Never have I ever been out West

Posted on 28 June, 2017 by SolimarGarcia

My first week after graduation was filled with excitement and anxiety. I actually skipped walking across the stage during graduation because I was moving in to my new house that same weekend. I finished my last day as an undergraduate on a Thursday and started work in a new state the following Monday! Thankfully, I have very supportive parents that helped me trek my way with each passing minute farther and farther west than I had been before.

Our drive was only supposed to take 2.5 days, from Madison, WI to Twin Falls, ID. It turned into almost 4 because we got swamped with a snow storm in the middle of May!? Never would have thought to pack snow boots for May weather as I had already experienced 70 degree weather coming from Wisconsin. We ended up getting stuck in Cheyenne, WY for 9 hours. But here’s my dad as we happily continued to make our way as the roads cleared!

My dad with a smile as we finally are able to get onto I-90 from Cheyenne to Twin Falls, ID

The following first two weeks were flooded with new information and training. Besides all the online training, we also had some great hands on training in the field. I work directly with 4 other CBG interns, there are another 3 at my office. All 4 of the CBG CLM interns I work with come from different states and are familiar with different flora, so learning new plants in the arid environment of southern Idaho has been quite entertaining!

As a contractor working for the BLM, I am assessing habitat cover and preferred forbs for sage grouse.The methods we used to do this assessment was modified as soon as the interns arrived, so as we learned the ins-and-outs of the methods, so were the crew leads and supervisors, to some extent. This was quite a bumpy ride to start as we all were interpreting specific methods differently and encountered different scenarios than were provided in the new manuals. Each day we came up with new questions and each day we solve them with gusto and readiness to continue the following day, knowing we’d come back with still more questions.

Shoshone, ID modified AIM crew. Our first time out in the field together, 4 CBG interns, our crew leads, & our mentor

Out with my crew, my mentor and other range techs from my office

Throughout the next few weeks I learned to adjust to the lack of trees and the beautiful diversity that can (surprisingly) be found here! I started to learn common grasses and forbs and learn varieties of sagebrush.

As my roommate and I got a feel for the area, we began most of our weekends traveling to some touristy sites. These areas were nice to visit while we’re learning about the area because they were so chock full of historical information and just fun random facts that are super useful for newcomers like us!

Bitterroot at Craters of the Moon National Park

Back out in the field the following week, I started slowly discovering I had some favorite plants and animals we continue to run into. I had studied trees for my undergrad but I’m finding myself drawn to some of these little forbs in southern ID.

Little horned lizard that I kind of love

Lupine! I’m slowly falling in love with this plant for some unknown reason

At the start of the next week I traveled to CBG for the Workshop, which was an incredible opportunity and I am super grateful I was able to attend. I had the chance to meet other interns in the neighboring field offices for the BLM. I was happy to be back in the Midwest and actually had the chance to see my parents again after a month in Idaho.

Back in Idaho, our big group split into 2 groups of three people, we were officially on our own! Driving to any one of our plot points may take anywhere from 1.5-2.5 hours one-way. The drive can be a little daunting, but each location is so unique and the views there are so absolutely incredible, it’s always so gratifying once we arrive.

Upper Davis Mountain view about 4 miles away from our plot point

Coming from Wisconsin and having spent a lot of time up north where there are unpaved roads, I knew how to drive a pick-up truck on gravel roads, but some of the “roads” out here barely warrant the name. Thankfully, I have stellar crew lead that has extensive experience driving on these same roads last summer! Also, I will admit, I have a really poor sense of direction, so I am thankful for her navigation skills too.

I’m also learning how to use USDA plant codes for these common plants. I’ve worked with plant codes previously doing monitoring but since the locations of these plots may have upwards of 45 species, keeping up with all plant codes and numbers following each code has been a struggle of mine. I tend to learn the common name first, then the scientific name, then the code. But sometimes the same code can be used for 2-10 different plants so you also have to remember which number corresponds to which plant! Ex. ERNA6 & ERNA10, one is a forb and one is a shrub, and you could possibly have both on the same site!

Penstemon with a little visitor wasp

To help me with learning plant codes and scientific names I’ve made a little “key” of all the ones we’ve come across and keep the booklet with me out in the field. So far, it’s been pretty useful and have only used it 2 days but have to update it already!

Quick lunch break before finishing modified AIM transects. This location actually had upwards of 35 species, 12 of which were unknown to us! (We’re still working on keying them out)

I’ve been in Idaho exactly a month and I really cannot wait to continue exploring this state. I’ve been trying to convince all my family and friends from home to come visit me, because there’s so much here to see! One month down, four more to go. So far, this has been one of my favorite summers, yet.

July in Idaho

Posted on 4 August, 2015 by CarlaRH

It’s been another month already? Time flies, and I’m already more than halfway done with my internship.

