A SUMMER IN GLACIER NATIONAL PARK


By Gabriella Eaton Conservation Intern
Day 1
FIRST DAY Today was my first day and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of people I will be working with in the near future. I had lunch on a rock by the river and enjoyed the awesome views. I am so excited to work with everyone and learn about what they do. Hopefully I can remember people’s names.
Day 2
NATIVE PLANT NURSERY I spent today in the Native Plant Nursery helping out with the seemingly endless tasks the crew has to work on there. It was volunteer day which meant many older folks would come in to volunteer their time. To start off, I helped move some plants to a new spot in the nursery. After that, I received a tour of the nursery and greenhouse. The nursery is really awesome because they help restore native plants back to areas where humans have had a negative impact. This includes things like campgrounds, construction, road work, and other ways humans disturb plant habitat. If native plants are not restored in these places, it is more likely that invasive species will move in. The crews that restore these areas have to collect seeds from the area that they plan on restoring. The nursery crew germinates these seeds in the nursery. This process can be quite complicated because some species used to germinating in cold and tough alpine environments have a really tough seed coat. They explained that some seeds have to be put through a rock polishing tool in order to break the seed coat. Others may need to be kept in a refrigerator to mimic a snowy winter. Growing these plants takes a lot of experimenting in order to understand which processes work best. However, the group is seeing a higher survival rate for plants than they did when the nursery was originally established. There is actually an entirely separate crew that goes out and takes the plants raised into the nursery to the area they need to restore. And yet another that checks the status of previously restored areas. This helps them learn how to improve their methods. One things I thought was especially interesting about the nursery was the cuttings of juniper and snowberry. They collect branches of these species and soak the ends in a hormone that tells the undifferentiated cells to grow roots. Then they plant them and a whole new juniper or snowberry plant grows straight from a chopped off branch! How cool is that? Not to mention the nursery folks are such kind and welcoming people. I had a blast hanging around the nursery today!
Day 3
SAFETY FIRST Today was an all day safety stand down. I met a lot of people, played hacky sack, and ate veggie burgers! Most importantly though, I received a really thorough review of safety as recreater in the backcountry and as an employee. The stand down took place at the Wheeler cabin on the end of Lake McDonald.
Day 4
TOASTY TREES I met with the fire effects crew this morning to observe CBI plots for burn severity. We spent the day walking on the outer tendrils of the Sprague Burn. This was in order to assure the documented severity was accurate and if not provide the information necessary to change it. We would stop and observe severity on a 1-4 scale in a 30x30 plot on each trophic level. The data was recorder on paper and all three group members had to agree on a number before moving on to the next question. This was a good method to ensure they had the best result. I learned a lot about how fires effect forests. For instance, many trees who are burned at the base or “girdled� end up dying after a few years. We actually looked at the Howe Ridge burn to compare this to what the Sprague burn looks like now. We actually looked at the Howe Ridge burn to compare and it looked like nothing but baby trees and shrubs with very few of the original trees still standing. But that could be what parts of the Sprague burn end up looking like. After the day out in the field it was fun to chat with the crew and learn more about how fires effect forests.
Day 5
GLACIAL EYES I went with a group of nursery workers to work on revegetation in Many Glacier. We went to an area that was previously a popular picnicking spot and was surrounded by social trails. I used a tool called a Pulaski to dig holes for the plants. This is actually a firefighting tool but it is necessary for the extremely rocky soil in the park. We worked for a few hours which made my arms sore. But it payed off because we planted over 250 plants and the area looked so much better than it did before. Not to mention we had fantastic views in Many Glacier. Every time I looked up from the hole I was digging, I would see the rugged peaks and their bright snowpacks looking back at me.
Day 6
RAIN RAIN Today I spent another day with the nursery on their annual Tuesday volunteer day. It rained for the entire day, so we worked inside the warm greenhouse. I did some weeding and pruning as well as building the planters that seeds would be planted in. The volunteers there were fun to talk to and so dedicated to their volunteer work. One of the ladies who helps out has been volunteering there before any of the current nursery employees have been employed. That is dedication. At lunch today I went to a meeting about helping the archeology crew at Sperry Chalet next week. Then I finished the day out at the nursery.
