Hi there! My name is Anna DeGloria. I am thrilled to have this platform to help share my experiences with the New England Wild Flower Society (NEWFS) and the CLM internship program. This is my first blog, ever, so please bare with me.

It’s only been 2 weeks and so much as already happened. Just a few weeks before this all started I was working as the program assistant for the Environmental Program at the University of Vermont (UVM). The whirlwind of starting this internship has been both intense and exciting. Not even 24 hours into this experience did my NEWFS team experience our first challenge: LaGuardia Airport. En route to our east coast training at the North Carolina Botanic Garden our flight was cancelled due to poor weather. As we watched the rest of the passengers scramble and moan in disappointment I was both shocked and pleasantly relieved how cooly our group took the news. We sat down briefly and discussed the options: wait for the next flight to NC, go back to Boston, or rent a vehicle and drive.

We ended up renting a van and driving from LaGuardia to North Carolina through pounding rain storms. We made it to North Carolina by 4:30 am. As we were checking in, I was given a key to a room occupied by another east coast CLM intern. I was nervous to barge into the room and scare the crap out of her, but luckily she didn’t even flinch as I stumbled into our shared hotel room, desperately collapsing on the most welcoming sight: a bed.

The next day was jam packed with lectures and informational talks introducing us to our internship. It was neat to learn about how the east coast Seeds of Success (SOS) differs from the large majority of SOS interns based throughout the west. SOS east is possible due to a federal grant responding to damage caused by Superstorm Sandy in 2013. SOS east is working to collect bulk seed from coastal wetlands for restoration projects.

I remember sitting in an advanced environmental studies course titled Adaptation to Climate Change when Superstorm Sandy battered the eastern coastline. While at UVM I learned quite a bit about our vulnerability to storms like this; Hurricane Irene hit Vermont in 2011 hard and quickly made me realize the seriousness of future strong storms. I became fascinated with the term resilience and have since then noticed its prominence in climate change dialogue. I am delighted that our work with SOS east will so directly apply to building resilience along the eastern coastline–an area I call home and care deeply about.

This week the NEWFS team has been busy getting in touch with land owners, reserve managers, and organizations that may want to partner with us or at least grant us permission to collect seed from their land. We traveled to Rhode Island to meet with National Fish & Wildlife Foundation (NFWF) wildlife biologist Nick Ernst to discuss strategy and learn more about the John H. Chafee National Wildlife Refuge and the Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge.

NEWFS team walking with NFWF wildlife biologist Nick Ernst at the John H. Chafee Restoration site.

Nick showed us ongoing projects to measure a changing wetland and discussed the challenges his team is working on to build resiliency. He told us how Rhode Island is expected to experience 4 mm of sea level rise each year, seemingly insignificant but threatens the precious habitat and ecosystem services this wetland provides. The Saltmarsh Sparrow (Ammodramus caudacutus) for instance, is threatened by this sea level rise because they nest in the salt marshes.

As we walked around these sites we discussed plant species of importance, the challenges of collecting enough seed and how best to serve the need of restoring Rhode Island wetland communities.

Sachuest Point National Wildlife Refuge was once a dump site.

Salicornia, a tasty member of the Amaranthaceae, family commonly found in saltmarshes.

After meeting with Nick I believe the NEWFS team learned a tremendous amount about why our work is so important and why it’s going to be a challenge. We have a lot to do in the next 6 months and the only way we are going to accomplish our goal is by having partners like NFWF to team up with and to better understand what seed needs to be prioritized. Our goal is somewhat daunting but I am so happy to be working with the NEWFS team–we’ve already proved ourselves to be a resilient bunch and I believe our work will be rewarding and successful.

Thank you for taking the time to read my first blog, I hope it provided some insight into the SOS east program and how the New England Wild Flower Society is involved.

More to come!

Anna DeGloria, CLM Intern

This past week and a half at the North Carolina Botanical Garden (NCBG) has been full of settling in. The four interns here include Lauren, Jake, Emily, and myself (Maggie), and we have just begun to get to know one another, as well as our site.

This week began with our NCBG Intern Orientation. Though our specific CLM project revolves around the Seeds of Success East Program, the four of us have also been learning so much about NCBG and its amazing conservation programs in addition to SOS East. During Orientation, we had the chance to tour all of the Garden’s properties, including an arboretum and herbarium on University of North Carolina’s campus as well as hiking trails at Battle Park. We were also taken on a guided tour of the Botanical Garden itself. One special highlight included touring NCBG’s carnivorous plants exhibit, where we had the chance to cut open dried pitcher plants and examine the exoskeletons of all the unlucky insects that found their demise in the plants’ digestive juices.

