Job Announcement: Wetland Ecology Field Technician

COLORADO NATURAL HERITAGE PROGRAM
Position Announcement:

The Colorado Natural Heritage Program (CNHP) at Colorado State University (CSU) seeks 4 experienced field technicians for summer field work assessing the condition of wetlands throughout the lower Arkansas River Basin in southeast Colorado. Positions require field botany and ecology skills. Pay rate is $2000-2800/month. Position duration is 3 or 5 months (May–Sept or June–Aug 2015). Knowledge of plant taxonomy and species identification required. Preferred qualifications include experience in wetland or riparian ecology, local flora, and familiarity performing field work for long days (10+ hours).

Field technician Spencer Rubin surveys wetlands on the
Southeastern Colorado Plains in 2014.

Fieldwork will take place in wetlands and riparian areas ranging from excellent to poor condition as part of a wetland condition assessment project in the lower Arkansas River Basin. Standard duties will involve driving and hiking to field sites; in-field plant identification, in-office plant identification with a microscope; detailed completion of field survey forms, data entry, landowner interaction; and extensive collection of vegetation, water, soil, wildlife habitat, and environmental data. Data will be collected using both rapid assessment protocols and more in-depth vegetation surveys. Field housing will likely be based in Pueblo, CO. Some camping and travel will be necessary.

Field technician Cat Weichmann surveys wetlands on the
Southeastern Colorado Plains in 2014.

To apply and view a complete position description, please visit and select Wetland Ecology Field Technician Research Associate I.

First consideration of applicants will begin February 16, 2015. Applications will continue to be considered until all positions are filled or until July 31, 2015, whichever comes first.

Reflecting departmental and institutional values, candidates are expected to have the ability to advance the Department's commitment to diversity and inclusion.

CSU is an EO/EA/AA employer and conducts background checks on all final candidates.

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.

Protecting Rattlesnakes and Rare Plants at Devil’s Backbone

Brad Lambert, CNHP zoologist, spent last spring at Devil’s Backbone Open Space lifting up rocks using a hiking pole. He was looking for prairie rattlesnakes, hoping to find them emerging from their dens. These dens, also called hibernacula, can contain hundreds of prairie rattlesnakes. Lambert’s surveys were part of an effort to find and protect rare animals and plants in one of Larimer County’s most popular hiking, mountain biking, and trail running destinations. Prairie rattlesnakes are not considered rare in the foothills of Colorado, but staff members from Larimer County’s Open Space Program aim to use Lambert’s findings to keep trails away from hibernacula. Lambert, with help from CNHP botanist Pam Smith, documented 32 potential hibernacula in rocky outcrops, prairie dog towns, and piles of concrete debris.

Brad Lambert, CNHP zoologist, searches for prairie rattlesnakes at
Devil’s Backbone Open Space, Larimer County, Colorado

A prairie rattlesnake hesitates before coiling 

Lambert and Smith also documented a new population of jeweled blazing star (Mentzelia speciosa var. speciosa) along a rocky, hogback ridge. Jeweled blazingstar has bright yellow petals and seed capsules that are covered in Velcro-like hairs. The capsules readily cling to animal fur and clothing, allowing the seeds to be dispersed far from the plant’s location. At Devil’s Backbone, the blazingstar was found growing in a native shrubland of mountain mahogany (Cercocarpus montanus) with an understory of New Mexico feathergrass (Hesperostipa neomexicana). This rare plant community is threatened by urban expansion along Colorado’s Front Range.

The bright yellow petals of jeweled blazing star in early summer

Jeweled blazing star's dried seed capsules waiting
to hitchhike on an unwitting animal or human

Larimer County Open Space staff members have used Lambert and Smith’s discoveries to plan trails that route recreationists away from potential rattlesnake dens. This strategy will help minimize encounters between recreationists and rattlesnakes, while protecting rare plant communities and rare plants. We extend our thanks to Larimer County for making this project so close to home a big success!

