The other week, I had the unique opportunity to join native plant specialists from all over the western region on a guided tour of a privatized native plant material center.   Federal organizations came in from all over the west to witness first-hand the detailed process that Jerry Benson and his staff are working on to provide generations with native seed for restoration projects.  The first day on the tour of Benson Farms Inc. we were shown five restoration fields that ranged in age from 4 year plots all the way to a 15 year plot.  These restoration sites focused on using native bunch grasses, specifically Bluebunch wheatgrass, Pseudoroegneria spicata, as well as forbs to naturally outcompete fields of invasive cheat grass and crested wheatgrass.

4 Year Plot

The restoration fields require a lot of prep work. Jerry’s crew literally scrapes the land clean; harrowing, mowing, spraying and harrowing again.  It is very extensive, but in the end it pays off, and he is able to show within 15 years how a field of native plants can take over and clear out a huge vast wasteland of cheat grass and crested wheatgrass.  Fields upon fields of this stuff is  reverted right in front of your eyes like some skeptical magic trick.

10 year Plot

The results were astonishing. Upon starting my current internship with the BLM in Wenatchee, WA, cheat grass was noted to me as a hopeless invasive because it has already infiltrated so many microhabitats that are deemed irreversible due to lack of money and time. And here I am witnessing site after site where native species are claiming back their take on the land, and within 15 years (which, well, does seem long, except for in the eyes of a restoration biologist)!

If that wasn’t enough, Benson Farms Inc. continued their tour the next day through their fields of native plant grow outs and forb production facilities. Have you ever seen rows upon rows, and whole fields just filled with native plants?  It gave any plant lover a sheer chill of excitement that lasted them at least through the weekend.

Benson Farms Inc. notices how crucial the end result is, so they take better care in the initial production stages as well as during the critical seed production years. They have an incredible success rate, which seems to carry their reputation above the rest of the native plant material centers and why they are so heavily utilized across the western states. They put in the extra effort to make sure the seed fulfills its full potential and makes it to a restoration site.

The lack of demand still makes this avenue a very unaffordable option for the grower. Jerry and his company are becoming nationally recognized, yet he still has his staple agricultural crops that he produces in order to make enough money.  Native plants unfortunately don’t provide this, due to lack of demand.

I hope Benson Farms Inc. is just the beginning for native plant material centers in the private industry, and its success rate will spark people to increase the demand for such an operation. I learned how many people in my field desire to work in such a facility.  We realize that change starts with the seed, and we need a means to increase the seed.  So let’s keep collecting the native seeds and increase their propagation, in order to better conserve all natives.

Calo Girl Signing Out….

Hello faithful readers, it is officially summer! Though it has felt like summer here in the Mojave for quite a while now. In each blog post, I have been tempted to write about the heat. Every time, I think “surely it can’t get any hotter than this” and yet the temperature continues to climb. So although the thermometers have scaled to new heights this week with temperatures over 110 degrees Fahrenheit (a personal record for me), I doubt the heat’s full ambition has been realized. Not to worry though because, to quote the cliché, “it’s a dry heat.” Being from the Midwest, where the summer humidity often teeters around ninety percent, this was always a mysterious phrase. It does make quite a difference though! In the dessert, you feel as though you are being slowly baked in an oven, as opposed to melted in a sauna. You are not perpetually sticky and things like shade and sweat are actually effective coolants. Nonetheless, I am grateful for a bit of office work when it comes my way!

In the last month we have put the “petal” to the metal and hit a crest in our seed collection numbers with six new collections. The heat has driven us up in elevation or into shaded canyons. Thus two of our collections are from Surprise Canyon in Panamint Valley, just west of Death Valley. Spoiler alert: the surprise in Surprise Canyon is water! There is a spring-fed creek that winds its way down the base of the canyon. But the canyon also concealed a few other surprises, including a couple of rusted trucks. We were entirely baffled as to how the trucks got in there in the first place because our hike involved a fair amount of scrambling and climbing. No matter how high your clearance is, a truck could not have made it up. Yet a road used to lead up to a small city, so the most plausible explanation is that the road was washed out by a flash flood. The second surprise was a healthy population of Epipactis gigantea, stream orchid. Lucky for us each fruit contains an insane amount of seeds (at least thousands) which makes for a simple collection!

One of Surprise Canyon’s surprises.

Stream orchid (Epipactis gigantea) seed capsules and their thousands of microscopic  seeds.

We completed another two collections up at Walker Pass, along the Pacific Crest Trail in the Southern Sierra Nevada Mountains. Our first collection there was Ericameria linearifolia, narrowleaf goldenbush. Since there are plenty of ericameria species to go around and (in my novice opinion) a solid assortment of look-alike species, it took us a few tries with the key to figure out what we were collecting! We enjoyed the area so much and there were so many species fruiting, that we decided to go back for another collection, this time of Chaentactis xantiana, Xantus pincushion. The pinyon pines and junipers were a welcome reprieve from the stretches of low-lying shrubs. Plus, plenty of hikers passed us along the trail and spiced-up our days. It was neat to meet thru-hikers and hear their stories. Some were even curious what we were up to and we explained that we were collecting native seeds for long term storage, research, and conservation projects.

