For the last couple weeks we have been collecting annual plant biomass on BLM land near Parashant National Monument. Today was the last day of collecting for this particular research project that our supervisors are working on. It has been an interesting week for us, hail in the desert just does not seem right to me! But despite a flat tire that took two hours to change at night due to a faulty jack situation, we still managed to get our field work done by mid-Thursday and make it back to the office for dinner. We have been learning plant identification and ecology for so many annual plants the last couple weeks, and next week we get to start all over, with perennial shrubs. It is so interesting to me to observe how desert grasses have adapted to the extreme environment they exist in. The purpose of this research project is to understand how Desert Tortoise habitat is being affected by climate change; and while it is still too cold to see the tortoise yet, we have seen and heard many other signs of desert wildlife, from coyotes, jack rabbits, snakes, and many other diverse forms of animals. As we march through the rest of April, I look forward to experiencing a warmer desert climate soon (wearing 3 layers during the daytime just seems so strange in the desert!).