My time spent in Idaho is coming to a close. Today is my last day in the office and I’ll be heading back to the Midwest at the end of the following week. I’m grateful of my time and experiences I’ve shared here in Twin Falls and Shoshone. My last day is filled with mixed emotions as I’m excited to be moving back to a familiar place, but also upset I’ll be moving away from people I’ve grown to care so much about these 6 months.

Idaho BLM has given me so many new experiences working with people from all over the country, people of all ages, and people with varying levels of experience in range management.

I came to Idaho with an open mind, seeing as this is my first job after graduating, and I’m grateful that the CBG program was able to send me out West. I felt like it was important to stretch my comfort-zone and pursue this job as far west as I’ve ever been, and I truly enjoyed my time here and the experiences I went through. I made friends with locals and they took me on many adventures, one of which was to my first rodeo which is where I really learned to understand potato appreciation (being from WI, you get a lot of cheeseheads, so potatoes were new to me). I’m now interested in getting my Red Card after experiencing wildfires so near to home and hearing talk around the office about fire culture. Idaho has moved me to explore more of the world, expand my understanding of people and express myself in new ways.

I’ll miss the people, I’ll miss my house, but I’ll definitely miss flora of the west.

SG