This internship has been nothing short of amazing. I’ve learned so much in the last two and half months. I’ve met really kind and very helpful people on the Deschutes National Forest. I am taking full advantage of filling my brain with information from staff at the Sisters Ranger District. It’s heartwarming to see how much passion everyone has for their job. I’ve learned that in the forest service, every person’s job serves a major part in the community and natural resources. I’ve taken every opportunity to go in the field with the specialists and see how they do their job.
In this picture, I am snowmobiling on Indian Ford Road on the Deschutes National Forest. I went out with the timber sale specialist and inspected how much snow was on the ground in the Green Ridge planting unit.
Here, I am working at the Clarno nursery. I helped restore the beds and cut dogwood trees for regeneration on the Deschutes National Forest.
This is an image of a finished thinning contract. I went out to the field with the district’s timber sale administrator and inspected the Glaze unit. We inspected the number of trees cut per acre.
One day, I had the opportunity to work with the district’s soil scientist. In this is picture, I am in the process of collecting a soil sample for a planting contract.
Here, we are finishing up an inspection of a planted ponderosa pine tree. I performed a fixed radius plot as per the prescription in the planting contract at the Rooster Rock unit.
On this day, I went out in the field with the district’s fish biologist and surveyed Redband trout spawning beds. In this picture, I am wading in the Metolius River. When I found a spawning bed, I laid a painted white rock at the top of the bed.