Uncommon partnership for conservation: how rock climbers are leading the way for bat conservation

by Rob Schorr, CNHP zoologist

In North America, bats are declining at unprecedented rates.  Yet, the term “decline” does not do it justice.  For some reason, migratory tree bats have an affinity for wind turbine facilities, and dead migratory tree bats are being found at wind turbine sites throughout the US.  This unexplained attraction has led to an estimated 600,000 bat deaths annually in the US (Hayes, 2013).  This figure forces one to pause and contemplate a loss of this magnitude.  Unfortunately, this is not the most alarming figure from bat conservation over the last decade.  Since 2006 when a new disease, called White Nose Syndrome, made its way into North America hibernating bat populations have been decimated.  This disease is caused by a cold-loving fungus that infects tissues of hibernating bats, disrupting cellular function when the bats are unable to mount an immune response.  It is estimated that nearly 6 million bats have succumbed to the disease since its arrival in North America.  White Nose Syndrome can impact populations so dramatically as to kill 90-100% of the individuals once hibernating at a site (Frick et al, 2010).  For decades there has been mounting concern for bat populations as roosting locations are lost or disturbed, increased pesticide use alters their food resources, and native habitats are converted to other uses, but nothing prepared conservation biologists for this level of demise.

Fortunately for Colorado, mass mortalities at wind turbine facilities have not been seen, and, as far as we know, White Nose Syndrome has not made its way this far west.  Few biologists feel this is reason to let our guard down.  In fact, Colorado is faced with some challenges that would make diagnosing and abating mass die-offs harder than in eastern North America where White Nose Syndrome has been so impactful.  Colorado biologists have been unable to find hibernacula that house the number of bats seen in the East.  Eastern colonies can be in the millions or thousands, whereas Colorado colonies are substantially smaller and, possibly, more dispersed.  The question left for many conservation biologists is, “how will we know if Colorado bat populations undergo a decline?”

Biologist holding a little brown bat (Myotis lucifugus) captured in north-central Colorado.

Bat biologists in Colorado have a long history of systematically identifying and evaluating caves and mines as potential bat roosts.  Through ventures like the Bats-in-Inactive-Mines Project by Colorado Parks and Wildlife and numerous cave inventories much data have been collected on what underground structures provide bat habitat.  Yet, even with these survey efforts, few large hibernacula were uncovered.  So where are bats hibernating?

Based on research in Colorado, there is growing evidence that bats may be roosting in cracks and crevices.  Given the abundance of geological features in Colorado the number of potential roosts for bats is unfathomable, and there is little likelihood of biologists ever being able to systematically survey such a resource.  However, there is a recreational user group in Colorado that can help bat biologists with this problem.  Rock climbers in Colorado have shared numerous accounts of bats emerging from cracks and crevices during their climbing excursions.

Rob Schorr, Bernadette Kuhn, and Shawn Davis

On November 24th, bat biologists and rock climbers met to talk about how to develop a unique collaboration that might shed light on bat ecology and conservation in Colorado.  The brainchild of Rob Schorr and Bernadette Kuhn of Colorado Natural Heritage Program and Dr. Shawn Davis formerly of the Human Dimensions Department at Warner College of Natural Resources (now at Northern Michigan University), this project is bringing the two groups together to conserve bat populations.  

Shawn Davis leads bat biologists and rock climbers in
a discussion of the potential challenges and solutions to their partnership.

During their inaugural meeting, hosted as a World Café, the groups discussed how they could develop a mutually beneficial partnership that allow biologists to gain new information about bats’ use of crevices.  There was an overwhelming response that this collaboration could be fruitful and valuable for understanding bat resource use and, hopefully, bat conservation in advance of looming threats from White Nose Syndrome.

Karina Mullen Branson of ConverSketch documenting
the discussions and ideas in a mural format.

The final mural of the bat and climber café meeting.

Hayes, M. A.  2013. Bats killed in large numbers at United States wind energy facilities. BioScience 63:975979.

Frick, W. E., et al. 2010. An emerging disease causes regional population collapse of a common North American bat species. Science 329:679-682.

Hunter behavior: planning for the future of wildlife funding

by Rob Schorr, CNHP zoologist

As in Colorado, income from elk and deer hunting drives the economy of wildlife management in the state of Montana.  Rob Schorr and co-authors Dr. Paul Lukacs (University of Montana) and Justin Gude (Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks) analyzed Montana elk and deer hunter data from 2002-2011 to understand what factors influence hunter behavior and the funding that comes from license sales.

