Lately I have actually been doing my job! We have finally started sampling tissue and collecting seeds from around Idaho which includes Oregon, Nevada, and California. Our Erum hunts have been fun! I had no idea how many different types of Eriogonum there are or even just variations of ERUM itself. I have taken tons of pretty pictures over the last month or so and I’ve been to so many cool places! I’ve been to Modoc Plateau a couple of times, and we also went to Ketchum, which was beautiful! Recently I traveled all over Nevada, finding different collections of ERUM.
I am getting quite good at backcountry driving. I was not too well versed with the subject coming into this job, but I have been doing it more and more, and it is actually really fun! I like the challenge of dodging rocks and potholes and trying not to get the truck stuck in mud.
I also went on a GLORIA alpine monitoring trip which was super fun! We climbed sheep mountain and I learned a ton of new plants from some super experienced botanists. I also discovered my new favorite camp snack. When I get lazy and don’t want to cook at all, I simply make myself a tasty cold cheese burrito. It is surprisingly good, although my fellow interns protest it.
The truck that we have dubbed mountain goat just reached 100,000 miles! We stopped and celebrated on the side of a mountain. Overall, this past month has been a ton of fun, and I have really enjoyed being out in the field more searching for plants!
Work in the Colville National Forest over the past month has been filled with many rewarding plant surveys. Three new rare plant populations have been discovered, and thousands of acres of forest have been surveyed in total. The majority of surveys this month have been in wetlands or riparian areas. Most everyday has ended with me wet in some form or another via many different methods (e.g., stepping in a surprisingly deep hole while wading through a creek (x5), falling off a log into a creek (x3), slipping on rocks and falling into a creek (x2), unsuccessfully jumping across a creek, stepping into a creek because I thought I was wearing waterproof boots but I wasn’t, stepping on what I thought was the ground but was actually an extension of a creek, and successfully avoiding stepping on a cow pie by instead stepping in a creek).
I fell into this lake
If I had to categorize myself before I started this job it would be somewhere between “obedient sheep” and “follower, complicit in my own undoing”. But not anymore.
It was at the end of my first week at the job that I first sighted the chemtrails booth at the Tonasket Farmer’s Market. I had never taken chemtrails seriously before, but seeing them here with titans of industry such as the lady who knits clothes for stuffed animals and the friendly Dutch goji berry vender, it was difficult not to take notice. I picked up a couple of fliers printed on glossy paper (like I said, these guys are pros). The amount of information packed on these flyers was immense because the font size was very small.
Over the next few weeks the contents of the fliers flew around my head, leaving behind traces of knowledge and insight, much like the planes that fly over us and leave behind toxic chemicals that destroy the environment, and make us sick, and change the weather, and put a hole in the ozone layer. A couple of weeks later I felt I was ready (mentally, physically, and emotionally), so I returned to the booth to pick up the 17-page informational guide. Based on how the pamphlet was written I could tell the authors were outsiders who’s minds were not poisoned by indoctrinating forces such as science education. I had looked the booth vendor in the eye and promised I would return the next week to ask questions, so I did. The next week we talked for over 30 minutes about chemtrails in an open air farmer’s market that was attended by many of my coworkers who all gave me weird looks. I may have entered the conversation a stranger, but I like to think I left as a friend. At the end of the conversation the following wisdom was imparted on me: 1) watch a 2-hour chemtrails documentary, 2) don’t listen to everything you see on the TV, and 3) keep making observations.
Since then, I have made many observations. One observation being, when you try to discuss chemtrails with your co-intern, she will start to gaslight you into believing you are mad.The next month myself and the other botany interns plan on ramping up our seed collection efforts. We currently have identified over 15 potential seed collection locations from six species and hope to start collecting soon.