Day 7
DANCING QUEEN Today I went with Mary Anne to check a bat data logger at the Lake McDonald backcountry campground. On the hike and drive over to the trailhead I learned a lot about Mary Ann. She is a wildlife tech. Mary Ann actually used to be a dancer in Boston, which is what her first degree was in. But one day she saw a moose while she was in Boston and just decided she wanted to go into wildlife which completely changed the course of her life. It was really fun to get her perspective and get to know her. Our day was filled with laughter. We were given some instructions on how to replace the SD cards and how to plug the coordinates for the station into a GPS. But with Mary Ann and I had a hard time figuring it out so we just decided to find it without the GPS. It was supposed to be strapped to an old tree just along the shoreline of Lake McDonald. The equipment was stored in an insulated ammo box. We had to be really careful not to mess up any of the cords when we pulled it out. We followed the instructions we were given and replaced the full memory cards with empty ones. After that we hiked back to the trailhead. On the way back, we stopped by these properties that were located along the shores of Lake McDonald. These were established before the park was and belonged to the families of the original founders. There are actually two historic park service buildings back near these homes and that was where we were headed because of a bat roost in the building. We ended up talking to one of the homeowners for awhile and he actually volunteered to do a bat survey for us. After our morning in the field, we went back to Quarters 3 and Lisa sent
us with Shawn to look for one of her buoys that was missing but said to be floating around near Fish Creek Campground. We all looked around a lot but couldn’t find the buoys. We did find trash lying around the campground though so we picked that up as we drove through. As the day came to a close, I was invited on another adventure with Shawn the next day.
Day 8
THE LYNX I started my day by meeting Shawn near Quarters 3 and taking a long drive out to Bowman Lake. Today our mission was to check game cameras for lynx on the way to Upper Quartz Lake. It was a beautiful day and apparently the mosquitoes thought so too because they were attacking us. By the time we reached the second camera, we saw a photo of a lynx and a black bear. In order to check these cameras, Shawn had to scroll through thousands of photos in search of a lynx or any other interesting wildlife. The purpose of these cameras was to get an idea of where lynx were in the park and how many. We checked a total of five cameras. The fifth camera was near middle Quartz and when we got there we immediately noticed that it was all messed up and sideways. Shawn went through the photos and one of the first ones was a picture of a black bear. Then there was a picture of a claw over the lens. The last was the black bear looking back at the camera like HA. I did that. It was pretty funny but Shawn had to reposition the camera which actually took a little while. We ate lunch at Upper Quartz Lake. The lake sparkled, a centerpiece of the amazing backdrop which was filled with carved mountain peaks and remaining snow. Squirrels chased each other around the driftwood that had washed up on shore. The water was tempting with the sun blaring down as well as knowing how much uphill we had left.
But we had to get back. So we left the beautiful lake and got some huckleberry bear claws from the Mercantile instead. What a way to end the day.
Day 9 and 10
ONE’S TRASH ANOTHER’S TREASURE After the Sprague fire burnt down the famous Sperry Chalet, it became a controversial and expensive construction project. A nightmare to some park employees is also a blessing to others as well as visitors who didn’t want to lose this historic structure and wanted to see it rebuilt. Although a memorable structure, wildlife and vegetation managers have to look at the dangers of construction crews, helicopters, and the effects this could have on plant and animal life. Another perspective however is the Cultural Resources Management. They are excited because the fire uncovered some archaeological sites nearby the chalet and because the rebuilding is taking place on a historic structure. The fire actually unearthed these dump sites where people staying at the Chalet used to throw their trash. My job for the next two days was to follow and help the Cultural Resource Crew do some inventory of these sites. I hiked up to Sperry with Brigid and Rob. When we arrived, we were greeted by the dining hall staff with lemonade and cookies. Along with chaos from the first day of construction. Representatives from all of the departments were there to make sure everyone was doing what they were supposed to. For the rest of the day, our job was to mark and record data on artifacts using a Trimble.