Setting up transects for our Sage-grouse Habitat Assessment Framework

This month we completed our long-term vegetation trend monitoring portion of the internship. The past couple weeks I have been working on habitat assessments for the Greater sage grouse conservation initiative. It still requires vegetation monitoring, but we use different methods for collecting data. We are mostly concerned with shrub canopy cover for nesting and availability of sage brush and preferred forbs for consumption. We’re able to complete multiple sites in a day, but it goes especially quickly in areas of low diversity and minimal to no shrub canopy cover.

Thankfully, the weather lately has been bearable, but last month was brutal. Working out in the open desert can be exhausting when it’s over 100 degrees F and there’s no shade for relief. On the worst day, Diana and I finished off a 2 gallon cooler of ice water. Hydration is no joke!

Celebrating America properly with friends, the great outdoors, hot dogs, and sparklers (of course)

Chelsea, Diana, and I visiting the Sawtooths for a day

I’ve also had the opportunity to do some more exploring this month. The 4th of the July weekend I went camping in Hagerman. I also went swimming and cliff-jumping here in Twin Falls (Dierkes Lake & Hidden Lake). Last weekend I went with fellow CLMers, Diana and Chelsea, on a day trip to the Sawtooth National Forest. I’m so glad I finally went because it was absolutely beautiful!

View from an overlook at the Sawtooth National Forest

I try to balance my weekends with rest, work, and play. I love visiting new places around me, but I’m also trying to prepare for my post-internship life. Soon enough, this adventure will be over and I’ll need a new job.

This week the range techs in my office got to participate in a river clean-up day on the Snake River near Hagerman. We got to see our CLM friends from the Jarbidge Field Office, which was fun. Our group of 7 took an inflatable paddle raft, led by our fantastic guide, Evan, from the recreation department in the Boise Field Office. We went at a leisurely pace looking for trash to pick up, but there was honestly no trash in sight. Evan guided us through the eddies and fast waves, giving me my first taste of white water rafting! Afterwards, we all enjoyed a delicious BBQ lunch at one of the picnic areas near by.

Taking a float break from all of that cleaning (Feat. Diana in the background)

The rest of this month we will continue with our HAF studies, and hopefully visit some new areas in Idaho on our free time.

Until next post,

Carla–BLM Shoshone, ID

Idaho: Month 2

Posted on 26 June, 2015 by CarlaRH

I’ve been living and working in Idaho for almost 2 months now, and time seems to be going by reasonably fast. Most days I get up very early for work, drive 30 miles each way to and from the office, and come home around 5 pm. By the time I get home, I only have the energy to eat, shower, watch some Netflix, and go to sleep. I enjoy this routine sometimes because I’m busy and time flies, but it also makes me eager for adventure and relaxation on the weekends.

Me on the Snake River Feat. Diana’s toes

I haven’t had the chance to go out and explore very much outside of Twin Falls. I did take a mini road trip to Pocatello to visit a friend from school. Two other CBG interns came with me, and none of us had ever been to Pocatello, so it was good to explore a new area. However, there are still things to do in Twin Falls! I finally went kayaking down the Snake River with some friends and it was a relaxing day on the water.

Native plant garden in Twin Falls. We came here for a forb workshop led by the Department of Fish & Game.

Almost 2 months into this internship, I can already tell that the rest of my time here with the BLM in Shoshone will be extremely valuable. Most of my time here has been spent training and learning about the botany and wildlife found in our field office. I’m starting to feel more comfortable identifying plants, but there is still so much more for me to learn and apply in the next 4 months.

In the near future, I would like to get more involved in the GIS work happening in our office. By the looks of it, many other interns are using GIS in their work, and I’m jealous. I enjoy collecting data and then analyzing it in GIS because it offers such a unique visualization. I’m always amazed by what GIS can do and I want to continue to improve my skills. If I were to go into a graduate program, I would likely focus on spatial analysis or some type of environmental informatics (GIS/remote sensing/modeling).

Work perks

For now, I know that I want to improve my applied ecology and botany skills. Before studying something on the large scale, I want to have on-the-ground experience. Field work is the perfect way of acquiring those skills. Our training workshop in Chicago was somewhat helpful in learning about botany. It was made very clear that all of the CBG interns have varying levels of botany expertise. So when it came to the botany lesson, some people could follow along and identify plant families quickly, while several of us struggled to keep up. My school doesn’t even offer a botany or plant systematics class. 🙁 I guess most of my western botany knowledge and skills will have to be acquired on my own time and on the job. Thankfully, hands-on learning is one of the best ways for me to learn.

The training workshop was a great way to meet other CBG interns, and I am so thankful for that opportunity! I met some great people that I would love to spend more time with. It was great to see so many people with similar interests in terms of conservation and land management. I know that many of you will go on to do great things.

Go Blackhawks!!!!

