I have been working here in Idaho for just over a month now, and our crew is starting to really get rolling on our surveys. We are finishing up our work in the lower country just in time, this last week the heat started to set in and the plants are feeling it! The only thing harder than identifying plants that you aren’t familiar with is identifying plants that are unfamiliar AND dried up husks of their former selves. We will be moving up into higher country in the next few weeks which will allow us to work with some fresher specimens.

One of the things that is new to me being out west is the specter of fires. Many of the sites we have been working in have had a fire roll through them, and the lasting effects can be dramatic. We tagged along with the fuel monitoring crew for a field day travelling to different burn sites and seeing how the BLM restores the sites. It was neat to see how areas in different stages of restoration look differently, and hearing about the process was interesting. They do a mix of drill and aerial seeding to introduce native grasses and cover species back into the plots in an effort to stop the spread of invading annual grasses, cheat grass (Bromus tectorum) and medusa-head (Taeniatherum caput-medusae). These grasses can easily and densely colonize ground opened by fire disturbance. The kicker is that they mature and die quickly, which in turn increases the likelihood of fire breaking out again. Seeding select species, and treating weeds when necessary, can reduce the area these grasses can cover, as well as reintroducing diversity into the plots.

This site has been overrun with cheat grass, already turning brown and drying out.

This site hasn’t had a fire in a while, sagebrush and other species are present, and the open ground is covered with a biotic crust, which reduces the chance of invasive grasses moving in.

We also spent a day collecting seed for the Seeds of Success program. This program collects seed of native plant species for conservation purposes, as well as using them to re-seed sites hit by fire. The seeds we were looking for were false dandelion (Agoseris sp.) and false agoseris (Nothocalais troximoides). Yes, these plants are very similar. I was able to keep them straight thanks to guidance from our mentor, and once we learned the difference the collecting was pretty easy. I was literally paid to pick flowers for a day, and it was amazing.

Shoshone Field Office

Bureau of Land Management

At last!  A field partner!

The first month of my internship was, shall we say, eventful!  With over 3.5 million acres managed by the BLM Lakeview district office, I had a mind-boggling amount of potential locations to scout for seed collection.  My first month went by in a flash, doing recon, plant ID and even getting some experience with vegetation inventories.  I had a blast my first 4 weeks, with more learning compressed into those 16(!) days than I ever thought possible.  That said, I was ecstatic to get a field partner 2 weeks ago – just in time to get down to the real nitty-gritty!

With Kenyon’s arrival, as well as the timing of the early blooming plants, things went from 0 to 60 really fast.  Having made no collections during the first month, mostly due to phenology and some granivory, I was so stoked to start our first collection.  On his first day, no less!  My first week with a partner, we closed out 2 collections (Agoseris parviflora and Grayia spinosa).  Upon the end of our second week together, we are up to 5 collections total (add in Ionactis alpina, Erigeron bloomeri, and another of G. spinosa).  I couldn’t be more happy!  All that recon during my first month paid off immediately and should continue to do so.  We have so many collections coming up so quickly, my head is spinning.  It’s nice to have a crew mate, especially one I gel with so well.  I am really excited about our potential this field season.  We have some good months of collecting in front of us!

Work aside, I have really enjoyed being in Oregon during my time off.  I have been making new friends and reconnecting with family members I haven’t seen in a long time.  I’ve been getting out and about as much as possible, hiking, camping, and fishing (which is way easier here than in New Mexico!).  I’ve also been doing a lot of birding and I seem to add at least 1 lifer to my list every week!

Overall, I’m excited about what I have accomplished thus far, but even more excited about how much I have learned in such a short time.  My plant ID skills are immeasurably better than they were prior to this experience, and I have gotten a lot more comfortable planning and executing a field season – something that is far more difficult than I had originally expected.  I’m excited to see what comes in the months ahead!

• Brennan Davis, BLM – Lakeview, OR

As a Kentucky native, I have primarily remained on the eastern side of the US, and have never gone past the 90th meridian west, basically Chicago, IL. Before embarking on my journey to Oregon, I read up on the west, but nothing I read truly prepared me for the breath taking topography and abundant flora I have encountered. The most aberrant changes for me have been the lack of trees within the sagebrush habitat, the aridity, and high elevation.

Working with the BLM here in Vale, OR has been amazing so far and am already very familiar with the local flora. My first week on the job we did some range and riparian assessments to get a feel for the area in which I’ll be working for the next 5 months. Now, the other interns and I are going to be focusing on sagebrush habitat that has burned in the last 5 years and assess it for whether or not there needs to be an intervention with sagebrush plantings or if they should allow it to recover on its own. We also are looking at lek sites in the area that Sage-Grouse have used in the past to see whether or not they are suitable for the bird.

