It sure has been a busy summer so far, with a lot happening since CLM training in Chicago. Right after training ended my wife came to Chicago to visit for the weekend and we had a blast visiting the wonderful museums and enjoying the city. We were extremely lucky and managed to get a reservation at the world famous restaurant Alinea, one of the most innovative and exciting dining experiences in the world.

Onion flowers, garlic chips, and mint

Wife enjoying a strawberry balloon filled with helium.

Unfortunately life cant be filled with fine dining and exploring museums. After returning to the Colorado State Office, we have been extremely busy with threatened and endangered plant monitoring all along the western slope of Colorado. We spent a week in Canon City Colorado to monitor populations of Eriogonum brandegeei, a species of buckwheat that is only found in the Canon City area of Colorado. Most of our time was spent in the washes near the foothills that had significant populations of E. brandegeei. 

A view from the field

I was able to pull away from our research group at the state office for a week to do some scouting and seed collection in the Pawnee National Grasslands. I was amazed at the amount of diversity that the grasslands contain. The flowers were in peak bloom and the colors popping up among the grasses were a beautiful sight. I unfortunately left my bird identification book at home, which was a big mistake because the grasslands are known for their amazing species richness. Hopefully I will be able to make it back later in the year and try to ID some of the species.

Traffic jam in the grasslands

Coneflowers in bloom

My field vehicle in the beautiful plains

Population of Hesperostipa comata (needle and thread grass)

A small sampling of the H. comata seeds that were collected

This past week we joined a Field Botany course from the University of Northern Colorado to monitor populations of Astragalus osterhoutii. This was very exciting for me because taking the same course at UNC 2 years ago got me interested in a career doing field work. It was a great experience to interact with students new to field work, it is amazing to see how much I have grown personally and professionally in the last 2 years.

Penstemon penlandii

The crew doing field work

That is all for me, about to head back to the mountains and get some more work done.

Brennen