My first few weeks working with the Spokane District Office (SDO) has been nothing short of amazing. My first day I was filled with your typical first day nerves, but that quickly washed away as the week continued on. That first week, I was flying mostly solo, as my mentor had been scheduled to attend botany meetings! Unfortunately (or fortunately, only time will tell), due to technical difficulties, I had yet to gain computer access, so I got to really dive into non-computer related work. I spent my first couple of days getting acquainted with my cubicle, office mates, and plants I would be focusing on collecting. That Wednesday the office was having a work day at Douglas Creek with the Wenatchee Field office, where I got to meet the botanist there, Molly, and CBG’s interns from last year. I spent the work day with Molly and last year’s interns creating cages around desert globe mallows, which are rare plants in Washington. While it was a long drive out there, and a very early start to the day, it was a lot of fun for my first day in the field. My second day in the field was that Friday, where I got to go out with Jason, one of SDO’s wildlife biologists. We were meeting up with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife to conduct surveys on Washington Ground Squirrels. When we got to the survey site, I was lucky enough to see and hear what these little guys look and sound like. I wish I had snapped a few pictures! These little guys might have been some on the cutest creatures I’ve stumbled upon in the wild, and they make a high pitched squeak as a warning call. I was also lucky to have heard them because I was going to working with SDO’s wildlife biologist, Jason, that has never been able to hear their high pitched calls. We walked twenty 100 meter transects, but we did not find any that day. We did, however, come across plenty of vole holes and 2 mule deer enjoying the sunshine.
Out surveying for Washington Ground Squirrels in Odessa, Washington.
Week 2 at the office wasn’t really spent at the office. My mentor, Kim, was back and since the weather was cooperating (it’s been an unusually wet spring for Spokane), Kim and I spent every day in the field. I got to explore many of eastern Washington’s public lands and was quickly learning to identify native plants! Not only that, but I’ve been getting decently good at using a Garmin to navigate and take data points, too! Tuesday, Kim and I went to Juniper Dunes in search of a rare plant, Cryptantha leucophaea (Payson Gray cyptantha). Juniper Dunes are a known site for these plants, however, due to the differences in weather from last year to this year, the plant hasn’t started blooming. It also has been having a difficult time growing as the plant prefers unstabilized dunes, and many of the previously known sites have become stabilized in the recent years. However, we weren’t disappointed, because we found a lot of western wallflower growing, and decided to collect tissue samples! Friday of that week, I was able to go out with Jamie, one of our archeologists, to Huckleberry Mountain. Don’t be fooled, as I was warned, Huckleberry Mountain does not have any huckleberries. We went out so that Jamie could survey some abandoned mine adits before Jason and his team built cages around the openings in hopes of protecting bats from white nose (a terrible fungus that is responsible for the rapid decline of many bat species). While out hiking in the mountains, I came across many avalanche lilies, their brilliant yellows sparkling in the green mountainsides. As we hiked through the mountain to the adits and other sites of historical importance, I was learning a lot about the history of eastern and central Washington from Jamie.
Adit entrance in Huckleberry Mountain
Erythronium glandiflorum (Avalanche Lily) at Huckleberry Mountain
Huckleberry Mountain
While it’s only been 3 weeks, I am growing stronger in my skills at identifying native flora, which so greatly differs from what I was used to in the midwest, and growing increasingly fond of the Pacific Northwest, which isn’t hard to do. This week the office was helping organize Root Day at the Twin Lakes Rec Site with the Spokane Tribe. Root day is where children ranging from elementary to high school spend the day helping dig up biscuitroots to give to the elders of the tribe. The day was gorgeous and it was great attending the ritual, watching/helping the kids identify biscuitruits, and dig them up. Since I still don’t have access to computers I wasn’t able to access the awesome picture of a biscuitroot that I dug up and presented to the elders, but I am told I am now famous at the office as it’s featured on our website! Thursday, I went back out with Jamie, so she could screen for artifacts. While she screened, I was on the hunt for Lomatium bicolor var. leptocarpum – another biscuitroot. While searching for it, I stumbled upon more native plants (Happy belated Native Plant Appreciation Week!!)
Lomatium bicolor var. leptocarpum
Balsamorhiza hookerii (Hooker’s Balsamroot) and a pollinator
Phlox hoodii (Cushion Phlox)
It finally seems to be springtime over in Eastern Washington and we got our first taste of 80 degree temperatures. I am more than slightly ok with the IT issues that have caused me to spend the past 3 weeks in the field, rather than at my cubicle completing trainings. I’m hoping a rainy day will come when I have access, so I don’t miss out on too much! I’m fully prepared to be swamped in blooming flowers in the coming weeks as temperatures continue to warm up; I couldn’t be more excited.
Until next time,
V