Images

National Park Service and U.S. Geological Survey employees tour the greenhouse in Joshua Tree National Park greenhouse. The plants growing in the Joshua Tree National Park greenhouse will be used for revegetation and restoration efforts in the park.

U.S. Geological Survey employees (from left to right) Matthew Clark, Laura Shriver, Morgan Cheyney, and Sarah Birchard after collecting data for the Land Treatment Digital Library at the Bureau of Land Management Phoenix District Office. 

Sarah Birchard (USGS) and Meghan Stan (NPS) explore habitat in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument. Photos by Laura Shriver (USGS).

USGS employees Matthew Clark, Laura Shriver, Morgan Cheyney, and Sarah Birchard celebrate data collection for the Land Treatment Digital Library at the Phoenix Bureau of Land Management District Office, Arizona.

A native globemallow plant blooms in the Joshua Tree National Park greenhouse. Photo by Laura Shriver (USGS).

Sacramento Mountains checkerspot butterfly, found only in sunny meadows within the Sacramento Mountains of southern New Mexico.

The stunning orange and dark-brown butterfly is found only in high-elevation meadows in the Lincoln National Forest in southern New Mexico.

A slender Desert Striped Whipsnake - coluber taeniatus.

Photo of EAE testing and adjusting the forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera parameters while directing the sensor at the water surface off the side of a bridge in Seattle, Washington.

Scientists get ready to collect samples from a bat to test for Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome.

Scientists look for damage on the skin of a bat's wing as an indicator of white-nose syndrome infection. This bat has no wing damage.

The Yuma myotis bat, Myotis yumanensis, has a body length of only 1.5-1.9 inches and they weigh less than half an ounce.

Scars on the skin of this bat's wing suggest white-nose syndrome infection over the previous winter.

Individual bats are tested for Pseudogymnoascus destructans, the fungus that causes white-nose syndrome, by wiping a sterile swab across the skin of a bat's outstretched wing and muzzle.

Yuma myotis has a wide range throughout western North America, from the Southwestern regions of Canada into Mexico. 

Northwestern pond turtles are sexually dimorphic (females and males look different). One way to tell female and male turtles apart is that they often have different color patterns on their face and throats. Females have a more speckled throat, while males throats tend to be more solidly white/yellow.

These turtles are considered juveniles until they reach about 5 inches long. In this part of their range turtles remain juveniles and usually do not begin to reproduce until they are over ten years old.  

Photo taken at Lookout Point Reservoir, Oregon. 

This is a juvenile turtle. When they aren't in scared or in danger, northwestern turtles are very curious and will look towards movements and unusual sounds to figure out what is going on. They have excellent vision and hearing.  

Photo taken at Hills Creek Reservoir, Oregon. 

We glue transmitters onto their upper shells (called their carapace) using non-permanent epoxy. We will track these turtles until the transmitter battery dies (about 2 years) and soon after that the epoxy degrades, and the transmitter will fall off the turtle without harming the turtle or it's shell. 

Turtle found in the spring coming out of brumation. It is still covered in mud from being buried in the ground all winter.  They can brumate up to several months! 

Photo taken at Lookout Point Reservoir, Oregon. 

Northwestern pond turtles often return to the same area each winter for brumation. We tracked this turtle overwintering in almost the exact same area in the winters of 2023 and 2024. It's brumation location was only 11m apart between the two years.  

Photo taken at Fall Creek Reservoir, Oregon.