The Chelan Ranger District is such a unique place to work. Chelan itself is hot and dry with rolling hills typical of Eastern/central Washington, yet when you get on the boat and take a ride uplake into the wilderness; the landscape takes a dramatic change. The mountains suddenly become much...
Conboy Lake National Wildlife Refuge features a unique collection of flora and fauna set in a beautiful valley southeast of Mt. Adams. Most notably, the refuge is home to the endangered Oregon Spotted Frog (OSF), Sandhill Cranes, and Mardon Skipper Butterflies. While the property is primarily...
Everyone seems to want to know what a typical day in the life of an interpretative ranger on the Mt. Hood National Forest might entail; it is my intense pleasure to tell them I do not ever have a typical day. The flexibility and creativity of my position allows me to experience a great breadth of...
After a few months of routine, I wake up minutes before my first alarm goes off. Rolling out of bed before seven has been tough to adjust to, but that was never my strong suit. Most of my gear was packed the night before, but I put the finishing touches in a hurry: sunglasses, full bottles of...
I grew up in Portland, Oregon, playing baseball, surfing, and hiking. I am a middle child with an older sister who is married and living in Nashville, as well as a younger brother who lives in Philadelphia. My mom's side of the family resides on the east coast, from North Carolina to New York. My...
Hello, my name is Jacob Kauzlarich, but I like to go by Jake. I was born 20 minutes outside of Saint Louis on the east side of the Mississippi River. My family and I moved to North Carolina in 2017, where I started my first semester at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. I loved my...
My name is Grace Leonard, and I was born and raised in the Blue Ridge Mountains of southwest Virginia. I've been playing outside my entire life; whether it be hiking, biking, camping, etc., I'm always trying to find new places to explore. I got my degree in Environmental Biology from Appalachian...
My name is Elijah. My childhood was split between the deserts of Arizona and the mountains of northern Idaho. My immediate family consists of my mother, father, and my sister. I have always loved Nature and felt a very strong connection to it. I love hiking, cycling, kayaking, and swimming. I was...
I grew up in Billings, Montana, and spent relatively little time in the outdoors outside of sports until college. I attended Rocky Mountain College until injuring my knee for the third time my freshman year. Once I had recovered from knee surgery, I began exploring the Beartooth Mountains for...
I am originally from Dillon, Colorado, and moved to Eugene, Oregon, in September. I graduated from Western Colorado University in Gunnison with a bachelor's degree in studio arts with an emphasis in painting. Some of my favorite things to do in the outdoors are backpacking/hiking, paddle boarding,...
The last few months working as a Rec Tech (recreation technician) at the Homochitto National Forest through the AmeriCorps VetsWork Program has been a whirlwind of activity that’s been educational and lots of fun. I was lucky enough to have my first week of work...
Here at the Savannah River Forest, my fellow Mt. Adams VetsWork intern and I have spent the last few months filling in as the primary operators of one of the site’s phytoremediation facilities. The Savannah River Site has several such facilities that utilize different...
The Mississippi heat can be a bit unbearable at times, but getting to help conserve threatened species and work with the individuals I get to work with on a daily basis makes it worth it. During the months of May and June, I got to help multiple agencies within...
I am five months into my internship working with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and I am loving it. When I started in my position as a Salmon Habitat Restoration Specialist, I didn’t have a strong background in marine biology or related education....
During my time here, I have covered a wide variety of tasks, from trail work to community events and public outreach. Some of my favorite things to do are to explore all the new places and find everything that no one has touched in years and bring it back to use....
“True stability results when presumed order and presumed disorder are balanced. A truly stable system expects the unexpected, is prepared to be disrupted, waits to be transformed.” Tom Robbins This year, Mt Adams Institute has been seeking stability. The organization...
I have thoroughly enjoyed my AmeriCorps service term with MAI and USFWS. This has further affirmed my desire to work for USFWS later on in my career. While I don’t feel like a full-time USFWS position is directly next in the cards for me, I am grateful to learn of...
For better or worse, I often end up diving into life-changing decisions with no expectations of what will happen. That’s how I ended up taking a NOLS course that led to a passion for outdoor education and how I transferred to a college out west and began studying...
The back half of the season at Conboy Lake has been wrapping up well. While everyone is feeling a strong sense of completion and a job well done, I can tell everyone has grown really fond of each other, and there is a bittersweet feeling of all of us going our...
I’ve spent the past six months as an Americorps intern working for a trail crew in the Forest Service, and I can easily say that it has truly been the most fun chapter of my life so far. The season went by so fast that it’s hard to believe we actually accomplished...