Hello fellow interns! I hope you’re having a wonderful time in your respective locations. Time is certainly flying by here in Buffalo, WY. My internship is already at its halfway point, which means a job search is probably in my near future. As much as I love my job here, I know it won’t last forever (sigh). My fellow interns and I have made lots of progress in both Seeds of Success and range monitoring duties. One of the things I love about working at the BLM is the amount of flexibility we have. People can coordinate interdisciplinary projects without too much headache, and it really helps to get things done when essential staff are gone. The SOS interns have been a huge help in our range monitoring duties, and us range interns have been able to assist SOS with some collections as well. However, field season is winding down (as I’m sure you all know) and there are opportunities to get involved with other projects. Just yesterday we were able to help with a project to clear out an area overgrown with pine trees by stacking the felled trees to prepare them for burning. Hopefully we will get to spend more time in the mountains for work, but we shall see. It’s nice taking these big work trucks into the wilderness, for they can reach places that my little Toyota Camry cannot.
Our work in the field is typically lots of fun. An interesting thing I’ve learned is the amount of variability in landowner attitudes towards government entities. Many ranchers and landowners are friendly and understanding when they deal with government employees. I enjoy these people, because they make our job much easier. Some people are relatively indifferent, or grudginly cooperative. A select few are downright rude, and even openly hostile. The latter can certainly ruin your day, as some fellow interns have discovered. All in all, a day in the field is typically a day well spent. Sometimes field work can get a little monotonous, but I’ve found it’s easy to spice things up by serenading your co-workers with some ’80s pop hits. Roxette always seems to make the day go by faster! It’s also a plus if you have awesome people to work with. I just happened to get lucky and be stuck with a bunch of fellow Alanis Morissette fans. How cool is that! Anyway, if you made it this far, thanks for reading and enjoy your weekend!