The always beautiful pitcher plants.

Mmm, tasty bugs! 

This week has also been full of research. Over the course of the summer, we will be collecting seeds from native plants located across the coastal plain ecoregion in North Carolina, Maryland, and Virginia. With that task at hand, we’ve focused thus far on familiarizing ourselves with the species we will be collecting from. Today, we spent several hours researching the plants and their defining characteristics. Luckily, we’ve already become new best friends with our favorite Weakley and Radford dichotomous keys! We have also been practicing the challenging art of identifying several species of grasses, rushes, and sedges, which we will collect seeds from in the field. They are tricky buggars to tell apart!

Dichotomous keys and species lists: what a good combo!

Getting to know Dicanthelium scoparium

Lauren, Emily, and our trusty leader and supervisor, Amanda, checking out some grasses.

Busy last month. Attended the Seed Collection course in Folsom, CA. Yes, of Folsom Prison/Johnny Cash fame. Even went and checked out the museum on the prison grounds (which is still an active facility). They had quite an impressive shank collection, and an entire section dedicated to Johnny Cash and movie made about his time there. Apparently, Rick James did some time there too (think Chappelle Show). Otherwise, went and saw some neat flora, lots of oats……

Clarkia sp.

So last Wednesday night a thunderstorm developed over Buffalo that didn’t stop for 10 hours.  The result was about 5 inches of water rushing into our office and effectively shutting down operations at the BLM BFO. We have no computers, files, furniture or anything. You could play a sweet game of indoor soccer in our office now. Our realistic time for getting back to normal is in September. Until then where people will work and how it will be done is up in the air. I am planning on doing a lot of fieldwork soon, but for now things are hectic and in disaster mode. Since things are busy I will keep this post short, but that is  what is going on in Buffalo!  Here are some pictures from my CLM training in Santa Fe!

The small town of Vernal has been growing on me.  The scattered oil and gas well pads amongst the beautiful high desert makes for an interesting landscape.  For a botanist, it is pretty awesome.  We have been spending most days scouting for plant populations looking for candidates for collecting seeds, vouchering, and of course getting lost trying to navigate the never-ending umarked roads….perfecting our map reading and GPS skills.  The afternoon rains have been promoting new plant growth as well as giving us some much needed 4-wheel drive time 🙂 We are targeting over 30 plants for the SOS collection this summer and so far we have found populations for about 3/4 of those and have made a few seed collections.  Making progress……slowly!

Jinny and I vouchering Cryptantha barnebyi on the amazing white shale formation!

Hello everyone,

It has been a grueling yet wonderful few months here at the Preserve, and I am happy to say the my first joint NEPA/CEQA document is complete and currently out for public review. In my nearly four years here working for the BLM (first in Pathways Program and now as a CLM Intern), I have written several small Environmental Assessments, but this current document was far more complex, time consuming, and rewarding. I have now also just submitted my first round of permit applications for Section 404, and 401 of the Clean Water Act, along with a State Lake and Streambed Alteration Permit and Incidental Take Permit.

The goal of the project I am managing is to restore habitat for the state and federally listed “threatened” giant garter snake (GGS)(Thamnophis gigas). The project area contains two separate but connected units which will require varying levels of excavation, grading, scraping, and other earth-moving activities to restore a lake (which is infested with the highly invasive weed yellow water primrose (ludwigia hexapetala), and an area of ruderal agricultural land (~25 acres) back to habitat for GGS.

Badger Creek Restoration Project vicinity. The Horseshoe Lake site is outlined in yellow. The Bjelland Unit site is outlined in purple.

Reduction of open-water within the Horseshoe Lake Unit

August, 1998: 52.85 acres of open water

August, 2005: 11.34 acres of open water

August, 2013: 2.83 acres of open water

In the coming weeks I will be moving forward with the permitting process, meeting with contractors for the earthmoving/excavation work, responding to public comments on the NEPA/CEQA document, and getting to work on ordering the seed mix and plants for the upland/wetland restoration which will follow the initial phases of the project. I will provide more updates as I move forward, and I am excited to join many of you in Chicago in just a few days for the CLM Workshop!

Patrick

Hello!