The workshop was also scheduled at a perfect time for me because my graduation was that weekend. I went to college in Chicago, so I got to see most of my friends and family. After a month of being in Idaho, I was so so so thankful to see the people near and dear to my heart. It was a perfect refresher. I got on the L after arriving in Chicago, and I never thought I would be so happy to smell the lingering odor of urine on the train. I know it’s gross, but it was a reminder of the last 4 years I spent in that beautiful urban city.

But now I am back in Idaho, and I want to enjoy my time here while it lasts. I’ve never spent this much time in a rural area, nor have I done this much field work. This area is growing on me and I’m starting to feel more at home. I’m so glad I have other interns here with me because we can share the new experience with each other.

Until next time,

Carla

BLM-Shoshone, ID

Field Work in Idaho!

Posted on 15 May, 2015 by CarlaRH

Hello, readers!

My name is Carla and I’m finishing up my second week here in Shoshone, Idaho working for the BLM. I just moved here from Chicago about two weeks ago, so I’m still trying to take in all the new people, places, and things around me. I love the city, but it has been very refreshing so far to be in a new environment. Considering I grew up in Michigan and did forestry research in college, one of the most noticeable changes for me was the lack of trees. However, I can’t complain that I get to see beautiful views of canyons, rivers, and snow-topped mountains every day on my way to work! (Although I could do without the sulfuric odors coming from some of the farms).

Snake River (I pass this on my way to work every day)

My first day of work at the Shoshone Field Office actually consisted of very little time in the office. I went out to one of the BLM field sites with several of the office employees for a training session–for all, not just the new interns–on their Habitat Assessment Framework project, which aims to study sagebrush habitats for the Greater sage grouse (a ground-nesting bird I was not familiar with until I got here). It was a great way to meet the people who work in the office and get a view of their group dynamics. It was impressive to see how much they knew about the local plants and ecosystems. There were times when I had no idea what they were talking about, but there were other moments when I did understand their references to ecological/GIS terminology and I knew I was in the right place.

I also couldn’t help but think about the importance of this work that the federal government is doing. I bet so many people have no idea that the BLM is doing such detailed research in the fields of botany, ecology, geology, and more! Perhaps it is more common out west, but since there are not as many BLM field offices in the Midwest/east, it felt pretty new to me.

The rest of the week consisted of touring the field office and BLM field sites. I got to visit the Craters of the Moon National Monument, which was full of lava rock, and surprisingly full of wildflower life. I got to explore dark and icy caves with one of my co-workers that knows the insider places to go (Way to go, John!).

Photo credit: Diana

Diana & John at Craters

I have also been working closely with a fellow CLM intern (& roommate), Diana, on long-term trend monitoring. This project consists of visiting specific locations and conducting plant surveys to see how the vegetation is changing over long periods of time. It feels good to get back into the habit of plant ID and spending the days outside while it’s not too hot yet.

Just a few rain clouds at our trend monitoring site…

It has been fun going off-roading and driving around the many scenic areas in this part of Idaho. It’s amazing how the landscape can change so drastically from flat range land to steep slopes, snowy mountains, and quick-drop-off canyons. I look forward to exploring more of Idaho and the surrounding states in my free time!

Until next time,

Carla

BLM–Shoshone, ID

Idahome

Posted on 11 September, 2014 by ashawler

Our time in Shoshone has come to a close, although luckily for both Alexi and I, our time in Idaho isn’t quite finished yet. After this week Alexi will be headed west to Boise and I will be heading north to Ketchum for a little bit. I think it’s safe to say that over the last five months we have both fallen in love with this unique and hidden gem of a state. Getting to know the species of the sagebrush steppe and all the idiosyncrasies of the the high desert has been a lot of fun. Working for the BLM Shoshone Field Office has been a great learning experience. Not only did we get to do a lot of botany-intensive projects such as nested frequency and seed collecting, but we also got to learn more about different methods of surveying bats and got to do a bit of GIS. I really appreciated our mentor’s effort to ensure we had a varied and interesting internship. I always felt like I was doing something that was useful to the office and that was important to conservation, which is essential in a field job like this.

My first impressions of Idaho have drastically changed over the last few months. When I first heard I was moving to Shoshone, I immediately looked it up on Google Earth and did a street view tour of the place (not a good idea!). The town of Shoshone isn’t exactly the most exciting town there ever was, but it is close to the beautiful mountains up north and I am so thankful I had the opportunity to live here. I will not miss the trains that come through town blaring their horns at ungodly hours of the night, the (still) mysterious siren that goes off every night at 10pm, or the crazy cat man neighbor yelling at his yowling cats at night. But I will miss our neighbors who made us feel welcome and the wonderful people in our BLM office. I would definitely recommend working in the Shoshone BLM Office to future CLM interns- especially if you enjoy hiking rocky peaks, fishing and swimming in alpine lakes, finding hidden hot springs, exploring lava caves and seeing incredible amounts of wildlife. All of this is at your fingertips if you live in Shoshone.

