I rolled in to Rawlins a couple of days before my official start date just to get settled in. It was approximately an 18 hour drive from my sweet Wisconsin homeland to the steppe ecosystem of Rawlins, Wyoming. I was welcomed with a blizzard the Sunday before my first day of work and decided to explore the town in my boots and winter coat. The town folk are generally pretty friendly, the town itself pretty small and the area pretty treeless.  But it is from here that I will begin my adventures with the Bureau of Land Management.
Our main project is focused on collecting the voucher specimen and later the seeds of 22 species and 3 genuses of local native plants within the BLM-Rawlins District. The seed collections are for the Seeds of Success Program which has the goal of collecting, conserving, and developing native plant materials for stabilizing, rehabilitating and restoring lands in the United States. Some of these seeds will be used for research such as germination trials, common garden studies, and protocol establishment while additional seed from each collection will be held in long-term storage facilities for conservation.
So far my time has been spent learning to identify the species on our collection list and getting familiar with the areas where they are found. This of course has meant a lot of driving time and a significant amount of hours on the computer. Two species on our list which are in bloom right now are Lomatium foeniculaceum and Cymopterus bulbosus which are both in the family Apiaceae. We collected voucher specimen for three different populations of the Lomatium and one of the Cymopterus. The Lomatium is starting to go into seed and we will have to return soon to begin our seed collections. Many of the areas where we are doing our collections are in natural gas fields, so I have been learning my fair share about the dynamics of conservation in the land of oil, gas and coal. I have also been given a crash course in operating a trimble GPS and navigating ArcGIS, which I sincerely appreciate.

The best part of being out here so far has to be the amount of wildlife that range the area. We have seen pronghorn antelope, elk, mule deer, bald eagles, western grebes and pelicans. My favorite, however, are the prairie dogs since learning about their complex communities, language and role in maintaining the ecosystem. The wildflowers are beautiful as well with Indian Paintbrush, Shooting Star, Evening Primrose and Blue Bells in full bloom. I look forward to seeing some wolves, cougars and badgers yet and maybe some areas with a few more trees.

Used by Native Americans in ovulation inhibition

Just getting to Rawlins was its own adventure. A spring storm closed all roads in the area during the weekend I began my move. I just finished an internship with the Student Conservation Association in Eastern California and only had the weekend to make the drive to Wyoming.

Stuck an extra day and a half outside of Salt Lake City, at least I can say I got to explore some beautiful mountains while I waited for the roads to open (Midland-Heber City area).  It was also nice to have a chance to see my mom. She very kindly drove from Oregon to meet me for a quick visit.

Rawlins isn’t quite what I remember from a road-trip that took me along I-80 last fall, but despite the oil and gas industry in our district, we’ve already been out to some beautiful areas beyond the oil fields in this part of South-Central Wyoming. In just over a week and a half, the other CLM Intern and I have identified numerous plant populations to watch in the coming weeks for collection, collected a few voucher specimens, assisted on raptor surveys, and (most importantly for my sanity as a true lover of trees and riparian systems) found some lovely, high alpine forests and followed the course of the Platt River to some potential collection sites.

BLM Field Office

Rawlins, WY

After my three day drive from Virginia, I finally made it to Vale, Oregon!  The environment is much drier than what I’m used to, but the lack of humidity is wonderful!  My focus is GIS, so I have not been out in the field yet.  May 19th was my first day, so I’ve mostly spent the past week training, learning more about the BLM, and asking lots of questions.  Currently, my training is focused on using and troubleshooting ArcPad and GPS units since I’ll be spending a lot of time helping everyone with their GPS units this summer. I’ve also been able to make a few maps for others in the building!  I look forward to learning more about the GPS units and becoming more comfortable helping others with their GPS and GIS questions and I hope to get out in the field soon!

Until next time!

Vale District BLM

Hello everyone,

Just finished up my first week doing vegetation monitoring and camping! Working at the Jarbidge Field Office has been really fun and I’ve learned a lot so far-especially about how an agency like the BLM functions and the typical workdays of techs. Most of my day consists of being out in the sagebrush, gathering data on the habitat vegetation composition and whether it is adequate for sage grouse.

I work in a crew that collects plant canopy measurements using point intercept transects. We also do stem counts on forbs that constitute an important part sage grouse habitat. The forbs are starting to flower more now too.

A lot of my time is spent driving to the field sites in our truck, but I’ve become really familiar with the more rural and agricultural areas (possibly where they grow potatoes?) on the city outskirts.

This week I’ve been up in the mountains of the “Diamond A” allotment of BLM land. The mountains are still snow-capped, and although with the cold, rain and snow you can tell that the area is a very harsh living environment; it has a rugged beauty that makes it breath taking to work in. While out in the field I saw my first badger ever and a golden eagle. I also met some of the ranchers driving cattle through the pastures on their horses (looking every bit like cowboys from old westerns, haha), which was really cool. It was pretty rainy and cold, so we had to return into town earlier than planned, but the weather this coming week is supposed to be much better.

Twin Falls continues to be a nice and quiet city to live in and I’ve had the opportunity to travel a bit more around the area, including the Magic Reservoir, Sun Valley and Balanced Rock, the latter of which is literally an Idaho-shaped rock balanced on a cliff on the road next to one of the field sites.

Next week I will be heading back out into the “Diamond A” for another week of camping and habitat assessment. Can’t wait!!

Maria Paula

Twin Falls Jarbidge Field Office

There is enough work to be done here right now to keep 10 full time employees busy for 60 hours a week. Instead, we have 4. Time management is crucial. It is also a necessity to be dependable and accountable. We have to be able to count on each other to do what we agree will be done. As understaffed as we are, functioning as a team is the only way we can accomplish anything.

I have been out for several days on another assignment, but because we have a good team, and because we have communicated effectively in advance, we continue to get work done. Most recently, our work has focused on weeds management. This has been a bad year for Lepidium species at the Preserve (primarily L. latifolium and L. draba). We use a combination of weed management techniques to combat these infestations including grazing, mowing, and herbicide applications. Rising temperatures and increasing fire dangers create additional constraints as to how and when we can accomplish our treatments.

Overall, we are seeing excellent results in the areas we treat. The only downside is the amount of time we have to invest in these issues to see these results. I hope I will get to participate in some seed collections this season; herbicide applications are not my favorite task. Hope you all are enjoying your spring-

Cheers!