Since I’ve last posted, not too much has been going on around the office.  We’re entering this time of year where the field work starts to slow down and the office work starts to pick up.  One interesting thing that we have started to do is production surveys.  This is only done in the fall because these surveys measure how much has grown in the growing season.  Besides that, it’s been pretty slow! So I thought I would use this post to summarize some things I’ve learned so far.

Not only have I learned a ton about scientific monitoring, working at the BLM and the ecosystems in the field office, but there have been some other lessons that have come my way.  One thing in particular is risk management in the field.  In our field office, we can drive in one direction and get into the mountains of New Mexico, and we can drive another direction and be in sand dunes of the desert.  With all these varied landscapes, also comes a necessary thorough understanding.  In the mountains, we can encounter crazy weather changes in a matter of minutes.  In the sand dunes, we can get the truck stuck (and I mean STUCK) if you’re not careful.  Also not forgetting about bringing enough water, food, having a means of communicating, and perhaps even a emergency kit.  And if you don’t have these things, it’s important to keep your emotions in check and deal with the situation the proper way.  For example, a few weeks ago, after a full day of cruising through the sand dunes on the ATV – it decides to overheat.  And of course, we had no coolant.  Icing on the cake, it was after 5 pm and nobody was back in the office to help us out.  We were forced to wait over an hour just for it to cool down.  After a few failed attempts, we were able to get back to the truck and get back to the office.  It was a stressful few minutes when it first happened, but after we relaxed and figured out a game plan, we were good to go.

So risk management sounds like a boring topic, but it’s quite interesting.  I think once you have a good handle on your surroundings and your equipment, you can conquer the world!

-Jaci