Prickly Pear

At the beginning of our training today we joined up with the Environmental Education folks to go on a hike led by a restoration biologist in the park. The hike was to help us identify different plant species in the park. The hike started at Hermit's Trail (near Hermit's Rest) and went down into the canyon a bit. Did you know that Grand Canyon park is the most botanically diverse park in the nation? That means it has the most species (something like 1750 different ones).

In Grand Canyon Park there are 3 types of trees (for the South Rim): Pinyon Pine, Ponderosa Pine, and Juniper. That makes it a ton easier to identify trees than back home! There are quite a few shrubs and grasses as well, and on our talk we learned about native plants and invasive plants. One of the worst invasive plants is napweed, which is very difficult to remove as the roots grow to be 40 feet deep!!

At one point our guide pulled up a piece of a brush, rolled it in her hands and gave it to us to smell. It was sage! I don't think I've ever seen a real sage bush. The scent was so strong, and wonderful! One of the funniest names (I thought) for a grass was "Blue gramma" which when the seeds are released the end curls up and looks a lot like a fake eyelash. Reminds me of my Grandma "putting on her face" while she drove.

Throughout the hike I wrote down a ton of notes about each of the plants. The information was just fascinating to me! I've got pictures in my notes, so now I have to go back through the field guide so I can remember the more delicate and intricate details. One of the coolest plants I thought was the Agave. This plant looks like a small spiny bush, with little teeth on each of the spines. Towards the end of its life, the agave grows a tall shoot (about 6 feet tall) covered in small gorgeous flowers! It's like the swan song. If you look back in my pictures you'll see one of these.

Also, the cactus looking plant is actually a prickly pear! Be honest, when you read this did you start getting the song in your head from The Jungle Book? "Don't pick the prickly pear with the paw, when you pick the pear try to use the claw, but you don't need to use the claw, when you pick a pear from the big paw paw, have I given you a clue? Gee thanks Baloo!" If you didn't then, you certainly do now!!

At one point my boss stopped me to point out some interesting parts of the rock layers of the cliffs. Nearly all the striations of the layers in the cliffs run horizontally, except for one layer in which the striations all follow the same diagonal pattern. This is because that section was really wind formed from sand dunes! How cool is that?

After our plant ID time we finished up training on uniforms and customer service. I've received nearly all parts of my uniform. As my uniform has been used by others it doesn't have that crisp look to it. This evening I tried it on just to check for fit. The minute I put on my badge and name plate the uniform took on a different air. It's an amazing feeling knowing you're working for something that has such a rich background and importance to our world.

In our uniform training we were told the story of why there is a white buffalo on the NPS patch. Years ago over 40 million (it could be 60 million, I don't remember exactly) buffalo roamed North America. Due to poaching and so forth, but 1900 there were only about 100 left, concentrated in Yellowstone area. One gentleman was killing off the remaining buffalo simply for their skulls. Aware of this the Army Rangers sent out two men to apprehend this guy. Skiing 75 miles to where this guy was, they found his campground, and heard 6 shots. Finding their way towards the shots they found the man standing in a clearing with his gun raised ready to kill yet another buffalo. One of the rangers (Felix Burgess I believe) knew he had to stop this man before he killed any more. Having only a pistol he couldn't apprehend the guy from across the clearing. So he ran across the clearing, miraculously unseen by both the poacher and his dog, and apprehended the man.

In 1904 there were only 23 buffalo left in North America. Due to the conservation efforts there are now thousands of buffalo living in Yellowstone. The white buffalo on our patch symbolizes the unity of many people, as well as the positive effects of the work we do. It's pretty incredibly to be able to wear that patch and uphold the importance of this work and gratitude for those before us.

That's all I have for now. I wasn't able to take any pictures today, but tomorrow we're on a long hike, so I'll pack my camera!