Today marks my third week here in Buffalo,Wyoming as a range intern and I could not have imagined being placed in a more beautiful area. These last few weeks I have been busy training and learning all the plants of the region.  I have already seen an abundance of wildlife including pronghorns, burrowing owls, golden eagles, and moose! Just the other day while finishing up some vegetation monitoring we were approached by two baby pronghorns! We also had the opportunity to visit outlaw cave, which was one of the famous hideouts of outlaw Butch Cassidy and overlooks the equally famous Hole in the Wall.

We are lucky enough to live a mere 10 miles east of the Bighorn Mountains, which has allowed us to get out for some fantastic evening hikes after work. All the wildflowers in the lower foothills are really starting to take off and we were fortunate enough to stumble upon some fairyslipper (Calypso bulbosa) on one of our first hikes.  To say that I have been blown away by the beauty of the wilderness and wildlife surrounding Buffalo would be a severe understatement and I am beyond excited to be spending the next five months living, learning, and recreating out here!