Tag Archives: BLM

Greetings from the High Desert of Burns, Oregon!

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Hello everyone,

I have just began my internship with the Burns District Bureau of Land Management in the beautiful high desert of Eastern Oregon. My name is Dan Mayer and I am a very recent graduate of Paul Smith’s College of the Adirondack Park in Northern New York. I graduated last weekend with a B.S. in Fisheries & Wildlife Science (Wildlife Concentration) and a Geographic Information Systems Certificate. After graduating, I was home for one day before driving cross country to Oregon, complete with a multitude of National Park Visits and National Forest drive throughs.

This is a beautiful landscape of rangelands, volcanic rocks, and high desert scrubs.

Today was the first day of my internship based out of the Burns District BLM. During my internship, I will be conducting vegetation sampling techniques in order to evaluate the effectiveness of post-wildlfire rehabilitation efforts as part of the BLM’s Emergency Response & Stabilization Program (ES&R). A large part of the beginning of my internship will be spent familiarizing myself with the native and noxious vegetation in the nearly 1.1 million acre district. As part of the program, we will be revisiting many of the fires from last year’s season, to see what’s growing back or more importantly what isn’t.

Sagebrush leaves are collected, weighed, and dried, to evaluate fire conditions.

I was able to get into the field this afternoon with my mentor, Casey, in order to evaluate fire conditions by collecting, weighing, and drying sagebrush leaves.

The vistas and landscapes seem to endlessly stretch in every direction.

For those of you unfamiliar with Southeastern Oregon, it’s an almost alien landscape of ancient volcanic rocks, arid and cracking soil, sagebrush, western red cedar, and the ever present invasive cheatgrass. Thus far, the weather has been gorgeous sunny days, and cool calm nights. The vistas and landscapes seem to stretch on forever in every direction, and the uniqueness of the terrain is hard to put into words.

This is the vehicle of choice for working in this tough environment.

Overall, I was very impressed by the group of hard working, passionate, and knowledgeable natural resource professionals that I met today at the Emigrant Creek Ranger Station and Burns BLM Office, and I look forward to prying their brains for more about the area as I settle into my CLM role.

 

It starts!

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There are two CLM interns here at the Safford, AZ BLM field office this Summer, myself and Rosalee. We will be working together on multiple projects for our two mentors, Heidi and Jeff. Between now and the July monsoon rains we will be working mostly with Heidi on native fish monitoring as well as some non-native fish removal in local stream, rivers, and pools. In the fall, we will switch gears and begin helping Jeff out and utilizing our Seeds of Success training as we aim to complete over 30 collections for the SOS program. In between these major projects, we will work on some restoration projects both here in the Safford area, and in the Patagonia, AZ area. Once construction is complete on the common greenhouse for the Safford BLM/Gila Watershed Partnership/Eastern Arizona College, we will also be helping out there with the propagation of native plants for various restoration projects. Additionally, when we are not in the field we will be completing data entry for both mentors and helping to create digital herbarium specimen for the BLM Office.

I can’t believe 3 weeks of the internship is already gone! It has been such a whirlwind! After arriving and moving into my housing on the 1st of May and settling in, work began on Monday May 6th. That first week was mostly paperwork, meetings and trainings, with a small amount of field work thrown in. For some reason I find it highly ironic that probably the only job for which I will ever have a cubicle, is for a field-work based internship! After our first Monday-Thursday, we then had Friday and Saturday off before we began our roadtrip up to Boise, ID for the Seeds of Success – Seed Collecting for Conservation and Restoration course. The training was very fun and informative and I had a great time. Idaho is a beautiful state with great people! Our third week was very fun. We caught up on reimbursement paperwork and surveys for our training courses as well as more data entry. Wednesday was extremely cool. We got to complete Utility Terrain Vehicle training and are now certified to drive UTVs!

I find that I am still just as excited about the vast number of learning opportunities this internship offers as when I signed on to come to Safford 3 months ago. I can’t wait to see how much more I can learn not only about the ecological communities in which I am working, but about the agency in which I work. I am definitely looking forward to the next 4 months! And now I am off to relax and explore the area during the long Memorial Day weekend!

Gila Chub from Bonita Creek

BAs, BEs and FOs, oh my!

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I’m wrapping up my first month with the BLM at the Wyoming State Office in Cheyenne, and it has gone by quickly. I’ve spent some of my time attempting to learn the 437 (estimated) acronyms used by different programs and agencies on a regular basis.

