Alyssa and I are officially half way through our time here in Sparks, NV. We have FINALLY found Erigeron speciosus. We have plenty of populations to collect from and will hopefully finish that task this week. It is such a relief to be able to move on and complete that goal! We are incredibly familiar with the upper east side district of Mountain City and Jarbidge and are completely spoiled by the camping accommodations there. Wild Horse State Recreation Area is beautiful at sunset.
Our mentor, Dirk, keeps us involved in the daily tasks of a Forest Botanist. Last week, he let us sit in on a meeting between the Nature Conservancy, USFS, Bureau of Land Management and Fish and Wildlife. Witnessing great minds from all these different institutions work towards a common goal is really inspiring. We are also involved in the discussion of protocols. We will also be preparing a presentation for our USFS office in Sparks as well as traveling to Utah in September to present to the National Botanist. As intimidating as this is, it will be a great opportunity to spread the word about SOS as well as work on my presentation skills.
We are not having great luck with our work trucks, though. Our first was taken away for a different project (intern problems) and unfortunately, as we were heading out into the field, our second truck was hit. So, third truck is a charm, right?
Last week, we traveled to Bridgeport in California and helped the wildlife biologist in our office search for tadpoles and baby toads and frogs in known breeding areas. Mostly, we were searching for the Yosemite toad. Apparently I have an eye for toads and frogs, who knew? I really enjoyed getting a break from plants (just a small one). Bridgeport and the Tahoe meadows are my two favorite places to go. Near the beginning of our internship, the meadows were still covered and snow, and now we can walk all of the paths and explore so many areas!

Beautiful waterfall views around 9500 ft

That is it for now, hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

-Payton Kraus
Sparks, NV

For the last few weeks Payton and I have been monitoring the main priority species for the Nevada USFS and that is Erigeron speciosus, otherwise known as Showy Fleabane. We hope to collect from at least 10 different populations so the Forest Service geneticist can obtain a clear picture of biodiversity withing the species. After we collect enough seed from these populations (crossing my fingers), we will begin to scout for other wide-ranging species for restoration efforts.

Erigeron speciosus, exhibiting different phases of phenology around the end of July

The beginning of this post doesn’t seem like time is against us, but I haven’t really got into the shenanigans that Payton and I have been up to these past few weeks… we are currently on our third USFS government vehicle. The first one… well the side passenger mirror got taken clear off (I won’t get into much about that). The second… we got struck by an oncoming vehicle at a major intersection. We hope that third trucks a charm right?

I am so grateful no one was hurt.

Once we got back out in the field with our third truck, E. speciosus fruit was still not mature and most of the plants had yet to desiccate and form seed (seen in first picture). Our wait for these populations to mature was not wasted! We were invited by our mentor and another employee of the USFS to visit the Bridgeport district in California. The elevation increased by about 2000 ft and we felt the effects quite strongly. Fatigued and fighting gnarly headaches, we still trudged through squishy meadows looking for Yosemite toads, either as tadpoles or in their first year. I enjoyed looking for something that has legs!

Can you spot the Yosemite toad?

Scenic overlook in the Bridgeport District, CA

If you were to drive the long and rolling desert highways of Eastern Oregon, you may assume the landscape, while pleasant to look at, is rather repetitive and monotonous. At first glance, it would be easy to make this assumption; however, you would be mistaken. While the views from the main roads offer vistas of rust-colored dirt covered buttes, speckled with sage brush and juniper, it is the back-roads where the true beauty lies.

