As my time here in Burns comes to an end, I’m reflecting on all of the best things that I’ve experienced over the past 5 months. Without further ado, here is my internship summarized in threes:

3 Coolest Field Work Sites:

1. The Steens Mountains – this view was super gorge-ous.

2. The Alvord Desert – the playa was so cool to drive on!

3. Coyote Gap – it was exhilarating trying to outrun the rain.

3 New Field Techniques:

1. Pace 180 and Step-point vegetation surveys
2. Multiple Indicator Monitoring (MIM) of streams
3. Back-country navigation via map + GPS

3 Favorite Place in Oregon:

1. The Oregon Coast – just beautiful (and the Country Fair was quite interesting)

2. Newberry National Volcanic Monument

3. Crater Lake – coldest, clearest water I’ve ever swam in.

3 Favorite Trips Outside of Oregon:

1. Seattle, WA – an amazing Labor Day weekend.

2. South Warner Wilderness, CA – my first backpacking trip!

3. Boise, ID – floating down the Boise River was a highlight of the summer.

3 Things I Learned:

1. Always be open-minded and receptive. Spend your life learning from others, embracing different opinions, and expanding your viewpoints.
2. First impressions are important – exude an air of poise and confidence.
3. Travel as often as possible. The world is so much more vast than you think; there will never be enough time to see it all.

And so ends my internship with the Chicago Botanic Garden & the Burns District BLM. Time for my next adventure!

-Austin Yantes

Still had an inch of standing water the next day after a night of flooding

Remember the survival guide I provided in last year’s post? Remember the point I made about being flexible? June 3rd my flexibility was put to the test. The Buffalo BLM office experienced record rains that left 3/4 of the office flooded. The worst section to be flooded was Resources, which is where the CLM Interns have their cubes. Everyone in the office that was effected by the flood had to relocate to other parts of the office, sharing cubicles with others. For the remaining individuals, like Resources, a relocation to the “Annex” was required. The “Annex” is basically a working trailer down the street from the main BLM building.

Standing water in my cube.

Everything in the Resources area had to be removed. At this point the drywall had been replaced but that was about it.

Now here we are, over 4 months later. Resources is still trapped in the “Annex” building, but most of the other sections of the office have returned to their previous stations.

4 months of progress. Still not finished.

So what is a CLM Intern suppose to do with all this craziness? FIELD WORK!!!!!!!

Jade Metzler and I spent a lot of time out of the office. With the addition of grass clippings to this year’s normal responsibilities for Range Interns, Jade and I had our hands full (no pun intended). Field work was a blessing and a curse this year. After this massive flood, we found that many roads to access our range sites had been washed away. The only evidence left was the road right before a massive ravine and the preserved road on the other side. Many sites we were unable to get to, had to reroute, or move our monitoring point completely.  The good thing is that we were able to escape the “Annex,” where interns go to be forgotten. Although we were faced with many challenges this year, Jade and I were able to complete around 30 sites, which was the goal set for us by the Range specialists in the office.

Although the flood derailed our normal routine for the office and field work, it did not stop us from making great memories!

Jade and I met many members of the cast from “Longmire!”

Longmire Days takes place every year in Buffalo, WY. Members from the cast come to town for the event. This event is easily one of the most exciting times for Buffalo. If you have not seen the show, all 4 seasons are on Netflix.

With the Range Monitoring field season over, Range Improvement Inspections/Projects (RIPS) are coming up soon. I have also been asked to help a few other departments of the office. CLM Intern to the rescue!!

