Battle of the Bull Thistle

Posted on 14 August, 2024 by Anthony Rondon

Another month has passed working with the folks here at the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF). Time has flown, a testament to the fun I have had working in partnership with the Restoration team here. Despite the laughs shared in the field not every day has been a walk in the park, and this month was witness to a battle between us ecologists/botanists and the most angry non-native perennial herb one could imagine, Bull Thistle (Circium vulagre).

Stare down between myself (right) and some bull thistle (*C. vulgare)* (left) at Johnson’s Meadow.

We ventured out into the San Jacinto Mountains near Idyllwild, California arriving at a site known as Johnson’s Meadow. Equipped with serrated shovels, leather gloves, trash bags, and clippers in hand to go up against the large spikes of the thistles which are non-native to this riparian meadow nestled into the Southern California mountains. This area was identified as ecologically important due to the presence of a threatened species Scutellaria bolanderi ssp, austromontana a perennial herb native to California and found most commonly in wetland areas such as in the ephemeral stream that runs through this meadow.

Flowers of Southern skullcap (*S. bolanderi ssp. austromontana)* Source:Calflora: Information on California plants for education, research and conservation. [web application]. Berkeley, California: The Calflora Database [a non-profit organization]. Available: https://www.calflora.org/ (Accessed: July 30, 2024).

Johnson’s Meadow also happens to be a grazing pasture for a local farmer’s cows, and therefore exclusion fences were put up around the identified population of southern skullcap (S. bolanderi) in order to prevent the cows from consuming this threatened species as a tasty snack. There are additionally milk weed populations (Asclepias eriocarpa) at the meadow that rely on native pollinators which are often just as enamored with the thistles as they are with the milk weed.

A female monarch butterfly *(Danaus plexippus)* decides a prickly bull thistle flower head makes for the perfect landing pad.

In order to combat the threat to local biodiversity that bull thistle poses, a group of forest service field techs, myself and Arturo with the CLM internship program, and Lance Woolley the district botanist for the San Jacinto side of the SBNF joined forces on a 3-day weeding spree. The meadow was full of tall, spiky thistle plants peeking up above the dense grasses and native California wild rose (Rosa californica) that filled much of the area. When we came up upon a thistle plant we first had to check if any of the flower heads had bloomed or gone to seed. If they had even bloomed (the purple puff sitting on top of that green spiky ball at the end of each stalk) we had to clip the flower head and place it into a trash bag for removal from the area. If the flower head had already gone to seed we did our best to remove these carefully without releasing the wind dispersed seeds into the surrounding areas. This process was difficult on its own due to the large spikes that cover every inch of a bull thistle from the stem, to the leaves, to the flower head. These spikes were often large enough to pierce straight through our pig-skin leather gloves. The only safe spot to grab a bull thistle is from the underground root once you’ve wrenched the sucker out of the ground. The process was made even more difficult due to bull thistles seeming preference of growing either next to huge patches of California wild rose (R. californica), stinging nettle (Urtica dioica), or if you are really lucky you can get the trifecta of all 3 pressed up next to each other!

An example of a bull thistle plant with both the purple flower head (front) as well as the brown/beige seed head (back) spotted in Johnson’s Meadow.

In total after 3 days of work and a crew of forest service employees, interns, and a crew from the Urban Conservation Corps, we were able to remove the vast majority of the bull thistle biomass from Johnson’s Meadow. The population there had to have exceeded 500 and I wish we had kept an accurate count day to day of how many plants we removed but pulling thistle in the middle of July in Southern California is no joke, and we were lucky to remember our names at the end of the day let alone an accurate count. Regardless the district botanists Lance seemed to be pleased with our final result. The battle of the bull thistle ended with victory siding with California natives in Johnson’s Meadow primarily due to the intervention of people who care about conserving and protecting the diversity of our public lands! It was inspiring to look out and see how much we were able to make an impact, yet simultaneously it was daunting considering how many meadows just like this one exist that cannot be managed through human intervention. The battle of the bull thistle may have ended for this growing season in Johnson’s meadow, but something tells me the race for dominance between native and non-native species is just heating up.

Images of Johnson’s Meadow before (top) and after (bottom) removal of invasive bull thistle *(C. vulgare)*.

New friends and Newts!

