Wading in Wetlands

Since I arrived last week Sunday until today, I have been working without waders. I have done a decent job of avoiding wetlands so I could keep my feet dry in the mornings, but those days are over. I got my waders in the mail today, they're a little big but they stay up ok. I went through some of the smaller wetlands in Pasture 4 with Molly as a depth checker for me, and the ground was decently solid in most places. Then later I went out with Eric, he's pretty solid on his feet in the water, more so than I am, but then he has had two years of practice, if not more from previous jobs. I didn't fall in yet (and hope I don't!), but I'm going to do my best to stay in places where I'm most comfortable wading through. Marissa, my boss who is in South Dakota, said in an e-mail to me today "Happy Wading! I love waders, they make me feel like I can go anywhere if I want to." So I can't avoid the wetlands any more, but I sure will not be moving very quickly through them just yet! But I'm glad to have the appropriate field gear now.

My evenings have been pretty boring out here. Mostly been reading a book (almost finished with East of Eden after having started it in Kenya!), and watching Fringe online. I'm also trying to get a few papers submitted for publication, which always takes longer than I want it to take (and is extremely tedious). I'm looking forward to a few people arriving next week, two girls will be staying for about 2.5 weeks to do vegetation surveys, and my boss will be coming up to train them as well. Eric is also going away next week, and I will get to take care of Molly, his dog. It'll be nice to have some companionship! (Not just the dog, but the people, too!)

I'll check back in to let everyone know how my wading experience is going. I'm obviously nervous to get out there, but I think it is more fear of the unknown than anything else. It's just like when I was nervous about learning to drive boats on the Missouri River, or to drive trucks along narrow dikes in the San Francisco Bay. Once I get the hang of spotting solid places, I'm sure I'll be cruising along. In the meantime, I'm just going to take it easy.

Living and Working at the Brown Ranch

On May 21st, after two full days of driving my new car, I arrived at the Brown Ranch near McLeod, North Dakota and was greeted by Eric Hoff, the preserve manager, and his dog Molly (I sure was glad his dog wasn't named Maggi). The Brown Ranch is headquarters for The Nature Conservancy's land holdings in and around the Sheyenne National Grasslands, which are owned and run by the Forest Service (so technically, they are public lands). Because these are National Grasslands, they aren't farmed, like most of the exceedingly fertile (but extremely wet) land around here. Instead, they are grazed by local landowners under lease or rental agreements.

As in any place that is not owned and run by local landowners, there are tensions between both the National Grasslands, The Nature Conservancy, and ranchers. The ranchers want more land drained of water so that the land will grow more grass for their cattle. But part of the purpose for National Grasslands is to maintain the ecosystem in its fully functional state, which around here includes lots of wetlands. The Nature Conservancy is also doing its part to maintain the wetlands and the upland tallgrass prairies, both by not draining the lands and by burning the uplands, which would have been a big part of the ecosystem two hundred years ago. There are also lots of invasive species to take care of, like Kentucky Blue Grass, and the horridly successful Leafy Spurge. So I think I will experience an interesting dynamic between people wanting to be friendly to me but also having big reservations about The Nature Conservancy holding the lands they want.

I miss my Cora!

Yellow-headed Blackbird, beautiful bird, but funny sounding song.

Sunset behind the field house.

Windmill pulling up water for the cattle to drink.

My job this summer, as in many of my summers, will be to monitor breeding birds in the tallgrass prairies. Thankfully I don't have to monitor ducks, since I can't ID most of them to save myself. I'm doing "distance sampling" for Grasshopper Sparrows, Marbled Godwits, Bobolinks, and Upland Sandpipers. I got two days of surveying in this last week, and have probably 25 more to go, depending on the weather. I will also be surveying vegetation, so I'm really glad to have learned some of the plant species already in the mixed-grass prairies; there is quite a lot of overlap here. Next week will be a little lonely since I should be the only one around the house (besides Eric, who lives in a separate house but comes in to work in the office). But I'm used to being in the field alone, and there should be people arriving in a week or two. Today I had a day off because of wind and rain, and I'm not sure I'll work tomorrow or the next day, either, since it's a holiday weekend. But I'm looking forward to getting more settled in with the field work and with the house, hoping to get some nice photos this summer to share with everyone!

Bobolink, I love these guys!