The view from Walker Pass on the Pacific Crest Trail.

A brilliantly-colored caterpillar exploring our target species, narrowleaf goldenbush (Ericameria linearifolia).

We finally met a member of the celebrity calochortus genus, Calochortus invenustus, (Plain Mariposa Lily).

For an even more drastic break from the desert, we traveled to Chicago for the CLM internship workshop hosted at the Chicago Botanic Gardens. There we welcomed grass, trees, and, yes, even the humidity with open arms! Overall, the workshop was a grand time, every day jammed-packed with information and new faces, leaving me exhausted and inspired. The workshop included a symposium focused around “seed sourcing for restoration in a changing climate.” I enjoyed hearing a spectrum of perspectives from academia to government to private business. The speakers helped give context to the seed collections I am personally contributing. We also learned about conservation genetics and monitoring methods, or as I like to put it, the science behind wandering around in the desert. Even though I have already been learning on the job many of the things taught in the workshop, there were still plenty of new tips. It was also valuable confirmation that we have been doing our job right! One of the most exciting parts of the week was meeting interns from all over the country, currently scattered across the western United States. I enjoyed swapping field stories and sharing the personal histories that landed us in conservation. Generally, the week gave me a greater understanding of the scope and purpose of the CLM program.

Chicago skyline on a lovely afternoon in Lincoln Park.

CLMer’s waste no time in trying out their new found monitoring skills.

And back to some heated collections!

E. O’Connell
Ridgecrest BLM Office

Pinedale, Wyoming: 30 hours away, my GPS read. I was excited and nervous about this new adventure! And so my sister and I set off on the epic road trip from Pennsylvania to Wyoming.

Well, here I am, five weeks later, at the end of another successful week of my internship at the Pinedale BLM Field Office. Never did I dream that I could have such a great time out in the field, GPS in hand, navigating the two-tracks through the draws and ridges of Sublette County, in our team’s bold quest for frogs! Our intern team is currently assessing different areas for potential amphibian habitat. This is done by walking the area, making note of location, emergent vegetation, shore type, and bottom type (among other things). We have found a couple of amiable amphibians!

Chorus Frog

Blotched Tiger Salamander

I even had the opportunity to assist my mentor Josh, and Justin from the Range crew in their AIM monitoring. This was loads of fun and entailed setting up the transects, gathering GPS data, and digging soil pits! I was especially fascinated to learn about the different textures of soil and was amazed at the difference in feel of each type. I’m also learning the different plants that are scattered throughout the Wyoming landscape!

Castilleja angustifolia (Desert Indian Paintbrush)

Penstemon spp.

Wild Forget-Me-Nots!

Green River Lake

Green River Lake

June was a pretty busy month for us interns at the Vernal field office. The month started off with a break from SOS work. We spent the first full week of June helping SWCA environmental consultants with their 5 year Sclerocactus monitoring study. Sclerocactus wetlandicus is a small, long lived cactus that is endemic to the Uinta basin. It is currently endangered and its existence is being threatened by oil drilling and grazing activity. This study involved us heading to sites of known sclerocactus sightings and laying down a 1 by 1 meter quadrat to see what condition the cactus was in or if it was even there. We also took cover measurements for other species and nonliving elements. The results were pretty disappointing. Most of the cacti were gone. Many disappeared without a trace but most appeared to have been eaten by rabbits. The reality may not be as bad as the study would make it seem. There could be cacti popping up in other places, but due to the size of these things it would be just about impossible to find new seedlings. Even when scanning a 1 by 1 meter area it is possible I may have missed a couple.  I would have uploaded a photo of a plot and one of the cacti but for some reason I am having trouble downloading the pictures so this blog will be all text.

Almost as soon as we finished with the cactus monitoring it was time to go to Chicago for the CLM training.  We received refreshers on the SOS protocols and plant identification techniques, and we also learned about what was going to be done with our collections after they were shipped off.  The talks were sometimes interesting, the botanic garden was fun to explore, and Chicago was exciting, but I certainly was not sad to be back in Vernal by the end.

The weather in Vernal was rather mild when I first arrived in mid May.  There were several light showers and the temperature was in the 70s most of the time.  That started to change around the time we started the cactus monitoring.  The area started to feel a lot more like a desert, with the temperatures reaching into the upper 90s before we left for Chicago.  This means plants are taking their cue to finish seeding and prepare for the scorching summer.  We lost two of our collections already, Cymopterus terebinthinus and Cleome lutea.  Both had promising populations, but when we returned from Chicago they had already dropped most of their seed.  We caught four more collections just in time (Astragalus duchesnensis, Astragalus saurinus, Atriplex corrugata, and Erisimum capitatum).  Next week we are going out to check on several more.  Hopefully we can catch up before losing another collection.

