2017 Siegele Interns are Here!

Here at CNHP, we’re kicking off the summer with our 2017 Siegele interns! We are so happy to have Riley, Neal, Cora, Lauren, Toryn, and Kira join our team in the name of conservation science. This past week our interns had training, orientation, and were introduced to their mentors and projects they will be working on this season. These projects include a bat study, surveying rare plants, and researching rare animal species.

Because we know our interns love the outdoors, we took them on a “mini field day” to show them a day in the life of an ecologist! They spent time studying the region at Coyote Ridge Natural Area with a focus on occurrences of the rare and endemic Bell's twinpod (Physaria bellii), a neat little plant with a very specific habitat range. We're glad our newest CNHP members got a chance to enjoy the beautiful summer day while searching for the twinpod.

The interns are also becoming fast experts on our citizen science app, iNaturalist, where anyone can upload pictures of cool plants, insects, birds, and other wildlife species they see when out and about. We used the app dozens of times during the field day, and we are excited to see what plants and animals our interns will document during their projects this summer.

We’ll keep you updated on our interns’ work as the season progresses. Whether it’s exploring wetlands, romping around the Great Sand Dunes, or going on bioblitzes with other CNHP crew members, our interns are set to have an exciting and fun summer!

The interns and volunteers meet Bill and Diane Siegele and learn about the projects they'll be working on.

Some interns count Bell's twinpod with an attentive Pam standing nearby.

Talking about all things conservation science!

Interns Riley and Neal with volunteer Lexie take in the beauty of Coyote Ridge. 

Let's Hear it For the Interns, Student Employees, and Volunteers!

CNHP gives a shout out to all of the students, volunteers, and interns that helped us make our 2015 field season a success! Thanks so much to the following individuals who supported our projects with their energy, enthusiasm, and hard work: Devanshi Kukadia, Abigail Bradley, Joe Tort, Caleb Freeman, Alison Hall, James Hunt, Dominik McLaren, and Maddie Micallef. Good luck on your future endeavors!

CNHP interns (from left) Caleb Freeman and Joe Tort, along with Alison Hall (student employee at Resources for Disabled Students) and David Anderson (CNHP director).

Finding Bird's Foot Violets at Pineries Open Space

CNHP staff botanists Pam Smith and Bernadette Kuhn recently conducted rare plant surveys at Pineries Open Space outside of Colorado Springs. Judy von Ahlefeldt, a Black Forest local, organized the survey in an effort to document populations of the rare bird’s foot violet (Viola pedatifida). The property is owned by El Paso County, and County officials plan to remove hazard trees that were burned during the 2013 Black Forest Fire. The goal of this project is to help El Paso County staff identify the locations of rare plants so they can be avoided during the tree removal process. After a day of surveying, our group of eight volunteers and botanists discovered 52 bird’s foot violets.

Bird's foot violet (Viola pedatifida) is a tallgrass prairie plant. Colorado populations represent the far western edge of the species' range. The destruction of native tallgrass prairie and woodlands is a major threat to this species. 

Our group takes a lunch break among burned ponderosa pine trees at Pineries Open Space. The area was burned in the 2013 Black Forest Fire.

We surveyed for bird’s foot violets along two ephemeral streams that are tributaries of Black Squirrel Creek. The streams were swollen with recent rainfall, and we spotted a large Woodhouse’s toad and heard chorus frogs calling loudly all morning. More rare plant surveys are scheduled at Pineries Open Space this summer. If you are interested in volunteering at Pineries Open Space, feel free to contact CNHP.

We spotted this adult Woodhouse's toad hopping along the forest floor. Woodhouse's toads are common in Eastern Colorado in non-forested areas, and are less frequently seen in ponderosa pine habitats.

Boom or Bust: Searching for Ute Ladies-Tresses Orchids

Winter in Fort Collins has us reminiscing about the 2014 field season. Last summer we searched for a lovely white orchid called Ute ladies-tresses (Spiranthes diluvialis). This federally threatened orchid prefers moist areas adjacent to creeks and rivers, and is also found in wet meadows. The population size of this species is known to fluctuate wildly. The orchid easily eludes field botanists because it spends most of the year in a dormant state with no above-ground structures or in a vegetative state with no flowers.

Figure 1. Ute ladies-tresses in full bloom.

We started our search on the West Slope of Colorado, combing 43 miles of the Colorado River from State Bridge to Dotsero. Portions of this section of the river were identified by Karin Decker as potential suitable habitat based on a model she created for the Little Snake BLM Office. CNHP ecologist Dee Malone, along with botanists from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, BLM, and the Colorado Native Plant Society used rafts, kayaks, and duckies to conduct the surveys. Unfortunately, no orchids were found during the trip.

