Greetings from the land where there is still snow!  Fairbanks is still covered with the white stuff so botanizing and wildlife-ing will have to wait until the green emerges.  Temperatures had been on an upward trend but a week of -30 harshly reminded us what Mother Nature is capable of.

We are gearing up for a busy and exciting field season.  In addition to the projects I mentioned in my last post (raptor surveys, bat monitoring, invasive species reconnaissance) I will also be planning and teaching some Invasive Plant Species Identification classes—should be a good chance to practice my public speaking and presentation skills, not to mention wax poetic about botany.

As of late I have mostly been researching, researching, researching for our little brown bat project (Myotis lucifungus).  I am used to monitoring things that don’t move (or don’t move fast) i.e. plants so these batty guys are new to me.  I’ve been reading a lot about bats, wildlife monitoring study design, echolocation, occupancy modeling etc. and chatting with many bat experts.  Hopefully all this information will be put to good use this summer.

There are a few opportunities for field work before “break-up” and one of those is moose surveys.  This Friday I will be taking off to go to Bettles, AK for the week.  There we will be flying transects over Gates of the Arctic National Park looking for moose.  The survey uses what is called the Geospatial Population Estimator (GSPE) method.  Basically, GSPE uses spatial correlation in moose populations to increase precision and flexibility in survey methods.  A certain number of sample grids from a study area are selected and transects are flown over them.  The spatial correlation among these samples is calculated and this relationship is modeled as a function of distance.  This model can them be used to predict moose densities in un-sampled areas.

Usually, less intensive stratification flights are done before the actual survey to identify areas of high and low moose density.  More survey effort is then dedicated to the high moose density stratum.

Here is a dizzying depiction of contour transects flown in mountainous terrain.

In other news, snow in Fairbanks allowed for two delightful winter activities these past weeks.  First, a lovely ski trip to Tolovana Hot Springs with Anchorage friends including CLM counterpart Charlotte and former CLM counterpart Bonnie!  And secondly, the IDITAROD!  Moved to Fairbanks for only the second time in history due to lack of snow in Anchorage.  A few choice pictures of both below.

Katie

Fairbanks, AK

Views from the way up–Tolovana Hot Springs trail

Home sweet home

Views from the hot springs–not too shabby

Lance Mackey and the Ninjas

No one would give me a ride to Nome…

Man, did this internship fly by. Even though I was extended twice, I still cannot believe that that in 3 months I would have been living and working in Buffalo, Wyoming for a year. I have grown so much and become so independent. No longer do 4, 5, 6 hours driving trips seem long. I have many new skills to add to my resume. GIS, 4X4, GPS, NRS, are just a few subjects that I have gained invaluable experience in. I will never forget when Justin Chappelle and I’s 4X4 training would be put to the ultimate test. Going beyond the limit and soaring past with flying colors. Some of my favorite memories are with my fellow interns. There is no bigger relief than when you meet your new roommates for the first time, and realize they are AWESOME!!! There are so many rewarding experiences that I have had during this internship. I do not believe that I could fit them all on a blog post. A compact list will just have to do for now. 🙂

Favorite Memories!!!!

1. First night at the Occidental Hotel Saloon on a Thursday night with Heather Bromberg, Sean Casler, and Jill Pastick.

2. First trip to Yellowstone seeing Old Faithful and being trapped in a heard of Bison with Sean Casler and his friend Jeff.

3. First day out in the field when Jill was almost struck by lightning.

4. The day Justin and I saved a baby elk from a barb-wire fence. (Note to new interns: ALWAYS bring a multi-tool with you)

5. UTV training day!!! So fun to drive those things around.

6. Girl’s Grilling Night with the Hot Tub!

7. The ghost in the house opening the basement door (we figured out is wasn’t a ghost, just the house was so old the latch did not always close completely, or was it a ghost….OOOoooooOOoooo!)

8. First camping night for work, when all 4 of us interns slack-lined with Dusty Kavitz, Charlotte Darling, and Don Brewer.

9. Longmire Days street party! (Who knew a small town like Buffalo would have a street party inspired by the books and TV show that in turn was inspired by Buffalo, WY!!! Mind Blown!!!)

