Welcome to the desert!! A beautiful, plant-thriving desert, that is. I never knew that deserts could be so full of beauty and life. I always imagined a red-brown colored desert, scorched from the sun with temperatures in the 200° range (haha). It gets warm in Southern Idaho (the highest is about 100° so far), but with no humidity you hardly even notice it! Coming from Kansas, it’s nice to be able to actually breathe in a climate with little to no humidity, hallelujah!

This is what I’ve been needing. Experiences. I needed to get out and see new lands so that I could not only appreciate other places, but where I came from. I needed to experience work that I could love. I needed to experience fresh faces and personalities. I am the happiest I have ever been in my life!

My work is meaningful and it feels good to wake up with purpose every morning. My crew and I work 10 hour days, 4 days a week, which is absolutely wonderful because having 3 day weekends to get out into the mountains and forests of Idaho for hiking, biking, and camping is just perfect! My mentor and supervisors are very understanding and always open to teaching my fellow colleagues and I new things. I could not be more thankful for them! For about a month I worked to survey sage-grouse habitat using a transect line, forbe sweep, and pin-drop sampling method. Sometimes we helped out with the Seeds of Success program, as well, collecting seeds from various plants and gathering specimens to bring back to the office.

Currently, my crew and I have been working on fire re-entry, which dictates if the land after a burning and seeding is healthy enough for livestock to re-enter the pasture. And we have also been working on Trend, which is done about every decade to gather long-term data on plant diversity at that transect. I am glad to be a part of the long-term Trend work and thankful for the knowledge I will gain from it.

On a final note, I cannot stress enough how much fun it is to be out in the field with my crew! Our supervisors are all for us having fun and have let us stop at a cave along the way to our site and if time prevails, we hike to the top of small mountains to take in the breath-taking views! Tomorrow brings a new and exciting day as we head to Ketchum, Idaho to do Trend work and we go so far north that we will be well into the MOUNTAINS!! Life is good!

BLM- Shoshone, Idaho Field Office

Marissa