Welcome to Gold Butte National Monument.

Today I'll be participating in a BioBlitz.

What's a BioBlitz?

Well, I'm here to find out.

Over the next couple of days, I'm going to be camping and working with the Nevada Department of Wildlife, the Bureau of Land Management, the Friends of Gold Butte, and others.

So let's get to it, and let's have some fun.

This is Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪ I'm Connor Fields, and this is Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪ Gold Butte National Monument is located in Southeastern Nevada.

Its rugged mountains, colorful sandstone formations, and beautiful desert flora and fauna is really a sight to see.

At almost 300,000 acres, Gold Butte offers visitors a glimpse into the region's rich cultural and natural history.

Visitors can hike, camp, and off-road through the monument's vast expanse, encountering hidden canyons, slot formations, and panoramic vistas.

Beyond its scenic beauty, Gold Butte National Monument is a haven for wildlife, supporting a diverse array of species adapted to the harsh desert environment.

This is the primary reason I'm here.

Over the next couple of days, I'll be participating in a BioBlitz.

It's not just me.

It's a lot of people, people from all different backgrounds and agencies, and not just professionals, regular citizens or the official name, citizen scientist.

For the next couple days, I am a citizen scientist.

Pretty cool.

I really want to get a feel for all aspects of the BioBlitz.

So the first person I will meet up with is Frank.

Frank's with the Friends of Gold Butte, and he's another fellow citizen scientist.

Well, Frank, thank you so much for taking some time with me today.

-Sure.

-Tell me about Friends of Gold Butte.

(Frank Golden) Friends of Gold Butte is just an organization made up by volunteers that are concerned with preserving the conservation of the Gold Butte area.

And they were instrumental in pushing through the the effort to have Gold Butte recognized to become a monument.

-So Frank, educate me.

What are we doing today?

What is a BioBlitz?

-Yeah, so a BioBlitz is an event where we bring together scientists and experts in the field of biology and ecology with citizens we call "citizen scientists."

And we try to bring people together.

And in this event, we're going around and identifying all the living organisms in a particular area.

Some teams will be focused on particular types of organisms, like reptiles or birds.

But really a survey can include anything--trees, plants, insects--just to document what is here.

-And how do we document that?

-Well, we use an app on a computer program called iNaturalist.

-I downloaded it.

-Yeah.

So iNaturalist, it's really more than just a computer program or an app on a phone.

It's really a community of people, both professional scientists and citizens, who are interested in maybe learning about nature.

So one of the strengths of this program is that you can take a picture of an organism, whether it's a plant or a lizard or whatever, and the algorithm can try to tell you what it is.

-So you snap a photo of, say, a snake, and it'll tell you that that is a rattlesnake or that is a kingsnake or something like that?

-Right.

And then you'll have other people, hopefully people who know what it is and can recognize it, and they will verify your observation.

-Tell you you're right or wrong?

-Right.

And if it's wrong, that's okay.

It's an opportunity to learn.

And typically, when you disagree with someone, you would put in the comments why you disagree.

So when an observation gets enough agreements, it becomes what they call "research grade."

And that just means that the confidence is very high that what you've observed and what you think it is, the ID, identification, is, in fact, what you claim it to be.

So then that information can be used by scientists doing a study and can contribute to the data.

-Is that just here at Gold Butte, here in Nevada, or is that nationwide, even worldwide?

-It is worldwide.

I mean, there are literally millions of observations worldwide.

So it's a very powerful tool, because you're getting into places where scientists might not have the time or the resource to get to every little corner of the world.

And yet people are there, they're taking the observations, and the data is what the scientists need.

-I was super excited to get started right away.

Frank walked me through the app and what I needed to do.

It was super simple: Launch the app, click observe, take a picture, write a description, and upload.

Frank did have some tips too.

-So now what I would do is for a new person, you want to take a picture of the overall plant, including some of the area around it.

So this gives information as to the type of soil or the type of ground it's in.

And then I would focus in on a couple, like, the flower and some of the the leaves, just so that the scientists or people that are using the identification can verify it by detailed photos.

-And can I take multiple photos for my upload?

-Yes.

-So I should do what you're saying, further out, but maybe zoom in a little, get close?

-Yes.

-Okay.

So let me take a photo here.

Got one.

And then let me get a close-up.

-And sometimes you can even put your hand behind it, and I like to put my hand like that for the scale.

And also, when it's windy, it'll keep it from bouncing all over the place.

-You want to get one of the side too?

-The side of the flower, underneath, so it's got the sepal, so you can see the sepals.

There you go.

Yeah.

-Upload those.

Frank and I kept at it.

Eventually, we caught up with some other citizen scientists.

When the day started, I was a little bit worried about participating in a scientific survey.

Really though, I had nothing to worry about.

