Let me begin by apologizing as I missed my most recent blog, I decided due to the proximity to my last day of work I would dedicate my energy to one grand final blog entry.

As I meander down my career path I seem to find riffles that carry me to tranquil pools of understanding. My time spent here with the Bureau of Land Management has more or less been a series of riffles with small intermittent pools that ultimately led me to pure satisfaction with my internship. In this case the turbulent flow was not water flowing through a channel, but rather thoughts and ideas racing through the thalweg of my mind as I developed critical personal skills at the workspace.

I was hired by the wildlife biologist to work as a geographic information systems intern. I came with a series of expectations that were highlighted in my interview as the primary and secondary duties of the position, when I arrived many of these expectations were flooded away. I struggled with the mental aspect of disappointment as rills formed in my mind about showing up to work to complete some menial tasks, including installing signs, mapping fences, and digitizing data. Rather than allowing these rills to progress into gullies that would have washed away tons of satisfaction from my acceptance of such a powerful internship opportunity, I found I was able to diversify myself and complete outlined work priorities while still gaining valuable experience.

Initially I was caught up in the fact that my mentor seemed to push me to work for the office GIS specialist, rather than for the wildlife biologist. The GIS specialist had minimal work for me to do and expected me to complete office work as it arose. When things around the office were slow, I set out on my own to find work to complete. Approaching my mentor was difficult at times due to her busy schedule. It started to become clear that this was the ultimate learning opportunity. As the season progressed I did my best to use my skills to deliver high quality product in a timely manner, while reaching out to learn as much as possible.

With August just around the corner, the summer seems to have flown by; those cold early mornings of leking season are long gone. As I reflect on my summer the negative aspects that initially engulfed me are dwarfed by the positives. I was able to work in the field and office with the forester, the archeologist, the real estate specialist, the weed manager, the range specialists, the botanist, the recreation planner, the GIS specialist, and a few of the range and weed technicians. My  initial expectations of applying my skills to wildlife biology and learning about wildlife biology management were not met; however, the list of people I was able to work with wash away my expectations in unexpected learning experiences. Not only was I able to apply my skills in assisting these diverse specialists with diverse backgrounds while learning about topics I never would have otherwise been exposed to, but additionally I was able to train these specialists in some of the topics that I have a background in, GPS mapping and GIS. I feel that these aspects have combined into giving me an incredibly strong understanding of how these land managers interact together to develop and achieve management objectives.

The Conservation and Land Management program ultimately exposed me to exactly what I wanted, applied science and land management. While five months is far too short to grasp how these agencies function and how their decision making process ultimately influences several hundred thousand acres of our natural landscapes, I most definitely gained exposure to these concepts. Not only were my initial objectives of gaining federal land management experience met, but I feel I can comfortably say my personal skill set and personality grew an immeasurable amount. Since it has been barely over one year since my college commencement ceremony, this was only my second biology related job. Excited and passionate about conservation I dove into the opportunity with minimal questioning during the interview process, something I will not do again.

This experience has helped me develop a skill set in interviewing potential employers who have scheduled an interview with me. It can often be easy to lose sight of the idea that a job is a mutualistic relationship amongst individuals and their employer. The employer is seeking someone with a skill set and background appropriate to the tasks that need to be completed, while the employee is seeking respectable individuals with reasonable expectations to report to, if either becomes unsatisfied with the relationship, the situation becomes less than ideal. Using this concept as a framework, I know that any future interviews will involve a lot more than simply answering the potential employer’s questions. Additionally, I learned about what aspects of a mentor, or boss rather, do not appeal to me and more importantly how to cope with personality conflicts at the work space in a professional manner. As an individual who has been blessed with outstanding advising from previous employers and professors, I plan to advise students and hire seasonal workers to assist me with my future endeavors. Learning how to cope with a mentor I did not always get along with has taught me what I do not want to be for anyone that works for me or relies on me as a mentor. These personal developments came early in my career, and in a comfortable setting.  Doubtlessly I am convinced that most individuals will learn these same skills in a similar manner at some point in their career, but for me personally I am glad to say I am advancing my career with these skill set under my belt.

In just a few days I will be moving to Flagstaff, Arizona where the skills I have learned in this position will be applied to obtaining a Ph.D. in Forestry. My aim as a research scientist is to develop research projects that provide land managers with useful information that can  be applied at the landscape level. Working with the land managers in this office has given me the background needed to better relate to and conduct research that land managers will find useful.  I feel many scientists lack experience working in the field of land management, despite the fact that their research is often directly related to land management. Certainly, working for the BLM has helped me understand the concept of land management and the processes land managers have to go through when making decisions.

