As my time as a CLM intern in the Carson City, NV BLM office comes to a close, I am reflecting on how much I have learned during this experience. After completing my second CLM internship (my first was last year in Miles City, MT), I feel like I have a more well-rounded background, which will help me in my career. I have gained a lot of knowledge from my mentor, and am very appreciative of how much training I now have which I can take with me as I search for my next field position. We attended the USDA Nevada Pesticide Applicator Certification in Salt Lake City, a grass identification course in Reno, Ecologically-based Invasive Plant Management training in Reno, and NNPS Rare Plant Meeting in Las Vegas, just to name a few. I was also able to attend Riparian and Wetland Plant identification training, from which I came away with a better understanding of those habitat types and a stronger botanical background.

In addition to trainings, I have gained a wide variety of field experiences. Our team has spent time fire monitoring, rare plant monitoring, noxious weed surveying, seed collecting, and a lot more. I have really enjoyed the crew of nine interns that I have been a part of. We each bring different backgrounds to this internship and all of our skills mesh very well to form a team. I have really enjoyed getting to know each of them and it’s sad to see my time with this team come to an end. It will be interesting to see where each of us goes in 2013!