Posted on 14 August, 2024 by Beth Haney

This month has been full of new plants, insects, and adventures! Seed collection has started to pick up in early July, so we began trying to scout as many populations as possible before they started to disperse. Dean and I found a gorgeous site for one of our target species, Penstemon newberryi, as well as a neat wetland with native pond lilies. I had to go take a look at the blooms!

We began exploring further away from the office and came across Pyramid Creek Trailhead, which happened to have a significant amount of our target species there, as well as gorgeous views of Horsetail Falls and the Desolation Wilderness. We have spent a few days going back there for phenology checks as well as seed collections! So far, we have collected Penstemon newberryi, Chlorogalum pomeridianum, Hosackia oblongifolia, and more to come soon!

My family came and visited me to see my new home! we explored the area and went to Lake Tahoe. They were so excited to see California again after moving to Idaho! We also went to see the Rubicon Trail, which is an off-roading trail that is some serious business. I don’t think my little Jeep is up to the task!

Dean and I have had the amazing privilege of assisting the Pollinator Team from Cal State East Bay. We collected data for a pollinator network for Lewisia kellogii and Calochortus clavatus var. avius. Learning more about pollinator work is fascinating, and I’m feel so lucky that we made some amazing new friends!

Yosemite!! I have been waiting for this for a while, and I finally got to go with Iris and Matt! We explored the park for a weekend, and it was absolutely fantastic. This park is very special and definitely worth the visit! We were there during a stormy weekend which was fantastic to see so much water and lightning!

Then, it finally happened. Dean and I drove to the north zone of the forest in search of some target species and stopped by a creek to eat lunch. There it was, sitting on a rock in the shallows… a NEWT! I have never seen a newt before, and it was magical. Best day yet!

On my free time, I went to Grass Lake with Matt, which is California’s largest fen. I have never been in a fen before, which the feeling is like a waterbed. Matt and I explored, finding some neat, rare Carex species, some little friends, and a rare mushroom that Dean collected for sequencing!

Dean and I went to go check on an Anderson’s Thistle site to see if seeds were ready to be collected, and Dean spotted something amazing! There was a large bright yellow bumble bee, that turned out to be Morrisons Bumble Bee which is a threatened species. So wonderful to see two of them in one day!

Finally, to end this month, we assisted in a training for Botrychium surveying. Seeing these in real life was pretty insane, they are smaller than I imagined! I am excited to now know what habitats they like to go look for them on my free time! We then finished off the day by watching a baby Saw-whet owl up in a tree.

And a little bug appreciation section!

July was amazing, I’m looking forward to what comes next!

A Completely Incomplete Guide to Lupine ID

Posted on 12 August, 2024 by Sam Vasen

Month two in Plumas! Andrea and I are really starting to get into the swing of things now. We’ve spent the majority of our time this month working on seed collection which has been very satisfying. After learning the ropes for the first couple weeks, we’ve grown more confident and competent out in the field on our own. Scouting is still the bulk of our work but many of our populations are now ready for harvest. This may go without saying, but when monitoring populations for future collection, we want to be 100% sure on our species ID. With some plants like Veratrum californicum or Elymus elymoides, correct identification only requires a quick glance. However, with some other genera and species we really have to get into the weeds – if you will – to lock down that latin binomial. One genus in particular that is a priority for collection and a challenge to ID has been haunting our dreams and sometimes nightmares for all of July.

The Lupinus genus or Lupines are fairly ubiquitous across the Sierras and much of the American West. They come in all shapes and sizes, most often with obvious palmate leaves and whorled, long inflorescences of white, lilac, purple, blue and sometimes yellow flowers. They grow well in open areas and are nitrogen fixers like many other genera in the Fabaceae family, making them a great candidate for restoration projects in burn scars. Their fruit are pea-looking pods that are seemingly easy to collect and they grow in thick patches all across Plumas National Forest. All this makes the perfect recipe for seed collection. However, there are so many different species and identification has proven to be quite tricky. In the Jepson, the list of lupine species in California takes up seven whole pages and in our local flora, the Oswald Guide, they take up four. A search on Calflora yields 39 different species and varieties in Plumas County. All this means that we had a lot of learning to do when it came to differentiating between all these lupines.

