My internship is turning out to be a great learning opportunity. I recently just finished a short course at University of Nevada-Reno on grasses taught by a brilliant botanist, Arnold (Jerry) Tiehm. The grass class really helped me learn generally characteristics about the grasses present in the Great Basin. It also doesn’t hurt to have the class taught by a regionally famous plant collector, Arnold Tiehm, who has multiple plants named after him.

Besides the grass class, the intern crew and myself have been knee-deep in data entry and analysis. We have been completing some data analysis on a threatened plant within our BLM district, Eriogonum diatomaceum or Churchill Narrows Buckwheat. It is interesting to see the process on how to monitor rare/threatened plant species and how the BLM handles such plants. My mentor and all the interns are meeting soon with the USFWS to present our data to hopefully get the plant transferred to a threatened and endangered list, so this plant may be preserved for many years to come. I know that data entry and analysis is boring and monotonious, but we are finding some interesting trends that could lead to great improvements in the future protection of this plant, so I feel my (what feels like) endless hours hunched over a computer will be rewarded soon enough.