In addition to the valuable career experience gained through the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Conservation and Land Management (CLM) Internship Program, there are plenty of good times to be had as a CLM intern! Besides the variety of activity and scenery (certainly all the field locations but also at your desk in the office), a conservation and land management career may offer several other types of benefits and perks.
TOURIST MOMENT. What initially appeared to me to be an old, run-down homestead near an SOS seed collection site is actually a movie set from Memoirs of a Geisha. (Yes, this inspired the title for this series of blogs!)
A moment as a tourist–a movie set from Memoirs of a Geisha on BLM land
LUNCH BY THE RIVER. The South Fork of the American River runs just north of Pine Hill Preserve before it flows into the Folsom Lake reservoir. Our SOS seed collection efforts has brought us to sites near the river, providing a lovely setting for a lunch break.
Mokelumne River near Big Bar
South Fork American River at Dave Moore Nature Area
SWEET TREATS. And after lunch, a craving for something sweet may be satisfied with a simple dessert prepared by nature. Who can refuse a handful of grapes or blackberries!? Note: these delectable dishes are available in season only.
Sweet treats in the field (grapes in this photo, but also blackberries)
MIXING BUSINESS WITH PLEASURE. As an intern, sometimes I have the opportunity to assist people other than my mentor within the BLM office. My mentor is the manager of a rare plant preserve so we focus on botany-related land management and conservation. However, I have also surveyed for the federally endangered red-legged frog and participated in bird counts at the Cosumnes River Preserve with wildlife biologists, painted a vandalized restroom and stained bridges in a nature area with a maintenance worker, and served in the role of public relations when the fuels management team conducted a prescribed burn of brush piles at the Pine Hill Preserve. Although all of these were enjoyable, the pinnacle of mixing business with pleasure involved rafting down the South Fork American River with the recreation planner and another CLM intern to deliver toilet paper and cleaning supplies to the restrooms along part of the river before a busy Memorial Day weekend.
South Fork American River through Cronan Ranch near where we delivered t.p. and cleaning supplies to toilet facilities…and stopped for lunch 🙂
Mouth of the South Fork American River where our rafting adventure ended
THE LITTLE THINGS. What life is made of, what keeps life going. Little in terms of small physical size. Little in terms of a short amount of time. Little in terms of its seeming significance in this gigantic world. Little in terms of minimal numbers in existence…these are all truly “rare” treasures.
Flower of Bisbee Peak rush-rose (listed as a Review List species by the California Native Plant Society)
Pollinator on a blooming Pine Hill ceanothus (federally endangered)
Young Red Hills soaproot (federally endangered) and a stalk of last year’s growth
Little red bug on El Dorado bedstraw (federally endangered)
Stebbins’ morning-glory (federally endangered) displays its unique narrow, spindly, finger-like leaves
Insect on Layne’s butterweed (federally threatened); Lemmon’s ceanothus in the background
Bee on Pine Hill flannelbush (federally endangered)
An inchworm (???) among the disk flowers of El Dorado mule-ears (listed as rare by the California Native Plant Society)