Hello from the Mojave Desert! For the last month, we have been busy trying to quantify the forage available for juvenile Desert Tortoises! Each day brings us to a new field site, where we collect as much data on diversity and available biomass as possible. We have come across some fantastic species, and my knowledge of Boraginaceae species (especially those in the Cryptantha genus) has grown by leaps and bounds! Here’s a photo of Eschscholzia glyptosperma (when it was still flowering).

Most species are either seeding or senesced at this point, so our field campaign is beginning to wind down. The next few weeks will be spent weighing biomass samples and preparing for our next project (TBA). We will, however, return to our surveys later this summer when late summer annuals begin to emerge!
We continue to come across the occasional tort in the field, but they are beginning to spend less time out of their burrows as it gets warmer.

However, with increasing temperatures, snakes appear to be more frequent, especially gopher snakes…

They can be a bit of a surprise when you’re looking down at a GPS suddenly find yourself standing only feet away!
I’ve learned so much already, and am looking forward to learning a lot more as we start our new project in early June!

Til next time,
Daniel

Henderson, NV

Although the West Eugene Wetlands are only ten minutes from where I lived for many years, there is always more to learn and experience in this captivating landscape. As a new CLM intern for the BLM, I have gained a renewed appreciation for these precious places and the rare plants and animals that live here.

When I’m on all fours pawing through blades of grass in search of the tiny seedlings of Lomatium Bradshawii (a listed wetland prairie species) I feel like I’m part of a private universe.

Few people take the time to look closely… really closely at their landbase.

To most, the minute details in that particular place are completely invisible. Although plot work can at times be tedious, I try to remember how special it is to be able to interact daily with plants and animals most people will never even see.

Only when I’m walking through the hummocky patches of prairie here in the Willamette Valley does it hit home what this ecosystem once was. Even though these wetland prairies now only occupy 1% of their pre-colonial extent, the intact remnants that do remain are truly amazing.

From the low vernal pools filled with popcorn flowers to the oak and ash groves teeming with camas I’m in a botanist’s paradise.

It’s strange to think that in my not-so-distant past there was a time when these places and the species that inhabit them were invisible to me too.

Although I still get odd looks when I explain to my friends and family that I plan to spend all summer counting butterflies and daisies I secretly pity them for missing out on knowing these creatures so well.

2015 has brought me back to the Bishop Field Office, and I am grateful for the opportunity to return. The start of last season brought excitement with everything, as all was new. This season my pleasure has come with the chance to return to familiar places, notice changes, evaluate projects, and explore further. Unfortunately, when it comes to noticing changes, all the focus revolves around drought, but I don’t want to get hung up on what I can’t control.
Last year my techniques for seed scouting and collection progressed as the season went along. I began to cover more ground, spend more time out of the car and out of the office; often doing multiple collections at once. After two weeks of work it is clear that collecting will be much more difficult in the Mojave and Great Basin this season, and thus I am even more thankful to have a framework of skills and local knowledge. Locations that I listed last year as potential collection sites are now barren. For me this is motivation to get out there and work harder.
To return to my desk and pick up where I left off, is a positive feeling that is difficult to describe. Let’s just say it feels a lot better to walk in on day one and know exactly what I need to be doing, and who everyone is; as opposed to clicking through those not so invigorating DOI Learn courses with a new and busy environment bustling behind me and my headphones. At the beginning of last season I had an accomplished sense of progression from my previous job, and at the end of that season I was proud of what I learned and had experienced through the CLM program. Can’t wait to see how far I go this time around.
-Tyler

Round Two at the Buffalo Field Office! One month in so far and my time has been spent a few different ways. Our office has had a shortage of front desk help so I was offered the opportunity to help out for the month of March before my internship started in April. More qualifications have now been added to my resume due to this great opportunity and I am much more familiar with the staff. The majority of my time has been spent working a lot with GIS to plan and prepare the sites we will visit this year for Range Health. There are a few perks of staying in the same office for a second year. 1: I already know everyone. 2: my desk was already set up from before. 3: I am already familiar with the organization and location of many files that are required to finish my Range Allotment Packets that I have created for ease of use during the field season. 4. I did not have to pack and unpack my possessions. Having a two month break between internships was a little tough financially, but had its own benefits for outdoor activities.

My first time shooting a bow and arrow. Lucked out with these shots!

Visited the Hot Springs at Thermopolis!

Who can resist those snow capped beauties!?

Museum Sign, no photos allowed in the building.

Buffalo had a free admission day to the museum. I was happy to be able to be able to go! Visiting was on my “To Do” list from last season but I was not able to go until recently. Great museum!

Back to Work

On the Range again!

