Autumn in New Mexico is continuing to amaze me as the cottonwoods begin to change color. This November has been one of the most eventful months during this internship. I explored White Sands, a huge desert with stark white sand and found that I’m a big fan of anywhere that I can hike barefoot. A big activity here is to “sled” on the sand dunes, which I didn’t do this time but I will have to go back and give it a try. My co-intern/roommate took a new position in Arizona at the beginning of the month.  I’m headed to Roswell, New Mexico for the week to assist with Culp Sand Bluestem planting trials, and for Thanksgiving I am vacating to Denver, Colorado to spend the holiday with some friends. It’s hard to imagine that I only have one month left but I’m sure to keep busy.

All that I have left to do for SOS is to ship off vouchers and check over data that was entered into the BG-base. Although having completed more collections would have been great, I wouldn’t trade my experience for anything. I was able to evolve my education into experience. I’ve been able to assist in wildlife project checks, burn restoration, field monitoring and rare plant surveying.

Barefoot hiking at White Sands