Most of my duties consist of updating the Statewide Programmatic Biological Assessments (BAs) and Biological Evaluations (BEs) for Threatened and Endangered (T&E) Species for the BLM. These documents are then submitted to the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), so they can be used by the 10 respective Field Offices (FO) in Wyoming. Then the FOs can look to the BA or BE for each respective T&E species or SSS, along with the BO generated by the FWS so management actions can abide by land use stipulations outlined by the CMs and BMPs in the Bas or BE. That way any Agency or NGO will be aware of pertinent information, such as the ACECs, or CSUs, or if an NSO is in place.
AKS (all kidding aside), I’ve gained valuable experience and a better understanding of how the BLM manages a multitude of different land use programs while protecting T&E and candidate species. I’ve had the opportunity to participate in meetings and discussion on sage-grouse with multiple agencies as well as some additional high-profile species, including lynx, bald eagle, and gray wolves. Hopefully my next post will result in a few more completed projects and an ability to immediately understand the other 424 acronyms…

Winter, and a new beginning

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I moved to Boise, Idaho two weeks ago. Coming from Miami, the scenery seems barren due to the lack of green. It is also significantly colder, about 30 degrees compared to 70 degrees. Once I bought a winter jacket (there were none in Miami stores), I felt comfortable. Now I’m used to biking in the cold weather, and commuting to work in below freezing weather. I can see why layers are so important.

During the winter I will mostly be working on databasing projects. There is a large collection of lichens, at the BLM herbarium that needs to be reorganized and updated. It’s amazing how many nuances there are to maintaining a herbarium. Some of the details that need to be considered are nomenclature changes, GPS, and making sure all the details on the collection label match the database record. It is time consuming but rewarding to know that I am putting together a collection that future researchers can utilize.

At the moment, I am working on a Florida lichen database, checking all 1,000 records and tying up all the loose ends. My boss collected lichens in Florida for many years, and would like to donate the lichens to Florida institutions. Many universities in Florida do not have large collections of Florida lichens, and this is a way to disseminate knowledge and put the lichens in a place where they will be useful and accessible. For my undergraduate studies, I studied Florida lichens, so the opportunity to continue working with them is exciting. There is so much to study, and the information from this database will be important for ecological research.

I hope to go out in the field next week. There might be sagebrush seeds to collect. If there is precipitation or snow, it might be possible to lay some seeds on a restoration site. I’m very curious to see what this desert looks like. From afar it looks lifeless, but I’m sure many plants are growing, camouflaged into the scenery.

Finding Beauty In The Badlands

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When I arrived in southeastern Montana for the first time, it was obvious that this part of the country is very different from the northwest, where I had studied and worked previously. Most evident was the lack of large numbers of trees in most of the area; in addition, the geology is very different, causing the badland formations, marked by layers and layers of different types of rock. As the softer sandstone has eroded over time, what remains are columns topped by harder structures known as “hoodoos”. Quite scenic!

Since a significant portion of the BLM lands are badlands (so called because they are “bad land”, not suitable for cattle or farming), I have gotten to explore very interesting pieces of the landscape. To the untrained eye, the topography and vegetation seem very similar throughout many of the sites we have monitored. But just as I was beginning to describe this region as “all the same”, I began to stumble upon areas that surprised me with their beauty and diversity. While scouting for populations of buffalo berry, we explored a few areas around Fort Peck Lake. As we drove further towards the lake, I was surprised to see the pastures merge into forested badlands and rolling hills covered in lush vegetation. Although we didn’t find what we were looking for, we were amazed by the number of sego lilies! I also found a new perspective on eastern Montana and the beauty in its diverse landscape. And with any luck, we will get out there again to collect sego lily seeds later in the season!!

One thing I’ve learned from this experience so far? Never assume things about a landscape. You will always be surprised.

A Wyoming Summer to Remember

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It’s hard to believe that three months have flown by since the CLM training workshop at the Grand Canyon. Thanks again to Krissa and Marian for organizing such a great week! I really enjoyed myself and learned a lot.

My Geographic Information Systems (GIS) internship with the Rock Springs, Wyoming BLM field office has afforded me many opportunities to learn new skills in GIS software. Most of my time is spent inside working on various small projects for numerous employees throughout the office. One day I may be working on a map showing the spatial relationship between oil and gas wells and sage grouse core areas for the Minerals and Lands department and the next I’ll be working on creating a reference map of Herd Management Areas for the Wild Horse Specialist to use out in the field. It is nice to have such a mix of assignments.

I’ve become more experienced in digitizing geographic features, as well as in general data management. Over the course of three months, I’ve assisted in geographic data acquisition, organization, analysis and maintenance. I’ve also become more experienced in the manipulation and creation of shapefiles and have done extensive work in readying sage grouse and pygmy rabbit datasets for further analysis by our wildlife biologists.

My cubicle workspace

While office life may not parallel the glamor and excitement of field work, it has helped me improve my computer skills and hone my interpersonal skills in a professional environment. I’m especially thankful for my mentor, Doug, who has imparted his vast GIS knowledge with patience and enthusiasm throughout my time here. He describes himself as “eccentric” and brings a welcome boost of levity to the office environment with his humorous perspective and playful attitude.

Doug on a normal day

Using a Trimble GPS to ground truth features in the field

Along with indoor activity, I also manage to get outside occasionally. In addition to accompanying my mentor for some GPS ground-truthing work, I’ve also been fortunate enough to assist various field crews from the recreation, wildlife and Seeds of Success divisions here.

Folgers coffee beans? Nope, my collection of chokecherries for the Seeds of Success program.

