I would like to share with all of you what has been the “cherry on top” of my CLM Internship experience.

As you know, we all had the opportunity to attend the 37th Natural Areas Conference hosted by the Natural Areas Association in Ozarks, MO. Myself, Diana, and Ben all had an excellent time at the conference this year.

First of all, who knew Missouri was such a beautiful place? The Ozarks are really incredible and unique, encompassing wide expanses of natural areas that include tallgrass prairies, cave-fed springs, wild rivers, deciduous forests, endemic wildlife, and some vast cave systems that are home to a variety of fascinating creatures.
Being a part of a conference made me feel that I was a part of something important. Natural areas professionals from all over the country (mostly the mid-west) came to the Ozarks to talk about big issues and share ideas about what needs to be done to effectively manage our land for conservation purposes, and how to best-prepare future biology professionals that might one day be charged with managing rare flora, fauna, and landscapes.
That was the theme of the conference “natural resource connections across generations and disciplines”. So really, the conference was about us! The opening presentations focused on putting natural areas management in a contemporary prospective, providing attendees with some history of the field and where it is headed today. I had the opportunity to listen to various speakers and natural areas professions talk about what they feel future foresters, biologists, ecologists, wildlife biologists, and soil scientists need to know. Speakers discussed ideas for college degree programs in natural areas management, relevant training courses, internship programs, and other creative ways to build a framework for educating people in land management and natural resource issues. I participated in a “world cafe” session, where conference attendees openly shared their ideas regarding these issues. It was really amazing to interact with different experienced professionals in my field, and to get to share my ideas with them! I almost felt as though I got to guide my own future because I was contributing to ideas that might one day turn into a real-life opportunity for me.
One of the challenging parts of the conference was meeting people. There were so many amazing individuals there with jobs I would love to have one day that it was overwhelming in a way. But I just put a smile on my face and asked a lot of questions. People were usually very happy to share what they did and talk about my experience as well.
The field trips were fun, the people were interesting, and I learned a lot. I listened to a variety of natural resource professionals talk about their research and some of the most important issues currently facing our natural lands in the mid-west. Additionally, I got to share my internship experience with professionals and potential future interns, which is not only a great resume line for me but a very deserving plug for the CLM program.
Overall, the conference was an empowering and inspiring experience. I really feel that it opened my eyes to a whole new side of the field of biology. Sharing knowledge and information is incredibly important to the evolution of natural resource management and preserving biodiversity. This idea seems obvious and fundamental, but when you experience discussion and collaboration among peers first-hand you gain a greater understanding of what makes that process so valuable. I am very grateful to have had the opportunity to participate in that discussion and develop some perspective on where natural lands management stands today and where it is headed. It was inspiring to meet so many passionate individuals that are working hard to preserve native wildlife. That experience reassured my interest in conservation and reminded me that I am certainly not the only one who cares about protecting our natural areas.

So, my internship has ended, and it is time to reflect…

It was amazing! I was really impressed with what a valuable experience my internship turned out to be. I spent most of my summer conducting Mexican spotted owl habitat validation surveys. Myself, a fellow intern, and a BLM biological techncian ground-truthed about 30,000 acres worth of a GIS model that was used to predict all of the potential MSO habitat on the Arizona Strip. The great thing about this project was that it wasn’t just about hiking around staring at cliffs, we got to use our brains. I used GIS to glance at the areas we would be visiting, develop travel plans, and make maps to be used while we did our site visits. Driving out to these places was an experience in itself. Sometimes when I was bouncing down these roads like a hillbilly rock-crawler-in-training I thought to myself “Wow, I think I must have driven on some of the worst roads in the country at this point”. Then I would think about all of you fellow CLMers and wonder who REALLY drove the worst road in the country this summer. I bet it was one of us.

One of my favorite things about my internship was my mentor. Coolest lady ever, lots of amazing experience and really committed to helping my fellow intern and I achieve our career goals. I think one of the most valuable things this internship offers is the opportunity to work with someone who isn’t just a boss, but a real mentor. That’s exactly what recent college grads need. Someone to help give them ideas, tips, and a good word to future employers.

Now that I am in the process of interviewing for jobs again, I’m finding that the experiences I gained as a CLM intern have helped me feel confident when I tell people about my work experience, and also that employers are really excited to hear about what I have done. What an amazing feeling! The past five months have really served as jump-start for my career as a wildlife biologist, which is exactly what I hoped this internship would do for me.

It was a pleasure to have met all of you at the training workshop this summer, and to read about your adventures around the country. I wish all of my fellow interns the very best of luck in their careers. Remember, you guys are all awesome field biologists now, go out there and use what you’ve learned to make a difference!

Well, its another 100+ degree day here in St. George, but I think the vast majority of us CLMers know what a hot day in the desert is all about.

This past week I had the opportunity to participate in the Inter-agency Bat Blitz. Various biologists from multiple organizations like the US Forest Service, Arizona Game and Fish Department and Northern Arizona University gathered in Jacob Lake, Arizona for a wild week of bat catching. The goals for the bat blitz were to collect DNA material from Euderma maculatum (Spotted Bats) and attach radio transmitters to four female breeding Idionycteris  phyllotis (Allen’s Lappet-Browed Bat). Every day the group would have a 4 p.m. rendezvous, during which we would divide up into teams and set out to prepare our mist-netting sites. Most of the sites actually ended up being man-made watering holes maintained for livestock. Once the sun set, we would open up the nets and wait. In one night we could catch anywhere between 50 and 200 bats! The bats were retrieved from the net, and I got the opportunity to key out a lot of the species (thankfully I was WAY better at keying out bat species than I was at keying out plants). We caught a lot of different varieties from the family Myotis. My favorite bats were those commonly known as Hoary Bats, they are really furry and make this incredibly loud screeching noise when they’re upset. Super cool little guys. Also, I had never even seen bats up close before and I was really amazed to discover how tiny they are! Most of the species were around the length of my finger.
The most exciting moments of mist-netting happened when we heard “audibles”. The two particular species we were trying to collect samples from and attach radio transmitters to both happen to echolocate at frequencies audible to human ears. Both of these species are also particularly sensitive to light and sound. Thus, at the first sound of a chirp, someone would shout “audible”, and everyone’s headlamps would click off. We would all sit perfectly still and wait. You could hear the bats hunting, and feel the air from their wing beats when they whooshed past your head. Most of the time the bats were too smart for us, bats can remember events over long periods of time, and a lot of them were well aware of our presence and wise to our tricks. The last night I was there my group did manage to catch a spotted bat. It was great to finally get a look at the creature I had spent so much time waiting quietly for.
Doing bat work obviously involved being up at night. Our typical work day would start around 4 p.m. and finish around 2 a.m. Being an early morning person, this was a somewhat unpleasent transition. But it was tottally worth it because I got the opportunity to do something new and exciting… and I discovered (not surprisingly) that bats are fascinating creatures, I would be thrilled to get to work with them in the future.

For those of you who haven’t been there, Jacob Lake, AZ is a beautiful place. I was quite disappointed to discover that the “lake” is really more of a sad little pond, but there is an amazing expanse of Ponderosa Pine forest there, and most of the area is around 8,000 feet in elevation, making it a cool refuge from the roasting hot desert sun. Most if not all of the area there is forest service land, so the public can camp anywhere they would like. I would definitely recommend it as an ideal weekend getaway.