In my current internship, I am working for the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), in Burns, OR. The BLM is responsible for large swaths of public-lands, including the lands’ resources, ecology, recreation opportunities, and roads. There is a hierarchy of road types for the BLM out here. You have your classic good-ol’-American paved road (typically of the asphalt of composite-pavement variety), the highly-prevalent gravel road, and the country dirt road (which brings to mind, John Denver). With these being the majority of roads anyone would dare venture their car onto, the hierarchy actually descends further into categories of things that could be only be called “roads” by a stretch of the imagination. Despite this, they served a purpose at one time or another, and as a result, the BLM has them mapped as passible routes, known as “back-roads”. Within the lower Order of back-roads there is the “two-track. A two-track is formed when a car (more likely something in the ball-park of a Ford-150) drives through vegetation and leaves an imprint of two tire tracks. These two parallel lines are re-enforced with each additional car that follows the route. No matter how faint or prominent a two-track may be, they are usually littered with rocks, commonly washed out and eroded, and are full of sharp turns to avoid large obstacles. Two-tracks can widely vary in quality and are a bit unpredictable, causing a certain level of stress in drivers when forced to navigate them. Lastly there is a “vanished-road”. These occur when dirt-roads or two-tracks go unused for long periods of time, causing nature to reclaim them. These can be small sections, or an entire road, depending on the level of reclamation. These are typically unexpected and either force the driver to turn around to find an alternative route, or challenge the driver to push-ahead, and go off-roading in hopes of reconnecting with a discernable road.

During this internship, my partner and I have had to traverse all of the above-mentioned roads. On multiple occasions, we have even mistook cattle-trails as legitimate roads and followed them for a good-while before realizing our mistake. Having become coinsures of the various roads out here, my partner and I feel, while not the most efficient, it is the back-roads where the real fun is. They often take you to areas of extreme beauty and little development. It is on these roads we have passed through gorges, drove along-side packs of wild horses, snuck up on deer, and just relaxed. In a way, navigating a back-road is a practice in deep-relaxation. You may come at it head-strong and stubborn, but driving fast on a back-road will only guarantee two things: damage to your car and damage to your head when you hit a dip and bounce up into your car-roof. Back-roads force you to take it slow and drive deliberately. This is when animals come near your car, this is when you see small ponds and secret-routes you wouldn’t have otherwise noticed, this is when the beauty of the desert reveals itself to you.

-Carter Cranberg (Burns-Hines, OR – Field Office)

Amidst the every day monitoring of old fires and fuels treatments, counting sage and deciding the dominance of grasses and forbs, there is a special opportunity to geek out even harder. Two weeks ago I got the very special opportunity to go out to the field with the Idaho Natural Heritage Botanist of Fish and Game and monitor an endemic rare species, Castilleja Christii. Castiella christii (CASCHR) grows exclusively on the top of Mt. Harrison in the Sawtooth National Forest south of Albion, ID fairly close to Burley, which is apart of the Twin Falls District I work in. This species is also not listed in the Flora of Pacific Northwest, as it was determined just years after its printing. There has been historic mapping of this plant there so I got to learn a specific rare plant monitoring protocol that I really enjoyed, apart of some of the most floristically abundant transects I have ever seen, partly because they were all at 9,000 feet in elevation.

Driving up to Mt. Harrison is a really unique experience and I am pretty excited to go back there. Like most of Southern Idaho you have to travel through countless acres of farm fields  but then upon ascending the mountain you begin to see some trees and topography all of a sudden. The farther you climb up the more sub alpine it gets, there are parts when you think you must be in Northern Idaho, but no you get to the top and amidst the sub alpine rock and lakes and open meadows, amidst snow melt, you see ag for as far as you can see in the distance. Botanically speaking I understand why this area is monitored so heavily, there are multiple rare species there in what seems like an unlikely place. In addition there are epic displays from the Pedicularis to the Lupin to the Castilleja to the Ligusticum, the thick flowers were visually stunning.

Below is a picture of a sub-alpine buckwheat, Eriogonum microthecum var. simpsonii, that was a pretty find.

Here is a picture of the group of Fish and Game folks monitoring the Castilleja, you can get an idea of the numbers we were counting per quadrat.

I love Pedicularis contorta.

A sound of music-esque epic Lupine display in a transect

Adorable pygmy bitterroot, Lewisia pygmaea.

A cool new Rose plant I learned out there, Sibbaldia procumbens

A nice glamour shot of Castilleja christii amidst Ligusticum grayi.

A neat find off the trail, Aquilega coreulea, the colorado blue columbine, love those spurs, yah

This lovely little api is Cymopterus davisii, another rare plant that grows with the Castilleja that we found here both in flower and fruit, pretty neat

Here is a picture of Stacey, another Fuels Botanical Specalist, helping mount and label the herbarium specimems, many from the time spent monitoring the Castilleja with the Natural Heritage folks.

