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

The prairie is not made for humans: an idea of what we're doing out here

As I've mentioned before, our job out here on the prairie is to observe wildlife and document their behavior and locations. We work in teams of two and each group hikes one of the eight transects that are mapped on our GPSes. There is one team who is on 'car team' and their job is to check certain cameras and pick the hikers up when they're finished. We have 27 cameras on the Sun Prairie that are motion triggered. Therefore, most of the videos are of the grasses blowing in the wind. And each camera can have up to 250 one-minute grass movies - really exciting stuff...

Because it is a trillion degrees starting at 8am, we get up at 5am to get our hikes started. Don't worry, napping commences around 1 after we've returned from the hikes and have replenished our energy with lunch. 

About once a week we conduct 'Bison Counts' and sunset wildlife scopes. The bison counts require two teams to walk 5ish miles and count only the bison they see. The herds can be up to 200 bison!

The prairie doesn't cater to humans. In the winter it's absolutely freezing with harsh winds, spring still has snow and occasional storms, July and August are f##king hot with mosquitos, late summer and early fall is the wet season with lots of storms and fires due to the lightning, and then it gets freezing again. 

Sounds nice doesn't it? We have had a couple of families stay at Buffalo Camp, and we can't understand why on earth anyone would want to come here when Glacier and Yellowstone are 5 hours away... But then again, why am I here?! Oh yeah, to enjoy the unique landscape and collect data towards this giant conservation project that will (hopefully) obtain nearly 3.5 million acres within 10 years! It is pretty rewarding to be a part of something like this at the end of the day (when the sun is down and it finally cools off) and be around people who share a passion for nature and the earth we live on! 🌎✌️

An idea of what out transects look like

The gear we take in the field, along with a million liters of water and high energy snacks (thank you Clif Bar company for sponsoring us and providing is with a plethora of bars) 

Shannon and myself on a sunset wildlife scope, protecting ourselves from the mosquito swarms. (Photo: Leah Mabee) 

Shannon and myself (photo: Leah Mabee)