Overlooking my Idahome on top of Hyndman Peak outside of Ketchum, Idaho

The sheer drop off on the other side of Hyndman Peak

Fly fishing on the Big Lost River at dusk

My next job will be in Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) conducting winter cave surveys for bats. I start in November, so in the meantime I’ll be staying with a friend up in Ketchum, Idaho and working for a landscaping company to make a little extra money. I’m excited because there’s still many peaks I want to climb, rivers I want to fish, and trails I want to bike and run before I leave Idaho.

A raised relief map of my next home, Sequoia & Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI). Found this at an antique fair in Ketchum, ID for $10!

Thanks for this awesome experience CLM and BLM. Come visit me in Ketchum or SEKI if you get the chance! And of course I shall leave y’all with a final E. Abbey quote:

“May your trails be crooked, winding, lonesome, dangerous, leading to the most amazing view. May your mountains rise into and above the clouds.” -Edward Abbey

Until next time,

Avery Shawler

Shoshone BLM Office

High Peaks and Hot Springs in Idaho

Posted on 4 September, 2014 by ashawler

Our time in Idaho is winding down and Alexi and I are scrambling to finish up our projects and to go on as many adventures possible before we have to leave this beautiful area. The last several weeks of our internship has been focused on digitizing riparian photo monitoring sites and then checking them in the field. We also have been doing a lot of bat monitoring. After we finished the cave surveys searching for maternity roosts, we started doing acoustic surveys using a program called AnaBat to monitor the presence of bats.

Microphone mounted on the truck during the bat acoustic monitoring vehicle transects

Microphone mounted on the truck during the bat acoustic monitoring driving transects

We’ve set up passive stations and have also conducted driving transects. AnaBat reads the frequency of noise that the microphone picks up and graphs it on a PDA attached to it. Each bat species has a distinct call with different shapes and different minimum frequencies. Some of their calls can be really similar, so it has been a challenge differentiating each species. But it has been a lot of fun seeing how many bats are actually all around us and also uplifting to see that their populations out west are still doing okay.

AnaBat software recording bat calls

Silver-haired bat calls occur between 25 and 30k and have distinctive hook at the bottom. There’s also a little brown bat call at 40k

Last week we had the opportunity to attend the First Annual Eastern Idaho Bat Bio Blitz at the Sand Creek Wildlife Management Area, a tranquil area dotted with ponds. This was an awesome opportunity because we were mist netting bats and got to see them up close. I had the opportunity to do this last winter, when I was in the Chiricahuas, and was very excited to do it again. We set up the mist nets right in the water and had to wear waders to get them in place.

Mist netting bats at the Eastern Idaho Bat Bio Blitz

Measuring the little brown bat’s forearm. Don’t worry it’s not painful, he’s just being dramatic.

We had a lighting storm come through and we all had to jump in the trucks to wait it out, but as soon as that was over all the bats came out to feed. We only caught little brown bats (Myotis lucifugus), but it was still very exciting.

This past Labor Day Weekend was one of the most exciting weekends we’ve had so far in Idaho. For me it started out on Friday night with an outdoor concert with The Head and the Heart in Sun Valley. This was only my second concert of the summer (last summer I went to six), so I was pretty stoked. The next morning I met up with fellow CLM interns Alexi and Emily and some other BLM friends in Stanley, Idaho and began a day of hot spring adventures. We started out at this hot spring called Boat Box that is literally right on the side of Highway 75. The hot water feeds out of a pipe into a metal tub and then into other surrounding pools along the Salmon River.

Boat Box Hot Springs near Stanley, Idaho along the Salmon River

The tub at Boat Box Hot Springs

We lingered there for a while and then made our way to the secret Goldbug Hotsprings outside Salmon, Idaho. Alexi told me about Goldbug at the beginning of our internship and ever since then I’ve been dying to go. To get to Goldbug you have to hike up about three miles through private property and then BLM land. On our way up we noticed a plume of smoke on top of the mountain. Then we saw a helitack crew with buckets flying toward the mountain and witnessed them putting out the fire.

Small fire near Goldbug Hot Springs (which is situated at the notch)

Once we reached Goldbug I was not disappointed. There were about 20 different pools at various levels with waterfalls flowing into them. It was hard to believe this place naturally existed- it felt like a waterpark. The pools were all at varying temperatures and we hopped from one to another.

An oasis of pools at Goldbug Hot Springs

Goldbug Hot Springs

We met some interesting people while we were there, including two unabashed naked men who insisted on talking to us for a while. We stayed at Goldbug for a couple hours before driving down towards Mackay, Idaho to camp at the base of Mount Borah, the tallest mountain in Idaho.