Things have a way of moving pretty quickly once field season hits, as I’m sure every intern knows. Most have been camping, hiking, botanizing, and admiring views for a few months now; but for me this was week one. Of course, this means that I hit the ground running and spent most of this week between required paperwork and diving into field protocols.

We are exceptionally lucky over in E Idaho to be nestled within the foothills of the Tetons, and have the luxury of having field plots – and working day in and day out – in such a beautiful area. One of our goals for this week was to find populations of a number of focus species, including our primary target Erigeron speciosus. Ultimately, this meant scoping out likely areas and then hiking in to check it out. This week, as we hiked along a trail near the pass, we were struck with the sheer beauty of the sight of a meadow overloaded with blooming wildflowers. Enter Julie Andrews in Sound of Music.

As we reveled in the landscape, we quickly realized that not only was ERSP abundant within the meadow, but so were three other species on our list of desired species. No better reason to linger and enjoy nature’s beauty! We spent the next few hours making collections for the variety of different projects we have our hands in. Before saying goodbye, we marked the location for a return trip in a couple of weeks when ERSP has gone to seed.

B. Brown

– Forest Service (Idaho Falls, ID)

I’ve been in my Fuels position for about three months now, and our post-fire rehabilitation monitoring is coming to a close. I was helping a fuels crew monitor the status of areas that burned 1, 2 and 3 years ago to see how well the BLM’s seeding projects are doing. Now that we’re done with these projects, I’m working with other CLM interns to assess areas that burned 5 years ago, as we should be seeing more diversity and sagebrush seedlings in these older projects. We’ll be generating reports on our findings that will go to the national office, so we’re doing our best to take copious field notes and write out detailed interpretations of what we saw!

Found on one of our last monitoring days – the elusive Hedgehog cactus!

Leaving my Burley fuels crew has been a little sad, as I really enjoyed working with them and getting a glimpse into wildfire management and control, but starting new projects is always exciting! We’ll also be doing some different projects here and there, such as rare plant inventories and botanizing in caves.

Speaking of caves, I recently had the greatest field day of my life, and have been talking about it to anyone who will listen. I joined the Geocorps interns for a day of inventorying invertebrates, bats, archaeological signs and other points of interest in caves. It was an incredibly cool experience. Most of the things we were looking for are pretty small, so we had to scour the walls, ground and ceiling of each cave looking for tiny invertebrates while trying not to bother any bats we found. Some caves had pictographs or old artifacts that we tried not to disturb, and some were quite creepy with how many pitch black chambers they had. My favorite (pictured below) was full of car-sized boulders that we had to scramble over, and the entrance had a stone arch overhead. The mystery of what we would find in each cave definitely made this the most exciting field day I’ve ever had, and I’d love to work in more cave systems in the future.

Stone arch cave entrance!

Green rock at right was the size of a small cabin

I also recently had the privilege of attending a Carex workshop, where sedge experts taught us how to recognize and identify Carex species. It was great to get so much experience with a single genus, but even more awesome to take a break from the sagebrush steppe and do some botanizing up north in subalpine forests and a fen.

Day 3 of the Carex workshop – worked in a fen, definitely the most unique environment and plants I’ve ever seen

Though monitoring has been winding down, I’ve gotten to do some very exciting things lately, and look forward to my last two months here.

Last time I wrote a blog post monitoring was just beginning- the Lomatium bradshawii was just starting to flower and rain gear was as essential as data sheets. Now you’d be more likely to find a single butterfly egg than water in the wetlands. These seasonal wetlands rapidly dry out in late spring-early summer and have been bone dry for weeks. Most of the plant species here are going into a sort of summer hibernation until the fall rains come in September/October. There are just two more sensitive species to monitor- Pyrrocoma racemosa and Sericocarpus rigidis, both members of Asteraceae. While many species in Asteraceae are what people think of fondly when they think of flowers, this family is probably one of my least favorite plant families. (Obviously I love all plant families so this is just preference not dislike).

