Hello again,

The last few weeks have been busy. We (Deb, my fellow CLM intern and myself) have been getting ourselves familiar and ready for work in the field on our own. Recently we monitored a Special Status Plant population near Observation Peak off of Horn Road. The plant we were monitoring was Erigeron elegantulus, a small purple daisy-like flower. We went there knowing there was at least one individual which was spotted at a training day a few weeks earlier. We didn’t know how many, if any, we would find that day. The group decided on a plot size and started to survey the area. It didn’t take long before we found another population. And another. They were everywhere in small populations to some larger populations. We took GPS points at the locations of the populations for later mapping opportunities. After lunch we surveyed another plot across the road which had no sign of populations. So all in all, it was pretty successful day in finding Erigeron elegantulus.

Three days this week we tagged along on a project survey for a timber thinning project in the northern part of our field office around Eagle Lake. We were surveying for any evidence of archeology, wildlife, plant vegetation, and Special Status Plants. There were eight of us from the field office surveying which allowed us cover a wide area within eight different plot areas.  Several of the plots had large areas of brush which we had to stomp through and large boulders we had to climb over. And other plots were in coniferous forest areas with thick layers of duff (needles, cones, and the like) making it easier to survey and hike around. We didn’t really find too much of high importance but it allowed me time to review/learn the plants and birds in the area. We did find a plant my mentor didn’t really know or hadn’t seen too much of. It was an interesting plant with pumpkin shaped seed pods. When we got back to the office we identified it as Pterospora andromeda, woodland pinedrops.

Woodland pinedrops (Pterospora andromeda)

Here’s the group on the lookout tower at the end of a hard day.

Until next time.These days were long and tiring but it was a wonderful and beautiful place to be and hear the wind blow in the tall trees. After our day was done we got to go to an old fire lookout overlooking Eagle Lake. That was a perfect end to a long day. And to top that off it rained when we got back to the office to give the dry desert some water. Oh the smell of rain…mmm.

— Carrie

It started out as a normal week of gathering data, finishing fire transects, and camping. Our first night out someone noticed bear tracks on the dirt road. It was to be expected since we were in the trees that provided good bear habitat. We continued to our camp and headed out for work in the morning. Work was a rather typical day of hiking in and getting our job done then hiking out. On our drive back to our campsite we saw a doe with two fawns alongside her.  Then about 50 yards down the road we spotted a baby bear! It was laying in the narrow shade of a pine tree. For a few minutes there was a mutual stare between the interns and the baby bear. It soon became unsure of us and stood up against the tree as if it was going to climb it. The picture above was taken at that moment. He quickly decided that running to the next tree was the right thing to do. We then left so as to not disturb him anymore. We spotted this baby bear only a quarter of a mile away from our campsite. We assumed there was a mama bear around somewhere and that night we were all a little wary of the bears!