The next morning we woke up to snow on the mountains and clouds hovering above us. We got up a little later than we intended because none of us slept well that night. This actually proved to be advantageous to us because in the morning clouds covered the top of Borah, obscuring the views. We met up with Jonathan, a fellow CLM intern and started hiking around 8:30am. The trail is only 3.5 miles up to the peak, but you ascend 5,262 vertical feet, which makes for a nice strenuous hike. As we got closer to the top there was a lot of Class 3 scrambling over loose rocks. The most difficult section is aa Class 4 arête (a thin ridge of rock) infamously known as “Chickenout Ridge”, since a lot of people will turn once they see it. Luckily we were with someone who has done the hike four times already and he knew exactly how to go. We actually ended up staying at that place for 45 minutes as our friend helped about 20 people get through that area.

“Chickenout Ridge”, the Class 4 arête near the top of Mt. Borah

We ended up making a lot of friends and we all reached the summit at about the same time. The clouds had cleared away and the wind stopped making for perfect summit conditions. We all basked in the sun, shared some honey whiskey, and took a giant group picture. We were the tallest people in Idaho that day and we were having a great time.

View from the top of Borah

Group picture at the top of Mount Borah

Descending Mt. Borah

Until next time,

Avery

Shoshone BLM Office

Fishing and caving in Idaho

Posted on 5 August, 2014 by ashawler

It’s August already and Alexi and I have crossed off a few more things on our Idaho Bucket List. The most exciting of these accomplishments is that we finally caught our first fish in Idaho over the Fourth of July weekend! And it couldn’t have been in a more beautiful place. We backpacked into the Sawtooth Wilderness up near Stanley, Idaho with Jonathan, another CLM intern out of Twin Falls. Our destination was Toxaway Lake, but unfortunately there was too much snow at the pass we were going to cross, so we decided to camp at Alice Lake.

Not a bad view from our campsite at Alice Lake in the Sawtooth Wilderness.

We were a little hesitant about camping there. On our way up we passed a man who saw our fishing rods sticking out of our packs and immediately began to tell us how the fish were not biting at Alice Lake. He told us he had tried everything and seemed to have fancier equipment than us. Then he proceeded to tell us how the mosquitos were so terrible that he spent most of the time in his tent. So yeah we were a little apprehensive. But as soon as we came upon Alice Lake we saw a woman who had already caught a few fish and was catching even more in just a half hour. Alexi and I immediately dropped our packs and ran for the shore. Within an hour we had both caught our first fish and it was glorious. They were beautiful brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) with their signature pink dots outlined with blue haloes and bright red/orange lower fins.

Brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) caught at Alice Lake in the Sawtooth Wilderness

As soon as we caught a fish immediately got out our knives and cut off its head so it wouldn’t suffer. Then Alexi taught me how to gut the fish by making a cut on the ventral side and then pushing the organs out. I was definitely not expecting the fish to still be moving during this process so I was a little spooked when it suddenly jumped out of my hand (this was a good 5 minutes after I had cut off its head).

The gutted brook trout-probably right before it jumped out of my hand!

We threw the gutted fish into a plastic bag, tied it to a rock and put it in the water to keep them cold while we kept fishing. I’m not sure why that man we had encountered earlier didn’t catch any fish, they were definitely biting! We brought some salt, pepper and butter packets just in case we caught fish and cooked them on our camping stoves. These brook trout were meaty and delicious.

Nothing like eating freshly caught trout in the wilderness!

Fishing at our campsite at Alice Lake.

Although they are an invasive species out here, we appreciated their contribution to our first successful fishing experience in Idaho. Since that trip we’ve also tried our hand at fly fishing and it turns out we are actually pretty good at it. We got the casting technique down and caught a few rainbow trout up near Sun Valley, Idaho. I’m currently looking for fly rods on Craigslist.

Catching rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) during our first try at fly fishing!

Work has also been very exciting lately since we have started doing bat roost surveys in lava tubes. Before entering the caves we have to put on jumpsuits, helmets, kneepads and gloves. We also have to make sure we have three sources of light. After exiting each cave we have to decontaminate to prevent the spread of white nose syndrome, which has decimated the bat populations in the East and is heading west. I’ve never been caving in lava tubes, so I wasn’t expecting everything to be so sharp. There were some places where we had to crawl around on our stomachs to squeeze through some tight areas, which resulted in many bruises the next day. Most of the cave entrances were blocked by a wall of Russian thistle (Salsola sp.), so we had to battle through them to find the entrances.

Had to battle through Russian thistle (Salsola sp.) to find some of the cave entrances.

Russian thistle (Salsola sp.) blocking some of the cave entrances.

At some of the caves we were greeted by Great Horned Owls (Bubo virginianus) that flew right at us and over our heads. They build their nests at the entrance of the caves, which are littered with owl pellets and bones of small mammals and birds. I’ve got a good collection of owl feathers, which are the softest feathers. Altogether we’ve surveyed about 30 caves in our field office. I was super excited because about half of the caves had Lord of the Rings themed names- so I was nerding out a bit. We have found only one maternity colony in a cave called Aragorn. The maternity colony of Townsend’s big-eared bats (Corynorhinus townsendii) was comprised of six adults and two pups. The pups were quite large already- about half the size of the adults.

