Goodbye August! It was quite a whirlwind of a month here in Las Cruces. In the last two weeks of the month Eli and I have scurried around the state making seed collections as the plants start to drop everything after the July rains.  Tridens, Erioneuron, Senna, Physaria, Fallugi and more! I absolutely love driving around to new places and walking through the endless grasses and flowers and seeing nothing but sky on the horizon.  I think seed collecting is a serious form of meditation: thoughts are whirring through your head as you begin and you worry about all the things you need to do and suddenly your mind goes deliciously blank as you move from plant to plant.  You are unaware of anything not directly surrounding you – the sun on your neck, the flies buzzing, and the sharpness of gravel on your knees.  Suddenly- you’re done! You didn’t even know that you’ve been stooping over the ground on all fours for the last two hours. (Until you notice the terrific sunburn you’ve got on your back later that night).

This month we also had the pleasure of hanging out with Krissa, Wes, and Sophia from the Chicago Botanic Garden.  We made a day of collecting some cuttings of the rare Lepidospartum plant that the Garden had attempted to propagate about a month ago.  Despite various GPS malfunctions and a significant lack of shade, it was a great afternoon full of story-swapping and great advice.  As a recent college grad, I can definitely say that I’m not exactly sure what I want to do with my life/career so it’s always great to hear from other professionals or friends in interesting fields.

While the CBG team was in Las Cruces we also got to capture hawk moths! “Capture” meaning grabbing the docile beasts in our hands and unrolling their proboscis to swab them for pollen. It was ridiculous! First we settled near a Datura plant (a large, white flower perfect for the hawk moth’s long proboscis). Krissa and Wes unrolled a large white sheet onto a frame and illuminated it with a UV light.  Suddenly, little moths were flocking to the sheet.  “Surely one of these are a hawk moth!” I surmised. Wrong. A hawkmoth finally did show up and it was as large as a small bird.  I had no idea that a moth could get so large, it was quite an eye-opening experience.  Then, someone grabbed the hawkmoth gently while Krissa unrolled its long, shiny “tongue” with a needle and rubbed it with a slice of agar.  Later, she would burn off the agar and look at the pollen left on a slide.  This would tell her what flowers the hawkmoths had recently pollinated.  During all this I suddenly thought – if I think this is cool, everyone else would too!  Imagine how interested you could get kids in science and pollination if you showed them this!? (Or they would at least be excited by standing in the dark with a black light and probably freaking out passing motorists, like I was).

We sadly bid adieu to Krissa, Wes, and Sophia and then embarked on our monumental collection spree.  It’s been quite the month and I’m thoroughly tired and happy.  I can’t believe it’s been over two months! I’m excited for what’s to come and also to shatter our mentor’s goal of 25 seed collections.  Onward!

Peace out,

Kate

Forgot to pack some fresh fruit in your lunch?  Working outdoors in the West?  Here’s a few edible species I’ve encountered in Utah which are ripe at this time of year.  You generally do not need a permit to pick and eat fruit in-place on public land (but always check with your local office first!).

Don’t eat anything you cannot positively identify!

Amelanchier utahensis (Utah serviceberry) – In my experience, bland and mealy.  A. alnifolia is sweeter, juicier, and more flavorful (tastes of apple with faint blackberry) but I haven’t run across it in Utah yet!

Mahonia fremontii (Fremont barberry) – Generic fruit flavor, not terribly distinctive.  Fruits are mostly hollow inside, but the flesh is sweeter and less sour than that of M. repens.

Mahonia repens (Oregon grape) – Reminiscent of grape flavor.  Sour.  Sweeter later in the year especially after a frost.

Ribes cereum (Wax currant) – Mild currant flavor with a hint of melon.  Ripe berries are less intensely colored and more orange/less red than R. montigenum.  Dried remnants of the inflorescence often adhere to the bottom of the fruit — just eat the whole thing.  Plants have smooth stems without prickles.

Ribes montigenum (Mountain gooseberry) – Strong, sweet currant flavor when at their peak.  Berries are deep translucent red when ripe.  The berries have thin, erect hairs which can be visually off-putting, but the hairs do not pose a problem to your mouth.  The plants, however, are quite prickly — pick your berries carefully.

