I grew up on the far eastern region of the Great Basin Desert. I didn’t realize what a biodiverse treasure this area was, probably due to the fact that 3/5’s of Utah’s population lives in this area which is a continuous stretch of cities over 100 miles long. I never really ventured too far out into the desert west of my home. I only saw the vast and desolate pure white stretch of the Salt Flats once before beginning this internship. I had originally thought that the minimum of 5 seed collections per month would be nearly unobtainable, but i was wrong. There are so many plant populations in the Great Basin Desert, with each species beautifully adapted to the environmental conditions which seem so harsh and overpowering. From these plants I’ve been chasing, with the three others on my team from the Provo Shrub Science Lab, we’ve made over 200 collections in the past 8 weeks! The only downside to making so many collections is that there is little time to reflect on the beauty that surrounds me in the desert. We are down to about 10 collections per week, now that all the lowland species have born seed and died back for the summer. I think I might have a little more time to enjoy the desert. Check out the picts of our collections and the beauties we’ve been chasing!

Jason Stettler

Provo Shrub Science Lab