Starting with the basics, we learned relevant lupine morphology and the various terms that would be relevant for identification. The aspects of the flower that are typically of note are: how glabrous or ciliate the keel is, whether or not the keel is covered by the wings, the width of the banner petal, how pubescent the banner backing is, the prominence of the calyx spur, the color of the petal, the length of the corolla, and I’m sure several other features. For the rest of the plant, we learned its important to look at, the height, the growth habit, how woody the stem is, the length or presence of stipules, whether or not the leaves are adaxially or abaxially hairy, the pattern and openness of the inflorescence, and the habitat its found in. Even when we figure out all of these features – to the best of our ever improving ability – some species are still unclear. For example, only a couple millimeters of stipule length might separate the decision to call population Lupinus andersonii or Lupinus albicaulis – two species which the Jepson describes as “morphologically indistinct”. The presence of an almost invisible patch of hairs on the inside of the wing petals could be the only signifier between L. argenteus var. heteranthus and L. arbustus. Without a doubt, there was a strong learning curve. Several weeks of non-stop lupine action did wonders for our identification skills. We went from a half an hour of keying only yielding more questions to fairly confident species IDs in a matter of minutes. The trick seemed to be constant exposure to different species and that repetition of the ID process. At this point, it feels like we have many of the Lupine key breaks memorized.

Unfortunately the satisfaction of gaining a new skill came with other unforeseen complications. Correct ID often meant that we could start collecting as soon as the seeds were ready. Throughout July, we watched as flowers shriveled and green pods emerged. The pods slowly turned brown and were ready for harvest. After putting so much work into these populations, we were very excited to finally do some collections. The first lupine collection for the year was a population of Lupinus latifolius var. columbianus that was growing along a remote mountain road. The pods were hard and brown, ready to pop. I cracked open the first pod looking forward to seeing those little pea-like seeds and was greeted with a large grub. Cracked another one, another squirming grub. The day went on and the pattern stayed pretty consistent – it felt like 80-90% of the pods had some fly larvae inside which had already consumed many of the seeds. Lupine tribulations just seemed endless. Fortunately, after collecting a few more populations of different species in a variety of habitats, we learned that not all lupines are that infected. I’ve come to accept that worms are simply a part of the lupine collection process and so many have popped out of pods into my face that I don’t even mind them anymore, maybe they are kind of cute.

Long story short, lupines are hard and will most likely remain hard but it was a satisfying challenge to throw ourselves at. Check out some other highlights from the month:

California tortoiseshell *Nymphalis californica*

Stay tuned for August updates!

— Sam

To New Beginnings!

Posted on 5 August, 2024 by Anthony Rondon

Beginning work on a new project can be intimidating. Whether it is learning the rhythm of a new team, the native species in a new region, or just finding the right folks you need to talk to in a new office. However, that was far from the case beginning my work here at the San Bernardino National Forest (SBNF).

Day #1

My first week at the SBNF involved working alongside members from the Wilderness Volunteers, an organization providing volunteer opportunities to conserve America’s wild lands through collaboration with the US Forest Service, National Park Service, the BLM, US Fish & Wildlife, and others. It was, in my opinion, an excellent introduction as I was able to learn alongside the volunteers some of the processes involved in greenhouse management and restoration site maintenance. Myself, and the volunteers, got to see the journey native plants take as they transition from seed, to small yellow bullet nursery pots, to larger black bullet nursery pots, and eventually to outplants that are used in re-vegetating sites throughout the SBNF with the aim of establishing native populations in fire scar areas as well as areas degraded by invasive species and unauthorized OHV (off-highway vehicle) usage. I felt like I was watching the process through similar eyes as the volunteers; fascinated by California’s diverse and beautiful native species as well as the highly controlled protocols followed by the SBNF when growing and handling them. These strategies are in place to prevent the spread of the water-borne pathogen Phytophthora (responsible for root rot and other nasty plant infections) from the greenhouse to the wild populations we aim to protect and restore. Some of the species we handled on that first day in the greenhouse include: Rubber rabbitbrush (Ericameria nauseosa), Big sagebrush (Artemisia tridentata), and Scarlet bugler (Penstemon centranthifolius).