Prunus virginiana (Chokecherry) – Generally sour/astringent even when ripe, but some berries could almost be called sweet later in the year.  Don’t mistake these berries for those of Sambucus racemosa (Red elderberry), which is toxic unless cooked.

Rubus strigosus (Wild raspberry) – Not pictured.  When ripe these are usually half the size or less of those you might find in a store, but just as tasty.

To reduce contamination from animals, I don’t pick berries on bushes growing on an animal trail or path.  I also discard berries which are rotten or have signs of insect damage.

Hello…. I am the only Intern left in the BLM Jarbidge Field Office. I am doing grazing re-intro and soon will be monitoring end use for range. I am also doing wetland inventory. This takes me to some very interesting places within the desert. I get to hike into canyons to complete the inventory. I enjoy working with the folks at the BLM and I have learned a lot from them. My Mentor, Pattie Jo Courtney is a highly motivated Natural Resource Monitoring Specialist that I enjoy working with and learning from.

My 5-month CLM internship with the USGS in Henderson, NV is now officially over. I have very conflicting feelings about this. At first I was not very fond of the desert (being from Michigan I missed water and real trees) and could not wait to go back home, but now I’m not sure. The desert is not so bad anymore (although I still miss water and trees and would not want to live here long-term) and I will miss everyone I have met and worked with.

When I first told my family that I was moving to Las Vegas my aunt said it must be fate and that everything worked out that way for a reason. Kind of supernatural-y, I know, but I can’t help remembering it now. If I had not taken this position I would not have learned all the things I now know, not only about desert ecology and research methods, but also about myself, and I would never have met the people that have been like family to me out here.

Describing everything I have learned during this internship would take several large novels (I’m talking Game of Thrones-large) so I will try my best to sum it up. During the first few months we learned about desert ecology, how important native plants are to the communities, and how devastating fire and invasive plants can be. We conducted vegetation surveys on annual and perennial plants, and measured cover and density for perennial plants. The last few months have mostly been spent in the office crunching data. I learned a lot about research statistics that I could not have gotten from a college course (I don’t know about anyone else, but my high school and college stats classes did not help me much, I spent an obscene amount of time looking up statistical tests that my boss told me to run because I had no idea what they were), and I learned how to use the program R which will be very useful in the future. We were also involved in the development stage of a project to determine how effective seed cookies and seed balls are in Blackbrush restoration efforts. We will not get to see the results of that project, but we helped start it.

The most important thing I learned in the past 5 months has been about myself. I was feeling a little lost a year out of college, and although I still don’t have a clear idea of what I want to do with my life, I at least know what I do not want. After several months of fieldwork I have decided that it is not for me. As much as I love the outdoors, I love going home at night and being in control of my working environment more. I am going to concentrate my job searches to greenhouse or botanical gardens now.

The most memorable part of this internship, however, has been the people. Krissa and Wes, thank you so much for putting all this together so we can have these experiences and thank you for being so personable and approachable! Fellow interns, whom I met in Chicago, thank you for making that week a memorable one and for sharing your experiences with me! To our bosses, thank you for hiring me and for teaching me everything. To the rest of the USGS staff in the Henderson office, thank you for being so nice and accepting of the lowly interns and for being our buffer to the higher-ups, you are all awesome and I will miss you! And last but definitely not least, thank you Laura, Olivia, and Carson for being the best coworkers/roommates/friends I could have asked for! After living, eating, breathing, and working together 24/7 for 5 months it’s amazing we all still like each other and enjoy each other’s company!

For future CLMers I would just like to say this: DO NOT LET THIS OPPORTUNITY GET AWAY FROM YOU! This is an amazing program and you will learn a lot!

Well I suppose that’s all I had to say. If you find yourself in the Las Vegas area in the next few months and need a place to crash, I’ve got you covered. Otherwise so long everyone, it’s been real.

