It’s been over a month since I left the Vale BLM office, so now; I find its time to reflect.
The skills and knowledge I gained from the work I did and the individuals I met have become part of me. They have made me a more confidant and experienced person. However, the field techniques, the plant names, the navigational skills are not what I think of now when I look back. When I think Vale… the desert is what I will forever remember.

I recently moved to the forested mountains of Colorado. Though they are beautiful, I miss the vastness of the high Oregon desert. I miss being able to see for hundreds of miles every day. I miss the sparse but strong plants I spent the summer looking for. The rolling hills, short fragrant sagebrush, and dancing shadows of the desert awakened in me an incredible sense of oneness with the land I worked with everyday throughout the summer. The vast Oregon land gave me a sense of place and belonging.

Its funny that when I started my internship I thought “oh wow, this is my first ‘real job’, my entrance into the ‘real world’”, what I entered into was a world where I experienced what I hope the rest of my life will be based on; studying and experiencing natural life, and working to protect it. The desert has made me question and reflect on my existence, my purpose, and my place. I hope to return to the desert shortly to find more answers… and discover more questions.

Since I couldn’t say it as well myself, a quote by Rumi.

Let the beauty of what you love be what you do. There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the earth. (Rumi)

This is my final month in New Mexico. Next week my brother flies out to endure the 24 hour drive home with me. He’ll be the first and last visitor at my mountain home and there is so much of the Land of Enchantment that I want to show him before we head off. Everybody who I’ve interacted with during the past 6 months has made a lasting impact on me: My mentor is one of the most patient and educated bosses that I’ve ever had, the group of friends I have developed at the office are amazing, and leaving my amazing “mountain family” (the two host families and some of the volunteers at the recreation center) will be hard to do.

The Organ Mountains, where I've called home for the past 6 months, woke up in the clouds.

December made sure its presence was noticed. A week ago, my part of New Mexico experienced more snow and chilly temperatures then my family in the Midwest experienced. After receiving a brief flurry, our office (as well as Roswell and Carlsbad) was released an hour early and granted a snow day. Although I was anticipating a snow-free winter, the powdered mountaintops offered a much more enjoyable experience as opposed to the ugly black slush and knee-high snow that the Chicago area is accustomed to. Plus everything melted by the weekend and temperatures were back to the mid-50’s.

Snowfall at Dripping Springs Nature Center

Now to reminisce about the past half year…

My first week as a CLM intern began in June at the workshop held in Chicago. I hadn’t even been to Las Cruces and I had absolutely no clue what to expect out of this internship. I met my co-intern, whom I would be living and working with. I was also able to get introduced with the Seeds of Success program and the process involved in seed collection. The following week I made my first ever solo trip out west. At the end of July we made our first full-fledged, team SOS collection of Helenium microcephalum var. microcephalum in an overgrazed, cow-dung infested field. By the end of August and September we had completed eleven collections which we considered a success. The harsh winter freeze from the previous year mixed with the hot, dry summers resulted in few native plants going to seed. We spent weeks working on a population density survey for Escobaria duncanii which was undeniably my favorite project. Our team drove all over southern New Mexico looking for plants to collect and learning all about the different habitats. Our last project as a full team was collection of leaf samples from Lepidospartum burgessii in the salt flats near Guadalupe Mountain. In November, our team was down to two members: my mentor and I spent three days in Roswell retrieving updated plant statuses for the potted Culp Sand Bluestem project that began three years ago (The bluestem is a key element in the habitat for both the Lesser Prairie Chicken and the sand dune lizard). This month I helped my mentor set up a new survey area in the Franklin Mountains to observe the density of a population of Escobaria sneedii. It was a great project that allowed me to stay busy on office days but still got me out in the field quite often.

