Goodbye Central OR, back to Jersey

Last winter I was depressed and unemployed, and I jumped at the chance to accept the CLM internship and move from central New Jersey to central Oregon, a strange place I never even heard of, to a town called Bend… a town known for beer (as previously stated) and access to outdoor activities. Although nervous to move to a new place, I was excited that I would get to work outside in remote areas for the Prineville District, but live in Bend, a bustling town of almost 100,000 people.

I cannot say enough good things about the Prineville BLM. My supervisors Cassandra Hummel and Digger Anthony were extremely welcoming and great teachers. I was able to connect with many coworkers and work on a variety of great projects throughout the summer.

Because I have previous experience working with bats, I was made crew lead of a telemetry project with Western Long-eared Bats (Myotis evotis). This was my favorite project and I gained valuable skills using radio-telemetry.
Other projects included wildlife clearances in Westerm Juniper stands that are set to be thinned next year, elk and deer hiding cover measurements in Ponderosa and Lodgepole pine forests, Habitat Framework Assessment for sage grouse, golden and bald eagle nest monitoring, and removing/adding signage to hiking trails.

Not only did I gain professional experience working on these projects, I learned a ton of practical skills which I will now list in no real order – driving extremely large pick up trucks, using 4WD, using a compass, reading a map (I’m from NJ where every road actually has a name), using GIS, using a Juno GPS, how to set up a mist net to catch bats, how to climb a butte in the pitch dark, how to drink enough water in the desert, how to ride an ATV, how to back up a trailer, what a rattlesnake sounds like, how to listen to country music, how to use a radio, etc.

Some random things I learned living in Central Oregon… how to yield to pedestrians (pedestrian yield to cars in NJ), how to react when a stranger is genuinely interested in your well-being, how to react to a mean bull, how to float down a river on an air mattress, how to talk back to coyotes, how to look for arrowheads, how to never trust Yelp reviews because everyone in Oregon is so nice and never tells the truth, how to pack for a backpack trip, how to become known at a local bar, the list goes on.

I highly recommend the CLM internship to anyone that is right out of school and looking for an adventure and practical experience. I’m sad to leave this friendly beautiful land of central OR, but ready to see my family again in NJ. My next step is to probably take a job at Rutgers University working on more bat research. Hopefully I make it back to Oregon somewhere down the line. To everyone with more time left on their internships, enjoy every minute!

Thank you to everyone who makes the CLM internship possible.

-Kathleen Kerwin
Prineville, BLM
Oregon