Hello All!

Well, I must admit, the last place I thought I’d end up this summer and beyond was Colorado.  As a native East-coast girl, I had never ventured west of New York until this opportunity presented itself. My original plans for June were to explore the wildlife of Borneo until my traveling partner canceled at the last minute, so I called Krissa and Marian the next day and changed my start date to after I graduated from the University of Vermont.  Things really do have a funny way of working themselves out, and I was extended an internship offer with the National Park Service tracking aquatic invasive species in the parks around the country. A week post-graduation, my friend and I packed up our  lives in my car and we began the six day journey out west exploring the vastness, beauty, and ecological diversity of our own country. Driving through the Midwest was definitely a culture shock! The thing that caught me off guard the most was the further out West we drove, the nicer people became! Of course we thought something was fishy, but no…I soon found out that’s just how people are out here.

It was equally exciting and surreal to be driving towards the Rockies into a city I had never stepped foot in but was going to spend the next five months living in. Seeing the Rockies made the Green Mountains look like foothills, and I knew this was going to be the beginning of a life changing experience. I loved Ft. Collins, CO the moment I drove into it. The downtown, microbreweries, college atmosphere, medium-sized town reminded me of the familiar Burlington I had just left a week before.

I met the other CLM intern, Chenie, and despite coming from opposite backgrounds we instantly became good friends. Nervously waiting outside the doors of the National Park Service on our first day was something we both look back on and laugh. All of our nerves were swept away when we met our phenomenal and hilarious mentors, Eva and Rita, and were immersed in a building that was full of extremely passionate people working on the oil spill and helping make a difference. It has been almost two full weeks now since I’ve been here and they have kept me quite busy! Between tracking Rock Snot (Didymosphenia geminata, an invasive diatom), the parasite that causes Whirling Disease in salmonids, and helping create an extensive database tracking all invasive species in aquatic systems in the parks, I feel like I’ve been chasing criminals across the country! It’s especially exciting because there is very little research done on microbial invasive species and I’m honored to be a part of this project. In October we will submit our database to Congress to make it publicly available, as well as turn it into a website that all of the National Parks can easily refer to when managing their aquatic systems!

Chenie and I are both excitedly awaiting our trip to the Grand Canyon in a little over a week and plan to camp at Arches NP on our way down! In late July we have a week of field work planned in Rocky Mountain National Park, and at the end of August they are sending us to San Diego for a week to represent our division, Water Resources, at the 17th International Conference on Aquatic Invasive Species!

So far the weekends have been spent exploring the “Switzerland of America” and this weekend we are camping at the Great Sand Dunes NP. Both Chenie and I are getting a National Park pass and are going to try and see as many parks as we can in these next five months. I am learning more and more everyday and I can’t wait to find out what happens next! Basically, Chenie and I are constantly pinching ourselves to make sure we’re not dreaming…

Until next time!

Britt

Ft. Collins, CO

National Park Service