From rolling prairie to mountainous forests, I have made it to Missoula, MT. The landscape is incredible here, with Pondersoa pine forests, snow capped mountains, and moss and lichens EVERYWHERE. Even the wildlife is unique, like Sasquatch, just kidding! The biggest struggle so far is getting comfortable hiking up these mountains, and getting used to the elevation which is over 1,500 feet higher than Iowa, yowiee!

Right now all of the seasonals are starting to join the BLM crew and we are starting walk-through inventory. Which is just a fancy term for “hiking up a mountain then talking about all of the plants and wildlife you see”, which is pretty awesome. We have been collecting inventory for the layers of the stand, habitat type, canopy cover, average diameter breast height. During these stand inventories we are also looking the understory vegetation, invasive species and sensitive species. All of this information is used to evaluate stand overall health and for sites for further projects. We survey the stands every 10 years.

We are also preforming five needle pine surveys, which include limber pine (Pinus flexilis) and White pine (Pinus strobus). They are hard to find for several reasons: the first is the mountain pine beetle. These beetles are using five needle pine trees in high elevation to attract a mate and lay their eggs.  Then the beetle larvae eat the phloem, leaving the tree to die! The second is blister rust, which is actually a rust fungus, not a chemical reaction. The blister rust is basically a parasite using the bark of the pine as a home. Luckily, we have found quite a few viable trees!

Until next time!

Cara

Hi all,

It has been about a month since living/working in Shoshone, ID. I have finally blended into the neighborhood and held a successful BBQ a couple weekends ago.

We have been working on a few projects which keep us busy and in the field most days of the week. When we’re in the mood for a scavenger hunt, based off directions, maps, and pictures (sometimes dating back to the 40s) we look for old monitoring plots. This can be quite difficult…one person’s north is another person’s south. This process can take 20 minutes to 2 hours.  It’s like finding gold when you see the metal bars in the ground. We then GPS the monitoring plot to make navigation easy. When we’re feeling like botanists for the day, we conduct Nested Frequency Studies. Through this method, one can determine the occurrence and frequency of a species and ground cover in the plot. These are permanent monitoring plots which allows trend data to be collected from previous years.

Nested Frequency Studies plot

This past weekend was the Seeds of Success training in Boise, ID. It was wonderful to be surrounded by botanists who knew every detail of the plant and could answer any question you had on identifying. We were taught the S.O.S protocol, helped in a collection of Nothocalais troximoides seed, and went to the Oregon State University Malheur Experiment Station in Vale, OR. The Malheur Experiment Station is where some of the collected native seed goes to be grown. The students were growing native Eriognums, Astragalus, Balsamorhiza, Lomatium, etc. Each row of plants were under certain controls and seed was collected from certain plants. This place is going to bring native seed restoration practices to a new level, it’s amazing.

Penstemon in experimental rows

That’s all for now!

Greetings!

Out here in Carson City, since my last post we have done a ton of new things.  I am glad to be able to identify so many plants of this area now, and testing out my latin skills with names of species!  A few highlights from the last few weeks have included continuing to monitor for rare plants, specifically Ivesia webberi.  One day several of us headed north to Plumas Station to look at a known population that had been mapped out in years prior.  We parked the truck, took a hike and the search began!  Fortunately, it didn’t take too long to find the appropriate location, and along the way stopped a few times to take in the beauty of the surrounding mountains and blooming flowers.  Particularly from that day, what stands out in my head are the Balsamorhiza sagittata dotting the hillsides with an ever bright yellow color.  Next along the walk, we noticed a ton of Castilleja chromosa in bloom.  Several patches grouped together in clumps of yellow, orange and red- a nice reminder that this region is full of color and teeming with life.

