Tag Archives: Boise

Hornworm Kisses to Alpine Hiking!

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Another month down! This month has been packed with trips and projects for the Rocky Mountain Research Station.

First, Elric and I headed to Sun Valley to scout for some Eriogonum umbellatum and Lomatium dissectum. We hiked this scree covered mountain, and when we got to the top we found a small population of Lomatium! It was super windy up there, and as we were hiking some jets flew over our heads! We also took a beautiful hike in Antelope Valley, and found two varieties of Eriogonum umbellatum!

Elric Hiking
Iron Bog Campsite View
Pretty Penstemon
Antelope Valley Hike
Antelope Valley Hike

After that successful trip, I decided to go visit some other CLM Interns in Council, ID! Dan and Levi introduced me to their housemates, and we explored the beautiful area around Council. Dan knew a spot for (low) cliff jumping by a waterfall, and we camped on this huge rock.

Sophie and I enjoying the water
Dan successfully (?) balancing

Then, we had a busy week ahead of us! Our station went to the Botany 2023 Conference in Boise, ID. We got to interact with botanists from all around, go on rafting on the Payette and Boise rivers, go on hiking field trips, and sit in on talks about botany research! It was an amazing time to get to see what the world of botany is like, and meet many peers who love the field! Such a wonderful time with great people.

Celebrate!
Botany talks
After-Conference Badminton Championship
Blue Lake- Cascades
Snowbank Mountain Hike

Right after the conference, Elric and I departed to Eastern Idaho to take part in the GLORIA (Global Observation Research Initiative in Alpine Environments) Project! We met up with Kat and Alex, who work in Idaho Falls (Alex is a CLM intern and Kat works in the Idaho Falls office as a Resource Assistant!) Our group hiked up to Sheep Mountain South and began alpine monitoring. Luckily, the weather was cooperative while we were there, with only one small sprinkle while we were on the peaks. Our group had 4 peaks to survey, and we split up during the day to cover more ground and set up our monitoring equipment. It was a great weekend and a nice change of pace working in alpine environments!

Elric and his mosquito bands
Spring Mountain Peak
Sheep Mountain South view
Kat + Heart Rock
Alex point-surveying
Abandoned snowplow

Overall, it’s been an exciting and busy month! I look forward to what the rest of August holds!

Botanist Teletubbies
Bluebunch Common Garden
L to R: Althea, Levi, Mita, Dan, Dan, Levi, Mita, Althea, Beth, Bebe- Meanders in McCall
Dan drying out all of his river-soaked wallet contents
Hornworm kisses

Range life: Month 4

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August in Idaho has been a great month. I’ve gotten the chance to travel more around my area and try some new things at work. We wrapped up our habitat assessments. At this point I’d say my field partners and I are pretty good at identifying dead and dry plants. 😉 On some days we had the opportunity of working in mountainous areas which were a treat, visually, but a test, physically.

Habitat assessment transect along a very steep hill

Habitat assessment transect along a steep hill

It took a while to get the protocol down because it has undergone many changes in recent years. I always carried a hard copy in the field with me because we had to refer to it several times when we were unsure of a measurement technique.

We also drove around some allotments for use supervision, which entails making sure the cows are grazing in the right pastures. They have to go through a proper rotation to allow for vegetation regrowth. I’ve learned that this can be a point of contention between the BLM and the ranchers or the public.

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Microphone that picks up the frequencies of bat calls. It’s connected to another device that shows us the frequencies and saves 15 sec clips of sound.

Just recently we’ve had the opportunity to work on a couple of GIS projects here in the office. It feels good to get back into that practice. I was also able to tag along with a Fish & Game employee for a couple of nights of bat monitoring! We went to a few sites, set up recording devices, and then drove along a transect near the Snake River and some agricultural land to record bat echolocation activity. It was interesting to see how different species have unique frequency patterns.

Late July and the month of August has been full of travels and time spent with friends. I’ve made 4 trips to Boise since my last post. I got to see two of my favorite bands play live and I got to hang out with several other CLM interns (shoutout to Megan, Austin, Jessica, Amy, Dan, and Lara!).

This month I also had the chance to camp in the Sawtooth National Forest, north of Stanley along the Salmon River.

Campsite along the Salmon River near Stanley, ID

Campsite along the Salmon River near Stanley, ID

 

 

 

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Craters!

Craters!

I’ve also spent time in Ketchum. Hailey and I re-visited the Craters of the Moon National Monument. I also made it down to Salt Lake City and Jackpot, NV where I won $900+ on a slot machine! (Jackpot, indeed!) I’ll be trying to take in some more Idaho beauty during my last month here. So much time and so little to do! Strike that. Reverse it.

crystal clear water at Redfish Lake

crystal clear water at Redfish Lake

 

 

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Lunch stop

 

Oh yeah, and I went to the Twin Falls County Fair

Carla–BLM, Shoshone, ID

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.