The eight months I spent in Eastern Oregon working for the Bureau of Land Management gave me a good amount of time to understand how land management operates within a government organization. Coming from Illinois, and not working for the government before, this was a completely new experience, and worth every moment. Throughout my time at the Vale District BLM, I tried to to take advantage of the wide variety of resources available and learn as much as possible.  This included going to the field with range technicians, range conservationists, soil scientists (NRCS), wildlife biologists, horse and burro specialist, hydrologists, etc., when my mentor gave me the opportunity to do so. Aside from all of the required work, having the opportunity to go out with this wide range staff let me learn so much more than I would have expected.
One of the major skills I took away from the internship is taxonomic identification of a very wide variety of plant species. This will help me in the future, no matter what type of habitat I end up working in. This is a basic skill set that I was not taught in college, unbelievably so, and my mentor took time to help me out with this. Along with that, my navigational skills were immensely improved, both within the backcountry terrain and in general. The main expectations of me and the other intern were to accomplish a set goal of monitoring sensitive plant sites and seed collections. These two tasks taught me about seed viability, the importance of native seed collection, and the proper protocol to efficiently and effectively collect seed. The sensitive plant monitoring taught me how to assess a particular habitat and identify where sensitive plants are likely to occur within a specific location.
A learning experience that stands out to me most is the importance of being prepared for anything while out in the field. While working in extremely remote areas, you ALWAYS have to make sure you have absolutely everything you need before leaving for the field. Along with being prepared, the most important learning experience I will take away from this is to always ask questions even if they might seem ‘stupid’.
My expectation going into the internship was that I would be able to bring together my academic knowledge and other field work experiences in a way that would be very useful in future jobs. I wanted to learn the ins and outs of how everything needs to come together to complete a specific project. My main interest is ecological restoration, so working on restoration project would have been ideal. So, were my expectations met? Yes, but not in the way I originally thought they would be. After getting to the BLM and spending time learning what it was I would be doing for the next couple of months, it turned out I would not have the opportunity to work on a specific restoration project. That is not to say I didn’t get to learn about what I wanted though. Being a part of the Seeds of Success project, I was a part of restorative practices at the beginning level. Also, asking the specialists in the office different questions, I was able to learn more about land management, not just in the restoration realm.
The opportunity to work in a location for an extended period of time, rather than just a typical three month stint, helped me learn a lot more. After reflecting on the internship, I am grateful and appreciative to have had the chance to work in such a beautiful landscape and learn as much as I can while there. The full scope of bringing my academic and field experience together was possible, and I hope it will help me in my next step.

Greetings from Wyoming!

It is -12 degrees F as I write, and has not broken 10 degrees in three days. Kind of a nasty shock for this Southwest girl when I got back from Thanksgiving in Arizona! Needless to say, no more fieldwork for us. The last of the sage collections are in, the pressed plant specimens are off to the Smithsonian and the Rocky Mountain Herbarium, and I am wrapping up the SOS work for this year.

The biggest thing now is to make sure all the loose strings are wrapped up before I leave here. I’m trying to organize all the information we collected and put together some useful tips for the next person. I can tell that the intern before me tried to make things easier for the following year, and I would like to do the same if I can. Anything we can do to make the learning curve less steep. There are also some stray herbarium vouchers from years past that I will try to get documented and moved somewhere safe.

I spent some time talking with the folks at the Rocky Mountain Herbarium this week, and they have done detailed work over an impressive area of the Rocky Mountain West. Wyoming and the mountainous part of Colorado have been covered pretty thoroughly, and they are slowly working their way north. However, there are still blank spots on the map that could use some detailed botanizing. Something to keep in mind for the future.

Time is going way too fast!

Stay warm everybody!

Cheers,
Abby D.

Hello to my fellow CLM interns! November was an interesting month for me as it required a bit of field work, which is unusual for so late in the year. However, the West Eugene Wetlands field office has an ongoing threatened & endangered plant augmentation project in the works, so my botanical cohort and I, with the assistance of the Institute for Applied Ecology, began to lay the groundwork for the project.