Figure 2 (top). U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service botanists Ellen Mayo (front) and Gina Glenne (back) searched for Ute ladies-tresses along the Colorado River. Figure 3 (bottom). A river otter pokes it head up to check out our flotilla.

Back on the East Slope, Pam Smith visited sites along Clear Creek where hundreds of Ute ladies-tresses had been documented in previous years. We were not able to locate any individuals in our surveys. Jill Handwerk and Bernadette Kuhn also checked a known site just outside Fort Collins with Crystal Strouse, a botanist from the City of Fort Collins Natural Areas. Still, no plants turned up. While 2014 was a bad year for the orchid, we know population sizes exhibit large annual fluctuations. Here’s hoping for a boom year in 2015.

Figure 4. Botanists Jill Handwerk (CNHP) and Crystal Strouse (City of Fort Collins) look for Ute ladies-tresses near Fort Collins. Despite the hopeful number of pin flags we brought, no orchids were found.

Third Annual Adopt-A-Rare-Plant Field Season Underway

by Rebecca Hopson, CNHP volunteer

CNHP volunteer Virginia Meadows looking for
Townsendia rothrockii at Independence Pass

 February 26, 2013 marked the beginning of the third annual Adopt-A-Rare-Plant Program’s field season with a training presentation that took place at the Denver Botanic Gardens. The Adopt-A-Rare-Plant program is a volunteer based program that works to raise public awareness of the significance of rare plants as well as promote volunteer involvement in the sponsor organizations. It has been recently revived by a partnership between the Colorado Natural Heritage Program, the Denver Botanic Gardens and the Colorado Native Plant Society to raise public awareness of Colorado’s rare plants. At the training, community volunteers were shown how to identify a rare plant species of their choice and gather important ecological data about its location that will be used in updating information in the Colorado Natural Heritage Program database. Everyone left excited and ready to start looking for rare plants!

Townsendia rothrockii in its typical habitat

CNHP’s 2012 Annual Recognition Event

By CNHP Director, Dave Anderson

I regret to report that unlike two blogs in the past month, this one does not involve beer, but it does involve margaritas!  We held our annual recognition event at The Rio Grande Mexican Restaurant last Friday.  With some of our partners and colleagues, we honored CNHP’s volunteers, students, and staff over a delicious buffet lunch in the Agave Room at the downtown Fort Collins restaurant. 

Revelers in the Agave Room - what a nice venue!

 We could not do what we do without our volunteers and students, and they bring enthusiasm and fresh ideas to CNHP every day!  Our three 2012 CNHP Outstanding Volunteer Awards went to Stacey Anderson, Julie White, and Rebecca Hopson this year.  We are so grateful to them for their commitment to CNHP and wonderful work.  We also gave recognition to the long list of other volunteers who have worked with us in 2012!  Tanya Stevens, our newest volunteer, joined us as well.

Katie Schneburg and Michelle Kamandy - two of CNHP’s amazing work study students

Julie White, winner of a CNHP Outstanding Volunteer Award,
and her fiancé

Rebecca Hopson, winner of a CNHP Outstanding Volunteer Award,
with Jill Handwerk, Botany Team Leader

We gave certificates to our current student staff members- Michelle Kamandy, Nathan Jensen, Jacqui Marquez, Gabe Scott, Katie Schneberg, and Sally Ebeling. 

And our three grand prize winners of the CNHP Photo Contest were Michael Menefee (landscape), Jeremy Siemers (species), and Pam Smith (people at work).

Michael Menefee's winning landscape photo of the High Park fire

 We recognized Michelle Fink, Karin Decker, and Gabrielle Smith for coordinating the wildly successful CNHP Blog.

And last but not least, our kitchen cleaning team, led by Pam Smith, received the prestigious Green Sponge Award, for improving our standard of living tremendously here at the CNHP office. 

Winners of the prestigious Green Sponge Award, led by Pam Smith
(with the big green sponge and “scepter”)

Our distinguished guests included Chris Pague and Rick Knight, both of whom were instrumental in bringing CNHP to CSU!  Heather Knight, one of CNHP’s first employees and current partner at TNC, came as well.  Ken Wilson, Department Head of FWCB, came along with Val Romero and Mary Olivas-Lee from our Budget Office.  Brad Johnson and Jen Ackerfield, our colleagues at CSU came also.  Brian Sullivan and Eric Odell, two of our wonderful partners at Colorado Parks and Wildlife joined us along with our friends at CEMML, Lee Barber and Dave Jones.  We even got to catch up with a couple former employees, Jodie Bell and Jared Papert-Stockton. 

Rick Knight, CSU Professor,
 Chris Pague, TNC Senior Scientist and former CNHP Director, and
Heather Knight, TNC Laramie Foothills Project Director.

It was a wonderful afternoon, and thank you to all who could come and be a part of it.