Final Weeks In Colorado..For Now

With only two weeks left in Kremmling, my internship is winding down. It has been an incredible time here and I am quite grateful to have had the opportunity to work here in Colorado.

Since my last post, temperatures have been dropping and the defrost button has become a morning routine. The trees are changing here to a beautiful golden yellow. I do miss the spectacular colors of upstate New York and the Adirondack Mountains, but I’ll give Colorado credit; the golden Aspen contrast with the evergreen is quite the sight as well. Fall here in Colorado meant it was time for a road trip to Moab to see Arches and Canyonlands National Parks. It was still quite hot, but totally worth the trip. Besides that, I travelled down to Montrose to work with Carol Dawson and her CLM intern for a week doing more rare plant monitoring on Eriogonum pelinophilum.

As this internship winds down, I have had time to reflect on the summer and my life trajectory. Coming into this summer I had experience in the NPS and thought I wanted to work as an Ecologist for the NPS. This summer I gained some more perspective on what it might be like to work for the Feds. After seeing how things are run and the amount of science that is done in the BLM, I’m not so sure it is what I want to end up doing. That’s not to say that I didn’t have an amazing internship though. I learned a whole lot about western plants, got to explore beautiful Colorado, and gained tons of valuable experience in several different fields. I recieved valuable training as well which will only help with other jobs in the future. I ended up gaining experience monitoring riparian areas, grasslands, and rare plants. I also spent a lot of time working the GPS and mapping out noxious weeds sites and spring/wells for grazing. One of the best parts of the internship was the fact that I was given so much freedom by my mentor. He really allowed me to take control and go out by myself most days. It’s nice to be given responsibility and be trusted to get things done. Another great part of the internship was the fact that I was able to tag along with state botanist Carol Dawson and her CLM interns to conduct rare plant surveys. The work they were doing was more of what I was looking to get experience in, and something I could see myself doing in the future.

With that said, I don’t think I could have had a better place to work. Kremmling may be small, but it is surrounded by ski towns and wilderness areas in all directions. The staff here at the office is relatively young, so we’re always having a good time in and out of the office. It also helps having 11 seasonals living at the bunkhouse. Not only are the people and the location a plus, but my job entailed riding UTV/ATVs up mountain sides and camping/rafting on the Colorado River. I had great co-workers, a cool mentor, and beautiful scenery – I think I got pretty lucky this summer.

I am heading back to New York for 2 months just in time for the Fall foliage to see my family and talk to some professors about graduate school. From there I will be heading back to Colorado to work at Keystone resort as a ski instructor and hopefully come back to Kremmling for a few months next summer before I head to graduate school. We will see what the future brings, but I am positive that this internship will play a big role in what my future holds.