Working in the Directorate Fellows Program (DFP) has opened so many doors for me. At the start of 2019 I was working at a startup company working to sustainably grow culinary mushrooms. I didn’t really think I would be able to find full time employment in my intended field, which was conservation biology.

Straight out of undergrad I participated in internships working with different wildlife species including Burmese pythons in the Florida Keys, sea turtles in Georgia, and piping plovers in New York. These positions gave great experience and were a lot of fun. Who doesn’t like holding baby sea turtles?! But these positions also only lasted around six months. It’s called the wildlife shuffle. You get a cool job in your field in a beautiful part of the country and you’re there just long enough to get the feel of things, then it’s over. Time to apply for another job. You rack up experience, you gain some networking but so does everyone else around you. This field is competitive, and you need to want it in your gut in order to make it. I almost didn’t.

Luckily since then I’ve been able get into a master’s program which then led me to getting my DFP. Since my fellowship started, I have felt the dread of not having a job after graduating lessen. It’s been incredible being a part of a team who is so passionate about conserving species. I’ve been able to go into the field on several occasions. I’ve hiked up mountains looking for the world’s fifth most endangered salamander, with experts in the field. I’ve held and helped to measure a small Jemez mountain salamander, which I personally found under a lichen covered rock. I finally feel that I’ve made it, or at least close to it.

Through this fellowship I have seen what’s involved with being a biologist within the Fish and Wildlife Service including writing the biology portion of the Jemez Mountain salamander’s species status assessment. This document will be used as a guideline to help manage this endangered species in the future. I’ve also met with a few salamander experts and learned how they made it in this challenging field. We even found salamanders in areas where they haven’t been recorded in years. Even though the end of my fellowship is near, I know that it’s not the last time I’ll hear from individuals I met during my fellowship (including my supervisor). I only have one more semester left of my master’s degree and after that, my next step will be getting the full-time position with the Fish and Wildlife Service that I’ve always dreamt of! I’m extremely excited for what’s to come, just need to write my thesis. 

Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Program: US Fish & Wildlife Service - DFP

Location: New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office

I’m in Albuquerque! I’ve never been so far west before, so it’s been so cool to see a totally different ecosystem. Unlike the northern hardwoods of the northeast and the pine barrens of the southeast the scrub of New Mexico is quite different! There is still vegetation but it’s more sparce in places, and cactuses grow outside. The house I’m staying at has five horses that I’ll help to take care of and two little dogs. I’m also in the office for the first time (instead of working remotely) and everything is feeling very real. I’m sure in the next couple days the excitement might wear off, but it might take a while. 

Since I last wrote I learned how to create maps in ArcGIS pro that document the historic location of the Jemez Mountains salamander that were previously unrecorded. Working in ArcGIS pro has its frustrations though. Some of my data points did end up in the Mediterranean Sea, Atlantic, and Pacific Ocean which is especially unlikely since saltwater salamanders aren’t a thing. But once all the errors are accounted for, map making can be extremely rewarding. Seeing a direct visual representation of how my work has added locations to the species range always makes me smile.

Hopefully these maps will help show the functional habitat of the Jemez salamanders for the Species status assessment (SSA). I have started writing the biology portion of the SSA and now have more knowledge of this little salamander then I ever thought I would. Their reproductive habits are quite interesting. Most amphibians spend a lot of energy creating tons of eggs. Other salamander species are known to lay up to 150 eggs per clutch. This is common in most prey species since eggs are a great source of nutrition for predators and are easy food. Amphibians normally lay a bunch of eggs since a quite a few of them will be eaten or won’t survive, but a few young will indeed survive. The Jemez Mountains salamander has a different strategy, they only lay up to 8 eggs every other year. These precious 8 eggs are guarded by the female and she can even excrete secretions to ward off invertebrate predators or mold. It seems that most species within the Plethodon genus have this similar strategy of laying small clutches of eggs but it’s quite different from the Marbled and Tiger salamanders I’ve worked with for my master’s degree!

Next week I’ll get to know even more about this salamander as I get to go through the survey training and permitting process. After the training, I’ll be in the field where I will hopefully get to see a salamander face to face! The next few weeks will be a change from what I’m used to but I’m very excited to see what lies ahead.

Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Program: US Fish & Wildlife Service - DFP

Location: New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office

With the end of week four of my internship just within grasp, I’m starting to get an idea of what working with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife service would be like. The biologists at the New Mexico Ecological Service office in Albuquerque have been extremely welcoming as I’ve started my internship as a DFP. For the time being, I’m working out of my apartment and the occasional coffee shop located along the banks of the Chattahoochee in Columbus, Georgia. Remote working has its technical challenges, such as figuring out how to blur your background in teams, but also the benefit of having a river front office that serves the best London fog.

The focus of my internship is on digitizing historical documents on the threatened Jemez Mountain salamander to help with the species status assessment. This small brown salamander is endemic to the Jemez Mountains and only surfaces two months out of the year to breed, then it disappears back into its subterranean home. Due to its secretive lifestyle researching their biology takes a lot of effort, but this hasn’t stopped researchers from trying!

Reading historic documents that come to me in the form of reports, journal articles, field notes, and emails has been really rewarding. Knowing that researchers from the 1950 had the same passion that I do for these slimy little critters kind of crazy to think about. Some of the articles stick out more than others though. Most of them are reports detailing the biology and ecology of the Jemez mountain salamander while others focus on tasting salamander secretions to see if they are toxic or not. I’m quite glad that I have never needed to taste a salamander, even if it is for science. From these documents I glean data on the salamander’s diet, historic populations, early mark and recapture methods, and maps. All this information is then cataloged to be used in the species status assessment to get a better understanding on how to manage the population that we have now to get it back to its historic range.

I’m very excited to continue to read these documents and learn more about this little salamander. I’ve already started creating maps that detail locations that they were found as far back as the 1970’s. Soon, I’ll have a slight change of pace as I’ll be flying out to Albuquerque so I can see this salamander face-to-face, which will be a real treat.

Agency: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Program: US Fish & Wildlife Service - DFP

Location: New Mexico Ecological Services Field Office

Gwyneth has always had a passion for learning about the natural world. During her undergraduate degree at SUNY ESF she majored in conservation biology with a focus in herpetology. Since then she has worked several field positions up and down the east coast working with reptiles, amphibians, and occasionally birds. Currently she is a third semester master's student at Columbus State University in Georgia where she studies larval salamanders and the impact that climate change is having on their populations. In the future Gwyneth hopes to continue working to conserve reptiles and amphibians in their natural habitat.