Hey everyone!

Things are looking up for us meeting our target number of collections. We’ve made 10 collections in the last three weeks, 8 of those in the month of September! These last several weeks have been our best yet as far as making collections and covering a lot of ground while scouting goes.

Our situation wasn’t looking too good a week ago with regards to meeting our target collection goal. We had only 16 of the 35 collections that we needed. Our saving grace came in the form of the 10 collections we were able to claim that the SOS crew made last October (technically in the current fiscal year) and the 6 that we were able to make this last week in the Carson National Forest northwest of San Antonio Mountain.

We made a collection of Heterotheca villosa on this hillside. The valley was so beautiful that it didn’t look real. This picture doesn’t do it the justice that it deserves.

We drove through a beautiful aspen forest in the Carson National Forest near San Antonio Mt. I didn’t realize that New Mexico had aspen forests, so I was very pleasantly surprised!

I thought the aspen forests were gorgeous, but I must admit that they gave me a bit of an eerie unsettled feeling with their silent uniformity.

Cryptic messages like this one didn’t do much to settle my uneasiness as we were scouting.

One of the big things that has helped us out is that some of the populations that we’ve been finding are finally mature and ready to collect. We’ve been having a bit of a problem with only being able to find populations that are either past seed or not yet mature. Luck was definitely on our side this last week. In addition, employing some of Ella’s techniques that we picked up on last month has helped us as well. We’ve been covering more ground with scouting, and have even done a couple of camping trips. Spending one day a week in the office has helped us keep up with data sheets and make organized weekly plans.

On the first night of our camping trip, we stayed by a small lake and were treated to this lovely view just after sunrise.

Our tent bathed in ascetically pleasing early morning light

In the last month, we’ve found some sizable populations of species on our target list that will make good collections when their seeds mature in October. Specifically, we have found tons of Bouteloua gracilis (Blue Grama), Krascheninnikovia (Winterfat), and some Atriplex canescens (Four-wing saltbush). I’m also excited that 4 of the 6 collections that we made last week were Heterotheca villosa, a priority species for the Southwestern Seed Partnership.

The lovely Heterotheca villosa with its puffballs of seeds that are so satisfying to pluck off the stem

Me collecting Heterotheca villosa

This weekend, I spent a couple of days at the New Mexico Native Plant Society conference. There were some interesting speakers, including Thor Hanson, the author of The Triumph of Seeds, who spoke passionately about the way that even though many people are more removed from nature than ever, seeds are still integrated into all parts of our lives if we only know where to look. It was also very interesting to see Lillis Urban, my supervisor, give a presentation on the Seeds of Success programs in Santa Fe and New Mexico. It was neat to hear about some of the programs that the seeds that we are collecting will go towards in the future. For example, there is a program just starting to try to get going in New Mexico where inmates in prisons will use our seeds to grow native plants in order to increase the amount of native seed available for use in restoration projects.

During one of the field trips for the conference, I fell in love with this alpaca. He was so fluffy and adorable!

As for the rest of the month, I’m looking forward to making the three collections needed to meet our target number, and hopefully many more! I really think we can finish out the collecting season strong!

Until next time,

Sierra

Seeds of Success Intern

Taos, NM BLM Field Office

August was a packed month that brought a lot of new experiences in and out of the field. My partner and I have continued to monitor where cattle are grazing and check on the health of their favorite “ice cream feed” spots, the coveted riparian areas that dot the allotments. Doing these compliance checks has allowed me to gain more experience in using the GPS, try out different monitoring techniques and get out in some of the most remote areas of the field office to see some incredible views and creatures. Recently, while solo surveying a riparian area, I came across a group of about 150 wild horses and was able to admire them from a few hundred yards away while they snorted at me and slowly trickled out of the draw we were in.

At the beginning of August, a friend came up from Colorado and we went on a spectacular backpacking trip to the Cirque of Towers in the Wind River Mountain Range. We quickly learned that most people took four or five days to do the route we were completing in three, but it was a great challenge and we came home sore but refreshed. A couple weeks later I went home for a weekend and it was so fun to see friends, family, and of course my dogs!

