderful people. Allison and I have been going out to monitor our different field sites, but the dry winter hasn’t help. We got some rain in the Mojave this weekend and maybe we will get lucky.

We recently took a trip in the field with Great Basin Institute interns to help collect some juniper berries. It was a great learning experience to see exactly how the different forms were filled out as well as all of the steps involved in with the SOS program. I am looking forward to the official training next week at Red Rock.

On a personal note, this area is awesome. I have been to Red Rock, Zion, Valley of Fire, and I am taking a trip to San Diego next week to see the Phils. I would have never had the opportunity to do so much in such a short amount of time if not for this program. I hope and expect to keep learning and gaining new experience each week.

P.S. GO FLYERS

This is the end of my fourth week in the Mojave Desert, the heart of which (along with me) resides in Needles, CA. So far, this botany/SOS intern has been helping her coworkers survey Mojave Fringe-Toed Lizard habitat, building fence, scouting for potential seed collection sites, studying Unusual Plant Assemblages, and alwaysalwaysalways learning new flora. Living in the desert, especially during a dry year, teaches you to appreciate the little things. Like flowers that are 3mm wide. Forget a hand lens, I need a telescope to identify some of these itty bitty plants.

Looking out at the desert landscape, it’s easy to assume that there’s nothing alive—but I’m learning that this is not the case. The plants that can survive this harsh ecological niche have earned my respect, and I love coming across even the teeniest flower unexpectedly.

Aside from work, my cointerns and I live right next to the Colorado, which is a fun escape from the heat. I’ve been having a great time exploring the surrounding states, parks, and the Mojave National Preserve, which is in the middle of our field office. I’m excited for the new plants I’ll be finding the next couple of months, and for a great field season.

Lara Kobelt

Needles, CA BLM

Every time I write the date at the top of a new page, I feel a small shock as I register the year. Already 2012. For a life which can only be lived once, it flies by rather quickly. One excellent characteristic about Zion National Park is that regardless of how long one has been walking the galleries of its canyons or speculating from the rims of its plateaus, there is always something more to be seen. Some new adventure waits to suction the minutes from my days. Fortunately, the diversity of activities also makes the moments string comprehensively into a full year, which is almost how long I have been here.
Being a returning CLM intern, I find these next three months to be particularly productive; at least they will be in my mind. I have finally figured out all the ins-and-outs of the park, I have used GIS to make maps guiding me toward my now weekly expeditions. There is an overall order to the internship’s progress, a more clearly laid out path toward success.
I suppose I should have begun by explaining what my internship consists of. The official herbarium collection is safely locked away since it has specimens dating back to the 1930s that cannot get tarnished with daily wear and tear. As such, years ago, the vegetation department and the fire research crew began a herbarium that was meant to be more readily accessible.
The working herbarium is constantly being updated; Northern Arizona University donated hundreds of vouchers from two areas they surveyed after wild fires. When I arrived, there were about 800 species that had yet to be collected, processed, and filed. That has been my job since last May. I also volunteered for three months over the winter. During these months I wrote project proposals for federal funds with a colleague who soon became a close friend/ coworker/confidant/ and house-mate.
Now, back on herbarium work, I am concentrating on the early blooming species starting from the lowest elevations and moving upward. My latest trip was somewhat of a botanical failure because few species are blooming. However, I got to take the ZNP Chief of Resource Division on a multiday trip; this in itself was fantastic. Hearing all his stories, laughing from curious life situations, keying out anything we found in bloom, and hiking through beautiful remote canyons was altogether spectacular. I suppose this is a new beginning for CLM but I feel like I have lived a lifetime in this wild land. Oh, and the manzanitas smell of honey, the daisies of chamomile, and junipers of the Colorado Plateau.

If you are considering a future in conservation/ecological investigation this is a great internship opportunity.  During my internship I was able to explore various strange natural habitats and search for interesting unfamiliar plant species.  I have spent the past 10 months gaining experience that I intend to utilize and expand on in my future studies.  I’ve developed working relationships with some really cool people who are passionate about their work and realize that species recovery requires experimentation and hard work.  I suppose that is my A-Ha! moment.  As conservationists we mustn’t be afraid of “unnatural” active recovery efforts, lets face it, “We are already running the whole Earth, whether we admit it or not” (Emma Marris).

As an intern I performed the following activities:

• Measured and monitored rare plant populations
• Collected and processed seed for restoration and recovery
• Mapped potential rare plant habitat using GIS
• Managed and analyzed large datasets of climate data
• Rare plant propagation and care
• Plant and insect identification

-Aaron M. Thom

Hollister CA BLM Office

My Conservation and Land Management Internship experience was amazing! I really couldn’t have asked for a better opportunity. The San Diego Zoo Institute for Conservation Research has an annoyingly long name, but it offered a glimpse into multiple fields of scientific study, all of which I found interesting. There are seven different divisions within the Institute: Applied Animal Ecology, Behavioral Biology, Conservation Education, Genetics, Applied Plant Ecology, Reproductive Physiology, and Wildlife Disease Laboratories. I mostly worked on projects within the applied ecology divisions, but I still learned about some of the other research being conducted. For someone like me, who is curious about all aspects of conservation biology, but has no idea how to narrow it down in order to choose an area of study for graduate school, this internship was invaluable.

I’ve learned all about seed banking and herbariums; how to collect vouchers, monitor and eventually gather the seeds from plant populations. I’ve learned how to clean and store seeds, and how to bring them out of dormancy . I’ve learned how to recognize the song of Coastal Cactus Wrens, and how to catch endangered Stephens’ Kangaroo Rats. I’ve learned about habitat restoration, and acquired a healthy respect for cacti and its spines. I was able to explore many remote areas in San Diego County, and I got to call hunting for wild flowers “work”.

I’m excited for what comes next, but I am also very grateful for everything I got to experience in my ten months here.
-Lauren