The mosquitoes and flies were the worst I have ever experienced. The blood thirsty mosquitoes and flies swarmed me as I was setting up my tent outside the trails cabin. They were flying up my nose and into my ears. In a sad attempt to escape the mosquitoes, I decided to walk around so they couldn’t catch me. Brigid and Rob did the same and we ended up walking around for a long time. When I grew tired of this, the trail crew invited the archaeology crew and the dining hall staff to play a game called Secret Hitler which was a really fun board game. The next day consisted of more mosquitoes, surveying, and walking. Along with some yummy cake that the Chalet Staff shared with us while a helicopter landed to drop off gear for the architects. The hike out of the burned area was long and hot but we were all excited to cool off and not be eaten alive by mosquitoes.
Day 11
TIMMY THE BIGHORN SHEEP Today, I worked with Citizen Science to do a high country training. This would allow me to complete surveys for mountain goats and pikas in the park on my own. Citizen Science is a program kind of like the nursery that lets citizens get involved by completing surveys that the park service lacks money or time to do. So it is a pretty neat experience and an awesome way to get citizens involved. We learned all about goats and pikas in the park. Pikas are small potato shaped creatures that are in the rabbit family and live on scree slopes in alpine environments. They are extremely sensitive to warm temperatures which means climate change is effecting them. The surveys for
these guys are mainly to see if they are there. For mountain goats it would be mainly to see the number of goats in the park. We learned to identify the different sexes of goats and determine age. After the classroom session, Laura drove another lady and I to Two Medicine to hike Scenic Point and complete a mountain goat survey. We stopped at Rock and roll Bakery to get some pastries first. We enjoyed some pumpkin doughnuts and a lemon blueberry scone. This was my first time to Two Medicine and it was breathtaking. We started up trail toward our destination. On the way up, we noticed a lone male Bighorn Sheep. He was small, awkward and lonely. Obviously I had to give him a name. I decided he was a Timmy. We observed him from a distance for awhile until he disappeared over a rock face. Then we finished hiking up to the point and had lunch. When we arrived at our survey spot we surveyed for goats for about 30 minutes . We didn’t see any goats but observed two Bighorn sheep through the scope. We had a fun hike down and saw Timmy again. We wished him luck and headed down the trail toward the car and home.
Day 12
THE MYSTERY OF LAKE WINONA I had no idea that loons were so amazing! Today I had a loon training with Citizen Science today. Recognizable by their classic “Wail” and their black and white necklace, loons are more closely related to penguins than any other bird. They are really great divers due to their heavy bodies and small wings but this means that they are not good at flying. They have small feet they can use to drag them onshore when they are nesting but otherwise live their entire lives in water. These birds are facing issues because of habitat loss and human disturbance that prevents them from safely nesting. Along with this, fishing line and lead sinkers can kill this sensitive bird. Along with these factors, loons only produce up to 2 chicks per pair per year. They don’t mate until they reach maturity which is around 7 years old. This means the number of chicks per year is low. After our classroom session we went to Lake Winona for our loon survey. No one was expecting to see loons right away but of course there was one adult as soon as we arrived. After observing for awhile we spotted a chick and another loon. We saw them get spooked by something in the woods and they raised their bellies up out of the water and flapped their wings as they
let out their distress call, a “tremelo” We observed other behaviors like diving and feeding their chick. After about an hour of practicing with the scope and binoculars. It was time to go. Just as we were taking our last looks through the scope, and intruder loon flew onto the lake right by the current residents. The other loons didn’t vocalize but showed signs of aggression toward the intruder. After a few displays of this, one of the original loons flew off of the lake leaving a chick and partner behind. The whole situation was very strange and we don’t know why the loon left or what the situation was. But it made us take into perspective that we only saw a small snapshot of their lives in that hour. So what if we had arrived when there were three loons on the lake? Our story would be different. This is a fact of life as well. Like the loons, we will never know the whole story, only a snapshot. It is best to always keep an open mind and learn what you can. But accept that all the answers will never be answered.
