I successfully completed another round, this one with
zero blog posts! I’m disappointed in myself to say the least. However, I have a feeling that those who read
my blogs are used to this behavior from me having followed my Bike & Build
and South Africa blogs where similar lapses in posts occurred.
Idaho was phenomenal, even better than I could have
imagined. Having done Bike & Build
two years ago and having biked across Idaho, I knew how stunning of a state it
is and was ecstatic to spend more time there in AmeriCorps. The drive there was quite eventful, filled
with snow and ice, chains on and off Kuna’s tires, mountains, and a full 12
hours of driving. We ended up spending
our first night in Boise in a hotel because the propane for our campers wasn’t
set up quite yet. In the morning we were
greeted with a snowstorm, the last snowfall we would experience in Boise.
Orientation at the Boise River Wildlife Management Area
(WMA) was excellent and we met Ed and
Krista, our supervisors along with Michael, our sponsor. While at the Boise
River WMA we did many thing to restore the natural habitat for mule deer and
elk. This included planting sage brush
and bitterbrush, taking down barbed wire fences, installing H-brace fencing, and
clearing debris in addition to various tasks around the office itself (making
it fire safe and building new gate and fence).
Krista and Ed were really incredible about service learning and educated
us on invasive and native species. They
really cared that we knew the reason for why we were doing the things we were
for the WMA and the true impact we were having on the wildlife.
Boise was tons of fun; it’s really clean, filled with
BIKES, lots of good food and drink, the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial, and
great people. I could picture myself living in Boise for a while at some point
in my life.
We had a “spring break” long weekend so a couple
of teammates and I rented a car and drove to Stanley, ID (where I spent my 21st
birthday while on Bike & Build)! It
is very cold in Stanley this time of year, but still beautiful. We also
drove to Ketchem, Craters of the moon and then back to Stanley driving our bike
route through Arco and Challis. We went to the same pizza place
(Antonios) in Challis, the same hotsprings as my birthday (plus two more!)
tried to go to the same cafe as the day after my birthday but alas it is only
open in the summer. It was a lovely road trip. It was fun to see my friends see
what I was talking about with the diversity in Idaho's geography and hear them
ask "you really biked this?!?!"
Time went too quickly and soon Silver 3 had to pack up
and move to the second half of this spike which was at Cecil Andrus Wildlife
Management Area which was up north west of Boise about 2 hours, just outside of
the tiny town of Cambridge, ID. It was
stunningly beautiful. Within the first
week of being there the landscape exploded with wildflowers and green grass. Small yellow sunflowers (actually called
Arrow Leaf Balsam Root) covered every hillside.
We got to work in this beautiful atmosphere.
One particular project we had had to travel into the
depths of wilderness about 45 minutes down a dirt road through the WMA in the
Idaho Dept of Fish and Game trucks because Kuna certainly couldn’t handle those
roads or crossing three streams. Along
the drive we saw black bears! Two times!
I feel so incredibly blessed to have seen and experienced all this
wildlife. Also I can confidently say
that I know how to build h-brace and barbed wire fences, so if we are ever in
the same area and you happen to need a barbed wire fence, you know who to call! Anna and Ross were our sponsors and were just
as passionate about service learning as Krista and Ed. Learning about insects and scat certainly
enhanced our experience with them (as did receiving elk, venison, dried apples,
pears, apricots, apple butter, apricot preserves, choke cherry syrup, spinach,
and water cress, all coming from Andrus WMA land!)
Other fun things we did while at Andrus include taking
Ellen’s rental car (a convertible no less!) to the Oregon trail interpretive
center, going camping, volunteering at an ultra marathon (50K!), hiking and a
Cinco de Mayo party!
Round three was definitely my favorite so far. But we shall see. Sad to leave as
always. Every spike we develop these
relationships with sponsors and then leave.
It doesn’t get easier, but it’s worth it.
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