The month of May has truly begun to feel like field season. Last month seemed to be dominated by outreach events: Reno Earth Day (the topic of my previous post), the Keep Truckee Meadows Beautiful Clean-Up Day, in which our team helped direct volunteers in the “sprucing” (litter collecting and thistle digging) of Swan Lake Recreation Area north of Reno, and the TREE event just last week: a collaborative event with the Nature Conservancy and Forest Service to provide local fourth graders the opportunity to explore McCarran Ranch Preserve and learn about its ecology; our team was tasked with leading the invasive species and plant diversity activities. The preparation and execution of these events was enjoyable and rewarding; however I am excited to get out in the field on a more regular basis.
Looking ahead, we have a range of tasks to accomplish including weed mapping, rare plant surveying, and seed collecting. In preparation for summer field work, over the last couple of weeks our team has been organizing field equipment, analyzing plant location data, and putting together a seed collection calendar.
Thinking about longer term preparation and streamlining of weed and rare plant field work, we have been compiling weed infestation and treatment data from past years (the past 12 years to be exact…), as well as rare plant survey data; our end goal is to compile these historical vegetation data into one GIS (.mxd) file. It is not what one would call a light undertaking; however I think that it will prove extremely useful for us and future botany teams.
Although I am looking forward to field season, I would like to emphasize that over the past nearly four months, one aspect of this internship that I have truly valued, and will continue to enjoy, is the variety of tasks assigned to the botany team. With every project, I learn something new, whether it’s a local plant species, a tool in GIS, or how to effectively keep a fourth grader’s attention while discussing riparian vegetation. “Routine” is not a part of this experience, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Margaret Lindman, BLM, Carson City
Tough day at the office…