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<\/a>One of our many stops was on the Curlew Grasslands, it was an awesome day.<\/p><\/div>\n
My co-intern and I, Claire, have been able to explore some awesome country and have continued to meet and collaborate with a whole slew of professionals (thanks to the top notch planning of our mentor!) including Forest Health specialists and a conglomerate of Forest botanists from both Idaho and Utah. We\u2019ve even met other seasonal workers and shared SOS collection stories and techniques as we scouted for and collected seed together.<\/p>\n
<\/a>At one of our collection locations ft. Claire \ud83d\ude42<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/a>Spending the day with other seed collecting friends and botanists in Utah.<\/p><\/div>\n
Our primary plant for seed collection these past few weeks has been Arrowleaf Balsamroot (Balsamorhiza sagitatta<\/em>). Just yesterday we spotted balsamroot growing on an unusual space on the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache NF in Utah-it was a rocky, scree covered slope within a canyon. The population was robust, so we split into groups and faced the steep climb head-on with paper bags in hand. As I climbed up using both hands and feet I stopped here and there to pop off a few seed heads and turn down my long sleeve shirt in the burning sun. The balsamroot continued to flourish the higher up I got-eventually I came to the top and found a clearing of penstemon, hawksbeard and balsamroot. The flowers were fluorescent in the sun and the darker seed heads of the balsamroot bobbed as warm wind moved through the canyon. I took a moment to breathe and located our trucks on the canyon floor-they were small, white dots far below! -and then turned to take in the canyon view.<\/p>\n Up on top!<\/p><\/div>\n I could see that to my left and right along the slope the balsamroot was loving the rocky habitat. I could hear the other collection teams communicating, their voices echoing a bit between the canyon and mountain walls. After roaming around to cover the extent of the population where I was I packed my paper bag in my backpack and headed slowly back down.<\/p>\n We all met back at the trucks, laughing about the bizarre habitat, the intense climb, and our surprise at the amount of balsamroot we found. It was a super successful day and a great end to the work week!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The past few weeks have been popping with traveling, camping, and seed collection all around Idaho and Utah. My co-intern and I, Claire, have been able to explore some awesome country and have continued to meet and collaborate with a … Continue reading <\/a>