In addition to career and personal developments, this internship ultimately gave me one of the best adventure opportunities of my life. Being from Colorado, Northern California, or even Western Nevada, is a destination that only gets talked about. This summer I was able to backpack among giant redwoods in the fresh scent of ocean air, visit high mountain lakes in the massive granite batholiths of the Trinity Alps and Sierra Nevada, wander through old growth forests in the coast range of southern Oregon, visit the majestic volcanoes of the southern and central Cascade Mountains, navigate lava tubes in the vast lava plains of the Modoc Plateau, hike along the crest of a seldom discussed fault block mountain range of rhyolite in the Warner Mountains, and soak in hot springs in the vastly empty playas of the Great Basin in Nevada. These adventurous experiences only strengthen the wonderful time I have had as a Chicago Botanic Garden employee working for the Bureau of Land Management in the Northeastern California town known as Alturas. Seeing all of these delightful new places has broadened my world view by exposing me to new places rich with unique history, ecology, geology, and scenery. The number of plants I have learned while out exploring this region dwarfs the plants I knew before coming here, not to mention my photography gallery has expanded an otherwise un-achievable amount.

There is not a doubt that the riffles and sometimes turbulent flow of the last five months has built a meander in my career that adds outstanding beauty to the bigger picture of my life. There is no such thing as a negative experience, as exposure to anything is associated with a learning opportunity. As I continue forward in my career, the Conservation and Land Management Program is something that will stand high on my recommendation list to qualified individuals. The networking opportunities associated with this internship are fruitful, from the outstanding staff associated with the Chicago Botanic Garden to the land managers and professionals that work for and alongside the federal land management agencies, the possibilities are endless. Any experience is what you make of it, so make the best of all that you do even when the situation seems to be less than ideal.

Sincerely,

Michael Remke

Bureau of Land Management, Alturas Field Office

GIS Intern

Michael_remke@nau.edu

I’ve been on the job for just over a month now, and with field season in full swing, I have been busy travelling to collect seeds, monitor rare plants, and help out with other projects as needed. The other CLM interns at the BLM state office and I have taken a few breaks from Plant Business to help out Jay Thompson, a BLM fisheries biologist, with a couple of small projects. We traveled with Jay to an alpine wetland at Dyer’s Gulch to survey the site for boreal toads. We didn’t find any. But we did find massive amounts of Colorado blue columbine (Aquilegia coerulea) in bloom as well as marsh marigold (Caltha leptosepala), both of which we hope to collect in the near future. I was also excited to find snow willow (Salix nivalis), a dwarf willow only a couple inches tall, which serves as an adaptation to the harsh conditions above the timberline.

Just yesterday we also assisted Jay with some benthic macroinvertebrate sampling at Grizzly Creek near Kremmling, CO. This is an interesting technique that uses the community composition of macroinvertebrates in the stream bed to gauge water quality at a given site. The samples we took will be sent to a lab for thorough analysis and identification, but we were able to notice some apparent differences between sites. For instance, we only found water boatmen at our first site, which seemed, superficially at least, to be less impacted than the other stream sites we sampled. I found this trip to be fun and interesting, and a nice change of pace to look at things with legs.

But enough of this “legs” nonsense–back to plants! Our team has also been busy monitoring two federally listed plants, Astragalus osterhoutii and Penstemon penlandii, which are both endemic to the area near Kremmling in Middle Park. Astragalus osterhoutii, which our mentor Carol Dawson has been monitoring for years, is particularly interesting because when conditions are poor (such as during the drought of recent years), it can remain dormant for several years, waiting until conditions improve to produce aboveground stems. Carol has had each individual within several study plots tagged and numbered, and our monitoring consisted of locating tagged individuals and assessing the presence, number, and flowering/fruiting success of aboveground stems.

Meanwhile, we have continued to scout and make collections for Seeds of Success, most recently collecting Geum triflorum, a cute little rose with nodding pink blossoms, the common name of which is, adorably, old man’s whiskers, presumably referring to the fuzzy nature of the fruits as they mature.

Dyer’s Gulch near Leadville, CO

Sampling macroinvertebrates in Grizzly Creek

Astragalus osterhoutii

Geum triflorum (Photo by Darnisha Coverson)

Katherine Wenzell

BLM State Office

Lakewood, CO

I had a wonderful opportunity recently. I went on my first seed collecting trip! I know it doesn’t sound exciting but it was…I will tell you why.
·    First, I got to go on this seed collecting trip with two senior scientists. One of the individuals is from our USGS field office and the other is from a USDA field office in Utah. Not only did I have the opportunity to work with two fantastically smart people I was a part of an inter agency cooperation project.
·    Second, I learned how to collect black brush (Coleogyne ramosissima). For an individual who is easily amused, which I am one of them, this was a blast. The process of collecting C. ramosissima is rather simple, it goes like this:
Grab a large canvas net (hopper)
Grab a sturdy stake
Take both of these objects with you and walk up to a bush. Place the hopper under the massted bush and beat it! Yes, beat the bush with a stick. How great is that?…It is pretty fantastic!
·    Third, I visited many areas to asses black brush distribution and to collect seeds from massting individuals within various populations.
o    Lake Powell’s surrounding area
Lake Powell is a blue beauty that appears in the red rocks winding through the surrounding canyon.

