Another Week in Nowhereville

Back from the Grand Canyon.

A week's worth of forests, gorgeous views, and a group of people my own age. Not only was it nice to get away from Newcastle and spend time in a national park, it was good to hear the other employee's opinions of the BLM, their own field offices, bosses, and duties. I am in no way alone in having suffered the agonies of waiting for the government to get things done, the strangeness of small towns in rural places, or even dealing with being the only 20-something person for miles.

I met a few people I got along with really well, from field offices in Buffalo, WY, Needles, CA, and Carson City, NV. We spent the week sharing stories about our respective offices, complaining about the BLM, and not paying attention to the various seminars we had to attend. We were well-fed, housed individually in hotel rooms bigger than my apartment, and had enough time at the end of each day to hike along the canyon rim and explore. We saw wild-born California Condors and heard stories about strange disappearances, tragic deaths, and unsolved mysteries of the canyon. All-in-all, it was a pretty good free trip. If you've never been to the Canyon, I highly recommend you add it to your list of places to see before you die.

Now, this week, it's back to the grindstone. When I returned, Dwayne provided me with the "official" list of things I'm to complete before the end of October. I haven't yet decided if the list is too little or too much. I suppose only time will tell. This week was much the same as the week before I left for AZ... goshawk surveys, goshawk surveys, and more goshawk surveys. Maybe someday I'll finish the goshawk surveys. It does get a little repetitive. I did, however, start doing passive bat surveys, setting out some fancy-schmancy equipment that recognizes and records bat echolocation. The recorded calls can later be analyzed to determine the types of bats and their activity patterns in a certain area.

This week has been so routine that despite the fact that I've just returned from the 7th natural wonder of the world, I feel I have very little to say. The good news, perhaps, is that the next three weeks will be a little different for me. The BLM field office in Newcastle has a partnership with the middle school in Upton, our closest neighboring town (about 30 miles west of here). Every summer for three weeks in July, the BLM here hosts three small groups of middle school students, each for a week at a time. The students camp out in the black hills, learn about land and resource management, and interact with various BLM officials. Strangely enough, the wildlife portion of these sessions has fallen on me.

So, each Tuesday and Wednesday for the next three weeks, I'll be joining middle school students in the black hills to try and teach them something about wildlife. Tuesday evenings I'll be leading active bat surveys, and on Wednesday mornings bird watching, beaver ponds, animal tracks, squirrel middens, and anything else I might find that won't be completely uninteresting to a group of 11 to 14-year-olds. If nothing else, it should be a nice break from goshawk surveys.

Tomorrow is sage-grouse Friday. Hopefully the new batteries will perform well and I'll actually be able to find them this time!

My big plans for this weekend? I'll probably see Ice Age 3, walk dogs at the humane society (more on that later), and replace the screen in my bedroom window so I can run a window fan at night (and therefore -hopefully- be able to sleep past 4:00 AM without roasting). Thrilling, eh?

I did take a few decent pictures of the Grand Canyon. If you're interested in seeing them, please feel free to visit www.flickr.com/photos/jaxzwolf!