As we’re nearing the end of the Golden Eagle breeding season (and the 3 month mark of my internship?!) it’s a time of transitions here in Wenatchee. The eagle surveys we’ve been doing for the past few months are ending and we’re beginning to take on the exciting, if challenging, task of being the eyes and ears on the ground for the Wenatchee Field Office. These “wildlife wanderings”, as I’ve taken to calling them, involve walking through allotments with our GPS units documenting all the wildlife, weeds, and structures we encounter. Right now the protocol is relaxed, the priority is on finding potential Washington Ground Squirrel colonies, and the challenge is getting all of our geodatabases to check out properly onto our mobile devices (and then to not crash our devices with all the data we just put on them!). Soon though we will begin incorporating ESR protocols and creating transects to further direct our “wanderings”.

Goodbye Golden Eagles!

Hello wanderings!

Of course this is all being put on hold next week while I’m in Chicago for the workshop. I’m excited to meet all you other interns and to practice my (limited) plant ID skills. Even more exciting is the possibility for a double training! Next week in Chicago and then a quick turn-around to go out to Rock Springs, WY for a rangeland health assessment training the week after. This second one isn’t a done deal and is pretty last minute, but I’m hopeful!

See you all Monday!

Cheers,

Jenny

Generally, everyone who can leaves Palm Springs in the summer months (mostly retirees and college students). Temperatures rise to over 100 daily and the dry heat makes it feel like the inside of a furnace. Natural vegetation in the Coachella Valley is sparse: pokey cacti, bushy mesquite trees and Dr. Seuss-esque Joshua trees dot the sandy, rocky landscape. However, this will be my living conditions for the next few months.

Overlooking Palm Springs from the South Lykken Trail

I am the CBG BLM intern at the Palm Springs South Coast Field Office. Fortunately, my time will be allocated to the Dos Palmas Preserve, a 14,880 acre ACEC that includes a series of fan palm oases just east of the Salton Sea on the San Andreas Fault. The oases are fed by groundwater from the Orocopia and Chocolate Mountains, as well as seepage from the Coachella Canal. The canal was lined with concrete in 2006, thus reducing the seepage for water conservation, but at the detriment to the oases. Mitigation measures are in place to ensure the survival of the oases and the endangered species that live in that habitat (Ridgeway Rail, California Black Rail and Desert Pupfish). My work will consist of administering transects for vegetation monitoring, seed collection for “Seeds of Success”, and helping with other projects on the preserve as needed (such as surveying desert pupfish, soil studies, water isotope studies and replacing trail counters seen in the picture above).

Dos Palmas Preserve via Google Maps

This first week was a brief introduction to the Preserve, which included reading relevant literature (EIS/EIR, monitoring reports, public law, preliminary isotope study and tamarisk removal methods), attending a Biological Working Group meeting with representatives from BLM, California Fish and Wildlife Service, US Geologic Survey, Bureau of Reclamation, Coachella Valley Water District, and San Diego County Water Authority and a quick visit to the site. It has been a lot of information to absorb and understand as to how all the processes function smoothly. I have also learned about associations and projects within this particular BLM Field Office.

 17 acre Created Marsh at Dos Palmas Preserve

Barn Ponds at Dos Palmas Preserve, vital habitat for desert pupfish

What stood out the most is the passion these employees have for their projects. It is great to be surrounded by people who care about getting the job done correctly, whether that project is restoring a desert riparian habitat, facilitating land transfers, replacing trail counters or recovering an entire intact piece of pottery (as our staff archeologist did earlier this week!). Everyone is positive, up-beat and eager to help me get adjusted, both to life in the office and in the city of Palm Springs.

On May 16^th I left the city of Santa Barbara for my internship located in Lakeview, Oregon. Within five minutes of arriving in Lakeview, I was already driving out of the opposing side.  As you can guess, this is a very small town, a size that is unfamiliar to me. After getting over the initial shock of being trapped in a scattered population of 2,200 people in southeastern Oregon, I began to accept the beauty of small town life and the surrounding landscapes. I quickly knew this would be a wonderful learning experience, not only in the realm of Biology.

I officially started work for the Seeds of Success program at the Lakeview District BLM on Friday, May 26^th. The staff and interns were extremely welcoming and I felt comfort right off the bat. After the paperwork was filled out, myself and the other intern, Kayla, were able to start learning Botany. The Botanist we are working under took us out in the field to test our knowledge and teach us about the local flora. Since the first few days at the BLM, we have collected seeds for the program, species of plants for the herbarium, and have gotten the chance to sample burn sites for RNA (Research Natural Areas).

I am excited for the great deal of knowledge and adventures in the coming months. Since I have only experienced two weeks of the internship, there will a lot more information to share in future blogs, along with photos of the town and its natural surrounding diversity.