This was my last week working for the BLM in Pinedale, Wyoming. I have had a great experience and I am planning to come back and at least visit, if not work here, soon. I started my internship coming from a different field and I have enjoyed this work and learned a lot. I was a full time zookeeper before I decided to change my career path and this internship was a great way to experience something new and get my foot in the door with this type of work.
It took me a little while to get used to Wyoming being a New Jersey native and travelling here after living in Florida for over a year but, after the first few weeks it started to feel like home. There is a different culture here that I enjoyed learning about and you can’t beat the recreation opportunities in a town right next to the Wind River Range, Wyoming Range, and just south of Teton National Park and Yellowstone National Park.
Looking out at the Cirque of the Towers in the Wind River Range
Not only did I get to work in the Wyoming Range analyzing potential Lynx habitat but I was also able to learn to identify shrubs, grasses, and forbs of Wyoming while completing vegetation monitoring on grazing allotments. Working for the BLM I got to learn not only about these plants but about grazing and the cattle industry. There is not much public land where I grew up and learning about the controversies involved with this land and the views and opinions from every side was very eye opening.
Getting ready for production clipping
Another, sometimes controversial, activity that I have learned about is hunting. Again, coming from 30 minutes outside of New York City I have never learned much about hunting. I was able to assist Game and Fish at a check station and take out mule deer teeth for aging and lymph nodes to test for Chronic Wasting Disease. I learned about the regulations and how the numbers of tags available for the year are decided. I was also able to help friends prepare their meat and tasted my first game, definitely a new experience!
Freezer full of game!
Overall my time in this internship has been excellent and I would absolutely recommend it to anyone. The people that I worked with in the Pinedale field office were very welcoming and I was lucky to work with and learn from my mentor, Josh. It was nice to be able to work with all of the wildlife biologists and the range conservationists. I was able to meet a lot of people that way and participate in a multitude of projects. My resume has definitely grown and I am excited about my prospects.
I am sad that this is the end of an adventure but I’ll be back for more! See you later Pinedale!
Sydney B.
Wildlife Biology Intern, Pinedale, WY