Well, it’s been another great few weeks of my internship, here in Wenatchee WA. Since my last blog, I’ve explored another beautiful part of the state. My field partner and I spent this last week out in Juniper Dunes Wilderness. We set out to monitor the State Sensitive Cryptantha leucophea and expected to find at least a few populations that have been declining over the last few years. To our surprise, were only able to find two plants – we speculate that the population in this region has dropped off almost completely.

After doing some more background reading, I’ve personified this plant as a free spirit, transient- like. Coming and going, quite literally with the wind that shapes the sand dunes. It has adapted to establishing itself on freshly altered sandy slopes, although to the increasing stabilization of sand dunes through the state, it seems likely that this species will continue to plummet.

Apart from a few dismal thoughts about the fate of this species, I truly enjoyed being out in this piece of wilderness.  I was lulled to sleep at night by howling coyotes, and awakened by mormon crickets. Although these crickets are a pest and create a large conservation concern for the BLM, their rambunctious movement over the land created a cacophony of sounds that resembled a babbling brook – very comforting after days of wandering around the scorching dunes!

Here’s some shots of our monitoring sites:

Okay, okay … enough shots of me. Yay – our two plants (Cryptantha leucophea)! (Sorry about the low quality)

It’s great to be able to take time every few weeks to reflect on my experiences so far. Sending good thoughts out to all fellow interns!