As the third month of my SOS internship closes out and the fourth month begins, it’s hard to wrap my head around all that Theresa and I have seen and all the seed collecting we have yet to do. The beautiful Phacelia and Camissonia species we have come to love have already budded and faded, and all of a sudden most of the species we have been monitoring in various places of our field office seem to be about to have their seeds ready all at the same time. All. At. The. Same. Time. While the prospect of this seems daunting, it’s also exciting. I’m very much looking forward to the trials and errors of my first seed collections. Due to some tragic personal events, I missed out on our actual first seed collections and am now eagerly awaiting my chance to collect seed.

The field office is definitely buzzing with the huge amount of seasonals that have gradually came on in the last month. Our little intern area is no longer quiet; it’s now a beehive of activity between the 3 AIM crews, aquatic AIM crew, weeds people, and other seasonal vegetation crews. The competition for a computer might get quite fierce. Thankfully, Theresa and I are out in the field most of the time, so we can escape the office.

My favorite location in our field office, the Silver Island Mountains

Other highlights include our first camping trip for work (I remember now what being coated in dust feels like), finding some interesting forbs out in the West desert, and finally finding an acceptable Great Basin Wild Rye population.

Sunset from my tent during our first overnight

Trying to Stay Hydrated in the West Desert,

Corinne Schroeder