I have really enjoyed my time here in Oregon. I cannot wait to continue moving forward with this internship and experience all of the wonderful opportunities it has in store.

BLM Vale, OR

I have never been a particularly athletic person. I sweat a lot, pant a lot, and can’t do a push-up to save my life. Though I ran track and cross country in high school, it was always clear that I wasn’t really built for it, and though I tried my best, I wasn’t exactly competitive. (In my book, a win meant not coming in last place.) I never imagined that one day, I would be climbing 600 foot hills on a daily basis for my job! If someone had told me back in March how physically demanding this internship would be, I would have been terrified. But here’s the thing–after a week of weed mapping in 90 degree weather in some of the hilliest terrain I’ve worked in so far, I’ve realized that against all odds, I love it! Despite the general discomfort, there’s something incredibly satisfying about getting home each night covered in dust, sunscreen and sweat, sore from head to toe, and knowing that I gave my all to collect good data. Getting in the best shape of my life wasn’t on my agenda for this summer, but I guess it’s just part of the CLM package. This internship is challenging me in so many ways, and I couldn’t be happier.

In addition to the weed mapping we’ve been doing this past week, we’ve had some interesting educational experiences. Last Thursday, we drove down to Baker City, OR for a workshop about resistance and resilience of plant communities. We learned how different factors such as temperature regime, plant community composition, precipitation, and soil depth and texture can have profound effects on the way a site will respond to disturbance. We visited three different sites and calculated resistance and resilience scores using these factors. For me, the workshop highlighted the complexity of ecological interactions and reinforced the fact that climate and soil play just as important a role as the biotic community when it comes to land health.

One of the beautiful sites we visited near Baker City

Last Wednesday, we were lucky enough to be invited on a tour with Benson Farms, a native seed producer out of Moses Lake, WA. We visited five restoration sites, starting with one that had been seeded only a couple years ago and ending with one that had been seeded twelve years ago. It was interesting to track the progress of ecological restoration this way, and to see how, given enough time, native species will outcompete invasive species to reclaim an area. All it takes is some patience!

Penstemon species, seen at one of the restoration sites. So cool!

Chaenactis douglasii (Dusty maiden)

Because we’ve been working 10 hour days, we’ve had plenty of time off to take advantage of all the recreational opportunities the Pacific Northwest has to offer. On Memorial Day weekend, I took a trip with a friend to the Lochsa River in Idaho to go whitewater rafting (another thing I never imagined I could do!), and despite being flipped out of the boat into rapids and believing momentarily that I was doomed, I loved every minute of it. Then last weekend, we combated the intense heat wave by heading up to the beautiful Lake Chelan to spend a relaxing day at the beach. I have a feeling that with 100 degree weather already teasing, that lake is going to become a haven for us in the very near future.

Suited up and pumped up for whitewater rafting!

This is what relaxation looks like.

Next week is going to be a big change of pace–we’re going to be training at the Chicago Botanic Garden! Midwest, I’m coming for you!

Katherine Schneider, BLM, Wenatchee WA Field Office

Hi there,

After weeks and weeks of training, shadowing, and traveling we’re finally getting to the point where we can go out on our own and get some valuable work done. We’ve fledged and have wondered from our nest. We’re mostly working in areas that were burned in the last couple of years. How it works: most of these areas have been treated in some sort of way ranging from aerial seeding/mulching to weed treatments. Our job is to basically go in each area and check out the progress. How the natives are doing and what the weeds are doing. We bring some field topo maps created via ArcMap to sketch anything out or just figure out where we are in the burned area. ArcPad has also become one of our best friends though it seems to be easily offended if we load too much at once. I find myself occasionally trying to sweet talk this inanimate object in the field to do what I want. And I think it may actually work…

We’ve just about completed 2 burned areas so far. Monument Hill and the South Douglas Complex burn. It’s really neat to see how life has just sprung back into these areas that burned only a year ago. Life always finds a way it would seem. And with it, so do weeds. The first obvious one that anyone could guess would be cheatgrass. It’s easily the first species to pop up after a disturbance such as fire, so it’s kinda everywhere at first. Along with cheatgrass, bulbous bluegrass is another invasive that can sometimes be just as pervasive. In fact, sometimes it’s even more dense than cheat and other times it’s only in small scattered patches. I had never even heard of this poa before this internship and am curious to know why it isn’t being discussed more. Anyways, other more common weeds we find include tall tumble mustard, prickly lettuce, thistle, whitetop, and knapweed. It’s funny how I never really noticed these species before I knew what they were and looked like. But now I see them everywhere! A little gravel area we have behind the house we live in has a diverse community of only invasives, several of which I just mentioned. Despite being unwanted and hated by most environmentalists, ya gotta admire how tenacious these suckers are. Popping up in areas most natives turn their noses up to. And I suppose their presence is the reason I’m working in this position so small shout out to the exotics, just kidding.

