My 5-month CLM internship with the USGS in Henderson, NV is now officially over. I have very conflicting feelings about this. At first I was not very fond of the desert (being from Michigan I missed water and real trees) and could not wait to go back home, but now I’m not sure. The desert is not so bad anymore (although I still miss water and trees and would not want to live here long-term) and I will miss everyone I have met and worked with.
When I first told my family that I was moving to Las Vegas my aunt said it must be fate and that everything worked out that way for a reason. Kind of supernatural-y, I know, but I can’t help remembering it now. If I had not taken this position I would not have learned all the things I now know, not only about desert ecology and research methods, but also about myself, and I would never have met the people that have been like family to me out here.
Describing everything I have learned during this internship would take several large novels (I’m talking Game of Thrones-large) so I will try my best to sum it up. During the first few months we learned about desert ecology, how important native plants are to the communities, and how devastating fire and invasive plants can be. We conducted vegetation surveys on annual and perennial plants, and measured cover and density for perennial plants. The last few months have mostly been spent in the office crunching data. I learned a lot about research statistics that I could not have gotten from a college course (I don’t know about anyone else, but my high school and college stats classes did not help me much, I spent an obscene amount of time looking up statistical tests that my boss told me to run because I had no idea what they were), and I learned how to use the program R which will be very useful in the future. We were also involved in the development stage of a project to determine how effective seed cookies and seed balls are in Blackbrush restoration efforts. We will not get to see the results of that project, but we helped start it.
The most important thing I learned in the past 5 months has been about myself. I was feeling a little lost a year out of college, and although I still don’t have a clear idea of what I want to do with my life, I at least know what I do not want. After several months of fieldwork I have decided that it is not for me. As much as I love the outdoors, I love going home at night and being in control of my working environment more. I am going to concentrate my job searches to greenhouse or botanical gardens now.
The most memorable part of this internship, however, has been the people. Krissa and Wes, thank you so much for putting all this together so we can have these experiences and thank you for being so personable and approachable! Fellow interns, whom I met in Chicago, thank you for making that week a memorable one and for sharing your experiences with me! To our bosses, thank you for hiring me and for teaching me everything. To the rest of the USGS staff in the Henderson office, thank you for being so nice and accepting of the lowly interns and for being our buffer to the higher-ups, you are all awesome and I will miss you! And last but definitely not least, thank you Laura, Olivia, and Carson for being the best coworkers/roommates/friends I could have asked for! After living, eating, breathing, and working together 24/7 for 5 months it’s amazing we all still like each other and enjoy each other’s company!
For future CLMers I would just like to say this: DO NOT LET THIS OPPORTUNITY GET AWAY FROM YOU! This is an amazing program and you will learn a lot!
Well I suppose that’s all I had to say. If you find yourself in the Las Vegas area in the next few months and need a place to crash, I’ve got you covered. Otherwise so long everyone, it’s been real.
Joshua Tree in Parashant National Monument in March