It has been a month since moving out to Idaho and starting work and things are starting to take off.  The sagebrush and grazing pastures are starting to look familiar, and I no longer feel completely disoriented when we take a new route to a site.  Our work consists primarily of HAF (Habitat Assessment Framework) monitoring to collect data on the vegetation and habitat available to Greater Sage Grouse in Twin Falls’s field office.  I’m still struggling with many of the plants and some days feel that grasses are beyond my grasp, but it is incredibly rewarding to be able to walk through a pasture and name so many of the forbs we pass on the way to our transect sights.

The days are long and we are still working on establishing a routine in order to get more sites done in one day.  Despite the long days, the work is interesting.  We will never revisit any of our sites and I am intrigued by the idea of spending so much time and effort on 100 meters of an area only to uproot our transect lines and move on without much more thought.  The world shrinks down to one meter points for a few hours and then expands back out into the large skies of the sage brush.

We just got the third member of our five member crew.  The three of us are all CLM interns and it’s been incredibly enjoyable to help train him in and watch someone else experience the brush with such enthusiasm and pleasure.  Next week we’ll start doing 4 days camping out in the field in order to reach the further sights.  I’m thrilled at the idea.  Our trailer will be in a campground by a river.  To be near water again is going to be wonderful.

The desert here is beautiful, with the real beauty showing in the details and the intensity of the landscape.  From a car the scene looks homogenous, varying only in so much as whether areas are grassy or filled with sage and rabbit brush.  Once on the ground the area is quickly differentiated by many details and the land’s character shows through.  It is a harsh landscape in that there is no shelter whatsoever, from sun or the often intense wind.  But it is a wonderfully serene place and I am always thrilled to be able to see for miles and to watch the clouds move in.  These kinds of skies are some of my favorites.

I’ve had the opportunity to see some phenomenal birds while out here, including our main focus the sage grouse.  Horned larks, Brewer’s sparrows, sage larks and Swainson’s hawks are daily companions.  We lucked out to see what I think was a short-eared owl sitting on a fence post the other day and drive by a Ferruginous Hawk’s nest.  Horned toads are everywhere and even a bull snake was spotted today.  Earlier this week we were watched by four pronghorns, all strung out along the horizon line, and two days ago a group of young cows attempted to eat our transect tape.  The animals are ever present and often very subtle, a challenge and daily delight.

I’m looking forward to the next several months and the thought of becoming adept at the work.  I am also delighted by the idea of what we might see during this time and how we will begin to understand the area better.