On another positive note, a lot of these places require hiking on foot to reach and I can feel myself getting in better shape with each passing week. My coworker and I came up with the saying “a hill a day keeps the doctor away”. I think that’s even her blog title this week hehe. We came up with some other chants about keeping rattle snakes away too since hiking up rocky areas this time a year is prime rattle snake territory. In fact we had a close call the other day, a coworker just about stepped on one in some thick grass. But fortunately the little guy gave a quick warning rattle before slithering on his way under a trough.

In other news, between mapping we got to go help the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife do some Pygmy Rabbit trapping. Listed as critically endangered, these extremely adorable little fluff balls are kept in a breeding exclosure in sagebrush steppe. The goal is to release the younger ones in the wild each year in an attempt to establish colonies. In order to do this, the rabbits need to be captured in the exclosures and this is done by ‘rabbit herding’. As in standing in a line and herding rabbits to a corner where a cage is placed for them to flee into. The whole experience was rewarding and entertaining!

My coworker returning a rabbit to its container

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a pic of us ‘herding’ the rabbits. It was rather funny because we had an empty pillow case in each hand and had to wildly flap our arms as we walked forward in a line to scare rabbits from under the sagebrush. The sad part was that my arms were sore the next day….

Until next time,

Kat

Beautiful Buffalo, Wyoming, where the elevation is greater than the population.

Buffalo, Wy

While Montana may have the title of “Big Sky Country,” my time spent here so far has caused me to believe that Wyoming is certainly giving them a run for their money. Whether it has been from the early morning sunrises while out helping with bird watching in the ocean of sagebrush, the mid afternoon hikes noticing the clouds roll in, or escaping to the mountains and watching the immeasurable amount of stars glide across the night, Wyoming too has some big skies.

Wyoming Sunrise

Weston Hills

Wyoming Nightlights

So far – trainings aside – I have been learning about the Buffalo Field Office’s style of management and ways in which it collaborates with the local region in regards to the resources it is charged with. Through the course of this program I will be spending my time aiding with recreation planning and management, as well as providing help when possible to the wildlife portion of the resources department. This has included reading up on and visiting specific sections and trails, as well as learning the routes commonly used to access these areas.

Additionally, I am able to return to using a long lost friend, which comes in the form of ArcGIS. While it has been awhile since I have been afforded the opportunity to use this formidable software, it is a chance that I hope to make the best of.

Here are a few of the specific things I have been up:

• Building out a list of attributes and other data points to gather while out in the field, which will later be pulled into ArcGIS, to work within the scope and guidelines of a Travel and Transportation Management Plan.
• Creating and refining lesson plans to aid in the outreach and education of summer camps/classes.
• Inventorying wildlife habitat, specifically: Sagebrush obligate bird species.

So far the past couple weeks have been a very welcomed change of pace from my previous work experiences. I can’t wait to see what the rest of this internship has in store.

D. Erf

BFO BLM

I arrived in Lander, Wyoming a little less than two weeks ago to work for the Rangeland section of the Bureau of Land Management. I was hired to monitor the effects of grazing animals on grasslands in south-central Wyoming. With an interest in grasslands and wildfire, a love of being outside, and training in geology, I was extremely excited to begin work! These first two weeks have definitely been busy and interesting and full of adjusting to a new place, job and people.

Driving into Lander, the first thing I noticed was the vastness of the landscape and the beauty of the rocks. Huge uplifted red, orange and yellow layered sand and mudstone lined the highways; the perfect frame for a town, the perfect home for a Mesozoic fossil. The sense of space is a lot different from the crowded city corridor of the East Coast, where I grew up and went to college. Driving through the country to Lander was like driving through above an ocean; awe-inspiring, immense, and of-another-world. The landscape and altitude were two of the first things I adjusted to, or, am adjusting to, since coming to Wyoming.

During the first two weeks of work I’ve been learning more about the areas we’re working in, the animals we’re working with, and the people we’re working with. The work is very interesting; we’re monitoring grazed and non-grazed grasslands in order to study the effect of cattle, antelope, sheep and wild horses on the important sagebrush-steppe ecosystem. One of the perks of the job is getting to be outside all day in an incredibly beautiful landscape; there’s no shortage of sagebrush, antelope, or mountains. Another perk is that I’ve gotten to meet people who are doing very interesting work at the BLM, those working on everything from wildfire fighting to wild horse management, archeology to recreation planning! Everyone has been very friendly and excited to talk about their work.

