The last month was a whirlwind of recreation activities. In the foothills of the Steens Mountains, I participated in a trail dedication to a family who lost their son to wildland fire fighting 20 years ago. There were many representatives from the BLM and it was a special time for the family.

I hiked Pike Creek trail, which is all up-hill, to monitor a remote campsite.

I spent a whole week up in the Steens Mountains putting up barbed wire fencing to keep cows out from the wilderness area. It was definitely the most difficult week I have had during my internship. The wildflowers, which are still blooming, were a great reward for such difficult work. There are four species of my favorite flora, Indian Paintbrush. The Indian Paintbrushes  were red, orange, yellow, and green.

I also found a beautiful multi-colored species of (what I believe to be…) columbine.

The Alvord Desert is a special recreation area, the most recent being for gliders. I was able to watch gliders take off and land, as well as sit in a glider!

Finally, I was recently able to shadow the archeologist. He is currently working on a dig-site that has been going on for multiple years with students from the University of Oregon. By dating volcanic ash, they have found evidence of life from 15,000 years ago! Making it one of the oldest dig-sites in the US.

Students from the University of Oregon are earning credits for working on this dig-site. Evidence dates back to 15,000 years ago! Making it one of the oldest archeological dig-sites in the US.

 Outside of work, I finally figured out where the recycling center is after two months of living in Burns. The recycling center is only open twice a week for a few hours. It is a major adjustment to have to physically bring in my recycling and sort it out. Back at home, in the western suburbs of Minneapolis, we have single sort recycling and it gets picked up at our house. Needless to say, the recycling center here has made me think more about my consumption of consumer products.

After two months, I finally found the recycling center!