Day 13
PLAYING PAINTBALL WITH GOATS I came to work today and walked in on a meeting (kind of) with all of the wildlife people. They talked about a bear that fell off a cliff near triple arches on Going to the Sun Road. It had been paralyzed from the fall and had to be euthanized. After everyone was done talking I asked some of the staff what they were up to today. Shawn said he was headed up to Sperry Chalet to possibly haze a goat. So I said okay! The hike up was 6.4 miles in the heat of the day but we still broke Shawn’s previous record by a minute. Once we arrived at the Chalet we were given lemonade and snacks because the dining crew is so lovely. Then we decided to explore to look for any goats we might have to haze. It was weird because when we talked to construction workers, they said the goats don’t bother them at all. After walking around a bit we finally saw a billy but he wasn’t being obnoxious or bothering anyone and we would rather not ruin the happy lives of goats today if we don’t have to. So we walked up this ridge toward Lake Ellen Wilson but still no goats. It was hilarious because as we made our way back to the Chalet to leave, we saw 7 goats and kids. But they weren’t hurting anyone so we hiked back down in about an hour and fort five minutes
or something like that. All in all, it was a fun hike and Shawn was thankful he didn’t have to play paintball with any goats today.
Day 14
SECRETS OF THE FALLS Behind the loud rushing of crystal waters lies the waterfall’s best kept secret. Little moss nests sit in niches in the wet rock. In these nests are birds known as the Black Swift. These birds are absolutely amazing. Today we went out to look for these little guys at Lunch Creek on the east side of Logan Pass. But first we had a classroom session to learn about these little guys. Black Swifts are closely related to hummingbirds. They are footless which means they cannot perch. But rather cling to rock walls. They have the ability to fly up to 90 mph. In Montana, we don’t know much about swifts. We haven’t had enough research to determine whether or not they are in good shape as a species or if they should be listed. Lisa Bate and a lady from the Audubon are coop-ing to hopefully get some answers and take appropriate action to conserve this interesting species. We learned about where to look for swifts and how to conduct a survey. In short, it is necessary to be at the location 2 hours before dark to start the survey. Then an evaluation of habitat resources needs to be done. After that, your only job is to watch the sky for the swifts. The idea of the survey is to get a count of how many swifts enter the waterfall and in what areas they are entering so that someone could come back at a later time to locate nests and possible chicks. When we left
to lunch creek it was around 5 o’clock PM. Everyone brought snacks and warm clothes. We arrived at the waterfall around 7 pm after a short walk down the creek and began the survey. After habitat evaluation, we took turns doing 10 minute shifts of complete attention at the waterfall. You would think it would be super difficult to look at the waterfall for that long but it was actually not difficult because the water was mesmerizing and the sound was relaxing. For me it was a little difficult to focus on one thing without getting distracted by mosquitoes. We didn’t see any black swifts in our survey but I think everyone enjoyed the serenity of the falls.
Day 15
HEY GUYS…I THINK I LOST MY BACKPACK So…my field backpack is green. Like the color of plants green. Today on a loon survey at Howe Lake with Richard and Morgan, I made the mistake of setting my backpack down next to a downfallen log. Which you can imagine didn’t go well. Anyways, today Richard and Morgan and I went to Howe Lake to look for loons. On our first sighting of the lake, we made the mistake of assuming that Mergansers were loons but pretty quickly realized they weren’t. Then we walked further over and bushwhacked through downfall to get to the best possible view-shed of the lake. It took us awhile but we finally found the loons. This is when I made the mistake of setting down my green backpack. Then we decided to get closer to the loons to view them better because we realized there were two adults and two chicks. Now I realized that I didn’t have my backpack on. So I was like “it’s fine I will just go back and grab it.” I spent at least ten minutes running around in the marshy, muddy,
cattails and plants. I looked next to every downfallen log I could find. I may have started to panic…just a little bit. But after my dramatic search I found the backpack. I felt kind of stupid for leaving in behind but at least we completed the loon survey and I learned a good lesson. We headed back to West Glacier.
