The whole crew from Ruidoso was still on the run during the start of July, down in district 3 meeting many other people and what they do as part of the forest but in a completely different life zone. I wish the circumstances were better but I’ve really been enjoying the ability to travel and see more areas in the state and understand the landscape a little bit more. Traveling through different cities, seeing different mountain ranges, different watersheds and how to get between them all has been really exciting. It’s been a bit of a transition moving to NM and learning a whole new ecosystem but it’s fun to be able to pull similarities from other places I’ve been to help with the process.

Another important way to learn about the area is to work with people who have been here and worked on the land for a long time and are willing to share that information with me. So, before we headed back to our home district we stopped for a week in Cloudcroft to help the Institute of Applied Ecology do butterfly vegetation monitoring for the Sacramento Mountains Checkerspot Butterfly. It was amazing meeting people who are there to help us learn some new methods and tactics.

I finally feel like we are our own unit at the office now that we’ve returned. We are able to go out on our own and do our own thing while the rest of the wildlife crew does their own thing. They always report back to us about plants they found for us to go and check out and it feels like we are all part of a great team. I’m excited for our first collection (which we plan for today) and for the rest of the season after we have a bit more practice and get to try out some unique seed collecting methods.

I am currently 1400 miles away from the place I spent roughly 80% of my life. From northern Minnesota where I was a 3 hour drive to the Canada border to Ruidoso New Mexico, where I’m the same distance to the border of Mexico. It’s been a life changing voyage all packed into such a short time, and one that doesn’t seem to have a specific destination in mind. I’ve stopped for periods of time to work, mostly to gain some skills and knowledge, some to survive, and best of all, for fun. Ultimately I’ve landed on a profession in the great outdoors where the only thing that beats the amazing individuals you’ll meet are the lunch break views.

In my mind, I got lucky. I was just following seasonal jobs that seemed like a fun way to be outdoors and learn a few skills. Up till now I’ve spent the last 2 seasons removing invasive plant species with herbicide and chainsaws. It’s been good hard work but I’ve always thought about what happens after? Are the organizations I’m working for come back and do anything with these areas we’ve impacted? Or are they just left for the next crew the next season to come back and repeat the process. That curiosity lead me to apply for a job as a native seed collector, and I could not be more excited to learn everything related to botany and this new landscape I’m in the middle of. With hundreds of random pictures of unidentified plants, insects and birds maybe I can finally start making a dent on figuring out what’s behind the mysteries in my camera roll. It has already been a very unique experience for me! With flying to Chicago to meet all my fellow interns and see the amazing botanic garden and returning home just to immediately retreat due to wildfire, I think this season will be quite exciting. Although, I think I might have had enough excitement for the season and am very much looking forward to being able to return and keep my head down looking for plant species to collect from.

Evacuation due to a wildfire reaching Ruidoso NM city limits.