Field Tested: Sarah S.

Sarah was an intern from Middlebury College and worked in the field on our Lynx and Wildfire Project during the summer of 2025. 

This summer, I worked for Home Range Wildlife Research, an organization based in the Methow Valley in Washington state, on their Canada lynx and wildfire project. For four days every week, I bushwhacked through an area that experienced a climate change driven megafire 20 years ago. We followed lynx trails that were traced in the winter by following tracks in the snow and stopped periodically to take vegetation plots in order to learn where lynx are able to survive in burned areas. This data helps Home Range to recommend management actions that will allow the forests to be resilient against megafires in the future, while also ensuring that the lynx are able to thrive.

It has been incredible and very helpful to have the opportunity to do field work full time. I am considering careers that involve field work, but I had not had the chance to do much of it before now. This internship has shown me that I enjoy the repetitive nature of field work, and how much I value being able to work in the outdoors.

Furthermore, living and working in the Methow Valley has been a dream of mine since I was in middle school. I grew up traveling here as much as possible to climb, hike, and ski throughout the years. It has been so amazing to be able to live here and learn about the area in such depth. Additionally, living in Washington, I have felt the impacts of the megafires more and more each year. As such it feels extremely impactful to be able to participate in work that is going towards helping a creature and its habitat in a place I love so much.