Myself (left) alongside one of the Wilderness Volunteers transplanting seedlings which have outgrown their yellow nursery pots into larger black bullet nursery pots. (Photo by the Wilderness Volunteers)

Day #2

After spending day #1 getting our fingers dirty in sterile potting soil, day #2 and day #3 had us trek to actual restoration sites in the SBNF. Both sites were located near my new home away from home, one of the Forest Service cabins in Lake Arrowhead, CA. Therefore, I got to start my days with a short morning walk through the Manzanitas and yellow pines from the cabin to our nearby designated meeting point where we touched base before beginning the days work. After discussing our given restoration tasks (weeding, mulching, and watering) we took a short hike through some of the tall invasive cheatgrass surrounding the camp site until we reached our destination, a small plot of land tucked in right next to the local water treatment facility. That first day was HOT (one of the many joys of summer field work in Southern California) so it was amazing to see what good spirits the Wilderness Volunteers were in despite the harsh working conditions. We spent an hour or so weeding some of the invasive grasses and weeds that began to establish in the empty areas of the site. I even got the chance to take a few swings at using a root wrench to pull out the deep tap roots of large established Scotch Broom shrubs (Cytisus scoparius)! Some of those swings were successful and others were less so, but it was a great experience in team building and utilizing different peoples skill sets to achieve a common goal. After weeding there was mulch to be spread in order to prevent new invaders from colonizing the open ground remaining between the native outplants. We spread a LOT of mulch (approximately 8.5 yds³) using wheelbarrows and 5-gallon buckets to transport our precious cargo from the large mulch pile to areas of the site where it would be spread evenly. Throughout this process I could hear the sounds of curious volunteers asking about different native species, noticing a random wildflower, or even a butterfly dancing in the light breeze. At one point we even found a stow away western toad in our mulch pile! I enjoyed watching the ground cover transition from small patches of light brown with grayish-tan sections of open soil to a vast field of rich pine brown dotted with the beautiful light gray-ish green of many of California’s native plants throughout.

Day #3

Day #3 with the volunteers was much the same as day #2 as we conducted similar restoration site maintenance at two additional sites around Lake Arrowhead, CA. These sites were bordered with large monocultures of Mountain Whitethorn (Ceanothus cordulatus), a native species which highlighted that not all natives are good for increasing biodiversity. Ceanothus is highly adapted to fire and thrives in disturbed areas with open canopy colonizing these areas and ultimately crowding out any other native shrubs, trees, or herbaceous plants from gaining a foothold post-wildfire. In addition to the ecological war for space waging at its border, this site had another unique challenge due to the plants being out-planted onto a hillside. This made moving mulch and water up to each of the plants a bit more laborious but just as with Day #2’s heat, the volunteers handled the harsh field conditions with a positive spirit that really had a way of rubbing off onto me and lifting my spirits in general. There is nothing like struggling a bit with a team to bring people together! Combining our brains and brawn together we decided the most efficient way of moving heavy buckets full of water and mulch up the hillside would be through forming a human chain and passing buckets from one person to the next so each of us only had to cover a short distance. This technique worked so well we were able to complete these sites and still maintain smiles on all our faces when we posed for a final group photo to commemorate the days work.

Myself (center left), alongside botany tech Jorge Rodriguez (back right), and the Wilderness Volunteers posed in front of newly mounted signage calling attention to the sensitive species we were maintaining at day #3’s restoration site in Lake Arrowhead, CA. (Photo by the Wilderness Volunteers)

The unknowns of new beginnings can be intimidating, however working alongside all the folks at the SBNF as well as the volunteers who generously offered their time and energy for the sake of preserving native habitat truly made me feel welcomed and inspired! In total during my first week I assisted in using 1200 gal of water on outplants, maintaining 1 acre of restoration sites, and transplanting approximately 320 plants in the greenhouse here at the SBNF. None of this work could be completed alone, and I cannot wait for what the rest of this season has in store for myself, and this team!

Im melting and everything is hot and might burn but at least that Clarkia is pretty

Posted on 17 July, 2024 by Sam Vasen

Writing this post in a fervor, fearing the inevitable power outage that comes in the afternoons on days that are way too hot. It’s fire season here in Plumas National Forest and this week we have started to feel it. Yesterday, PG&E turned of the power as a precaution because of a several thousand acre fire growing in Oroville, just 65 miles away. We returned from a weary day in the field to a powerless and wifi-less town and ranger station. Most concerningly, we had lost power to our fridges in the bunkhouses and our newly purchased pints of Ben and Jerry’s were slowly melting away. June 21st may have technically been the first day of summer, but on July 2 here in Quincy we celebrated the real start of summer, aka fire season, eating ice cream soup in the dark.