Until my next post, keep it easy CBGers!

~~~Sara Burns- Buffalo, WY Range Intern

Warning: This is a long one

Hey ho, it’s already been eight months here in wonderful Colorado. So what have I been up to since the last post? Let’s think.

At the end of August I went on a river survey for Sclerocactus glaucus, Colorado’s Hookless Cactus, on the Gunnison River with the Montrose field office. That was three days and two nights of beauty, fun, and discovery. S. glaucus is endemic to Colorado and is currently listed as threatened. Our aim for the river trip was to find and map new populations. The more plants we know exist, the closer we are to delisting this species. This species actually has an interesting taxonomic history. Originally known as Unita Basin Hookless Cactus, S. glaucus has recently been divided into three distinct species. Based on phylogenetic studies, common garden experiments, and morphological characteristics, what was once considered one species is now S. glaucus (Colorado Hookless Cactus), S. brevispinus (Pariette Cactus), and S. wetlandicus (Unita basin Hookless Cactus). After this distinction all three species were recognized by the USFWS and each remain listed as threatened with the same protections as before the split.

The river trip proved fruitful. We found several new populations of considerable size. S. glaucus is starting to prove more abundant than previously thought. These surveys in combination with our five long-term demographic monitoring plots are crucial in working towards delisting. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures on this trip. The Gunnison River traverses through some truly beautiful landscapes, including Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park. We surveyed farther north on the Gunnison, obviously not in the park, however, the whole trip was utterly enjoyable. I was happy to be invited and glad we were able to find several additional populations.

Early in September we returned to Montrose to monitor another listed species, Eriogonum pelinophilum (Clay-loving Buckwheat). This species is listed as Endangered, and also endemic to Colorado, specifically the Montrose and Delta area. It exhibits edaphic endemism growing only on the Mancos shale soils in the area. We have five monitoring plots across the species range, three of which were established in 2012, two in 2013. Despite the short length of the study, trends are visible. Longer data sets will reveal more accurate trends, however, at present populations are stable or increasing in number. This trend holds true for total population number and number of reproductive individuals.

Our plot’s sampling objectives range from detecting a 5% change in population density to 20% with 90% to 99% confidence. In total, when compared to the year the plots were established, four of the plots show a significant increase in mean population density and one shows no significant difference. These results are promising, considering the various levels of protection and exposure to threats at each site.

Another project I’ve been working on is creating estimated total population graphs with 95% confidence intervals for each monitoring plot for every species we monitor. Below is one said graph for E. pelinophilum.  When only monitoring a portion of a population, as we do for each monitoring plot, the gathered data is meant to be used to make inferences of the whole population (the whole monitoring plot). Thus, I thought it would be advantages to calculate the estimated total number of individuals, stems, and so on at each of our plots.

Estimated population total for Eriogonum pelinophilum individuals at all study sites with 95% confidence intervals

I’ve also been working hard to organize all of our monitoring data. This is something the interns before me started by compiling data from every year for each species into one excel workbook, instead of having one workbook for each year for each plot for each species. I’ve been checking all our calculations, creating the est. population total graphs, reformatting all the excel workbooks into one format for the sake of consistency, and reorganizing how raw data is entered into the workbooks in order to make analysis easier. I’m happy I’ve been able to accomplish these tasks. Having different interns every so often can make consistency in data organization difficult, especially when only using excel. So, I have also written a guide in each species’ workbook for how to add and analyze the data for future interns/employees. I’ve also been writing explanations for some of the formatted calculations within every workbook. It can also be difficult to try and decipher how someone before you analyzed data, especially when there are no clear explanations or directions. While this work is not as exciting as field work, I do still enjoy it. There is something I find very rewarding in being organized. Perhaps that sounds crazy. I enjoy the efficiency that stems from organization.

