New Upgrades, Partnerships, and Volunteer Opportunities at Tallac Historic Site and Taylor Creek Visitor Center
While the COVID-19 pandemic, the Caldor Fire, and other factors limited operations at the Taylor Creek Visitor Center and Tallac Historic Site in 2021, the USDA Forest Service Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit (LTBMU) and partners made notable progress toward improving public outreach and developing shared stewardship strategies. “As visitors return to these cherished shoreline […]
Study finds predation largely to blame for fisher deaths in the Sierra Nevada
By Alex Drokin, free lance writer in Austin, Texas. Biologists are now closer to understanding fisher (Pekania pennanti) survival and mortality rates following a multiyear study. New research published in The Journal of Wildlife Management, found that fishers in California’s Sierra National Forest have an annual survival rate of 0.69, with the largest percentage of deaths resulting […]
Archaeological Dig at Cave Springs unites BLM, Universities, and Tribal Historians
As the dust settles on GBI’s Cave Springs excavation block project, the careful and exacting work begins for the categorization of prehistory findings rendered at the heart of the Great Basin. Collaborating with the Bureau of Land Management, Battle Mountain District, University of Nevada, Reno, University of California, Davis, California State University, Sacramento, and the […]
Aquatic and Remote Sensing Monitoring Launches in Idaho and Wyoming
For the 2017 field season the institute is pleased to announce new partnerships with the Utah State University and the BLM National Operating Center. As the Bureau addresses sage grouse habitat and the effectiveness of fuels treatment, GBI field crews will be collecting data on aquatic systems as well as resiliency and response to Pinyon Juniper […]
A Season of Upland Monitoring and Discovery in the Tonopah Field Office
As upland monitoring technicians for the BLM’s Tonopah Field Office, we spent the last six months working in some of Nevada’s truly lonely and beautiful landscapes.
Success Story: Spring Mountains National Recreation Area Collects Over 400 Pounds of Joshua Tree Seed Pods for Restoration (via USFS)
The spring of 2013 gave rise to an extensive Joshua tree (Yucca brevifolia) bloom in the Mojave Desert that lasted for weeks. Joshua trees are pollinated only by the yucca moth while the female lays eggs inside the flowers. When the larvae (caterpillars) emerge, they feed exclusively on Joshua tree seeds; a remarkable example of co-evolution. Interestingly, […]
Parents! Register for Great Basin Naturalists at Galena Summer Camp
Summer Will Be Here Before You Know It. Great Basin Naturalists at Galena is gearing up for eight weeks of Summer Exploration Camp featuring new weekly themes, some returning favorites, and more activities to get your children exploring the outdoors. Five weeks of Residential Camp will be offered, in which campers stay at the beautiful […]
MLK Day of Service in the Las Vegas community
On January 20th, 2014, twenty NCC AmeriCorps members and five GBI staff volunteered their time with the Las Vegas chapter of Habitat for Humanity, to celebrate the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day of Service. The AmeriCorps members worked on two of the eight homes Habitat will build this year to support families in need. At […]
Research Associate botany program takes root in Wyoming
GBI boots hit the ground in the southern reaches of Wyoming for our first season in the “Cowboy State.” GBI has supported botany programs for the BLM in California, Idaho and Nevada, and now has responded to the state office in Wyoming to support the implementation of “Seeds of Success,” a national strategy to preserve […]
GBI supports BLM outreach at Burning Man Festival, highlighting safety
GBI returned to the Black Rock Desert this summer, for a second year, to support the BLM’s efforts to provide educational information to the estimated 52,000 festival attendees. Situated next to Center Camp, the interpretative team invited participants to learn more about the BLM’s mission, activities, and policies. Reproductions of the newly developed interpretive panels […]
