The End

Well, it was a good run. I absolutely loved my time in Bishop and learned a ton! But for personal reasons I returned to Sacramento. I'm still with BLM, working in the California State Office, doing biology from a desk. Although it may not be as fun as the field, I'm still able to advocate for wildlife on projects throughout the state.

So this chapter of my blog is closed. I'm leaving it up, but I'll no longer be updating it with cool field visits and pictures. Darn.

hugs,
Lily

Sorting out Sagebrush

There are numerous species of sagebrush (Artemesia sp.). They're not always easily identifiable in the field, but communities of different sagebrush species have different levels of productivity, may support different wildlife species, and respond to fire differently. So it's important for us to know which is which. A number of keys exist to assist us.


our botanist, Martin, settles down with a sagebrush and a selection of keys
Interestingly, when the leaves of different species are put into water and viewed with a UV light, they fluoresce differently. Not practical in the field, but it allows us to test our field IDs back in the office. Although sitting in a dark office lighting up tubes of sagebrush leaves does make other coworkers wonder...

The photo didn't come out as well as I hoped, but you can see that the left two tubes are fluorescing, and the rightmost isn't. Second from the right did fluoresce slightly.

from left to right: Artemesia tridentata vaseyana (mountain big sagebrush), Artemesia arbuscula (low sagebrush), Artemesia tridentata wyomingensis (Wyoming big sagebrush), Artemesia tridentata tridentata (basin big sagebrush)
Rosentreter, R. 2005. Sagebrush Identification, Ecology, and Palatability Relative to Sage-grouse. USDA Forest Service Preceedings RMRS-P-38. (pdf, external link)

Owls and Toads

Just sharing a couple fun wildlife sightings during a busy field day!


juvenile (left) and adult (right) burrowing owls (Athene cunicularia)


a Great Basin spadefoot toad (Spea intermontana) metamorph poses on my SAVE THE FROGS! bracelet

Devil's Postpile and Manzanar

My parents came for a visit, giving me an excuse to check out two National Park sites I'd yet to see.

First, we took the shuttle down to the Devil's Postpile National Monument, a small park established around its namesake. The postpile is a formation of columnar basalt, appearing so unnatural that according to legend Basque settlers in the area believed it could only have been created by the Devil.

The following day, we visited the Manzanar National Historic Site, the location of an internment camp for Japanese-Americans in the 1940s. The site is beautifully interpreted, with highly informative displays in the visitor center preparing you for an auto tour through the grounds. Definitely worth a visit; we thought we'd be there an hour at most, but didn't leave until three hours later. The park is a moving tribute to that dark time in our history.

Potato Fire Revisited

Remember the Potato Fire? Our botanist and I headed out on a stormy day to see how the vegetation is recovering. We'll be setting up some formal trend plots later, but we wanted to get out there to see what's coming back and get a good plant list going. We surveyed through rain, hail, snow, and grauple, but had a successful day!

	mists over the Bodie Hills
	sagebrush skeletons in the mists
	how many wildflower species can you find?

Saline Valley Salt Tram

The Saline Valley Salt Tram is buried deep in the Inyo Mountains Wilderness, accessible by one of two rather frightening 4WD roads. A group of us took a trip up to evaluate a fuel treatment project in the area.

The Salt Tram was constructed between 1910 and 1913 to transport salt being mined in Saline Valley across the Inyo Mountains and into Owens Valley where it could be processed and shipped. Specially-designed gondolas each moved 800 pounds of salt along the 13.5 mile tram through a series of towers. The control station at the summit allowed the gondolas to move from one side to the other without stopping.

More information than you could ever want is available at The Waag Brothers' Saline Valley Salt Tram Blog.

looking down on the control tower and caretaker's cabin

within the control tower

view out into Saline Valley

view out into Owens Valley

Back down in Owens Valley, we stopped by a neat petroglyphs site near Swansea.

believed to represent an atlatl

bighorn sheep!

Color on the Tablelands

Wildflower season may have gotten off to a bit of a slow start, but the Volcanic Tablelands just north of Bishop are currently covered in color!

	Malacothrix glabrata desert dandelion
	Mentzelia nitens Venus blazing star
	Sphaeralcea ambigua apricot mallow and Chaenactis fremontii desert pincushion
	Lupinus sp. and Malacothrix glabrata

Signs of Spring

Visiting a project site near Manzanar, we came across nesting birds and wildflowers, definitely signs of spring!

	Sage Sparrow (Amphispiza belli) nest
	Linanthus parryae sand blossoms and Eriophyllum wallacei wooly easterbonnets
	Opuntia basilaris beavertail cactus

Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery

This past week I attended the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep Recovery Implementation Team meeting in Sacramento. The team is composed of biologists, researchers, and land managers with responsibilities affecting recovery of the endangered species. I learned a lot and it was humbling to be in a room with so many experts in the field.

Recovery Plan for the Sierra Nevada Bighorn Sheep (pdf)

Inspired by the meeting, I took a hike up into Pine Creek Canyon where I heard that bighorns had been seen at lower elevations. On the way back down from the mill, we spooked a group of nine Sierra Nevada bighorns: three rams, three ewes, and three young. After scrambling a ways up a cliff face, the sheep felt safe enough to allow us to watch them while they fed. It was an amazing encounter with this highly endangered species.

