As July comes to an end, things are beginning to transition here in Lander, WY. Most of the forbs are done flowering, and the seed collecting is in full force. In the past three days, Rachael and I made five collections. My favorite collection by far was the Geum triflorum var. ciliatum. The achenes are wind-dispersed and have long, soft hairs that give it the common name prairie smoke. Every time we put seeds in the bag, it felt like sticking your hand in a very light blanket. As a bonus, each plant is about 2 feet tall, which meant that we didn’t need to bend over to collect the seeds!

As the forbs finish flowering, we are starting to scout grasses and shrubs. As our list of potential collections grows and changes, we decided that it was time for better organization.

Our drying cabinet turned whiteboard

Even with the seed collections ramping up, we have still found time to help with side projects around the office.

Last week, we went out with one of the archaeologists in the office to Dubois, in the far northwestern corner of the field office. We went to survey for the Dubois milkvetch, a rare plant that occurs in that area. A group of paleontologists have a dig planned there in the coming weeks and so we wanted to flag the milkvetches that they will need to avoid. When we got out to the site, we found several species and varieties of milkvetches, all of them well past flowering. Since the flowers are the only way to tell several of the varieties apart, Rachael and I ended up on our hands and knees looking at the dried up remains of the flowers, trying to determine which were previously purple and which were only purple-tipped. Needless to say, it was a very difficult task. However, it was great to work with another employee in the office and to see other aspects of what the BLM does. Rachael and I are hopeful that we will get to go out on the dig when the paleontologists arrive.

This week, Rachael and I helped our mentor by going out to survey raptor nests. There were three areas with nests documented in the past that were near a cell tower that the company wanted to do work on. However, because of their contract, the company wasn’t allowed to work on the tower until the end of July unless we conducted a survey to ensure that the nests were no longer occupied. Of the three sites, one had no sign of a nest, one had a nest that looked like it was abandoned early on, and one had a very impressive nest that had definitely been used this season. It was fun to see a part of the field office that we hadn’t been to yet and to get a little bit of a feel for what kind of work our mentor does.

My second month in Lander has been fantastic, and I can’t wait to see what comes next!

Lara G.

BLM Lander, WY