10. First trip to the Grand Tetons Park!!

11. Road trips to Casper, Ft. Collins, and Thermopolis.

12. White Water Rafting! (My younger brother was visiting and was able to enjoy this experience with us)

13. My first plot where it was mostly bare ground. (That went by so fast and helped us finish our work day earlier than expected!! I know, that is selfish, and bare ground is actually bad for an allotment, but when you have 65 to do in a few months, you are willing to sacrifice one.)

14. Coffee stops at the Mavericks Gas station before heading out to the field.

15. Putting water in a gas generator. (First of all, this was an accident. Second, the water container was beside a gas container and the water smelled like fuel. It was my fault, but not completely, even the others thought it was fuel as well. Long story short, things were fine, Dusty Kavitz fixed it.)

16. 4th of July in Teton Villiage, where I had Thai food for the first time at the Teton Thai Tent. Yummmm!!!

17. The first day that I slept on a real mattress I had ordered off of Amazon. I spent the first few weeks sleeping on the floor on a thin sleeping mat. Best $100 I ever spent.

18. Intern Dinner night. All 4 of us interns, plus 1 seasonal had dinner together.

19. The First time I identified an unknown plant. I had seen this plant at almost every site, no one knew what it was, no one in the office knew what it was. After 2 weeks of searching the databases, books, dichotomous keys, I discovered what plant. Rough False Penneyroyal!! Hedeoma hispida! This certain plant was challenging. When I began trying to identify, the flowering time had already passed, most specimens were not complete, and were brown. This moment is for sure one of my top “Ah-Ha” moments.

20. Many more of our trips. Visiting Devil’s Tower (SO COOL!), going to Sturgis (Really wanted a vest there, but it was $120!!! Too rich for this intern’s blood.), and hiking at Circle Park.

21. First time skiing with Heather Bromberg. 🙂

There are so many great memories that I will have forever from my time in Wyoming. The people were so nice, the office so welcoming, and outdoor activities only limited by our own minds and imaginations. There is a certain energy in the hundreds of miles of open air in Wyoming. The Wild West surely earns its name. Was my time perfect here? No, but close. 100 degree work days, 3 girls sharing 1 bathroom, missing my family and dogs back home, no house with AC in the summer, tensions between interns, the 2 months before we were actually able to hang out with coworkers around our own age, and the long road trips taking a brutal toll on my 15 year old Honda ( I spent at least $2,000 on repairs, and two major oil leaks later, finally traded the poor thing in). I wouldn’t trade any of these experiences, well, maybe the car one. RIP Honda!

This life, this experience out here, has challenged me, molded me, carved me from the stubborn stone of my old life and transformed me into a stronger, more confident, and more understanding person. There is no monetary value to be had for such a gift. This internship, above the work experience, above the new lands to be charted, above everything, it is utmost, a gift. One to be cherished, savored, and appreciated.

I had no expectations going into this internship. I knew nothing of what I should expect from the people or places I would go. But somehow, this small, old, dusty town of 4,500 people has left a forever stamp on my heart. I am forever indebted to the CBG and CLM program and the staff of the Buffalo Field Office. I am so appreciative for the transformations this opportunity has made to my resume, and the transformations to my character. Thank you.

Life in Carson City has been ‘blooming’ the past few weeks. With warm weather and sunny days, the beginning of spring is well under way. Trees are blossoming, birds are singing, and little green plants are emerging from the ground. While we wait for the field season to ‘spring’ into action, us interns at the Carson City District Office are catching up on training, planning for the field season, and sorting through the backlog of plant specimens waiting to be mounted, labelled, and put into their rightful folders in the herbarium.

I feel as though I am learning the local flora in a backwards fashion. As I process the various plant specimens collected over the past few years, I am starting to see similarities within the families as well as the subtle differences between species. I witness the change in the plants through the season as I find specimens collected in different months. So, while the plants are beginning their life cycles for the year outside, I am learning how to recognize them through all seasons. I only hope I will be able to recognize familiar friends once the field season is in full swing!

