I just got back from a much-anticipated week-long plant monitoring training in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The entire class was focused on measuring and monitoring plant populations, which is a topic I’m interested in personally, and is also a project I’ve been tasked with at my current field office. There are a host of “Unusual Plant Assemblages” in my field office, including Fouquieria splendens (Ocotillo), Cylindropuntia bigelovii (Teddy Bear Cholla), and Castela emoryi (Crucifixion Thorn). Until recently, I was a bit overwhelmed with the idea of setting up an effective long-term monitoring program for these plant populations, as their ranges within the field office are quite extensive. However, since the training I just got back from, I have a much better idea of what a good monitoring program entails, and how to establish successful monitoring protocols on my own. My next post will hopefully be about how I am fulfilling these objectives!

The rest of my time this month has been (and will be) spent finishing up seed collections for the season. Plants are mostly done flowering here in the desert, and lots of them are in seed, which will make the next few weeks hectic as I try to work in a few more collections. My most recent collections have included two Camissonia species and Chorizanthe brevipes, and I am also hoping to get in a collection of Chilopsis linearis.

That’s all for now, happy collecting!

Lara Kobelt

Needles, CA BLM