Day 16
NATURE’S MUSIC Water falls from the very tops of peaks, down to the valley, serenading the forest with their voices. A shallow stream squirms through the valley, providing a water source for wildlife, especially one lone moose. Ominous glaciers and snowpacks still lurk on the mountain sides in late July. Brush and Wildflowers sway to the valley’s music. This was my reality today on a hike over Gunsight Pass to Lake McDonald. We would hike 19 miles and perform a mountain goat survey as well as a pika survey. The day started off with the moose sighting. She was eating vegetation in the stream just as the sun was rising and hitting the tops of the trees. A member of the citizen science team named Pete was my companion for todays hike. (PS: Pete has long legs and walks very fast). The hike up to pass was uneventful but absolutely breathtaking. There was a lot of thimbleberry and thick brush on either side of the trail, which made it hard to step because immediately my foot would be swallowed up by the vegetation. We had to do three snow crossings near the pass but we passed around most of them. At the top of the pass, Pete realized that we walked 1/2 mile too far for our mountain goat survey. So we had to backtrack which would
add one mile onto our day. At the survey point we looked at opposite view sheds for 30 minutes and I spotted one goat on a rock face. Then, in the middle of our survey, a nanny with a yearling and and kid were all walking straight towards us. They were pretty used to humans. During, our loon survey at Lake Ellen Wilson, we had squirrels and marmots swarming us for salt. But otherwise we didn’t see any loons. Pete and I had some really good conversations and I really enjoyed getting to know him throughout our long hike. We arrived at Sperry after a bit of uphill after the lake. The Sperry dining crew recognized me from my past trips and treated us to lemonade and desserts. They were begging us to take the desserts so I finally caved in and got a butter bar. It was seriously one of the best desserts I have ever had. We finished out the day on full bellies. The downhill after Sperry felt so easy considering I had hiked it a few times before. This hike was my longest day hike so far which felt like an awesome accomplishment. It was an awesome day that I won’t soon forget.
Day 17
CHILLAXIN Since my previous week and weekends were very heavy on the hiking, it was decided that today would be a more relaxed day. I arrived at the nursery and worked on weeding and pruning for most of the day. A Montana Conservation Corps group camp and I chatted with some of the kids which was pretty fun since they were around the same age as me. They were all really hard workers. Around noon, I went to a meeting about applying for jobs on USA jobs. It was really informative and kind of scary but also very useful for the
near future. After that I spent the rest of the day back at the nursery working on pruning and weeding.
Day 18
ARE YOU GUYS CLIMBERS?‌ NOPE JUST CLIMBING A TREE I spent all of my childhood climbing trees, but I never knew that you could get paid to do it. Today I went with the revegetation crew to watch them climb a white bark pine tree in order to cage its cones. White bark Pine trees have undergone attacks by pine beetles and blister rust. Both of these issues have wiped out the population of these important trees. The purpose of caging the cones is to prevent animals like the clarks nutcracker and others from taking them. The cones will be collected in a couple of months and sent to a facility near Spokane that grows them. Then we receive saplings and those are replanted in the park. The crew tests trees for the highest percent resistance to the pine beetles and those re the ones chosen to be sent off. We drove out to Two Medicine and hiked past Scenic Point to get to our tree which showed a resistance around 18% if I can remember correctly. Then one of the crew members had to get geared up to safely climb the tree. He had to wear a lot of gear. It also took awhile for him to get to the top of the tree. As he was caging cones, he was counting how many were captured in the cage and I
worked on tallying these so we knew how many total cones were caged. After he worked in the top of the tree for awhile he was finally done. We packed up gear and enjoyed our hike back. On our way down this man hiking up noticed our helmets on our backpacks and asked us if we were climbers. The reply was, “nope just climbing a tree.” The confused visitor just kind of looked at us and said, “well be safe then, I guess.” The crew I worked with today was one of my favorite crews because they were all so honest and positive. We had some good laughs and I just really enjoyed their company.