Since I didn’t start the internship until early June I still have about a month and a half to go and have just recently started the arduous task of applying to jobs all over the country. There is still plenty of field work to be done and the weather just recently changed from being in the high 80s or low 90s to all of the sudden being in the 40s when we wake up (not even mad about it). I am excited to get our first snowfall and see how our work may change as the weather gets a little less predictable. The cows have about a month before they are rounded up for the winter, a task that still blows my mind after seeing how spread out and surprisingly adept at hiding they are. In the mean time, I will be switching from iced to hot coffee and busting out the wool socks.

Hanging out with some wild horses.

Our first night’s camping spot.

Arrowhead Lake in the Wind River Range.

After successfully collecting Erigeron speciosus, we have shifted our focus to scouting for other target species populations. Fortunately, our adventures in the last couple of weeks have taken us to the Bridgeport District in California. This area is beautiful but the high elevation left Payton and I fatigued and dizzy for the first few days. Although, I couldn’t complain too much since the 60 degree weather was a welcome relief from the high 90s that we feel in Reno.

A bumble bee visiting Erigeron speciosus, aka Showy fleabane

Our excursions brought us to Twin Lakes where the mule deer completely ignore people as they munch on away without a care in the world. The mornings and early afternoons were the time for scouting, since thunderclouds rolled in as the day progressed.  Once we heard the distant rumbles we slowly rushed back onto the paved roads. Dirt roads on forest service land will turn into slippery slush if they get wet, and we weren’t going to take any chances.

Bridgeport, CA

Mule deer graze near Twin Lakes Resort, CA

As we shifted our focus to different native plants, we began scouting the drier sections of USFS land which led us to Cleome serrulata. Two weeks later, some of the lower pods had mature seed, so we didn’t hesitate to begin our first Cleome collection. It was a tedious task and my hands smelled like a very potent green pepper by the end of it. As I think back to my start in the SOS program, I realize how quickly we can pick up skills. Within minutes of investigating a new plant, we can distinguish mature from immature seed and efficiently collect the seed from their receptacles.

Cleome serrulata, aka Rocky Mountain bee plant, add color to the drier areas of Nevada

Well, Alyssa and I are T-minus 3 weeks away from being completely finished with this internship and we both can’t believe it.

Our mentor has given us a couple of opportunities that I am so grateful for over the past month. We were able to do a media training, during which we had to do a pretend interview while being filmed, yikes. That gave us a lot of insight into how to speak to the media and the general public about research and projects. We got involved in a project with the forester in our office and participated in a data collection. He had planted around 500 white pine trees a few weeks back and Alyssa and I checked their viability and learned how to identify trees with symptoms of blister rust. Earlier this week, we drove to Yerington, NV to attend a PFC assessment training for streams and riparian areas. There was so much to learn that it was a bit overwhelming but it was a great couple of days getting new exposure to different fields of science!

Our main focus for our last couple of weeks is to scout and make opportunistic collections. We have collected Asclepias speciosa and Cleome serrulata and have spent a lot of time traveling around Nevada looking for new populations.

The not-so-great part about collection Cleome is the pungent smell of green peppers

Typically, we collect upland plants that we have grown pretty familiar with but milkweed grows in riparian areas. We spent a decent amount of time trying to ID a lot of look-alike willows and wildflowers but had some fun doing it!

Alyssa carrying around our vouchers and a few plants to ID in the office!

Wrapping up our season means a lot of organization, planning, office tasks and a lot of reflecting. These past four months have been such an experience and can you really beat a west coast sunset???? I know I’ll miss that beautiful sky!

The month of August has absolutely FLOWN by. There were times I desperately wanted it to slow down because I am not looking forward to the end of this internship (or having to leave the beautiful state of Wyoming). However, because the past month has been so jam-packed, I have had an absolute blast! Here’s a tiny glimpse of each of the events that made this month, and the entire summer so special…

Great Dam Day: On August 19th, the old road to the east entrance of Yellowstone was opened to the public. Different organizations in town positioned themselves along the road and set up informational booths. We had a BLM tent set up at each end of the road. One was a Leave No Trace station where kids could answer questions about the ethics of LNT and win prizes. The other booth had a trivia game (pictured below) with questions about the management and different aspects relating to public lands. The game was a big hit with visitors of all ages!

