When I arrived in Southern Oregon, from Upstate New York, I immediately knew this could be my second home. After traveling across the country I passed through beautiful areas including the Badlands in South Dakota, Yellowstone and the Oregon coast but none compared to how at home I felt in the forests of Oregon. The combination of topography, abundant rivers, friendly people and of course rich plant diversity made me excited to explore the area and learn a whole new set of plants.

Rogue River Trail, Galice OR. About 4 miles from the house I’m living at! Plectritis congesta (Sea blush) in foreground.

My dear friend and fellow botanist in New York would introduce herself to new species, just as you greet a new friend. When I got to Oregon I was excited to see familiar plant friends and I just needed to know their last name or “species”.

There are many relatives of the east coast; native species such as Trillium, Trientalis (starflower), Cornus (flowering dogwood), Oxalis (wood sorrel) and members of Sarraceniaceae (pitcher plant family) and was unpleased to see familiar invasive species such as Polygonum cuspidatum (Japanese knotweed) and Ailanthus altissima (tree of heaven).

Left: Trientalis boreali ssp. borealis (starflower) in Cranberry Lake, NY                                        Right: Trientalis borealis ssp.latifolia (broadleaf starflower) in Grants Pass, OR

Left: Sarracenia purpurea (northern pitcher plant) at Labrador Hollow, NY                                Right: Darlingtonia californica (California pitcher plant) at Eight Dollar Mountain, OR

The internship is going great, I’m learning a lot and I’m happy to work with other people that are intrigued with botany as much as I am! I’m excited to learn more and meet new friends – humans and plants.

Till next time,

Sienna McDonald

BLM Grants Pass, OR

Looking North at the Sawtooth Range from Laidlaw Park

May in South-Central Idaho is bursting with beautiful wildflowers, covered with blankets of lush grasses, and offering an unexpectedly wide range of daily temperatures. I did not realize how desert-like this part the state is! So far, my time working with Danelle has been absolutely wonderful as we have mostly spent our days exploring the complexity of the Shoshone field office and the “tiny super bloom” that is currently in progress. The majority of our field work has been west of the Craters of the Moon National Park on several “kipukas”, large patches of land surrounded by volcanic lava flows, each with a unique plant community.

When I first arrived, I was unaware of how abundant the wildflowers were, and quickly learned to squint in order to see the astonishing diversity of spring time inflorescences. I am thrilled to be familiar with much of the common herbs and grasses after only a few field trips and remain eager to learn more about seed collection, sagebrush, and general range ecology. Moreover, Danelle and the other interns have been delightful to work with as we have had the pleasure of experiencing some magical country and encountering unexpected blooms.

Crater Butte

In sum, I’ve been awestricken by the snowcapped Sawtooth skyline, expansiveness of the landscape, and the overall diversity of the Shoshone vegetation. Til next time, you can find me whispering scientific names to myself as I roam blissfully through the vast Idaho country.

The mystery Ranunc! (Ranunculus andersonii)

One of my favorites (Viola beckwithii)

Shoshone Falls

The Nevada BLM Carson City District Office CLM Intern Team discovers population of threatened species Ivesia webberi. An amazing find!

A mixed sagebrush-juniper community covers a large semi-remote area of rangeland only 30 minutes north of Reno, Nevada.  Much like most of the state, the area is managed primarily by the BLM with allotments of private land interspersed throughout the region.  As new opportunities arise, private land owners look to alternative ways to achieve a wide array of management goals.  This area in particular has been slotted for land use change pertaining to the large population of Utah Juniper (Juniperus osteosperma) and potential Sage Grouse habitat.

Sagebrush Steppe, Dry Valley, Washoe County, NV

Before significant change on BLM land can happen, a variety of environmental assessments and rare species surveys must be completed to evaluate the impact of the specific project.  This is where our responsibilities for botanical surveys come into play.  Webber’s Ivesia (Ivesia webberi) is an ESA Threatened species, BLM Special Status species, and a Critically Endangered species in the State of Nevada.  The area of interest was designated as potential habitat for Ivesia webberi by our mentor and other BLM Staff.  Our team was tasked with navigating polygons of likely Ivesia habitat and conducting surveys for the rare species across hundreds of acres.  We spent the better part of the work week performing surveys for Ivesia webberi throughout the region while camping in the field.  On the last polygon of the last hour on the last day of our surveys, a fellow intern called the group over as we walked our lines.  “I’ve got it!”  Nestled in a dry ephemeral drainage line, free of Bromus tectorum and other competitors, thrives a newly recorded population of Ivesia webberi!  We recorded the GPS information, created Polygon and Line features, and pin flagged the area for a future return trip.  The discovery of this satellite population is the first in the area and a land management determination is currently in the works.  We are scheduled to return next week for further surveys!

Webber’s Ivesia (Ivesia webberi)

Lake Tahoe calls on the weekends.  In the past few weeks, we have explored Emerald Bay, Eagle Lake at the trailheads of Desolation Wilderness, and Marlette Lake high on the slopes of Tahoe’s eastern border.  Whether we are botanizing, birding, skiing, backpacking, swimming or biking, the seemingly endless activities draw us back over the Sierras to our weekend getaway every time.

