What a whirlwind these past weeks have been! After a brief week working with my mentor in the BLM , it\u00a0was off to the Midwest to attend the CLM training workshop at the Chicago Botanic Garden.<\/p>\n
I arrived in the Windy City as\u00a0one of fifty interns who traveled from their positions out west to attend the weeklong workshop.\u00a0 Our training\u00a0was based out of the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Plant Science Center.\u00a0 Nestled among beautiful gardens, the building is a recent addition fulfilling the dual purpose\u00a0of scientific research and outreach and education — showing the public that scientists are\u00a0real people too!\u00a0 Throughout the week our curriculum covered everything from the history of the Bureau of Land Management and plant taxonomy\/ identification to proper seed collection protocol and mitigating\u00a0field hazards.<\/p>\n
Although training entailed\u00a0several powerpoint presentations, we were also able to put our new skills to the test in the CBG’s\u00a0nearby gardens and habitat preserves.\u00a0I was given the first-hand opportunity to encounter the frustrations of using a dichotomous key to identify unknown plants and face the difficulty of determining the proper plant sampling technique.\u00a0 Although challenging at times, with our instructors’\u00a0knowledge and support at our side\u00a0we\u00a0were able to master new skills and even have\u00a0a few good laughs along the way.<\/p>\n
Training was not only\u00a0a great opportunity to\u00a0brush up on skills vital to my new internship, but also to meet many of my fellow interns.\u00a0 I had\u00a0a blast hearing about the beautiful scenery, management projects, and general ridiculousness that others have experienced during their positions.\u00a0 It’s nice to know that regardless of how challenging\u00a0my job may be at times\u00a0I’m not in it alone.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
What a whirlwind these past weeks have been! After a brief week working with my mentor in the BLM , it\u00a0was off to the Midwest to attend the CLM training workshop at the Chicago Botanic Garden. I arrived in the … Continue reading