Another recent and memorable day for me was taking a trip to the University of Nevada Herbarium in Reno.  We took our specimans that have been collected this season for further verification.  Upon arriving to the herbarium, a childlike sense of elation and excitement came over me as I just glanced at the huge libraries of decades old specimans perfectly intact.  We spent the day comparing our samples with those that had been previously collected, reading species descriptions and characteristics, staring through a dissecting lense and learning a ton of new botany terminology.  Slow at first, the identification eventually quickened and became almost like a game.  I was most impressed by the collections made over one hundred years ago, still in great condition.  I enjoyed reading the descriptions and little notes that had been jotted down about the species and location, almost like a snapshot in time.

As we wrap up another week here in Carson, I am looking forward to a relaxing weekend in the mountains and preparing for a week long MIM (Multiple Indicator Monitoring) training that begins on Monday.

Be well,

Andrew

This was my first week on the job, and I already got to catch an endangered species, the Fender’s Blue butterfly (Icaricia icarioidies fender). This little blue butterfly is endemic to the Willamette Valley of western Oregon along with its host species, Kincaid’s Lupine (Lupinus oreganus), which is also endangered. If you travel along the highways that plow through the Willamette valley, you can see why these two species are not doing so well. The valley is saturated with monocultures, mostly sod and grapeseed farms, and the rivers lined by levies, channelizing flows and preventing natural flooding (same old story).
Interestingly, the site where I am working is within close proximity to the city of Eugene, OR and actually abuts the industrial area. But this is where the tiny little parcels of prairie exist that supports some of the few thriving Fender’s populations. Usually, we associate such special places and sensitive species with wilderness, forest land, or other more remote landscapes. It would be easy to overlook the value of these prairies, some of them hiding behind paper mills and factories, and focus on some of the more prevalent issues such as old growth and spotted-owls. And that is why my location is so unique. Every little site that I survey plays a very important role, each one being occupied by rare or endangered species, each one being protected from the encroachment of the city, each one reconnecting fragmented patches, and each one being managed to restore the ecosystem that once existed here.

I am excited to see how the BLM and its partners, who I am working with, cooperate on the restoration of the west Eugene wetlands. I am also excited to see what surprises lay ahead, especially after finding Fender’s Blue Butterflies at a site where they have never been recorded!

Hello, readers! As this is my first blog post, I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Dani and I am an intern at the BLM in Vernal, Utah. I’m originally from Minnesota, but I moved here from La Crosse, Wisconsin where I graduated with a B.S. in Biology in May 2013. I first learned of this program through my botany professor at UW-L and I was beyond excited to be offered my current position!

Today marks the end of my first month here in Vernal and it has definitely been a whirlwind. I’ve spent the past weeks assisting other branches in the office with their vegetation work. I’ve hunted for our endemic (and threatened) cacti, Sclerocactus wetlandicus and Sclerocactus brevispinus, in the Pariette Wetlands; I performed line point intercepts for the first time among Artemisia tridentata var. vaseyana and Claytonia lanceolata on top of Blue Mountain; and I’ve hiked up Coyote Gulch for a glimpse of Frasera ackermanae, another endemic and sensitive plant of the Uinta Basin.

Frasera ackermanae, a BLM sensitive and a Uinta Basin endemic.

As you might’ve guessed, our threatened and endangered (T&E) species are a main component of our botanical work. Within the past couple years, Vernal has experienced another boom in the oil and gas industry and in ensuring that our T&E species are not adversely affected by the industry is a top priority.

On the contrary, we’re also responsible for managing our invasive species as well. I’ve had the opportunity to accompany Jim, our main weed man, out to the field twice now to spray for Russian knapweed (Centaurea repens) and whitetop (Cardaria draba). Spraying weeds is actually kind of fun! We have a UTV with two long hoses on the back and it’s strangely satisfying to hunt down and spray the invasives – especially because the blue dye we use makes it easy to see what’s been sprayed.

On the way to spray weeds – did I mention that it snowed in the mountains?