Towsend’s big-eared bat (Corynorhinus townsendii) maternity roost with 6 adults and 2 pups.

One of the bats started to fly around us, so we quickly left so as not to disturb them anymore. Although we only have found one maternity colony so far, it is still very exciting since this is the first confirmed documented sighting of a Townsend’s big-eared bat maternity colony in the Shoshone Field Office.

Well it has been an exciting month since my last blog post. I’ve been applying to winter jobs like crazy (have an interview on Wednesday!), took a trip to the Tetons, did a trail run up to Sawtooth Lake and went home to North Carolina for a week. Yesterday I did a hike with the Idaho Conservation League up to Grays Peak in the Pioneer Range and saw some incredible views and met some interesting people. I know August will be just as exciting- I just wish it would slow down a little bit.

Until next time,

Avery

Shoshone BLM Office

Running up to Sawtooth Lake- still lots of snow up here!

View from Grays Peak in the Pioneer Range near Sun Valley. Notice the Eriogonum ovafolium in the foreground.

An assassin fly with its prey that landed on our truck the other day.

Found some friends in Ketchum, Idaho who are helping to clear out some of the invasives.

Found a nice swimming hole along the Little Wood River- complete with a diving board!

Witnessing the start of the Dietrich Fire near Shoshone.

” It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it”

Posted on 27 June, 2014 by ashawler

Summer is officially here! It’s very hard to believe that Alexi and I have been living in Shoshone for almost three months now. When we first got here we were both a little uncertain about living in such a small town where not much seems to happen. We thought our time here would just creep by. But once we did a little research and some exploring, we realized how awesome it is that we live in Shoshone. We even made an Idaho Bucket List on a small white board that we keep in the kitchen.

Our Idaho (and surrounding areas) Bucket List

We both got fishing licenses and plan to catch a lot of fish this summer (although we have yet to catch our first one, haha). We’ve kayaked on the Snake River with our Twin Falls CLM friends.

Kayaking on the Snake River outside of Twin Falls, Idaho

I joined a coed soccer league an hour away in Ketchum, Idaho and do that every Wednesday. We’ve checked out Craters of the Moon National Monument & Preserve, which is only an hour away. There’s so much to do in the surrounding areas and we have been very good about getting out on the weekends. That’s the key to living in a remote area- keeping yourself busy, planning trips, getting away for the weekend! This always seems to accelerate time.

Go home bee, you’re drunk (with pollen)

My latest weekend adventure was running my first trail race- The River of No Return Endurance Run in Challis, Idaho. There were three distances: 100km, 50km and 25km. I just did the 25km (15 miles) since this was my first time doing a trail race. It was an exciting race with about 4,000ft of elevation gain and right next to the Frank Church River of No Return Wilderness, the second largest protected wilderness area in the lower 48 (second the Death Valley)! Wolves, mountain lions, bears, elk and deer are often seen in the area where the race was held. The finisher’s t-shirt said on the back, “Run fast, everything else in these mountains does!”, with shoeprints followed by wolf paw prints underneath. My goal was to finish alive and with some dignity still left and somehow I managed to place 38 out of 113 runners and was 4^th in my age group. I also beat my goal of running it under three hours.

But enough of tooting my own horn- what I found truly amazing about this race was how positive and supportive and awesome everyone was. During the race almost every person I passed (or that passed me) said words of encouragement even if they were completely out of breath. So I started joining in and gasped “Good job!” to everyone I passed. This has never happened in a road race, because 1) normally there are way too many people and 2) in endurance trail races people are just happy to finish and there isn’t the competitive attitude like in road running, where people are constantly checking their splits and pace. After the race I sat by the finish line and watched other 25km runners come in, then the 50km runners and eventually the 100km runners. I came to the race alone and camped alone the night before, but by the end of the weekend I had made so many friends. I met a guy who used to work for my CLM advisor back in 2008. I met an awesome family while on a $10 race-discounted rafting trip on the Salmon River. And I ended up camping with an Irish guy and his friend that ran the 100km race at Challis Hot Springs. My new friends were all trying to convince me to run a 50km race, which would count as an ultramarathon (an ultramarathon is anything longer than a marathon). We shall see. Endurance trail runners are crazy people. They enjoy pushing their bodies and minds to the limit, they don’t mind getting really dirty, and they are fearless. I hope to join their ranks one day.

Trail running on the Pioneer Cabin Trail outside of Sun Valley, Idaho

So that was my exciting weekend. Today I’m heading to the Grand Tetons to do a backpacking trip for a couple days. And then Alexi and I are planning a backpacking trip in the Sawtooth Mountains near Stanley, Idaho for the Fourth of July weekend. The weekend after that we are planning a trip to Hell’s Canyon on the border of Idaho and Washington and Oregon. We actually stress about not having enough time to do all the things we want to do. Like I said, we keep ourselves busy.