Heather and I were able to go into the field to map some fence, tanks, and reservoirs last week. We had a good time exploring what Wyoming’s ranges had to offer. This day was a nice change of pace from my usual computer and GIS work. And yes, we did get dirty. A nice fine layer of orange dust clung to our clothes and faces to prove a good day of work was done. 😉

Mounted sheds on the left, world record harvest on right.

While in the office earlier this week, one of our wildlife biologists received this in an e-mail. These sold for half a million dollars. The sheds were found in the 50’s. Talk about some good habitat! All the more reason why conservation jobs are important!

Now for a song tidbit that reminds me of my time in Buffalo, Wyoming. I made a few edits to apply more to Buffalo. 😉

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of cactus, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There my mentor stood in the doorway;
I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself,
“This could be Heaven or this could be Hell”
Then she lit up a range truck and she showed me the way
There were voices down the main street,
I thought I heard them say…

Welcome to the Hotel Occidental
Such a lovely place (Such a lovely place)
Such a lovely pace
Plenty of room at the Hotel Occidental
Any time of year (Any time of year)
You can find Buffalo here

Last thing I remember, I was
Running for the door
I had to find the range files
To the place I was working before
“Relax, ” said the night man,
“We are programmed to receive.
You can check-out any time you like,
But you can never leave! ”

*Add nifty guitar solo for the next 2 minutes*

A wise man once told me to not stay at the CLM internship into the winter. I did not listen, so I stayed.  I was provided with work in the field, but weather was harsh. It rarely allowed us to get outside.

Early Spring has proven difficult too! Rain makes it difficult to use two track roads with the truck. Instead, we used the UTV. It was fun and efficient for collecting data. Currently working on range improvement projects. Mapping fence lines, stock tanks, and reservoirs on BLM land.

A day in the range with the UTV.

Looking forward to more time spent outside. This field season will be busy. I will be tackling several projects, one of them being my own. The projects are range improvement projects, range health assessments, seed collection, and vegetative data collection for the Powder River Basin Restoration Initiative.

The past couple of weeks here in Buffalo have been pretty neat. BLM is reclaiming some unpermitted dams (Such as the little puddle seen below) on public lands due to their ability to provide breeding ground to mosquitoes, which in turn spread West Nile Virus to sage grouse. This ground disturbing activity requires cultural clearance. During the course of this fieldwork we have not located much in the way of cultural resources, however we did find one site which we had to test for buried deposits (AKA dig some holes in some really compacted Wyoming Soil, Seen below). These holes were negative, thus damn reclamation may continue.

Otherwise, I did some playing on BLM lands on the weekends where it is very pretty. I saw a dipper nest. Dippers are the coolest bird by the way.

I am going to Santa Fe for Metal Detecting training this weekend. That will be neat.

Hello Everyone!

Spring has come, and nearly gone, from my corner of the desert. It’s been a little while since you heard from me, but that is because it has been a very busy spring of work here in Needles. I’ve been helping with sensitive plant monitoring, making native seed collections, and collecting plant tissue for genetic analysis. It has been a wonderful couple months of wildflowers, comfortable temperatures, and active wildlife. But now the spring bloom has passed in all but the northern portion of our field office, and we are regularly reaching triple digits. Sounds like a good time for me to move north…which is something I get to do very soon! In a couple weeks I’ll be moving up to the Bishop BLM Office on the eastern edge of the Sierra’s in California to take another CLM internship. That should be fantastic. But I’m not there yet, and first I get to share with y’all some of the awesome plants that have graced the Mojave lately.

These flowers belong to a species of Phacelia, but I can’t tell you which one. They grew all over the desert this spring, but I must confess that I didn’t try too hard to identify most of them, because they are covered in little hairs that can be irritating to the touch. Would you touch a plant called “scorpion weed”?

Throughout January and February we received occasional winter rain, enjoyed cool daytime temperatures in the 70’s, and saw the small shoots and rosettes of new annual plants starting to come up in our field office. For a while these new species were all a mystery to me, because I’ve never been here for spring before, and just a few leaves isn’t much to go on when trying to ID an unknown plant. But when the annuals finally started to open up, at the end of February and beginning of March, the flurry of botanical activity was exciting and beautiful! In my area we don’t quite get the dense carpeting of wildflowers that coastal California enjoys, but the desert ground is still full of variety and color.

Here’s a fun desert plant. This odd one is Orobanche cooperi (desert broomrape). Did you notice that this plant isn’t green? Well that’s because it is a parasite, and doesn’t perform photosynthesis on its own. Its roots have structures that steal nutrients from the roots of other plants.

