Musings from Mark

After two fairly long drives and two fairly boring days learning about the BLM, FS, NPS, and FWS, along with unnecessarily long lectures about Section 7 of the ESA which requires biologists working with T&E; species to prepare a BA for any project (after which the FWS will respond with a BO), I am back in Pinedale and ready to keep chugging away at the lynx project. The workshop was somewhat helpful (suggestions on how to get government jobs and how to write the type of reports necessary to document impacts to sensitive/threatened species) but in large part unnecessary (BLM background info, safety discussions, etc.).

There were, however, three good things about the workshop:

1. Chrissy finally finished Harry Potter, so I started the book on Sunday and finished Monday evening. (Having finished the series, I highly recommend it to any reader of any age.)

2. Our hotel was about 100 feet from the Union Pacific transcontinental mainline, so I could always watch trains (~100 per day).

3. I had the opportunity to meet and hang out with a good number of interesting young ecology folks. Such meetings inevitably lead to the perception of a small world, as the number of young ecology folks is not that large. People included:
Annika, just graduated from St. Olaf and now working in Tucson for the BLM
Sasha, from Ohio and good friends with Jens Stevens (Carleton grad and senior Arb naturalist last year) from an REU program
Cristin, from Delaware and familiar with my good friend Liana Burghart through frisbee.
Pacifica, from California and former labmate of Chiji Ochiaga, one of my housemates from RMBL last summer.

Also had a chance to buy stuff at radio shack and sports stores (we now have an aerobie, a volleyball, and an X-box).

The town of Dubois is 40 miles away as the crow flies. By road, it is 160 miles through Jackson or 220 miles through Lander (the problem being the presence of the Wind River Mountains in between). It is also the not-so-humble abode of the Box Hanging Three Ranch, run by the grandparents of my college buddy Andy Tolan. As Andy is at present spending a sort of summer vacation at the ranch, I took my hard-earned day off to drive around the mountains to find him. We spent the first afternoon swimming in the Warm Springs River that runs through the ranch – an aptly named stream that is always a comfortable temperature thanks to its hydrothermal origins. After that it was prime rib at the local steakhouse and early to bed.

Today began with a morning walk, followed by a long horseback ride up a ridge and down a canyon – quite fun for a fellow who is lucky to land his ass on an equine backside more than once in a year. Two foals are currently running around the front yard – rare twins who lost their mother in childbirth. They act rather like puppies, following people around and trying to chew on clothes. I came back the northern route through Jackson and found the Tetons mostly obscured by smoke – must be a big fire up that direction. Around Pinedale it is still perfectly clear – the haze has gone.

Tomorrow we leave at 10 am for Cheyenne to be “trained” by the Chicago Botanic Garden. Odd that we should be trained when our contracts are nearly half over, but it seems the Garden has money to spend on training and so has to do something with it. At least we get full pay, free hotel rooms, and paid travel expenses. We will probably get back to Pinedale late Tuesday night with the goal of getting to work on Wednesday – so expect another update Wednesday evening.

Photos of the Day updated.

Pothole bird surveys are done, so Kate and I headed back out west to start the next round of lynx surveys. Kate, a junior at Brigham Young University in Idaho with an interest in wildlife and range management, is a good companion and worker – and much less of a complainer (and a much safer driver!) than the other two women I have worked with. We found some top-notch lynx habitat that was also, of necessity, bottom-notch human habitat (four-foot deep stacks of fallen trees all twisted together, with the occasional yellow jacket nest to watch out for). If the whole area is this good, we will be out there a long time – but that is unlikely given our previous experience.

Came home after work to find nobody here, so decided to make my tofu dish for when the others arrived. 7 pm came and still nobody. So checked my voicemail and discovered that the others had gone to Jackson for dinner – they tried to find me but I went straight to the grocery store after work. So there are leftovers for tomorrow…

Freakish rainy spell has ended and we are in beautiful weather. Tomorrow should have a high of 77, coolest since my first days here, and a low around 38. Certainly not Minnesota heat and humidity here, but I do look forward to temps in the 60s and 70s instead of daily 80s and 90s. Still have a persistent haze that blocks distant mountain views – blown in from fires in Idaho and Montana. Locals say it will last until September.

Finally heard from Andy Tolan – he is at his ranch across the mountains for the next two weeks and is planning on coming here to visit at some point – perhaps this weekend.