The best part so far, though, has been rafting on the White River. My boss, my fellow intern, myself, and two guys from Wildlife spent three days and two nights rafting the river, inspecting the banks for Russian olive (Elaeagnus angustifolia) and tamarix (Tamarix ramosissima) and brainstorming a monitoring plan. This summer, young folks through the Utah Conservation Corps will be cutting down the Russian olive and we want to document the ecological effects, if any, the removal will have. We’ll be going out on the river again next week to implement our monitoring plan.

Our view from McCoy Flats as we scouted for plant populations.

In case you were wondering, the reason for the title of this post is two-fold: not only did I definitely get wet (and muddy) feet during our trip down the river, but the past weeks have been a crash course in flora of the Uinta Basin. I love learning new plants and I’m excited that every day I’m able to identify more and more species. It’s a good thing, too, since my fellow intern and I spent this week scouting for Seeds of Success populations. We even took a couple vouchers! To my fellow interns, happy (seed) hunting!

Streptanthella longistrosis, one of our first voucher specimens. (Look at all those seeds!)

A patch of Eriogonum inflatum from which we also collected vouchers!

“The world is big and I want to have a good look at it before it gets dark.”
II John Muir II

BLM Vernal Field Office

The sun has shone brightly for many a day here now, but it seems now in mid-May many of the creatures and plants are awakening under its spell. Everywhere you look the Balsalmroots (Balsamorhiza sagittata; Balsamorhiza hookeri) brighten a hillside, or the close inspection of a sagebrush shrub yields the dark purple bloom of a Rockress (Boechera sparsiflora). Beauty is revealing itself all around us and all we need to do is look for it and we will surely find it.

SOS is a large part of our duties here so when we are in the field for drought monitoring, rare plant surveying or other duties we keep an eye out for populations of plants large enough to collect seed from in the future. As I was doing an evening hike near to my house I noticed several plants that could be collected for seed on my journey. One of the species is a particularly interesting plant with the name of Chia. The Latin name is Salvia columbariae and the inflorescence is shaped in a ball form with what look to be spikes sticking out. However, I believe these are actually the bracts. In the mint family, it has a very beautiful purplish white zygomorphic flower. I found it growing on steep N-facing slopes with very rocky soils. Funny enough I actually found this flower because I fell while walking across the slope and low and behold this beauty was in front of me! Another very nice species of flowering shrub was Mirabilis bigelovii, or Wishbone Bush. What an incredible site to see when the sun is setting and you are beholding a small shrub with showy white flowers dancing in a soft breeze! This is a species I hope to see more of in the future.

Finally some of our lizard friends have started to become more active over the last few weeks and they can be quite interesting to look at and observe. The most common ones I have seen recently are the Long-nosed Leopard Lizard (Gambelia wislizenii) and the Great Basin Collared Lizard (Crotaphytus bicinctores). They are really interesting animals and I hope all of us are able to behold creatures unique to the areas we are working in!

The odd, yet wonderfully spectacular Snow Plant.

The very showy Wishbone bush.

How wonderful to think of the first time Meriwether Lewis saw this plant!

The Great Basin Collared Lizard!

Contorted Limber Pines (Pinus flexilis) at 9000′ on a very exposed ridge. Right in front was a alpine garden! Belding’s Ground Squirrels were prevalent here as well.

“Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.” – John Muir

Carson City District BLM

Ethan

The moment I saw the big wooden sign for the Lakeview BLM district I cheered for joy. I am just nine days into my Seeds of Success position here in south central Oregon but every one of them has proven educational, rewarding and FUN! Last week I began the challenging task of learning the flora in this gorgeous sea of sagebrush. Most of the plants here are new to me but I’ve come across some favorites like phlox and collinsia while assisting in botany clearances for new fences, road bulldozing and pond digging. The weather has been surprisingly cold with many nights last week around freezing, accompanied by snow, sleet, and grapple (a new phenomenon for me). Now things are warming up to near 90°F and the threat of fire is increasing. The desert is indeed an extreme ecosystem. 

