There has been a lot of work accomplished these past two months, and a lot of knowledge gained. Aside from the regular schedule of scouting for new seed collections, collecting seed, and monitoring sensitive plants; I have been given the opportunity work on different projects and with people from many different organizations.

1) Hells Canyon: The botanist in the Northern Resource Area of Vale District needed help collecting a sensitive plants seeds for conservation purposes. Rubus bartonianus – which is Bartonberry – is endemic globally to Hells Canyon along the Snake River. The other intern, the botanist, and I had to climb steep talus slopes to collect the berries, and it made for a very tough hike. The views were amazing, and we stumbled upon an abandoned mine. Didn’t fall in, luckily (thanks for the heads up CLM training workshop).
2) Traveled to the Nevada border to monitor Emergency Rehabilitation and Stabilization trend plots for a fire that consumed nearly 500,000 acres of shrubland last July. The point of monitoring the plots is to determine when the land is stable and ready for grazing to be allowed back on the land.
3) One of the most informative weeks of the internship was the week I got to help out an ID team with Geographic Management Area standards and guideline monitoring. An ID team of a hydrologist, botanist, horse and burro specialist, wildlife tech, and Range Conservationist were put together to interpret rangeland health through qualitative indicators. The objective was to gather information at the site, determine the health at the time, and if the land was degrading due to grazing: determine what method should be used to monitor the change, and if needed, use adaptive management to improve land. Overall, I loved this week most because it brought together much of what I have been learing the months I have been here. Also, a comprehensive overview of the purpose of the BLM was made clear to me this week.

4) Hunt Mountain: This was another great week for learning and working with people from other federal agencies other than the BLM. There was a collaborative effort between the Forest Service, a private contractor, and the BLM to monitor Blister rust (Cronartium ribicola) on White bark pine (Pinus albicaulis). We set up transects on Hunt Mountain and followed a particular protocol for determing if there was blister rust present and the severity of it on the white bark pines. Hiking up to 7200 ft on Hunt Mounatin was definitely worth it.

So far I have gained a tremendous amount of knowledge, and cant wait to learn more! The amount I have written in this blog is only a small portion of what I have learned.

Hells Canyon, Oregon