{"id":61937,"date":"2015-05-13T09:05:30","date_gmt":"2015-05-13T16:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/?p=61937"},"modified":"2015-05-13T09:05:30","modified_gmt":"2015-05-13T16:05:30","slug":"an-early-spring-in-the-sierra","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/?p=61937","title":{"rendered":"An early spring in the Sierra"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a dry start to the field season here in the Mi-Wuk Ranger District of the Stanislaus National Forest. All of the passes through the Sierra have been opened for the season, and we are scrambling to keep up with plant surveys that have strict floristic timing. Today marks the end of my fourth week on the Forest and I am finally starting to feel comfortable with local flora,\u00a0with special attention to\u00a0our primary survey species: M. filicaulis<\/em> and M. pulchellus<\/em>. In the field, we see the effects of California\u2019s third year of drought almost every day. My field partner is a return CBG intern from last season and often balks at the diminished populations of these species, which enjoy moist, open areas.<\/p>\n

\"Pansy<\/a>

Pansy Monkey Flower, Mimulus pulchellus<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

The bulk of our work this season will be in restoration sites for the 2013 Rim Fire.\u00a0Recently, we have been surveying\u00a0areas slated for conifer removal or reforestation in order to identify and properly mark occurrences of rare and sensitive species. In flagging these element occurrences we are essentially the hands and eyes of powerful environmental legislation \u2013 who knew it all came down to some striped tape on a tree?!<\/p>\n

In addition to the more traditional surveys we have been lucky enough to participate in a number of other projects.\u00a0 One includes setting up cages around mountain ladyslipper orchids that are bouncing back from the fire in cattle range.\u00a0 These shade-loving\u00a0plants are elusive in the brushy, post-fire undergrowth and\u00a0 sometimes difficult to distinguish vegetatively.<\/p>\n

\"Mountain<\/a>

Mountain ladyslipper, Cypripedium montanum<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n

\"Jake<\/a>

Jake setting up a cage to protect from grazing cattle<\/p><\/div>\n

The weekends have taken me into the San Francisco Bay, the Emigrant Wilderness, and the Eastern Sierra, and I can\u2019t wait to see more of this extraordinary country. Until next time, I\u2019ll ask for your best wishes as I survey for Erythronium tuolumnense<\/em>. While excited to see the fawn lily, I would otherwise not venture into a place called \u201cTecnu Springs\u201d\u2026<\/p>\n

Cheers,<\/p>\n

Emily<\/p>\n

\"Lupinus<\/a>

Lupinus nanus<\/em> covering a hillside post-burn<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a dry start to the field season here in the Mi-Wuk Ranger District of the Stanislaus National Forest. All of the passes through the Sierra have been opened for the season, and we are scrambling to keep up … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6949,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61937"}],"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\/6949"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=61937"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61937\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62121,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61937\/revisions\/62121"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=61937"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=61937"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.clminternship.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=61937"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}