Hello from Twin Falls Idaho!
After my first month and a half of this internship I am proud to say that Habitat Assessment Framework (HAF) sites for sage-grouse are completed! We as a monitoring crew worked very hard performing these monitorings. We oftentimes camped out in order to complete all of the HAF sites we needed to before it became too hot and dry in the Southern Idaho Summer! Monitoring these HAF sites was a very dilligent and sometimes tedious endeavour. For these HAF sites we measured the point-cover and perrenial forb densities of two 50M transects located 90 degrees from each other. Many of the sites that needed to be monitored were located in rather remote locations and required us to walk over a mile just to reach them. I am very proud of the monitoring crew that I am on for being able to complete these sites before the perrenial forbs dried up. The experience and knowledge that I gained by monitoring these sites is invaluable and will help me to understand more of what a job in natural resources requires.

We as a monitoring crew will now be performing wetland inventory and riparian monitoring. I am looking forward to learning more about where water is available in this desert landscape and learning about the various species that exist in these types of habitats.

Throughout this internship I have gained so much understanding of just how delicate yet adaptable our wildlands are. By being in direct contact with our rangelands I feel like I can understand the effects of different elements on our environment and what we can do to manage them.

Until later,

Holt Bright