Carson City is a beautiful place. The ecosystems that surround us are pretty unusual and still new for me since this is my first season here, out in the southwest. Many local people mistakenly call this area a “desert” but I probably should disagree with this statement while observing all the life flourishing and developing right at this moment. This so called desert is getting greener every day. The plants aren’t the only evidence of this gradual but still unconcealed and dramatic change. For instance, last week on the street where I walk almost every day, I saw some bats which I haven’t seen before. They were vigorously hunting around a forest line apparently being pretty hungry after a long dream. Of course they could have just come here from somewhere else, but for me it was definitely a sign of some spring change that affects all the living organisms inside the Morgan Mill St’s ecosystem. Quite the same evidences we all, as botanists, can notice monitoring all the ephemeral plants being in flower stage for only a few weeks. And actually, I must say I’m grateful to have a unique opportunity to see such plants like Erythranthe sp., Ivesia webberi, etc. here in bloom, and moreover to contribute to their study and conservation! That is indeed an amazing feeling. There are actually many more “firsts” I’m doing and encountering here for the first time, even after being here for almost three months, and I think I’ll try to keep this “never-boring” tendency for the future as well.

Until next time,

Andrii

Carson City, BLM