I have become quite busy the past couple of weeks on various projects. I recently just returned from a BLM training for Indicators of Rangeland Health. Although I am a Botany Intern, the rangeland health training really broadened my knowledge of the ecosystems present in the West. The training took place in beautiful St. George, Utah right on the edge of the Mojave Desert. I got to learn new plants and learn many new techniques to better analyze the status of a piece of land. I am excited to use some of the techniques I learned and share with the rest of my intern team. I think that protocol for analyzing the 17 indicators of rangeland health can be useful to anyone working in natural resources, not just the range specialists because it incorporates hydrology, geology, wildlife biology, and botany.

Once I returned from my training I have been kept busy preparing for a large outreach project at a local recreation hot spot, Sand Mountain near Fallon, NV. My fellow interns and I have been scrambling about trying to get all the info we want to share with the public to try to increase the appreciation for our surrounding nature and public lands. It has been quite a hectic process trying to organize all the gear and information, but I am confident everything will come together in the end to make for a successful outing.

Lastly, I have been working on an Microsoft Access database to use in the field on Toughbook tablets. I have little experience with Access, which is making things difficult at times, but I am learning a lot about the program and its usefulness. I am confident that in a month or two the field database will be working well enough to actually try to use it in the field to collect plant and general spatial data.

William Rutherford

CBG Intern-Carson City District Office