Day 19-20
THE COBALT BLUES My sunscreen exploded inside my backpacking pack. But the cinnamon roll I was eating made up for everything. We started off our day by calling in to initiate backcountry tracking and then going to get coffee. I thought it was funny that backcountry tracking was activated while we were driving so we made a lot of jokes about how dangerous it was getting coffee and snacks. The cultural resources crew Eric and Brigid and I were headed to Two Medicine to check out Cobalt Lake for artifacts. So of course we stopped at Rock and Roll Bakery for snacks. We jammed to some Pink Floyd and then took off down the trail toward Cobalt Lake. We saw a moose on the way to the lake. We also stopped for lunch at this gorgeous waterfall. After we arrived and set up tents, we started “noodling.” This is a term used by archaeologists to describe looking around for artifacts. We found a couple of marmots, but not much for artifacts. We did an official “survey” of the area then headed off to a beautiful mossy overhang to look for possible prehistoric paintings/art. We didn’t see anything here but had a really good time just hanging out on the rocks. The view of the lake was awesome. We all ate dinner while it rained, then Brigid and I skipped rocks and chatted for a while and Eric drew this
gorgeous picture of the lake. The next day, we woke up and hiked up to Two Medicine Pass for fun and to look for artifacts. Then we went back to camp and dug two test pits. These were in case the food hanging system was to change. The trails crew needed to make sure they weren’t damaging an archeological site. We didn’t find anything in our test pits. The hike out went by really quickly and we all had sparkling lemonade in the car as we listened to Pink Floyd.
Day 21-24
SLEEP DEPRIVED It was 12:30 am and as I walked down trail, the only thing I could think about was this family of mountain lions that Shawn had caught on his game camera. They were right near Middle Quartz Lake and that is where we had nets set up for bat trapping. This week I spent four days in the Quartz drainage trapping bats with Lisa Bate and some other wildlife employees. This required us to stay up until 2-3 am each night. It was an amazing experience even though I was sleep deprived. On the first day we drove to the packers in West Glacier to have them load up our gear. We had these huge
nets that had to be hauled into the backcountry. Then we made the drive to Bowman Lake and helped load up the mules. We were attacked by mosquitoes as soon as we began so I didn’t have high expectations for the bugs here. We had a videographer join us who was making a short documentary about the bat trapping and white nose syndrome. The purpose of the trapping was to gain baseline knowledge about the species and their health throughout the park so that when white nose gets to Montana we can say this is what a healthy bat looks like rather than an infected one. White nose syndrome is a fungus killing millions of bats on the east side of the United States. Bats are really important for the ecosystem because they control insect populations, are pollinators and seed dispersers. They are also adorable in my opinion. Anyways, we arrived at the Lower lake campground and set up camp. Then we all took a nap in the middle of the day, which felt strange but we would need it so we could stay awake until 3am. During this nap, a backcountry ranger came over to our tents and asked to see our permit which I barely remember because I was still half asleep. Anyways everyone woke up around 5 to have dinner. We would begin work at 6. I made a pretty stupid mistake for this trip. I brought instant mashed potatoes for my dinner every night. I got the idea from Brigid in archaeology because they are super cheap meals and they fill you up. So I ate the first one that night and honestly I couldn’t even get it all down. Which was a bit concerning considering I had to survive a couple of more nights. Once we began working we started to set up the nets. We set up some in the water and some on trail. They have a really fine mesh that traps the bats without hurting them. After the nets were set, we waited
