My name is Kelsey Piepkorn and I am from Minnesota. I started my internship at the end of May. I am a recreation intern at the BLM Burns District Office in Hines, OR. The BLM Burns District Office is responsible for 3.5 million acres! There is a wide variety of landscape throughout the district from sagebrush to the historical Diamond Craters as well as the Alvord Desert to the Steens Mountains. My internship has been filled with a variety of activities such as collecting data from traffic counters, hiking to monitoring remote campsites and rivers for the ability to cross, monitoring Wilderness Study Areas, and spending most of my time getting to know the Steens Mountains area. The locals say the Steens Mountains is a bit of an unknown beauty because it is overshadowed by the west coast. I have not been to the summit yet because there is still snow on top of the Steens Mountains. I went up most of the way with a mentor and it truly is breath-takingly beautiful. I also attended meetings and helped with Burns’ first ever “Gravel Grinder” bike race. I now understand how much effort goes into planning a bike race such as meetings, thoroughly marking the course, having people directing riders during the race, and having an Emergency Action Plan set. I was very impressed with the collaboration during the race to keep all the riders safe. I am honored to have helped make the first annual Skull 120/60 Bike Race a success.

Until next time.

Kelsey Piepkorn

Burns District, BLM

On the Steens Mountains as far as we could make it before the snow drifts. This is my office for the summer!

Up in the Steens Mountains area, there is this cool lake formed from snow melt.

In the Steens Mountains area during a 7-mile hike along the Blitzen River, I monitored remote campsites.