Lake Tahoe from Marlette Lake

Eagle Lake, Desolation Wilderness

Emerald Bay, Lake Tahoe

Finished my first month at the Grants Pass BLM. Finally got computer access this week! It only took lots of meetings and running in circles trying to find the right person to talk to, but finally got my USAccess card to finally work. Also finally got poison oak for the first time in my life! The heat has picked up just as our field work has too, but I cannot complain. Most of our days are spent hiking (up very steep hills) searching for the endangered Fritillaria gentneri. We have been very lucky to find a lot of good views and a lot of blooming Frittilaria. However, there have also been some difficulties when it comes to access issues -because of the checkerboard pattern with private land ownership we sometimes struggle to get to the sites we need to, however when we do it’s well worth it.  Other days are focused in invasive management, which usually involves hacking at Dyers Wode on gravel bars by the Rogue River and occasionally spraying herbicide.

Some of the amazing views we get: 

Is it even possible to cram this last months activities into one blog post? Not likely, but I will do my best.

I left Kansas at the beginning of April with my 5th-wheel trailer and two kitty cats in tow. With my internship starting in a couple of weeks, I decided to have myself a little adventure getting out to Oregon. I followed two strangers into the wilderness of New Mexico to a community of hippies (you could call this reckless behavior), I was humbled by the enormity of the Grand Canyon, I wore the soles of my shoes thin hiking around Zion National Park, and I nearly lost my home in Death Valley. All in all, the adventure was off to a pretty good start.

Bringing the ol’ home out to Oregon!

The Subway at Zion National Park

The adventure continued upon my arrival to Klamath Falls, Oregon and my first day at the field office! Introductions were made and I thanked my lucky stars for getting such an awesome mentor and group of coworkers. I established myself at a local RV park and took a tour of the town and surrounding areas. Wow, is this a pretty area! I can hardly even believe that I get to spend 6 months here!

Upper Klamath Lake- home to thousands of endangered suckers!

Rogue River National Forest is a large forest outside of Klamath Falls!

One of the first projects my fellow CLM compadre, Jeff, and I were given was assisting with the juvenile, endangered Lost River Suckers and Shortnose Suckers at the local fish hatchery. We started out by preparing the juveniles for release. Several days were spent going through each juvenile (over 1,000) and measuring, weighing, and checking for PIT tags on the fish. Once every fish had its data recorded and tags were ensured, the fish were taken to two separate locations and released. It was pretty incredible getting to be a part of the final release. You get to stand back and take in all of the work that went into that particular batch. Quite rewarding, if I do say so myself.

Me, neckless, on the right, measuring a juvenile sucker. Jeff, on the left, is checking the Ranger for PIT tags.

Jeff measuring one of the babies! So cute! (They are very squirmy.)

The transportation tank used to move the juveniles from the hatchery to the release site.

Releasing some juvenile suckers into Klamath Lake

Another project that we were fortunate enough to help out on about once a week was with the Bureau of Reclamation netting adult Lost River suckers and Shortnose suckers from Lake Ewauna for transportation to the Williamson River where better spawning habitat is offered. The nets were laid very early in the morning and pulled out of the water several hours later. This entails someone driving the boat while two people pull each side of the net out of the water and into the boat. Data is recorded for what species of fish are captured and any suckers are kept in a holding tank on the boat. We always have a good time when we are out with the Bureau of Reclamation guys. From ridiculous jokes to a group of American White Pelicans that follow us around, we are never short on laughter.

This group of American White Pelicans always follows us around in hopes of getting a fishy snack from us

Jeff and Brock pulling in one of the nets

Jeff and I have also been helping out with Oregon Spotted Frog surveys! Seven mile creek is located in beautiful Winema National Forest about an hour outside of town. The first time we went out we didn’t have any luck in finding egg sacks or adult frogs (unless you call it lucky that we still got to hike several miles in the wilderness, uh heck yea). BUT upon returning to the site a couple of weeks later when it was warmer, we came across several egg sacks and adult frogs! Data sheets were filled out with site locations, stages of the embryos (these were all hatching!), specific measurements, etc, pictures were captured, and GPS points were taken. It was a beautiful, sunny day in good company and not much more could be asked for.

Seven Mile Creek. More like seven miles of the most beautiful forest I’ve ever seen!!!

Adult Oregon Spotted Frog and bottom right is an egg sack full of hatching larvae!

What else are you supposed to do when you come across bear scat?!

The most recent project that Jeff and I have been helping out on is with larval sucker collections. This involves us getting to the office at 3AM, driving out to the site, throwing some plankton nets into the water and catching little tiny larval suckers! They are then transported to the local fish hatchery to be treated and raised into larger juveniles for later release. You have to be extremely careful when handling the larvae or moving them from one tank to the other because they are very sensitive to changes in water temperature (kind of like me with the cold lol). The perks to being in the field at 3 in the morning is that you have some seriously beautiful sunrises. It’s hard to not be completely content in moments like those.

Dip netting later in the morning for larval suckers

My experience so far with this internship is nothing short of amazing! I am so thankful for this opportunity to acquire knowledge, meet wonderful people, and immerse myself in some new adventures. I am looking forward to what is to come and getting to share my experiences with those who will listen. 🙂

Marissa- Klamath Falls Field Office- U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service