After two fairly long drives and two fairly boring days learning about the BLM, FS, NPS, and FWS, along with unnecessarily long lectures about Section 7 of the ESA which requires biologists working with T&E; species to prepare a BA for any project (after which the FWS will respond with a BO), I am back in Pinedale and ready to keep chugging away at the lynx project. The workshop was somewhat helpful (suggestions on how to get government jobs and how to write the type of reports necessary to document impacts to sensitive/threatened species) but in large part unnecessary (BLM background info, safety discussions, etc.).
There were, however, three good things about the workshop:
1. Chrissy finally finished Harry Potter, so I started the book on Sunday and finished Monday evening. (Having finished the series, I highly recommend it to any reader of any age.)
2. Our hotel was about 100 feet from the Union Pacific transcontinental mainline, so I could always watch trains (~100 per day).
3. I had the opportunity to meet and hang out with a good number of interesting young ecology folks. Such meetings inevitably lead to the perception of a small world, as the number of young ecology folks is not that large. People included:
Annika, just graduated from St. Olaf and now working in Tucson for the BLM
Sasha, from Ohio and good friends with Jens Stevens (Carleton grad and senior Arb naturalist last year) from an REU program
Cristin, from Delaware and familiar with my good friend Liana Burghart through frisbee.
Pacifica, from California and former labmate of Chiji Ochiaga, one of my housemates from RMBL last summer.
Also had a chance to buy stuff at radio shack and sports stores (we now have an aerobie, a volleyball, and an X-box).
