CO State BLM Office-Last Day

It’s my last day here at the CO State BLM Office working with my mentor Carol Dawson. I’ve been here two weeks shy of a year, and what a year it’s been.

When I first approached Carol, basically asking her to hire me, there were several things I had hoped to gain from working here. First, I wanted to be a part of the rare species monitoring program she has established in the state, and I’ve done just that. It’s been wonderful to be able to see the amount of data on some of the plots that we have here; to be able to confidently say whether a population is stable, increasing, or decreasing. Working with a species for only one summer, or one year, doesn’t typically allow for these trends to be seen. So, it’s been encouraging to continue studies that were established, sometimes, more than 10 years ago. I’ve not only continued many long-term demographic studies, I’ve also modified monitoring plots in their infancy, and established new plots altogether. I am much more confident in my ability to develop a species specific monitoring study and protocols that will provide measurable, meaningful, and statistically sound results. It’s been fun putting the BLM technical reference for monitoring plant populations into practice. I found I not only really enjoy the field work involved in monitoring, the physical plot establishment and data collection, but I also enjoy the number crunching, ensuring enough of the plot is being monitored in order to detect a certain percent change over time with a specified power. It’s critical for reliable data. The second goal of mine before starting work was to gain experience writing technical reports. Again, I have done just that. I have written species reports for Penstemon grahamii and Penstemon scariosus var, albifluvis, and an annual summary of our rare species monitoring.

So, where am I going from here? While I had originally hoped to spend another summer here, I will be moving to the Tri-cities in Washington instead. (It’s been my choice to leave, I think Carol would have let me stay). Over the last two years I’ve learned how important relationships are to me and my happiness, and while I have built many truly wonderful relationships here and would love to spend another summer working with these species and developing a monitoring study for a new one, I have chosen to move in order to be with my boyfriend. Fierce, independent ladies gag here. In all seriousness, we’ve been long distance for two years and I’m happy with my decision. However, it does mean I need a new job. I do have a part-time tutoring job lined up already, but am unsure exactly where my ‘career’ is heading. I took the GRE this summer, and am keeping grad school as an option, but don’t know exactly what I would want to study.

Overall, I loved learning about each of the rare species we monitor here in CO, working with personnel in our office and field offices across the state, working with the BLM’s partners, organizing years’ worth of data, compiling reports, mapping possible new plot locations, and more. I feel lucky to have explored such a large part of this state and to work with such an amazing mentor, as well as co-intern, Nathan. This internship has been an invaluable experience. Participating in the CLM program for two years has been an extremely worthwhile learning experience. I hope I have been as helpful to each of my mentors as they have been to me.

Colleen Sullivan

Below are some pictures of my experiences in CO, both work and play