When I was given the opportunity of this CLM internship and told that I would be stationed in Phoenix, AZ, I was overjoyed. I desperately wanted and needed to see and experience something other than the overly familiar northeast (as much as I do love and miss it). The visions I had of AZ before I arrived here were similar to those of “An American Tail: Fievel Goes West” that I adored as a kid; hot and dry deserts, where the extreme temperatures make you hallucinate. But what I didn’t expect was for the desert to actually grow on me, especially as quickly as it has.

As I drive out into the field each day, I actually have to remind myself that I am getting paid to drive this big, burly, intimidating 4WD truck over some gnarly territory, all the while soaking in the views of the oh-so-beautiful Bradshaw mountains. Not to mention the awesome wildlife, such as pronghorn antelope, desert mule deer, hawks, jack rabbits, and my newest favorite – the western diamondback rattlesnake!

I am stationed on the Agua Fria National Monument performing vegetation monitoring, to ensure that livestock are not overgrazing and devastating native vegetation. But for now I have mapped and logged range improvements (i.e. corrals, wells, holding tanks etc.) and performed wet/dry mapping of AZ washes (another landform that I was not so familiar with until recently).

To say that my perspectives of AZ have changed, would be the understatement of the year. I never would have expected to see precipitation in this arid region, let alone be concerned about monsoon season, when dry washes become full out flash flood zones. Being new to this area is thrilling and exciting, but the fact that I still have to much to see and experience is just as exciting!

Everyday has offered completely new learning opportunities. One day I am following cow trails to record disturbances in sensitive plant habitat, and the next day I am working with forestry and measuring trees. With all of the variety in my days, I find that I feel most fulfilled when working with the anomalies in nature. For example, my day with the forestry team involved measuring the Ponderosas growing in pj woodland. Previous research has shown that these trees are genetically different from your typical Ponderosas in that they can survive, and even thrive, in dry, desert-like habitat. For some reason, I like the idea of working among “mutants” and aiding in our understanding of them.
In addition to that, I have been monitoring threatened Physeria obcordata populations which only occur on steep white shale slopes on the 13th Tongue. I have been collecting its seeds along with seeds from a sister species for a lab at CSU. In the lab they will be growing each species in hopes to determine why Physeria obcordata populations are limited to the steep narrow bands of white shale when a very similar species is not.
Performing the somewhat monotonous task of collecting seeds becomes suddenly exciting when I acknowledge my role as essential to a new scientific discovery.

I will start with the story of the grass right behind our backs. Henry, my co-intern and I were keying out potential SOS plants we had collected to find the species out and see if they were native. We had just put down two sedges  (Schoenoplectus americanus and Schnoenoplectus maritimis) and began a long tackle on the grass we collected. Hitting many dead ends in the key and starting over in the POACEAE several times, we finally had our mentor, Sheila, come in to take a look at the unruly grass.  While she was looking in the dissecting scope, Henry pointed to a grass on a BLM native plants promotional poster that was hanging behind us in the cube.  “This foxtail barley kind of looks like our grass,” He said. We found our mistake in the key (what we thought were bristles were really glumes reduced to awns and several sterile spikelets) and where did we key it to in about 10 minutes? The foxtail barley (Hordeum jubatum) on the poster! It had been staring at our backs the whole time! I know keen observation of the field surroundings is always helpful, but I am now going to be more aware of our office surroundings!

Last week we had the opportunity to go out with a couple wildlife biologist interns. We accompanied them to a site where they were monitoring pinyon jays. A group of pinyon jays had been captured and radio transmitters were attached to their tail feathers. We were tracking their signals with receiver equipment (pictured). The pinyon jay is a species of special concern in San Juan County; it is an especially important species in the local ecosystem due to its symbiotic relationship with the pinyon pine. It was really cool to see the different kind of “hands on” approach wildlife biologists use to monitor species. As a botanist, I appreciate being able to get up close and personal with the species I am studying.

We picked up the signal for one bird- the range is about 100 feet

Last week we also made our first Seeds of Success (SOS) collections in conjunction with Native Plant Materials Collection. Andrea and Alicia from the Chicago Botanic Garden were visiting Farmington and we helped them collect Plantago patagonica, Heterotheca villosa, Descurainia pinnata. It was helpful to have the SOS training workshop prior to making an SOS collection. It also was pleasantly nostalgic to see Chicago Botanic Garden logo on the car while at our field site in New Mexico!

Plantago patagonica (about 1 inch tall)

I have really enjoyed exploring different canyons of Northern New Mexico doing SOS scouting and collecting. I am looking forward to using my comp time to do some canyoneering in Canyonlands of Southern Utah over the 4^th of July weekend. Hope to run into some other CLM interns!

Deidre Conocchioli

BLM- Farmington District Office