A fall scene from the top of Caballo Mountain near Truth or Consequences, NM

I’ve learned just as much in my free time as I have during my work days. Hiked along the Gila River and discovered that substantial sandals are great investments when the trail you follow crosses the water more than ten times. Watched my roommate discover the best way to collect, de-spine, and separate seeds from prickly pears to make jelly. Found out that it’s best to call ahead to forest campgrounds in the middle of hot, dry summers to see if they’re open or not before driving two hours to the site to find out that it’s closed due to extreme fire hazards. Discovered the best way to catch and remove tarantulas, scorpions and lizards from the bunkhouse and got stung by a scorpion (just last week, look out!). I learned that it is best to bring a flashlight when going to a nighttime tour of zoos. I finish a half marathon and an obstacle 5K race. I experienced the fantastic culture that surrounds the southwest and walked with the community in the Dia de los Muertos procession. And most importantly, I perfected my own version of green chili stew.

I found a cow-bone-cholla-shrine while hiking a trail around the Organs, decided it was a good point to turn back.

It’s amazing how much of what I have learned over a year and a half ago during college is actually being put to use in multiple aspects of this internship and I’m so inexplicably thankful to the cast at the Chicago Botanic Garden and my mentor for the opportunity to experience and explore New Mexico for the past 6 months. The countdown is on and I have less than 10 days before I leave my mountain home and one thing for sure is that it won’t be too long before I return! ¡Adios Nuevo Mexico!

It’s been a while since I last wrote, so there is a fair amount of catch up to do. Going back to early November, I had a chance to travel to Tallahassee, FL to take part in the Natural Areas Association annual meeting. This was my first professional conference and it fit very well with my project. I heard many lectures on policies protecting natural areas (ranging from domestic parks, wildlife refuges, to the amazon), LOTS of information on invasive species, and several talks of other interests to me. Along with these lectures, I created a poster to display during the week regarding my project on Great Lakes invasive species. There were plenty of folks to talk with on the myriad issues that inevitably evolve as do the lists of invasives. One of the days we left the conference area and went to St. Mark’s wildlife refuge south of Tallahassee. This was unquestionably my favorite experience of the week. This refuge is extensive, covering habitats supporting red cockaded woodpeckers and gopher tortoises, long leaf pines, and shorebird (and alligator!) communities. The amount of new habitat I had a chance to explore in only a few hours was truly awesome. The biologists who manage the refuge provided a lot of insight into another realm of land management, foreign to me from my desk job with the NPS. This week was a great chance to get out and remember the wonderful diversity of positions available for me to pursue down the road.

After getting back to Fort Collins, it was back to work on the final bits of my project. I finished the design of the website housing the database, edited the species lists one more time, and began working on my webinar presentation for December. Work went well on this, and after a few more weeks, I presented the webinar. I will be spending my last week and a half cleaning up errors corresponding with comments we receive(d) on the database, writing an article for InsideNPS, and reporting on this project for my division’s annual report.

Another great travel experience I recently had was over Thanksgiving weekend when I traveled to visit my roommates family on the western slope of Colorado. The drive through the Rockies was as spectacular as I could have hoped, and seeing the San Juan Mountains on the other side of the state was a treat. While both the Front Range and western slope are significantly drier than I am used to in New England, it was great to see some trees on the drive over the mountain passes along with the pinyon-juniper “forests” of western Colorado. These trees were short and the ground was dry, lacking much of an understory other than sage brush; I suppose it’s like that from west of the Rockies to the Sierras, though. It certainly had its own beauty, though with open viewscapes and the jagged mountains surrounding the otherwise farmland. Upon returning to the Front Range, I stopped in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison NP for a bit. It was extremely impressive, and all the more enjoyable because there were no other visitors in sight. I’ll mark down Sundays in winter as the prime time for visiting parks as they should be seen– in solitude.

Only another week left, this has been a very rewarding and fast way to spend my first six months post graduation.

Staminate Poa atropurpurea

Pistallate Poa atropurpurea

With all this work, I’ve been putting the ol’ social life on the back burner. This weekend is shaping up to be a winner though. On Friday I will be attending the Big Bear black tie event of the year, a 10 year anniversary party for the Big Bear Hot Shots—our wildland firefighter hand crew. Saturday I’ll be getting my first day of snowboarding in of the season and Sunday I’ll be heading to Joshua Tree National Park for rock climbing adventures!