A cool thing happened a few weeks ago.  A forester from our BLM office here in Dillon told us that a crazy bloom of Western Columbine – Aquilegia formosa was happening in a recent timber harvest area. Western Columbine happens to be on the sensitive species list, but the bloom was massive.  We got special permission from our Montana State BLM Botanist and the Seeds of Success Coordinators to collect the columbine.  The seed-pods were sticky as glue and the location was gorgeous- near the continental divide at the Montana / Idaho border.

I like these special moments of the Internship.  Today I will go on the last hurrah of seed collecting, and then I will start to help the Range Staff with Watershed Assessments. Riparian Systems are some of my favorite, from desert washes to montane streams I love the species of plants that grow near water.

For the Watershed Assessments we walk the streams and assess the health of them. We mostly do this to protect the riparian areas, as water is vital to the west.  Most of the stream reaches we walk are in sage brush areas and are stablized by willows and sedges.  Cattle and Occasional Wildlife have potential to destroy the streams by chomping on the willow (hedging) and stomping on the sedges (destabilizing).  Roads can also be a major factor in stream destabilization.  By closely monitoring these variables, we can help protect the vitality of these life-giving water sources.

Collection of Geum triflorum, Old Man’s Beard Photo By K. Savage

Delphinium occidentale, Larkspur                             Photo By K. Savage

Aquilegia formosa, Western Columbine     Photo By K. Savage

Aquilegia formosa                                             Photo By K. Savage

Well, fall sure is a coming, the antelope are already starting to form their harems. The thimble-berries, however, are just starting to ripen and I couldn’t be happier about this.