It’s finally started to rain here, and that means lots of new potential collection populations have popped up! With the recent rain things are getting very busy, but it’s also been incredibly exciting to see so much new plant life at our collection sites!

Dimorphocarpa wislizeni

Rasahus thoracius assassin bug found while collecting Isocoma pluriflora seed

In addition to working on seed collections, we got to help the Range department with an erosion control project earlier this month. This involved bracing a section of land in a riparian area from further erosion during flooding with burlap bags filled with mulch and a tiny fence we built.

Me, Jorge, and Nicole during the erosion control project

We were also able to do another milkweed planting this month at the Black River, during which we planted 200 plants of two different species, Asclepias speciosa and Asclepias latifolia.

Our milkweed planting team: Janna, Joe, Nicole, and me

A very feisty Western diamondback rattlesnake that we found near our planting site

Planting milkweed!

After a particularly heavy few days of rain, we found several turtles in the field over the course of one day. This was after having never seen any for the past few months!

Moved this feisty little ornate box turtle out from the middle of the road last week!

In addition to getting very busy with our collections this month, we also had to say goodbye to all of the HACU interns here at the Carlsbad Field Office as well as our mentor, Johnny Chopp, who is moving to Pennsylvania to work with the Army Corps of Engineers!

With HACU interns Cynthia, Jorge, and Nicole in Santa Fe!