We had three empty macroplots that we created earlier this year, all of which would be planted with Kincaid’s Lupine plugs at a later date. First, we had to cover the plots with heavy shade cloth in an attempt to control the invasive grasses that would compete with our T&E species. So we packed up six giant pieces of shade cloth, several hundred wooden stakes, and three sledgehammers, and trekked out to our first macroplot.

I discovered that laying down shade cloth is quite the art form, from folding under the edges of the cloth before pounding the stakes in (to prevent the edges from fraying or unraveling) to pounding the stakes into the ground diagonally (to make them more difficult to remove). Several hours and hundreds of wooden stakes later we were finished with our first macroplot. I find that there is nothing quite so satisfying as being able to look at a finished project and know that you were vital in its accomplishment. And for me, the more challenging the task, the more satisfying the outcome.

Unfortunately, I did miss part of November at the office, as I had my wisdom teeth removed and complications resulting from the surgery took me out for longer than I anticipated. Now, however, I am recovered and happy to be back in the office. Right now I am focusing on entering data into the Geographic Biotic Observations (GeoBOB) database; I am knee deep in plant data going back to the 90s.

Next week may bring more opportunities in the field. We’ve received 500 lupine plugs ready to plant, but Eugene is currently experiencing a cold spell (it was only 15 degrees Fahrenheit when I arrived at the field office this morning, which is unusually cold for the Willamette Valley).

Here’s hoping for some warmer weather!

November 16, 2013 marked another Grasslands Fair at Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge (BANWR) in southern Arizona.  BANWR was established in the 1980’s to protect the critically endangered masked bobwhite quail, a species that is no longer living in the wild within in the United States. Masked bobwhite quail are currently being bred in captivity within the refuge and then released into the wild. This captive breeding program has been underway for over a decade, yet not one reintroduced quail has survived.

Despite the frustrations of the captive breeding program, hundreds of visitors migrated to the refuge to celebrate the grasslands and the unique site that is BANWR. Somewhere between 20 and 30 organizations and vendors set up tables to sell ware or spread information to visitors. Other than Borderlands Restoration, organizations included Altar Valley Conservation Alliance, Tohono Chul Park, Friends of the Santa Cruz River, Avalon Organic Gardens and EcoVillage, Arizona Game and Fish, and many local vendors selling handcrafted ware. There were a few discussions about topics related to ecology including hummingbirds and jaguars.

While there was a fantastic showing of people and the promise of a festival highlighting grasslands, there was actually very little planned that was directly related to grasslands. When questioned, the reserve manager admitted as much. Altar Valley Conservation Alliance displayed information about erosion control (improving grasslands habitat by stopping the unzipping of landscapes). The Borderlands Restoration booth highlighted information about habitat restoration on the landscape scale – including grasslands. And two representatives from Borderlands Restoration got visitors involved by demonstrating how to make clay seed balls to eventually disintegrate with the rains, repopulating the landscape with local, native grasses for the endangered masked bobwhite quail.

While I was in attendance, helping to create clay seed balls with kids, introducing them to restoration activities, I decided that I wanted to pretend that I was leading a grasslands fair. What would I do to incorporate both a love of the grasslands and highlight the unique sense of place that is BANWR?

Driving around BANWR, there is an obvious need to repair the fractured, decaying habitat. Erosion has created gashes dozens of feet deep and growing. The habitat is so unbalanced that the species that the refuge was designed to protect is no longer able to live there, even when introduced. Therefore, I believe that an ethic of restoration and protection should be the focus of any future festivals. And since this fair is a celebration, achievement and accomplishment need to be the underlying factors for any future fairs. I think it would be useful in the future to create a list of topics that vendors/presenters/lecturers should focus on, including: ecological/cultural education, restoration activities, native foods/products sales, lectures on successes/failures of masked bobwhite quail reintroduction, lectures on habitat restoration, youth focus to instill sense of land stewardship to new generation, and newly created economic opportunities thanks to restoration activities. Additionally I think that outstanding individuals should be recognized and visitors should be encouraged to take ownership of the lands through encouragement to dream up the future of BANWR.

Good Mornin’ Y’all!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Thanksgiving!