Joshua Tree in Parashant National Monument in March

I have reached the end of my internship in Shoshone Idaho and have had a great time working with the BLM. I have been able to participate in many fun and interesting endeavors while working here. Recently the field crew was able to go into some caves to ensure that no one has damaged them and to pick up any trash that was there. The cave that I enjoyed the most was Teakettle cave. Just as the name suggests, this cave is shaped very much like a teakettle. You enter through the spout of the Kettle which then opens up to a large round cavern with a hole in the top. This cavern was beautiful; the stream of light coming from the opening provides just the right conditions for ferns to grow and even habitat suitable for the Pacific tree frog.

Pasific Tree Frog found in Teakettle cave, ID.

This was my second internship with the Chicago Botanical Gardens and I am extremely appreciative of the opportunities that have been provided me. I really clicked with the Shoshone BLM field office and am going to miss them. I am moving on to a new and exciting job with the Utah DWR and can contribute this opportunity to the knowledge and experience I gained as an intern.  See you all in the field,  Jen

August 30, 2013

Las Cruces, NM

In my last two blog posts I commented on some of the differences between the Midwest/Northeast, where I grew up, and the Southwest.  One of the most obvious differences between these regions is people’s attitude towards rain.  Unlike the water-logged Midwest, where disastrous floods are commonplace, people in New Mexico actually hope for rain.  In addition to providing a marvelous spectacle (lightning) and offering a welcome break from June’s scorching heat, rain also supports all forms of life in the desert.  The welfares of farmers, wildlife, and local flora alike are all linked to the regions annual precipitation patterns. New Mexico’s positive attitude towards rainy weather is readily apparent in the office; small talk conversations centered around the break room coffee maker almost always revolve around the most recent bout of rain.

In Las Cruces, monsoon rains, which occur during the months of July and August, account for the vast majority of annual rainfall.  So far this year, New Mexico has experienced above average rainfall, and this influx of water has had phenomenal effects on the landscape. Formerly dry, dusty arroyos now trickle with streams and the once crispy stands of vegetation are now flush with color.  These changes to the landscape have enabled Mike, Kate, and I to have an extremely productive month in terms of seed collections.  We spent nearly all our time out in the field this month, and we have completed 10 collections.

Dripping Springs- the namesake of our home in the Organ Mountains- is usually little more than a trickle of water, but July’s generous rainfall has turned this tiny spring into a respectable waterfall.

Patches of wildflowers are sprouting up all over New Mexico in response to the monsoon rains. This is one of our potential seed collection sites located outside Magdalena, NM.

Arizona cottontop (Digitaria californica), one of the ten species that we collected this past month.

However, climatologists around the state warn New Mexicans about becoming too complacent due to this year’s stormy weather.  In the arid West where over 87% of the region is abnormally dry, New Mexico is the poster child for drought.  The state has been under drought conditions for so long that it has built up a water deficit, meaning it will take many years of above average rainfall to replenish New Mexico’s shrinking reservoirs.  This prolonged drought has drastically altered the plant species composition of southern New Mexico.  Formerly, grasslands covered the majority of the northern Chihuahuan Desert, but a combination of drought and grazing pressure has caused shrubs, such as creosote bush and mesquite, to outcompete many grass species.

For more information about New Mexico’s drought see this article: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-me-parched-20130806-dto,0,5922502.htmlstory

As usual, I will end this post with a couple vocab words:

Hoodoo: A tall spire of rock, often composed of sedimentary rock, that arises out of a canyon or other drainage

Hoodoo (located on the right)

Boot heel: The boot heel of New Mexico is the southwestern-most chunk of the state that shares two borders with Mexico and one with Arizona.  This area is extremely remote and sparsely populated (with the exception of the many Border Patrol vehicles continually monitoring the area).

The Boot Heel

-Elisabeth Ward

August has been another busy month of trying to grasp everything that the BLM is managing and what they are responsible for. The other intern and I started our month off with heading to the Northeastern area of Oregon in Baker City. For the second time this internship, we were given the opportunity to work with an independent contractor and another BLM botanist to set up climate change monitoring plots. The plots were set up on a mountain side, and hiking up to these sites was definitely a test of endurance and strength. Why set them up on a mountain side? Well, the location is in a “transitional” habitat, and over a span of time they will be used to see if there is a shift in vegetation and if climate change is impacting this specific ecosystem. We did a whole lot of dbh, marking, and identification of the trees in the plot area; along with identifying the wide variety of forbs and shrubs. It was a great week to see a new project and full of learning.