While many days have been spent in the office, we have had a few days outdoors working on plans for restoration and weed management projects. We visited one fire rehabilitation area to scout for mountain mahogany replanting sites. Another fire rehabilitation area had a tree planting operation in the works, so we went to learn how to plant properly so our mountain mahogany seedlings will do well at the first site. While at our second site, we noted the presence of the noxious weeds, Medusa head and cheat grass, with the hope of returning to do some noxious weed management later in the season.

Many, many projects are building momentum for the field season, but we must content ourselves for now with learning backwards while we look forward to the explosive and exciting field season to come.

Anna Ortega (right) and Maggie Gray (left) hike toward a fire rehabilitation site where mountain mahogany seedlings will be planted. They feel spoiled by the views of the Sierra Nevada and Sweetwater Ranges.

Hey CLM-ers. As it turns out, I’m back for round 2–my internship has been renewed for the 2015 season, and I’m excited to start! I’ve decided to be a bit more blog-friendly this go around, so I thought I’d start the season off right and share some wintery travels.

This weekend trip is a perfect example of how both challenging and rewarding wilderness travel can be in ‘the last frontier’. Especially when you’ve never traveled 20+ miles on cross-country skiis, let alone one. But with a good reliable group and expedition savvy, even my blistered heels and snow-encrusted self made it successfully to Tolovana Hotsprings. The lovely little site is a couple hours ~NW of Fairbanks, and boasts 3 hot tubs and 3 rentable cabins. That, and a layer of fresh snow, and a great group of people (shout out to CLM-Fairbanks, great trip with fellow-intern Katie!!) made it quite a magical outing.

Topo map of my backcountry ski.

Finally! I had to go above Fairbanks to find it.

My first time on classics in nine degree F weather.

The water was ~120 degrees F

Home sweet cabin

As far as the office goes, I’ve now converted over to the NRCS from AKNHP to study map units in the hopes that I can help assign and define eco-site descriptions to new projects this season. That, and of course, help them whittle down their stack of “the ghost of season-past” field notes into database form.

Hopefully we’ll get another jot of good snow, but if all else fails, bring on the green things. I miss them too!

–Charlotte

I was getting ready for work Wednesday morning, packing my bag for the field when my phone buzzed on the table. It was an email from our mentor Dean: he had an unexpected and important meeting to attend late morning at the office, and our field work would have to be delayed. Disappointment settled in. We had been putting in a lot of office hours in the month since I arrived at the BLM in Carson City, and Wednesday had promised a full day of scouting planting sites in the mountains. Though I know full well that all this indoor work is a necessary prelude to the field season, I still squirm in my chair by the end of each day, rubbing my computer-tired eyes. Because of the trip’s long drive and hike, a morning’s worth of delay might likely have meant “not today”. At least that was my thought as I begrudgingly changed into jeans (of course I still brought my hiking pants, because you can’t get caught with no work pants on.)

At the office the hours swept by in anticipation, leaving me glancing at the clock and thinking, “At what point will it be too late to leave?” I focused my attention on cartography, and putting my new GIS skills into practice, layered contour lines on top of aerial images to create a clear map of our site. By noon I decided to take a break outside to soak up a healthy dose of apricity, and lull my anxious mind. Just as I was dozing off (yes, I did set a timer!), Anna came out to tell me it was time to leave.

To the Pine Nut Mountains!

You can see why I was so eager to get here – it’s beautiful!

The TRE fire burned for 5 days in May of 2012, blackening over 6,000 acres of BLM-managed land in the southern Pine Nut Mountains. The high intensity fire killed off much of the perennial vegetation, most notably pinyon, juniper and mountain mahogany. Our goal, as we scoped out this stark landscape, was to find suitable places to plant 400 mountain mahogany saplings. We split into two groups and began the long hike up, up, up, to the tops of our respective mountains. We didn’t come across the charred remains of mountain mahogany until about 7,000 feet, near the top.

There, over yonder!

Of course, it did take a few minutes to hone our identification skills and distinguish between the different types of charred trees. All of us being new to the area, we had a good sense of what a live mountain mahogany tree should look like, but a dead, blackened one proved more of a challenge. It was an important distinction that would allow us to plant the saplings in a suitable home, and to emulate the pre-fire habitat.

charred pinyon

charred mountain mahogany (please ignore the beckoning, snow-covered mountains in the distance, even though my camera’s auto-focus couldn’t.)

