So far working for the Bureau of Land Management in Carson City, Nevada has been an enlightening experience.  I moved out to Nevada from Illinois 2 months ago and I had never realized how mountainous Nevada was. I found out that Nevada is the single most mountainous state in the whole U.S. and prior to this experience I thought that it was all desert.  Another thing I never realized is how windy the desert is. The winds can get so bad here that they have to shut down highways for trucks and trailers because of fear of tipping over due to the forceful winds. I have started to learn the desert vegetation and I’m perfecting my monitoring skills. I think this internship is really interesting because I not only get to work with plants but have many encounters with animals as well. I have seen numerous wild horses, a rattlesnake, scorpion, bald eagles and the list goes on! I also think that this internship is such an interesting experience because all of my fellow interns that I’m working with this summer are from all over the country.

A skill that I have gained is how to determine when seeds are ready to be taken from a plant, and then collected for Seeds of Success.  I really think that the Seeds of Success program is a great program because it’s taking native plants seeds, and re-seeding them in other parts in the state. I think its unfortunate that there are so many non-native plants in the U.S. and I’m happy to be part of a program that is restoring lands here back to the native species.

I’m also in the process of taking a 24 hour GIS course that will hopefully perfect my skills with mapping. I’m really excited to start to do this because I feel these skills will make me more desirable when I look for a job in a few months.

One skill that I am perfecting while being out here is driving the 4WD vehicles. Before coming here, I have never even driven a pickup truck let alone drove in 4 wheel drive over rocks and rough terrain. I now feel confident in my abilities to drive in these desolate areas in the work trucks.

I hope by the next post I will have a lot of seeds collected!