In mid-September I was able to join our fisheries biologist for a day of educational outreach up near Kremmling, CO. This was a lot of fun! Together with Carol, and several other people from the National Operations Center and Kremmling field office, we met a 7^th grade class at a private ranch (who allows this activity each year) to learn about stream health and the scientific method. We broke into groups and each performed a series of experiments in the stream in order to measure stream velocity at various depths, on the surface, and around a curve. We also talked about water quality, stream structures, and a little about stream vegetation. Most of the kids in my group were interested and participated in the activities, it was great to see. We stressed the scientific method during each experiment, and it was fun to see what their hypotheses were and why. Two highlights of the trip for the kids were the water proof paper their worksheets were printed on, as well as feeding time for the fish stocked in this stream. As I said, we were on a private ranch, and the owner has the stream stocked and fed. Several kids were able to identify the fish. It was impressive, given my lack of knowledge in this area.

At the end of September we spent a day monitoring Penstemon debilis up on the face of the Roan Plateau. This species is, again, a Colorado endemic only existing on the Roan Plateau. More specifically, it resides on white shale talus slopes, making for steep and erodible conditions. Our plot was established in 2004 and has been monitored yearly (excluding 2006) since. Given the nature of this environment, we count stems instead of individuals. The stems grow from underneath the talus, rising through the rocks, making it very difficult to determine individuals without displacing the rocks and destroying the habitat. Compared to 2004, 2015 showed no significant change in stem number. However, statistically significant changes have been noted over the span of the study.  Most of the plants had already gone to seed, but we did see a few still in flower. Penstemons are so beautiful.

Estimated population of P. debilis stems at Anvil Points with 95% confidence intervals

View from P. debilis monitoring site. Heck, there could be some P. debilis over there, but it’s too steep to find out

Last, but not least, we have been making some seed collections. This has not been our primary objective, but together with the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens we have been able to make eight collections this year. Carol and I just made two collections last week, Frasera speciosa and Carex uticulata. They were opportunistic. We set out to check on another population of Phacelia but were unable to access that exact location. So, after some brief scouting we found these two species still with plenty of seed. It is great having Carol.  I’m not sure I would have been able to make the identification of the Frasera since it was all in seed with no flowers.

Sorry I don’t have more pictures of the plants I’ve been working with or their locations. I tend to forget to take pictures when I’m out in the field.

I have also been exploring on my free time. My parents and brother recently visited. We saw a fair amount of Colorado while they were here, spent some time in Rocky Mountain National Park. Needless to say, they loved it all. You just can’t get views like these in Illinois. Then my sister and our good friend came for a visit. We enjoyed a mix of nature and city exploration. We explored the Botanic Gardens, some, went to an amazing drag show, and enjoyed some live music. I also took them to Rocky Mountain National Park, and one of my favorite restaurants in Golden. They were very sad to leave. I also flew up to Seattle to meet up with my boyfriend. We explored the Olympic peninsula and Olympic National Park. Wow! We were able to enjoy the coast and the mountains all in one day. That whole area is so beautiful, I could get used to the Pacific Northwest. In early October he flew out here and we hiked Conundrum Hotsprings near Aspen, CO. This is a very popular trail, but luckily not busy when we went. The combination of going later in the season and backpacking in on Sunday to Monday meant there were only about 20 people up there in total, maybe less. Starring up at the stars in the warmth of the spring with the chill of fall in the air was unbelievable. I also got to fly home to be there for a surprise celebration for my two very close friends on the night the one proposed to the other. I can’t believe more of my friends are getting married, but I’m so happy I could be there to surprise her! I also most recently got to enjoy the start of the Halloween season here in Denver by going to the Zombie Crawl in Denver, and making it out in time at one of Denver’s haunted escape rooms. I’m looking forward to enjoying the rest of fall as well as winter here in Colorado.

My brother and I at the top of Mt. Quandry

My brother above Emerald Lake, RMNP

My sister and I at Dream Lake, RMNP

My boyfriend on the Olympic Peninsula coast, WA

Olympic mountains, Olympic National Park, WA

Conundrum Hotsprings, Aspen, CO

The happy couple and me

Denver Zombie Crawl

All my best,

Colleen Sullivan

CO BLM State Office

I feel extremely privileged to have had the opportunity to take part in the CLM internship and work for the Burns District Bureau of Land Management.