Eriogonum ovalifolium in Craters of the Moon NM

Indian Tunnel in Craters of the Moon NM

Now I know not everyone is that gung-ho to go out and adventure. Here are the major excuses:

1) I don’t have anyone to go with.

Then go alone! I’ve had some of my greatest adventure camping and exploring on my own. You’ll learn a lot about yourself and maybe you’ll finally finish that book you’ve been meaning to read. And maybe you’ll make new friends along the way

2) I don’t know where to go.

Most of y’all probably work in offices where people could give you recommendations. Or check things out online. Or find a local outdoor gear shop and ask people. Or buy a map and pick a point and go!

3) I don’t have the gear.

Get an REI membership and look for their huge sales. Look on Craigslist or backcountry.com. Go to a sports consignment store. As CLM interns you can get prodeals at Outdoor Prolink (http://www.outdoorprolink.com/) and Promotive (https://www.promotive.com/) as long as you have a government email and ADP Pay Stub.

4) I don’t want to spend that much money on gas

This is the one that will sometimes make me hesitant since money always seems to be tight. But I’ve often found that I don’t regret it at all. The drive is almost always worth it. You’ll never know what you’re missing unless you go and check it out. Twenty years from now you won’t remember how it cost you $40 worth of gas money and 6 hours of driving, but you’ll remember jumping into the ice cold alpine lake and how it literally took your breath away.

5) I don’t really like camping and being outside

Well then you’re in the wrong line of work!

So go explore- get lost, sweat profusely, get grimy, exert yourself, talk to strangers, get wet, do something you’re not good at, get scared, surprise yourself, get uncomfortable! Don’t be lazy botanists. Nobody ever looks back on his or her life and thinks, man I wish I played it safe and did less. Most CLM internships are in some incredible places or near incredible places. You’re in the Wild West, take advantage of it while you can. Take a drive, take a hike, get out and go do!

Killdeer chick outside our office

Brewer’s sparrow eggs hidden in the sagebrush

Mentzelia laevicaulis (Blazing Star)

And here’s another Edward Abbey quote for ya:

“One final paragraph of advice: do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am – a reluctant enthusiast….a part-time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it’s still here. So get out there and hunt and fish and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, climb the mountains, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to the body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much; I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound men and women with their hearts in a safe deposit box, and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this; You will outlive the bastards.” ― Edward Abbey

Until next time,

Avery

Shoshone BLM Office

Five things I’ve learned about being out West

Posted on 12 June, 2014 by ashawler

I graduated a year ago this week and I have been reflecting on my first year out of college and all the cool things I have experienced during my seasonal life out West. Here’s a list of a few things I’ve learned about being out here:

1. Cattle are everywhere. Even when you think you’re completely alone in a wilderness area you’ll find yourself stumbling upon a herd of cows grazing on the vegetation and navigating all sorts of terrain. I remember even seeing cows in Buckskin Gulch in Utah, coming through the slot canyon towards me. They are curious, but terribly skittish (rightfully so) creatures. They look hilariously awkward when they run. And they are pretty good at cleaning trucks when they’re curious enough to come and lick them.

2. Seeing pronghorn and horny toads never get old. Theses animals don’t look like they belong in the United States- they’re so exotic and ancient looking. Every time I see a herd of pronghorn effortlessly sprinting over the desert/prairie/steppe, I am amazed at their agility to move over the rocks, sagebrush and cactus. They look like they belong in Africa with the springbok and impala. They are extremely curious. Apparently if you get out of your truck and alternate between doing jumping jacks and laying down on the ground, a herd of pronghorn will actually approach you. This has been field tested.

A curious pronghorn evaluates our truck.

Every time I see a horny toad I catch them immediately and am amazed at their calm stoic disposition and their spiny skin. Their bored expression is especially endearing.

Horny toads- the dragons of the desert.

3. Driving long distances is not a big deal. Out east driving more than five hours seems daunting. But out West covering hundreds of miles in a day is nothing. This country is so vast and the traffic minimal that it’s actually somewhat enjoyable. The terrain varies so much out here- one minute you’ll be meandering on winding snowy mountain roads and the next minute you’ll be going 70mph through the desert.

4. The government owns a lot of land. I already knew that about a third of the US is federally owned, but that’s not something that is very apparent when you’re living out East. If you look at a map of federally owned lands in the U.S., the government owns most of the land west of the Rockies. My home is near Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and until this year that was the only National Park I’d ever visited. This year I’ve visited (and worked in) at least 20 different National Park units in CO, SD, WY, UT, AZ , NM and ID and I plan on visiting a lot more during my CLM internship! Not to mention the countless lands owned by the Forest Service and BLM that I’ve found places for free dispersed camping.