Hello all! After completing SOS training here at the North Carolina Botanical Gardens, I was thrilled to learn that our first seed collecting trip was going to be throughout the Outer Banks of North Carolina. We planned to stop at 10 sites, which seemed very daunting, but I was eager to to see the seed scouting and collecting process at work.

On Monday we set out to our first sites, Pettigrew State Park and Pocosin Lakes National Wildlife Refuge. These sites consisted of a lot of scouting out populations of target species. I realized how important it is going to be to know the plant species on the list inside and out and really be able to spot the various species in order to make scouting trip more efficient and effective. Also, remembering the habitats and associated species of target plants will make overlooking certain plants less likely. By the end of the first day, I knew I had my work cut out for me in terms of becoming even more familiar with the list of target species.

Tuesday was a whirlwind of activity as we visited 4 separate sites and reviewed many species on our list as we saw them along trails and roadsides. Alligator National Wildlife Refuge was beautiful and we could see evidence of the wildfire that raged through most of it earlier this year. This wildlife refuge was overwhelmingly large and I recognized how important it is to be familiar with the various sites before traveling there so time can be used most efficiently. My favorite place we visited on Tuesday was Jockey’s Ridge State Park, which has the tallest active sand dune on the East Coast. I can say from experience that Jockey’s Ridge is quite tall and quite the leg workout getting to the top.

Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge

Jockey’s Ridge State Park. This picture does not do the giant sand dune justice!

On Wednesday we traveled to Pea Island National Wildlife Refuge and made a collection of Gaillardia pulchella. This species was so beautiful and it was freckling the landscape with bright orange and yellow blooms along the sandy roadsides. The seed heads were not so beautiful as they were extremely prickly, but worth it to collect this roadside native.

Gaillardia pulchella at Pea Island

Overall, this first trip was filled with a lot of site visits and familiarizing ourselves with plant species and the seed collecting process. At first the thought of traveling to 10 sites was overwhelming, but I now know it is very reasonable.  However, time efficiency is everything. I still have to work on taking better notes and continuing to familiarize myself with the plant list, but overall discovering all of these different parks and refuges throughout the Outer Banks was an awesome way to spend the week!

Live Oak forest at Currituck National Wildlife Refuge

It’s the mid-point of my internship here in Maryland.  So far the experience has been fulfilling.  The extent of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal means that there is always some place new to explore.  I wanted to highlight some of the new rare plant records I found since my last post.

It seems that many botanists hold high regard for the orchid genus no matter where you are.  They are picky plants and that makes finding them, especially in flower, a real treat.  I was surveying along the top of a limestone bluff on the Potomac River when I found the following.

Liparis liliifolia, Twayblade

This is a new species for the canal and is listed as threatened in Maryland.  This type of orchid is called a Twayblade and its flower structure is quite intricate.

Earlier this month a park visitor reported a possible Heracleum mantegazzianum (Giant Hogweed) sighting.  This invasive can be dangerous to humans if they come into contact with foliage or the sap of the plant.  When I went to investigate the sighting I discovered that it was the relatively smaller native Cow Parsnip of the same genus.  I put my hat in the picture for scale.  Cow Parsnip is a plant of impressive proportions.  It is actually a “watchlisted” species in Maryland so I documented the location and number of plants in this particular population.  The population stretched for about a quarter mile along the towpath of the canal.  Interestingly all the plants, which totaled around 500, were within 10 meters of the towpath.  Because of its stature I thought it was odd that it had not been recorded within the canal before this year.

Heracleum maximum, Cow Parsnip

Not far from the Cow Parsnip I located another state listed plant, Gymnocladus dioicus or Kentucky coffeetree.  The population consisted of two saplings along a road.  Because a town was nearby and this species is planted occasionally as an ornamental, I do not believe these two saplings are part of natural population.  This is one of the challenges of working in a park with a lot of urban areas along its boundary.  Of course I would rather see native plants being planted as ornamentals rather than non-native ones.  On a side note, the largest Kentucky coffeetree in the nation is located in Hagerstown, Maryland, where the park headquarters is.

Gymnocladus dioicus, Kentucky coffeetree

And finally, I found a new population of Polygala polygama on the margin of a shale barren in western Maryland.  There were over 50 clumps of this state-listed Milkwort growing directly under a power line in full sun.  It’s interesting how man made disturbance can sometimes be beneficial to conservative plants like this one.  It is obviously benefiting from the open habitat created from the power company’s efforts to keep the area under the power lines free of shrubs.  It is also interesting to note that along the same power line a little farther down, invasive plants dominate that ground cover.

Polygala polygama, Racemed Milkwort

This week I visited the Paw Paw Tunnel.  This tunnel is locally famous because of the engineering effort it took to construct it.  The tunnel is almost a mile long, straight through a mountain.  It was a strange experience to walk through it and imagine working as a laborer during its construction.

Paw Paw Tunnel, northern entrance

Coleman Minney, Field Botany Intern

Chesapeake and Ohio National Historical Park