Some memorable moments from the field include: Sitting by a pristine creek for a lunch break and enjoying the scenery and perfect weather, trying to winch a truck out of a muddy sinkhole, walking fencelines inspecting them for sage grouse “strikes” in the foothills of the Wind River Mountains, watching wild horses and bull elk from atop White Mountain (just west of Rock Springs) and seeing two red foxes dart in front of the truck on the way to check a recreation site.

A very stuck truck!

Two fellow CLM interns enjoying a beautiful day for planting trees on National Public Lands Day.

I also had the opportunity to participate in my field office’s National Public Lands Day (NPLD) event a couple of weeks ago. Myself and other CLM interns helped to direct and assist nearly 100 high school students and teachers in planting over 950 native trees along a local riparian corridor. It was a rewarding service project and an enjoyable outing with my fellow interns.

Fall hiking with my roommates

Speaking of the other interns here, we have grown close as friends and share a camaraderie that extends beyond the workday. Although you might not guess it from a glimpse of Rock Springs itself, there is no shortage of places to go and things to do here in southwest Wyoming. Weekends are always jam-packed with fun, adventurous activities. Over the course of the summer, I’ve been hiking, camping, backpacking, road biking, mountain biking, swimming, rock climbing, tubing down rivers and playing in sand dunes. It’s been great to enjoy such varied activities with a fun group of people!

Fellow CLM intern Deanna sledding down a giant sand dune

Myself on a backpacking trip in the Wind River Mountains

I look forward to my last month here as a CLM intern and eagerly anticipate the remaining adventures that await me!

Melissa Buchmann
Rock Springs, WY
Bureau of Land Management

In which we electrocute fish

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One of the benefits to being a wildlife intern is that I get to handle animals.  Usually it’s limited to the arthropods and herps I find out in the field, but sometimes it’s even more exciting.  Most recently, Michelle and I were sent out to check on fish populations on Forest Service and BLM land.  There’s a decently sized stream that runs through both FS and BLM land which has a number of indigenous species (Lepidomeda alicia, Rhinichthys osculus, and Catostomus platyrhynchus) as well as the accurséd Salmo trutta.

As an aside, I need to say that the BLM riparian vegetation was in infinitely better shape than the FS parcel thanks to more responsible grazing methods.   Just sayin’.

<i>Lepidomeda alicia</i>, leathersides, are not for eating.

Lepidomeda alicia, leathersides, are not for eating.

As I expected, in order to estimate the number of fish in a stream it’s necessary to capture them.  What I wasn’t prepared for was the equipment: a forty-plus pound backpack full of electronics and a very large 24 volt battery.  It turns out that the preferred methodology for catching fish is to use this Ghostbusters cast-off to run an electrical current through the water.  The field wreaks temporary havoc with their little nervous systems which causes them to drift aimlessly into our waiting nets.

We were warned beforehand that there’s usually low mortality with this technique, but not non-zero.  Larger fish have greater surface area and therefore take a harder hit from the current and have a tendency to die.  The current was actually very mild; I unthinkingly shoved my hand in the water to grab a fish while the stunner was running and only spasmed slightly. I’m marginally larger than even a brown trout, so I think that it’s fair to say that it wasn’t a horrible experience for them especially given that we didn’t lose a single fish.

Our field office doesn’t have waders large enough for me, so I didn’t get to wield the stunner.  Instead, I was given an even better job which I know sounds crazy—what could be better than electrocuting fish—but it’s true.  I was take-the-fish-out-of-the-net-to-put-in-the-bucket guy.  That means that I got to handle the fish directly and admire them and their nematode parasites.

Michelle proudly holds the <i>Salmo trutta</i>, brown trout, I accidentally dropped. Repeatedly.

Michelle proudly holds the Salmo trutta, brown trout, I accidentally dropped. Repeatedly.

Now, prior to this field excursion, I had appreciated fish as theoretically pleasant creatures.  Now I desperately want to take ichthyology courses so I can handle more of them.  I can’t begin to describe what fantastic and beautiful pieces of engineering these things are.  For example, the Salmo trutta (May their tribe decrease!) secrete mucus which makes handling them, or presumably eating them, much more difficult.  I personally dropped the same brown trout at least five times while trying to pose for a photo. Michelle got a better picture with it just because I had stunned it already. I was also sort of secretly hoping that one of the larger fish might spontaneously die so that I could dismantle it but that in no way changed how I treated them.

We swept each stretch of creek twice: the first time was to catch as many fish as possible so that the second sweep would yield no more than 40% of the first catch. By doing so, we made the statistical witchcraft that estimates the total population more accurate. It meant a lot of work though. We caught several hundred on the first pass at one site. Luckily, doing a proper job the first pass makes the second a breeze.

The data that we gathered was some of the first for this particular system, so more will be gathered in the next few years as the monitoring continues. There’s some talk of (Euphemism alert!) “removing” the brown trout seeing as they’re an unwelcome species from Europe imported for sport fishing. The hope is to introduce trout endemic to Utah and restore the stream to its former native glory. Until then, most of the focus is on adjusting grazing schedules to repair the riparian communities along the banks. Having seen photos of what this stream looked like a few years ago, I’m proud of my field office’s handling of the situation.

Nelson Stauffer, BLM Cedar City Field Office, Over and out.