The most exciting part of this month, and probably the whole internship so far, was having the chance to work with the E.S.I crew for a week! E.S.I. is Ecosystem Site Inventory.

They were hired to perform the initial soil survey for BLM land in Malheur County. Malheur County is one of the last areas in the United States to not have any soil surveys or ecosystem site inventories on its land. So, BLM hired the NRCS to complete the initial soil surveys and E.S.I. by 2020. A long process indeed. Anyway, one of the soil scientists let me follow her throughout the week to see what they do. For this project, they are paired with a botanist/ecologist to get thorough data on both the vegetation and soil. A very important aspect of the Ecosystem site inventories is to get the full view of the landscape. Seeing them at work and talking about the relationships of plants and soil really clicked a light bulb in my head! Landscape ecology and understanding all of the different relationships is exactly what it is I want pursue. Which is a very wide category, I know, but it has helped me find a focus, yipee! Learning about the soil and plant relationships made sense to me and I cant wait to follow through and see what comes next!

Hello again,

Wow! A lot has happened in the last few weeks since I wrote last. I’ve gotten to see so many different places around the Eagle Lake Field Office. It’s been awesome! Last week, I went with my mentor Valda to the desert to check out some sites she’s thinking of seeding winterfat (Ceratoides lanata) later on. The desert is such a breathtaking experience which many people don’t take the time to appreciate.  The amount of nothingness out there just takes your breath away. Then, this week I spent my workday on the other side of the field office on top of a mountain.  My fellow intern and I went up Fredonyer Mountain to scout out potential Mountain Mahogany seed collection spots. Wow! The view from there was awesome. We stopped to have lunch overlooking Eagle Lake and seeing Mt. Shasta and Mt. Lassen in the background. We went up to the peak and met the couple who live in the lookout. The view from the lookout was even better. They pointed out all the major landforms to us and said even people who have lived in the area for a long time get turned around up there.   They have been up there for 31 years. We couldn’t believe it.

This is our lunchtime view from Fredonyer Mt.

Yesterday we spent the day in the Skedaddle Mountains. They’re such beautiful mountains. We took the UTV and drove to look at the recovering aspen stands which got burnt in the 2012 Rush Fire.  It was interesting to see the regrowth in the reseeded areas. Some things have come back and others are yet to be seen.  We hiked up on of the peaks to see the great view down below.

Experiences and places like these make the long and sometime early workdays worth every moment. I can’t believe it’s my job to check these places out. I’ve only been here for a little over two months and I’ve learned and seen so much. It’s all great!

These past 5 months flew by way too fast for my liking and I am sad to see it come to an end. I have to admit the internship had a rocky beginning, from initially being hired to work with wildlife and ending up in a program focused on rangeland monitoring, I had my frustrations. However, by focusing on the benefits of expanding my skill set and stepping outside of my comfort zone, I was able to gain a better understanding of how the BLM works and eventually ended up working with wildlife the last couple months, which was an awesome experience. The long days of field work in the scorching “dry heat,” walking through patches of desert scrub that really want to hurt you, and car problems in the middle of my internship have definitely given me a memorable summer in Phoenix. I learned that, as stressful it may be, any issue can be overcome by taking a deep breath and looking at what options or opportunities may have opened up and, most importantly, always keeping a positive outlook on life! Oh, and I also  learned that I won’t let the monsoon season here fool me again, it only gets humid here because the heat doesn’t settle down…but at least I was able to feel the rain pour down and see the desert scrub starting to get “happy” again 🙂

I am so thankful I was accepted into this program and I wish all the best to Krissa and Wes at CBG! Good luck to all the interns still out there in the wild west, I look forward to having another adventure!

Annabelle

Hello Blog-o-sphere!

Things have been going well in the Great Basin. We have wrapped up all our fire monitoring field work and we are on to the data entry and IDing the unknown plants. It will be really nice to get back out in the field and enjoy the last days of summer before autumn rolls around. We also have been working on the methodology for a rare butterfly survey and have been out to Sand Mountain (SE of Fallon, NV) to establish the transects. Soon enough we will be on to seed collecting, seed collecting, and more seed collecting.