Range life: Month 4

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

July in Idaho

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

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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!

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

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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!

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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.

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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