{"id":53494,"date":"2013-12-02T10:09:09","date_gmt":"2013-12-02T17:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/?p=53494"},"modified":"2013-12-02T10:09:09","modified_gmt":"2013-12-02T17:09:09","slug":"good-to-be-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=53494","title":{"rendered":"Good to be Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

As many people finish up their internships, I feel extremely lucky to be just starting my second internship.\u00a0 After a summer of working for a private company carrying out vegetation surveys on oil and gas pads all over the west, I am thrilled to be a CLM intern once again!\u00a0 My first internship was in northeast California at the Eagle Lake Field Office, and I am now working out of the Safford Field Office in southeast Arizona.\u00a0 I am very grateful for a winter field position\u2014in a warm environment too!\u00a0 My Arizona internship has been quite a bit different from the internship I completed in California.\u00a0 However, one thing remains the same: the internship continues to provide amazing opportunities to grow and learn every day.<\/p>\n

During my first week, I was thrown right into fish field work.\u00a0 Having a botany background, this was new and exciting for me.\u00a0 I helped with a native fish survey of Araviapa Creek, one of the healthiest water systems in Arizona.\u00a0 The creek flows through the beautiful Aravaipa Canyon and provides habitat for several native fish species, including a few endangered species.\u00a0 I also assisted with non-native fish removal from Horse Camp Canyon, one of the side canyons of Araviapa Canyon.\u00a0 The removal of non-native green sunfish from the canyon has been in progress since 2010, and we believe that we have actually successfully eradicated the species from the canyon this year.<\/p>\n

Aside from fish work, we have been scampering to finish up seed collections.\u00a0 Seeds are dropping quickly as temperatures decrease.\u00a0 Although most of my field experience is in the Great Basin, I am quickly becoming acquainted with the plants in the area, especially the ones that inflict the most pain.\u00a0 It seems that every plant around here is trying to kill you.\u00a0 My appreciation for sage brush has increased dramatically in the past month after hiking through mesquite, acacia, mimosa, and cactus.\u00a0 At the end of the day, though, I just can\u2019t stay angry with the majestic saguaro.<\/p>\n

Another project we had the chance to be a part of involves a unique restoration technique that has proved successful in desert environments.\u00a0 At Buenos Aires National Wildlife Refuge, we helped make seed balls for a prairie restoration at the refuge.\u00a0 The large marble-sized seed balls consist of clay, aggregate (sand\/compost), and seed in about a 5:3:1 ratio.\u00a0 The hardened clay gives the seeds protection from predation, as animals are unable to penetrate the rock hard seed ball.\u00a0 The structure also ensures that the seeds will not germinate until there is an adequate amount of water, since it takes monsoon rains to wet the clay enough for the ball to fall apart.\u00a0 This clever technique may help bring native grasses back to the historically overgrazed areas in the refuge.<\/p>\n

\"Making<\/a>

Making Seed Balls at Buenos Aires NWR<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Brown<\/a>

Brown Canyon<\/p><\/div>\n

There are many other exciting projects in the works so stay tuned!<\/p>\n

Janyne Little
\nSafford, AZ<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As many people finish up their internships, I feel extremely lucky to be just starting my second internship.\u00a0 After a summer of working for a private company carrying out vegetation surveys on oil and gas pads all over the west, … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1753,"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\/53494"}],"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\/1753"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=53494"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53494\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53558,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53494\/revisions\/53558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=53494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=53494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=53494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}