Here I am playing Your Public Lands Trivia Quest with a few visitors and my mentor’s kids 🙂

Eclipse: On August 21st, I traveled down to Thermopolis, WY with fellow CBG interns, Tyler Kerr and Hank Carlson, to see the Great American Eclipse within the range of 100% totality. After a short two hour drive, we pulled over alongside a horse pasture and hunkered down for event. As it got darker, we noticed the horses begin migrating to the other end of the pasture. When it started to get lighter again, the horses walked in a straight line towards a gate on the opposite end to wait for what I’m assuming they thought was going to be breakfast. The most common question I received after the eclipse was about how dark it got. My response was always along the lines of “not quite as dark as night time, but more like sunset…right after the sun has gone down behind the trees or mountains, but still lights up the sky a bit. That’s how it felt, only it was in the middle of the day which definitely felt strange! However, it was still an incredible experience and I can’t wait until the next time I can see an eclipse. The struggle was real as I tried to capture photos of the miraculous event, but here’s one I captured with my eclipse glasses positioned in front of my camera lense. Pretty neat!

Great American Eclipse 100% totality from Thermopolis, WY.

National Public Lands Day: On August 26th, we invited volunteers to join us in remodeling our Hogan and Luce Recreation Area. The goal of the project was to increase accessibility for visitors with disabilities. Together we assembled and installed 6 new picnic tables, 5 new bear boxes, and five new fire rings that are all ADA/ABA compliant. We also installed a boot brush station, refurbished and painted a damaged kiosk. Volunteers also helped to gather and remove over 1,000 pounds of trash from the site making it a cleaner site for all. Everyone was very enthusiastic, the weather could not have been better, and the results look great! NPLD Part II will come next month sometime where we will delineate the campsites and spread gravel to finish the project.

Volunteers and BLMers assembling ADA/ABA compliant picnic tables in celebration of National Public Lands Day

Volunteers and BLMers/CBG interns refurbishing and painting an informational kiosk in celebration of National Public Lands Day

Myself and fellow CBG intern, Hank Carlson, working together to size and cut a new backboard for the kiosk

The finished product! Not bad for a day’s work 🙂

Black-Footed Ferret Release: On August 28th, for the second time in history, black-footed ferrets were released on the Pitchfork Ranch in Meeteetse, WY. If you haven’t heard the success story of the black-footed ferret in Wyoming it goes like this. Circa 1987 a rancher’s dog brought him an animal he believed to be a black-footed ferret, which at the time was considered to be extinct. He brought it to the local vet and it was confirmed that it was indeed a black-footed ferret! He then decided to place a tracking device in the animal and release it in hopes of finding a larger colony. He had an extreme stroke of luck and the remaining animals were found and captured by the Game and Fish Department. After that, the animals were bred in captivity until the population was considered large enough to release a small portion of them. History was made when 35 were released for the first time last year. This year I had the incredible opportunity to attend the second ever release of black-footed ferrets in Wyoming. This year, 13 animals were released on the ranch. Over 60, excited community members from all over Park County attended the historic event, and a great time was had by all.The highlight was definitely when one of our BLM wildlife biologists got to release his very own ferret. It was a bit shy to come out at first, but after a nice juicy prairie dog leg was dropped into an active prairie dog hole, our little ferret hustled down that hole after it! Needless to say, life is about to get very interesting for the prairie dogs on Pitchfork Ranch.

One of the feisty black-footed ferrets released this year on the Pitchfork Ranch

The first ferret being released by the great grandchildren of the man who discovered the species was not extinct 35 years ago!

Beautiful night to release a few ferrets!

Melissa Higley

Recreation Intern

Bureau of Land Management ~ Cody Field Office

I still can’t believe this summer is already over! This internship was the best possible internship I could have had this summer. I learned so much about plants of the West and working in the field and how the BLM operates. I am so much more confident in my ability to learn quickly, to work well with others, and not die while driving on sketchy roads! I have really come to love the desert out here in the Great Basin, and I will never look at Utah the same as I continue to explore its sometimes subtle, sometimes ostentatious beauty.

Next, I am headed to graduate school. I know that my experiences with this internship will help as I start my masters in plant phylogeny.

I am so grateful for this wonderful opportunity!

