October has been a strange month for me, as I’m sure it has been for the other CLM interns who found themselves staying home for two weeks on “government snow day.” I enjoyed the time off, which I mainly spent watching zombie movies and wandering around thrift stores, but I am disappointed that the shutdown fell on the last hurrah of field season in the Colorado Rockies. The aspens dropped their leaves, and quite a few of the plants we’d been eying for collections shed their seeds while our backs were turned.

Since returning to work, I’ve only made it to the field once–to help snatch up collections of  Eriogonum umbellatum and Rosa sayi–though the rest of the team managed to collect Parry’s gentian (Gentiana parryi) while I was cashing in some comp time. Most of my time in the office has been spent organizing information and photos in the hopes of ultimately creating an interpretive guide to some of the wildflowers found throughout the state. Besides this, I’ve been analyzing some monitoring data left over from previous seasons.

Since this post is a little lackluster (it’s okay, guys, I can admit it), I had planned to throw in some photos. Unfortunately, I seem unable to Add Media to my post. So I guess this is as good as it gets this month. I’ll try to add some more pizzazz to my next post, especially since it will be my last!

Katherine Wenzell
BLM Colorado State Office
Lakewood, CO