Final Reflections

Now that I have arrived 'home' in New Hampshire, I've had some time to reflect back on my experiences during the past couple of months.

After graduating from college and almost immediately taking a 4-day train ride out west to Montana, I was full of optimism. Graduating is an exciting and scary step, and it challenged me to take the 22 years of knowledge and life experience I've gained and start an independent life of my own. This challenge continues to prove itself rather difficult, in the best ways possible.

When I first arrived on the prairie my optimism was shattered. I had an incredibly rough first day due to harsh conditions I had not anticipated (aka.. the heat. Fair skinned, red hair? not the best for coping with sweltering heat with no shade or wind). Although my crew was super supportive, it took me a long time to bounce back from that crash in confidence. I wanted to get out of the endless grasslands and seek shelter in the comforts of New England. No way. As much as I wanted to take the easy route, I have learned time and time again that adventures and memorable experiences do not come about when taking the easy route.

Soon the prairie became more beautiful to me. Any resentment I held toward the landscape evaporated and I was able to see the beauty it held: the rolling hills, diverse vegetation, the vastness of the land, the night sky, the solitude, the storms, the wildlife, etc.. My reasoning for coming to the prairie was not only for the adventure, but our work towards conservation. I could feel my bitterness begin to shift inside me as I became more passionate about the wildlife and their roles in the ecosystem. Also, both my mind and body started looking forward to the hikes, as they became somewhat therapeutic.

The trip to Glacier National Park was incredible: backpacking in impressive mountain valleys after watching the landscape shift from flat grasslands to steep, snow-caped peaks during the 6-hour car ride. I expected Glacier to make the prairie a dull comparison, but it was anything but. Coming back to the prairie after Glacier allowed me to appreciate it more because they both hold their own unique beauty and harshness.

I know I will visit the prairie again. It was an adventure and the prairie was an incredible teacher that I will value forever.

The Little Rockies sunset 

Supermoon on the prairie: no headlamp required

Last time seeing the herd!

North America's most endangered mammal: check!

Last night, myself and two others from Landmark had the privilege to work with Randy Matchett of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (the same biologist who runs the prairie dog studies) on his 20-year study on one of North America's most endangered mammals: the black-footed ferret.

The black-footed ferret is a small weasel that feeds on prairie dogs. Therefore, their habitat of choice is that of grasslands, particularly prairie dog towns. The black-footed ferret was on the verge of extinction in 1987 (only 18 wild ferrets!), and in 1994 reintroduction efforts began in Montana. Randy has worked on this reintroduction project for over 20 years and unfortunately the reintroduction process hasn't been easy. As I've mentioned in a previous blog entry, prairie dogs have had an outbreak of the plague which has greatly affected their population. Not only are BFF's prey numbers dwindling, but the BFFs themselves are susceptible to the disease.

So last night we pulled an all-nighter and drove around a large designated area in the Charles M. Russell Wildlife Refuge with a spotlight attached to our truck, looking for these small endangered weasels. Well guess what?! At 1:54am, we spotted a mother and her kit in a burrow (and we were the only ones to have found any last night!) After following the procedure Randy taught us (the ferret hissed at me because I had my hand in her burrow, oops), we were able to determine that the mother had been released last season from Randy's reintroduction project. Nonetheless, there is at least one adult female ferret and she has at least one kit, meaning there's a male out there somewhere too! 

There she is! She was very curious and came right up to the GoPro and our feet! She wouldn't let her baby, who was likely born in April or May, come out and take a look at the crowd of speechless humans. (photo: Jonah Gula).

Prairie weather

The weather on the prairie is a force to be reckoned with. With forceful winds, large thunderheads are blown around in search for the 6 people who live on the prairie. And without fail, these thunderheads have found us every time. Whether the skies actually open up and rain on us or the winds threaten to take our tents to Oz, the storms make their presence known.

I love storms, and the prairie is one of the best places to watch them. With the lack of topography and trees, the storms can be traced from very far away. The rolling thunder is a product of the incredible lightning that allows for some sweet photo opportunities. Better yet, we have had some storms in the middle of the night that consume half the night sky. So one half of the sky displays the Milky Way, and the other half has a angry-looking storm. On these evenings I've come out of my tent and watched the scene.

As nice as these storms sound, they can be a real nuisance. Driving conditions become nearly impassable after a big rainstorm. The prairie roads turn into thick mud and 4-wheel drive is mandatory to get anywhere. I've become a mudding master, getting the car unbelievably dirty and successfully breaking two mudflaps. It's safe to say that my 2002 Ford Focus wouldn't stand a chance out here.

Aside from the storms, the heat is killer. We wake up for early hikes to beat the heat, which means we spend the majority of the day sitting in heat comas. The prairie is not very forgiving when it comes to heat, especially when there is no wind... But I've definitely gotten used to the heat (and so has my skin and hair - I'm freckled/tan, and my red hair is brighter than ever!)

Storm and sunset (4 August 2014)

Beer-drinking and storm-watching, myself and Alex (4 August 2014) (Photo: Jonah Gula)

Lightning west of camp (~9:30pm, 4 August 2014) (Photo: Jonah Gula)

jonahgulaphotography.weebly.com

American Prairie Wildlife

When I first came to the prairie, my impression was that the land was a vast, flat, somewhat boring place with very little wildlife. Well, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Except for the vastness – this place is SO VAST. Montana is named Big Sky country for a reason… Out on our hikes, I have learned that this landscape may look flat, but it is rather hilly (which great for interval training). We are constantly coming across wildlife while we’re hiking and it is a part of our job to document what we see. However, there have been times when the wildlife have come to us. For example, when we came back from Glacier, we woke up to the bison herd about a quarter of a mile away from our camp. Throughout the day, the herd made their way to our camp, surrounding us and stranding us on our picnic table. That night, the new August crew arrived and were welcomed by the bison herd at Buffalo Camp as their welcoming party.

In mid-July, we were headed out for an early hike one morning and saw three badgers looking for their breakfast in a prairie dog town. Badgers are carnivores and primarily eat prairie dogs and small mammals. They often hunt alongside coyotes. Badgers are also incredibly skilled diggers – they can dig through cement! They’re about the size of a large, fat cat and are pretty cute looking, although they could gouge your eyes out with their claws.

We also stumbled across four bull elks one evening on our way to Fourchette Bay for a sunset swim. They surprisingly did not run away from us, but instead stood there, staring at us curiously. After a 4-minute stare down, they decided to scamper off into the sunset. It’s pretty fun hanging out with all these animals!

Bison oftentimes hold up traffic in the prairie

Crew member Jonah Gula (J$) taking a photo of a huge male bison. NOTE: Our large canvas tent broke while we were in Glacier in a huge wind storm. Two poles broke and almost all of them bent. As you can see, the canvas also ripped. In case you were wondering - my tent survived. 

Our badger friends (Photo: Shannon Rebinski)

Our elk friends