Not only has my knowledge of land management and conservation increased ten-fold, but I now better understand what it is like to work for a federal agency. In regards to skills, I now know how to better operate a GPS, ID flora and fauna of the West, make maps on ArcGIS, navigate rough terrain, conduct Step-Point and Pace 180 vegetation surveys, conduct Multiple Indicator Monitoring on streams and riparian areas, understand rangeland health management, and comprehend and write a cumulative impacts analysis for a NEPA document.

Being immersed in both a different culture and professional work environment was both challenging and rewarding. I learned how to interact with a variety of people with different environmental experiences and, consequently expanded my opinions and perspectives of environmental issues. I feel more rounded and informed on environmental topics and I know I can make better conservation and land management decisions from my time at the Burns BLM.

I am going to sorely miss all of my Burns BLM coworkers- for all of the laughs we shared and for truly making me feel welcome- I cannot thank them enough for that.

And thank you to Krissa and Rebecca and all of the other CLM folk, for setting up such a beneficial internship program for recent graduates!

Megan Hoff
Burns District BLM

Jessica and me hiking at the Newberry National Volcanic Monument! I’m going to miss my fellow CLM coworkers!

Living on the farm was also one of the most memorable aspects of this summer.

I was a CLMer last year and thus attended the workshop at the Botanic Garden in Chicago. This year presented a different opportunity, the Oregon Vegetation Management Association (OVMA) annual conference, and the Oregon Plant Conservation meeting.

Let me begin by saying, the two events couldn’t be more different! OVMA is geared toward invasive plant control and attracted land managers, weed warriors, and chemical company representatives. Many talks were about regulations, safety, and the newest materials available for the weed killers’ toolbox. A “nozzlehead” dream come true. I did learn quite a bit on these topics, and I appreciate the role that herbicide use plays in land management, but I’m not super enthusiastic about the whole thing. My favorite talk was from a company that uses goats as an approach to controlling weeds. It was a nice break from the chemical focus of the day. Goats can be advantageous in certain situations and a part of the Integrated Vegetation Management (IVM) approach. While they are not going to completely solve your problem, they can drastically reduce the amount of herbicide or mechanical treatments needed. Goats can easily get into difficult to access areas and love what they do (eating weeds). They can really put a dent in English ivy, poison sumac, himalayan blackberry and a host of other weeds. They are agile and light, therefore ideal for delicate riparian areas. I was excited to learn about how the business was run, and I would definitely consider this as a retirement! My mentor even said that if I can think of an appropriate project area on our BLM district that she would hire a goat crew there. Overall it was an informative meeting.  I just wish there was more focus on IVM methods other than herbicide, like goats!

Next it was off to the college town of Corvallis, OR for A Meeting of the Botanical Minds! This is a big event where all the BLM Botanists and guest partners share ideas and their work with each other. A big part of the meeting is deciding which plants need to be the focus of conservation efforts – rare, threatened, and endangered – on all levels, BLM, state, and federal recommendations. Peggy Olwell, the BLM Plant Conservation lead from Washington D.C. was even there! Peggy introduced the National Seed Strategy, which SOS relates directly to, and really made a point to recognize the hard work that botanists (and CLM interns) are doing for native plant conservation. She encouraged everyone to keep up the good work and to be assertive in situations where the importance of native plants is being overlooked. I really enjoyed meeting everyone! It felt like I was with my people and everyone was welcoming and down to earth. I learned so much hearing the perspectives of botanists throughout the state, and it was very inspiring. I’m so glad that I had the opportunity to attend, and the experience reaffirmed that I want to continue a career that works to protect native plant resources!

While fall is in full swing where I’m from in New England, it appears to be just now taking hold in Delaware. It is certainly not the same New England fall I’m used to. For example, there are hardly any apple orchards or sugar maples turning blazing hues of orange and red in Delaware. Instead, I’ve come to love a different fall color palette, the deep burgundy of sapling sweetgum trees in a mosaic of fluffed out groundel-tree shrubs (Baccarhis halimifolia) and the tan of dried grasses in a managed field habitat. Instead of apples the fruit of the season are persimmons, which are admittedly rather unpleasant until they are practically overripe. If you can get over the baby food-like texture and large seeds, the flavor is comparable to an orange popsicle.