o    Little Colorado
The Little Colorado River feeds into the Grand Canyon. The red and white striped walls of the canyon rise high and cast magnificent shadows across the landscape. The black brush likes to hang out on the benches/plateaus of the mesas. (Honestly, I thought the Little Colorado was more beautiful than the Grand Canyon)

o    Grand Canyon National Park
This is a vast Canyon, crazy deep with many extending benches and plateaus, much of which was covered in black brush. The canyon is full of colors… and very very large.

o    Zion National Park
Zion was perfect! I was privy to a private, one of a kind, tour given by the senior scientists I was traveling with. Zion is beautiful from the moment you enter the canyon area, even before you reach the park entrance. The beauty only increases as you travel into the park. It is green with plant life, the rock provide a color palate of red, white and yellow. It is a majestic place!

It was the best trip ever! I felt as thou I was a child who was taken to Disney World. I had never been to any of these places, so being able to experience them with people who knew the area was beyond amazing. Every question was answered and a lot of information was given and I tried to soak it all up. Now, we did work while going to all of these places and the presence and absence of black brush was documented through-out the whole trip, unfortunately we could not collect ion the National Parks.

 A key component to seed collection is having plants to collect seeds from.  A key component to having plants is rain.  The latter component has been very elusive in the Farmington district however.  It is as though the district is located in a desert or something. Needless to say the lack of rain has brought seed collection to a screeching halt.  The bright side of no rain is that it has afforded us the opportunity to help others in the office out on projects they are working on.  We have had the pleasure of working on a bird survey before a prescribed burn, running transects for a long term bird study, and checking wildlife cameras.  Our biggest accomplishment has been building two large native plant gardens in from of our office.  We planted over one hundred plants from over forty different species into the gardens.  It was a lot of work but the end result looks really amazing.  Hopefully I will be able to regale you internet people with stories of collecting seeds again but until then keep your fingers crossed for rain. Cheers!       

Partially Constructed Garden

Finished Garden

Leaving sucks…

It seems my internship is ending again, for real this time. I have recently accepted a job back home as an Environmental Health and Safety Technician at the University of Nebraska Lincoln. My emotions drift back and forth over this, between excitement for a new, “real” job and twinges of regret that I have to leave here to get there. That’s the price of moving on, unfortunately; you just can’t have it both ways. It’s also a difficult thing to fathom, that I will at last have “permanent” job security with insurance, a rigid schedule, and more responsibility. The question remains: can I handle the new responsibility?

It’s amazing how many loose ends accumulate over time. I suppose this happens everywhere as priorities change and little things get set aside. On my list of things to do are to clean up some Environmental Assessment work in progress, update our GIS system with rare plant observations and fence type inventory data, officially label and glue all herbarium voucher specimens I’ve been collecting, get the truck (trusty ol’ Bernie) an oil change, ship out herbarium specimens from my seed collections to the Smithsonian and the Rocky Mountain National Herbarium, link reservoir photos and data to mapped locations, and of course clean out my cubicle and work truck. But the hardest part of wrapping up my internship (again), is saying goodbye to everyone (again). I’ve driven away from here before when I thought my time was done, and it was a very sad day. I imagine it won’t be any easier this time, especially knowing it is official.

But these things happen, I suppose. I’ve had a great experience here, and I’ve learned more than than I could begin to conceptualize. But alas, the nature of temporary work is to eventually move on and hope that we’ve learned enough to be more dangerous than we were yesterday. So here I go, fingers crossed.

It’s great to have diversity at work. We started the season with sage grouse lek counts and Habitat Assessment Framework for sage grouse, then moved onto range trend which we finished up this week! Now we get to move onto a new project which is great, doing something new and expanding my knowledge is just what I signed up for when I accepted this internship with the BLM in Shoshone Idaho. Our new project is lek assessments, determining the suitability of a site as a sage grouse lek.

 
To determine the suitability of a lek, we get to drive and hike in beautifully remote areas in Craters of the Moon National Monument, seeing and exploring areas that not many people get to see. Once we arrive at a site we determine if there is enough cover around the lek and whether there are places for predators, such as raptors, to perch. We also listen and record any noises we hear while we are there, and record the dominate plant species. Not every lek is exceptional but we get to see them all!

 
So, What does a great lek site look like you ask? Here are some pictures, you can see for yourself.

Sage Grouse Lek

Sage Grouse Lek

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!