My summer job is ending, as summer jobs tend to do. In less than a week I’ll be headed back to Maine for Graduate school. When I started reflecting on what I had learned this summer I figured I could sum it up best by recounting all of the places I had urinated. Crude as it may sound; I think you’ll find it a revealing reflection.
I’ll start out first by saying that dehydration is a real issue out in the desert, water is by far the most important tool one carries with them. Hydration is so important that in my field office there are pee color charts you can look at to calculate your hydration! I’ve also learned that hydration is the key to a good mood. Nothing makes me crankier faster than not being properly hydrated. That being said, I learned to gauge my hydration on the frequency of my urination. Good days I peed all the time, bad days I did maybe once or twice.
My first week here I was what one might call gun shy, preferring to pee in only designated locations. However, once the field work kicked into gear that was no longer a viable option, and thus began my journey in the exploration of Northern California. My first very memorable pee outside came one day a few weeks in with a group of BLM employees who were out assessing locations for future fence projects. I trotted off to find a suitable juniper tree and on the other side was a simply beautiful view, wildflowers and sagebrush on a gentle slope. It wasn’t anything I hadn’t seen prior to that moment, in fact it was the exact sight I saw almost every day, but seeing it from that angle and that vulnerability brought an entirely new appreciation.
Since then I’ve peed inside of a hollowed out redwood tree; off of a rock cliff in the Warner Mountain range; on the edge of wildflower meadows under a Juniper tree; on a beach in the Pacific Ocean; on a hill overlooking Shasta Mountain; for warmth in Blue Lake; under scrutiny of cows; looking off into Surprise Valley; pre, mid and post seed collection; while checking both front and back tires (side note, when driving to a field site it was common practice to announce the need to pee by saying “I’m going to check the front/back tires”); watching the sunset in the sage steepe; at dusk in the wildlife refuge; next to an old mining shaft; in the middle of a few year old burn (lots of saplings!); as well as in bathrooms of course!
I’ve learned that there is much more to this internship than seed collections or vegetation monitoring. While the specific tasks were obviously important, the internship was also a collection of new environments and scenery. In those few peaceful moments of release, I could really appreciate where I was and the true importance of my job.
I would like to thank the entire Alturas Field Office and the Modoc Wildlife Refuge as well as Krissa and Marian for all of their help and guidance. This has been a very memorable and hydrated summer!