The evening sunlight lit up the diaphanous cheat grass, and the radiance temporarily distracted us from noting its onerous stronghold on the land. Weeds seize the opportunity of disturbed soil, burgeoning and preventing native plants from establishing. Hence why it is so important for native plants to reestablish after a big disturbance such as this fire.

cheat grass at its finest

The two teams reunited en-route back to the car, and thanks to Dean’s keen eye, we got to see a mountain mahogany tree making a concerted effort at regrowth after the fire.

John and Aaron inspecting a tenacious mountain mahogany

We reached the car, and in the darkening sky watched the nearly full moon rising in the east. Lassitude settled over the rest of the group as we discussed who could stay awake long enough for the dark drive home. I volunteered, still filled with an unequivocal vim from an exciting day in the field.

You see this face Steve? This is how I feel about that “Tail” pun.

All the other lizard jokes he could have made, and that’s the one he went with? So disappointing.

Spring has come to the Mojave Desert! Annual plants are opening their flowers, birds are active and singing, and we’re leaving behind the cooler days of winter (well, relatively cooler, sorry Chicago). Expect pictures and stories about flowers to come soon, but I’m still trying to figure out what all of these new species are. So with this blog I’m going to talk about critters. Scaly ones.

Lizards are some of the most noticeable and most charismatic Mojave Desert fauna. During the warmer months, I could hardly walk 10 meters through the desert without coming across one of these little reptiles. I seldom picked them out as I approached their hiding spots, but when I got too close they would dart away, scampering wildly across the sand looking for refuge. The fleeing lizards were a welcome source of entertainment and movement on the otherwise oppressively still and hot summer days. Most of the lizards here remained active into October and November last fall, spent the cooler winter underground, and have started to reappear in the last few weeks. Allow me to introduce you to some of them.

A western side-blotched lizard. This guy either thinks that I can’t see him, or he’s trying to decide if he can take me on.

The most common lizard in my part of the Mojave is the western side-blotched lizard (Uta stansburiana elegans). This extremely abundant species is typically the one that I send scattering as I walk through the desert. These lizards are small, only growing up to 4-5 inches long. They can move with great agility and quickness as they run or hop through boulders and shrubs, which helps them to catch their preferred meals of small insects and spiders. One reason I find lizards entertaining is that they seem to have quite a bit of attitude. The males of several species, including side-blotched, can be territorial, and one of the ways they show-off their dominance is by climbing to the top of a boulder, standing up tall on their four legs, and rapidly doing push-ups. Even as I approach, these guys will sometimes stare me down and continue their push-up routine, showing off how tough they are, until finally I get too close for comfort and they run off. That’s pretty bold for a small animal. I think it’s great.

The western zebra-tailed lizard. Take a look at those great big hind feet with the long toes. Those things make this lizard very fast. A whole lot faster than me.

Western zebra-tailed lizards (Callisaurus draconoides rhodostictus) are another common desert species. Like side-blotched lizards, they are fairly small in size, but show a surprising amount of spunk and affinity for showing off their pectoral fitness. In the picture I’ve shared you can see the dark and light striping on the tail that gives this species its name. You may also be able to see just a little bit of bright color on the belly of this lizard. During the breeding season, their undersides are brilliantly blue, yellow, and orange. Zebra-tailed lizards are one of a couple species that could claim to be the fastest in the desert, and they have a habit of running with their striped tails curled up, adding to the list of behaviors that make lizards charming and comical.

Western zebra-tailed lizard. If you look at the edge of its belly, you can see just a little bit of the brilliant colors that this lizard has underneath.

Horned lizards are distinctive and widely recognizable, and the species I’ve come across here is the southern desert horned lizard (Phrynosoma platyrhinos calidiarum). Though not as fast or nimble as some other species, their wider bodies and spiny armor give them protection from many predators. And yes, they can squirt blood from the corners of their eyes as a defense mechanism. They don’t do it very often, but all the same, that is one wild behavior. However, their best defense against predators is their camouflage. The coloration of horned lizards will typically match that of their local habitat, mirroring the soil color in which they live. I have only seen three horned lizards during my time here, but I have surely walked past many more without knowing it. Ants are the preferred food for this species, and they have a sticky tongue that helps them to capture their prey.