Rare East Side Salamanders

Two salamander species are found in the Bishop BLM Field Office jurisdiction: Hydromantes platycephalus (Mount Lyell salamander) and Batrachoseps campi (Inyo Mountains slender salamander). Both species are California Species of Special Concern and B. campi is a BLM Sensitive Species.

Hydromantes platycephalus was discovered accidentally in 1915 in pitfall traps set to survey mammals on Mt. Lyell in Yosemite. Salamanders in the southern portion of the range in Long and Owens Valleys were believed to be a different species but were recently shown to be the same (Rovito 2010). Found from 4,000 to 12,000 feet, a couple individuals have been located on BLM lands. I am yet to find one, but hope to by resurveying the locations.

Batrachoseps campi wasn't discovered until 1973 and is only known from 16 canyons and springs in the Inyo Mountains. The canyons are difficult to survey, with steep, rocky waterfalls I had a hard time getting up. Fortunately, at one location I found an individual beneath a rock at the foot of a steep face. Nothing like locating a rare salamander to make a biologist's day!

	heading up the wash
	success!

Rovito, S. 2010. Lineage divergence and speciation in the Web-toed Salamanders (Plethodontidae: Hydromantes) of the Sierra Nevada, California. Molecular Ecology 19: 4554-4571. (pdf)

Greater Sage-grouse Lek Surveys

It's that time of year! The snow has melted off the meadows, so the Greater Sage-grouse (Centrocercus urophasianus) are gathering at their traditional lek sites in Long Valley and Bodie. The hens initially come for a bite to eat, but the males are soon attempting to outdo each other for attention. It's quite a sight to see!

In cooperation with the California Department of Fish and Game, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, and the U.S. Forest Service, we're able to conduct "saturation counts," with at least one person surveying each lek. Because the birds can move between them, this gives us a fairly accurate estimate of their population. We're able to count each lek using a spotting scope from a distance away so we can view the entire area and not disturb the birds.

If you can't get over to the east side to see this amazing display, here is a video clip from the Montana NRCS website.

	view of strutting males through a spotting scope
	two males displaying at "Long Valley lek 9"

Prescribed Burning at Fish Slough

Earlier this week I was escorted out to watch a prescribed burn at Fish Slough. Why do we burn? Emergent vegetation chokes up the waterway through the slough, so burning off the vegetation opens up habitat for pupfish and migrating waterfowl. Yes, we use fire to manage for a fish. I think that's kinda neat. The burn also allows nutrient recycling in the system.

	shooting a flare to ignite vegetation out in the marsh
	in my Nomex and with an escort, I was able to be closer than I thought!
	using a propane torch to continue the burn

Eureka Dunes, Death Valley National Park

Continuing on the Death Valley Road out of Big Pine, you drop down into Eureka Valley, part of Death Valley National Park. A rather gnarly washboard road takes you to the Eureka Dunes, the tallest dunes in California at 700 feet. Being late in the day we only hiked up to the first ridge, but even that was enough of a workout! The dunes are home to 5 endemic beetles and 3 Endangered plants, but all we saw that day was evidence of wildlife left in the sand.

Common Raven

these tiny, unidentified tracks were everywhere!

Joshua Flat, Piper Mountain Wilderness

I took a trip over the Inyos along Death Valley Road into the territory of BLM's Ridgecrest Field Office. The road is almost surreal as the pinyon-juniper forest transitions into some of the most dense Joshua trees I've ever seen. The above picture doesn't quite capture it, but all of those specks on the alluvial fans in the background are Joshua trees! Something about them just makes me happy...

Old 4x4 roads have been closed to vehicle access, but allow you to hike through the area with relative ease. I headed up into one of the washes and climbed my way up and up...I was hoping to pop out on the other side and see Deep Springs Valley, but didn't quite make it. Bird highlights included a single Canyon Wren's song echoing in the rocks and a flock of 15 Pinyon Jays noisily escorting me out at the end of my day (shown below). I hope to return in the spring for wildflowers, herps, and rumored Scott's Orioles!

Small Mammal Trapping at Fish Slough

Not knowing much about what small mammals are present in Fish Slough, I set out some Sherman live traps to see what I could get. It has been demonstrated that 84% of the species present in an area can be captured over the first three trap nights, but a fourth night only increases the estimate by 2%, so I left the traps out for three nights and two days. Since the weather isn't very hot during the day this time of year, I left the traps open during the days as well as nights. The traps were baited with peanut butter and oats and cotton balls were provided for bedding.

I ended up capturing 10 individuals of 4 species: Sorex vagrans (vagrant shrew, 2), Microtus montanus (montane vole, 1), Reithrodontomys megalotis (western harvest mouse, 3), and Peromyscus maniculatus (deer mouse, 4). Not a bad selection for the middle of winter! The shrews were a particular surprise, since they're not often captured in box-style traps.

Sherman trap	Sorex vagrans
Microtus montanus	Reithrodontomys megalotis
Peromyscus maniculatus	cute mousey face

Midwinter Bald Eagle Count

Today we helped cover some survey routes for the Midwinter Bald Eagle Count, a national effort currently coordinated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The 2 feet of snow along one of our three routes turned what we expected to be an easy drive into an unexpected 6-mile hike through the snow, but it beats sitting at a desk all day! We ended up seeing two striking adult bald eagles and one juvenile.

There's one! Adult bald eagle at Tinemaha Reservoir viewed through a spotting scope

cool rodent tracks in the snow