Besides this slight unpleasantness, the start of my CLM internship here in Plumas NF has been fantastic – especially botanically. Plumas is often referred to as the “Lost Sierra” due to its lack of prominence on travel websites and Instagram location tags. Because of this, besides the occasional music festival and ‘Rainbow Family Gathering’, the area does not experience many tourists. The more beauty for us then. My co-intern Andrea and I spent the first couple weeks of this month cruising around secluded mountain ‘roads’, swamping through wet meadows, and traversing rocky ridgetops in an effort to get familiar with the varied and interesting botanical members of this community. Guided by the resident forest service botanist and our mentor, Andy Fiel, we have seen hundreds of species. To learn plants quickly, Andy had us shadow him on this rare plant surveys. We walked transects through timber plots, recording every vascular plant we saw with a specific focus on rare plants in the area. Keying out whatever we didn’t know either in a local flora or what must be the 5000lbs Jepson, we grew more acquainted with our leafy (and sometimes achlorophyllous) friends.

If I wanted to I could just fill this entire post with all of the cool plants we’ve been lucky enough to come across but I will show some restraint. Above are some sweet Ericaceaes and a fantastic orchid that Andy was particularly excited to see. It warranted a lengthy photo session from all of us. We certainly didn’t learn every plant out here in these first couple weeks and likely won’t even come close by the end of the summer, but these surveys helped us build confidence in figuring things out. With this training and the eventual procurement of our government rig, a charmingly rickety forest green 2008 F-150, we were able to leave the nest and begin seed work!

The past week or so has been a lot of scouting, scouting, scouting and the occasional session of scouting. Driving around with the passenger’s head practically hanging out the window looking for grasses with just the right shaped inflorescence or a patch of lupines with only slightly ciliate keels. Its nice to feel the wind in you hair and have a target species with a large population in your sights. Slowly but surely, Andrea and I are building out a map of populations to return to and watch develop throughout the season. Yesterday marked our first collection day! A large population of Calyptridium umbellatum that we’d been monitoring for a week or so was finally crispy enough to harvest. It was quite satisfying to fill up several envelopes of what is ultimately mostly chaff but seemingly quality seed nonetheless. Admittedly, some of that seed went flying around our truck on the drive home because the envelopes broke open. Still plenty of kinks to work out but it is wonderful to be off the starting block and along the way!

Setting New Roots

Posted on 17 July, 2024 by Beth Haney

Travelling and moving to a new place can always be daunting, but Pollock Pines has quickly become home. June started off with the CLM training in Chicago, where I got to meet Dean (co-intern) for the first time! We were able to explore the campus of the Chicago Botanic Garden, learn more about the Garden’s goals and how to be a botanist, and meet other interns from across the country! We explored while listening to the cicada’s roar in the forests, during an amazing hatch of the 17-year, 13-year, and brood XIX and XIII co-emerged. It was absolutely fantastic seeing the so many cicadas! Then, some of the interns went to Chicago for our celebratory night after the training! Great food, exploring a new city and amazing new friends made along the way!

Then I had a quick turnaround to move to Pollock Pines for the season! I packed up from Boise, Idaho and drove the quick 9 hours to Pollock Pines! I got to see Lake Tahoe for the first time in the daylight, and I was greeted at home with a gorgeous sunset. Now comes the challenging part, learning a completely new flora! Dean is from the area and is very knowledgeable, which is much appreciated! The Sierras are absolutely breathtaking, the exposed granite and some serious topography. Dean and I did a lot of onboarding while also trying to get into the field when we could!

Then, my friend Iris invited me on a camping trip to Loon Lake! She’s the crew lead for the North Zone botany team of the El Dorado. It was such a fun weekend meeting her crew as well as the wildlife crew! We went on a beautiful hike to Bassi Falls and spend a lot of time swimming. Such a great weekend!

