Matt Cooper [1] : I am loving my job - spending my days in the woods learning about them, breathing fresh air, interacting with the Forest Service and hanging out with good friends. I have thoroughly enjoyed making close friends with my teammates and getting to know a new part of the country. I've also learned a ton of new skills, from botanical plant ID to wildland firefighting to Leave No Trace ethics. This internship has given me a fresh perspective on the kind of skills I am good at and the kind of opportunities I'd like to pursue in the future. I cannot imagine any other place or any other way I would rather have spent these six months.
Brett Murphy [2] : Our field season is coming to an end, and by now the team is a well oiled machine, and we are getting plots done quicker than we thought possible at the beginning. Wayne National Forest gave us the FFT2 Wildland Fire Fighter certification, and I really look forward to using it next summer on a fire crew out west! We have done some local traveling on our own time as well as some cultural events on SCA time that were super fun; tying us to the area with a sense of community and provided us some time out of the field to spend with some of our agency contacts.
David O'Donnell [3] : Well, this year has been great. Working in the Wayne has been really enjoyable; a nice set of woods and some decent weather lately. Our team works efficiently together and we all get along really well. We've all enjoyed our days off, taken trips to West Virginia, Canada, Chicago, and Virginia Beach. These days we're hanging around Ohio hoping some fires break out so we can put our red cards to use and make a few extra dollars. One field hitch left and then time to wrap up with the final report.