Well today is more or less the last day of my internship here in Montrose, CO. I really can’t thank everyone here and from the Chicago Botanic Garden enough. This has been my second CLM internship and I absolutely love this program and the opportunities that the Garden/BLM provide for aspiring botanists/biologists. A big shout out and thanks to my “tor” mentor, Ken, the wildlife biologist, Missy, and Carol from the state office for actually hiring me!!! Also a big thanks to Wes and Krissa. Because of you guys I’ve gotten to see those big beautiful mountains pictured below, and do what I love!, everyday and get paid for it to boot! (I did not take that picture! Picture from Google Image Search!!)

San Jaun Mountains

I really feel like I’ve grown up with all the guidance I’ve recieved from Ken (while I’ve always been very responsible with my work life, Ken’s mentoring has even helped me with things outside of work!) When I started my internship I was driving this (again, image taken from Google Image Search!! I don’t know if you’ve noticed but I never have time to take my own pictures!):

Classy Chrysler New Yorker

A classy Chrysler New Yorker which, according to local mechanics, was about to fall apart at any moment.

But after Ken’s mentoring I was able to pull some things together and upgrade to this:

Upgrade!!!

A Subaru Outback that I affectionately call “Peggy Sue” and that will probably not blow up on me (image also taken from Google….).

I know we’re supposed to reflect on our actual internship, but I think it’s important that everyone realize that this internship has affected my personal growth in a positive manner as well. As for what I’ve learned professionally…it’s been a lot. So much that it’ll probably bore everyone if I type it all out, but I will include a picture of a cool map that I made while working here.

A cool map that I made.

While I’m sad my internship is ending, I’ll be mopping up my tears with bagels from my sweet new job as a baker/barista and consoling myself with powder days at Telluride. Additionally, I’ll be spending some time applying to grad school…keep your fingers crossed everyone! Thankfully I’m not too bummed out that my time here is winding down because they really like me here (though I’m not sure why!) and are trying their hardest to make sure I get to come back next spring.

Until April fellow CLMers!!

Brandee Wills
Uncompahgre Field Office – BLM
Montrose, CO

Hello Blog-o-sphere,
This is my penultimate (fun word, means second to last) blog and then I will have ended my second, and final, tour with the CLM program. I will spend my last blog musing about what I have learned, how I have changed, and a few thoughts from a young “scientist.” As the year slows down, we have less and less field work to do and more office work. We are focusing on going through the herbarium back log, collecting what we can from late season seeding plants, and general housekeeping to organize physical and digital clutter. The remaining interns and I are going to create a list of tips and advice for next year’s interns to make their life easier. Simple things like making sure you add metadata to shape files and adding extra information to a voucher collected in the field will make life easier for your future self. Hopefully we can save the next interns time and frustration. Hopefully things wind down quietly and I’ll have plenty of time to job search and figure out my next step. Until next time bloggos.
Nate

Listening in on the SOS call and being updated about what’s happening at other offices was really exciting. Field season is wrapping up and everyone is preparing to collect the late season species to complete their 2013 field season, shipping the remainder of their seeds to Bend, and organizing herbarium vouchers to be sent to the Smithsonian.

In the meantime, I have picked up my Sclerocactus glaucus (Uinta Basin hookless cactus) winter project where I left off last year. The main purpose of my project is to determine the number of individuals by recording total population history and GIS mapping. Ken Holsinger and Brandee Wills at the BLM Uncompahgre Field Office with my mentor Carol Dawson and myself are working together to make this effort as smooth and as accurate as possible. This is just one of the many tasks to be completed for the listed species recovery plan. The overall goal is making the effort for the removal of Sclerocactus glaucus from the list of endangered and threatened species more likely to occur.

Sclerocactus glaucus recruitment

Sclerocactus glaucus

Winter has come to Colorado and the cold weather is here to stay.

CLM in the snow

Until next time folks!

Darnisha Coverson

Bureau of Land Management – Colorado State Office

November 25, 2013

Las Cruces, NM

Greetings!  So much has changed in the past month both in the office and out.  For one thing, it snowed here this past weekend!  As interns in Las Cruces, we have a housing agreement with the BLM.  In exchange for government housing, we have the responsibility of monitoring the trails at Dripping Springs Natural Area two weekend days each month.  Fulfilling this duty yesterday was an absolute pleasure.  As a native Chicagoan, I shouldn’t be so awestruck by snow, but witnessing fresh snowfall in the mountains of New Mexico was stunning.

