Backlog: Jan 11

January 11^th, 2011

Tuesday

Today was the first day of ‘work.’ I started out the day waking up several time before my alarm went off because my toes were aching and numb from the cold. I was curled up on my sleeping pad in the corner of my tiny downstairs room in Northwest Las Vegas. I didn’t purchase a sleeping bag before I moved out here so I’m trying to make due with a fleece liner. Needless to say when the heater is left off and the temps get down to 29*F, the basement is frigid and I am a popsicle. -- I spent the last three days looking for an apartment and living out of a hotel room with three other guys. That got old really fast. We’re trying to keep the cost of living down by using heating and lighting minimally. – I tried to start out the morning with a hot shower to rouse my spirits, but after several minutes the water continued to be icy cold. I spent the rest of the morning huddling around a warm coffee mug, trying to take in its lifting vapors without searing my tongue and lips. A five minute walk gets me to the office, this house is in a great location. I can also walk to the grocery store and probably to goodwill too.

Most of the work day consisted of listening to Dr. John Hiatt tell the story of Wilderness, the Friends of Nevada Wilderness and lots of interesting tidbits along the way. Honestly, it was a sensory overload kind of day. I learned a lot about Clark County and some of the Wilderness areas around here. I also learned about the kind of work that I’m going to be doing in the coming months: Baseline Wilderness monitoring in areas that have NEVER been monitored by the BLM, USFS, FWS, and NPS; Raising awareness of the Wilderness areas surrounding Clark County among elementary, middle, and high school students around Las Vegas; and Restoration planning and implementation. All of these things are super exciting. I can’t wait to get out into the desert and see places that have rarely been seen, teach kids about the amazing opportunities they have around them, and to get my hands dirty and restore some illegally created ‘ways.’

We spent a little bit of time talking about some of the natural occurrences that shape Southern Nevada, especially fire. Lightning starts a lot of fires around here and I’m going to be wary of both.