Hello, Conservation Nation! I just moved from Orlando, Florida to Santa Fe, New Mexico for my one-year internship at National Trails Intermountain Region. I've only been in town a few short weeks, but I thought I'd share my experience traveling to my site and getting started.

1. Road trip!…

I have been an active SCA intern at the Nathaniel P. Reed Hobe Sound National Wildlife Refuge for a little over 3 months now. The refuge is situated on the east coast of South Florida, about an hour south of where I grew up. I absolutely love getting to work with the flora, fauna, and ecosystems that I’ve always called home. The refuge itself is a very important part of Florida’s ecosystem because it has one of the last remaining scrub pine habitats, a type of…

Carpenter Falls- near Skaneateles Lake

As you pass into the entrance tunnel at Watkins Glen State Park, your eyes take a minute to adjust to the low light. Your feet grind on the damp concrete underneath as you…

Dustin Karius scaling above Lucifer Falls in Robert H. Treman State Park

Spring…the season of rebirth, of awakening (wild columbine- right). Around every corner…

Tamara Beal, NYS parks Environmental Educator, giving a mini program about a garter snake

This year, New York State Parks…

Counting down the days is getting scarier and scarier.  I still have to finish up my finals and I haven't even started to packing for CO.  I am beyond excited, yet anxious about this internship.  But I can't wait to share my experience with everyone! :)

View from Two Rivers State Park where we partook in autumn olive removal

Although spring seems to currently be in a tug of war with winter, there were some really nice days in March that filled our lungs with the fresh smells…

My lovely housemates at SCA orientation at Canandaigua Lake.

Kyle, Lizzy, and myself (Environmental Educators), Trick and Tori (Conservation Stewarts)…

Hello! My blog will be changing locations. From now on, feel free to find my posts at:

http://seazintern.wordpress.com

Thanks!

Wednesday, October 25

Today's the day -- I have officially been working in Southeast Arizona for one month. I'd like to share some thoughts, accomplishments, and goals.

Thoughts:

• Wow. I live in an unbelievably amazing place. Not only am I amazed simply by Chiricahua National Monument itself, I am amazed at the amount of things there are to do here. It's easy to think that…

Tuesday, October 24

I have officially been in Southeast Arizona for one month. For tomorrow's entry, I will write a month reflection!

Today was spent in the VC completing my "Foundations of Interpretation" course. The main idea of interpretation is to connect the physical resources of a site to the emotions and values of the visitor. It answers the question, "Why should I care?" It seeks to get the deeper, human meaning of these resources. This involves using tangibles,…

Monday, October 23

Today was pretty simple. Most of the day I spent doing my courses. I finished "History of the NPS" and started on "Foundations of Interpretation." Did you know that presidents are forbidden from creating national monuments in Wyoming or Alaska without congress? Did you know that every national park site designation - park, historic park, historic site, memorial, military park, battlefield, scenic river, etc. - is treated with equal importance? I kept some notes and…

I realized for new people following they may want to know a quick review of who's who that I mention:

People

Andy - the other interpretive SCA intern, in my exact position

Suzanne/Ann/Theresa - interpretive park rangers at Chiricahua

Libby - my supervisor; chief of interpretation of all three SEAZ parks

Amy - main interpretive park ranger at Fort Bowie

Kim/Chris - interpretive park…

Sunday, October 22

Today was another hike day!

I showed up at the VC. This was the second extra day I was working to take a long weekend this week. The VC was already very adequately staffed - Suzanne, Ann, Theresa, and Victoria were all working. Ann told me I could spend the day continuing to do some of my learning courses online after taking the hiker shuttle up.

A moment later, Suzanne asked if I would be up for doing another task, which involved a hike! We had a big…

Saturday, October 21

STAR PARTY!

I had the first half of the day off because I would be working late to help with the Night Sky Party ("Star Party" for employees) event put on by the Tucson Amateur Astronomy Association (TAAA). I showed up to work around 2:30 p.m. and started to do one of the online learning programs Ann had told me about. I started to do "History of the National Park Service." It's all interesting so far! Got to read about my fave park of all time which…

Friday, October 20

Morning started out as usual, I took the shuttle up to the top and had some fun conversations with the hikers. Andy had today off, but I am working a couple extra days so I can have my long weekend next weekend. When I got back, I had a conversation with one of our maintenance guys, Ruben, about his history in the park service. He said that he had…

Thursday, October 19

TODAY WAS THE DAY. TODAY I SPOTTED THE RATTLESNAKE.

Andy and I left early to make it to the Fort Bowie trailhead. We were to help Amy with a school group that day. When we arrived, the group was already there, ready. They were 5th and 6th graders from Animas, New Mexico. Andy and I greeted the adults, and I noticed one of the teachers had a Colorado shirt on. He was from Colorado! The best part was - I feel like he was even more excited to meet me than I…

Wednesday, October 18

I don't know what the highlight of your day was, but mine was surely spotting a tarantula in the wild! Tarantulas don't bother me one bit. I view them as completely separate from spiders. It was really neat seeing one in the wild for the first time! (Photo featured with tarantula in the center of the image; kind of difficult to see, the dark spot…

Tuesday, October 17

Today we had our first All-Employee Meeting! This was actually pretty neat.

I drove the hiking shuttle and made it down to headquarters for the meeting. In there were nearly all employees from the three parks. Superintendent Allen didn't like how new people were always put on the spot, so instead everyone in the room said their name and title. I got to meet members of the trail crew, who are just a little older than I am. One guy introduced himself as the…