Hello!

As we’re nearing the end of the Golden Eagle breeding season (and the 3 month mark of my internship?!) it’s a time of transitions here in Wenatchee. The eagle surveys we’ve been doing for the past few months are ending and we’re beginning to take on the exciting, if challenging, task of being the eyes and ears on the ground for the Wenatchee Field Office. These “wildlife wanderings”, as I’ve taken to calling them, involve walking through allotments with our GPS units documenting all the wildlife, weeds, and structures we encounter. Right now the protocol is relaxed, the priority is on finding potential Washington Ground Squirrel colonies, and the challenge is getting all of our geodatabases to check out properly onto our mobile devices (and then to not crash our devices with all the data we just put on them!). Soon though we will begin incorporating ESR protocols and creating transects to further direct our “wanderings”.

Goodbye Golden Eagles!

Hello wanderings!

Of course this is all being put on hold next week while I’m in Chicago for the workshop. I’m excited to meet all you other interns and to practice my (limited) plant ID skills. Even more exciting is the possibility for a double training! Next week in Chicago and then a quick turn-around to go out to Rock Springs, WY for a rangeland health assessment training the week after. This second one isn’t a done deal and is pretty last minute, but I’m hopeful!

See you all Monday!

Cheers,

Jenny