This is a southern desert horned lizard. You’re going to get several photos of this species, because I think they are really beautiful.

When I try to take pictures of lizards, they usually make me look very slow and very foolish. But sometimes, if they think they’re hidden, they’ll sit nice and still for me. Like this one.

I think the color and pattern on their scales is gorgeous.

Northern desert iguanas (Dipsosaurus dorsalis dorsalis) are a larger lizard, growing to 16 inches including the tail. This species is also in the running for the title of “Fastest Lizard in the Desert.” Even more impressively, desert iguanas may be able to tolerate higher temperatures than any other North American reptile. They can remain active even during the middle of 120° F summer days. Unlike the other lizards I’ve shown you so far, this species is primarily herbivorous. They eat a particularly large amount of flowers and leaves from creosote bush (Larrea tridentata), the super-abundant shrub that dominates the Mojave Desert.

Northern desert iguana. You know what it’s thinking? “Hey you, with the two legs. Why don’t you come down here and try to catch me? I dare you.”

The long-nosed leopard lizard (Gambelia wislizenii) is another medium-sized species. They sometimes eat plant materials, but leopard lizards also live up to their name as a predator. They lie camouflaged and hidden in the shade of a shrub, and then pounce on their prey with a burst of speed. They eat insects and arachnids, but larger animals like rodents, snakes, and other lizards are also on the menu. Leopard lizards will cannibalize their own species, and will sometimes go after prey nearly as big as they are.

A long-nosed leopard lizard. The spots and its appetite for large prey make this lizard’s name an appropriate one.

I’ve come across a few more lizards, such as big-eyed, nocturnal geckos and the very large, leathery chuckwalla, but I’m afraid that’s all the photos I have to show you. Lizards aren’t always so good about sitting still to have their pictures taken. And there are two species in particular that I haven’t come across yet, but would love to. One is the Mojave fringe-toed lizard (Uma scoparia), a dune-dwelling species of special concern here in California. Hopefully I’ll get to see them as I visit sand dune habitats this spring. The other is the more well-known banded Gila monster (Heloderma suspectum cinctum). With a beautiful, bold, orange and black body, Gila monsters are the largest lizard in the United States, and are one of only a few venomous lizards in the world. They are seen in our field office from time to time, but are not common at all. Of course, I would LOVE to see one, but it’s a long shot. If I do, there will definitely be pictures posted to my blog.

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

-Steve

Needles Field Office, BLM

When I took this job, I knew it would be a lot of work and a strong learning curve. I’ve never developed a management plan or put in for BPS funding. I really don’t know how much things cost or how much my time is worth. Truthfully, I’m just happy to get outside (not to say that I don’t want to be paid 😉 ). With all this budgeting and NEPA experience, I have really developed an appreciation for how much work goes into planning on the ground conservation, and the intrinsic value of conservation. I wanted to be brief this month, but I’ll leave you with an article on how and why we approach conservation and why we value nature, and if this even valid in the first place.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-a-vucetich/should-we-conserve-nature_b_6722048.html

The past four weeks since my last post have gone by rather quickly. Typically February around these parts is long and grueling with lots of Netflix and scrabble. However, lack of snowy conditions has allowed me to do some fieldwork, fieldwork in the mountains nonetheless! The BLM is authorizing a timber sale in the southern part of our field office and I got to do cultural survey on the 4 or so miles of access road winding through the private surface. The area is a large mid elevation meadow wedged between Gardner Mountain and EK Mountain. A beautiful place where you can see the peaks of the Bighorns to the north and the Red Wall to the south. Unfortunately this is private land with large amounts of “landlocked” BLM lands that the public can never enjoy (unless you have a small helicopter). I really hoped this survey would turn up some interesting artifacts since the foothills of the Bighorn Mountains contain quite a few Paleo-indian (12,000-8,000 B.P) sites. However, not being allowed to stray more than 100ft. from the disturbed road I was surveying did not allow much chance for finding cultural resources. Pretty day, pretty place, too bad no one can enjoy it other than one rancher.