Map of Federal Lands in the USA

And lastly,

5. The desert/steppe is an amazing place. I have the deepest respect for the plants and animals that not only survive in this harsh environment, but actually thrive in it. I am reminded of one of my favorite Edward Abbey passages from A Desert Solitaire:

“The wind will not stop. Gusts of sand swirl before me, stinging my face. But there is still too much to see and marvel at, the world very much alive in the bright light and wind, exultant with the fever of spring, the delight of morning. Strolling on, it seems to me that the strangeness and wonder of existence are emphasized here, in the desert, by the comparative sparsity of the flora and fauna: life not crowded upon life as in other place but scattered abroad in spareness and simplicity, with a generous gift of space for each herb and bush and tree, each stem of grass, so that the living organism stands out bold and brave and vivid against the lifeless sand and barren rock. The extreme clarity of the desert light is equaled by the extreme individuation of desert life forms. Love flowers best in openness and freedom”

The last few weeks we’ve seen many of the desert flowers come into bloom. Here are my favorites so far:

Penstemon palmeri (Palmer’s penstemon). Now I understand why penstemons are called beardtongues!

Oenothera caespitosa (Tufted evening primrose). We’ve noticed these have started to bloom among the lava rock in our field sites.

Until next time,

Avery

Shoshone BLM Office

Shoshone, Idaho

Updates from Shoshone

Posted on 6 May, 2014 by ashawler

Almost three weeks have passed since Alexi and I arrived in the tiny town of Shoshone, Idaho. We have settled into our charming creaky home (built in 1886), found running routes around town, befriended our neighbors and their two dogs, raided the nearby thrift stores for home goods, explored the Sun Valley area, and have (almost) gotten used to the trains that roar through town every hour and the mysterious siren that goes off every night at 10pm.

In the Shoshone BLM Office we have completed various tasks around the office to prepare for a field season of vegetation monitoring. In the first two weeks several different people in the office took us out to different BLM allotments to get us acquainted with the Shoshone Field Office and the plants we’ll be monitoring. On Tuesday we conducted our first nested frequency survey and learned about 12 new species.

It is always exciting the first couple weeks at a new field site when you start learning the plant species. The landscape goes from being a sea of unknowns to a sea of familiar faces. I love it when you see a plant you recognize from a previous field site in your new field site. It is like seeing an old friend and begins to make the new place feel like home. The seasonal lifestyle has shown me that I very easily fall in love with a landscape and grow attached to it. By knowing the species in the area you gain a sense of ownership of the land, which is an important aspect of conservation.

One of the highlights of our first three weeks working in the Shoshone Field Office was conducting a sage grouse lek survey and actually seeing the leks! We had conducted two surveys in the first two weeks, but the weather was uncooperative and we only managed to see sage grouse that we flushed out. On Wednesday morning Alexi and I went to a different site where active leks had been observed this year. Since now is when the males normally stop lekking there was a good chance that we wouldn’t get to see them, but we decided to give it a try.

lek

The strutting begins. Time to impress the (absent) ladies.

Guarding his staging turf.

It was difficult to hold our composure when we first saw the males’ white chests puffing out amongst the sagebrush and realizing that we were in fact witnessing a lek. It was still dark out and the males were a little slow at first, but when the sun started peaking over the horizon and warming their feathers they livened up and began to strut. I would not describe their dance as majestic. While their plumage is beautiful and their posture much better than mine, their signature strut is actually quite humorous to me. When they puff up their chest with their vocal air sacs, they look like fat indignant old men. Then they jiggle the air sacs around for a bit and make an odd sound that is similar to a champagne bottle being uncorked. In the first lek we counted 23 males, but no females were to be seen. The males were undaunted by the absence of females and continued their strut, staking their staging territory. We witnessed several fights between males where they would face off and then actually viciously attack each other.

strutting

Strut sequence

face off

Face off at dawn

While I don’t think of their strut as majestic, I do admire their efforts to attract a mate. During the lekking season they go out and strut for several hours a day, which undoubtedly uses a ton of energy. They are vulnerable to predators (we’re pretty sure we saw a bald eagle right across the road from one of the leks). Many face rejection since only a few of the dominant males will actually get to mate. And even when most females are probably already sitting on their nests, these males are trying just as hard to impress. We did see one female in the second lek. She was surrounded by two males with her head tucked into her breast and was either a) shy, b) playing hard to get, or c) just not into them.

It was very exciting to get to witness the species that we are trying to protect in action. It puts our fieldwork into context and makes our tasks seem more important. I am very thankful we had the opportunity to observe the leks before we delved into our vegetation surveys.

If you have never seen a lek in action you should check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0M8pZnNlnI

I am very excited for our next six months in Idaho. There is a lot to explore and do here and summer is just around the corner.

Until next time,

Avery

Shoshone BLM Field Office

CLM Internship Program Blog

Adventures of a CLM Intern

Tag Archives: idaho

Never have I ever been out West

July in Idaho

Idaho: Month 2

Field Work in Idaho!

Idahome

High Peaks and Hot Springs in Idaho

Fishing and caving in Idaho

” It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it”

Five things I’ve learned about being out West

Updates from Shoshone