As a part of the CLM Internship program, there is a week long workshop we can attend as a part of our training. This year, we were at the Chicago Botanic Garden and it was spectacular! The workshop kept us busy all day, so many informative sessions covering a wide range of important topics to our jobs. We had classes focusing on plant identification, conservation genetics, monitoring techniques, wildlife conservation, the different federal agencies, and more! It was a beautiful setting, in eco-friendly buildings on a lush campus. It was very rewarding to meet Krissa and Marian, the people running our program, and a good number of the other interns from all over the country.

I have been able to finally begin some seed collecting in the Ridgecrest Field Office area. It’s been a very dry year, so the only plants producing seed in large enough quantities to collect enough seeds for the Seeds of Success program, are some of the larger annual shrubs. I’ve been working on collections for Salazaria mexicana (paper bag bush), Cleome isomeris (bladderpod), and will soon be starting on Larrea tridentata (creosote bush). It’s been interesting to see first hand how what seem like minor differences in climate regimes can make huge differences in the reproductive capabilities of a species for a season. One collection I made of bladderpods is significantly more impressive and valuable than the first collection I made, largely due to their location differences.

I recently had the opportunity to go into the field with my mentor, a wildlife biologist, to assist in the surveying of abandoned mines for bat and other wildlife habitat. Our area experienced a large mining boom during the late 1800s to 1900s, resulting in a lot of exploration. Now that the area is more populated, thus more recreational users and monitoring of the vegetation and wildlife, there is greater concern over the status of these abandoned mining features. We assessed an area with many known abandoned mining shafts, addits, trenches, and other exploratory features to determine which needed to be permanently closed, and if so, what methods would be best suited for the closing.

And here’s a picture of some of us interns at the Bean in downtown Chicago!