{"id":21485,"date":"2013-04-15T09:27:41","date_gmt":"2013-04-15T16:27:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/?p=21485"},"modified":"2013-04-15T09:27:41","modified_gmt":"2013-04-15T16:27:41","slug":"ramping-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=21485","title":{"rendered":"Ramping up"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Well, I asked for it.<\/p>\n<p>Here I am again in Cody, staying busy in the early spring and prepping for the even busier late spring and early summer. The sage-grouse are dancing now in all their glory, so it&#8217;s time again to make the early morning drives to my assigned leks to count the romantic hopefuls enthusiastically displaying their prowess as top quality mates. Their dedication is impressive, and I chuckle to watch it increase all the more when the ladies arrive for a casual stroll through this year&#8217;s candidates.<\/p>\n<p>Once the sun comes up, the sage-grouse tend to disperse and go about their day as I go about the rest of mine. It&#8217;s hard to generalize about what a typical day involves, but anywhere I go in the field office,\u00a0there is always work to be done.\u00a0Inventory of infrastructure, such as fences, powerlines, stock tanks, and roads, as well as\u00a0natural resources like plants, rabbits,<\/p>\n\n\t\t<style type=\"text\/css\">\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 {\n\t\t\t\tmargin: auto;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-item {\n\t\t\t\tfloat: left;\n\t\t\t\tmargin-top: 10px;\n\t\t\t\ttext-align: center;\n\t\t\t\twidth: 33%;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 img {\n\t\t\t\tborder: 2px solid #cfcfcf;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t#gallery-1 .gallery-caption {\n\t\t\t\tmargin-left: 0;\n\t\t\t}\n\t\t\t\/* see gallery_shortcode() in wp-includes\/media.php *\/\n\t\t<\/style>\n\t\t<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-21485 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?attachment_id=21508'><img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC_0215-300x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Sunrise at the WY-MT border\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?attachment_id=21509'><img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC_0324-300x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Red-tailed hawk enjoying the habitat restoration work along the river\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><dl class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<dt class='gallery-icon landscape'>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?attachment_id=21510'><img width=\"300\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/DSC_0373-300x300.jpg\" class=\"attachment-thumbnail size-thumbnail\" alt=\"Horned lark\" loading=\"lazy\" \/><\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/dt><\/dl><br style=\"clear: both\" \/>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>raptor nests, and other wildlife, is a continuous project. I enjoy knowing that all this data collection\u00a0can benefit wildlife and our understanding of human impact on nature.\u00a0GPSing\u00a0roads not previously mapped, for instance,\u00a0can be included in the\u00a0DDCT (Density and Disturbance Calculation Tool) analysis of potential impact\u00a0on sage-grouse within their core habitat areas.<\/p>\n<p>Another project I&#8217;ve begun working on is mending fence along an area that has\u00a0previously undergone significant habitat restoration measures to\u00a0take back the ecosystem from\u00a0invasives like Russian olive and saltcedar. Soon we will be planting more native shrubs like silver buffaloberry as replacements, but first we want to make sure we can keep the cows grazing happily in their own pasture nearby, instead of trampling and browsing on all the juicy vegetation we put in. After all, good fences make good neighbors.<\/p>\n<p>Other projects this year have included some drafting of an Environmental Assessment (EA) document, planning a lesson and activities for 6th graders at a Natural History Day event in May, putting the final touches on the wildlife section of the BLM Cody Field Office website and submitting it for approval by the State Office, and preparing all manner of supplies and plans for seed and herbarium specimen collecting. Busy, busy, busy. You just can&#8217;t help but be productive with all the things there are to do in the CYFO. Bring it on, field season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Well, I asked for it. Here I am again in Cody, staying busy in the early spring and prepping for the even busier late spring and early summer. The sage-grouse are dancing now in all their glory, so it&#8217;s time &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=21485\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1022,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1022"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21485"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21514,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21485\/revisions\/21514"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}