I just returned from Boise, ID where I was invited to attend the SOS protocol training. Some of the most valuable information shared was the result of many long hours of work with very disappointing ends, such as the seeds that molded or were grazed just before collecting. We learned that mapping collection sites and making the data available are crucial to ensuring a diverse native seed collection in the future. My mentor Ian and I now have a great knowledge of the program and can begin planning our seed collecting efforts. The highlights include a private tour of the Boise Botanical Garden and visiting the Malheur Experiment Station in Ontario, OR where they grow out native seed under varying conditions of irrigation and weed treatments.  Seeing the production side of native seed motivates me to make great collections so more seed is available for grow out studies like these. The science learned can then increase the success of actual reseeding.

We have found populations of Lupinus polyphyllus and Phlox diffusa that look healthy now, but nothing is certain until the seed is in your hands.

Horned toad

Lupinus polyphyllus

Coleman Lake

BLM Lakeview, OR

Wow, the past few weeks have been busy for me. My days have been filled with habitat assessment framework for sage grouse, finding morels while monitoring rare plants, and finding populations that are suitable to collect seeds in.

The habitat assessment framework, or HAF, has been a learning curve for the whole crew. We are learning how to fill out the full HAF forms as well as the modified versions. Trying to train the eye for ocular estimates proved to be tougher than originally thought. Up to this point a majority of the sites we have visited are in terrible condition for sage grouse. The main reason for this is the encroaching Junipers, lack of sagebrush, and lack of grass and forbs.

Treasure Mountain

While monitoring for many different species we have come across many fun and exciting things. There was one particular place that I nicknamed Treasure Mountain. At the beginning of our hike we came across some morels. I, not being a mushroom fan, did not know what this odd thing was. As soon as I pointed it out to my crew they were really excited to have found morels! As we hiked further up the mountain I found an old rusty horse shoe. Horse shoes are nothing to write home about but I thought it was an exciting find. When at the top of this mountain one of the crew members found a nice shed from a mule deer (Odocoileus hemionus). To top this trip to Treasure Mountain, we found many healthy specimens of the Astragalus diaphanus var. diurnus. 

Morel (Morchella)

The Prineville district is a large district. Driving all across the country side looking for suitable collection sites is a real expedition. We have done a lot of searching this way, but we have also had to do some research using our resources.  We compiled a list of people, range cons, botanists, hydrologists, and others within our office to talk to. Some took us out on “field trips,” others drew on maps, and others we are waiting to hear and learn from. It was a great experience talking to people with different professions and to see how each can help us in very different ways.

The time is flying by with not a minute of work time to spare. It keeps the internship interesting, full of adventures, and provides a huge learning curve. It also allows us to meet different people with different backgrounds that have all been brought together to accomplish important tasks together.

Well, it’s been another great few weeks of my internship, here in Wenatchee WA. Since my last blog, I’ve explored another beautiful part of the state. My field partner and I spent this last week out in Juniper Dunes Wilderness. We set out to monitor the State Sensitive Cryptantha leucophea and expected to find at least a few populations that have been declining over the last few years. To our surprise, were only able to find two plants – we speculate that the population in this region has dropped off almost completely.

After doing some more background reading, I’ve personified this plant as a free spirit, transient- like. Coming and going, quite literally with the wind that shapes the sand dunes. It has adapted to establishing itself on freshly altered sandy slopes, although to the increasing stabilization of sand dunes through the state, it seems likely that this species will continue to plummet.

Apart from a few dismal thoughts about the fate of this species, I truly enjoyed being out in this piece of wilderness.  I was lulled to sleep at night by howling coyotes, and awakened by mormon crickets. Although these crickets are a pest and create a large conservation concern for the BLM, their rambunctious movement over the land created a cacophony of sounds that resembled a babbling brook – very comforting after days of wandering around the scorching dunes!

Here’s some shots of our monitoring sites:

Okay, okay … enough shots of me. Yay – our two plants (Cryptantha leucophea)! (Sorry about the low quality)

It’s great to be able to take time every few weeks to reflect on my experiences so far. Sending good thoughts out to all fellow interns!