It can get pretty depressing spending every day of fieldwork searching for and mapping weeds. Monotonous as well, because (spoiler alert), we ALWAYS find them in abundance! Focus too hard on the knapweed, cheatgrass, and tumblemustard, and eventually it becomes all you see. That’s why I felt lucky the past few weeks to be introduced by Molly, our office’s botanist, to some Washington rare plants, and take a little time out in the field to focus on something more positive!

Long-sepal globemallow, Iliamna longisepala

Ute ladies’-tresses, Spiranthes diluvialis

Coyote tobacco, Nicotiana attenuata

Having rare plants to search for while out mapping weeds is a nice distraction. Mostly, I’ve just confirmed that certain known populations of these three plants are still around, but last Thursday I had the excitement of discovering a previously unknown population of coyote tobacco! Because my fellow weed-mappers and I are either harder-working or more foolish than some of our other coworkers at the Wenatchee field office, we tend to hike the steeper parts of our BLM parcels than most people would probably categorize as inaccessible. (There’s a reason this internship has me in the best shape of my life!) While we were walking along a high ridge and bemoaning the fact that there was dalmatian toadflax absolutely everywhere, I found a clump of at least 20 coyote tobacco plants, and then more as we walked along further. I was thrilled, and even more so later on when I told Molly about it and she said no one had reported that population before. For once, I was able to give somebody in the office some good news, and it felt great!

Though the mild weather this summer held out much longer than I expected, we are finally experiencing the Wenatchee heat that everyone warned us about, and I’m learning how to survive fieldwork in hundred degree weather. The keys, I’ve found, are water and a good sense of humor!

Here are some more pictures from the past couple weeks:

We rode in a UTV for the first time! It was mildly terrifying.

Since I’m not an entomologist, I’ve decided to call this little buddy a unicorn caterpillar!

Another day, another gorgeous, sweeping vista. I love my job!

Katherine Schneider, BLM, Wenatchee WA Field Office