until the birds stopped flying and we opened the nets. Lisa caught 6 bats in the first five minutes which was super bad because she was one of the only people with us that had experience. All of the people handling bats have to have their rabies vaccine as well. Shawn and Susan had a ton of bats hit their nets. So Lisa called me on the radio and had me close all the other nets until she got all the bats out. Meanwhile the net decided to fall over and got one of the bats wet. Anyways it was kind of a mess for a little while but she got all of the bats out the net. Then she went and started processing. This is when measurements and observations are made and recorded about each bat. Lisa releases them after this and they fly away! All in all, that was how most of the night went. At 1 am we close all of the nets and begin the take them down. We decontaminate the nets that had bats in them and all the equipment used. Then we all went to bed around 2 am. The next day I woke up around 10am and packed everything up. The packers would arrive around 11. We started hiking toward our next destination which was Upper Quartz lake. We would be staying at the backcountry cabin there. We all did the usual unpack and nap things. Then woke up to get back at it again. Tonight we set up our nets really close to the cabin and the lake. We had another volunteer biologist join us who was really experienced at removing the bats. This made Lisa’s job a lot easier. During the set up of one of the biggest nets “big red,” we found this huge garter snake which is the shown in the picture on the front cover. The videographer Eddie caught it while we were setting up and insisted that I hold it. It got this nasty musk all over us. It smelled so bad. So we let it go and attempted to wash our hands off. The rest of the night was really relaxed because we only caught 6 bats. It was a nice break from the craziness the previous night. We got to bed around 2am again. The next day we didn’t have to go anywhere so we all spent the day lazing around camp. I went swimming in the lake to cool off. It had to have been 90 degrees that day. We also observed some wildlife. We saw a little black bear on the south shore. We also observed a bald eagle attempting to take out a loon. The bald eagle missed and had to swim back to shore! It was crazy. I had no idea that a bald eagle could swim. I went on a little walk over to Middle quartz to see where we were going to set up nets. I walked around in my waders catching frogs for awhile which was pretty fun. Then we all did the nap routine once we got back. During my nap, I couldn’t sleep so I wrote a bit and was inspired by the scenery. The loon’s solemn song reflects
Across the soft water A lonely voice in a sea of blue The mountains check their appearance On the rippling glass Yet are unaware of their beauty The sun dances along Joyful and steady in her routine All the way beyond the treetop The Earth is still I had my last awful mashed potato dinner and then we packed all the gear we needed to middle quartz. This night was really exciting. We got a lot of bats. I think around 30. It was super fun and crazy at the same time. We also caught a flying squirrel this night which I got to help with. I had to cut the net while the squirrel bit the man trying to free it. I was terrified of hurting the poor little guy. But we got him out. This was near the end of the night so it caused us a bit of delay in taking the nets down. But after all of that we finally got to sleep around 3am. I was exhausted. The next day we had to get up and hike 6 miles back to the cars. The hike was pretty easy but everyone seemed pretty tired. Susan had come down with some kind of sickness so she left early in the morning. We made it out and went to Polebridge for a late lunch. Then we drove back to West Glacier. Tonight we would do our last bat trapping near a bridge in West Glacier. My. boyfriend Carson was invited to come help out as well as a few of Lisa’s friends. It was a really fun ending to our entire trip. We didn’t catch many bats, but we all had a good time and were excited for a good nights sleep.
Day 25-27
ARTIFACTS AND COW CRAP I had this feeling that I should dig in one of the gopher mounds. I knelt down and started to slowly sift through the dirt. I kind of knew what I was looking for. I was thinking about trying somewhere else soon but for whatever reason I kept looking. All of the sudden my hand touched something that looked like a rock but felt smooth and human made. I turned over my shoulder and said Eric is this something? He exclaimed yes! I had
found a biface. Over the weekend, three fires started in Glacier. The Howe Ridge Fire, The Numa Ridge Fire and another near Heaven’s Peak. This greatly effected everyone’s work schedule for the week. I was supposed to leave with the archaeology crew on Tuesday- Friday but it was postponed until Wednesday. We were headed to Cutbank and the Belly River to do some cattle impact monitoring of archeological sites. This meant we would go to a site and basically look for cattle signs. But we were allowed to look for artifacts as well. We made it to Cutbank in the early morning and got a camping spot. Then we went out to some sites nearby to look for cow poop, tracks, bones, ect. We found a lot of cattle impacts near the first sites we visited. They were breaking through the fence to come into the park. After this we went on a short hike to look at some sites that we would do a more in depth monitoring of on Friday. This is the day that I found the biface. We went back to camp and had dinner and hung out. It was a pretty fun evening. The volunteer ranger at the campground was really funny and interesting to talk to. The next day we drove up to the Belly River. This is right near the Canadian border. I had never seen the border before so when we pulled into the parking lot I said hi to Canada. We started our hike which was downhill to the river most of the time. We laughed about the “bearanoid” people on trail who were constantly yelling. I don’t know how they had a conversation. We made it to some sites about 4 miles down trail and worked our way over, looking for cow signs. We did a couple of river crossings barefoot and saw bear prints on shore. But no
