I’ve had the pleasure of spending my internship on the Cosumnes River Preserve in central California. This week, I learned how to properly install a barbed wire fence, which sounds much easier than it is in reality. It’s interesting, though. I hail from Kansas, and everybody automatically assumes that capable farm boy has come to town, but in actuality I come from small town Americano. I have worked on farms before, but just as a hand during hay season. I’m just a hayseed… not a rancher.  Now, through the BLM, I have learned to operate many of the equipment used for land management, such as 90 hp tractors, chainsaws, UTV’s, et al. It is ironic that the perception people have of me is now mostly true, but they are unaware of the means by which I acquired these skills. I guess it goes to show that people have assumptions about the lifestyles of peoples’ from different states, especially the assumptions Californians make. I wouldn’t be surprised if the people of California thought that California was half the country, and this is not a preconception, but a conclusion made after meeting Californians. I consider myself well traveled, and there is definitely a self-centralism in this state. That is not to say that I don’t consider California “unworthy” or “irredeemable” in any way. On the contrary, I absolutely love the state of California and all it has to offer. I’m very grateful that CLM was able to extend my internship (and my mentor for making it possible), but I do feel that people here take a whole lot for granted. One thing that the CLM Internship program offers is a way for young people such as myself, who are interested in this sort of job field, to get away and see if indeed the grass is greener on the other side of the fence; to go places far from their realm of comfort and gain exposure that they would not otherwise have the opportunity. I hope the other interns involved in this program feel the same way and don’t take it for granted. Thank you, Chicago Botanic Garden, for creating opportunities, especially in the current economic atmosphere.