This past month has been chock-full of desert tortoise and yellow-billed cuckoo surveys and I have decided there are few ways I would rather spend my work day 🙂  The long hours of crawling up rocky cliffs and maneuvering through spiny brush is instantly worth it the moment you find that elusive tortoise deep in its burrow or hear the distinct call of the cuckoo high up in a sycamore tree.  Along with our wildlife adventures, Annabelle and I jumped on the opportunity to get certified in All Terrain Vehicle (ATV) driving, which we have been looking forward to all summer!

The most important thing I have taken away from this internship is the importance of putting yourself out there and making connections.  A little initiative goes a long way and can help you focus your internship on what you are truly interested in.  I have come to love the Sonoran Desert and I look forward to living here long after this internship ends.

Happy Trails,

Emily Macklin

Wildlife Biological Technician – BLM Phoenix

Hello from Phoenix Arizona!  The last month has involved a fair amount of riparian habitat and wildlife monitoring, including Multiple Indicator Monitoring and Yellow-Billed Cuckoo Surveys.  Even with the temperature reaching 119 degrees at times, I am still so grateful for constant sunshine after living in the East for a number of years.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, I leave you with a few 🙂

Smiles,

Emily M.

Wildlife Biological Technician for BLM Phoenix

The little white dot in the picture is our Jeep 🙂

I love the Saguaro in the foreground and the winding mountain trail in the background

Complete with waders, boots, backpack, and MIMs frame

Posing under an enormous Sycamore while conducting wet-dry mapping along an Agua Fria River tributary

So we have just finished our third week interning with the BLM in Phoenix doing rangeland and wild horse and burro monitoring.  The days so far have involved a healthy mix of office work with data management and venturing out in the field.  This week we spent four out of five days travelling slightly north of Phoenix through mountainous terrain full of spring blossoms and sunshine.  The rangeland monitoring involves a lot of species identification, so I am confident I will be a Sonoran Desert botany pro by September!

The most intensive part of our internship so far has been learning how to drive vehicles over massive boulders, through washes, and over rocky cliff trails.  The field driving has definitely been an experience!  We have come to respect the importance of a high clearance bed, seriously durable tires, and four wheel drive.  Also, on the off chance you find yourself stuck in a pit of sand, inserting large, dead branches directly behind the back tires and reversing is a great way to get out of a sketchy situation 🙂  I look forward to getting our ATV  certification so we can ride on even tighter trails… everyone loves an adventure!

I am very grateful we were able to start the internship in the spring so we could bask in the warmth and pleasant desert breeze before summer hits.  Hope you enjoy my desert pics!

Smiles – Emily M. with BLM Phoenix