cows or cow signs. There were a lot of these beautiful open meadows near the Belly but we couldn’t see a lot because of all the smoke. It was starting to wear on us throughout the day. I had a sore throat and headache. We went to one site near the river where we found bison bones which was pretty cool. But we didn’t find much else. After all of our hiking around, I was pretty worn out. It was time to walk back uphill to the car. But we did have one thing to look forward to, PIZZA. We went to a pizza place in Saint Mary and Kyle and Eric treated me to a veggie pizza which was pretty yummy. The rest of the day was pretty relaxed and everyone went to bed early. On our last day we went out the the sites where a Chalet used to be and found a lot of cow impacts. I was deemed the “poop spotter” for my abilities to spot poop. We finished up around noon and arrived back in West Glacier pretty early but not without visiting our favorite bakery in East Glacier. I finally got to try their famous pumpkin doughnut! It was amazing. The drive went by quickly and soon we were back. It was a successful trip!
Days 28-29
FISHIES I felt a tug on my line, then another, the fish jumped out of the water attached to my hook. I was trying to reel it in! The guys told me it was a Cutthroat. It was the first fish of the day and the largest fish of the day as well as the second fish I have caught in my life! During my last two days of work I went with the fisheries crew to the Middle Fork to do some fish sampling. They were getting baseline data in case of an oil spill from the trains that go by. USGS from Missouri and other parts of the country had set up little stations on the side of the river to process fish. My group with NPS was going to attempt to catch 10 white fish and 10 cutthroat to bring back to the sampling crew. We also wanted to catch bull trout in order to take a blood sample from them but there wasn’t much hope for
catching one. We put the raft into the river near Essex. It was super cold in the morning but it quickly warmed up. I spent the day trying to catch fish. I literally was casting my line out all day but I couldn’t seem to catch a fish. Everyone else caught fish though. It was fun regardless. We stopped at a couple of big holes and waded out into the water. We kept any fish that we caught in ice water in big coolers. They needed to be alive when they got back to the sampling people. The whole day pretty much went like that. Just catching fish and taking care of them. We got to the sampling crew around 4 and they took the fish to perform their tests. This required killing them with a chemical, then dissecting certain parts like the kidney, liver, gonads, and gills. These pieces would be tested in a lab most likely. It takes about 15-30 minutes per fish in order to process them. After watching for a little bit, my crew left to get back to West Glacier. The next day we went onto a lower section of the Middle Fork. As soon as I cast my line, I caught a fish. It was so much fun. I caught one whitefish and three cutthroat that day. We used salmon eggs and maggots as bait. At the lab today, I helped record while they processed two fish. One of the first steps was taking the weight and length of the fish. Also
they drew the fish’s blood. Then, was the dissecting part and the samples. All in all, this was a totally new experience with me that was super fun and interesting!
CONCLUSIONS Well, I am sad that this internship is all done. But looking back on it, I have a couple of conclusions to make. First, I thoroughly wore out my new pants. Both of the butt cheeks tore along with the knee. Second, I hiked at least 150 miles during work this summer which is awesome! Third, I met some of the most amazing people and had some of the most amazing experiences that I will never forget. Lastly, I learned so much about the park, nature, and about myself. I developed new opinions, pushed my limits, and above all I had a lot of fun doing it. This was one of the best summers I have ever had. I can’t thank the conservancy, Richard, or any of the people I worked with enough for setting this up and choosing me to be the conservation intern. A million thank yous!!!!!