I have been a Seeds of Success intern with the Forest Service for about two months now. I was curious to see what kind of adventure I would have here in Boise (I’m from Texas and I’ve definitely never been this far northwest- I was a Chicago Botanic intern last summer which is how I heard about this internship). I have been able to see and play in snow already! I honestly wasn’t expecting that to happen till next winter! It was definitely fun learning how to make a snowman (didn’t realize there was a technique to it).
As far as work goes, I have been fortunate enough to be able to do different tasks so the weeks have just flown by. I spent many hours on the computer searching different herbaria to find where plants grow in our area for possible seed collections. Meanwhile there have been gaps in between where I went out with the rest of the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) crew to weed plots or collect data of plants they have been growing and observing in different locations around Boise. It’s nice to get out of the office once in a while. I and the rest of the crew collected some data at a 100 acre site we had in Utah in conjunction with the Joint Fire Science Program to observe restoration practice and establishment of seeding after fire. I was there for 7 days identifying what was growing at points along a tape so at every meter I had to identify what was growing at that point. I was nervous because I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to recognize what I was looking at. I had gone through pictures and read descriptions several times before the trip but still wasn’t sure how well that would help me. I worked with a partner who called out while I recorded on the first day before letting me try the following day.
Here I am identifying the vegetation at a point along the plot. All of the fenced area behind me is where we were collecting information. It just goes on for miles and miles…ok maybe a little exaggeration..:)
It helped me to become comfortable and familiar with what I was looking at. I have to say that I did pretty darn well! I was kind of impressed with how fast I caught on to the species I saw and became confident that what I was calling out was correct!
Here are two different plots being worked on at the same time (one where the tape measure is laid out and the other where two of the crew are into the distance..talk about efficiency! With this large amount of land to cover, that was smart thinkin’!
My boss (not to get mixed up with my mentor) said that when you first start learning species of plants you start off with a blank page but once you start learning more and more plants it becomes easier to fill the page and identify more and more plants in the field. I guess every new habitat is a brand new page! I have worked with habitats in Texas, Illinois, and now Idaho! That’s exciting yet overwhelming at the same time! I guess I will be three pages in after this experience! I’m sure the more the better and more diverse my knowledge with plants will be!
Like I said earlier, I am an SOS intern but we haven’t begun seed collecting because plants are just now starting to bloom. I’ve heard from several people that because of the cool summer we are having, plants are barely starting to bloom. In the next few days my mentor, I and the rest of our crew will be scouting for big populations for seed collecting. I recently went to the SOS training in Vale, OR so I’m looking forward to following out the entire seed collecting process from beginning to end. I’ll let you know how that turns out!
Merry Marshall
Boise, ID
FS