As the plants begin to senesce with the cooler weather, I find myself coming across the insects I always enjoy finding with less and less frequency. Some are still moving across the landscape, most notably adult monarch butterflies undoubtedly making their multi-generational migration south to their wintering grounds in Mexico. Others are hungry – bees are still scouring the landscape for the remaining fall asters and occasionally mistake the red blotches on my tie dye shirt for the sort of vibrant flowers long out of season. One very large bumblebee decided I needed a very thorough inspection to make sure I wasn’t hiding any nectar from her and proceeded to crawl all over my shirt for a solid ten minutes as I very gingerly attempted to continue to collect Spartina alterniflora seedheads from the side of a dike.

Noticing the absence of the invertebrate curiosities of summer provoked me to think about the role they play in seed collection and subsequent habitat restoration projects, besides from when they ruin what we thought would be a great collection. From what I’ve noticed, or at least from my personal experience, there hasn’t been an awful lot of consideration and appreciation of the little things we’re protecting when we collect and utilize wild seed. There’s always ‘restoration’ and ‘wildlife use’ in the broad sense of things, but how often do we consider the tiny creatures so undervalued by most of human society in management efforts? In light of this, I want to dedicate this blog post to all of the fascinating insects I’ve come across this summer. Most of these critters were found utilizing species on our collection list, just in case you need another reason to be proud of the work we’re doing and the diversity of species it supports!

This black swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio polyxenes) was found feeding on Daucus carota near some Strophostyles helvola we were collecting. Their coloration doesn’t look like much of a disguise, but they actually blend in surprisingly well against the finely cut leaves of the plants in the Apiaceae that they feed on.

Cicada exuvias (exoskeletons left behind when they turn into adults) can be still be found clinging to the various species of pine trees whose roots they feed on before they emerge. This is probably an annual cicada.

I was beyond excited when I found this guy, an io moth (Automeris io) caterpillar feeding on Sassafras albidum leaves. It’s a sizable caterpillar with painful stinging hairs if you’re careless enough to touch it. The adults are large silk moths famous for the false eyespots on their hindwings they flash to startle predators.

I tend to be fairly decent at identifying insects, but this very colorful caterpillar had me stumped for quite some time. It reminded me a bit of a monarch caterpillar and was the about the size of a small one as well. As it turns out, this beauty (finally IDed to Cucullia alfarata) turns into the most drab little brown moth once it goes through metamorphosis. The larval host plants are camphorweed and as seen here, seaside goldenrod (Solidago sempervirens).

Stunning red-spotted purples (Limenitis arthemis) were abundant at all of our freshwater wetland sites throughout Delaware. They frequently could be seen drinking from mud in a behavior called puddling in which butterflies take up supplementary minerals.

If only I had kind words to say about this caterpillar besides commenting on its fascinating appendages and bright colors. While collecting beach plums, my hand and arm started having this rather unpleasant burning sensation. I wrote it off as just being scratched too many times reaching into the bushes with my famously sensitive skin. It wasn’t until a few minutes later I realized it was in fact a reaction to something when Lucy mentioned that her hand “was on fire.” We looked and looked around the bushes, not finding any likely suspects until we stumbled across this crazy looking caterpillar. One look at it between its bright warning colors and visible stinging hairs, it was evident what we’d been stung by! Apparently the stinging rose caterpillar (Parasa indetermina) is a common culprit of caterpillar stings, feeding on a variety of plants in the Rosaceae.

A familiar garden spider of my childhood, I could have never expected the overwhelming abundance of the yellow argiope (Argiope aurantia) in the salt marshes of Delaware. These buggers are everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. Not only that, but they can be enormous! The one above is slightly less than two inches from leg tip to leg tip, although admittedly much larger than most I’ve come across. Take solace, spider haters, in the fact that these guys are in my experience very skittish, so much so that they can be difficult to photograph!