You're out on a hike in an amazing area taking pictures with zero pressure.

What I really enjoyed was the discovery for myself.

I've been on so many trails around Nevada and walked past so many different types of plants and trees.

I've seen animals and insects.

I couldn't tell you what many of them were.

But now with iNaturalist, not only am I informed and educated, I'm helping the scientific community at the same time.

It's a win-win.

It was time to head back to base camp for a briefing on my next survey.

This one is with Matt.

Matt's a biologist with the Nevada Department of Wildlife.

Matt, I'm excited to be here.

What is the goal of a BioBlitz?

(Matt Flores) The goal is to get occurrence data.

It's, Okay, this species is here.

It occurs here.

It's in this habitat.

It's in this location.

That's the ultimate goal.

So we get that, and then we know that this habitat is occupied.

Once the habitat is occupied, we could do a more refined look and try to, you know, focus in on a certain species or certain habitats or certain areas within this monument that then we can get more in depth look at the more in-depth data on something.

-So that explains why we do it.

But why here?

Why Gold Butte?

-Because Gold Butte is awesome!

But the real reason is we just don't have a lot of data from Gold Butte.

It's remote.

It was a long bumpy drive to get out here.

It's a long bumpy drive to get down south, a long drive anywhere on any of these dirt roads, and we just don't, you know, that stops people from going out and looking.

So we get the data.

We don't have enough data.

Another really cool thing about Gold Butte is Gold Butte's kind of where the Colorado Plateau meets the Mojave Desert.

So we get an element of both those different ecosystems.

So we can actually get some really cool stuff, like, you know, like different lizards, different reptiles.

We've heard rumor-- we know the Sonoran mountain kingsnake, something that we're looking for, not normally a Mojave species, but it's been recorded in the Virgin Mountains because of that, you know, Colorado Plateau edge effect.

-How can I help?

I'm here.

I'm at Gold Butte.

It's beautiful outside.

What can I do?

-You're helping by being here, man.

I mean, you go out, start looking for stuff, start recording in an iNaturalist, or however you record it, and just seeing it, getting out, going with people, learning.

If you're shaky on being able to ID it, just hop in with somebody who's really solid.

You learn, they learn, we get more observations.

That's how you help.

-If somebody wanted to get involved in this, how would they do that?

-The best place would be to look at the NDOW website.

We post volunteer opportunities on there all the time.

This one was posted on there, as is other ones.

There's a whole bunch of volunteers.

This one's a really awesome one.

-Not that you're biased.

-No, not that I'm biased.

But this one's a cool one, and you don't really need any skill level.

You just show up.

We'll train you.

We'll teach you.

Other places, we partner with a lot of not-for-profits, a lot of other pretty much anyone who's willing to partner with us.

Friends of Nevada Wilderness is a great partner.

Friends of Gold Butte is helping us.

USGS.

We call up our friends.

We try to let everybody know about this as best we can.

So anyone, look at all those websites.

NDOW website is a great place to start.

-And I did hear, correct me if I'm wrong, I did hear that I can add "citizen scientist" to my resume after I do this.

-Yeah, go ahead.

Absolutely.

If someone's trying to break into the industry, volunteering is a great way to do it.

-What are we doing today?

Where are we going?

What are we looking for?

-So we're gonna head up to the, what I call the headwaters of Nickel Creek.

It's a mid-elevation site that has water.

That's the hope that we'll find that Sonoran mountain kingsnake there.

-Your hope.

I'm a little afraid of snakes.

-Oh, it's cool.

It's red and black and yellow.

It's all kinds of pretty.

-Is it poisonous?

-Naw.

-That makes me feel better.

-We don't touch it, just look at it.

We're heading up there.

Hopefully we'll see that.

It's hard to find.

But if it's there, we're gonna find it.

Also pinyon jays.

We did have a detection of pinyon jays up there, so we're hoping that they're still there and we get another detection on it, start hone in on that home range that they've got up there.

Ready to go?

-Let's do it.

-All right, let's rock.

-First things first; we have to get to the location.

You just don't realize how big Gold Butte is, and these roads, not good.

If you don't have a vehicle with high clearance and four-wheel drive, don't even try it.

It's not gonna happen.

This was a long, rough ride.

♪♪♪ -Matt, we just drove an hour on one of the roughest roads that I have ever driven on.

-Sorry about that.

-Where are we?

-We had to get high up into the Virgin Mountains to get to the habitat that we're trying to hopefully find the Sonoran mountain kingsnake in.

So we had to get up in elevation.

The roads in Gold Butte are not for the faint of heart.

-We're up here, but I don't see a lake.

Why do you have a fishing pole?

-Well, we use fishing poles as a lizard noose.

It's just basically a long pole that has a little thing you could tie off to.