Dean and I got to assist the pollinator team with rare plant pollinator networks. We went out with the Cal State East Bay pollinator team and learned how to do pollinator networks for Lewisia kellogii. I really enjoyed learning about pollinator networks and how plant conservation benefits by supporting pollinator communities.

L to R- Stephanie, Beth, Dean, Diana, Paulina

Dean and I went out the next day and assisted the California Native Plant Society on mapping Lewisia kellogii hutchisonii (one of the rare plants on the El Dorado). We looked for flowering Lewisia, and then marked them. The Lewisia retracts back into the ground once pollinated to develop the seeds, which is why we needed to mark them for some seed collection! Working with the CNPS team was wonderful to see how professional careers develop in botanical sciences.

I’m looking forward to what comes next! The El Dorado is absolutely amazing!

Reclaiming the Wild and Sewing Seeds of Purpose

Posted on 2 August, 2023 by Karen Castaneda

In July, our San Bernardino National Forest CLM team has continued to make more seed collections, but when I look back on the month, what really sticks out to me is all of the great restoration efforts we’ve been a part of! From monitoring and watering past restoration sites to preparing for the restoration of future sites, this month has really put into perspective the purpose of the work that we’re doing.

At the SBNF, the majority of our restoration crew is funded through our OHV restoration grant and it’s no wonder! A lot of the destruction caused to this forest is related to the popularity of OHVs and their misuse of our trails and FS roads. OHV riders often ride and stage in unauthorized areas and eventually these previously wild areas are reduced to compact dirt trails or patches. When this happens, it becomes difficult for some riders to differentiate between an authorized area and an illegal one. This in turn perpetuates the misuse of our forest.

An especially bad day to be a plant. While this may look like a fun day outdoors, these vehicles are parked in an unauthorized zone that the SBNF has been trying to manage for over a year. (This image serves as an example of OHV destruction, but is unrelated to the Big Pine Flats restoration project discussed in this blog post)

The SBNF restoration team is constantly monitoring, fencing, and slashing new areas to prevent them from getting this bad. But, it can be difficult to keep up with the work that’s needed all over our mountain and sometimes these OHV damage sites require more than just fencing and slashing. That’s when our amazing volunteers come in and help us reclaim these wild areas.

Big Pine Flats Green Thumbs Volunteer Event

Big Pine Flats, the site of our most recent Green Thumbs volunteer event, is a beautiful area within our forest with a family campground and a relatively new OHV staging area. Before the designation of this staging area, the popularity of OHV riding in Big Pine Flats led to unauthorized staging and the destruction of some previously wild areas. The SBNF team has been working to regulate the use of this area now that we have a designated staging area and this month our volunteers were able to help us finish our Big Pine Flats restoration project!

The plan for this volunteer event was to outplant 158 of our greenhouse plants, and do some weeding, watering, and seed collection/dispersal. In the days leading up to the volunteer event, we visited the site and prepared the compact dirt for the incoming plant heroes: Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus and Penstemon grinnellii.

After digging 158 holes that week and loading up a couple of trucks with everything our volunteers might need for our planting day, we were ready for the big day! Our volunteers helped us plant the Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus and Penstemon grinnellii plants we’ve been growing in our nursery (from seeds collected by the SBNF restoration team!!) to speed up the restoration of the area and aid in species diversity. While working hard to restore this area, I was able to meet many of the lovely people volunteering that day. They each had their own individual experiences with volunteering and what the work means to them, but the running theme seemed to be a love for the outdoors and the satisfaction they get from helping us keep these areas beautiful and wild.

A precious *Chrysothamnus viscidiflorus* baby ready to change the world :’-)

They helped us get all 158 plants into the ground and watered, then we moved on to weeding and seed collection. We collected native seeds from the plants in the surrounding area and walked around the restoration side scattering the seeds onto the ground. As we dispersed the seeds and our volunteer event came to an end, I couldn’t help but feel so happy about the work we do. We are helping to preserve the native species diversity of the area while creating events for like minded people to connect and be a part of meaningful work for the future of our forest. I’m so grateful for all of the help we had that day and can’t wait for our next volunteer event!

Prickly Predicaments

Posted on 10 July, 2023 by Karen Castaneda

My first month working at the San Bernardino National Forest has been so much fun! After participating in a lot of amazing projects, we were finally able to start making some seed collections at the end of the month.