All my sites with Pyrrocoma racemosa also seem to have two other native asters that from afar look very similar. If you’ve ever tried to ID more than one plant you probably know how there can be much variation within a species even at the same location, which doesn’t help with separating species. Although now I feel that I have a pretty good eye for picking out Pyrrocoma racemosa from afar the first few hours of monitoring I had to touch almost every single plant. The texture of the leaves seemed to be the most consistent field characteristic- Microseris laciniata has smooth, thin leaves, Grindelia intergrifolia has thicker leaves that are very sticky to the touch, and Pyrrocoma racemosa has thick leaves that aren’t quite as smooth as the Microseris laciniata but much smoother than the Grindelia intergrifolia. Maybe they look obviously different to you in the following photos but they sure don’t when they’re mixed together in large fields.

Microseris laciniata, one of the many Asteraceae look-a-likes in the wetlands.

Grindelia integrifolia, another look-a-like aster.

Pyrrocoma racemosa, the threatened species I’m  counting.

With two months left in my internship I’ll being doing a mix of projects to fill my time- learning how to use GeoBOB, reflagging plots for next year, helping the other CLM intern attempt to control some of the invasive species that have flourished this season, a couple more butterfly surveys and hoping the fall weather comes soon.

On a more exciting botanical note the other plant family that seem to all be blooming as of late are the orchids!

Platanthera transversa royal rein orchid, found while helping CLM intern Emily Erickson in the forest for the day.

Goodyera oblongifolia western rattlesnake plantain, another common forest orchid.

Spiranthes romanzoffiana hooded ladies’-tresses- all over the wetlands!

My time with the CLM has flown by again, and I will soon be posted in Homer for the foreseeable future with the Soil and Water Conservation District. I’m thankful for the CLM program, but I’m sure I’ll be in touch with interns past, present, and future while working in my new position! I had a relatively brief field season working three field hitches: in the Nulato Hills region (West coast Alaska, just below the Western peninsula), in the town of aptly named Central (very centrally located), and just outside of Denali National Park, in Cantwell.

I was especially glad to venture to the West Coast, a new locale for me to add to my places-been in Alaska. The softened mountains we set our base camp in fade rapidly to rolling hills and plains, and give the onlooker an inkling of the vastness of the wild landscape beyond. Our basecamp, set in the unfriendly (tussocky) crook of a friendly creek, was just 40 miles from the closest village, Unalakleet, which we flew into before heading out with a helicopter pilot hired for the whole trip to camp with us.

Our cozy camp for twelve days.

I was glad that we had a helicopter regularly buzzing in and out of camp–a grizzly bear was sighted in the area before we even pitched a tent, and multiple piles of fresh scat dotted the area outside our group tent. But we practiced normal preventative measures, and didn’t have any scares. Moose and waterfowl frequented our bank as well, and the water harbored large dolly varden. Just outside of camp, a herd of caribou was seen cooling themselves off on a latent snow patch on a sunny afternoon. And the mosquitos only sucked us half dry. All in all, it was a wonderfully nice field hitch, with mostly sunny days, a good crew, and an idyllic setting. Having nice working conditions makes keying out plants after dinner much more relaxing.

Serene coastal plains

The next trip (also for the NRCS Soil Survey) was much more lush, as we were able to stay in a full-amenity cabin located in town, and our transects were walked, though most just off the road system. Much of interior Alaska burns regularly, and so many scenic strolls through fire-hardened spruce spears were enjoyed. But hidden in those thick interior forests are some unexpected rewards. (below photo credits: Ronald McCormick)

Great discoveries and camaraderie were enjoyed by all. And again, we were hunted by a humming army of millions noncontiguously, and were thus all the more thankful for the moments we weren’t getting mosquitos up our noses.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get any photos in the Denali area, but delighted in doing more road-side hikes near the town of Cantwell, where several teams-worth of sled dog howls echo off the foothills.

Thanks again to CLM for supplying a much-needed and endlessly helpful conduit for the up and coming land managing generation! And happy season-end to everyone!