Theresa, SOS, Salt Lake Field Office

“The county fair is pretty laid back here. Feel free to take breaks and explore around, but you absolutely must see the rodeo”. These were the final instructions given to my partner and I before we stationed ourselves at the fair’s Bureau of Land Management booth. We thanked our boss for the advice and looked out from our booth to the fair grounds.

The Harney County Fair is one of the largest events in Burns, OR. With hundreds of people frequenting the fair-grounds daily, in a town of roughly 4,000, the annual fair is a highly anticipated event. On the premises there isa row of food trucks serving meals ranging from smoked-ribs to shaved-ice confections. There is a carnival section, containing classic rides and deceptively difficult games. Another section of the fair features wall-less barns for 4-H animal competitions (e.g. largest pig, cutest rabbit, wooliest sheep, etc.). There is also a main stage, in the center of the fair grounds, which features three main acts, each taking an hour in the lime-light, twice a day. The acts consist of a Japanese taiko drumming performance, a magician, and a hypnotist.

In addition, there are several rows of booths for selling of merchandise or providing public-information. There is a booth representing the Oregon Hunters Association, a custom cow-boy hat maker, a mini-market of gag-gifts and fake weapons (and some real ones too), dozens of other vendors, and our humble BLM booth. Our booth has traditionally been passive in nature; it typically has been a table full of pamphlets and maps regarding different activities or programs available in the local area. This year however, my fellow intern and I were tasked with making the booth more engaging for kids. After a day of brainstorming, planning, and shopping, we devised a scavenger-hunt, with a fire-roasted s’more being the reward for completion (we were only given permission for this because the fire-fighters’ booth was directly next to ours).

Now, this is all good family fun; an excuse for parents to let their kids run around while they catch-up with old friends. However, to many this also just fluff, filler to kill time until 7:00 PM when the rodeo starts. There is a professional rodeo tomorrow, were seasoned cow-boys will travel cross-state to come and compete for glory, and many will go see it, but tomorrow night is not the event that has everyone excited. The true attraction people are talking about, the one that has everyone coming out in their nicest hats, is the local amateur rodeo.

The local rodeo has no limits on age or skill, just a willingness to hang on tight to a bucking bronco or one majorly pissed-off bull for as long as you can. In addition, there is a lassoing competition to see who can catch a run-away horse the quickest, and Barrel-Racing, where cow-boys and cow-girls run their house through a path set by barrels in an effort to complete the course in the quickest time.

The rodeo commences with an announcer, possessing a thick drawl, leading the crowd in prayer and the National Anthem. After this, a tractor carrying a large rake attachment clears the field in neat linear paths, reminiscent of a Zamboni at hockey games. When the tractor’s job is complete, the bucking-broncs begin. Without warning, a gate is flung open and a cow-boy is sent out on a riled-up horse. The horse sprints and flails, in an effort to launch the cow-boy clean off its back (what is done to upset the horse in the first place is beyond my knowledge). After only 5 seconds, the cowboy is flung forward, and the horse runs over him, but he appears to be uninjured and quickly gets up to run back outside the fence. Not entirely sure what to make of the whole thing, I look around and see people looking slightly disappointed and shaking their heads.

“What went wrong”, I ask a local man behind me, wearing an immaculately white and large brimmed hat.

“They have to stay on for at least eight seconds, or the score is no good”.

Immediately after, the score-board flashes “No Points Awarded”.

The next cow-boy manages to hold on for about 9 seconds before being flipped over the side of the horse. The score-board reads “65/100”.

“Not too bad”, the man behind me says, while clapping his hands.

“Why only 65”, I ask.

“Well, there’s two judges and they each give up to 50 points. 25 for how well the guy holds on, and 25 for how well the animal does. Then they combine their scores for a final number out of 100”.

“How well the animal does”?

“Yeah. A calm horse is much easier to ride, so they’re not going to give it many points. But if you get one really worked up…well I’d be sorry to be the guy on one like that, but at least you could make a better score. This is just amateur though, the scores will probably stay in the 60’s all night”.

And on it went. The highest score wound up being 71.

Next they begin the lassoing. I start feeling bad for the horses in this one and decide to leave for a bit to grab a drink. When I get back, the final event has started, barrel racing. The first few racers go through, all making decent times and showing good control of their steeds. Suddenly, the announcer brings special attention to the next racer, a small boy who is doing his first barrel race. I stare at the boy amazed and turn to the white-hatted man behind me.