(Sunday) After a late morning, Nick finally managed to get me off of my ass (and computer game) to go for a hike. Nick and Chrissy wanted an easier trail so opted for Photographer’s Point. As I had already been there, I set off on my own on the Pine Creek trail, which drops 2,000 feet into the canyon of Pine/Fremont Creeks and Long Lake. It was a pleasant hike, and I only passed two other people – most folks take the easy route to Photographer’s Point, Miller Lake, and beyond. Long Lake lies at the bottom of a deep glacial canyon carved into the ancient gneiss and makes for a beautiful up-valley vista. I hiked down Fremont Creek to the north end of Fremont Lake. A storm arrived with some serious wind just as I reached the lake, blowing spray and horizontal rain in my face. But the storm mostly missed me – the rain lasted only about five minutes. I chose a different trail for part of the return, but found it to be largely abandoned and difficult to follow in places. After a brisk hike up the 2,000 feet to the trailhead, I made it home in time for supper.

(Today) A good day of watching birds for pay – unfortunately my last as we are now finished with the area. Lots of yellow warblers, western tanagers, red-naped sapsuckers, and Brewer’s sparrows. Clouds built up but didn’t drop rain today. I worked on prep for the lynx survey in the afternoon. Played basketball with Nick before dinner – so far we haven’t managed to find a 10-foot rim but have been enjoying the 9-foot rim near the library.

I realize it’s been well over a week since my last “daily” update. I have acquired a computer game (Sacred) that is rather addicting and so have been doing that rather than posting on here in my free time. This past week went rather fast, with the first four days occupied by prairie pothole surveys. These potholes, formed when large blocks of glacial ice melted to leave depressions, formerly provided good habitat for Trumpeter Swans and all manner of waterfowl and shorebirds. Now all but 10 (of 100) are dry, a testament to the severe drought in recent years. We are surveying plants and birds and photographing each site. As I am the only “bird nut” in the office, birds are my responsibility. So far I have found Brewer’s Sparrows, Sage Thrashers, Red-naped Sapsuckers, Mountain Bluebirds, Warbling Vireos, Yellow Warblers, Willow Flycatchers, several species of teal, Buffleheads, Willets, plenty of Killdeers, Red-tailed Hawks, and many other species. Friday was less exciting as the anomalous rain continued and kept us in the office. I worked on setting up the next part of our lynx habitat survey (which will take a solid four weeks in the field) and preparing for another project involving inspection of range water sources and installation of bird ramps so that birds that fall in while attempting to drink can escape.

This weekend has been rather mellow – mainly cleaning, catching up finances, laundry, and of course my computer game. Chelsea is leaving tomorrow, so we had a farewell dinner at the brewpub last night.

Website updated with two new photo essays.

Task of the day: complete the lynx habitat survey by creating polygons around good habitat. This basically entails returning to the points where we found suitable habitat and walking a perimeter while carrying a Trimble GPS that is constantly logging points. I am out alone, as Chrissy is now focusing on the pothole study and Chelsea is still recovering from the cold that has been going around. I mark several large areas of good habitat – perhaps enough to save part of the area from being cut over. Just before noon, a cloud rolls up from the south. As I am rather far from the truck and in a valley where lightning is unlikely, I decide to wait it out. The storm proves to be a soaker, and by the time it is over my clothes are all dripping and the ground has turned to mud. The storm sent down only one close lightning that hit a ridgetop a quarter mile south of my location. After finishing my surveys, I wallow down the mud road in four weel drive, return to the office, and prepare for guzzler-seeking tomorrow.

Spent the morning working on Lynx data, putting files together. Tomorrow will finish field work for lynx by walking polygons around good habitat. Started the guzzler project in the afternoon – looking for 40-year-old “raintraps” – essentially large rectangles of roofing tins that drain into a tank and a watering trough. Most are in poor states of disrepair or have been removed. Today I walked around a beautiful area and found a guzzler that looked as if a tornado had hit it – twisted tins scattered for 500 feet. Probably just the effect of 20 years of winter blizzards and no maintenance.

It appears that Mark Luterra has finally got himself a blog. An online diary of sorts, though of course I don’t plan on divulging all of my personal secrets. Anyway, look for updates on the mundane and not-so-mundane events of my daily life here in Pinedale, Wyoming.

This weekend has gone by quickly, consumed by work on this website and watching the Lord of the Rings movies. As of last Friday we have DSL in our trailer, so I also been busy catching up with Facebook, downloading songs, videos, and games, and checking my favorite websites that I haven’t seen for over a month.