My second month working in the Bighorn National Forest has meant becoming “friends” with a whole suite of new things. First and foremost, the list of species we’ve been given to guide our seed collection is slowly starting to take shape in front of me and my co intern in the mountains, Nick Gjording. We’re starting to connect the plants’ names, their appearance, and where they’re found (surprise, surprise, Erigeron speciosus, common name Aspen fleabane, is most often found in stands of aspen trees!). It may have taken a while but we’re getting to familiarity, though there are still many times where we have to take a plant specimen back with us to the office to get the opinion of the forest botanist (those needlegrass species just look so darn similar, and don’t get me started on trying to key out asters).

The month of July has meant introduction to even more blooming plants as well. Getting farther on in the growing season means that we can look for more than just vegetation and finally have some flowers as reference (if you’ve ever successfully identified a plant you’ve never seen before just based on the leaves please show me your ways). But in come the flowers of plants like Chamerion angustifolium (fireweed) and Liatris punctata (dotted blazing star) and an increase of color on the mountain.

Getting into July has also come with realizing that we may not even meet some of the plants we were hoping to become friends with because the mountain range is just too high in elevation. Though this growing season has been more delayed than usual, thank goodness for the two canyons on the mountains for managing to be lower than 6000 feet. They have meant that we have already made our first seed collections of the field season.

Time passing also brought an opportunity to get closer to my forest coworkers. That includes figuring out what random conversation starters to use during the many hours Nick and I spend driving around the forest looking for plants (though any conversations we begin are bound to get interrupted by some kind of plant sighting). We also had the opportunity to work on stream surveys and camp with the combination aquatics/botany crew working on the mountain.

Getting later on in the summer also means some other friends are coming onto the mountains. In fact, a moose and her (maybe one month old) calf spent a whole afternoon near our stream survey area. They had a great time chomping down on the willows near the bank, which were only present thanks to the restoration work of the aquatics team. By the end of the work day, it almost felt like the moose and her calf were extra coworkers helping out with the surveys.

July in Wyoming is also something special because it’s cowboy season. The past couple of weeks have seen the cows coming onto the mountains for grazing (in specific agreements with the Bighorn range department). This has already meant some extra friendly faces but also means impeded roads, and a more complicated scouting process. Being in the cowboy state may mean that we have to plan carefully to make sure we’re not entering a cow grazing area, but it also meant I had the opportunity to go to my first rodeo, which felt very Wyoming (and if you have the chance, watch some Indian Relay Races, you won’t be disappointed).

The warmer days have also brought bugs, some desirable and some not so much. The mosquitoes came out full force on our camping trips, and the flies are truly something else. I was not expecting that one protocol I’d need to develop during my internship would be how to get all of the flies out of the car when we’re leaving an area, but Nick and I are becoming experts. Arguably, a highlight of one of our weeks was going to an almost 10,000 foot high ridge, where the flies hadn’t invaded yet. Countering the mosquitos and flies are countless butterflies, beetles, and bees. In fact, there’s nothing like a quick break from looking at plants to watch the bumblebees do their thing.

So as this month comes to a close, I reflect on how many new friends I’ve made, and look forward to the ones that are coming next.