November 25, 2013
Las Cruces, NM
Greetings! So much has changed in the past month both in the office and out. For one thing, it snowed here this past weekend! As interns in Las Cruces, we have a housing agreement with the BLM. In exchange for government housing, we have the responsibility of monitoring the trails at Dripping Springs Natural Area two weekend days each month. Fulfilling this duty yesterday was an absolute pleasure. As a native Chicagoan, I shouldn’t be so awestruck by snow, but witnessing fresh snowfall in the mountains of New Mexico was stunning.
This weekend’s snow was also a reality check. For the most part, life in Las Cruces has felt a lot like an extended summer vacation. Between the consistently sunny weather and my remote living situation (no TV or internet at our house), I feel pretty separated from reality. I keep anticipating September weather typical of New England, indicating its time to pack my bags and head back to school. The snow this weekend has set me straight. My undergraduate years are behind me for good, and the CLM internship has been the perfect jump start to life in the real world.
Pictures from my snowy hike up to Dripping Springs
We have also experienced several changes at the office. Seed collection season is essentially over, and in its stead, we have helped out with several monitoring projects, including one involving the sand pricklypear cactus (Opunita arenaria). Because it has a relatively narrow habitat range limited by sandy soils, and it is highly susceptible to changing environmental conditions (e.g. water availability, winter temperatures) and herbivory, the sand pricklypear is listed as a rare plant species in the state of New Mexico. Several years ago, local officials announced plans of constructing a dam and flood retention pond on a site occupied by a sand pricklypear population. BLM agreed to the proposal under the condition that the sand pricklypears within the construction site would be transplanted to a new location. Furthermore, all the transplanted individuals had to be caged in order to minimize herbivory during the plants’ initial establishment. A couple weeks ago, Kate and I had the opportunity to monitor the success of the sand pricklypear transplant project, and, ultimately, we wrote a comprehensive report summarizes our findings. I absolutely loved working on this project. I have been quite nostalgic about my college days, and it felt great to write an analytical paper again (did I really just admit that I miss paper-writing?).
One of the caged, transplanted sand pricklypears (Opuntia arenaria) from our monitoring project
Last week, we also worked on an oil well pad restoration project outside Roswell, NM (fun fact: the site we worked at was where Felix Baumgartner landed after his famous space jump). The ultimate goal of this project has to re-vegetate the area using native plant materials in order to provide suitable habitat for the lesser prairie chicken. However, the deep sandy soils characteristic of the region are extremely difficult to re-vegetate, so our mentor, Mike Howard, used this project as an opportunity to experiment with restoration techniques. Sand bluestem (Andropogon hallii) was planted throughout the 3 acre well pad at different pot depths. While deeper pots are known to facilitate plant establishment, they are also more expensive ( $15 per pot), and Mike wanted to determine if there was a cheaper solution that had a comparable success rate.
Sand bluestem restoration monitoring project outside Roswell, NM
– Elisabeth Ward