It’s been three weeks since I left the coniferous embrace of my home in Olympia, Washington and made the trek to the sagebrush steppe desert of Twin Falls, Idaho. It’s basically exactly opposite of my home- it’s dry and dusty and the towering old-growth evergreens have been replaced by sagebrush (Artemesia spp., more on that later), Bitterbrush (Purshia tridentata), and rabbitbrush (Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus), the Puget Sound replaced by the Snake River. My first week was mostly spent out of the Shoshone BLM office, going on daily field trips to become acquainted with the area and learning the plants.
Balsamorhiza sagittata
The tiniest Mimulus I’ve ever seen! Mimulus suksdorfii
Also the tiniest Collinsia parviflora I’ve ever seen! I’m discovering a new love for tiny flowers here.
Starting on Monday of my second week, I began working with the Twin Falls BLM fuels crew as their “botanical specialist”- which is just a fancy way of saying I help them identify plants to include in the data of their monitoring plots, mostly areas that have been burned. Last week we went out to three different plots to collect sagebrush leaves, bring them back to the office, dry them for 24 hours and record the moisture content as a way of analyzing fire likelihood and behavior. I’m excited to learn more about fire behavior and ecology. Most of May and June are training for me, so I look forward to getting it all done so I can dive into the work.
Different subspecies of Sagebrush, L to R: Low Sagebrush [Artemesia arbuscula], Wyoming Sagebrush [Artemesia tridentata ssp. Wyomingensis], Basin Big Sagebrush [Artemesia tridentata var. tridentata], Mountain Big Sagebrush [Artemesia tridentata ssp. vaseyana]
This year seems like an interesting year for the area. As I was driving across the massive canyon into the city, peering downwards at the meandering Snake River, I thought, even without anything to compare it to, that the water seemed high. I learned that this was absolutely true- this area had an especially snowy winter and as the snow has melted, the rivers and reservoirs rose to a high that hasn’t been seen in this area in at least 20 years. Because of all the water and the extra cold winter and spring, the flower blooms are about 2 weeks behind which was good timing for us! Usually by the time CBG interns get here, many plants are past their prime.
Until next time!
Sofia