The collection season is continuing in full swing in Farmington helped along by recent heavy rains. This past weekend it rained more than an inch in less than 24 hours! If that doesn’t sound like a lot, consider that this area only gets about 8 inches of precipitation in an entire year.

Last week we were fortunate enough to take a camping trip up to Disappointment and Big Gypsum Valleys in Colorado where we were able to make four collections over two days.

Disappointment Valley, Colorado. The purple flower is Machaeranthera tanacetafolia (Tansyleaf tansyaster), a target species for SOS Collections in the Colorado Plateau!

A few weekends ago we climbed Hesperus Mountain! Although we didn’t summit, we enjoyed the beautiful scenery. As we were leaving, it began raining, producing many rainbows and a perfect Polaroid moment with the stunning stripes of the mountain and blazing yellow Aspen:

Hesperus Mountain, Colorado. The beauty of this place makes it easy to see why Hesperus is the Navajo People’s Sacred Mountain of the North (Dibé Ntsaa).

As many of you know, September 27th was National Public Lands Day. Farmington held a clean-up of several recreation areas near town. In total, we collected over 120 cubic yards of trash, including refrigerators, mattress, toilets, televisions and several dozen tires. We had a great public turnout for the event, including a 97-year-old, a volunteer who rode to the event on his donkey, as well as several people who scouted for trash from their dirt bikes.  As CLM interns, Hannah and I played our part by becoming Seymour Antelope, the BLM Mascot. We enjoyed our day out with the public as an antelope.

I transformed into Seymour Antelope for National Public Land Day!

Some authentic Seymours (Antilocapra americana) showed up to National Public Land Day as well. Photo credit: Tamara Faust

This particular volunteer was a little apprehensive to meet Seymour. Photo credit: Tamara Faust.