The collecting season is short here in New England, and we are nearly done with our quota (182 of 200 collections to date).  We have noticed a distinct pattern in the dominance of the species we have collected based on their abundance and phenology:  Back in July and the first half of August, we were mostly collecting the saltmarsh blackgrass (Juncus gerardii), and from the latter half of August to mid-September we were primarily collecting marshelder (Iva frutescens).  For the past four weeks we have been collecting mostly asters, in particular Eupatorium sp. sensu lato and Solidago sp.  These are all wind-dispersed seeds that are easy to collect, usually later in the season.  Unfortunately, many of the species we collect from both look incredibly similar and grow together, especially in the case of the Solidago species, of which we have collected four thus far (S. altissima, S. canadensis, S. sempervirens, and S. rugosa).  For example, S. altissima and S. canadensis look identical, except that S. altissima has an evenly hairy abaxial leaf surface and stem, whereas S. canadensis has hairs only on the midveins, with the rest of the abaxial lamina and stem completely glabrous.  On paper this seems diagnostic, but of course, Nature has given us individuals that look intermediate between the two (e.g., very sparsely hairy on the abaxial leaf lamina and stem) and we have to make do between our trusty Flora Novae Angliae key and our best understanding of goldenrod gestalt.

Tall goldenrod (Solidago altissima), Grape Island, Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, MA

We have also made some great collections of species that once were all lumped in the Eupatorium genus.  Of those we have collected, most are now in the Eutrochium genus, e.g., E. dubium and E. maculatum., but the boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum) has remained in the old genus.  All these species tend to grow very large floral heads and make for superb seed collections.

Boneset (Eupatorium perfoliatum), Harwich, MA

With much of our work now focused on wind-dispersed seed (Asteraceae and others), we couldn’t help but take advantage of helping Nature out with dispersal too, with these milkweed (Asclepias syriaca) seeds:

I am finishing up my internship here is Klamath Falls. This was my last full week! That means that my project at Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge was pretty much complete. We spent the last couple of weeks checking out some of the other projects that are going on in the office.

Last week we got to see a pretty cool project happening in the Freemont- Winema National Forest. There is a creek that has both endangered Bull Trout and invasive Brooke Trout. Over the past several years it has been the site of a massive Brooke Trout removal process. It successfully eliminated Brooke Trout from several miles of the stream.

In addition to the removal, there is a joint restoration project occurring with the Forest Service and the Klamath Basin Rangeland Trust. One of the biggest components was adding large woody debris to aid in creating riffle and pool habitat, which is really important for fish populations. The wood also helps the conductivity of the stream and helps retain smaller gravel, all really important for maintaining fish habitat. We went electrofishing to make sure there were no Brooke Trout or any other fish that could be endangered by the dropping of large woody debris. We found no fish, which was exactly what we were hoping for!

We also got to spend the day with a restoration biologist in the office. She works for the Partners Program in US Fish and Wildlife, which is a program that works directly with land owners to implement conservation projects on private land. We saw several channel reconstruction, where straight channels are reconstructed to streams with natural curves and winds, and got to help plant sedges along the banks of one of the project. Every one of her projects helps ranchers better utilize their resources in ways that also benefit the environment. It was really great to see another program in US Fish and Wildlife and get a feel for other career paths in conservation biology.

We also got to do some more sucker work! We got to see the monitoring effort US Geological Survey is undertaking in another population of suckers. Most of the work we were doing this summer was with the population in Upper Klamath Lake.  This week we got to see the effort to recapture tagged adults in Clear Lake. It was really good to see some adult fish again! USGS also explained their work with understanding how suckers are moving through both the lake and the river systems.  It was an informative day. We also got to help collect genetic samples from another population of suckers. To do this, we went electrofishing again and took fin clips. All the fish we captured were from Klamath Large Scale suckers, a non-listed species of sucker that is hybridizing with the endangered Short Nosed Sucker. It was really great to be out in the field again after report writing! My internship is finishing up next week, so you guys will get to hear from me again soon to wrap up my experience.

Hello all,

Since my last entry, I’ve been assisting the range crew with more of their work. I’ve gotten to participate in Rangeland Health assessments (RLH), Proper Functioning Conditions assessments (PFC), and Multiple Indicator Monitoring (MIM). This has been a great opportunity to learn more about both rangland and riparian health and the indicators used to measure them. Below, I’m going to go into a little bit of detail about each of these, to give you a better understanding of how and why these are performed.

