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<\/a><\/a><\/p>\nThen the conflict arose. I started getting pain in a familiar place, where I\u2019d hurt myself before, and it was painful just getting up in the morning. I found myself stiff and struggling to work in the field, finally raising the white flag and resigning myself to dreaded office work. Desperate to make myself useful, I powered through the mountain of data that had accumulated while we were having fun out in the field and even tying up loose ends from previous years’ data. This didn\u2019t take as long as I thought, so I started to turn to my mentor for extra tasks, and she in turn sought work for me among other colleagues in the office. I got a 3-day assignment to survey the cattle on allotments toward the Nevada border (via 4×4, of course\u2026walking was still painful). When I finished that, I gained the mission of engraving BLM property (this was harder to organize than I thought, and it\u2019s ongoing\u2026I occasionally find a rusty shovel, piece of rebar, or permanent marker that people jokingly leave on my desk).<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been dealing with this setback and my physical antsy-ness by trying to get as much as possible from the situation and prepare myself for when I get back in the field. I\u2019ve been poring over every piece of literature on sage grouse, their habitat, and their restoration. When I finished with that, I read about wilderness ethics, different methods for monitoring terrestrial birds, wildlife management techniques, and other miscellaneous literature (like the wilderness ranger handbook, which must be really old judging by the advice it gives). While it\u2019s hard to hear from my co-workers about the day’s trials and tribulations in the field, I find comfort in my familiarity with the background info that, I hope, will only make me more effective when I finally get back outdoors. This is one of those things that I just need to learn to deal with, and the difficulty of it makes it that much better for me. And, of course, I get by with a little help from my friends!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Internal conflict resolution has been my new focus at work. It\u2019s frustrating, and I would much rather not be dealing with it, but in a way I think it\u2019s an important thing for me to work on. When I came … Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/dev-clm-blog.pantheonsite.io\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/co-workers.jpg\")
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