And there's a tiny bit of fishing line on that that forms a loop that, if I see a lizard in that bush, I can get over there, get that loop around their head, and pull up.

They're so lightweight that it doesn't hurt them or anything.

And then we can actually get an actual good picture of it.

-So we're fishing for lizards?

-We're fishing for lizards.

-Now that's something I didn't have on my bingo card, fishing for lizards.

So up here, this was different than walking around with Frank.

This is rough terrain.

There are stretches of paths, but for the most part, we were scrambling and climbing over rocky hills and down into small canyons.

When we're out here looking for animals, are there any clues we should keep an eye out for?

-Yeah.

We sometimes see tracks of things.

Gravel is not going to hold a bunch of smaller lizard tracks or snake tracks, but it's something to keep an eye out for.

Looking at the base of these shrubs for things, any sort of movement, any sort of darting.

Often they'll just sit still and rely on their camouflage.

You got to look, keep your eyes peeled, look around and maybe spot them.

Keep your ears open, because we'll hear birds too.

-Fishing for lizards is not easy, especially here.

The terrain is rocky and rough.

Matt and I put in the effort.

We did everything we could to spot some lizards and hopefully spot the Sonoran mountain kingsnake.

The lizards, they showed up, but grabbing one for a closer look proved tricky.

I did my best and tried to spot them for Matt as he raced along the treacherous hillside.

Matt was putting in the work.

It just wasn't happening.

-I can keep moving along this and see if I get lucky.

They're definitely here, though.

♪♪♪ -Then there was the sound of some running water and a familiar sight.

I was walking, I saw this guy.

What is it?

-This is the red-spotted toad.

This is probably one of the more common amphibians we have out here in the Mojave Desert.

They pretty much all they need is a wet napkin to really survive and reproduce.

I actually saw some tadpoles in the pond up there when you called out to me.

We were able to get our hands on this guy.

And you can see the red spots he's got.

-Hence the name.

-Hence the name, exactly.

-And assuming they're safe to touch, there's no poison there, because you just jumped on the ground and tried to wrangle him.

-Yeah.

He probably does have some bufotoxin, which is the poison that these guys have.

But I'm gonna wash my hands off in the creek and not stick them in my mouth.

-Those are some good words of wisdom.

He does not look very appetizing to me either.

-You need a lot to make a sandwich.

-Who is his natural predator?

-I think that the smaller snakes would eat him.

All kinds of manners and small birds might go after him.

Even some of the whiptail lizards we've been seeing might go after these guys.

-And is this fully grown?

-It's fully grown.

-I really wanted to get a better look at one of these little guys for myself.

I figured with all my experience of catching frogs and toads, I could catch one, no problem.

Got him!

-All right.

-Whoa, don't got him!

I got it, but not so easy to hold on to.

Had him.

I guess "had him" is the way to put it.

-Nature of the beast.

-It was late in the day, and we needed to get back to base camp before nightfall.

Plus there was another survey I needed to get to.

This next survey took us clear across Gold Butte National Monument.

It was at this pond where the study will happen.

It's here we'll be capturing and surveying bats.

I was ready to go, but first the area needed to be prepped.

This meant stringing a specially designed net over the water to safely capture the bats.

This portion of the BioBlitz is a much different setup.

We weren't wandering around taking pictures of everything we saw.

This was all about a specific mammal, and the details are very important.

(Michael West) We're starting into the witching hour.

Processing table.

Protective gear is over there.

So latex gloves, mouse, that sort of thing, more capture bags over there if we need them, but we're going to start with these.

-Then it was all about getting the work area and responsibilities worked out--who will be handling the bats, taking notes, measuring the bats, and taking images of the bats for iNaturalist.

Me, the citizen scientist, will be taking these pictures.

I can help with that for sure.

Any of that is going to be helpful.

One thing that's going to happen is, when we bring a bat in and we're processing, we will want to sterilize our rulers and even a Sharpie.

We'll mark each bat with a Sharpie, blue, so we know if we recaught it today or yesterday, but we'll need to wipe those down, scissors, forceps, et cetera, anything that touches the bat, with our Clorox wipes.

-Is that for us, or is that for the bat?

-Both.

So zoonotic diseases, transfer diseases between species, it happens.

It's part of biology.

We are concerned about spreading white-nose fungus from one bat that we process.

We want to clean everything so if it did have it and is asymptomatic we can then prevent transferring it to another bat.

Fungal spores are incredibly hard to see.

So what, about that big?

-How big?

-Yeah, about the size of my IQ some days.

I haven't seen any bats flying quite yet, so it might be another few minutes before we open that, another 10, 15 minutes.

-Now we wait.

When night falls and the bats come out to feed, they will utilize the lure of the water to snatch insects flying just above the water.

When it was time, the nets were dropped, and we were at the ready.

We didn't have to wait long.