Another bit of fieldwork I did was to check out the condition of historic Bozeman trail (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bozeman_Trail)  signs. It’s always nice to take a drive through portions of the prairie that have had minimal energy development. Most of the signs were in good shape, other than the upgrades made by the local birds.

Except for this one.

This one is just funny. It is beside Crazy Woman Creek south of Buffalo. Almost every business in NE Wyoming is named Crazy Woman…liquors…water….taxidermy..funeral..accountant…drilling…reality..ect. If you can’t read the sign it says “Two legends give rise to the name of Crazy Woman Creek. Both are based on tragic events. In one, a young woman is left alone after an attach on her village. She lived in a squalid wickiup and on moonlit nights could be seen leaping from rock to rock in the creek. The crow Indians felt that she brought good luck and therefore left her alone. The second legend told of a trader who unwisely sold whiskey or “Firewater” to gain favor with the Indians. When it was gone, the Indians demanded more, which he could not supply. After he was killed, his young wife made her escape, only to wander up and down the creek demented. Because of the loss of her sanity, she was safe from further harm by the Indians. It is said JEREMIAH JOHNSON cared for her thereafter.

In case you’re not laughing, there was never a real Jeremiah Johnson. None of the archaeologists still working at the BLM had anything to do with this sign, but it is too bad members of the public (albeit few go here) may read and believe this.

Other than my fieldwork I have been doing some report writing and map making.

– Nathan BLM BFO

Hello, world!

Continuing from the last post, let’s look at Prosopis glandulosa shrubland and some associated plant communities from the ground and from the air. Once you’ve seen enough of it in both contexts, you can start interpreting soil types and associated species from aerial imagery. This has important land management implications. In the Las Cruces District, we have a rare plant (Pediomelum pentaphyllum) that occurs primarily in a subset of Prosopis glandulosa shrubland (a subset which is, luckily, identifiable from the air!). Also, the diversity of associated species and abundance of perennial grasses–both important indicators of the likelihood of success in herbicide treatments intended to restore grassland after grazing has led to an increase in shrubs and loss of grass–can also be predicted from aerial imagery. Double-checking in the field is still critical. However, you can’t be everywhere so, ideally, you check on the ground as much as you can, take photos and notes, and correlate that with aerial imagery to extrapolate to the rest.

So, here’s what Prosopis glandulosa shrubland looks like in its purest form–which usually occurs with little associated plant diversity, very low abundance of perennial grasses, and a relatively firm clay-loam (or loamy clay, or perhaps just clay; I’m not a dirtologist) surface soil.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

And another example (which you may recognize from my last post), on the ground:

Same site from the air:

One thing you may notice from both of those photographs is that there is obvious evidence of rills caused by water erosion. This is a good indicator that there is little or no surface sand. In the second example, the exposed petrocalcic horizon along the small road is more evidence of this. The lack of surface sand is a good indication that there is probably little plant diversity at these sites and, especially, few perennial grasses. Sometimes–although not as often–very low-diversity Prosopis glandulosa shrubland occurs at sites that do have surface sand, as seen in the following example. The loose surface sand is very obvious in the field, but also identifiable in aerial imagery by the lack of any rills or gullies caused by water erosion.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

In the first and third examples shown so far, we are looking at Prosopis glandulosa coppice dunes. In this plant community, each Prosopis glandulosa has raised soil around it. It is not clear (to me, at least) to what extent the raised soil of each coppice dune is the result of deposition (soil deposited around each shrub, mostly or entirely by soil particles in wind) and to what extent it is the result of erosion (from both wind and water) in the spaces between the dunes. I suspect that, in most cases, we have a little of each. Most Prosopis glandulosa shrublands in the Las Cruces District have at least some coppice dune tendencies, but you will find Prosopis glandulosa shrubland on fairly level ground without any notable accumulation of soil around the shrub bases. The second example above is intermediate between these two extremes. The following is at the duneless extreme.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

