#blmoregon

Tavis Fenske (an engine captain from Prineville District), Matthew Noss (a supervisory range technician from Prineville District), Jesse Morris (a supervisory range technician [fire] from Lakeview District), and Greg Shine (a public affairs specialist from the State Office) all completed the Unmanned Aircraft Systems Basic Remote Pilot Training (A-450) course and the Advanced UAS Workshop over the two-week period. Jason Horstman from Vale District also served as one of the instructors and cadre members for the A-450 course.

“I was really excited at the opportunity to learn more about UAS operations and how it may make the job that we do every day safer and more efficient,” said Morris. “This class and workshop have really been an eye opener for me regarding all the uses for UAS within natural resource work.  I look forward to bringing these tools and knowledge back to my district and putting it to work in a variety of areas this season.”

In the basic A-450 course, students learned about UAS policy and how to file a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM), how to safely fly the 3DR Solo aircraft, and how to capture images and videos with the GoPro payload. After successfully passing a written final exam and an individual evaluation flight administered by an authorized DOI Office of Aircraft Services inspector, Fenske, Noss, Morris and Shine moved on to the advanced workshop the following week.

Through the advanced workshop—with its focus on UAS for fire operations and complex photography, videography, mapping, and resource projects—the students developed the skills required to capture and pre-process (geotag) data and coordinate with incident personnel and aircraft.

Workshop highlights included resource mapping projects integrating gathered data into PhotoScan software and Gaia and Avenza maps—plus the fire incident scenario, complete with real-time radio traffic and its inherent communications complexities.

“In fire, I think the UAS program will become a new tool that will allow us to gain situational awareness quickly and efficiently, said Noss. “The biggest takeaway I have from the class is that the program is in its infancy and as technology advances, who knows what can become of it.”

Noss's observation seems prescient, as the BLM is poised to continue its leading role in the vanguard of federal UAS programs. This is an additional appeal to the and the newly-minted remote pilots who join the growing ranks of certified staff in Oregon/Washington and nationwide.

What’s the source of this perennial high desert Technicolor?  Lichens – some of nature’s most unusual creatures. Part fungus and part alga, or cyanobacteria, lichens are organisms well-suited to the high desert environment. While they can glean moisture and minerals from their stone or wood hosts, they rely upon photosynthesis in the alga to produce necessary food. Tolerant of high desert weather extremes, lichens here can survive freezing and drought conditions..

But why are they so colorful?

“These pigments have several functions: sunscreen (protection against UV), discouraging herbivory (some are toxins), and reducing infections by fungi and bacteria,” explained Dr. Bruce McCune, a professor in Oregon State University’s Department of Botany and Plant Pathology who has studied lichens on public lands in the area.

The harsh high desert ecosystem may, in fact, contribute to its broad palette of color.  “A generalization for all plants is that the more stressful the environment, the greater the investment in chemical protection,” wrote McCune via email. “Some of the chemicals used for protection are bright pigments, but some are colorless.”

Shades of orange are particularly abundant. Lichen species in the genus Caloplaca bring the high desert’s rock walls their orange and golden yellow hues. A drive along U.S. Route 395, adjacent to both Abert Rim and Lake Abert, brings visitors into the midst of black-and-white Steens Basalt boulders covered in the flat, bright reddish-orange Caloplaca and other colored lichens. Winter snows only accentuate the dark rock and the bright lichen, making drives in December, January, and February an extra-special treat.

Lichens in the genus Xanthoria complement the colors of Caloplaca with shades likened to the orange of sunrise and sunset. It’s easy to see why it’s often called sunburst lichen, and its peculiarly rounded scales – often called fairy cups – give a unique look to its flat body. “It is often abundant on sagebrush twigs, riparian trees, and rocks,” said McCune.

The fluorescent yellow-greens of lichens in the genus Pleopsidium provide some of the high desert’s boldest and brightest colors, even more pronounced when growing on and around the nooks and crannies of the area’s dark basalt. It is so strikingly bright  that from a distance Pleopsidium can be mistaken as a painted rock.

A great location for viewing Pleopsidium species up close is Crack in the Ground, a geologic oddity northeast of the community of Christmas Valley, Oregon. It’s one of the world’s only open earthquake faults, and a trail following the crack’s center for more than 2 miles gives a close-up view of these lichens anchored on the fault’s walls.

Lichens in the genus Letharia feature a fluorescent color similar to Pleopsidium, but their shape and host easily differentiate them. Known as fruticose lichen due to their raised, branch-like fingers, they spring out from the junipers, pines, and even fence posts of Oregon’s high desert.

“The Letharia on trees is most conspicuous in areas of older conifers with dead branches,” said McCune. “For example, the old juniper woodlands around Bend and Redmond have thick growths of Letharia Columbiana.”

Hikers in the Oregon Badlands Wilderness, the Redmond Caves, the Black Hills Area of Critical Environmental Concern, or the Lost Forest Research Natural Area may easily find them – bushy puffs of flamboyance bursting from the bleached limbs and trunks of dead or aging conifers.

Interestingly, the high desert’s rocks and trees don’t have a monopoly on such vibrancy. Here, even the soil can foster eye-catching hues.

That bright yellow might not be a spilled can of fluorescent yellow paint from the highway department – it may be the soil paint lichen.

“Acarospora schleicheri is another bright yellow-green lichen,” Dr. McCune said. “[It’s] a relative of Pleopsidium but grows as part of the biological soil crust.” Since it is most often found in areas where the soil has not yet been invaded by weeds, it is an indicator of ecosystem health, too.