Charlotte
NRCS Homer Field Office
Homer, AK

Greetings from the Roseburg BLM Office! My last post highlighted my exploits for the BLM in Roseburg centered around investigating potential seed opening sites where GIS imagery showed breaks in forest canopy. All of those seeds are now hanging out in our office cubicle, occupying just about every available surface. We have at least 20 large Ace Hardware bags full of grasses and many smaller brown paper bags that are holding some seeds for various forbs that we’ve collected.Soon (hopefully by the time this is posted!), we will be sending our precious seed collection to the USFS Bend Seed extractory where they will be grown out to be later sowed along BLM roads. And finally, we will have free surfaces again!

So many seeds!

As the seeds dried up for most of the grasses we want to collect, the seeds are just getting ready on one grass we very much don’t want to collect; slender false brome (Brachypodium sylvaticum). This plant is native to Asia, Europe, and North Africa, and made its way to this continent in the 1930’s. It’s first reported sighting was in Lane County near Eugene, Oregon (north of us). As of now, it has not been found outside of Oregon, but land managers are worried that it will soon spread to Washington and California. It has, alas, made its way down to Douglas County and is currently hanging out all along the North Umpqua river and up several of its tributaries, which is very much in Roseburg BLM’s stomping grounds, and also in the Roseburg Forest Service’s land as well.

The common name “False Brome” comes from the fact that it very closely resembles many species in the Bromus genus, several of which are native here in Oregon. So naturally, we need to be very careful when identifying it to make sure we aren’t mistaking it for something else. Luckily, it has some distinctive characteristics that are easy to check. It posses a very particular shade of green that is slightly lighter than many surrounding grasses that makes it easy to pick out even from a large distance. Once you get closer you see that it is very hairy near the root of the stem and on the lower leaves, which are wide and have prominent venation. One very distinctive things about true bromes is that they have closed sheaths, whereas False Brome has open sheaths. This can be a tricky and time-consuming thing to check, but is a great identifier if they are not setting seed. But luckily, we are targeting them as they are setting seed and their inflorescence is very distinct. The spikelets are very tightly connected to the stem, with no pedicel. This is what helps us distinguish False Brome from its almost identical look-a-like, California Brome (Bromus vulgaris) a.k.a. “False False Brome”, which is a native plant that often co-occurs with False Brome.

False Brome leaves. Note the hairy surface and the leaf venation.

False Brome inflorescence. Note the the lack of a pedicel.

The other part of this project is the mapping portion. The actual task of removing False Brome from Douglas County is unfortunately a very large one. So part of what we need to do is identify when we can pull, treat, and contain a population, and when we need to just document its existence and find a contractor to do it for us. There also isn’t currently any type of map that documents the extent of False Brome populations, so we need to create one. Roads, waterways, campgrounds, parking lots, pull-offs, etc seem to be the major conduits and and refuges of False Brome. So we’ve been doing weed surveys along roads, and up rivers. It’s important to know how far up a river False Brome has made it so that we’re better able to target the most important areas for removal.

We’ve erected a large map in our office to help track our progress on mapping out False Brome…we definitely have a lot of ground left we need to cover

Weed surveys are also great opportunities for noticing desirable species for seed collection nearby. In particular, we’ve felt very fortunate to have found many previously unknown populations of Mimulus cardinalis (scarlet monkey flower) and we’ve managed to do some seed collecting of many native plants we’ve serendipitously come across.

And when we’re not doing weed surveys, we’ve gotten the chance to help out a little with the wildlife crew. Some highlights of the past month include helping do a frog survey of Rana boyii, the yellow-legged frog. Basically, we spent a day hiking both sides of a stream bed fastidiously scanning the banks and listening intently for any suspicious “plonking” noises that might indicate we scared a yellow-legged frog from sunning into the water. We also went out hiking with the owl crew as they banded a juvenile spotted owl. We helped distract the parents by feeding them mice, but mostly just got to enjoy listening to the expertise of our two owl guides, and admire watching the spotted owls from such a close distance. 

That’s owl for now! Expect another Roseburg Botany BLM update soon!