Hi!  I am Andrea, working with the BLM doing forestry work in Newcastle, Wyoming.

My first week here at the Newcastle Field Office consisted mostly of onboarding activities including gaining computer/ internet access and taking defensive driving courses to use federal vehicles. While that was necessary and important, my mentor also took me out to a few of the parcels where we would be doing our forest inventories and timber cruises. I also had the opportunity to meet some of the landowners and loggers involved in the contracts. The conversations I heard were completely over my head!

Cool crooked tree we saw near the South Dakota/Wyoming Border.

Most of these forestry and timber sales activities are completely new to me. In my previous positions, I performed forestry inventories for conservation planning only. No one was going to be logging the woods I was working in, except possibly to create habitat for flora and fauna. Terms like board feet, stumpage, and uneven-aged management are unfamiliar vocabulary!

This is the view from my backyard/forest service land!

It is incredible talking (or rather listening) to the landowners and loggers as they have
such concern about the welfare and management of the forests. They all point out
examples of proper tree thinning and nice meadows that have been created. They also
point out stands of trees that are too dense and should be managed so they are better
protected from Mountain Pine Beetle and fire damage in the future. Ultimately, forest
management and proper thinning will allow trees to grow larger, as they are not competing for sunlight and for the limited nutrients afforded by some of the lower quality soils/marginal sites. The Ponderosa Pines out here grow taller and straighter than any species of tree I have ever seen. It’s no wonder they are such an important timber tree. The really nice trees in well-managed forests are just majestic. I never thought I would use the word majestic for a pine tree, but the perfection of some of these trees is amazing. You can just tell that they are healthy. Some of the larger ones are well over 100 years old and some can live to be over 200 years old.

I couldn’t believe it, but on the drive home from one of the parcels, it was snowing. Not just snowing, but accumulating quickly on the grass and road. When I woke up the next morning, there were about three inches on the ground. I came here from Virginia, so sub-freezing temperatures in late May just don’t happen. Welcome to
Wyoming!

Inspecting a prescribed burn area post treatment!

My second week was turbulent. I came back from the field one day and was told that my mentor had died unexpectedly the previous night. I felt shock and sadness and wondered what to do next. After a bit of scrambling by the office manager and other BLM professionals, nearby foresters were contacted to help fill the role of our mentor. Also, the Range Technician, Wildlife Biologist, and others came forward and offered to create learning experiences for us in their fields of expertise.

All in all, these first few weeks have been a wild ride. I am simultaneously learning about forest management, the role of fire in the Black Hills region, and all of the intricasies invlolved in making relationships and completing projects in the Federal Government. Most importantly, I am having so much fun and meeting some of the most interesting people with backgrounds more varied than weather out here!

I wish everyone a fantastic internship!

All Best,

Andee