When I headed out to Safford, AZ in May I came from the mountains of Wyoming, a place I absolutely loved, in a move I knew would be a huge change of pace for me.  I had never lived in a desert environment before, and all of my family and friends wondered why I would move from one of the most beautiful places on earth to a small town seemingly in the middle of nowhere.  To them it may have not have made any sense, but inside of me I knew what my goals for myself were and if they were left unpursued, then I knew I would soon feel restless, even in the shadow of Tetons.  In high school I decided that I wanted to pursue a career in field biology, and chances like this that the CLM program offer do not come around often, so when it was offered I knew it was something that I had to do.

I will be the first to admit I often find myself daydreaming of hiking or skiing back in the high country. However, this experience has not only changed me for the better but also given me experience and opportunities that would not have been offered had I stayed in my comfort zone.  As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, our main project we work on is invasive species eradication on a National Conservation Area.  While sometimes monotonous, for the first time in my life I had a job that was goal-oriented with tangible objectives and signs of success, which led me to feel personally invested in what I was doing.  Not only did I enjoy what I was doing, I also felt that there was a reason to do what I was doing.  With the temperatures dropping, fish are not moving as much so we have halted fish work for the season, but our biologists feel pretty confident that our project (which has been going on for around a decade) is complete and the Green Sunfish has been extirpated from Bonita Creek.  With this objective complete, it means that I can look back on these eight months spent in a small desert town in a positive light.

This internship also proved to be a vital stepping stone going forward, as I will continue doing fish research with a private company in Phoenix that the BLM in Safford works with quite extensively.  This opportunity would never have come to fruition without this internship, which is another reason taking the internship has proven worthwhile.  Due to that, I would like to thank the Chicago Botanic Garden, the CLM program, Krissa, Rebecca and everyone else that gave me this opportunity.  Future interns, if you are reading this, know that this program can be a great stepping stone to that career you have in mind.

Thanks,

Taylor