“How old is that boy”, I ask wide-eyed

He lets out a deep laugh and informs me, “he’s probably four. We like to start them young around here”.

The boy looks like a small doll riding on-top of a full grown horse. While not the fastest, the boy manages to complete the correct path of barrels in a reasonable time. I genuinely doubt the child’s ability to talk in complete sentences, yet there he is, confidently riding an animal easily 4 times taller than him. Everyone enthusiastically cheers him on, as do I (more out of awe than excitement).

The barrel races conclude and awards are given out. Trophies are in the form of large and ornate belt-buckles, decorated on intricate designs of silver and gold colors (belt-buckles, like hats, are worn as a status-symbol and essential accessory here).

Everyone begins to trickle out of the stands. I follow suit and return to my car, where I plug in my phone and start playing Glen Campbell’s cover of Rhinestone Cowboy, as I begin my ride home.

Big Bear Lake is a place of escape for many Southern Californians. Folks come out in droves to leave the smoggy summers of their respective concrete jungles, or to opt out of their non-winters to get some snow time in. And I don’t blame them, because it is absolutely beautiful there and everybody deserves to experience the great outdoors. As for myself, I had never spent any time at Big Bear Lake until I was given the opportunity to spend the last week of August shadowing Marta Lefevre-Levy, the regional botany technician of San Bernardino National Forest in the Mountaintop Ranger Station in Fawnskin, CA. The week turned out to be a great opportunity for exploring, learning, networking, and of course, botanizing.

A view of the lake from Juniper Point

My work for the week consisted of establishing and surveying 10x10m and 1m diameter-circular plots in critical habitat areas within the 2017 Holcomb fire area. The critical habitat areas are known as the pebble plains and the carbonate hills, which host a number of threatened and endangered plants that are tiny and adorable. The pebble plains are a relict habitat left over from melted glacial deposits that have remained in place for tens of thousands of years. Apparently the pebble plain has such small plants for a number of reasons. One reason being that there are so many pebbles in the soil column that churn about over time that it is a very hostile environment for a plant’s roots. Thus, the smaller plants have evolved deep, strong taproots or many fibrous roots that minimize pebble movement around the plants. Another reason is that there is not much available water for the plants to grow, and being small is growth strategy for plants to persist in extreme conditions. Though they may be small, you can’t let the buckwheats fool you; some of them range from 500-1200 years in age.

Eriogonum kennedyi var. austromontanum

The Holcomb fire mostly impacted the pinyon-juniper woodlands adjacent to the critical habitat areas, however, during the fire there was a misapplication of aerial fire retardant in  the pebble plains and carbonate hills. They are considered “designated avoidance areas as discussed in the 2011 Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the Nation-wide Use of Aerial Application of Fire Retardants on National Forest System Lands” (USFS, 2011). The release of fire retardant in the pebble plains and carbonate hills triggered the establishment of monitoring plots to be surveyed for the next three years because aerial fire retardant has high phosphorous and nitrogen content in its makeup. Nitrogen and Phosphorous are two of the three plant macronutrients, so naturally there is some concern with the fire retardant stimulating the growth of non-native and invasive species.

Tiny Gilia sp. found in the pebble plains

The standard protocol for conducting the monitoring surveys involves the establishment of 10×10 meter paired plots. We established 9 paired-plots (18 total) to compare parts of the critical habitats that did and did not receive inputs of aerial fire retardant. 6 of the paired plots were within the pebble plains, and 3 were in the carbonate hills. Within each plot, we measured percent canopy cover by species within a circular 1-meter quadrat placed 5 meters from the southwest corner of the plot. We took photos in each cardinal direction, and created a species list of all plants present within 10 x 10m  boundary. The listed plants in the critical habitat area include southern mountain buckwheat (Eriogonum kennedyi var. austromontanum), silvery mousetail (Ivesia argyrocoma var. argyrocoma), Bear Valley sandwort (Eremogone ursina), ash-gray paintbrush (Castilleja cinerea), Cushenbury buckwheat (Eriogonum ovalifolium var. vineum) and the below featured Cushenbury oxytheca (Acanthoscyphus parishii var. goodmaniana).

