It’s a rule of thumb that if we’re trying to collect seeds (or even count seeds per fruit), it’ll be windy. It doesn’t matter where we are or what the weather is like – it’ll be windy.
In late July, four of us went hunting for Spiranthes diluvialis (Ute lady’s tresses), a rarely seen endemic of the Basin. We scoped out Brush Creek and a little wetland on the edge of town. We didn’t find any that day, but Hector and I found two populations to collect seeds from and we even went back that same day to grab one them, Eleocharis quinqueflora (few flower spike rush). When we returned a few weeks later to collect seeds from tule (Schoenoplectus acutus occidentalis), we found three Ute lady’s tresses!
Finally! Ute lady’s tresses!
We’ve also collected Allium acuminatum (tapertip onion). At first, it was fun to pop off an inflorescence and get a nice, oniony smell, but it got old pretty quick and it took me two days to get the smell off my hands!
The view from Blue Mountain.
I love learning plants’ scientific names. I’ve realized that I can communicate more effectively with non-botanists if I can also throw down the common names, but I think scientific names are way more fun. While helping with rangeland health assessments one day, all my hard work of memorizing scientific names paid off! One of the range cons was naming off all the plants in the transect when he said, “Western salsify.” As the recorder, I paused briefly, confused, but when he clarified by saying “Tragopogon dubius” I knew exactly what he meant! I know T. dubius as goatsbeard and while I would’ve been able to reconcile the two names by observing the plant, it was a nice “Ah-Ha” moment to realize that scientific names are as important as my college botany professor claimed!
I’ve never before seen red spines on prickly pear!
On a Tuesday morning a couple weeks ago, my mentor called a powwow of myself, Hector, Lisa, and Jabus. She told us that she had just discovered that Uintah County was holding a special event the next day where members of the public could raft down the “C section” of the Green River. Our office was supplying three rafts and needed an extra person to row. Our boss had decided that this would be a prime opportunity for all of us to tag along and scout the “C section” for weeds and seeds.
Loading up for a day on the river.
We loaded up the next day and headed up to the John Jarvie Historic Ranch. We took a total of seven rafts and two duckies (a.k.a. inflatable kayaks) with around 30 members of the public, 10 of which were under the age of 16! Jabus and I each took a duckie while Hector volunteered his rowing abilities. We encountered quite a bit of Russian knapweed (Acroptilon repens), whitetop (Cardaria draba), Canada thistle (Cirsium arvense), and American licorice (Glycyrrhiza lepidota). The highlight of the day was spotting a bald eagle sitting on a dead tree only 10 feet from the water’s edge!
I have no idea what this plant is, but I like it!
At the end of the day, everyone headed home, except for us. We drove back to Jarvie and spent the night in the bunkhouse. The next morning, we took our backpack sprayers out and went to work. The “C section” needed more TLC than we could provide in one day so we did what we could and drove back to the office. The next week, we did the same song and dance: spray during the day and sleep over in the bunkhouse.
The water wheel at Jarvie Ranch.
On the second day of the second trip, though, things got interesting. After lunch, we stopped at an infestation of Canada thistle, whitetop, and teasel (Dipsacus sylvestris). During lunch, I had noticed a small, dark cloud above us, but the rest of the sky was bright and sunny so I thought nothing of it. A little while later, though, it began sprinkling. It was still bright and sunny so again, none of us were terribly concerned. We finished the spot and got back onto the river. And then it started to downpour. The little raincloud above us at lunch had morphed into a huge, rumbling storm! We were soaked within minutes. And just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse, it started hailing.
The edge of our “little” raincloud.
We endured the weather for about 20 minutes before it let up. At one point, the sky cleared and the sun shone through. We were still getting rained on and when we looked up, we could see the rain falling through the sunlight. It was pretty cool. By the time we rafted down to the take-out and dried off, it was already time to head back to the office.
Me in the duckie. It’s hard to see, but I’m drenched after the rain and hail.
Since then, things have been rather laid back at the office. Hector and I are on the hunt for warm season grasses and trying to supplement any collections from this year that didn’t make the 10,000 seed mark. Bend told us that our collection of shortspine horsebrush (Tetradymia spinosa) was only about 15-20% filled which was a big disappointment for us. Seed collection is slowing down,though, so I’ll be spending more time on the Green River in my last weeks.
Stay dry, fellow interns.
-Dani
BLM
Vernal, UT
P.S. The last photos are from personal adventures, but I wanted to throw them in because they’re pretty neat.
Split Mountain, up close and personal.
The bottom of Flaming Gorge Dam and the diversion tunnel used to convert the flow of the Green River during construction.
Petroglyphs courtesy of the Fremont People in Dinosaur National Monument.