Rob Schorr elk hunting in Colorado

They determined that gender, residency, age, license price, and cohort behaviors influence retention and recruitment of individuals into the hunting population.   Millennial hunters grew in numbers but their recruitment decreased rapidly with age.  Baby Boomers were the largest contingency of the hunting population and had the highest retention rates, but as this group ages it is waning from the population.  Increases in license price decreased hunter retention and recruitment slightly.  Hunting populations were growing or stable until 2006, but hunting recruitment decreased by 50% from 2002 to 2011 leading to decreasing hunter populations in Montana.  The $50 million that comes from elk and deer hunting annually accounts for more than 60% of Montana Fish Wildlife Park’s revenue, but as hunter populations decline funding structures for management of game and non-game species will need to be altered.

Hops blue butterfly talk at the High County Lepidopterists’ Conference

Zoologist Rob Schorr (top left) and students
Callie Puntenney and Emily Vavra at the event 

Zoologist Rob Schorr and honors undergraduate students Callie Puntenney and Emily Vavra attended the 25th Annual High Country Lepidopterists’ Conference at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science November 8, 2014.  Rob presented their work estimating the habitat occupancy of the hops blue butterfly (Celastrina humulus) along Monument Creek at the U.S. Air Force Academy.  The abstract from their work is published in the first Denver Museum of Nature and Science Reports publication.

Conserving Roadside Populations of Colorado’s Globally Imperiled Plants

At least 22 globally imperiled plants found along roadside areas in Colorado are at risk of
extinction. One of the biggest conservation issues for Colorado rare native plants is the lack of awareness of their existence and status. CNHP partnered with the Colorado Department of Transportation (CDOT) and Colorado Natural Areas Program (CNAP) for a pilot project to explore how road maintenance activities might proceed while minimizing impacts to rare plants.  Avoiding or minimizing impacts to these species during road maintenance activities may help to effectively conserve their habitat.

Grand Mesa penstemon (Penstemon mensarum) photo by Lori Brummer

To learn more about this pilot project, take a look at the final report.

The species-specific Best Management Practices (BMPs) which complement this document are intended to help increase the awareness of these species for anyone involved in road maintenance activities. The desired outcome of this report and the associated recommended BMPs is to significantly reduce the impacts of road maintenance activities to ten globally imperiled plants on federal, state, and/or private land, while still addressing roadside safety concerns.

Rollins' twinpod (Physaria rollinsii) photo by Steve O'Kane

Species-specific Best Management Practices (BMPs):

BMPs for Arkansas Canyon stickleaf (Nuttallia densa)
BMPs for Bell’s twinpod (Physaria bellii)
BMPs for Brandegee wild buckwheat (Eriogonum brandegeei)
BMPs for Colorado green gentian (Frasera coloradensis)
BMPs for DeBeque milkvetch (Astragalus debequaeus)
BMPs for Good-neighbor bladderpod (Physaria vicina)
BMPs for Grand Mesa penstemon (Penstemon mensarum)
BMPs for Gunnison milkvetch (Astragalus anisus)
BMPs for Rabbit Ears gilia (Ipomopsis aggregata ssp. weberi)
BMPs for Rollins’ twinpod (Physaria rollinsii)

Celebrating National Bat Week in Steamboat Springs

Rob Schorr visited the Steamboat Springs and Hayden, Colorado to celebrate National Bat Week.  Rob gave a presentation at the Bud Werner Memorial Library in downtown Steamboat Springs on Halloween eve, then gave talks at the Hayden Valley Elementary School and the Hayden High School on Halloween.

Rob talking to Hayden High School science class about the importance of bats and
CNHP’s little brown bat conservation project in the Yampa Valley.

The bat-savvy crowd at the Werner Memorial knew much about bat ecology and  were interested to hear about the bat research CNHP was at the Yampa Valley Land Trust’s Rehder Ranch and The Nature Conservancy’s  Carpenter Ranch. The combined 3rd grade classes at Hayden Valley Elementary learned about bat flight, echolocation, and bat conservation, while the high school students were exposed to bat conservation and the use of statistics to answer bat conservation questions.

Rob and high school science teacher Sarah Blakeslee.