Many of the spring flowers belong to small annual plants that sprouted in response to winter rain. The moisture and cooler weather of winter doesn’t last very long though, so the annuals have to move through their life cycle quickly. These plants sprout up leaves, display their showy flowers, then produce and disperse their seeds in just a month or two before they dry up in the heat of the oncoming summer. Springtime is also when many of the perennial shrubs are blooming. In many cases, these widely dispersed shrubs add a hue of color (often yellow) that covers entire landscapes here in the desert. Larrea tridentata (creosote bush) and Encelia farinosa (brittlebush) were especially common and colorful across the desert valleys and washes.

Here’s what I mean about those yellow-flowering desert shrubs. These Encelia farinosa (brittlebush) turned some desert washes into rivers of golden color this spring.

Spring has also been a great time to see wildlife in the Mojave, as the animals have been out and moving around in order to take advantage of the comfortable weather and the abundance of food made available by new plant growth. Accompanying the appearance of showy flowers has been a diverse host of pollinators: bees, wasps, beetles, lots of butterflies, and the always charming hummingbirds. Reptiles have been out in full force as well. In the last month I’ve seen four desert tortoises, hundreds of lizards, and my first two snakes of the year (including the first rattlesnake that has actually rattled at me, after five previous encounters with silent rattlers). And, of course, it is always fun to see mammals. Young ground squirrels, cottontails, and jackrabbits have been scampering around everywhere, and we’ve seen the occasional coyote hoping to make a meal of the slower youngsters. Last week I spotted a group of desert bighorn sheep, including one small lamb. That’s only the second time I’ve been able to see these secretive animals, though I suspect that on many more occasions they have watched me silently and suspiciously from high up on the mountain slopes they call home.

Speaking of wildlife, do you know what this is!? This is a red-spotted toad! I like amphibians a lot, they are great animals. There are toads that can make it out here in the desert, near seasonal springs, by hibernating underground during the dry season (which is pretty much all year). I really wanted to see one of these guys, and this spring I finally did!

And now, I’ll just throw more pictures of cool wildflowers at you:

Recognize this one? There were lots of lupines that bloomed this spring, along roadsides, near washes, and all over the desert. This particular species is Lupinus arizonicus (Arizona lupine).

And here’s a different lupine. I love these plants. They have great flowers.

Alright, here’s a test. Who knows what this plant is? I wrote a whole blog about it a few months ago. I promised pictures of flowers when they showed up…

…and now that they’ve finally showed up, aren’t these flowers fantastic! The answer is, of course, Fouquieria splendens (ocotillo). This is one of the classic plants of the Sonoran Desert to the south.

This one is a pretty little plant. Mimulus bigelovii (Bigelow’s monkeyflower). I think of monkeyflowers as a plant of wet, moist places. But here, they grow in washes that are dry most of the year. Such is the hardiness of desert plants.

One more unique, little, annual flower. This one belongs to Eremalche rotundifolia (desert fivespot).

It doesn’t last long, but the spring here is wonderful. If you are ever near a desert in springtime, you should make the effort to go out and see it. The life that can spring forth from this typically dry and forbidding place is amazing!

But if you’re living in the desert, you better enjoy the spring while it lasts! Because summer is following close behind, and if you’re not careful, you could end up like this.

Thanks for reading! Until next time!

-Steve

Needles Field Office, BLM

Hello from the BLM in Prineville, Oregon! So far, I’ve worked about 3 weeks, and Oregon has been quite a new experience for me. I’m a born and raised Jersey girl, and most familiar with deciduous woodlands of the Northeast; transplanting to the high desert of central OR has been a great change of scenery. Everyone here has been extremely welcoming and friendly.  The view of the Cascade Mountains seems to never get old  (although a little unsettling being so close to “The Ring of Fire”… )

In between all the office training sessions, I have been getting a crash course in sagebrush habitat by going out with a greater sage grouse habitat assessment team.  Every time I get in the field, I become a little more familiar with the brand new plant and wildlife species.

I have also gone to monitor a seemingly inactive bald eagle nest on three occasions, situated on the side of a mountain. The nest was empty the first two visits, but on the third visit, two subadults gave me quite a show. They are approximately 4 years old and appeared to be exploring the area around the old nest as a potential new territory.

Subadult bald eagle (Haliaeetus leucocephalus)

In the near future, my main task will be to conduct wildlife clearances in areas overrun with Western Juniper (Juniperus occidentalis). These areas need to be thinned out to create healthier sagebrush habitat for species that rely on sagebrush, such as the pygmy rabbit (Brachylagus idahoensis) and greater sage grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus).   I’m very excited for the months to come!

Planting trees with wonderful volunteers from the Oregon Hunters Association