That form of Prosopis glandulosa shrubland tends to have higher associated plant diversity and more perennial grasses than coppice dunes that lack surface sand, as seen by the big, healthy Muhlenbergia porteri at that site. Prosopis glandulosa also tends to be smaller and more upright in this context. Of course, Prosopis glandulosa shrubland does not always occur in a fairly pure form. Often there are other shrubs or perennial grasses in the interspaces. At the following site, Gutierrezia sarothrae is fairly abundant in the spaces between Prosopis glandulosa, and is visible in the aerial imagery as much smaller dark blobs.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

Usually, smaller blobs mixed in with the big, obvious Prosopis glandulosa are a good indication that you’re dealing with something more interesting and diverse than just Prosopis glandulosa shrubland. This is not always the case, as in the following example.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

A few of the smaller blobs in the aerial image are Atriplex canescens or Gutierrezia sarothrae, but most are Prosopis glandulosa–just younger and smaller individuals. So instead of plant community diversity, they indicate demographic diversity in a single dominant species. More often, smaller blobs are other species. So, here’s an example of mixed Prosopis glandulosa and Larrea tridentata, with a few sprinkles of Gutierrezia sarothrae.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

Prosopis glandulosa is also often found with Pleuraphis mutica, usually in fine-textured soils without any surface sand, as in the following.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

Or, one might find Prosopis glandulosa mixed with Pleuraphis mutica and Gutierrezia sarothrae, as follows.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

In cases like the two above, I would assume that we are looking at places that were formerly Pleuraphis mutica grassland with few or not Prosopis glandulosa. In the Las Cruces District, Gutierrezia sarothrae and Gutierrezia microcephala are probably the most reliable indicators of recent grazing pressure. However, although they can expand dramatically after relatively high grazing pressure, these Gutierrezia species are not particularly long-lived. Prosopis glandulosa, on the other hand, is usually a very long-lived indicator of grazing pressure. Pleuraphis mutica rarely occurs in areas with much surface sand and is relatively easy to identify from aerial imagery, so its presence is a good indicator of fine-textured, relatively sandless soil. I would also guess that these sites have relatively stable soils; Prosopis glandulosa associated with Pleuraphis mutica rarely has well-developed coppice dunes and usually has relatively few of the rills and gullies typical of pure Prosopis glandulosa shrubland on fine-textured soils.

OK, let’s move on to Prosopis glandulosa in areas that have loose surface sand. These are usually higher-diversity sites with more perennial grass. The grass at these sites in the past was probably Bouteloua eriopoda; now it is more likely to be Sporobolus flexuosus. Below is an example of Prosopis glandulosa shrubland with relatively sparse Sporobolus flexuosus.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

Other shrubs usually associated with Prosopis glandulosa on these sandier sites are Artemisia filifolia, Atriplex canescens, Psorothamnus scoparius, Yucca elata (not exactly a shrub, but we don’t have another good word for it) and, less often, Lycium pallidum or Sapindus saponaria. Below is an example of Prosopis glandulosa with both Atriplex canescens and Sporobolus flexuosus.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

And the following is Prosopis glandulosa with Psorothamnus scoparius. Most of the smaller blobs in the aerial imagery are Psorothamnus scoparius, but a few are just younger, smaller Prosopis glandulosa. The two have very similar morphology as seen in aerial imagery, with Psorothamnus scoparius looking an awful lot like typical Prosopis glandulosa coppice dunes, but much smaller.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

Occasionally, you can also find almost Psorothamnus scoparius shrubland with few or no Prosopis glandulosa, as seen in the following example.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

At the high-shrub-diversity end, you might see Prosopis glandulosa, Artemisia filifolia, Atriplex canescens, and Yucca elata all at the same site, as follows.</p.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

Occasionally, you will even see Prosopis glandulosa mixed with Bouteloua eriopoda grassland–the plant community it has probably replaced at most of these sandy sites.

On the ground:

Same site from the air:

Once you get the hang of some of this, I think you can often get a pretty good guess of the composition, surface soil characteristics, and history of a site with Prosopis glandulosa from aerial imagery. However, everything related to the landscape (and especially, in my opinion, the New Mexico landscape) is incredibly complicated. There are exceptions to everything and thousands of rabbit-holes to go down, both literally and figuratively, in understanding the land. Ideally, this post would go on for at least another 50 pages… but I think neither I nor any readers have the patience for that.