When it Rains, it Doesn't Always Pour - A day in the field with Montana Biocontrol Project
A Day with Tyler Brett, Montana Biocontrol Technician
“At 8:30 on the morning of June 2, I jumped in the truck and hit the road for a 3-hour drive to Conrad, MT. I was headed there to meet up with my sister Abby, who’s working for the DNRC this summer as a Land Use Specialist. Once I got into town, we grabbed a quick lunch and headed out to the worksite for the day. This site had some pretty odd-looking Whitetop plants. They were short, spread out, pale in color, and some had already flowered while others hadn’t even started budding.
Our job today was to release Whitetop Gall Mites, a newer biocontrol that’s been approved for use. Since the mites are microscopic, I showed Abby how to release them properly. We took infested stems from another site, surrounded them with healthy stems at the new location, and bundled them together with twine. Each spot got flagged and recorded with a GPS point so we can come back and monitor later. While we were working, I noticed some dark clouds rolling in. I pointed them out to Abby, and we both agreed we should try to finish up quickly. I felt one raindrop… then nothing. We managed to get all 30 stems released and then moved on to setting up our monitoring transect.
The transect was about 100 meters from the release points. We laid down a 20-meter tape and placed a frame every 2 meters. I explained how this helps us track Whitetop growth over time and monitor how far and fast the mites spread. Halfway through, the sky had darkened and then I felt another drop, and then another. We hustled to finish the transect, estimating the percent of plant coverage in each frame as fast as we could. Just as we wrapped up the last one, the rain stopped, and the clouds started to clear. Classic Montana.
We packed up our gear and drove back to Abby’s office to end the day. Getting to do fieldwork with my sister was a great way to kick off the season. It is one of those moments that reminds me why I love this job.”