Grazing cows with the Wind River Mountains in the background

Noting illegal cows on a Trimble

Examining brands on calves to determine their owners

There was a huge learning curve the first week, but I’m starting to feel more and more comfortable. I can now tell the difference between several allotments and cattle pastures, a handful of cow brands, and various western flora and grasses. I’m excited to see how much more I’ll know, and how much more adjusted I’ll be, in the next two weeks!

Indian Paintbrush!

We found a field of Shooting Star flowers

–Bureau of Land Management, Lander Field Office, Wyoming–

Greetings again from Rawlins, WY!

The weather has finally warmed up here, which means that camping season has begun. Being a recreation intern means that it is my co-intern and I’s responsibility to get the campgrounds up to snuff, which has meant a lot of painting. We repainted most of the bathrooms either due to graffiti that needed to be covered up or just general updates. We also have been replacing and repainting many of the picnic tables at our campsites. Some picnic tables either needed tops or benches replaces while some just needed a sanding and to be repainted. We have also been working on getting bear-proof trash cans installed at one of our campgrounds, as there has been signs of bears digging through the trash.

Area where the bear trash cans will be installed

Example of picnic table needed to be fixed

Another thing that we have been working on is replacing many of the road/information signs in our field office. Many of our signs have become faded and hard to read. We have many signs that had been ordered before we arrived and we are hoping to get them put up. We are also working on finding other signs that need replacing that we might not know about.

I am hoping in the coming weeks we can start to work on some monitoring of our Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs).

During the holiday break my co-intern and I had the opportunity to go to Arches National Park and Canyonlands National Park. I had been to Arches in January, but I only had half a day to spend there. This trip I was able to go on some of the longer hikes that I was not able to do in January. Being my first trip to Canyonlands it was neat to see how different the two parks were even though they are only about 25 miles apart. One of my favorite parts of the trip was the guided tour through Fiery Furnace. Our tour guide was amazing and so knowledgeable.

Landscape Arch at Arches National Park

A blooming cactus in Arches National Park

Canyonlands National Park

Fiery Furnace

So long for now,

AZ

Rawlins BLM Field Office

My first two weeks up in Alaska have been an adventure. Most of my time so far has been general exotic plant management training (in Anchorage) and some additional training (ATV and bear safety training whoo!) at the Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, where I will be working for the rest of the season.

My first view of a glacier! Spotted along the Glenn Hwy during my trip from Anchorage to Wrangell-St. Elias Park

Most of my job will consist of surveying exotic plants in the park. Though we haven’t done much fieldwork yet, I have been learning to identify the various invasive plants and getting to use my plant ID skills! One of the most common invasive plants here is Taraxacum officinale, known more affectionately as the common dandelion. We just found a native dandelion near the office, which looks very similar to the invasive dandelion, so we have to be pretty careful when we are removing the invasive plants.

Native dandelion (Taraxacum ceratophorum)

Invasive dandelion (Taraxacum offinale)

Two other main invasive plants at the park are Melilotus albus (white sweetclover) and Crepis tectorum (narrowleaf hawksbeard). During training in Anchorage we also learned how to survey for an invasive aquatic plant, Elodea spp. They are trying very hard to control populations of Elodea in Alaska, as it has become an invasive species in many bodies of water, due to dumping of household aquariums into nearby ponds and streams.

Another long-term project that me and my fellow CLM intern, Jacob, will be working on this season is mounting and organizing collections of specimens from the park. Most of the specimens were collected and dried over 10 years ago by botanists at Wrangell-St. Elias, so we are now going through and mounting these specimens and recording them into the park’s database. This project has fulfilled a personal lifelong dream of getting to try herbarium work. It involves a lot of artistic detail in organizing the specimens on the mounting paper, and is a very careful process. I am having so much fun mounting these plants! Not only the creative aspect of it, but I get to learn about the various (and potentially rare) plants that have been found in the park. I have found it to be a very orienting experience, as it in part allows me to familiarize myself with the park and with the plant species in Alaska.

One particularly cool specimen that I mounted was Pinguicula villosa, also known as hairy butterwort. Butterworts obtain much of their diet through the ingestion of insects and other small invertebrates. I have never seen a butterwort in person, and didn’t know they they consumed insects, so getting to not only see this specimen, but learn about it as well, was a unique introduction to some of the interesting plants that this park has to offer.

In summary, my time in Alaska has so far been amazing – how can you not fall in love with Alaska? I am looking forward to be able to get out and do some more field work and survey for invasive species and getting to see more of the hidden gems in Wrangell-St. Elias.

Cheers,

Natalie

Exotic Plant Management Intern, Wrangell-St. Elias Park