July has been a busy month in Lander, WY, on a personal and professional level. Starting off with an awesome Fourth of July weekend (think rodeos, parades, live music, friends, grilling, fireworks beyond belief), and ending with hikes through Sinks Canyon – an awesome geologic and recreational spot right outside of Lander city limits – with a dog I was dog sitting named Bean, July has been great. The 23rd International Rock Climbers Festival happened in Lander, which provided many opportunities to win free goodies and dance to some awesome bands –The Whiskey Shivers were a crowd favorite! Though I’m barely a beginner boulder-er, I still had a lot of fun watching the bouldering competitions and being around incredibly buff and tan men and women. I’ve had many nice times with friends in town, playing pool, swimming in a local swimming hole, helping garden, and listening to live music. I’ve also been reading a lot of books from the library, playing Frisbee and tennis, and writing to friends.
Working as a rangeland monitoring technician at the Lander Field Office (BLM) continues to be fulfilling and satisfying. My work partner and I have fallen into a routine with the original monitoring work we learned; we’ve gotten much faster running transects and spying on cows. These past two weeks we helped out a different rangeland specialist with long-term monitoring efforts. We learned new types of monitoring and saw new country. New grasses to learn, rocks to find and nuances to appreciate.
Left to right: replaced stromatolite mounds, replaced ooids and mossy agate.
A lovely outhouse and coyote skull found exploring new BLM land.
Since we’ve gotten faster at most of our daily work, we have a bit more time in the office in the afternoon. We’ve picked up some office projects – filing things, calling companies that need to renew permits etc. – to help out those around us. While being in the office pales next to working in the field, everyone is extremely friendly and makes the work enjoyable.
Can’t wait to see what August brings!
Abby
Lander Field Office, Wyoming, Bureau of Land Management