Science

Meet Nikki Carter, Natural Resource Specialist in the Bureau of Land Management’s Northeastern States District Office. Nikki’s work is central to the stewardship of public lands, blending environmental protection with practical fieldwork across challenging Midwestern landscapes.

On a June morning at the Sublette County Public Library in Pinedale, Wyoming, about 150 kids settled in for story time. What they did not know was that the story that day would reach back millions of years into prehistoric time.

The morning air still carried a cool bite when the first young anglers arrived at the Kemmerer Community Fishing Pond on June 13. By 7 a.m., the banks were alive with the sound of reels spinning, lines sailing through the air, and the kind of barely contained excitement that only a kid with a fishing rod can produce.

University of Wyoming researcher Walker Bensch is studying how grazing and trampling by elk and cattle influence native bees, wildflowers and pollinator habitat on public lands near Fossil Butte National Monument.

Across the rugged terrain of the Plaster City Open Area in western Imperial County, California, a different kind of off-road vehicle traveled across BLM-managed land.