Don’t Hug A Yucca

Interior goldenbush (Ericameria linearfolia) was one of our first contenders for seed collection. Big Bear has had an especially wet year, so even though these guys were among the first on our list for collection, they actually went to seed a bit later in the season than usual.

On the day we showed up for collection, there were seeding Ericameria linearifolia as far as the eye could see. It was any new seed collector’s dream! I set out with my labeled bag and started collecting. After about half an hour of collecting from various smaller plants, I saw the perfect goldenbush. It was huge and every flower was seeding with very little seed dispersed! I knew I was going to be at this one for a while, so I crouched down beside it and then…

Not the yucca in question, but a close friend of his I’m sure

I literally sat on a yucca! It hurt so bad and started bleeding a bit immediately, but luckily the pain went away pretty quickly and I continued seed collecting. Regardless, contrary to what the sticker at our Regional Botanist’s desk might say, fellow seed collectors, don’t “Hug a Yucca”!

Thistle Be Interesting

At the same site, I helped Koby, a Biological Restoration Technician, with the collection of some native cobweb thistle (Cirsium occidentale). This plant species isn’t on our CLM seed collection list, but it’s on the general SBNF seed collection list and its elusive nature intrigued me.

Native Cobweb Thistle (*Cirsium occidentale*) vs. Bull Thistle (*Cirsium vulgare*)

See this thistle has what I’d refer to as a close evil invasive twin… Cirsium vulgare. Even the name sounds like bad news! Seeing them side by side in the pictures above, the differences are pretty clear. But in the field, when you’re worried about accidentally collecting from an invasive and looking at just one of the species on their own, the differences seem less apparent. During my first week on the job, I learned that several forestry techs at our office were wary of collecting from our native cobweb thistle and reluctant to pull bull thistle for fear of choosing the wrong Cirsium.

Since then, I took a special interest in telling these twins apart. I learned that bull thistle tends to look meaner, greener, and the leaf tips extend in a way that looks like it’s giving you the finger for just looking at it. Vulgare indeed… I also learned that bull thistle tends to like moister soils near water while cobweb thistle prefers well drained soils. Our native cobweb thistle also has dark seeds and the leaves are generally more narrow, sage green, and overall just look like they’re adapted to a drier climate. Having conversations about the differences between these two thistle has given a lot of us at the office more confidence around telling these two apart. I was so pleased to hear one of my coworkers come up to me the other day with a HUGE bag of thistle seed and proudly say “I’m not afraid of thistle anymore!”. Ana Karina and I are hoping to collect vouchers of these two thistles so they can be displayed side by side and help future SBNF employees and interns!

The Ants Beat Us To It!

Finally, we also collected Stipa speciosa (Desert needle grass). We learned that the tail on Stipa seeds bend to a right angle when the seeds are fully matured. What I was truly fascinated by, though, was finding this grass bunch where ants were harvesting seed! They were slowly pulling the seeds out and we saw a trail of ants hauling seeds back to the ant hill. I recently learned that some plants have a special relationship with ants in which ants will take the seeds with them underground effectively planting the seeds and allowing the plants to grow. Who knew ants were seed collectors and gardeners too!

I’m so excited to continue learning about our California natives and being a part of some great projects in the month of July. Also, we will finally be getting our own tablets!! I hope everyone is having as much fun as I’ve been having and I’m so glad to be a part of such a great program!

We Go Together Like Milkweeds and…

Posted on 16 June, 2016 by samuje

Think of a milkweed.

This is desert milkweed (Asclepias erosa).

This is rush milkweed (Asclepias subulata).

Good. Now think of an insect that relies on milkweed.

Can you name an insect that relies on milkweed.

Can you name an insect that depends on milkweed plants?

What did you think of?

Monarch caterpillar (Danaus plexippus) on a desert milkweed (Asclepias erosa).

Monarch caterpillar (Danaus plexippus) on a rush milkweed (Asclepias subulata).

That’s what I thought. Don’t be ashamed, I think of monarchs and milkweeds, too. The thing is, though, many other insects also have close relationship with members of the asclepias family. Let’s take a look at some of them.

We’ll start with milkweed bugs. Milkweed bugs come in two flavors: large and small.

Small Milkweed Bug (Lygaeus sp) on a desert milkweed (Asclepias erosa).