When assessing rangeland health, we go out into the field and follow a set of protocols that allow us to collect data on several aspects of the landscape. First, we dig a hole to check the soil type. Then, we run a line and collect vegetative and substrate data. We measure the gaps between each plant along the line. Two crews work on this, one measuring canopy gaps and the other measuring basal gaps. While they are doing that, another team will walk along the line and collect point intercept data. That means that every two feet we record if there is a plant, what the height of the plant is, and what the substrate is. While all this is going on, the last member of the crew is collecting soil samples in order to test for surface soil stability. Once all of the data is collected and everyone has seen the site, it is evaluated based on 17 indicators. We gather around the truck and discuss what we saw in reference to each question and then rate each indicator based on how much it deviates from what is expected.

The first photo is of some of my colleagues recording gap data for an RLH assessment. The second, is all of us gathering around the truck to evaluate the site.

This process allows the range technicians to evaluate the health of the land and manage it accordingly. The results of the assessment can tell them whether the current plan is working or if things need to be changed. For instance, if the area is being over grazed and the plant community cannot handle the stress, they can change the grazing permits to help the land recover. Another example is pinyon pine/juniper (PJ) encroachment. If the community composition is out of whack because of PJs coming in, they can formulate a plan for removing the invading PJ and helping the grass/forb/shrub community to rebound.

Next, I’ll talk about the PFCs. Performing a proper functioning condition assessment involves walking along the riparian area (stream, pond, etc…), photographing wherever there is a transition or disturbance, and paying close attention to the plant communities, stream banks, and surrounding environment. After observing the length of the area in question, we gather together and fill out the assessment form. The form has several questions which allow the observers to determine whether or not the area is able to function properly or if it may need intervention.

My co-intern, Zach, and I were walking down a stream taking photos for the PFC as the vegetative community changed or wherever there were signs of disturbance. After working in sagebrush and pinyon/juniper forests much of the summer, the lush green vegetation is always a welcome change.

MIM is another way of assessing riparian areas. In this case, we follow a protocol that evaluates various aspects of the stream. Several different methods are used to collect data on the vegetation, including species composition and abundance, canopy cover, and presence or absence of browse. The stream bank and stream substrate are also evaluated. We looked for signs of disturbance and animal usage (hoof prints) as well as stream bank stability. I think my favorite tool was the gravelometer. Essentially, it’s a piece of metal with squares cut out of it and you place whatever size rock you find during your pebble count in it in order to measure the size of the materials composing the stream bed. Honestly, I just love the name gravelometer.

Illustrating how one uses a gravelometer.

Like the RLH assessment, both MIM and PFCs are performed every few years in order to track the health of the riparian area over time. While water is always a precious resource in need of protection, it is even more so in the drought stricken southwest. Roads, cattle, wildlife, and recreation can all have a big impact on the functionality and health of a stream. Performing both quantitative and qualitative analysis of these areas allows the land managers to see what’s going on and if any changes need to be made in order to balance usage and conservation of our natural resources.

Using a range finder to determine the distance between the riffle crest and the deepest point in the nearest upstream pool. But to a passersby, I just look like a creeper.

On the wildlife side of things, I’ve gotten to go electroshocking for a fish study and install bird ladders in troughs. I’ll talk more about those in my next post!

As far as my personal adventures go, I’ve been quite busy. Within the last month, I’ve visited the Grand Canyon, explored the mountains nearby, hiked at Zion National Park a few more times, and have gotten to check a few animals off of my Utah bucket-list. It’s been a blast!

My fellow Wildlife Techs and I at the Grand Canyon.

This was my most challenging hike yet. That is a photo of Angels Landing. Yes, you climb up that narrow portion, all the way to the top. It’s a bit scary, but oh so worth it!

This is a female big horned sheep I saw at Zion.

Although they were quite a ways away, I saw my first mountain goats!