We are in the middle of the last few weeks of field weather here. Lately I have been fortunate enough to work with the Wild Horse and Burro Expert applying a new population control technique that includes getting up close to each band of horses. Approaching bands without a single set of eyes detecting your every move proved much tougher than I had originally thought. The task has been time intensive and difficult to say the least, and tactics to get close to the bands have been continually refined, but as of yet there has been very little success.
As I sat on the edge of a water catchment yesterday, I began to think of these past eight months. I remembered the small amount of office work I had to complete when I first started this internship, the small infrequent rainstorms we had to be aware of in the spring, and the muddy roads that we risked trying to not get stuck. Then I recalled the bulk of the internship. The hot, dry, and dusty conditions and how the light of day seemed to last so long. But now, I looked across a vast landscape of sage brush steppe, steep canyons, and numerous rock slides. All of the willows surrounding the catchment were barren and the once murky water was healed over with thick ice that croaked and groaned as it tried to thaw and come back to life. This frosted landscape before me seemed like a far cry from the work season I once knew. There have been a lot of great connections and experiences made on this internship and as the season comes to a close… the office work closes in.