The small milkweed bug (Lygaeus sp) is (you guessed it!) slightly smaller than the large one. It also displays a red X on its back as well as two small white dots.

Large Milkweed Bug (Oncopeltus sp)

From what I can tell, the large milkweed bugs (Oncopeltus sp) tend to be a littler more orange. Their markings also look like three large black horizontal bands rather than an X.

Both large and small milkweed bug larva eat milkweed seeds.

Milkweed bugs are in the order Hemiptera, meaning they are “true bugs”. I spotted another hemiptera chilling on a nearby milkweed, but that’s as far as I got in that identification game. Any ideas?

Hemiptera

There were also a ton of tarantula hawk wasps (Pepsis or Hemipepsis sp) buzzing around.

Tarantula Hawk Wasps are up to 2 inches long with blue-black bodies and bright rust-colored wings.

Tarantula hawk wasps are so named because when it is time to reproduce, the female will sting a tarantula (permanently paralyzing it) and drag in into a pre-made brooding nest. The female wasp will then lay it’s egg(s) on the tarantula, I won’t go into the gory details here. Only the females hunt tarantulas, though, and only for reproduction. The adults feed off the nectar and flowers of milkweeds.

The tarantula hawk wasps were totally loving all the milkweed plants!

The tarantula hawk wasps were totally loving all the desert milkweed (Asclepias erosa)!

I photographed another insect which I believe is a wasp, but I’m not 100% sure. Any thoughts?

I think this is some sort of parasitoid wasp, but I'm not sure!

I think this is some sort of parasitoid wasp, but I’m no expert entomologist.

Yet another insect I couldn’t identify could be a bee (Order Hymenoptera) or a syrphid fly (Order Diptera). I don’t feel so bad about this one, though, because syrphid flies utilize Batesian mimicry (aka they exhibit the same coloring patterns as bees and wasps as a form of protection against predators).

Bee or Syrphid Fly?
Who could tell?

So, moral of the blog post: milkweeds are important to lots of insects. Let it be known.

A plethora of arthropods depend on milkweeds for survival.

A plethora of insect species depend on milkweeds (Asclepias sp) for survival.

Jessica Samuelson

Needles Field Office

Bureau of Land Management

See ya later Cedarville

Posted on 19 January, 2016 by Marian

Well, today’s my last day in the Modoc. It’s crazy to think that 7 months have passed since my arrival. My first impression of this small isolated town is definitely memorable. I drove into town and the first thing I noticed that the town population was 514. There’s one of everything- one bar, grocery store, gas station….you get the idea. It was a little unnerving to live in such small, isolated, and conservative place but I really enjoyed working in the sagebrush country. The townspeople here are nice and friendly and the people I worked with all very knowledgeable and easy to work with.

This internship was very rewarding. I got to see the beautiful landscapes of Northeastern California as well as Nevada and Oregon and experience real seasons (unusual in other parts of California). Word to the wise: if you end up in Cedarville in the winter time, have a 4×4 or AWD vehicle. It makes life much MUCH easier.

This internship gave me an opportunity to get hands-on field experience in disciplines that I didn’t really know much about. For example, I helped out with evaluating rangeland health by assessing bunchgrass utilization. Before Cedarville, I didn’t have any knowledge about rangeland. Also, I got to work on various projects like flagging juniper trees for cuttings, monitoring vegetation, planting sagebrush seedlings, and doing pika and raptor surveys. Moreover, I got to hone my ID’ing skills for plants and wildlife. I actually got to use the information I learned in school. Ha!

I guess the final advice to future interns is: JUST TRY IT. It may be out of your comfort zone, but once you do it, you’ll look back and be glad you did it. To think that 8 months ago, I was stressing about making a decision about this internship and another job offer. I’m glad to say that I made the right decision and really enjoyed my time here in the Surprise Valley.

Well…I’ll stop rambling now…and end with some cool and memorable pictures.

Amanda and I in our cave. At the Lava Beds National Monument

Sledding up at Cedar Pass on our off day. It’s great that we have a “ski park” only a couple miles away from Cedarville.

Avenue of the Giants. California is a gorgeous state.

View of the Pacific Ocean up in Humboldt county

Lunch time with new friends

Crater Lake National Park

CLM Internship Program Blog

adventures of the clm intern

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