As my internship and summer have progressed here in Lakeview, OR, our work has evolved from special status species surveying to post- fire vegetation monitoring and seed collecting. While both types of recent projects have been interesting to work on, I especially enjoyed fire plot monitoring. The plots we visited varied (sometimes dramatically so) between each other, both pre-burn and post-burn. We went to sites in lava fields and atop grassy and shrubby ridges and saw invasives dominate some plots and natives flourish in others. Monitoring sometimes involved looking at 100 nested plots around a 100 meter transect, but I like how the repetitive nature of the plots forced me to learn some of our grasses better. In such a dry year, we have had to find somewhat alternative characteristics to confirm identification: the way the leaves feel between our fingers (indicating hairs present or not), what the skeleton of an inflorescence looks like post-seed dispersal, or how grasses species compared to each other in a given area. All of this repetitive thinking and comparing of grass field characteristics made me better understand and appreciate the nuances of our grasses.
Seed collecting has dominated our time in recent weeks, in particular the collecting of Cercocarpus ledifolius var. intercedens (curl-leaf mountain mahogany). Our mentor told us to collect 50lbs of this seed for both Seeds of Success and future fire rehabilitation work in Lakeview. Yes, 50 pounds of seed! For those not familiar with this seed, the best comparison I can think of is a golden feather that sheds tiny fiberglass-like hairs. It is quite a beautiful seed, with many forming curly-cues that twist out Dr. Seuss-style from the branches. While the best trees to collect from had many seeds in easy-to-grab clumps, grabbing these clumps often caused clouds of the tiny gold hairs to be released and float onto our faces and bodies. Itchiness would ensue wherever skin was exposed and/or clothing was rubbing against our bodies. The hot weather, smoky air (from a nearby wildfire), and sometimes windy days, contributed to a not-so-pleasant environment to work in. I think that our crew became adept at patience and meditation, given the amount of time we had to simply think while performing the rote task at hand. In addition to integrating itself into my clothes and skin, the seed also integrated itself into my consciousness, and I began seeing it behind closed eyes and in my dreams. Two weeks of collecting resulted in tens of thousands of seeds but probably less than 10lbs in weight. Our mentor told us at this point that he had been facetious when declaring our 50lb goal. While I won’t miss the itchiness of the mountain mahogany seed, I will miss seeing the morning sun causing the golden feathery trees to seemingly glow.
Curl-leaf mountain mahogany seeds.