Acanthoscyphus parishii var. goodmaniana

I spent most of my free time at Big Bear Lake hanging out with Sophie Heston (my fellow intern at Chuchupate), Andre Jackson (Restoration and Phytophthora intern at Big Bear Lake) and Veronica Avalos (Restoration and Phytophthora intern at Big Bear Lake). Though I only spent a week in their barracks, I could tell Andre and Veronica had become great friends through working and living together throughout the summer. They drove me around the lake and showed me where they liked to hang out, we played a couple rounds of uno, and talked story for hours. I really admired them and the time we spent together. They are bright, sensitive, beautiful, hilarious human beings! I’m hoping that our paths cross again in the near future.

Fellow interns and friends, Sophie and Andre

Also, big shouts out and thanks to Marta Lefevre-Levy for making this week happening! It was great working with her and I learned a lot about the Big Bear area, its plants and career opportunities because of her. I wish her luck in her future endeavors!

Signing off,

Eli Grinberg

US Forest Service

Los Padres National Forest – Mt. Pinos Ranger District

Chuchupate Ranger Station

Recently, my co-intern, Eli Grinberg, and myself, made a trip up Cerro Noroeste in hopes that there would be seeds for us to collect, or insects for us to capture to add to our collection. Along the way we stopped at multiple locations, collecting seed pods and berries from different plants. When we got to our destination, a small spring, we were expecting to find multiple different species of flys, bees, and wasps, however, we found something much more magical.

To locals, this spring is known as Lion’s Gate. Although in the quaint mountain town of Frazier Park, California, there are no real lions, the spring was just as magical. When we first pulled up to the spring, we were not that impressed. If we did not know exactly where we were supposed to go, we would have missed it. The spring was a small trickle of water coming out of the side of the mountain along the main road, nothing special. Upon closer examination, Eli realized that there were a few hummingbirds flying around. We knew the birds would not be comfortable unless we remained extremely quiet and still. After a few minutes of still silence, the birds became comfortable with our presence, and came out of hiding.

When the birds came out of hiding is when the true magic began. At one point, we attempted to count how many hummingbirds were hanging around the spring, which can be extremely difficult. We counted seven birds at one point, all of which were flitting around, some drinking from the spring, others were chasing each other, and some were posing for us to take pictures of.

It was truly magical to watch the hummingbirds in their natural habitat, playing and simply enjoying their lovely home.

Photo by: Eli Grinberg

For many everyday users of ArcMap, layers are brought into a map, labels added and edited, a few colors that mesh well together selected, drop in a legend and scale, and place a compass somewhere that’s out of the way but not too out of the way. With the guiding hand and patience of our GIS Specialist, Courtney, I’ve been improving on my Editor skills and learning to code in Python (right click on feature class, click on Python snippet, add to Python, understand magic). Most of my job up to this point has been editing, merging, and appending datasets from consultants into our office wildlife database, a necessary tool for our wildlife biologists as they write NEPA documents for projects.

However, this has begun to change the last couple of weeks. Courtney has encouraged me to dip my toe into Python and learn coding with the hopes that I can put together several scripts to automate some database processes. While this doesn’t sound that exciting to some, running some lines of code to replace an hour of step-by-step instructions sounds like a gift from above when you’re doing the same process for the second time that day. However, Python has made me incredibly frustrated at times while trying to debug a syntax error that I swear I fixed before. At least, until I solved it and the tears of joy puddle on my keyboard (do I bill the CBG for that?). Now, Courtney and several staffers have dangled something in front of me that I can’t say no to: a challenge.

The field office is heavily invested in maintaining and improving habitat for sage grouse within the office boundaries and to that end I’ve been asked to help on a couple projects. While there is no need to tell you about each project, the challenge that was laid at my feet involves looking at fire disturbances, sagebrush habitat quality, existing road networks, and cheatgrass to help determine planning habitat and range improvements for the next couple of years. This intrigues me so greatly because of the wealth of information that will have to be compiled, sorted through, interpreted, and visually represented is a wonderful scholarship opportunity. And to know that I was part of a project that helped steer sage grouse towards recovery….well, someone’s cutting onions again.