Saying good bye to Big Indian Gorge

Time can be a complicated concept. The ticking hands of a clock concretely mark the seconds of a day, but that day can seem to last both an eternity and fly by in the blink of an eye. In this same way, it seems strange to be writing my final blog post today. Five months felt like forever in the beginning, but summer always ends too soon.

Astragalus whitneyi var. confusus seed pod, one of my seed collections

Regardless of time, this internship was jam-packed with learning experiences, all of them rewarding whether pleasant or otherwise. Here’s a short list:

-cardboard from your plant press and a tiny spade can get a monster truck un-stuck from wet clay

-always say yes! even if you’re terrified of public speaking, being seen & heard can lead to a job

-it can take a really long time to count to 10,000

-the world of botany is relatively small; anyone can become a networking wizard in no time

Erigeron compositus var. glabratus

This internship also provided me the opportunity to improve my botany skills. There’s no better way to learn than to sit in a meadow of wildflowers with a flora and a hand lens. I keyed all the plants I could, most of them charming little herbaceous guys. What a dream job! Working with the BLM collecting for Seeds of Success, I made voucher specimens (pressed plants) for all my seed collections.

A few of my 52 SOS specimens I mounted for the Portland State Herbarium

This gave me the opportunity to learn proper herbarium curation procedure. And, my voucher specimens will be housed at the Smithsonian! It was great fun looking at all the flowers I had pressed earlier in the season and creating (what I would consider) works of art. It’s too bad herbaria don’t showcase exceptional collections at museums with pieces by Picasso, Frida Kahlo, and Georgia O’Keeffe. 

making new friends

I believe my experience was different in the fact that I was a team of 1 in the field, but even so I met numerous like-minded people over the field season. Networking really was a large part of my internship, from my contacts at the Burns District BLM office, to the Oregon/Washington state office, the people I met through the Oregon Native Plant Society, touring the Bend Seed Extractory, meeting other CLM interns in Chicago, working with the Portland State Herbarium, and coordinating with Steens Mountain flora expert Don Mansfield. The more people I met, the clearer it became that the working (and retired) botanists all knew (or knew of) each other — and now they know me!

magical fairy land spring covered in Arnica mollis and monkey flowers (Erythranthe guttata & Erythranthe lewisii)

Working as a CLM intern has been truly excellent. If you are a recent graduate with any interest in plants, I recommend you apply. I am grateful that a CLM intern recommended I apply last year. My resume and skill set have grown exponentially while being able to make payments on my school loans (this internship pays better than most entry level field jobs I’ve found). Remember: say yes!