An experienced member of the team is standing by, waiting for the bats.

Once they are caught, they are removed from the net and placed in a white canvas bag until it's their turn to be checked out.

The bats are not hurt or harmed.

-She's gonna be our little canyon bat here.

I just wanted to double check.

-Everyone who is in close proximity to the bats must wear gloves and a mask.

This is done as a precaution as to not have any issues with spreading diseases between species.

(Ashley Green) P, A, H, P. -Do you agree?

-Each bat is looked over very carefully.

-Mark him real quick.

-It's marked, photographed.

The bat is weighed.

-3.5.

Yep, 3.5 grams.

What is that, two jelly beans?

-Is that what you expect for a canyon bat?

-Yeah.

They're some of the smallest mammals in the United States.

-Measurements are taken of the forearm.

-31 milimeters.

-Next we needed an estimation of its age.

This is done by looking at the number of teeth and how sharp they are.

-Nice and sharp.

We got a whole mouth full of teeth.

There's like 40, 50 teeth in there.

-Indicating it's young?

-Bats, in general, have a lot of teeth compared to some of the other mammal species.

But because it's younger, the teeth are nice and sharp and not worn down.

They eat a lot of insects, and that hard keratin shell really wear the teeth down over time.

-Then it's a look at the bat's wings.

This also gives an idea of the bat's age.

What are we doing here?

(Ashley Green) So we're looking at the wing joint.

There's a little diagram over there that shows what we're looking at, but it's ossification of the bone.

The young ones have a big cartilage piece in there, and then as they grow older, that cartilage piece grows together, sort of like a growth plate in a person.

And you can actually see it when it's backlit.

If this was young, there would be like a gap of light in this joint that you could see, and the shape would be slightly different.

We don't expect any young bats this time of year also, but we always check just to make sure.

And we also kind of look at wing damage when we have this out.

So a bat wing is like two bits of membrane with blood vessels in the middle.

You can see, when it's backlit.

You see these blood vessels?

That's what makes the wing living tissue.

You can see all these like dots and stuff on it.

That's scarring where he's run into like a tree or a bush.

He's kind of crashed into something.

-Okay, all right.

I want to release this one.

You guys ready?

I'm gonna release that direction.

-Get a better corridor.

-There she goes, right over top of you.

-And just like that, we are on to the next bat.

-It looks very different?

-Yes, very different.

-I said it was a free-tail.

This is why.

You see they've got this big free tail that's not enclosed in the membrane?

So that's a different family of bat from the last one.

So if you're familiar with the big bridge full of bats and stuff like that, this is the kind of bat that lives there.

They live in big colonies.

-One after another, the bats were pulled from the canvas bag and checked out.

Not all bats are created equal.

There were several different species, and they all had their own unique look and identifiers.

We continued into the night.

All in all, over 30 bats were surveyed over the course of two nights.

While I was there, I photographed five different species.

The canyon bat, which is one of the smallest bats in North America, it flies with a slow flutter and can be seen out in the daytime.

The big brown bat, a medium-sized bat with a wingspan of about 12 inches.

It will also hibernate during the winter and cold climates.

The hoary bat, which in size is the largest bat species in North America.

It has a wingspan of up to 16 inches.

The Mexican free-tailed bat, also known as the Brazilian free-tailed bat.

Are you ready for this?

It can reach flight speeds of up to 99 miles per hour.

That's crazy.

It's one of the fastest flying animals.

And last but not least, the western yellow bat with its golden-brown fur, it likes to roost in palm trees, comfortably camouflaged in bunches of dead palm fronds.

This whole bat survey has been such an education, and it's been great to be a part of.

And when you get an up close and personal look at these bats, they are incredible.

It was the end of a long day.

I was beat, and tomorrow was another day.

Being a citizen scientist is exhausting.

♪♪♪ The next morning, I was able to reflect on a jam packed couple days.

Gold Butte is an incredible place with so much to see and so much to do.

I only saw a fraction of it, but I can't wait to come back and do some exploring.

♪♪♪ I was curious to see what had been accomplished in the BioBlitz, so I went to the iNaturalist site and took a look.

All I can say is wow.

There were 773 observations made and 310 species identified.

That's incredible.

And all of the data, images, and effort is thanks to everyone who participated in the BioBlitz.

I love being a citizen scientist.

This has been an amazing experience.

When I first got here, I had no idea what to expect.

But now that I have participated in my first BioBlitz, I'm going to be doing it again for sure.

If you want to get involved, and I hope that you do, make sure you reach out to the Nevada Department of Wildlife or the Bureau of Land Management to find out when the next one is and get yourself signed up.

You won't regret it.

And don't forget to download the iNaturalist app so you can be a citizen scientist in your own backyard.

Till next time, I'm Connor Fields, and this is Outdoor Nevada.

♪♪♪