One aspect I love about my internship is that interesting projects constantly emerge. In the past month, I started identifying Hawaiian lichens. It has been great to examine the flora of an area other than Florida but also challenging. Some of the species, I have no idea what genera they are- they look radically different than anything I have seen before. There is also no all inclusive key to use, so I am cobbling information from the internet, and disparate journal articles to piecemeal all the info I need. I enjoy the challenge, and I’m learning a lot more by searching for information.

In the past year, the National Science Foundation awarded numerous grants to herbaria around the United States to digitize their plant and lichen records. This past week at Boise State University, workers began digitizing lichens. I helped with the training, and will answer questions about lichen curation and the herbarium for the duration of my internship. It is exciting to witness and assist with this project. As a future graduate student, I know I will benefit from this data.

I collected seeds for Seeds of Success. Unfortunately it is a dry year in southeast Idaho, and there aren’t many opportunities to collect seeds. Recently, I went on a camping adventure into the Owyhee mountains to search for seeds. Nestled in the mountains is a former mining city called Silver City, population 27. One of my coworkers remarked that I would be the first person from Miami, FL to see Silver City. Shortly after arriving , a local asked where I was from and I replied “Miami.” It turns out she was also from Miami! What an ironic world! Below are pictures of Silver City and the Owyhee Mountains.

Barry Kaminsky

BLM- Idaho State Office