Flowers Everywhere - Summer 2013

When one thinks of New Mexico, one is quick to think of aliens, Billy the Kid, caverns and maybe even a desert. Lying in the southeast corner of New Mexico, is the tiny town of Milnesand. In this small community, I was  stationed to help with the management of the Milnesand Prairie Preserve. I was given the opportunity to have a great hands-on learning experience with Tish McDaniels, my supervisor. Upon my arrival on June 9, 2013,I felt that it was more arid then one would expect. It turns out that the area has been in a drought for the past three years. This has been the same just an hour east in Texas.

Luckily, Milnesand and the surrounding communities received a few inches of rain the second week of my internship to hold them over for the summer. During our first week, Matt DeAngelo, (the other intern) and I drove around to map trees that will be taken down, due to them not being native to the southern shortgrass prairie area. In my search for non-native trees, I was more excited to see the forbs that were coming up from the recent rain. Forbs, like purple prairie clover, scarlet globemallow, silverleaf nightshade, rushpea, and Indian blanket were very showy. Being a girl, I was overly joyed and excited for the forbs.

What girl doesn’t love flowers, especially when mother nature hand delivers it (and it's your middle name; Florentina). I understand though that it was the recent rain in the summer that helped these flowers bloom. I was hopeful that more rain would come as the summer progressed

The community has been very receptive of The Nature Conservancy and their goals in southeastern New Mexico. I feel blessed that the community has welcomed us as interns with open arms. I know that in other areas or even other organizations this might not happen. It’s been great to sit down with the locals and listen to their families history of being homesteaders, to farmers. From that, they advanced to being interested in conservation for species like the Lesser Prairie Chicken and Dunes Sagebrush Lizard. I truly admire them, because I know how hard as a farmer/rancher it might be to veer away from the norm, for the bigger picture of protecting nature and preserving life.