During the last month and a half, we have been wrapping up our ESR monitoring and doing data entry. Looking back, I have learned an enormous amount over the course of my internship. My knowledge of the Bureau of Land Management-as it encompasses public land management -has increased ten-fold. I now believe that I have a more holistic approach to land conservation and management. In particular, my knowledge has augmented in the subjects of fire ecology, riparian monitoring, and rangeland management.
Monitoring at the fire sites, I now understand the multilateral characteristics of fire, as it relates to ecological integrity; fire is an inherent part of the sagebrush steppe ecosystem. However, as an ecological tool, fire has become detrimental to the rangeland. Overarchingly, the invasion of annual grasses, most notably medusa head rye and cheat grass, has displaced native vegetation, and has subsequently increased the fine fuel load. In addition, the extensive drought that has plagued the West has amplified the fine fuel load, as annual invasive plants are more competitive than native vegetation in drought conditions. Consequently, this makes the landscape extremely flammable. A management technique to combat this has been to intensify grazing, which reduces the fine fuel load. Yet, this must be done in a sustainable methodology, so are to preserve the integrity of the plants, especially given the drought conditions.
Moreover, we have learned how to conduct riparian monitoring using the Multiple Indicator Monitoring (MIM) of stream channels and streamside vegetation. This included measuring the greenline to greenline width, documenting what species were in the greenline, what tree species were in the canopy, and what different size substrate was found across the steam channel. I had never done this before, so this was entirely new and fascinating to me. We also had the opportunity to help out with a riparian construction project where we amended head cuts in a stream, so as to raise the water table. To do so, we laid out boulders in a methodical way, which should hopefully catalyze the buildup of sediment. This, in turn, over time, raises the stream back up to the original flood plain level, as head cuts erode streams, making them deeper. I hope to do more riparian monitoring during the remainder of my internship!
Our riparian head cut project!