This weekend’s snow was also a reality check.  For the most part, life in Las Cruces has felt a lot like an extended summer vacation.  Between the consistently sunny weather and my remote living situation (no TV or internet at our house), I feel pretty separated from reality.  I keep anticipating September weather typical of New England, indicating its time to pack my bags and head back to school.  The snow this weekend has set me straight.  My undergraduate years are behind me for good, and the CLM internship has been the perfect jump start to life in the real world.

Pictures from my snowy hike up to Dripping Springs

We have also experienced several changes at the office.  Seed collection season is essentially over, and in its stead, we have helped out with several monitoring projects, including one involving the sand pricklypear cactus (Opunita arenaria).  Because it has a relatively narrow habitat range limited by sandy soils, and it is highly susceptible to changing environmental conditions (e.g. water availability, winter temperatures) and herbivory, the sand pricklypear is listed as a rare plant species in the state of New Mexico.  Several years ago, local officials announced plans of constructing a dam and flood retention pond on a site occupied by a sand pricklypear population.  BLM agreed to the proposal under the condition that the sand pricklypears within the construction site would be transplanted to a new location.  Furthermore, all the transplanted individuals had to be caged in order to minimize herbivory during the plants’ initial establishment.  A couple weeks ago, Kate and I had the opportunity to monitor the success of the sand pricklypear transplant project, and, ultimately, we wrote a comprehensive report summarizes our findings.  I absolutely loved working on this project. I have been quite nostalgic about my college days, and it felt great to write an analytical paper again (did I really just admit that I miss paper-writing?).

One of the caged, transplanted sand pricklypears (Opuntia arenaria) from our monitoring project

Last week, we also worked on an oil well pad restoration project outside Roswell, NM (fun fact: the site we worked at was where Felix Baumgartner landed after his famous space jump).  The ultimate goal of this project has to re-vegetate the area using native plant materials in order to provide suitable habitat for the lesser prairie chicken.  However, the deep sandy soils characteristic of the region are extremely difficult to re-vegetate, so our mentor, Mike Howard, used this project as an opportunity to experiment with restoration techniques.  Sand bluestem (Andropogon hallii) was planted throughout the 3 acre well pad at different pot depths.  While deeper pots are known to facilitate plant establishment, they are also more expensive ( $15 per pot), and Mike wanted to determine if there was a cheaper solution that had a comparable success rate.

Sand bluestem restoration monitoring project outside Roswell, NM

– Elisabeth Ward

This week marks the end of my internship with SOS/CLM. I am tying up my paperwork. My seeds are at the Bend Seed Extractory and my herbarium specimens will be glued and mailed by Wednesday.

Unlike many of the interns with CLM this summer I might be considered in the autumn of my life. With two degrees under my belt and a few grey hairs coloring my head, I am looking at this summer as a building block to my next level of interest. While many of you are starting your careers, I am building on the last one as I consider a B.S. in botany or ecology to add to my BA and MA.
I truly, madly enjoyed every day of my time in the field looking at new landscapes and cementing my appreciations of the Central Oregon landscape. My counsel to those of you starting your careers is to look at the ecological perspective, and combine your botany with another science or comprehensive ecosystem perspective. Be flexible and versatile. Be persistent. The landscape will be there. It is a stark landscape filled with a sense of possibility.

The last collection.

vistas

Spacious

Mysterious

Filled with Solitude

Robin Snyder

2013 SOS/CLM Intern

Prineville District  Office, BLM

Prineville Oregon

November has been wonderful! Finally, the time I’d been waiting for all summer has come! At last, we started planting some of those beautiful native plants that we had been tending to all summer! This has also been the month of giving thanks and give thanks for this opportunity and for the BLM. It gives me such comfort knowing that BLM and other organizations dedicate themselves to nurturing the earth and giving back to it. Collectively, we all help to make this world a better place for the animals and our future generations.
I am also thankful for the holidays that we interns were given, because of it, I was able to have my family come visit.  Together, we were able to go visit family in Oregon as well! I am really excited for the month to come, but it is also a bit sad because the final days of my internship are near. Nonetheless, I look forward to this next month and plan contribute as much as I can before my time is over.